In this episode of the "Be Moved" podcast, speaker coach Sally Koering Zimney (Sally Z) shares three core practices that can elevate a speaker from average to memorable. She begins by emphasizing that even great speakers need feedback, recounting a personal story about giving feedback to her boss and underscoring that feedback fuels rapid improvement. The first practice is to actively seek and invite feedback after every speaking opportunity. The second practice is to rehearse while standing, getting on one’s feet early in the preparation process, because bodily engagement reveals insights that sitting at a desk cannot. The third practice is to aim for an integrated, belief‑driven delivery rather than a memorized script; authenticity and full‑body commitment create connection, while perfectionism hinders it. Sally ties these practices to her upcoming Signature Talk System (STS) program launching October 7, promotes her "Getting Started with Speaking" guidebook, and invites listeners to join a waitlist, leave voicemails, and engage with the podcast community as it approaches its 300th episode. Throughout, she frames speaking as a vulnerable, growth‑oriented journey that benefits from coaching, humility, and continual refinement.
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You know the mark of a true professional? They aren't afraid to get feedback. They are constantly improving. And so I want to share with you today 3 essential practices to help you go from meh to memorable. Hey movers, it's Sally Z with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're going to talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved. This moved me. What is moving you? Hey everybody, welcome back to This Moved Me. My name is Sally Koering Zimney, your speaker coach, and I empower big-hearted entrepreneurs like you to leverage the power of speaking to grow your authority, your impact, and your revenue without the time suck and frustration of under-recognition. In other words, I'm going to help you step out front with more authenticity and confidence and clarity and joy. Now, today on the show, what is moving me is the idea that even the greats can be greater. They can be better. The goods can become great. The greats can become greater. The greaters can become wow. And the wows can become wower. That's not a word. The point that I am making is that nobody is above needing a coach. And sometimes I see people, I connect with people, they're in my group and they're just like, I'm good. Like, I'm good. I don't need any delivery help. I've got it. I'm already at the top of my game. Now, my guess is that for some of those people, it's a little bit of a defensive move because guess what stepping into a coaching experience is? It's vulnerable. It's really vulnerable. It is inviting in somebody to admit that you can do things better, that you are not as awesome as maybe you hope other people see you as, that is a really powerful, vulnerable, real, and needed dynamic. It truly, truly is. So what I want to do on the show this week is to actually share with you a few secret delivery strategies that I share in my STS program that's coming out in October. It's a little bit of a sneak peek, but it's also really important for all of you out there who are like, I'm pretty good, Sally. I already got this. Okay, I speak, I'm rocking it. I'm not sure I need a signature talk. Well, if you are an entrepreneur, you need a signature talk. And if you are out there speaking consistently, then you need to leverage these strategies that we can really finesse when we have a signature talk. So assuming you have a signature talk, let's take you to that next level with these strategies. Also, P.S., while you are here, let's make sure that you grab your Getting Started with Speaking Guidebook because even if you have a signature talk and you're out there and you're rocking it, I want to make sure that you are leveraging it. Not enough of us out there are really being intentional with our approach, and this guidebook is going to show you the way. It's the whole map from beginning to end, so check it out. You can do that at bmoov.com/gss. When I first started In my first professional gig as a coach, I was working with my boss and we were out talking to kids every day. And my boss asked me, invited me in like my first few weeks of work to give him feedback on his talk. Now here's the deal. He was an incredible speaker, like, you know, traveled the country speaking. He was and is a phenomenal speaker. He's funny, he's dynamic, he's engaging, he's deep, he's powerful. He's kind of like brings it home really well. He's awesome. So I was kind of like, okay, should I really give the boss feedback? But that he invited me in to do that. And so I did. Now, what I took from that experience was that even the greats can become greater. Truly, I had plenty to share with him. And the truth is, everyone I've ever worked with, even if they're awesome, I've got some thoughts for them on how they can improve. I'm always open to feedback because I know that I can always improve. It doesn't say anything about you not being awesome as it is. It's just, there's always room for us to grow. So everybody needs a coach. Which brings me to the first thing that we do that is an elevated practice that we implement in STS, and that is to get feedback. The people who do that improve the fastest, I promise. Now, this seems like a no-brainer, but most of the time we are avoiding getting feedback. In STS, if you are in my cohort, if you're in the Salon Experience,. You get tons of powerful feedback from each other, from me, but there are opportunities for all of us every day to get feedback. How many Facebook groups are you in? Are you sharing in there? Are you asking for feedback and input in there? There are coaches that you have signed up with, courses that you've probably taken, and you are not utilizing the opportunity Every time you show up in front of your audience, you can say, let me know, what did you think of this? We can invite in feedback to continue to tweak what we do and improve. It takes a spirit of improvement. It takes some humility to want to grow in that way, but growth is on the other side of our feedback. It takes courage, But it's really, really important. So that is strategy number 1. Number 2 is to get on your feet even before you're ready. Now, I've talked about this a lot in here, but it's worth repeating. It's so, so important. One of the biggest mistakes that I see people make when they are developing their content and trying to show up and show up as a pro and really do something powerful is they plan their content, sitting on their butts in front of a computer. They say stuff out loud, but they're sitting on their butts. And here's the deal: you gotta get off your butt and get on your feet. There are some things that you can only learn on your feet, and until we get on our feet, you're not going to learn them. So you can save that learning for at the very end of the process when you're in dress rehearsals, or worse, when you just press go and your audience gets your dress rehearsal. Let's not learn in the moment. Let's learn before, and then you can adjust your approach and your content because the truth is we speak with our bodies. So you got to get in your body and get on your feet faster. Now, the third strategy that I teach in STS and that I think is so, so important is to go for integrated not memorized. And here's what I mean by that. I don't care if you get your script exactly right. There are a lot of people focused on getting the script exactly right, and then they're not meaning what they're saying. They're not believing it. They're not living it. It's not in their bodies because they're focused on doing it perfectly. No thank you. We're gonna abandon that idea because perfection kills connection. Connection is the point, my friends. So what people respond to is full commitment. They get the sense that you are living this authentically, that you believe it with your whole self. And when people hear that and see that, that's what they want to follow. That's what they're all about. Because if they believe you, they will follow you. So we're going for belief and commitment. Which is another way of thinking about integration rather than going for memorized. Now, every pro in any industry is going to tell you that they are working with coaches. That's what people do to get better, right? To take you from really pretty good to mastery level, it requires humility and commitment and growth and challenge. They're still learning. They're still growing. You need to be pushed to the next level. And if you want to get to that next level of mastery, then we have to do the same thing as speakers. Now, sometimes people come to me and say, like, I already got this, Sally. I'm already really comfortable in my delivery. And what I want to tell them is that you're probably pretty good, but you can get better. And you can get better when you intentionally invite in other people to push you to step into that next level. Now, me always having something to offer somebody else, it really has nothing to do with me. Now, I think I'm a really good coach and that probably has something to do with it, but the reality is speaking is an ever-evolving, ever-personal, ever-changing process. Every situation is different. Every context demands something else from us. And so what works in one moment doesn't necessarily work in another moment. So we really have to be refining our skills again and again as we grow and change so that we can really show up and wow in the moment. And we learn so much by learning. We really do. If you have the dream of standing center stage on that beautiful conference that you really want to speak at, you're going to headline it. You're gonna have your moment, you're gonna cement yourself as the go-to in your industry. If that's the dream, then it's time for you to get serious about your speaking and create a signature talk. The STS opens October 7th. You've heard me talk a little bit about this, and if you want to come join us, you know, right now, or you're curious, you're thinking about it, I really want you to come join us on the waitlist, boomove.com/waitlist, because you will get early access to some VIP special access things. And there's limited enrollment on that. If you're thinking about it, that'd be great. And we'll set up some time to chat as well. Thanks again for joining me here on This Moved Me. We're approaching 300 episodes, my friends. That's a lot. And I'd love to hear from you. What were some of your favorite moments over the last 4 or 5 years? Oh my gosh, it's been a long time. Who are some of your favorite guests? If you think back and are like, oh, you know what's something that I have learned from this show, an aha moment, a favorite guest, I would love to hear from you. What is a moment that you have had that you're taking with you as a speaker and an entrepreneur, as somebody who is leveraging the power of speaking? I'd love to hear from you. Head over to the podcast page, bmoove.com/podcast, and leave me a voicemail and maybe I will add you in that special show, the 300th episode. This is what's moving me. I'd love to hear what is moving you. Got another awesome episode next week all about how to intentionally put speaking into your business so that you can grow. It's gonna be good. All right, bye for now.
