Read the Room

Multiply your story ideas

The stunning LINC Library Innovation Center in Greeley, Colo., where I spent the last two days training with the Colorado Humanities Council.

Hi storytellers –

I’ve been schooled.

When I noticed that the Colorado Humanities Council was hosting a two-day training on facilitating community conversations, I jumped at the chance. I lead workshops, speak in public, moderate the occasional panel — not to mention the thousands of interviews I’ve done over the course of my career. Easy, right? 

Well, my ego was about to get a smackdown.

Simply put, as Terry Gross says, “An interview should sound conversational, but it’s not a conversation.”

The purpose of an interview or conversation changes the way we should approach them.

On Monday, Jason and LaNaya, our instructors, prompted us to co-facilitate conversations about some deceptively sensitive topics.

Here and in my workshops, I spend a lot of time advocating for specifics — specific questions and specific descriptions of events, characters, an…