Storytelling Birthday

For my birthday this year, I organized a storytelling event and invited 13 friends, many of whom didn’t know each other.

Normally, I am not much of a birthday person. I don’t like big parties and don’t love being the center of attention. However, I did want to see my friends. I also wanted to skip the “so, what do you do?” question and avoid awkward silences when new people meet. I wanted way to create connection and intimacy in a single evening in a group where I was the only link between them all.

The idea: have everyone share something to learn about each other and spark different conversations.

In the invitation, everyone was asked to prepare a 5-minute, true, personal story ala The Moth. The theme of the evening was “Revelations.” Tell us about a time when everything became clear, a story about the seen and unseen, a small choice that changed so much, or a situation that made you look twice.

The evening was amazing! People stepped up and told amazing stories. Everyone was super supportive of the person speaking. They learned about the things they had in common and catapulted beyond the stale questions you ask to new aquaintenaces. I felt honored to hear about their lives and learned new things about people I’ve known for over a decade.

I’ll definitely be planning more events like this in the future.

Would you ever think about hosting a storytelling evening with you friends?