179: MMM - On Repeating Our Content Without Being a Fake

Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world. Episode 179: On repeating your content, on repeating your content, on repeating your content, on repeating your content, on repeating your content, on repeating your content, on repeating your content. With me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney. Together with some fabulous guests, we will have a casual A casual conversation about the art of public speaking. Because a good talk can move the world. And it'll be fun. Yeah, I would think making alien cows meaningful, that's not a small task. I love your giggle. Wow. Oh my gosh. So waiting for everybody to figure out the alphabet. Hello, movers and unspeakers. Welcome to another mini Moved Me here on This Moved Me. It is the end of June, and typically in the summer I dial back a little bit, but not here on the podcast. No, this summer you are gonna keep seeing new content every week. So I'm really jazzed about it, actually. I've got a lot of fun stuff planned, and today's episode was really inspired by this video.

And now, Senator Chuck Schumer is caught in an endless graduation speech time loop. When I was seated at college graduation, I had just learned that I had won a scholarship to travel all around the world. At the same time, I had met a girl and I fell in love. Torn! Do I go around the world on an all-expense-paid scholarship for a whole year? Or do stay home with my girl—my first true love?! Class of 2018 what would you have done? Class of '17... class of '16... '15... '14... '13... '12... '11... What would you've done!? "I stayed at home." She dumped me before Labor Day. There was no scholarship; trip around the world; No Girl!! No girl. But somehow I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and a few years later I found myself seated at graduation once again. Found myself seated at graduation once again. Once again. Once again. Once again. Once again. I was seated at college graduation. I had just learned that I had won a scholarship to travel all around the world. All around the world.

Oh my gosh, you guys. So When I saw this, that was Chuck Schumer, by the way, Chuck Schumer's repetition of his stump graduation speech that was caught on tape, of course, many, many times, and some brilliant person put it all together in one hilarious montage on John Oliver's show, Last Week Tonight, if you've ever seen that show. I love that show. It's so smart and so funny. So when I saw that video, I laughed because it's funny, and then I cringed as a speaker and as a speaking coach because it lifts the curtain on something that audiences probably understand that speakers do, and yet it's not something that anybody wants to see or acknowledge. It's kind of like how the sausage gets made, which I just don't want to know. I really don't want to know. And here's how I felt watching it, that, and my fear watching that is that whatever connection Chuck Schumer might have created in those speaking moments, those graduation speeches where people thought, "Oh, what a great story, and isn't he delightful and funny?" that they would now go, "Ah, hmm, guess that wasn't really real. That thing that I experienced that I thought was really special happening between you and me, hmm." I guess that was kind of a joke or fake. Because as an audience member, you realize in that moment, oh, this is just something that he's doing on autopilot. And maybe as real as Chuck may have felt about that moment and that story, and as real as the audience might have felt that it was, seeing it like that all put together and you realize, mm, Maybe not so real. Now I've said in the past that we as speakers, we really, we have to keep our content fresh and real and related to this particular audience and this particular moment, and I really believe that. But I also feel just a bit of a need to come to Chuck's defense because let's be honest, we repeat our content. Of course we do. It's necessary for a few reasons. Number one, It's our brand, right? Our content is our brand, and we're known for certain content. So we build our brand and message around that content. So it's, it's really natural that there's going to be consistency and repetition of content. Okay, so that's a big part of it. But number 2, we repeat our content sometimes because of time. There's only so much time, and once you find something that works and people are requesting that specific content, recreating a new message each time, well, honestly, most of us don't have that kind of time or energy. And frankly, if you're— unless you're getting paid a lot of money to do that, it doesn't always make sense. And now I say that knowing that especially there are speakers listening, I know, who— gosh, I'm thinking about my pastor friends out there who create a new message every week. Oh my gosh, I don't know how you do it. And you have my admiration and respect for that. But mostly time is of the essence. It doesn't always make sense to spend our time recreating new content. The third reason we often repeat our content is to master the content. For mastery. Because to truly master your content, you have to dig deeply into it. I once gave the same speech— well, I mean, it was mostly the same— on average about 2 times a week for 4 or so years. And honestly, the last year was the year that I soaked the most out of it. I was at my very best that final year because really knowing your content allows you to master not just the delivery of it, right? Not just to get a sense of the flow and the arc and where those moments are that you really want to soak up and let sink deeply into you. But you also yourself grow into the development and understanding of the content, the topic, in sometimes really profound ways. Because, and I'm sure you know this, saying something out loud in front of other people and committing to that gets into your body and gets into who you are in a way that other mediums don't. So in some ways, standing up and speaking about something trains your body to believe it and learn it and know it and embody it in really powerful ways. So the more you do that, the more it gets in you. So that's something that can only happen with repetition. So for brand reasons, for time reasons, for mastery reasons, it makes sense to repeat our content. But what do we do? How do we repeat our content for all those good reasons without becoming Chuck Schumer? Well, there is a balance, and finding that balance of consistency so that you can develop some mastery and that you can develop your brand and your message and so that you can save time. Uh, we can find that balance with an openness to the now and the needs of your audience. So I want to offer a few suggestions on how specifically we can find that balance. So the first thing I want you to do is to plan for at least 10% of your talk to be new. Just know that 10% is going to be new so that you're really giving 10% effort to the content development rather than redoing the whole thing. Now maybe Chuckie was sharing some new stuff along with that old story that they caught on tape, right? I completely acknowledge that I didn't see any of those speeches in full, I just saw the montage, so maybe he's already doing this. Maybe, but knowing politics and knowing the nature of that beast, I would be surprised. But aside from the fact that giving space for the new really allows you to personalize what is probably your stump or your signature talk for this moment, the added benefit is that it keeps you really focused and it keeps you brave. You have got to do something that you, that feels a little risky. You've got to risk a little bit each time you get up to speak, or people are gonna yawn their way through your talk. And new content will do that for you. It just helps hone your focus in a way because you can't be lazy about it. Now, I personally, I probably end up doing more like 25% new each time just because I'm kind of a content-obsessed person and this is my job and and I could spend all the time in the world on it. Uh, of course, because this is my job and this is what I love to do. But most of us don't have that kind of time to really mess with our content and mess with what we do. So aim for 10%. Find a space for the new, like for what the present calls for. Maybe throw in a different story that connects with the conference theme or make room to riff on a talk that somebody gave earlier that connects to yours. Just do not— whatever you do, do not get up there planning on doing the same old same old. You've got to bring the present moment and bring yourself and what is happening in reality into the room with you, because your audience will feel it if you do, and they will feel it if you don't. And you'd rather have them feel it if you do, right? They appreciate that. Okay, the second thing that I want you to do to help find that balance is to loosen your script and play with the content. So you know if you need to do this if you are word for word on your stories at this point. If it is, if you're doing the same thing again and again, right? You, at that point, you have reached mastery. Good for you. But now it's time to let some of it go and push yourself. Keep finding finding the new opportunities and possibilities, right? Because we're, we're never really done. But this is gonna be hard for some of you because especially if you finally reach mastery, you trust it, you know it works, you've become attached to it, right? It's becoming automatic. But that is the point at which you've got to force yourself to try it a new way. If anything, it keeps you engaged and interested and curious and focused, right? But It will also— you might find something even better. You might find something that you love even more, but you won't know that until you play with it. So you keep a loose grip on your script, right? The moment it becomes where you're like, I'm saying it the exact same way every time, right? You've got to find a place where you are loose and stretching, which leads us to the third suggestion I have for you. Which really underlies and is the foundation for these first two, and that is that you've got to have a mindset of evolution. So if you think your content is done, you are— and just really simply put, I'm going to be straightforward about this— you're wrong. No content is ever done, ever. It is a living, breathing thing because it is not on paper. It is living in your body. So if you believe right now my content's done, then you're, you're doing one of two things. You're not paying attention to feedback or opportunities to improve or change or grow. Okay. Or you just don't care that much about changing it. And both of those are okay things because sometimes that's just where we are and we're like, we've got other fish to fry and I'm not going to fry this fish right now. But I will tell you honestly, your audience will feel those things. So if you are giving a talk more than once, if this is something that you want to establish, if this is a signature talk, or if this is a stump speech, if this is your origin story, if you're investing in really consistency of message, then you also have to invest in the change of it, in the growth of it. It will not just keep you sharp, Okay, it will not just help you stay focused, it will not just help you stay present and relevant, but it's also going to help you be more impactful, right? Because the world evolves around us, we evolve as human beings. So a talk that you wrote 2 years ago should be different now because you are different, the world is different. Okay, so there's some of this that is, um, Well, essentially, you can choose to keep it as is, but if you want, if you want to continually do your most impactful work, then you've got to invest in the improvement of it. So plan for 10% new, loosen your script, play with the content, and number 3, embrace a mindset of evolution, really invest in your content development. Now, if you want to download a lovely PDF of these reminders, head over to thismovedme.com/episode179, and you can do that there. Super easy peasy. And it's sometimes just so good to get that up in front of us, what those pieces are, especially if you're in the midst of finding that balance. Between mastery, consistency of brand and message, and wanting to save time, but also finding ways to stay relevant and present so we don't become a little Chuck Schumer. Chuck, thanks for the inspiration today. All right, now, movers, unspeakers, uh, in a few weeks I'm gonna do a Q&A episode in July, and I want your questions so that I can answer them for you. So send them to me. I want you to head over to Instagram. I'm on Instagram at @thismovedme, and I would really— I'd like to be more active on Instagram. Maybe if you guys can help me with that. So DM me on there. That'll help get my head and brain over there. Or if you're more of a Facebook person, send me a message on the This Moved Me Facebook page, or hop onto the website, thismovedme.com. You can send me a quick note there. I would love to hear from you. Where— what are the questions that came up as you heard me talking today? Or what are the— where are you at right now in your speaking journey? What are you struggling with? And I'm gonna respond to as many questions as I can. I've already got a few, so thank you to those of you who've sent those in, and I'd love some more. So send those in to me and I will get at them in July. That's it for me. This moved me. Thanks, Chuck. What is moving you? I'd love to hear from you. All right, team. Rules. Now I'm not at all suggesting that— can you hear? My husband is in the kitchen. I don't know if he's on the phone or Can you hear him? So loud. He knows I'm recording right now. So thoughtful. Really sweet. Okay, I'm backing up for a second. Oh gosh, hold on. We have to go tell him to be quiet. Hang on, I'll be right back.