What’s a StorySlam?

A StorySlam is more than a storytelling competition. It’s an invitation to share five minutes of your life in a room full of people who appreciate a well-told tale. Audience storytellers take to the stage with real life stories on the theme of the night. Winners get a $100 prize and the chance to compete in the season finale GrandSlam. Got five minutes? Come and lend an ear, or share an experience.

 

Virtual StorySlam
First Person Arts is taking our widely popular StorySlam competition and putting it online.  Stay tuned for how you can put your name in our virtual bucket and/or enjoy our virtual programming.

Share Over the next few weeks, we will roll out the process for sharing your true, personal story during our virtual StorySlam.

Watch Enjoying a First Person Arts StorySlam will be easier than ever.   Keep an eye out for how you can enjoy & support First Person Arts.

Upcoming StorySlams

Stories from Past Slams

See More Stories
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How does a StorySlam work?

Each month, we set a theme and invite up to 10 people from the audience to share a personal story from their lives that relates to that theme. And, if you're in the audience, you get to participate, too.

Step 1 — At the Door

Throw your name into a bucket at the door if you'd like to share a story, or if you'd like to judge the stories told. We draw 10 storyteller names and 3 official judges.

Step 2 — On Stage

Each storyteller is given 5 minutes on the mic to tell a story and win over the crowd. Sorry folks, but no props or notes allowed.

Step 3 — Voting

The judges score each storyteller on Content and Presentation using a ten-point scale.

Read more about scoring.

And the Winner is...

First Place

The highest scoring participant wins 2 free StorySlam tickets and an invitation to perform in the Grand Slam, where he or she will vie for the title of "Best Storyteller in Philadelphia" and free StorySlam admission for life.

Audience Favorite

The entire audience rates each performance, and the storyteller with the highest audience score at the end of the StorySlam season wins a spot at the Grand Slam.

Scoring a StorySlam

Content
A measure of the story itself.

Plot The story has a plot with a strong beginning, absorbing middle, and it drives right through to the end, with a strong arc.

Theme It relates to the theme of the Slam.

Presentation
A measure of how well the story is told.

Connection The storyteller must bring the story to life and connect with the audience.

Length The story is 5 minutes or less.

Tips for Storytellers

  1. All stories must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Know your plot points.
  2. Tell your story from your point of view.
  3. Know your first line and last line when you step on stage. Knowing what point A and point Z are will help you get through the rest if you get nervous.

Straight from the Storytellers

Stories – the best stories – are about when the joke’s been on us… the times we’ve failed. There isn’t much that’s more entertaining or enriching than stories of failure, regret, and humiliation. And nothing in the world is more exhausting than listening to someone’s good news. So be ugly. Be ugly and dopey and vile. Because when you’re ugly, you’re sincere. And sincerity is what makes everyone want to listen.

 

AndrewStoryteller

Just because I’m making people laugh doesn’t mean I’m telling a good story. Stringing together funny anecdotes with some exposition and calling it a story results in failure/audience boredom.

 

EvanStoryteller

Do your best to look like *you* are enjoying the telling of the story. Enthusiasm is contagious.

 

ChrisStoryteller

A dear friend and stand up comic once told me: ‘the minute you try to impress or look good you will die a humiliating death. Don’t worry about the audience, just connect with your emotional truth and have fun.’

 

MarjorieStoryteller

Establish high stakes as quickly as you can.

 

DianaStoryteller

Always connect directly with the audience. Acknowledge them! They are human beings.

 

SM ShrakeStoryteller

The beginning and the end reunite in a moment where people think, ‘Oh that’s where she/he was going with that!’

 

KateStoryteller

What makes a good story:
A good lede. That’s what we call it in print, anyway. The beginning of the story should draw people in right away with something compelling and pungent.
Strong delivery. A sense that the storyteller is comfortable, confident, and that we’re in good hands.
An arc. A feeling that something is building, that we’re going somewhere.
A powerful ending. Maybe something that makes us pause before we clap. Or something so funny, that we erupt with applause.

 

Liz SpikolWriter & former Grand Slam Judge