This Moved Me

Hello 2016! Re-entry from vacation is always a little bumpy. I will admit, I got quite used to busting into appetizers and a bottle of wine at about 4pm (ok, 3) each day - so I'm doubling down on my smoothie/green intake this week hoping to neutralize pretty much everything. Ha! I'm still not quite done with reflecting and revisiting 2015. I couldn't help but to do one more round-up of 2015 - my favorite part of the show each week: the This Moved Me Moments! I have a hard time picking "favorites" of most anything. But, I wanted to recognize some of the most memorable This Moved Me Moments from 2015.  I edited together some of the best audio stories that were shared on the show - highlights from Lindsey O'Connor's episode, Kate O'Reilly's episode, and Joe Beckman's episode - among a few others (you can listen here). But I also wanted to gather together some of the other memorable pieces here on the blog, that are not easily shared by audio.  Check the blog (www.thismovedme.com) for the complete round-up! 

As I head off on break for a few weeks to take some down time with family and to celebrate Christmas, I wanted to share an excerpt of the beautiful book Becoming Naomi Leon (by Pam Muños Ryan). Naomi - a young girl - along with her brother and Gram - head out to find their father in Mexico. Santiogo, her father, is an artist. And so is Naomi. And, like the process of creating her soap carvings - Naomi is also in the process of discovering herself. They are connected - our creations, and ourselves. (Listen here for the full excerpt.) "Each piece has a personality. Sometimes you can look at the wood and see exactly what it might be. The promise reveals itself early. Other times you must let your imagination dictate what you will find." Sometimes our talks go through a similar process. Sometimes the magic is revealed to us early. And other times, we have to keep carving until finally it makes itself clear. It's sometimes challenging, sometimes scary - and sometimes magical, easy, fated. This time of year more

On this week's Mini Moved Me: I talk about holding space.  Several weeks back, a Twitter follower and listener sent me a message and asked me to talk a bit about "holding space" as a speaker. He then sent me to this blog post written about the concept, and suggested I have the writer on the show. Which I did!  At first glance, I wasn't exactly sure what my new friend Jeffrey meant by "holding space."    But after reading Heather's blog post, I came to this: (Listen to hear more!)

Another amazing find by my hubs, Andy: Several weeks back, he came home from a conference and said, "You've got to have this woman on your show." So Cecily and I talked - and she asked me a really good question (which, as it turns out, is a backbone of her work): "What was at work when it was working? What did he like about it?"... well, he didn't say.  (For those of you who know Andy, you might be laughing now. He sometimes doesn't say much.) But when I went back, he said, "she was compelling, interesting, engaging - on a PANEL!  That doesn't often happen." Well, the truth is that Cecily has an incredibly rich and interesting life - and brings it all to her work as a futurist and speaker. Her goal is to create experiences that can reinvent - ourselves, our audience. So, we talked about that! And, she said, like, a million things worth writing down. I tried to capture them all here for you. ENJOY!

On this week's Mini Moved Me: There have been many times when I'm working with folks who want to share a long list of things with their audience. And I have to ask: Do you want them to remember every little thing on this list? Or, do you really want to communicate something about the list as a whole?   Most of the time, it's the latter. ("We're doing all kinds of things to market"; "We're making all these improvements"; "I see so many opportunities for growth," etc.) Which makes sense, right, cause audiences don't/can't remember too many details.    But even knowing that people won't remember the details, it's hard not to indulge in them. It feels responsible, somehow - like, we might not be giving the work the credit it deserves to fly through them.  But here's the deal: The audience won't remember details, but they do remember feelings.  Focusing on the whole of the list - and the feeling behind it - is called sharing  "the laundry list."   Ya know, throwing them all together into the laundry basket kind o

Today's show focuses in on facilitating, as well as speaking. A few months back a listener (Hi Jeffrey!) reached out to me on Twitter asking me a wonderful question about holding space - and then suggested I read this article about the concept written by today's guest, Heather Plett.  (He then went on to suggest I have her on the show!) I read the article - was moved - and asked Heather to join me for a conversation. It felt like a meeting of the minds! Heather is a facilitator, practitioner, speaker and incredibly wise guide. (I wrote down quote after quote after quote... ) She understands deeply the 'why' behind our work as speakers, which is that we can create meaning.  That is not a small thing. Thanks for reminding me of this, Heather!

On this week's Mini Moved Me: I don't consider myself a brain expert (which is why I'm friends with awesome people like Erin Walsh from episode 004!) - but I know this: Our pre-frontal cortex is really important in growing up, acting like an adult, making good decisions and generally being a responsible human. But it's super un-helpful in creating things. 

Nearly twenty years ago, I was a theater major at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University here in Minnesota. There I met some truly incredible people - one of whom I am sharing with you today! John Sandahl is a speaker, life coach, facilitator, and international ultimate frisbee player. John and I have worked together at Youth Frontiers for the past decade or so - and in that time I've coached John, and learned from him. I've watched John become a speaker, right before my eyes. And a good one at that. He brings his wisdom and guidance - and playfulness! - to all those he speaks to and works with. So, I was so excited to bring him on the show and talk about developing mastery.

I wanted to do a special Mini Moved Me in honor of Thanksgiving - thanking you for your support, for your questions and insights and connections. I do feel so incredibly thankful for this slice of my life that has been so gratifying in the past year.  All of that is very true - I'm incredibly grateful for this show, and for each of you. But I also feel a pang of shallowness in that sentiment. I need to place my gratitude within the context of this greater world that is struggling so much right now.  I read this beautiful post by Elizabeth Gilbert about Mercy, about keeping our hearts open when so many people are shutting theirs down. We, as meaning-makers, speaker - MOVERS - our job is to help people experience mercy, to open their hearts, to illuminate the suffering of others and have it become our suffering as well. To experience each other, to experience compassion. To be human.  Thank you for your open hearts. 

Lately my husband has been making some amazing connections for me. First - last week's episode with John Capecci - and now this week's episode with Jack Stahlmann! I felt a connection with Jack because his face and mine are both very expressive. (See last week's Mini Moved Me for pictures.) Jack is a "motivational speaker" - but he brings a new zest to that idea, which I really appreciate! We talked a lot about 'knowing ourselves' as a speaker (or actor/performer) and how essential that is to do good work. Take a listen!

I got this thoughtful and totally understandable question from a listener last week: I have done public speaking since I was a teenager, I have now been a Pastor for a year, and preach weekly. Each week, I need to create a new sermon. I find a lot of emotional energy goes into the preparation and the emotion peaks on the Sunday as I talk. Each Sunday afternoon and Monday I emotionally crash. I get flat, regret things I have said, doubt my capacity to speak and get sleepy. I understand that the highs and lows are very natural. I am wondering, have you got any tools for managing the lows after speaking, so that I can bounce back quicker so that I can engage the world around me on Sunday and Monday? ~Gavin Take a listen while I take on this MMM Q&A!

Talking with John Capecci - communications coach, author, teacher - was like finding a friend who likes all the same things that you do. And what's especially cool is that our connection was totally happenstance. A few weeks back, my husband went to a Pollen event, and happened to sit next to John. They had a short conversation and it became clear really quickly that he and I have a similar mission: to move people with our talks - and in John's case, more specifically, stories. We had a mind-meld conversation over coffee, and I quickly realized that I needed to have him on the show. I'm delighted to share his insights with you!

My face is expressive! I have the deepest, deepest forehead wrinkles of anyone I've ever known - particularly for anyone under the age of 40 (barely, but yes, I'm under 40). And one of the most important aspects of expression is your eyebrows. That comes as a surprise to many people, but the eyebrows hold the key to telling whether or not someone really means what they're saying.

Michael Veltri came to me through Nick Morgan (one of our sponsors of this show, a guest on This Moved Me, and an all-around great human) - and we originally recorded a conversation this past summer. But as you know if you've been following along with me, I had some technical issues this summer (understatement - ahem). And then I got a new computer. And I think the combo invited in some terrible karma or something, and I lost the recording with Michael. (I know, how does that happen?!) So, he was kind enough to sit down via Skype - again! - and I'm so glad we did! Michael is an executive coach, consultant, speaker, entrepreneur - and he brings his life experience - as a cancer survivor, an Aikido Master, a Marine - into all that he does. Plus, he's in the midst of some major growth in his speaking career, so we got to talk about lessons learned along the way. Enjoy!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THIS MOVED ME! I love all excuses to celebrate! And this one is particularly special for me. One year ago today, I took a risk and jumped head first into this podcast thing. In many ways it was a selfish endeavor because I simply love talking about this stuff - and I love people - so it seemed like a fun little project. Well, this "fun little project" has turned into a twice-weekly gig that has become a big part of my life, and connected me with people from all over the world! I've spoken with huge TED speakers, budding amateurs who are about to go big time, and uber-talented artists and visionaries who all have brought insight and courage to this art of public speaking. I am so grateful. So–to celebrate–I've got some goodies for you, including this outtakes montage. Enjoy!

I attended the Minneapolis TEDx Event this summer. It was a night full of some amazing speakers, but the stand out to me was Michelle Hensley, my guest today. Michelle is the Artistic Director and Founder of Ten Thousand Things theater company. This theater company creates theater that brings stories to people who don't normally get to experience them. But that's just the very tip of the iceberg. I was so excited to talk with Michelle because her philosophy as a theater person directly correlates to us as speakers, as you'll hear. There is so much to dig into here. ENJOY!

On today's Mini Moved Me (just a smaller version of the real thing that I post on Wednesdays), I talk about the strange connection between our brains and our feet. If you've ever noticed when someone's really 'in their brain' as they wrestle and connect with new content, you might notice that their feet reflect what their brains are doing: they wander. 

Several months back, my sister-in-law sent me a link to one of her neighbors down in Lawrence, KS. "He's a storyteller," she said. "He'd be great on your podcast." Hmmm, I thought. Checked out his website, did a little research. Yes, he certainly has the experience. So we exchanged some emails and kicked the ball down the field. We were both sure that at some point we'd record a conversation. Well, then we went down to visit my new (adorable, cutey, love them so much) niece and nephew, and they invited their storytelling neighbor over. And we talked for an hour. MAN, I wish I would have pulled out my phone and recorded that conversation because very quickly we went deep, and thoughtful, and dug into some big stuff. So I INSISTED that we record it officially and get this guy's thoughts on the show.   I convinced him. And today, you get to get a peek into Bob Tryanski's varied experience, insight, humor and thoughtfulness that he brings into his work as a speaker and storyteller.

I was working with a speaker who was under a really tight time crunch - and as this time crunch came down to the wire (and as he searched for extra time to make this talk happen amid many other demands in his life) - he kept asking me to take on certain aspects of the work. Now, there are a lot of things that we as coaches can do. Some research, lots of observation and note-giving, and many, many hours of editing and shaping. But we cannot do the creating. You - as the speaker - must do the creating - or it won't be yours. If you want to do something transformative - there are no shortcuts. If you want it to matter - there are no shortcuts. If you want to feel really proud of what you're doing at the end of the day, and allow the evolution of what you're doing to live its full life - there are not shortcuts.

I've got a special edition of This Moved Me this week! I gave a big hint about it in my weekly This Moved Me newsletter a few weeks back... so, for those who are not signed up for these emails (why aren't you signed up for these?!), let me see if I can set this up for you.   A few weeks ago I attended the Minneapolis Foundation's 100-year anniversary conference. They had some HUGE keynote speakers lined up - Dan Buettner from the Blue Zone project (hilarious, I'm dying to interview him), Michio Kaku - the physicist futurist (he is really something - a total entertainer) - and then our guest for today's show - Dan Pallotta, founder and president of Advertising for Humanity and the Charity Defense Council.   You see, Dan invented the modern-day charity event, and in doing so, raised hundreds of millions of dollars for some of the biggest causes of the day. But it wasn't an easy ride. Dan's TED Talk - one of the 100-most viewed of all time - inspires and insists on a new way of thinking about how we treat charit