09.25.2008 Thursday: Home Again, Please.

Picture of: my hotel breakfast before I started this long day. Mmmm, oatmeal.

Today I: woke up earl(ier) than usual to finish a project that was bugging me in my brain; grabbed the hotel breakfast and ate it in my room; packed up my suitcases and supplies; checked out of hotel; taxi I prearranged did not come so I took the hotel shuttle to the airport and grabbed a taxi there; missed taxi meant I missed the group bus to go run up (or even amble up) the "Rocky" stairs in Philly; presented my brief workshop on the use of folktales/fables in business and corporate storytelling settings; talked with several people afterwards who might be interested in my services as a storytelling coach; had a great lunch with lots of positive conversation; attended a workshop on the use and development of telecourses; "split" a cab with another person back to the Philly airport; took a B767 plane from Philly to Charlotte- first wide-body (umm, sorta) that I had been on since I was in high-school; barely made it in time for my flight to PHX-which was a cramped, painful trip and otherwise uneventful. BOO to USAirways for the $15 baggage fee. I don't pay it 'cuz I travel so much but others try to get around it by taking everything on board causing chaos and unhappy people. (BOO USAirways for this!); finally got home to my lovely family at the airport and the drive home- just about 10 days straight on the road; ate some late dinner; wrote to you; crawling into bed. Whew!

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

06.12.2008 Thursday: Freedom from Philadelphia

Picture of: a model of the Liberty Bell, this one made of Lego blocks and in the "A" terminal of the Philadelphia airport.

Today I: grabbed the hotel breakfast; packed up my stuff and took the hotel shuttle to the airport; I actually liked both hotels this time around for this long trip; hung out for a bit in the USAirways club as I got to the airport really early; made the long trek from the C terminal to the A terminal- where I found the creation pictured to the left; flew across the country (back to Phoenix) in seat 10F while watching my Ipod, napping, looking out the window and generally trying to not engage my mind in much of anything for the 5 hours of flying; grabbed my luggage and met my family outside the elevators; took a nap; caught up on my storyteller Email; ate dinner with my wife; calling it a night.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

06.11.2008 Wednesday: Goals

Picture of: my bags at the Philadelphia airport as I wait for the hotel shuttle to whisk me away.

Today I: ate breakfast in my hotel room, it's cheaper (surprise) and easier than the breakfast lounge; wandered back down to the business center to print the joint-venture proposal that I had written the night before; took a cab over to the meeting space as I had to drag all these bags to the meeting- I think the cab driver was mad that the trip was so short- poor guy; attending the marketing meeting where we worked all day with a former producer for the world's largest afternoon talk show (you know which one I mean) to work on pitch(proposal) letters for various media groups; the speaker focused on the same thing that we focus on in our storytellers' marketing camp: NICHE. You really need to come to our camp in August; great lunch and conversation with other folks at this last day of the first phase of this program; shared a shuttle back to the airport with 10 or so other participants; took the hotel shuttle to this hotel I am in now- they have a well trained, customer service oriented front desk staff; ate dinner at the restaurant on the grounds; caught up on Email and site updates; realized my guild has different goals than what I thought it did; rewrote some "immediate goals" for all three areas of my own "Outside In" strategy in the areas of business, artistry and technical skill; that I need to kick off this week; online check in for my flight tomorrow- no upgrades available- cry cry; calling it an early night
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

06.10.2008 Tuesday: Self Employed

Picture of: my on-the-road office-in-my-hotel set up this evening.

Today I: ordered room service breakfast 'cuz I was not going mess around with the waiting line for way-too-small breakfast cafe; took my walk through historic Philadelphia to the meeting space; participated in the coaching/marketing event here; walked back to hotel for dinner break to print things I had forgotten to print b4 I left home; broken printer service at desk, grrr, had to work through another hotel printer; back to the meeting and met with representatives from publishers, tv and radio- very interesting; got back to hotel to check Email after 10PM and rainstorm in Philly; answered new Emails; rewrote and sent out to one of my booking agents a new one-sheet for educators along with recommendation letters; wrote out a proposal for a possible joint-venture project with another participant; wife and I did proofreading and editing over the phone and internet, yay for three hour time difference; finally getting to bed really late.
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

06.09.2008 Monday: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Picture of: the main meeting room for the "summit" meeting I am at (attending) this week for marketing/coaching/networking in Philadelphia.

Today I: found a 20 minute wait for the breakfast buffet at the hotel so I went back to my room, ordered room service and got the meal in 30 minutes and cheaper than had I paid for the buffet; used that 30 minutes to review notes and the map for the event; walked over to the meeting space a few blocks away- directly across from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall; used storytelling to introduce myself as as storyteller (what we teach in the OISBC!); had many productive, networking conversations within a roomful of motivated, productive, energized people (because of the technique mentioned in the previous line); noted that the main speaker understands how to use storytelling but needs work on technique- at least he is consistently using storytelling to cement in his points; dinner in the hotel (great hotel- not enough meal service space or staff); caught up on email; deleted website spam; talked to my wife on the phone; reviewed notes from the day; heat wave in Philly today. In Arizona, we call this weather "July." And, no, it's not a dry heat; wishing I could sit down with every storyteller I have contact with and personally tell you how much I want you at the next "Outside In Storytelling Marketing Boot Camp" and just how powerful an experience it would be for you. Truly. Honestly. With Great Passion.; goodnight.




::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

03.22.2008 Saturday: It's Times Like These

Picture of: Steve Ferreira's work on the drum today during the workshop I attended.

Today I: worked on flyers for copies; went to breakfast with the whole family to celebrate my daughter #1's 18th birthday; made copies at Kinko's- found typo as I was printing. That is pretty darn rare; made a run to the post office- found check in the mail- yay; went to a great workshop on spoken word and storytelling with Steve and Resa who spoke at SMCC's Storytelling Institute today; prepped envelopes for mailing; sent orders to storytellers who sold CD's today from storytellingproducts.com; continued to watch the interactions of enabling behaviors in the storytelling world. Sigh.

Today's Bonus Picture of: the end of the breakfast meal where many hands were moving so fast over the plates.

"It's times like these you learn to live again

It's times like these you give and give again

It's times like these you learn to love again

It's times like these, time and time again

I, am a new day risin'

I'm the brand new sky

To hang stars upon tonight."
-Foo Fighters

Happy Birthday, Katie.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::