Stand and Deliver
A better presentation, a more engaging story, a more polished performance
Public Speaking | Presentation Skills | Storytelling Development |
Stand and Deliver works with participants to develop organizational stories, and stories for presentations and keynotes. It offers in-depth insight on presentation structure and development, and coaches on best practices in public speaking.
What people are saying about Stand and Deliver:
“Eye opening experience on the importance of stories and transitions.”
“Fun, helpful, and engaging.”
“Unexpectedly enjoyable with good insight and feedback.”
“Very useful, practical and insightful hands-on skill building.”
“The interactive nature and feedback was extremely valuable.”
“It was confidence building!”
“Very knowledgeable and engaging instructors. Super helpful!”
“Fast paced refinement of presentation skills.”
“Excellent use of the elements of narrative to tell a story.”
“Extremely relevant and helpful. Enjoyed this and learned a lot.”
The workshop is led by Nora Barry, an executive speechwriter and speaking coach.
Nora has written for and coached executives at top tech, pharma and media companies, including: Lenovo, Oracle, Red Hat, Ellucian, Crown Media Networks, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, Acadia, Janssen and Sunovion.
Nora is a storyteller, story strategist and student of story who’s been been working at the intersection of narrative and technology for more than 20 years. In 1998 she launched The Bit Screen, the first online site for web film. In January of 1999 the site was featured by the New York Times and quickly went international, drawing over a million viewers a week.
The Bit Screen became a lab for experiments in digital narratives and online storytelling, helping give rise to data-based, interactive and pass-along films.Dubbed “La Dame du Web Cinema”, Nora became a guest speaker at film festivals and conferences in the US and Europe and wrote and published a number of articles about emerging narratives, including the definitive “History of Web Cinema,” which was published in conjunction with the show she curated for Future Cinema, at the ZKM Museum in Germany. Nora went on to create several digital film platforms, including Kurz Film Kanal for Europe Online, and Cinema Lounge for AT&T/Media One. She originated “Streaming Cinema”, the first festival of online film, which traveled to Europe and Asia, as well as to cities in the US.
She pushed story forms to the next level when she originated the first live, online film mix, “Story Streams.” The project brought together three filmmakers in France, Mexico and Canada who each created their own version of the universal myth of “The Hero’s Journey.” Again experimenting with emerging technologies and digital narratives, Nora created the first “Game-Film”, an online video game that generated short films based on how the game was played. The films were created collaboratively, using the Internet2, by teams in Beijing and Seattle; Salt Lake City and Philadelphia; and Rio de Janeiro and Uppsala, Sweden. The project was later presented at CERN as a case study for online, international collaboration.
Nora is a student of fairy tales and folk tales and multicultural myths, with a deep and abiding interest in Irish mythology. Early in her career Nora wrote and sold several screenplays and returned to writing later on with the blog, “The Dame Domain, ” which was syndicated to Reuters and the Chicago Sun Times and published in a collection, “The Home Fires are Burning…My Feet.” Nora has also published articles in several books, including “Pink TV: Sixty Years of Women in Television”, and has written for major publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.
Ms. Barry was graduated from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University with an MS in Communications, where she studied television and media production. Post-Syracuse she studied directing at the Walnut St. Theater. She received her BA in Political Science and French from LaSalle University. In addition, she has pursued coursework towards an MBA. She is a member of the National Storytelling Network.
Nora’s Publications on Narrative:
Forward. Webcinema: The Cybernetic Image. Italy.
“Descent to the Underworld”. A Minima, Journal of New Media. Spain.
“Talking Pictures: Networked Cinematic Technologies”. Human Affairs Journal. Published by: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia. Italy.
“Telling Tales Online: A History of Web Cinema”. An Anthology on Electronic Digital Media and Electronic Culture. Published by: The Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, Slovakia.
“Story Forms”. Remixing Narrative Media. University International of Andalusia Press, Seville, Spain.
“Telling Stories on Screen: A History of Web Cinema”. Future Cinema: The Cinematic Imagery After Film. For the ZKM Museum in Karlsruhe, Germany. Published by MIT Press.
“Digital Shanachies”. TakeOver: Who’s Doing the Art of Tomorrow. Published by Ars Electronica Press, Linz, Austria.