This Moved Me

So - you’ve got a hefty first draft, and now it's time to edit your talk.   Knowing we want to get to clear and concise… AND - at the same time, say something NEW.   Finding the SIMPLE and still saying something TRUE and - in some way - NEW.   Whooo, that is a challenge!   And what the editing process in creating a talk is all about.   And it’s a CREATIVE PROCESS.   It’s not JUST - cutting out the stuff you don’t like/don't need.   It’s a process of digging deeper… and getting clearer on what you actually, really truly mean…   And our first drafts so rarely get there. Most of the time, it’s like skimming the cream off the top of your fancy coffee… it’s satisfying and sugary good. But that’s not where the big punch comes from. (Ha.)   When I gave my TEDx talk… the process of editing that puppy was brutal.   If you looked back on my drafts, they’d look in some ways like completely different talks… with a dslithly different focus each time, different emphasis. Every time I sat down to write, or talked it out, or

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 There’s so much I want to say! The beginning is so important…  I want to ‘wow’ my audience…  And make the most of the moment…    And yet - HOW?     The stakes can feel high - your own expectations can drown out the clarity of what you’re trying to say.       I have BEEN THERE!       But this tactic that I use with many of my speakers to pull us out of the mire of writing, and to think about things from a bigger, broader perspective. To establish the lay of the land a bit before we go on the journey.  

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.

Stephy Lewis [check out her amazing website!], presentation designer from the Presentation Guild - and my new pal from the Presentation Summit - got a chance to catch up and talk the good, bad and ugly about presentation design and development. Even though Stephy was dragged kicking and screaming from the field of design into the field of *presentation* design, she has discovered the depth, complexity and artistry of the profession - part of the reason why she's so passionate about her role at the Presentation Guild! Jump in with us as we talk about what bad design can do to our mental state (ha), the importance of the collaborate nature of developing presentations, and 3 keys to designing intentional presentations.

Ah, the Presentation Summit! I've had the most exciting September... last week I shared about the top 10 essential speaking lessons from the STORY Gathering in Nashville - and I went straight from Nashville to Tampa. I was met with gorgeous beaches and weather. Not bad for a work trip. :) But here's the deal: I wasn't sure I was going to like this conference. Last spring, I got an email from this man named Rick Altman, the creator of this conference and CEO of Better Presenting. He said, "Hey, you should come to this conference I put on!" Now, I had HEARD about this conference as a great conference for Power Point users and designers, but because I'm not a Power Point designer, I thought it wasn't for me.  Not only am I not a designer, I'm not a huge fan of Power Point. :) I recognize it is a powerful tool - and a tool that many, many of my clients use. But I really wasn't sure there'd be much for me at this conference. But Rick said - HECK NO - it's for any presentation professional. Well, ok!  So, off I wen

Last week I had the great privilege of being a part of STORY Gathering 2017 - a gathering of creatives from a wide breadth of industries, brought together by one thing: story. I attended last year - and it was two days jam-packed with inspiration. Powerful speakers, moving music, thoughtful breakouts - and so. many. amazing. people. I was jazzed! From there, I got to interview a few of those amazing people on my show, including Brad Montague, Jason Jaggard, and Harris III. But this year they asked me to take part. So, off I went - to Nashville - and two full days of ideas, inspiration and connections. To make the most of this experience, I wanted to jot down the best of what I'm taking with me - and wanted to share with you, in case there holds some wisdom for you as well.

Brett Trapp of the online memoir/story/audio story Blue Babies Pink is a writer, speaker and marketing consultant whose story took my heart by storm this past spring. Brett's "Southern coming out story" has been described as the "Netflix of blogs" - and is the epitome of Brené Brown's "excruciating vulnerability." He risked a lot to tell his true story. And it's awesome. So I was thrilled to get him on the show to talk about what it really means to tell his own true story with so much grace - and to embrace not only the need for us as speakers and leaders to speak with vulnerability, but the power of that embracing as well.

Lauren Pibworth of Pibworth Consulting Agency for Speakers is joining me on the show today! She is a gem - and a powerhouse for speakers, helping you do all the behind-the-scenes work to help you find your audience and speak to more people - which is really the point of all this work we're doing! It was a delight to have her on the show - hope you enjoy!

Harris III - magician, producer, creative guru - and the man behind the now practically infamous STORY Gathering that I continually rave about here on the show. Yes, that's right - I went straight to the source to hear about how it all came to life - and how to create something both uncommon and universally moving - a challenging feat. I've had so many guests on the show that were inspired by my experience at Story - Jason Jaggard, Brad Montague, and now Harris. Hank Fortener - a favorite with my listeners - was also there last year. And it was first introduced to me by my guest Lindsay O'Connor who read some of Story's marketing materials for her This Moved Me Moment, and I gasped with awe for the beauty of the writing. That's what I'm talking about: beauty, creativity, risk, identity, community. These themes swirl in and around the STORY crew, and it makes for an experience that will nourish your soul and challenge us to do work that really matters. You guys - I realize that much of this sounds like a c

Rick Altman - founder of Better Presenting and the Presentation Summit Conference - joined me on the show to talk about how we can make better presentations with better slide decks. What an important mission! As he said, hating PowerPoint is a badge of honor for so many people - but Rick's knowledge of PowerPoint has given him a chance to see the benefits of such a powerful tool, as well how we normal humans (read: not design or software experts) can use it well - in order to serve our audience and our goals. Rick is a passionate advocate - and brings that passion and joy into this conversation. Enjoy!

This week I hit my 150th episode. WHA??? (I know, I feel the same way.) Almost three years ago, I ventured into this endeavor sure that I had something to offer - but NO IDEA really how to do that, or if it would work, or how much work it would be. Turns out it was a LOT of work - and that I love it way more than I ever thought I would! This Moved Me has challenged me to show up, and take a risk. (A muscle all of us speakers need to flex as much as we can.) And that sometimes people dig what I do! And sometimes, they don't. And that has to be ok if I'm going to do this. At the end of every one of my Mini Moved Me episodes for the last year or so, I have included a little something for those who stick with me to the end: a tiny little outtake - me, messing up somehow. There may be 3 people out there who hear them - but it's not really about that. It's about practicing the art of showing up, ANYWAY.

I had the awesome privilege to go and see the TED Conference Opening Session/Event on Monday night. Well, ok - I wasn't THERE. I was watching from a movie theater. Pretty much by myself. It was still amazing to be there and see how it's all pulled together. Unbeknownst to many people, it is not just a litany of individual talks - it really is an event. At the end, the amazing Chris Anderson (author and TED Conference curator and overall guru of life) asked for feedback from the millions of people watching online. I was one of those people - and I am all about feedback! So, I took him up on his offer. This is the feedback I sent to Chris: Keep breaking the mold. Get the speakers off stage. Move towards integration rather than memorization. These are some big ideas! Take a listen to the show to dig in with me. AND, if you're interested in joining me for a course on INTEGRATION vs. MEMORIZATION, shoot me an email. :) I am working on it.

Welcome to the Speaking Truths series! Regardless of how capable or skilled or experienced or savvy we are, too many of us struggle to fully embrace the power and importance of sharing our voice. We need to stand up - speak up - grounded in our authentic and courageous and clear voice. Even in that business meeting. Even in that workshop you've done a zillion times. Especially in that TED talk. But over the last two decades I've worked with too many speakers who hold themselves back by myths and ideas that are not grounded in truth. So, I decided to create a manifesto of sorts! The 7 Empowering Speaking Truths of Public Speaking. (If you haven't yet downloaded the pdf, do that now. If you want in on the more intensive and free email course on the subject that has added resources, reflection questions and some random goodies - you can sign up for that here!) Today we’re facing a speaking truth that most people know – but we don’t often talk about: If we want to be transformative, there are no shortcuts!  Che

Welcome to the Speaking Truths series! Regardless of how capable or skilled or experienced or savvy we are, too many of us struggle to fully embrace the power and importance of sharing our voice. We need to stand up - speak up - grounded in our authentic and courageous and clear voice. Even in that business meeting. Even in that workshop you've done a zillion times. Especially in that TED talk. But over the last two decades I've worked with too many speakers who hold themselves back by myths and ideas that are not grounded in truth. So, I decided to create a manifesto of sorts! The 7 Empowering Speaking Truths of Public Speaking. (If you haven't yet downloaded the pdf, do that now. If you want in on the more intensive and free email course on the subject that has added resources, reflection questions and some random goodies - you can sign up for that here!) Today we’re facing a speaking truth that most people know – but we don’t often talk about: Audiences are Generous! - IF we are generous with them.  Check

Welcome to the Speaking Truths series! Regardless of how capable or skilled or experienced or savvy we are, too many of us struggle to fully embrace the power and importance of sharing our voice. We need to stand up - speak up - grounded in our authentic and courageous and clear voice. Even in that business meeting. Even in that workshop you've done a zillion times. Especially in that TED talk. But over the last two decades I've worked with too many speakers who hold themselves back by myths and ideas that are not grounded in truth. So, I decided to create a manifesto of sorts! The 7 Empowering Speaking Truths of Public Speaking. (If you haven't yet downloaded the pdf, do that now. If you want in on the more intensive and free email course on the subject that has added resources, reflection questions and some random goodies - you can sign up for that here!) Today we're facing a speaking truth that most people know - but we don't often talk about: Speaking Brings Us to the Truth of Ourselves. Uff-da! Check out