In this solo podcast episode, Sally Z (host of Be Moved) energizes aspiring speakers to bring authentic, personal DNA into their talks. She opens by sharing her recent clarity calls with clients, emphasizing the value of real human connection over social‑media façades, and promotes her free virtual half‑day Story Impact conference, which guides speakers through a cyclical roadmap of story discovery, structuring, delivery, and scaling. The core of the episode is a set of three reflective questions designed to surface a speaker’s unique voice: (1) What issues or industry practices “piss you off” and would you get on a soapbox about? (2) Where are competitors getting it wrong, and how can you fill those gaps without shaming them? (3) What would your favorite client say about the transformation you provide? Sally illustrates each question with personal anecdotes—her aversion to podiums, frustration with overly critical speaker coaches, and a client’s praise for cutting through “BS.” She encourages listeners to journal, voice‑memo, or discuss these prompts to embed their personal imprint into their presentations. Throughout, she interweaves promotion of the Story Impact event, details on registration, the optional $37 VIP recording package, and a teaser of featured speakers. The episode blends instructional coaching, personal storytelling, and event marketing, aiming to help speakers move from imitation to a distinctive, courageous stage presence.
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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 I am so jazzed to be here because I have spent the morning on clarity calls with some amazing people who are really decided just in the last few months that they believe enough in their speaking dreams that they are going to do something about it. And step one was hopping on a call with me and talking about some of their options and what they could be doing, and it's just really fun thing that I have added into my business. And it's, it's an awesome way to meet you, to hear about what's going on with you, to hear about what's challenging, what isn't working well for you. And, and really open up a conversation with people who sometimes we just like feel like this is a social media relationship. It's like, no, I'm a real human. I'm a real human. And so are you. And so it's been really fun. To connect with you and talk with you. The Story Impact Conference. I'm so excited. Conference, event, mm, I don't know what to call it. It's a virtual half-day experience. It's free. So I wanna make sure that, you know, if you are not yet signed up, you need to do that right here. bmoove.com/storyimpact. This is gonna be great. I'm really excited about it. My goal here is to really give you the inspiration, the insight, and some practical training to give you some time and space to actually put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard to start to bring your more story-focused message to life so that you can Scale that story for more impact, authority, and revenue. Yay! I am so glad to see that you have signed up for Story Impact. It's gonna be amazing. I'm gonna show you after we talk through what we're talking about today, I am gonna do a little walkthrough of the Story Impact page and some of those details. But for now, let's dive right into what we are talking about. Today. So this week we're talking about really how to be more of you in your speaking. Okay. And last week at Story, there were so many speakers that I was like, yes, yes, this is what I'm telling people all the time. And I felt very affirmed, affirmed in that. But one of the speakers was talking about how very naturally when we start things, we start by copying other people. And I saw this myself as a speaker when I was out working in schools and I was replicating the same talk over and over and over again. So every day I would give a talk about following your heart and not the crowd. It was like our courage talk. Well, everybody had on staff, everybody had a courage talk and so, and we would watch each other's and you couldn't help but say, oh my gosh, that one was really good and you would sort of borrow of some things. We also had a format, a flow that I developed that I was like, essentially, I want you to do this, input your story here. And so many people in the first year of doing this would be doing it like someone else. They would be doing it, they would be imitating some of their favorite people on staff. They would really borrow almost exactly what other people were doing. And that is an absolutely okay place to start. But I will never forget how it felt walking in year 2. I've already given these talks 100 times, maybe. And you walk in and you just feel different about it. I felt more grounded, more confident. I was willing to do things my own way. Essentially, the way I've been putting it this week is, where do you zig where others zag? How can you make this be so fully you so that from across the room they're like, oh, that Sally, that's a Sally talk. A Sally talk tends to be like this. Or a Ginger talk tends to be like this, or whoever you are, your talk should feel like you. It should look like you. It should have your genetic imprint on it. Getting there takes time. So in that effort, because we all want to do it in a way that feels good for us, that feels right, that feels authentic. Authentic, right? And when we say authentic, it doesn't mean easy or without discomfort. Authentic means they see a little bit of who you are. By they, your audience. We want our audience to feel, and for good reason, not just because we've pulled one over on them, but we want our audience to feel like they know us. And so what are the things that, that we can do to reveal a little bit more of who we are, to imprint it with who we are? So I wanna share with you today a few questions that might help you get there. Think of these as reflection questions. Think of them as journaling questions if you'd like, whatever works, or just Listen to me say them and have some thoughts about it. That's kind of what I do. I'm not really a journaler. I try, but I'm not. I'm a talker. Okay, so I turn to someone else and I say, hmm, interesting. Let me talk about that a little bit. Maybe you just want to dialogue these out with somebody near you. You sharing an office with anybody? If not, tell your dog, turn on voice memo, like give yourself a chance to process these ideas. Okay. First one is really about what is, what do you get on a soapbox about? Now I'm not just talking generally, like what are the issues that you care about? Those are important, right? And they're part of your identity, maybe even your purpose, part of what draws you out front. But I'm talking about when you think about your industry and what's happening out there. The question I wanna know is what pisses you off? What are the things where you're like, no go, that is not for me? And maybe it's the way in which people do things. Like for me, I have a no podium rule. It really pisses me off because it is a hiding. It is a hiding of our bodies. It is a hiding of our full expression. And many people lean on those podiums. I'm not talking literally, cuz of course people do that literally as well, but figuratively lean on those podiums and think that it gives them leadership and credibility and polish and professionalism. And really. It's just hiding who you are. Okay? That kind of thing just pisses me off a little bit. That's informative for me. It's informative in terms of the way that I wanna show up. It's informative about my philosophy, and I wanna be clear about that, not just in what I'm saying, but in how I'm doing what I'm doing so that people can get a sense of that. Like, oh, Sally is not like these other people. Sally does things a little bit differently. There was this amazing quote. I did a workshop a few weeks ago and one of the participants blew me away with her quote because sometimes, here's what she said, and I'm not gonna get this exactly right, but basically she said Sally blew the lid off. Of the BS that I have been taught by other speaker coaches, and it has given, it has empowered me in a way that I haven't been before. That meant so much to me because I've been doing this so long enough that I'm like, everybody does it like this, don't they? So sometimes we have to really get input from other people in terms of what those pieces are that make us different. Okay? It pisses me off that there are coaches out there who get into people's heads in an unhelpful way and are telling them that every little thing they do wrong is a real knock against them and a knock against their credibility. There are some instances when your filler words and your foibles and the things that make you, you will get in your way. But most of the time, all of those things are just human communication. That's what it looks like. That's what it feels like. Okay, so you, I want you to start with with this question, what really upsets you? What ticks you off? Like, I started out doing the, what I'm doing the way I'm doing it because of this. So what, what ticks you off? Okay, do some thinking around that. That may help reveal, help you reveal in what you say and how you say it so we can get more of your DNA. Into what it is that you're saying. Okay, the second thing is this piece. Where are your competitors getting it all wrong? Okay, this is particularly about your competitors. When you're watching your competitors. Now, I am not saying I want you to go talk about how they're getting it all wrong. Like, these people are doing it wrong, and these people this, and That, that's not actually helpful because then you're not making it about you. I want you to define your own space, but we do that sometimes by looking at what isn't working for you. Maybe what hasn't worked for you. What has, what have people done in the past, competitors, that led you astray? Like, why do you move this way instead of this way? Where are your competitors getting it wrong? And no shade on them. This is not like a boo on them. It's just, it didn't work for you for some reason. And you have a, you're having a reaction to it for some reason. If that's true for you, it's true for other people as well. And it has probably defined the way in which you move forward. So if that is true, how can we inject And make sure that that is absolutely clear in the way that you do what you do, in what you say and how you do what you do. Okay? So what upsets you about the industry as a whole? And then specifically your competitors. Where are they getting it wrong? What are they missing? What are the insights that you bring that other people don't bring? To the party of your industry. All right. And now the last question, which is important, is what would they say? But the they is your favorite customer. Kind of like that beautiful piece of feedback that I got from the workshop a few weeks ago. What would your favorite client, what would your favorite customer, what would that person who you're like, oh my gosh, we've done some amazing work together. What would they say about you? How have you changed them? Because my guess is this is not their first rodeo in their attempt to do whatever it is that you do, right? A lot of people come to me and they've had an experience maybe with Toastmasters or a coach that made this experience harder and less joyful for them. And I was like, I wanna go this way with that. And so when my clients, my speakers say to me, you are helping me do this thing that I didn't think I could do, then I know I have injected my DNA into this. What would they say? What would they say about you about the way in which you do things. And then do a little check for yourself. Is that clear? Is that in what you do? Would we know that if we were sitting in the audience? Would we know that based on how you move? Would we know that based on your stories? Would all of these questions be really reflected in what you end up with in your content. What really pisses you off? What would you get on a soapbox about around your industry? Okay. If I was like, you have 3 minutes. Oh, what do you want to soapbox me about? Like, let's hear it. Where, what are your competitors doing wrong? Where are they missing the boat? Because you are filling a need then. Okay? And we need to hear about that. And then what would your favorite clients and customers say about you? About who you are, the way in which you do this work, the transformations you've created, the impact that you've had in their life. Whatever those pieces are, we want to inject all of that as much as we can into the work that you do. Hmm. Okay. Those are 3 good questions. So let's take a moment and look at if you have not yet signed up for the Story Impact event. It's, as we said, a free half-day online event. I just had some amazing new equipment delivered. I am leveling up my technology for this, and I'm so, so excited. Now, a little note from me, because your story is the heart of your business. You know this, and this is exactly what we want to do with it. We want to create our stories so that it isn't just smart. It isn't just reflective of all that you know. It's also reflective of who you are, and that helps it go straight to the heart, my friends, and you have passion that's bubbling up inside you. And so instead of being overwhelmed, instead of not being sure on the how, we are going to give some of that to you at this event. It is not just you do those things and voilà, now you're a speaker, but truly this roadmap You go around the circle and then you go around the circle again. So you start by finding a story that you want to share. You put that story in a structure. You've learned some skills to deliver them especially well. You apply that, a strategy to help you scale. And then guess what? You come back around to your content. It is iterative and It continues to evolve each time around the circle. You get better and better and better. And that is what we do together. So just because you might be in, you know, part 1 of the roadmap doesn't mean that you are an inexperienced speaker. It means maybe you've been around the circle a few times and you're back to find a better story, a newer story, a story that reflects who you are right now. What your business is about right now, that could be where you're at. So we really want to help you find the clarity and courage you need to speak your story. Okay. So if you haven't yet, I want to make sure you see who is speaking. Harris III, Tiffany Maddock, Kevin Jennings are 3. Perhaps I'm, I'm worried. I want, I'm such a squeezer inner of content. So I think I'm gonna just let it breathe with these 3 amazing people, but they are each brilliant, bring really important insights that are going to help us do this. So here's what I want you to do. If you haven't yet registered to attend, you can do that. It is at bemoved.com/storyimpact. But if you are like, I can't be there, I've got other things going on, life is I totally understand that. Then what I'd love for you to do is to grab these videos. Essentially it's the VIP package. So whether you attend or not, maybe you wanna go back and watch some of the recordings. Maybe you're gonna have to be in and out. Maybe you would like some additional material that we're gonna be putting in there. It's $37. So to me, that's kind of a no-brainer because I don't know about you, but Life is crazy, and I like to be able to go back to things and be able to respond to something in the moment. And meetings get just blocked up my calendar sometimes, and I might miss something. So this is a great option for you. Okay, that is it, my friends. Thanks so much for being here. You guys have a great rest of your day. Bye-bye, everybody.
