Movers, today is the final idea about how we can bring our idea to life through our Speaking Stories course that goes live Oct. 30th! If you are listening to this it means that the cart is open!
After I talk with you about what it is - and why it is - I hope you’ll join us over the next few weeks while we bring our stories more to life and to your audience so it’s out there moving the world!
Go to www.speakingstory.com to sign up!

Bringing your story to life… 

To do that, we need to believe some things - deep down - before we can take the stage with courage and authenticity.
Last week I talked about Six Rookie Storytelling Mistakes (and what to do instead).

But this week - in anticipation of the Speaking Story course that opens for enrollment this coming Friday - we are diving into three beliefs all of my speakers wrestle with to some level or another (and from one day to another)!

I remember watching this really famous speaker once tell a story that I KNEW she wasn’t ready to tell yet. It was too much - too powerful, still - still too emotionally raw… 

(And I’ve also seen speakers who are so far beyond their stories - that it doesn’t have any emotional resonance left. They’ve told it too many times, it’s lost its power for them… there’s no emotive connection left. It’s been used up. )

What struck me was that she was telling the story because she NEEDED to. It was a part of HER healing. And that’s not nothing. 

Would I recommend it? Nope…. 

There are those stories that we’re just not ready to tell yet because we ourselves aren’t healed enough. Listen to that instinct. It may not be ready yet. It might be too raw. 

So how do we know when a story is ready to be told?

So today’s episode is based on a conversation I had with one of my speakers, who has also been a guest here on This Moved Me… I’m a HUGE fan of his, and he’s doing such important work. Tony Loyd. He’s the host of the Social Entrepreneur podcast, and he’s really building up his speaking work, because he’s so driven to get his ideas out into the world. He is NOT interested in getting HIMSELF out into the world… he’s

So he’s a very typical - what I call - unspeaker. Despite the fact that he’s incredibly experienced - he’s been in the C-Suite, he’s been up on front of audiences for years - he still has a level of self-doubt or fear or myths that get in the way of him fully owning the moment and… to the point of my show today… his story.

(By the way, EVERY SPEAKER struggles with this… unspeakers just admit it, and vulnerably walk into their efforts to change it… which is what makes their talks so compelling, authentic, and moving…)

So when Tony and I sat down to work on his 2nd TEDx talk… he shared that he wasn’t as happy with his first talk as he wanted to be… it was good, great response… but he also knew he could do more, dig deeper (unspeaker!)… And he mentioned - so honestly - that he knew he needed to share more of his story… but he was afraid.

Of what, I asked?

That somehow sharing about HIS story made it about him. All me me me, he said.

Which is a myth of our origin stories - or ANY story we tell. If it’s our story, the point isn’t to talk about US… the point is to open up the connection between the experience, and the idea.

I want to talk about Origin stories. 

I’m going to be sharing a course over on Movers-U on how to develop and own a powerful and authentic origin story in October… so excited about it. And so I’ll be - starting today - a series about our Origin Stories - to prepare for it. 

So before I dive into some ideas around the challenges and importance of doing this - and walk you through some critical steps in terms of HOW to do it… 

I wanted to spend the show today talking about WHAT IT IS. 

What is an origin story? 

Carmen Simon - neuroscientist, best-selling author, speaker - uncovers the importance of knowing why and how we can remember things in the hopes that the message we have will stick with our audience forever. Her neuroscience background gave light to important insights to how we can tailor our talk to be extra impactful! 

Welcome, Movers! The new and improved WEBSITE is finally here! I am so proud of how it came together and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. My hope is that this website will become a home of resources for you as you begin or continue on your speaking journey!
Check it out: http://www.thismovedme.com

Articulating clearly the point of your talk is one of the most difficult areas for speakers to master. It is not uncommon to start your talk and pretty soon you have five talks within one actual talk! Sometimes the idea we are trying to articulate is complicated - our job is to make it easy for our audience. Keeping the audience in mind when narrowing the point of your talk is essential.

As speakers, we are meaning makers. We are trying to convey a new idea and bring meaning to that, which is why delivering it in a simple way is crucial. To effectively do this, the point of your talk must be these three things:

• Clear
• Meaningful
• Intriguing

Now, here is the challenge! I believe that in order to achieve an effective talk, you should be able to pass the 7/7 test! You should be able to articulate the point of your talk in 7 seconds so that a 7-year-old can understand it.

Want to become a Thought Leader? Of course you do!

Tony Loyd - raido host, author, speaker and thought leader! - moves the world with his unique perspective on how to do well and do good at the same time. Like many of us may have felt at some point in our lives, Tony needed a change in his life. He decided to take the leap to go do what his heart was longing for - mentor others on how to live a life where profit and purpose are intertwined.

Through Tony’s journey, he learned an important lesson that would ultimately shape the speaker and thought leader he is today. He began to understand what it means to show up as your authentic self when you speak. To bring every piece of your self to your talk in order to serve your audience in the way they need. Although this wasn’t easy at first, it helped Tony to create talks that move the world and to help others to do the same.

A few weeks ago I got a text message from one of my speakers who needed a little encouragement before jumping up on stage. And I am always honored to be able to do the encouraging. It's not a small thing, and it's not fluffy. It is essential, and empowering!

So - Who is your cheerleader?

Movers, this episode is all about something every speaker should aim to master in their talks.

My friend Scott reached out and asked me, “I wanna get better at being a storyteller with my talks, any recommendations?”

So, I came up with my top five recommendations for becoming a master at the art of storytelling!

Olivia Mitchell - Presentation Trainer, Speaker, Introvert - aims to redefine the expectations of speaking. Living in New Zealand, Olivia uses her professional presenting skills to speak up about what she is passionate about.

Addressing real-world needs, Olivia sets out to use her voice to make a difference while helping others do the same. All of this - as an introvert. Olivia dedicates her craft to develop ways in which other introverts, like herself, can be just as confident and effective public speakers. She lives by the notion that anyone can speak with confidence despite the obstacles.

Recently, the National Speech and Debate tournament took place in Florida. I have been reflecting on when I had the opportunity to participate in this very tournament during my high school speech days - and I won! I was awarded the National Championship of Original Oratory. My coaches were incredible during this experience and helped so much! When reflecting on this time, I had the chance to truly realize how crucial this moment was to the path that led me to where I am today. I learned so much from speech and how special it really is. With that being said, I dedicated this episode as an ode to the high school sport that shaped who I am today - speech!

Chuck Schumer’s repetition of his stump graduation speech was caught on tape… many, many times!… and put together, in one hilarious montage on John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight. (ps, I love this show - so smart and so funny)
When I saw this video… I laughed, and then I cringed…

Why?
Because let’s be honest: we repeat our content. Of course we do! I
And it’s necessary for a few reasons.
So, what do we do? How do we repeat our content without being a fake (and being Chuck Schumer)?

Mel Burt-Gracik - Management Consultant, Career Transition Coach, Speaker- is authentically herself. Mel helps managers lead their teams better in the work environment. Her goal is to help her clients say, “I look forward to coming to work everyday.”

Mel aims to create psychological safety at work in a way where individuals emotional needs are not just recognized - they are embraced. She knows first hand how failure is not a bad thing - it is just another stepping stone on the pathway to success. Ditching perfection, Mel chooses to always own who she is which ultimately shines through her craft.

Tamsen Webster - speaker, presentation strategist, TEDX producer, messaging guru - brings her delightful spark to our conversation about how to not just get your audience to listen... but how to get them to CHANGE.

You have a vision of where you want to go... but how do you get there? Turns out, the tumble down into the canyon is the best way to the other side.

Matt Abrahams is a passionate, collaborative and innovative educator, author, and coach. He is a lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business where he teaches two very popular classes in Strategic Communication and Effective Virtual Presenting. Additionally, Matt is a professor of communication at De Anza College and an adjunct faculty member for Stanford University’s Continuing Education Program. Also, Matt coaches entrepreneurs from around the world on pitching their ideas as part of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business’s Ignite Program. Matt is especially interested in applying communication knowledge to real-world issues. In service of this goal, he published Speaking Up Without Freaking Out, a book written to help people present and communicate in a more confident, connected, and compelling manner.

On the show, Matt and I talk about some key strategies to calm your body down so you can speak with more confidence and clarity - a need for ALL of us, not just the newbies or introverts. No, siree! We all have some level of anxiety around speaking, so I'm thrilled to share Matt's ideas and insights with you! 

Speakers!

If you speak at events - or pull together events - or attend events! - then you know that HOW an event comes together is really important. And it's way more complicated than most people think...

I'm currently in Milwaukee doing a fundraising event with an awesome team of people who have consistently created and produced some of the most beautiful, stunning and powerful events I've ever had the privilege of being a part of.

And so I've invited these 'all-star' event people into the conversation with me today about how to pull off a spectacular event program!

Meet: Todd Hansen - producer and performer - who knows the ins and outs of doing this work well. And Sarah Gillund, communications guru - who oversees the consistent and beautiful messages that the audience experiences from the first moment to the last.

(We're not talking table centerpieces. Just not my expertise, and I happily hand off front-of-house stuff to someone else) as much as we're talking about what happens 'on stage.')

A good event can inspire action; and a bad one can do the opposite.

So - here are nine ingredients of a spectacular event!

AmyK Hutchens is a speaker, teacher, trainer, entrepreneur and business strategist - and spends most of her year traveling around the globe speaking about leading a more productive and profitable life. She's a business and life coach whose job is to teach from the stage!

She's got dozens of impressive accolades that clearly state she is a powerhouse - both on and off the stage. But I love that AmyK came to me from a referral from my friend and guest here on This Moved Me, Jenny Evans. Jenny insisted that AmyK would be great - and she was!

We talked about how we as leaders can't just shove the message we think our audience NEEDS down their throats; no, we have to wrap that needed message in what they want:

You wrote a shitty first draft. Congrats!

Then you walked away. AWESOME!

Now... now what? What do we do?

You've still got the kitchen sink, and it's all swirly-whirly and NOT CLEAR. How do we get a little closer to CLEAR??

Here's what you do:

You've written a "shitty first draft" of your presentation.

Congratulations! That's huge.

But now what?

Tune in for Part Two of this three part series to figure out how to jump-start your talk with content that resonates, engages and is authentically grounded in your story. 

How do you write the best (worst) first draft of your presentation?

Along with being a theater major in college, I was also an English major. I loved loved loved being on stage (I know), but I also loved to write. Little did I know I was basically creating for myself the building blocks of my life now. All I knew then was that I loved them both and didn’t want to choose. (Funny how I rejected the idea of being a communications major. Nope, didn’t want that.)

Anyway - I remember sitting in what was infamously known as being a really difficult writing class with Sister Mara. (It was a small liberal arts catholic college.) Sister Mara was a really tough grader - but a brilliant mentor and guide. The assignment was to come up with a metaphor for the process of writing…

You guys - I LOVE METAPHORS! They are the best... so meaty, and you can create and assign so much meaning in them… and to me, that’s the best kind of meaning to find… in layers of other things, because it helps us FEEL those ideas more? - ya know?

Anyway - I remember sitting there and thinking that my metaphor for writing was a make-out session. (So very senior year in college of me to say!)

But essentially what I was thinking was that writing is exploratory for me…

Now, as a grown-up I might say something more like writing is like a walk I took through the Redwoods in Northern California several years ago in this beautiful, sort of mystical place… exploratory, searching, I don’t know where I’ll end up, but I really enjoy the experience of finding out (hahah a- which is really funny if you apply those same ideas to my make-out sessions.( Ahhahaha. Ahem)

ANYWAY.

Some of those same elements apply to us as we create our talks.

We want to go on the journey. We might have an IDEA of where we’re going. We’re not sure how we’re going to get there. And so… we face down the possibility of a draft of... something.

Here are five tips to diving in and writing the best WORST first draft of your talk that you can:

John Bucher – a very difficult to define man of many talents (and he likes it that way) – spoke at the STORY Gathering in 2017, where I saw him share his passionate voice about story and myth. What was so great about that whole thing was that even BEFORE I saw him speak, he had volunteered to be my guinea pig speaker at my live coaching workshop.

I mean… who does that? Believe me – that's a rare thing, to vulnerably walk into that space with a coach you've just met. Well, movers, that act connected me and John for life!

What l learned about John from there is that that's just who he is: an uber-smart academic who digs into the biggest ideas that we humans want to tackle, and brings them to his audience in meaningful ways. Aside from being a speaker, he's an author, podcast host, and teacher… and probably a dozen other things. Passion is his super-power. And in today's episode we talked about all the big ideas… like you do when you're talking with John Bucher….

Enjoy!

Hey Movers!

On the show today we're talking about how to successfully shift our focus away from the words - and more into the DELIVERY that comes more authentically from our bodies.

The words and content are often the 'safe' zone, and we can spend a LOT of time in there. Makes sense. Delivering it, especially in an "embodied" way, it becomes us more. It's a much higher-call, and it requires more from us.

So how? What are some simple things we can do to get our words into our body more?

Here are 5 simple ways to get the words more into your body:

Gillian Ferrabee - performer, speaker, Cirque de Soleil alum and talent scout... Gillian is an experienced and wise stage presence! When I got to see Gillian speak at last year's STORY Gathering in Nashville, I was so taken at how grounded and giving she was as a speaker. There was no pretense. No 'show' - even though she is such a skilled performer. She was present, in her body.

So it was no surprise that Gillian talked about being IN YOUR BODY, and dealing with what happens to us as creative people when we are putting ourselves out there.

She is full of insight - has the best giggle - and brings to all of us some essential reminders about the power of the present moment and how we as speakers can tune into it more.

Are you drowning in content-creation overwhelm?

Yeah, me too.

I'm gonna get vulnerable here -

I'm off my game.

Does that ever happen to you? As you are working on creating talks that move the world, do you ever get stuck, falter, get distracted from your purpose and goal?

Overwhelm is the new black... or something like that.

Sometimes the best way to get through the stuck and shift gears is to bring it to light, and share the plan so people can help hold you accountable and cheer you on. (Hi! I'm talking to you!)

So here's my plan - and perhaps these can also be helpful to you if you're feeling overwhelmed like I am.

Introducing: a super simple tool that can help jump-start writing a talk, especially when you're feeling stuck and staring at your computer.

I don't know about you, but

Taylor Croonquist - Co-Founder of Nuts and Bolts Speed Training, a PowerPoint training website and "oooh" and "aaaaah" creator - joined me on the show to talk about presenting online. Taylor is a "hack trickery" kind of guy - always finding ways to short-cut and 'break' what's not working well enough and find a way to do it better. And he and his wife Camille - along with the awesome P-Spice from Spicy Presentations - have created an online hub with over a hundred  YouTube videos and online courses about ways to make PowerPoint work better for you, and faster.

Amena Brown - poet, author, speaker - is a powerhouse performer. I got to see her on stage at the STORY Gathering this past September, and immediately knew I wanted to have her on the show. She is brilliant, funny, passionate - and so incredibly thoughtful about her craft.

What moved me so much about her work on stage is that she is a poet who speaks. She is a craftswoman - focusing on the power of words. And there's so much that we can learn from her on this.

Colin Stokes - TED speaker, communications and marketing professional, proud Dad, and fellow high school speech geek - sat down with me to talk about the powerful platform of speaking as perhaps THE way we might be able to create change in this world.

That's a big statement, but I happen to believe that speaking has a very specific potential to create change.

And Colin, a passionate advocate for social justice and change, agrees.

So in this episode, we dig into WHY, and HOW. Why is public speaking such a powerful force? And HOW is it such a powerful force? And how can we create more moments of transformation?

GOOD QUESTIONS! Let's do this.