Talks
Over the years, I have given talks and run workshops to a very wide variety of audiences, in a wide range of locations, usually, but not always, around the subject of storytelling and its applications.
Public talks over the years have covered a variety of subjects. For CamCreatives, for example, I gave a talk based on a long blogpiece of mine on branching narrative, 'Be Chosen By Your Own Adventure.'
PechaKucha
PechaKucha is a globally popular presentation format of 20 slides for twenty seconds to encourage succinct, engaging stories. I've done a couple of these nights for the Cambridge branch, 'The Genie' (based on this blog) and another about narrative in board games, 'Risk and Legacy'.
Workshops
Alongside writing, I have been delivering workshops on writing and storytelling for almost twenty years. I have taught and lectured in various universities and drama schools, including Goldsmiths College and the Central School of Speech and Drama, at levels all the way from primary, further and higher education, and beyond.
I have also run workshops for several companies (as well as the crossover with creative work for companies such as Coney). I devised workshops for Paines Plough (while Associate Playwright there in 2003/4) and as far afield as the Teatr Rozmaitości, Warsaw. Between 2011 and 2012 I delivered a series of one-day workshops and talks for PR company Fleishman-Hillard:
Fleishman-Hillard, the world's biggest PR consultancy, commissioned Glyn to develop and deliver pan-European training on the use of story-telling in business. Since then, he has delivered workshops to a number of multi-national teams in several countries. Glyn is hugely knowledgeable about his subject and a natural educator. His passion for story-telling, experience as a successful playwright, and ability to take a brief enables him to deliver relevant and enjoyable training on this increasingly important subject.Nick Andrews, SVP & Senior Partner
Blogpieces
I did a very poor job of maintaining a blog on my own site a few years ago. I've kept some of the longer pieces available here:
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Idiocy - (December 2016) "Skip to the end of this article if you want to get to the bit where I call you an idiot, and suggest what to do about it. Otherwise, here I explain how our current blasted political landscape is all down to a loaf of bread…"
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Be Chosen By Your Own Adventure - (June 2014) "A couple of years ago I was meant to be writing an open-ended narrative for a live project - that is, one starting point led to many endpoints, creating a story along the way. I found it really difficult to write anything I found satisfying. In my endearing way, I insisted to a colleague that it just wasn't possible to write meaningful, moving stories when the ending was transparently arbitrary and the reader knew that. You could build a roller-coaster ride, sure, but nothing that dumped you off somewhere other than where you got on. In retrospect, I think I was being a bit more insistent than strictly necessary. Anyway, by way of apology, I thought I might explain why I'm still right."
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The Demands of Theatre - (August 2014) "I have to confess to a certain falling out of love with theatre in recent years. It might well actually more be a case of theatre falling out of love with me - or, as in any faltering relationship, a series of many complicated factors. And it might be a relationship that ultimately can be saved, or not. Watch this space. But certainly, I know that things like the Theatre Charter are a major cause of the kind of rage and hurt that leads theatre and me to scream and shout and sulk at each other."
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Experience - (August 2014) - "I'm afraid of stairs. I'm allergic to sunlight. I'm allergic to everything. My tongue is worth £1m. Muhammad Ali was my mentor. I'm the world's oldest wing walker."
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The Genie - (June 2016) - "A post on genies of the technological and political variety, what happens when they get out of the bottle, and why it's pointless trying to shove them back in. Now with added historical context and mournful hindsight!