Episode 168: No Longer Virtual and the Worldwide Shutdown
On this episode of the Your Stories Don't Define You podcast, I'm joined by three #NLVChicago2020 guests. Shelley Brown, Mike "Fritz" (the Fritziest) Fritzius, and Kevin Strauss shared their stories about those two days in our little #NLV bubble.
It was magical, truly, and you'll see I'm not the only one who feels that way.
When Transformation is Imminent, Know Your Resources
One year ago today (for this recording), March 12, 2020, we were at the top of the world at the Mid-America Club in Chicago on the 80th floor of the AON Center.
The No Longer Virtual Summit, limited to 50 guests, had shrunk to 20 in the room. When my husband and I left Montana at 6am on the Tuesday before, the airport was pretty quiet. I remember thinking the airplane was particularly clean that morning. We arrived at O'Hare and took the train into the city.
I had already received 5 or 6 cancelations from people who didn't feel safe to travel, or their employers were highly discouraging them from leaving the county or country (Canada).
I also received a dozen messages and calls asking me not to cancel. Since we were already there, and others were on their way, we went forward.
A moment of stress relief, wandering with Robert Downs (Photo courtesy of Robert Downs Photography)
Wednesday was brutal. It seemed the hotel was going to hold me to my contract, which meant my room attrition might cost me nearly $10,000, and that didn't include the catering bill.
The Mid-America Club was far more accommodating. With less than 24 hours notice, they allowed me to shift the final catering number in half, reducing the potential for a dramatic amount of food waste, something I couldn't tolerate on top of the rest of the stress filling my days.
Brainstorm session for NLV2021 Notes
On this episode of the Your Stories Don't Define You podcast, I'm joined by three #NLVChicago2020 guests. Shelley Brown, Mike "Fritz" (the Fritziest) Fritzius, and Kevin Strauss shared their stories about those two days in our little #NLV bubble.
It was magical, truly, and you'll see I'm not the only one who feels that way.
My intention is to have a few more of these episodes to highlight the experiences of others in the room those two days. It was different for everyone, and yet, we knew we were surrounded by the people who would help us adjust as the world around us transformed before our eyes.
If you're interested in learning more about this year's No Longer Virtual Summit in Montana on June 10, 11, 2021, click here.
ABOUT SARAH:
"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."
In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.
Audiobook cover art
My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.
The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!
Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.
A Letter to Students, Fall 2020
You Will Make Your Own Stories
You keep hearing the word unprecedented, right?
Mt. Helena, Helena, Montana 2020
For some reason, it seems to be coming with negative connotations.
What if, instead of thinking
2020 happened to me
you decide
2020 happened for me.
This is your time, friends.
Unprecedented doesn’t mean bad. It means unique.
It means no one has faced what we are facing right now, in the way that we are facing it.
What does this mean for you?
It means you get to create this year of school, whether it’s your freshman year or senior year of high school or college, or any other year in your education.
Your parents are grieving what they see as your loss, all the wonderful things they experienced as seniors.(Many of them won’t tell you that prom sucked, that graduation was boring and they slept through it, or that while there were fond memories of high school, the far more meaningful memories and stories came after those years.)
They are grieving things that haven’t happened yet. They are projecting their grief onto you.
It’s understandable because, as parents, it’s all we know. We don’t want to see you miss out on anything!
But what if we reframe this entire discussion to determine what CAN happen instead of focusing on what won’t happen.
What does that mean?
It means that you have a choice and an opportunity to create new traditions, new ways of doing things, new ways of addressing the issues our communities are currently facing.
You will not follow a traditional path. You already knew that. You’ve seen data coming from our economic and business experts, you know we’re facing a bigger and bigger gig economy, fewer traditional university and college education paths, and a majority of future jobs that we cannot even begin to imagine – all within the next 5 to 10 years.
So why not start RIGHT NOW with a non-traditional path?
Imagine yourself standing at the doorway of an institution, a school, your home, work. Imagine you are looking out at an open field with a few well-worn paths; the majority of what’s in front of you is wide open. (There’s a reason they call Montana Big Sky Country.)
You see a stunning, snow-capped mountain in the distance. You are tempted to step out of that institution, knowing going back means standing still while the world around you changes. You look out at the meadow full of giant boulders, yellow, red, and blue wildflowers, tall grasses, and very few footprints. You know there’s adventure ahead, and it makes your heart pound. You begin to smile, the corners of your mouth moving up, your eyes crinkling at the edges. There is company to be found in the wild, and you see someone in the distance that is taking an interesting journey ahead of you. You decide to head in that direction. You’re not committing to anything but leaving the institution, which you’re prepared to do.
Take the step. You have a role in your future, in the future of your community.
Our global communities are changing dramatically, and you are on the edge of that change. It’s not easy, and it feels like a huge responsibility.
You are up to it, friends.
You were born in a time of revolution in many ways, and your growing up environment prepared you for this moment. Truly.
You were raised with digital devices in your hands and learned quickly how they can get ugly. You watched your older siblings and parents become addicted to their phones, distracted from you, and many of you made the choice NOT to follow that path.
You cut your teeth on video games that actually created neural pathways to improve your hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Your schooling stayed traditional while you learned on your own how to connect with people all over the world, build communities around pictures, hobbies, and silly video production.
You can handle this. You WILL handle this with grace and innovation.
Stop grieving a future that never existed.
You were born for this time. Make it count.
If you are feeling like you’re standing at that doorway, but aren’t sure where to begin, send me a message. I’m offering a handful of Introduction to Strengths workshops for students. This might just be the tool you need to develop some clarity about what you do instinctively, intuitively well, and start being intentional about using those natural talents in your future.
Sarah Elkins loves to guide individuals and teams to improve communication, using storytelling as the foundation of her work. She is a Gallup certified Strengths coach and uses that tool to coach her clients to improve their communication in all relationships, and to find more satisfaction at work and at home.
Her book, Your Stories Don't Define You, How You Tell Them Will is available on bookshop.org (supporting independent booksellers), and on Amazon. The audiobook will be available in fall 2020.
Episode 125: History Isn't What You Think it Is. History is us.
Martha Kohl has always had a strong connection to history, but not in a traditional way. She loved listening to the stories told by her parents and grandparents about how and where they grew up, the social and political environments of those times, and the ways those experiences shaped their lives.
Our Stories Now are What Will Shape the Meaning of this Time in History
Martha Kohl has always had a strong connection to history, but not in a traditional way. She loved listening to the stories told by her parents and grandparents about how and where they grew up, the social and political environments of those times, and the ways those experiences shaped their lives.
It was when she was 17 and stuck in a cabin without tv or radio, and only a handful of books, that she discovered her love for history as it is told through the stories of individuals living in ordinary and extraordinary times. She "accidentally" picked up a history book and read it because there was nothing else to do.
I wish I had known Martha when I was in high school or college, because I had zero interest in history as it was taught in my school. The timelines of leaders, battles, Presidents and wars just did not hold my interest in any way.
But that's not how Martha sees and teaches history. She teaches it through the stories of individual experience, because THAT'S history, WE are history. The everyday lives of people doing their thing, cooking, learning, gardening, being part of a community, that's history, and that is what can be fascinating when shared well.
Martha's comment to me: "It brings me comfort to know that yes, people lived and thrived through historic events like the flu epidemics, the Great Depression, and war time. People died, and people lived, and life moved on, just like it will for us."
Interviewing her for this podcast, at this time, was perfect. She's coordinating a program with the Montana Historical Society to collect everyday Montanan's stories of their current experiences during the pandemic. They created a survey to make it easy for people to answer questions that can then be collected and archived for future generations to truly understand this time in our global community's history.
When hearing Martha's inspiring perspective on what history is, and the roles we play, especially now, I realized how relevant the timing of my book being published really is. The book is designed to help people collect stories in their own story portfolio. It's also designed to help people understand the value of their own stories, the meaningful moments they didn't realize were interesting or important.
I hope you'll consider starting a journal or diary now, so your community, your children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren can learn about what you did, how you lived, and your experience of this time in our collective lives.
When they experience something similar, and you know they will, they will have your experience to bring them comfort, hope, and inspiration to collect their stories too.
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Sarah Elkins is an author, keynote speaker, communication coach, and Gallup certified StrengthsFinder coach. Her book, Your Stories Don't Define You, How You Tell Them Will is available on bookshop.org (support your local bookstore here!), Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.