“Imagine,” I suggested to the attentive group of seniors in front of me. “Imagine for a moment that video technology existed during your great-grandparents’ times and that one day they sat down and recorded the stories of their lives. Imagine also that you could sit down today and watch those video biographies. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” The eyes of most of my audience widened as they nodded in assent. “Well,” I continued. “Video technology obviously didn’t exist back then. But it’s here today. And that means you can do something your great-grandparents couldn’t, which is to create a living, breathing, keepsake that preserves and celebrates your life stories, both to enjoy now and to leave as a precious gift for generations of your families yet to come.”

With those words, I was off and running on my latest presentation, as part of a Sunday afternoon program sponsored by the Sunrise Neighborhood Assistance Program of Tucson, Arizona. I explained just what a video biography was, described in a nutshell the process I use to create a legacy video and outlined the benefits of preserving personal stories in a video biography format. Most importantly, I showed several sample clips so attendees could see for themselves just how legacy videos look and sound – and see what the possibilities could be for them.

Helping to inform and inspire folks is part of my mission as president of Family Legacy Video, Inc. I realize that many folks don’t know what a video biography is and that they can pass along their life stories and values this way. I always enjoy introducing potential storytellers to the subject. It’s especially delightful when audience members approach me after a presentation to tell me some of their stories and discuss how they can start planning their legacy video. That tells me that they “get it” in terms of understanding the importance of sharing their experiences and wisdom with present and future members of their families.

I also find that when I detail the myriad benefits video legacy projects, I reinforce to myself the importance of the work I do as a personal historian – a valuable side benefit for me.

So if you have a group of folks who you think might like to learn about preserving, celebrating and sharing their life stories with their own personal video biographies, give me call or shoot me an e-mail. I’m only too happy to talk.