In this episode of the This Moved Me podcast, author and host Sally Koering Zimney narrates Chapter 29 of her book Speaking Story, using Jill Bolte Taylor’s famous TED Talk as a concrete illustration of the Moment‑Meaning‑Move storytelling framework introduced earlier in the book. Sally explains how the talk exemplifies each element of the framework: the “moment” is the vivid, minute‑by‑minute recounting of her stroke; the “meaning” emerges in the last few minutes when she connects her personal experience to a universal feeling of disconnection; and the “move” is her invitation for listeners to appreciate life beyond cognitive thought. The episode intersperses short testimonial clips from three clients (Carrie, Tony, Todd) who praise Sally’s coaching style, and includes promotional messages for the Be Moved Institute and the Unspeaker Simple Storytelling course, along with links to the Speaking Story Toolkit. Throughout, Sally encourages listeners to watch the full TED Talk, reflect on how the framework can simplify message creation, and consider applying the approach in their own leadership or speaking contexts.
Chapters
You can tell I'm tired. Anyway, so we are at chapter 20-something. I had all my— I had my— Okey-dokes, we are rolling right along in this free audiobook version of Speaking of Story by me, Sally Zimney. I am the lucky person who wrote this book and is now narrating this experience for you, either here on the This Moved Me podcast, where we're spending several weeks sharing the book chapter by chapter, part by part, and/or maybe you found us on YouTube. Hello, if you're on YouTube. Welcome, welcome. However you found us, we're so glad that you're here. Some of you maybe have been around for a really long time. Either way, Either way, you are about to dive into chapter 29 in Speaking Story, which is the last chapter in part 5. And part 5 is the section of the book where we're highlighting in real life what these frameworks that we've been talking about for the last 28 chapters, what it really looks like when a human takes it and tries to bring themselves into it, and put it into their message. Now, of course, this framework came out after all of these people wrote their talks, so they weren't intentionally leveraging the framework, but I hear the framework in their messages. So I'm really kind of, what's it called when you like, you go backwards? Anyway, you know what it's like when you D, you come at it backwards? Oh, what do you, oh, oh, the, I literally, I can't remember the word. I think you guys know what I'm talking about. Where declutter is the word that keeps coming back.
Deconstruct?
Unconstruct? Anyway. Okay. Please. I'm not having a stroke. I'm fine. It's okay. Anyway, I am hearing the framework in what they're doing. They didn't apply the framework specifically. So imagine how much simpler this could be when you Go about building your message with moment, meaning, and move at the heart of it. Because when you do that, when you moment, meaning, move your message, you are tapping into all of the brain science and the magic that we spend the first 23 chapters or whatever talking about here in the book. This talk is unique and different. I would encourage you to watch the whole thing. This is a very famous TED Talk. I feel like this might have been the first TED Talk that I ever watched. It's old at this point, and I say that with love and respect to our speaker, Jill Bolte Taylor. So much respect for her and what she has created, and this talk is so beautiful. Here, here's some of the reasons why I love it, and you can hear me talk a little bit more about it. An episode, but it's, most of the time, the moment or the story part of the talk is shorter. You know, it's intentionally short. It's not really about the story. It's about what the story illuminates. It's about how the story invites people in and can be the thing that we're leveraging to engage people and to get them to feel and empathize and recognize their own experience. But so much of this talk is the moment. I think it's a 17-minute kind of traditional TED Talk, and the story itself is probably 15 of the 17 minutes, but it is so worth it. It's really an interesting, fascinating story. But what I love about it is that it doesn't follow the same, you know, typical timing that so many talks do. She breaks some rules, and I love, I love a little bit of rule breaking. I really do. And I just want to encourage you to do that as well. And I love how vulnerable she is. She is the living embodiment of this message and what she's— she is sharing with us the— a stroke that she had. And she's a neuroscientist, so she knew what was happening as it was happening. So wild. Really fascinating, right? This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the fact that she captured it and then is willing to share about it is just so cool and so powerful. And watching her give this talk is such an example of a person who is allowing herself to be seen. And that can look a lot of different ways, but I love that she doesn't— she's not your kind of typical speaker in a lot of ways, but her openness and willingness to be seen in that moment is what is so beautiful about it. And she moment, meaning, and moves. She just times it very differently than how often we we use that framework. So I love it. And I hope this continues to open your mind in thinking about how you can leverage this Moment, Meaning, Move framework for yourself and what it looks like for you and in the moment that you are in. And let us be inspired by Jill's courage and her openness and her willingness to allow us to really see her. Ah, she's the best. Here you go.
Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world.
With me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney. This complimentary listening of the Speaking Story audiobook is brought to you in part by the Be Moved Institute, or as I like to call it, Be Me. I'm going to let a few people speak for me here. First, Carrie, a senior leader who brought this work inside her organization.
As a leader in my organization, I am often in a position to be in front of people, presenting to clients, running meetings, being asked to speak at a conference, moderate a panel. And working with Sally has really helped me hone my skills, specifically presence, my confidence, my warmth and competence on stage, and really has set me up for success to be a more confident representative for my company. So the ROI is incredible and really sets her apart. It's a repeatable system. Working with Sally has really changed our game.
And then there's Tony, a former Fortune 500 executive.
Regular speaking coaches is giving you, you know, here's how you package the message and here, be sure to stand over here, you know. Sally's brand is all about move, right? So be moved. And so she helps you to communicate from human to human and back.
And Todd.
She really focuses on each individual and what they need to get to the next place. She's so in tune with the moment and what you need at that moment that she individualizes everyone's journey. She calls herself a professional nudger. That is what she does. She keeps pushing in the most loving way possible.
The Be Moved Institute exists to bring this work into organizations at scale. The real work of helping your leaders communicate with clarity, courage, and genuine human connection. If that's something your organization needs, I wanna talk to you. Join the waitlist at sally-z.com/institute. And if you wanna start right now, today, for $49, the Unspeaker Simple Storytelling course is at sally-z.com/unspeaker. And that'll get you started. Now let's get into the chapter.
Chapter 29.
Jill Bolte Taylor. Our last story is from one of the most famous TED Talks that has ever been shared on the internet: Jill Bolte Taylor's TED Talk. If you'd like to watch Jill's talk, you can find it online, or you can grab it in the Speaking Story Toolkit at speakingstory.com. The moment. Here's what's especially powerful about Jill's talk. Her story goes moment by moment. We are with her during every moment—left brain, right brain, in and out of consciousness, back and forth. Of her 18-minute talk, about 16 of those minutes are the moment. That's unusual, and I wanted to highlight it because it's so effective and enthralling. The meaning. The last 3 to 4 minutes of Jill's talk are when she brings it back to the audience so effectively by talking about the universal struggle of feeling disconnected. This universality is what brings us into and creates resonance inside this very unique, specific experience that so very few humans have had. The move. Jill's move is simply, and beautifully, her wish that we would experience more of the beauty of life that exists outside of our cognitive thinking. It taps into the aspirational side of those "now what" moments that we can have as leaders, and the opportunity we we have to inspire our audience. The question of "now what?" reminds us that we have the potential to do really big, beautiful things, to dream big with these stories and the impact they can have. Jill's story has had a huge impact. Millions and millions of people have watched her talk, and it has touched people. That is the gift we have. That is what we get to do as we put together the structure of our stories.
SPARKS Part 5: Examples of Speaking Story. Summary. In Part 5, we looked at 6 examples of various ways that the moment-meaning-move structure can come to life in people's live speaking story moments. We analyzed various contexts, styles, and approaches and highlighted each story's moment, meaning, and move. Exercises: Reflection and journaling questions for you: Whose talk and style most resonated with you, and why? What moments do you most remember, and why? What realizations did you have about your own approach and what you want to do more of in the future? Tools and resources: If you grab the Speaking Story Toolkit, you can get links to all of the videos mentioned in Part 5, along with their moment, meaning, and move time codes, and links to the websites and other information for these amazing speakers. Just go to speakingstory.com. That is the end of this chapter of Speaking Story. If you want to find the full audiobook ad-free, you can go grab that over on Audible. Or you can subscribe right where you're at right now so you never miss the next episode. And if what Carrie, Tony, Todd described earlier sounds like something your leaders need, that ability to get clear, to connect, and actually move the people they're leading, that's exactly what the Be Moved Institute is built for. It is not a one-and-done workshop. It's a system. So join the waitlist over at Sally sally-koering-zimney.com/institute, or if you wanna start right now, go grab that Unspeaker course for $49 at sally-koering-zimney.com/unspeaker. All right, movers. This moved me. What is moving you? See you next time.
