Libsyn Directory

How Surrender, Resiliency and Reconciliation Create Impactful Storytelling

Release Date: 06/12/2024

How Storytelling Can Turn Crowd Chaos into Connection

Storytelling School

It’s my very first time at Comic-Con. I’m with my dear friend Denise, and it’s her first time, too. The second we arrive in downtown San Diego, we’re hit with a wave of everything - cosplayers everywhere, camera crews darting around, and volunteers all over the place. There are 135,000 people moving in every direction at once. It’s buzzing, massive, and honestly thrilling! Since it’s Day One, we find our way to the convention center and step onto this long escalator. We’re heading up to the top, and I’m trying to act calm - for Denise, sure, but really for myself, too. Inside,...

200 Episodes In: Your Storytelling Masterclass in 50 Moments

Storytelling School

It’s a Tuesday morning. I am sitting in front of my computer, matcha tea in hand, staring at my podcast dashboard. A little number in the top corner catches my eye. 200 episodes, 200! Part of me can’t even believe it. I think back to those first recordings; I was so nervous, wondering if people would care about storytelling the way I do, yet week after week, I kept going. I didn’t always know if I’d have the time, the stories, or the right guests to keep it fresh. But every single conversation, every solo episode, every moment behind the mic has taught me something. And at each...

Why Storytelling Mastery Lives in the Middle

Storytelling School

I am standing on a court in Santa Barbara, and it's my very first pickleball lesson. I arrived early and I’m already warmed up, focused and ready to do everything exactly right. In fact, even before booking this lesson, I researched every single coach in town. I landed on Richard Pastoria because he's the real deal: a professional coach for over 25 years, the resident pickleball pro at the Valley Club of Montecito, and - not only that - he also has a military background. That combination of structure and discipline and high standards speaks to me because I've been an athlete my entire life,...

How Great Speakers Rehearse (It’s Not What You Think)

Storytelling School

I'm on a Zoom call with one of my private clients. She is a powerhouse executive and is preparing for a TED-style keynote. Her ideas are solid, and her story is incredible; it's emotional, has high stakes and everything you would want in an opening story. And the rest of her Talk? That’s epic as well. Plus, she's done the work and is ready to go. We start rehearsing and everything… falls flat. Her delivery is kind of robotic, and there's no energy in her voice. Even the transitions between her story and her insights kind of feel like speed bumps. She is reciting her script but isn't...

The Callback Strategy Every Speaker Should Know

Storytelling School

I’m working with my client on a TEDx Talk. In her opening story, she shares a vivid moment from her childhood: She is standing on a stranger's doorstep, completely nervous and uncertain if anyone is going to answer at all. It's a small detail yet it’s emotionally powerful and completely gripping. After the story, we go ahead and develop the rest of the Talk. And as a whole, her Talk is strong. It's structured and meaningful… except when we get to the end. Something is missing. Her idea and her content are clear, but there isn't really an emotional lift at the end. I suggest going...

What Knife Fighting Taught Me About Storytelling

Storytelling School

I am standing in the dojo, drenched in sweat. We’re in the middle of a dynamic circle knife drill, and I’m surrounded by fellow black belts, each armed with metal training knives and ready to attack in a simulation of real-life danger - fast, chaotic, and unrelenting. At first, I hold my own, fueled by adrenaline and a strong desire to prove that I can hang with the best. I move quickly, using flashy moves and relying on sheer speed, but as the drill speeds up, my technique falls apart. I'm rushing transitions, missing critical details, and losing confidence. My partners sense the...

Why Sharing Difficult Stories Can Change Lives

Storytelling School

I'm a freshman at the University of Hawaii, living the dream on a full-ride softball scholarship. One night during finals week, my roommate and I decide to take a break from studying and grab a bite to eat. On our way back to the dorms, riding our mopeds, the unthinkable happens and I get hit… by a cement truck. I wake up five days later in the hospital with massive head injuries and indescribable pain. The doctor tells me that my sense of taste and smell is gone, permanently. For years, I don’t talk about the accident. I think, who wants to hear a story like that? It feels too...

How Embracing Imperfection Can Transform Your Storytelling

Storytelling School

It's the early 2000s, and I get invited to speak in New York to a room full of tech heavyweights - people and thought leaders I dreamed of being in front of. I am determined to crush it, so I do what any overachiever would: I obsess. I write, rewrite, and practice endlessly. No improvising. No mistakes. I even buy a stiff, serious outfit that doesn’t feel like me but seems like something a “real” speaker would wear. On the day of the event I deliver my Talk flawlessly, every word in place. The audience claps, though I leave feeling like something is off. It was perfect, yes, but...

How to Make Numbers Unforgettable Through Story

Storytelling School

It’s 2006. I am sitting in the audience at TED surrounded by visionaries, innovators, and thought leaders. The energy in the room is electric and everyone is buzzing with anticipation about who’s going to take the stage next and what new insight we’ll walk away with. When the next speaker, a Swedish professor specializing in global health and data, is introduced, I brace myself for a dry, academic talk full of statistics and charts. Instead, the speaker starts moving across the stage with visible, infectious enthusiasm, pointing at animated visuals and telling a story through data....

Why Many Stories Fall Flat in the Final 10 Seconds

Storytelling School

I am coaching a speaker as she prepares for one of the biggest keynotes of her career. Her story is powerful, full of resilience and triumph. As she runs through her story, I am captivated... until it just... stops. She smiles, says thank you, and that’s it. There is no call to action and no invitation. I deliver the news, gently: her ending isn’t serving her or the audience. She pushes back because she doesn’t want to sound salesy. And while I do definitely understand her concerns, I explain that, while her story hits hard, her ending needs to hit home. So we roll up the sleeves...

More Episodes

I’m on stage performing at Santa Barbara Improv. My scene partner and I are playing a game of He Said, She Said which goes like this: After every line of dialogue from one person, their scene partner will then narrate something physical for them to do.

For instance, let’s say that I say to my scene partner, “I’m so angry at you right now.” My partner then narrates something like, “She said while jumping up and down on one foot.” And I actually have to do the thing.

So we’re in the middle of a mob scene digging a hole, and my partner says, “She says while taking a cigar out of her back pocket and lighting it.”

Being a dedicated athlete my whole life, I never learned how to light a cigar. So when I pretend to do it, I fumble around with it which causes the audience to lose it so much that my scene partner keeps on narrating me lighting cigars.

Pretty soon, I’m losing it too, almost crying because I’m trying to hold in my laughter so much. It turned into a delightful disaster on stage, yet one that ends up being one of my funniest bits.

My special guest today can certainly relate. Polo Reo Tate is a comedian herself as well as an author, actress, keynote speaker, philanthropist, podcaster, and so much more. In this episode of the Storytelling School Podcast, you’ll hear how she champions authenticity and resiliency through storytelling and beyond and get answers to questions such as:

Why do you have an innate Improv storytelling ability? How do the rules of Improv storytelling mirror the rules of life? How does reconciling within yourself the low points of your life impact your power as a speaker and storyteller? And what role does your physicality play in enhancing your stories?

What you will learn in this episode:

Why you have to get your story on paper, even if you never share it
How you can get unusual story inspiration from mundane situations
How craft and intuition interconnect when preparing and giving a presentation

Who is Polo?

As an author by soul, actor by trade, artist at heart, and uplifter to the core of her being, Polo Reo Tate redefines what it means to be a Renaissance Woman. From a myriad of life experiences, she intimately understands the transformational value in mindfully getting to know ourselves wholly and love ourselves unconditionally in order to live fully in the freedom of our own authenticity. Her supreme love for people, and the clarity with which she sees and celebrates the superpowers of those around her, allows her to help elevate the energy of any relationship or situation brought forth by a client.

Whether she is in front of a camera, a crowd, or the company of one, Polo revels in the kinetic web of creativity that is born from every interaction, every co-creation. She lives each moment to the fullest, lets no one take her joy, and avidly operates from the belief that we can do anything upon which we set our minds, hearts, and spirits. She welcomes and invites you to embrace your own infinite possibility, embody the loving being that you are, and feel the power and the pleasure of being fully present in your own life.

Links and Resources

TOPICS