Scott and I have been attending monthly Edmonton Story Slam events at the Haven Social Club for just over a year now. I’m not sure what it was that enticed us to start going, but from the first time we attended, we knew this was something special. We dug it so much, in fact, that we now record the event and pick the winner of each month, and a second favourite of ours and publish it in the podcast.

If you’ve never been to a Story Slam before, this is how it works (taken directly from the Edmonton Story Slam website):

• Five minutes to tell your story. After 5 minutes, there will be a penalty. After 7 minutes, you’re gonged.
• No props.
• Story must be original, unpublished and NOT A REPEAT
• You can read from a script, or just go up and tell a story.
• Sign-up is at 7 pm. Competition start at 7:30 pm. Names are drawn for order of story telling.
• If there are more than 10 story tellers, the first 10 names to be drawn will be able to compete.
• $5 to enter as a writer. Money goes to the Edmonton Story Slam Society.
• Hat is passed at intermission. All money donated by the audience goes to the winner.
• Once a year we hold Slam Off. All winners from the year compete for the title of Slam Off Champion.

That last bit is the really important bit, because that’s where we sit right now — this, the third Wednesday of March, is the date of the annual Slam-Off.

Make your way to the Haven Social Club this evening — we recommend getting there by 7pm to guarantee a seat — and enjoy the stories. Heck, you might even be randomly selected to be a judge! And if you’re there, look for me! I’ll be one of the über-geeks sitting in the front row.

Have any of our readers been to Edmonton Story Slam before?

Image of Rick Snider, one of the regular readers, taken from the Edmonton Story Slam Group on Facebook.

Edmonton, edmonton story slam, haven social club, storytelling