Reader Challenge: Who’s the Greatest True Tale Teller of All?

David Squires really wants you to call him.

Hey everybody, let’s try an experiment. We think it might be fun.

For 16 years (yes, we’ve been around that long!), we’ve been running “True Tales” in the pages of INSTORE Magazine. It’s one of our many reader participation projects, created each and every month by you, that helped elevate our magazine and (later) website to its central position in the jewelry industry. We’ve featured hundreds of your favorite tales in our magazine over the years. (In fact, go check out some of them here.)

Meanwhile, we’re in the early stages of developing our latest medium via which we’ll inform, entertain and otherwise make your jewelry lives complete — INSTORE Radio.

So, that got us thinking, what might “True Tales” look like as a radio show?

Like the old advertisement in which two people, one carrying a giant bar of chocolate and the other an open tub of peanut butter, clumsily collide and create a magical new product — like those two people, we’re thinking of mashing two very different products together into something new and exciting.

We can’t say for sure exactly what form this new series will take. But, with lots and lots and lots of help from you (as usual), we’d like to give it a try.

Here’s what we want you to do.

Step 1.

Think for a couple minutes. Identify your one go-to, foolproof, never-fails story about your chosen life’s work. The one you tell at a dinner party when it’s your moment in the spotlight. The one that goes on for three minutes, five minutes, or even eight minutes, and during which no one talks, clears their throat, or even gets up to obey the call of nature. 

Your story can be funny. (We love funny.) It can be sad. (Nothing wrong with an occasional tear.) It can be heart-warming. (Our industry warms hearts like no other.) It can even be a little gross. (On second thought, I think all of us at INSTORE have had a lifetime supply of stories of custom jewelry orders made from diseased or dismembered body parts. So keep your ghoulish stories to yourself, you bunch of sickos. For now, anyway.)

Step 2.

Practice a few times. Drink a glass of water. (Or a shot of vodka, if you need it.) Get ready to give the performance of your life.

Remember, your message time limit is 10 minutes. (But if you do happen to go over the limit, don’t stress. Just initiate a new call and continue your story. We’ll splice everything together in post-production.)

Step 3.

Ready?

Click the link at the bottom of the page. It will launch a new voice-message widget we’ve subscribed to called SpeakPipe. Follow the simple instructions on the wdiget … and begin recording.

Start by telling us your name, your position, plus your store name, city and state. And then tell us your story, exactly as you would tell it to an engrossed dinner-table audience. End your story in the manner of all great storytellers — by giving a dramatic pause, and saying “The End”.

After you finish, you’re welcome to add any additional information about yourself or your store that you think would be a fit for our show. (Oh, and don’t forget to add your contact information in the form that comes up when you send your audio to us.)

And that’s it.

The ball is officially in your court, devoted INSTORE readers.

Have a great tale to tell? Call us. Know someone with a great tale to tell? Call them and then tell them to call us. Love to listen to great tales? Then stay tuned when we turn your tales into something fun to listen to.