December 5, 2011

Science + Storytelling + Good (Food & Drink) = The Monti at ScienceOnline2012 Banquet

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Originally posted by Karyn Traphagen at the official ScienceOnline2012 blog

Now, that’s an equation for an awesome evening.

Do you love to hear a good story? Love to tell a good story?

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Folks, have we got a night for you. On Fri., Jan. 20, 2012, during the ScienceOnline2012 banquet you will be treated to a special edition of The Monti, hosted by Jeff Polish.

The Monti is a non-profit organization whose mission is to create community through the telling of stores. At every show, they invite ordinary people to tell extraordinary stories without notes in front of a live audience.

There are rules, of course.

The four requirements that all stories must follow:

- All stories are true.

- All stories are told without the use of notes.

- All stories adhere to a specific time limit.

- All stories must revolve around a predetermined theme.

For our event, the theme will be CONNECTIONS.

You can get a taste of what The Monti is all about by listening to their online archive. In particular, you might enjoy ScienceOnline alum Scott Huler’s story.

If you are interested in potentially being selected as a storyteller for the night, you should fill out the Call for Entries form on the main site. You must be a ScienceOnline2012 attendee to participate (and you must have a ticket for the Banquet—you can still get a ticket if you didn’t sign up during registration). In addition to your contact info, we’ll ask you to tell the gist of your story in 100 WORDS. No more. The Call for Entries will close on December 15th. Jeff Polish will curate the entries and select the stories he feels will give us the best variety of stories for the topic. He will work with the selected storytellers to help them cultivate their stories and their performance.

In the meantime, you should follow @TheMonti1 for 140-character quips. But don’t try to bribe him for a spot on the evening lineup!

To sign up - go to the official blog and fill out the form.

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