The Art and History of Meaningful Conversation and Irresistible Storytelling

Learn the simple but not simplistic ingredients of a great conversation and memorable storytelling, from famous and historical figures to the Ted Talkers among us. Having meaningful conversations is easier than you may think when following a basic recipe. 

This multi-media 90-minute session jumps right into what makes "meaningful" conversation "meaningful", with notable communicators from history and the arts - adept storytellers and wordsmiths - who used brevity, metaphor and analogy to inspire. 

Learn how to dig deep to personally storytell when relevant, drawing from the different types of stories: Origin Stories (Howard Shultz/Starbucks); Overcoming Overwhelming Odds Stories (JK Rowling/Harry Potter); Rags to Riches and Triumph over Tragedy Stories (Alexander Hamilton & Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton adaptation), etc. Engaging content from Carmine Gallo's The Storyteller's Secret plus a lively TED Talk from an influential journalist on the ingredients of a meaningful conversation will be part of this program.  

Presenter Annette DeCicco is an educator who has taken her knowledge 'on the road' to community centers and to lifelong learning centers at Rutgers and Fairleigh Dickinson Universities. She is an Essex County 'local', lifelong resident of West Orange, with an MA, Education from Seton Hall. She taught at Essex County College, Newark, later transitioned to real estate as managing broker at a firm in Livingston where currently she is director of learning. She is also a contributing writer for Inman News, a national real estate publication.