While the StartUp StorySlam is a competition, please be assured we don’t take the competitive part too seriously. Our goal is to provide an enlightening night of stories for the audience, and we are always thrilled to see new participants hop on-stage. If you’ve been thinking about telling a business story, StartUp StorySlam is a great venue to get on stage for the first time!

The best advice we’ve heard is this: Know the first sentence of your story and know the last sentence of your story. If you know where you are starting and have your destination in sight, you’ll do just fine!

Official Rules for the StartUp Story Slam are as follows:

– Storytellers register* upon arrival. Names are drawn out of a hat to decide order of presentation.
– Stories should fit into the theme of the night! These are not pitches, they are stories!
– Stories should be true as you remember it!
– Stories should be under five minutes in length!
– No Notes, No Props, No Music!

Three judges are selected from the audience. Each storyteller is given a score on a scale of 1-10 for two different criteria: content and presentation. The storyteller with the highest score wins!

In the event of a tie during the story slam, the event producer will choose one of the following:
a) declare the Story Slam a tie.
b) announce there is a tie, and then have the judges independently cast secret ballots as to which story they deemed best.

*When registering, storytellers are asked to sign a release stating they are okay with having the story posted on Youtube and possibly the monthly podcast. Storytellers retain all rights to their stories. Questions? Chat with us at the registration table or email us at startupstoryslam@gmail.com.