In this episode of the "This Moved Me" podcast, host Sally Koering Zimney re‑launches her Speaking Story audiobook series and walks listeners through Chapter 27, which spotlights activist, author, and poet Clint Smith’s short TED Talk. Sally frames the episode as part of her broader mission to teach anyone how to use story to overcome self‑doubt, break down defensive barriers, and persuade audiences—especially around contentious topics like Black Lives Matter. She breaks Smith’s talk down using her Moment‑Meaning‑Move framework, highlighting how the universal childhood‑play scene (the moment), the parental‑empathy appeal (the meaning), and the call to action for a more just world (the move) together demonstrate story’s power to bridge differences. The episode also features a testimonial from keynote speaker Jenn Whitmer about how Sally’s community accelerated her speaking career, and several promotional calls‑to‑action for free resources (Movers Roadmap, Power Pitching Push) and the paid Movers Collective program. Throughout, Sally emphasizes the urgency of sharing these storytelling tools now, given recent racial reckonings, and encourages listeners to watch Smith’s TED Talk and explore the Speaking Story Toolkit.
Chapters
I'm sorry, can you guys hear Bailey chewing on a bone under the—
What's she chewing on? Bailey, that's not yours. She got into the cat food. Okay, I think we're ready. I think we've got this. We've got this. And I've got you. And here we are. Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Speaking Story audiobook here on This Moved Me, but also on YouTube. So whether you're listening to this on your podcast feed or you found us on YouTube, I'm so glad that you're here. Maybe for those of you who've been here for a really long time, you're like rolling through this. Uh, and if you have been listening since this podcast began, I don't know, 2014 maybe? I don't know. It was a long time ago, team. Before there were actual— I mean, before people— everybody had a podcast before I even listened to podcasts. So yay! I had sort of put the podcast to bed and it has been really fun to be back and remember this art form that I fell in love with and really invested a lot of time and energy in, 350+ episodes of it. And here we are, I'm back. And the reason I'm back is because I wrote this book called Speaking Story. And hello, my name is Sally Koering Zimney. I'm an author and a keynote speaker and a coach. And bringing this idea, getting this idea into the hands of everybody who needs it and could use it is the whole goal here. That, uh, I just didn't want anything. I had no excuses, no reason why you can't learn this and do this because I really believe anybody can do this. Anybody and everybody. Everybody's got something in them that if we can empower and give you just enough of the skill and the strategy that you feel like you can, and a whole bunch of support to help you move forward in that, that you will. And it's not— you won't do it perfectly, but you'll get out there, and then you get better and better and better as you do. So this is about helping you get out and do. And getting out of the self-doubt spiral that so often accompanies when ourselves and is our story, the story that we find ourselves in before we're doing something big, something that matters, something we care about. And speaking and the self-doubt story often hang out too much together. So it has been my life's work to help kind of just knock down whatever's in your way and help you step out into the quote-unquote spotlight, even if there's no actual spotlight, but where you can influence and make a difference. And, whoo! So here we are. We've been moving through the book chapter by chapter. We're in the middle of part 5, chapter 27. Chapter 27 is highlighting a man named Clint Smith, and oh my gosh, it's It's so good. It's so good. He's so good. I mean, all of the speakers that I'm highlighting I think are standout in one way or another, and I tried to pick really different examples so you could find yourself and sort of see yourself in one of these examples. And Clint, this is his beginning-to-end TED Talk, which I think is maybe 6 or 7 minutes long. It's not super long, but it's so powerful. And it is story-driven. So when we talk about, we talk about leveraging story as a tool to help, uh, bring people into your idea, that is exactly what he's doing. He is, he's bringing this idea to life in such a powerful, beautiful way. So I'm really excited for you to see this if you haven't. It's an old TED Talk at this point, and now even the message feels outdated. So I just wanna acknowledge that, that when I started studying his talk, it was probably 2019. It was pre-pandemic. And then when I wrote the book, it was like 2022, 2023. So it still felt relevant. And there's some, you know, obviously he, Clint is a Black man and he's talking about the experience of being a Black man in America. And obviously 2020 happened and we had a really— I live in Minnesota. We had a really important, needed racial reckoning that we are still in the middle of. And it didn't come out of nowhere in 2020, but dang, it became a focus and a highlight in such an important, needed way. And man, it is back. It is. Whatever. I'm despondent right now about so much that is happening in the world. And it's part of the reason why I'm like, this has got to be free. I just want more people to have these ideas because the truth is, if you want to bring people into your idea, especially an idea that other people seem to think is controversial in some way, even if you are like, My life is not controversial. My experience is not controversial. It's my experience. Then you need story. Story is what helps lower people's defenses and step into a moment that they might not have otherwise, especially around labels. So stories operate outside category and labels, and I think that that is especially important when we have this divisive, entrenched world. Ugh. And listen, I have really strong opinions. I feel really passionately about this. And I just acknowledge if I want more people to vote the way I vote and to come into my world, I'm gonna— I have to invite them into a story. And that is what Clint does so beautifully in this talk. So what I want you to hear me honoring is that in 2019 or whenever this, his talk came out, it felt timely then. It's gonna feel a little outdated in that so much has happened and so much continues to happen. And so the analysis and the making it real There's more to do there, I think. But I still think it's such a beautiful example of moment meaning move. And it's just this incredibly powerful reminder that your story, your story, your story can move the world, and we need it. So I'm really excited for you. If you haven't yet seen this particular talk by Clint Smith, Go check it out and then go check out everything else that he's doing because his voice has moved beyond just this TED Talk and he's doing a lot of incredible work. So here you go. Thank you, Clint, for all your work. Go check out his moment, meaning, and move.
Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world. With me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney.
All right, team, quick question before we dive in, and I want you to answer it honestly. Do you have a message that you know is worth sharing, but you're not quite sure what to do with it next? If you said yes, even, um, Oh yes, I want you to hear something first. Here's Jenn Whitmer. She is a keynote speaker, award-winning author, and someone who was sitting right where you might be right now.
I remember my clicker just hovering over the join button about 6 years ago with Sally Koering Zimney, and I am forever grateful that I clicked yes. I'm Jenn Whitmer, keynote speaker, award-winning author, and all-around joy bringer. And since I tapped that little button, my business has continued to grow and expand and been on stages that I had never even considered dreaming about. And that's all because of the insights that I have gained from being a part of Sally's community, the skills, the cheerleaders, the referrals. If you are scared and you are hovering over that button, I'm telling you, Now is the time.
Now is the time. And that's what's on the other side of your yes. And the first step isn't a big commitment. It's a free one at sally-zimney.com/path. You can grab two free resources, the Movers Roadmap, a short clarifying exercise that shows you exactly where you are in your speaking business right now, where the real gaps are, and what to actually do next. And I want to make sure you get your hands on our Power Pitching Push. This is a live audio series where I walk you through exactly how to pitch yourself as a speaker. No fluff, real next steps. It really hands you the roadmap to get more gigs. And if you're just like, I'm not sure exactly what to do or what my path is, you can get this all at sally-zimney.com/pitching. Www.movers.coach/path. You can grab the Movers Roadmap there, the Power Coaching Push. You can learn more about the pathway that Jen took to get where she is right now. And when you're ready to go all in, Movers Collective is where we are gonna take you from talented to the spotlight. Amazing. All right, now let's get into the chapter.
Chapter 27. Klint Smith. Klint Smith is an activist, author, and poet. He's a powerful example of how to leverage the power of story to bring people into your idea, even if those people are different from you or have lived very different lives. This short talk was from several years ago, before the racial reckoning that has taken place over the last few years, so if we listen to his words now, they have an even more urgent call and meaning. This whole talk is no more than 5 minutes, but it's a beautiful example of how potent a short, well-told story can be. If you'd like to watch Clint's TED Talk—and I would highly recommend it—you can find it online, or you can grab it in the Speaking Story Toolkit at speakingstory.com. The moment. Every time I watch this talk, I'm reminded of how powerful the specific and universal can be. Clinton is this kid playing with his friends. It is a universal moment. Any one of us can see ourselves in that situation, playing out there with our friends, embodying that sweet innocence. There's also the exact contradiction between universality and specificity in what happens when Clint plays outside versus when his white friends do the same thing. It reminds the white people in the audience, like myself, that the world they get to live in isn't the world he gets to live in. The unfairness of it really strikes you. The meaning. As Clint shifts into his meaning, he talks to us as parents. He talks to us about kids. And it's rare that a person, regardless of their skin color or life experience or whether they even have kids, cannot relate to that. He leans on the values and empathy of what parents everywhere feel: the need to protect and the love we have for the kids in our lives. He brings this issue into a very personal place. The move. Clint's move is a beautiful example of a just talk. If he's determined not to live in a world like that, If he's determined to change the world, then I better be too. Here's the critical point: I don't believe that the concept or movement of Black Lives Matter is controversial. But there are some people who feel that way. And if we want to change their minds, if we want to get them to listen, consider Clint's point of view, and perhaps shift their thinking, we need to lean on the power of story. Like Clint does. What happens if we don't lean into story in moments like this? Just saying the phrase "Black Lives Matter" might get people's defenses up. They might not be willing to listen to the value of Clint's ideas and messages. Not everybody in the world is on board yet. Some people might say, "Yes, racial equality is important, but 'Black Lives Matter' feels divisive." I'm not saying I agree with that, but that reality, or another idea like it, can exist in the mind of any audience, and you need to know that if you want to persuade them into a different way of thinking. What Clint's story does is eliminate the controversy of the idea, even if we don't understand what's controversial about it. Through story, Clint is putting the humanity of what Black Lives Matter looks like feels like, and all the moments when it hasn't been true or lived out, back into the equation. That is how you bring people into whatever movement it is that you're trying to create: by finding the universal feeling and humanity that exists within our specific stories.
All right, everybody, that's a wrap on this chapter of Speaking Story. You can find the full audiobook ad-free on Audible or just Just subscribe and the next chapter comes right to you. And hey, if Jen's story up at the top hit a bit of a nerve, if you've got your own clicker hovering, the Movers Roadmap is free. It takes about 20 minutes to go through and it will tell you more about where you are and what you need than most paid programs will. So go grab it along with the Power Pitching Push at Sally Koering Zimney Zimney Zimney. Sally-z.com/path. Sally-z.com/path. All right, movers. This moved me.
