Presentation Topics
My talks, seminars and workshops range in
length from one hour to multiple days. Many of my workshops and seminars
include live demonstrations and engaging class exercises. Whenever possible, I
allow time for questions from the attendees, which I very much welcome.
The topics listed below may be combined in
various ways to create an individualized program, or new topics can be shaped
to fit the needs of a particular organization.
Topics
·
Breakthroughs
in Storytelling: New Forms of Narrative for the 21st Century
An examination
of the deeply immersive, highly involving stories we can now tell, thanks to
interactive digital media.
·
The Evolution
of Media in a Digital Age
A look at how
digital technology is profoundly changing the way we receive our news and
entertainment. This talk looks at how audiences for newspapers, TV and film are
shrinking; how there’s a corresponding and dizzying growth in interactive and
user-generated content; and the ways traditional media outlets and advertisers
are responding to these changes.
·
The Scope of
Digital Storytelling
An overview of
interactive media and a discussion of how digital storytelling is being used to
entertain, teach, train, inform promote and advertise.
·
The Roots of
Digital Storytelling
A fascinating
look at the ancient predecessors of today’s interactive narratives, including athletic
games, Greek drama, mythology, and religious rituals.
·
What is a Game?
An introduction
to video games, including an examination of the major characteristics of all
games – video games as well as traditional games like athletic competitions and
board games.
·
Narrative and
Video Games
An investigation
into the role that story plays in video games and a discussion of the
diametrically opposing views about story and gaming.
·
Using Digital
Storytelling to Promote and Advertise:
A surprising
look at how interactive media can be harnessed to promote products and ideas,
and a close up look at some of the most innovative approaches that
organizations (from the US Military to Pringles potato chips) have been
employed.
·
Using Digital
Storytelling to Inform
An examination
of how interactive media can be used to convey information in a way that is
entertaining and involves the audience, but also observes the standards of good
journalism.
·
The Seven
Kisses of Death
A discussion of
the seven critical mistakes often made when people try to develop programming
for children – mistakes that are made in every type of medium. This talk also
includes “the ten infusions of life” – ten effective anti-deaths kiss
strategies.
·
Animation Writing: Letting Your Imagination Soar
This talk covers the wide world of animation, including animation for
feature films, TV, and various forms of new media, from video games to
webisodics. It’s illustrated with plenty of clips.
·
Developing
Strong Characters
For a story to
be memorable and engaging it has to have good characters – this is true no
matter whether you are creating a novel, a screenplay, or a video game. But
what are the hallmarks of a good character? Why do we find certain characters
so appealing and others so ho-hum? This talk covers a range of techniques that
can be used to create strong characters.
·
Dialogue
Writing: The Ten Most Grievous Sins And How To Counter Them
Many people
assume we are either born with the gift of writing great dialogue or else are
doomed to turn out dull, lifeless, wooden speeches for our characters. Not true! This presentation covers ten
common mistakes in writing dialogue and many down-to-earth techniques we can
employ to improve our work here.
·
A
Writing Career: How to Survive and Thrive
Thousands of people dream of a career as a writer, yet few succeed at actually making a living in this notoriously unstable and difficult field. What are some of the things you can do to maximize your changes of success… and keep your sanity along the way? This talk includes a discussion of developing a "bagel factory" strategy and finding your “inner prairie dog.”
Team-Teaching And Lecturing
I welcome team-teaching opportunities, and
have co-taught presentations and college classes with a number of people. I’ve
found that team teaching works especially well for multi-day seminars and
workshops and for situations in which the presenters can combine different
areas of expertise. I am currently co-teaching a course in video game
development with two professors at the University of New Mexico. I’ve also had
excellent team-teaching experiences with Dr. Linda
Seger, who is known worldwide as
an expert on screenwriting and filmmaking. Dr. Seger and I have taught
multiple-day screenwriting seminars together in South Africa and Maui and have
also collaborated on other projects as well. We would be happy to offer our
joint services to organizations that would be interested in a team-teaching
arrangement with us.