Future Of Storytelling Summit: A Magical Journey To Snug Harbor

When you decide to take a journey, you have to decide how far is it and what will you find when you get there.

When you decide to take a journey, you have to decide how far is it and what will you find when you get there.

Snug Harbor is surprisingly close, and yet for a trip of imagination and wonderment ― it’s a magical world away.

The Future of Storytelling Summit is a two-day adventure to another land. A land where stories are immersive, where technology creates experiences that you can feel, touch, and taste, and were storytellers are reaching back in history to find a path to the future.

Which is to say, it a time machine filled with special people and powerful visual poetry. “I use the word ‘story’ almost to mean emotional connection the thing that’s gonna make you excited and care about it” said Charles Melcher the founder and director of the FoST Summit.

The two-day Summit was a mix of talks, performances, conversations, workshops, and Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality experiences. Everyone’s journey is different — but i’ll tell you about a few of my experiences.

Two performances are riveted in my mind.

Colum McCann is the best-selling author of Let the Great World Spin. He was a galvanizing voice in this time of nationalism and isolationism. “We have to be fully involved in the story of others,” said McCann “Storytelling is born from a pull, and it rises from an implicit need. For every story, there has to be a listener.”

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / @MagnifyMedia Colum McCann is the best-selling author of Let the Great World Spin at FoST 2017

Then, Nina Mariah Donovan — poet and activist recited her powerful call to action. Actress and activist Ashley Judd performed Nina’s poem “Nasty Woman” to a crowd of 500,000 protesters at the Women’s March on Washington. But for FoST, Nina presented it herself. See for yourself how amazing it was.

The panel conversations were smart and specific. Anjali Sud (video) the newly minted CEO of Vimeo — asked a room of storytellers to explore how live video would emerge as its own form. Storytelling is experiences said Sud. Live-stream provides shared experiences. Can anything be authentically edited? Is live the ultimate in authenticity. A terrific conversation and a peak into the future.

David Carey (video) is president of Hearst Magazines, one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines, with more than 300 editions around the world. And Carey asked his room of storytellers to consider the potential that social media isn’t just popular, but in fact be addictive. And not accidentally addictive, but engineered to be so.

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum Jose Antonio Vargas FOST 2017

Jose Antonio Vargas (video) is a journalist, an activist, and an undocumented American. I worked with him at HuffingtonPost and was proud to see him focused and fired up. Vargas isn’t going to stop challenging President Donald Trump’s positions on immigration. And he’s focused on DACA the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that is under siege.

Then — the FoST For Good experience. I joined the ACLU group — a large room that was broken up into eight groups of 10 people each, and given a challenge. Ronald Newman is director of strategic initiatives in the National Political Advocacy Department at the American Civil Liberties Union. Said Newman: “Americans agree in our right to vote. We must make casting a ballot more accessible.” Organized by Jimmie Stone Executive Creative Director, Edelman New York — the goal was to conceive and plan a way to create a national holiday on election day.

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / @MagnifyMedia Jimmie Stone (Edelman) and Ronald Newman (ACLU) at FoST 2017

My team dug in, brainstormed — and came up with the tongue in cheek idea to create a video campaign about ‘citizen’s day’ a holiday that in our alternative reality already existed. It was funny and smart. I hope we can make it happen.

People Power call to action: Make Election Day a National Holiday. Use humor & #VR to presume Citizens Day already exists.

Just a handful of the amazing talks, conversations, and explorations I had in two days at Snug Harbor. “We’re doing things that transport you take you on an adventure, like a heroes journey,” said Charles Melcher. And indeed a journey it was.

Photo: Steven Rosenbaum / @MagnifyMedia The FoST Summit at night — as the hot air balloon rises into the night sky,

Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.com on October 8, 2017.