This Moved Me

Kate O’Reilly - or as you may know her, Clever Kate - is a content strategist - writer, coach, blogger, vlogger, podcaster - and she consults with people to bring their messages out into the world. But the defining characteristic of Kate is her vulnerability. Her sheer ballsy - clear - and kind way in which she moves through the world is truly inspiring - and not just by me, but so many others. I was in the audience as she spoke at an event at CoCo (a co-working collaborative here in the Twin Cities), and it became very clear that there’s so much that we as speakers and performers can learn from her.

  John Noltner - photographer, writer, speaker - “curator of stories” - has shared all of these forms in his latest passion project, “A Peace of My Mind” - a project that shares people’s stories about their connection to the idea of "peace.” It is beautiful, thought-provoking, challenging, inspiring…I got to see John speak at an event for Youth Frontiers (which we’ll talk about a bit on this episode), where he shared part of his exhibit, and his approach with an audience is to be the channel through which he shares other people’s wisdom; which gave John the confidence to share it.

It's New Year's Eve!  Happy New Year! To continue the tradition of short and sweet holiday posts, here's another Mini Moved Me, this time the New Year's Eve "Round-Up" Edition. Basically, I asked everyone that I've been around for the last week or so one question: "What's one thing that's moved you in the last year?".... And I got a wide and wonderful array of voices, emotions, favorites, realities and truths:

Today I want to introduce you to a new concept - the Mini Moved Me! A mini - a smaller version of the real thing. But hopefully no less fun, entertaining, thoughtful and valuable! I thought Christmas Eve might be the perfect time to publish my first Mini Moved Me… why?  Because honestly, who has time to during the holidays to spend selfishly listening to things you love?  Hmmm, not me!  So, I wanted to make this short and sweet! Today’s episode is about authenticity. I wrote a blog post about this awhile back, and wanted to share it with you here. 

  Barry Kudrowitz - speaker and professor of product design -  studies humor, creativity, and idea generation. It all started with a pooping ketchup bottle; and that little invention led Barry to study improvisors and the interplay with creativity and innovation. Whether he’s lecturing his students or keynoting for a large corporation, Barry designs the experience in the same way that improvisors design their scenes - with creativity and innovation.

  Paul Tomes - presentation guru from over in South Africa - joined me in a conversation about how we present in a conversational - and essentially human - way. Paul is an incredibly skilled presentation coach who shared several powerful stories about real transformation—sharing the very best of what we can do. Paul writes at Freshly Squeezed Presentations and works at Pitch - a firm focused on telling stories that move people.

  Christina Canters - communications coach, blogger, speaker, writer, location independent world traveler! She is a creative dynamo, boldly putting her ideas out into the world, breaking the mold and influencing people with her work. I ran across her info on a conference website where she will be speaking, and asked her if we could chat. She obviously said yes, but the funny thing is, we ended up talking less about speaking and more about creativity and influence, as she brings her next idea to the world. There’s obvious crossover with speakers, as we bring our voice and our new work out into the world - so I was thrilled she was willing to overlook the 12-hour gap between the two of us and join me for a conversation… 

Mo Perry - Actor and writer, Mo Perry has spent the last decade “submitting herself” for rejection - and sometimes success! On this episode, we talk about the courage and determination required for this line of work, and the importance of continuing to show up, day after day, to do the creative work in the hopes that something will come of it!

  Scott Voss - high school speech coach and teacher, reading specialist, comedian, writer, meaning-maker and generally awesome human. He was my speech coach way back in the day, and was formative in my approach as a coach, and my belief in myself as a speaker! Scott - along with his fellow nationally-acclaimed coaches - has developed and taught hundreds (yes, hundreds) of national speech competitors. On the show today, Scott brings his telltale humor, storytelling and wisdom that I benefitted from as a high school student, and that I am so glad to be sharing with you today.

  Erin Walsh - parenting expert, brainiac, speaker and writer - brings to the conversation today her thoughtful, humble and honest approach to how she overcome her own fear of public speaking - because she’s so passionate about sharing the message. Most importantly, Erin masterfully marries the depth and smarts of the content with the need for narrative and emotion. She herself embodies this idea, and brings herself fully to the process and art of speaking. 

 Elise Robinson - theater director, writer, blogger, teacher, and general smarty-pants - brings to the conversation her witty and joyful mix of academia and traditional theater into the context of “communication.” In true Elise form, she references Peter Brook’s concept of “deadly” and “holy” theater - and shares with us some delightful and transformative moments.  (Which happens to include several references to the charm and brilliance of Brits - and Patrick Stewart - twice.) 

Scott Zimmer first got into public speaking by talking with students about personal safety on behalf of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation. He quickly realized that he loved speaking in front of people - not only because it was fun (even when talking about difficult things), but because he wanted to provide tangible take aways that could really help people. Now Scott is a keynote speaker at Bridgeworks, an organization that speaks about generations in the workplace, where he brings his GenX humor, knowledge and confidence - the ingredients to handling any speaking challenge that comes your way!

 Rita Boersma is a writer, speaking coach, performer, improvisor, playwright, speaker… ETC.! Her work as a speaker and coach at Youth Frontiers over the past decade - along with her work as an improvisor at HUGE Theater and ComedySportz - has helped her define and own the idea of “story truth,” believing - like Tim O’Brien - that it’s even more important than “happening truth.”  

A short introduction to This Moved Me, a weekly podcast about the art of public speaking, because a good talk can move the world!  With Sally Koering Zimney - a speaker, performer and presentation coach - whose zest and curiosity about what moves us as humans brings these ideas to light in a casual, fun and thoughtful way.