In this chapter‑15 excerpt from the Speaking Story audiobook, host Sally Koering Zimney walks listeners through the "moving message" – a practical, three‑circle Venn diagram exercise designed to help speakers excavate, shape, and align their stories with their personal gifts, audience needs, and the broader world context. She explains why story discovery is an ongoing excavation, contrasts old "sell‑sell‑sell" approaches with the modern "serve‑serve‑serve" mindset, and provides concrete prompting questions for each circle: (1) the speaker’s distinctions (passion points, industry frustrations, unique differentiators), (2) the audience’s identity, beliefs, struggles, and psychosocial reality, and (3) the world’s current market demands and purpose evolution. After aligning these elements, she defines the moving message as the authentic intersection of self, audience, and world. Zimney recommends doing the exercise at least annually, and promotes free resources (Movers Roadmap, Power Pitching Push, Unspeaker Mini Course) and the Movers Collective for deeper coaching. The tone is instructional, conversational, and promotional, aiming to empower listeners to craft compelling, audience‑focused stories that move the world.
Chapters
I don't remember what I was saying. How do we start this? What are we doing? Chapter 15. I've been, without totally realizing it, tapping into Oprah Winfrey. What did she say? I'm having a moment. Okay, so here we are at chapter 15 of our walkthrough of Speaking Story by by me, Sally Koering Zimney. I'm so delighted that you're here on This Moved Me, walking through with us here on This Moved Me. If you are with us, you are listening to the free version with some added context and goodies. If you want the ad-free version, you can always go grab it over on Audible. But right now we are talking about how we can really excavate our stories, and that, it's kind of a strong word, But I like that word because the process of identifying and discovering your stories, it is ongoing and it can feel a little bit like you're digging deep. You know, it's a bit of a dig to do it. 'Cause we all have stories. I've been saying that for a while here. We have stories and most of us have more stories than we think. It's rarely, the challenge is rarely about the shortage of material. It's sometimes about where to look and what to appreciate in that process. So what I do here in Chapter 15 is talk through a process called your moving message. And this moving message is an exercise that I do literally for the speakers that work with me, and hire me to coach them, whether or not I'm building a speaking business for them and with them, or they are a leader in an organization and they are pulling together an external message that they want some support on. So it's not about necessarily even making revenue. It doesn't matter. Any message that you're developing really has to start with coming at it from an intentional approach. So every time I start a project, we do this moving message process. And what that does is help us really clarify on our particular gifts and approach and point of view. And once we do that, then we can really focus in on the kinds of stories that our audience needs. It can hone in on the kinds of stories that we alone can tell and the kinds of stories that are especially needed right now. I'm really excited for you to get your hands on this tool. It is a game changer. So let's dive in. Hey everybody, and welcome to This Moved Me, a podcast about creating talks that move the world with me, your host, Sally Koering Zimney. Sally Koering Zimney. This complimentary episode of the Speaking Story audiobook is brought to you in part by the Movers Collective. If you are listening to a book about speaking stories, I have a feeling you already know that you have a message worth sharing. Maybe you've been on a stage or two. Maybe it's still just a dream kind of sitting in your chest waiting. Either way, I want you to know that there's a real path from where you are right now to a speaking career that actually pays, one that fits your life, your message, and the change that you want to make in the world. That path starts with two free resources I wanna give you. The first is the Movers Roadmap. This is a clear-eyed look at what it actually takes to build a career as a professional speaker. The second is an audio series that I recorded live, and this developed with my own clients, and it's called the Power Pitching Push. And in this series, I walk you through exactly how to pitch yourself as a speaker so that you can get some gigs. You will get a real taste of what it's like to work with me. Both are free. Go grab them. sally-z.com/path. sally-z.com/path. And when you're ready to go all in, The Movers Collective is where we can take you from talented to professional. All right, now let's get into the show. Chapter 15: Excavating Our Stories. Tell the story that's been growing in your heart, the characters you can't keep out of your head, the story that speaks to you, that pops into your head during your daily commute. That wakes you up in the morning. Jennifer Weiner. The process of identifying and discovering the stories in our lives is an exploration that doesn't end with this book. Even if you're fairly sure of a story you wanna speak, creating an authentic and impactful story-based message requires you to do some excavating of your lessons learned, your big aha moments, and your core content areas. Only then can you build a powerful, memorable, and compelling story. The magic of a persuasive story is different than it was even 10 years ago. It used to be okay to sell, sell, sell and have it be all about the business. Some people still do this, but with the advent of the TED Talk and the continued shift toward that approach, our job is now to serve, serve, serve. We are not promoting our business. We are promoting an idea. We all know that stories can be a powerful marketing and promotional tool. So the magic of your story is that it reflects not just your business, though it's not about your business, but also you, your particular spirit, language, and approach. And your story cannot exist in a world without the context of your audience and what they really need, given the world that we live in and the way your business attends to those needs. That beautiful middle point between those three things is where we want to aim our story. A mix of your business, you, and the world. I call it your moving message. Let's take a moment and look at how these three elements come together. Imagine a three-circled Venn diagram. I really do love Venn diagrams. And we'll call that your moving message. In Circle 1 is you. With you, we are looking for distinctions. So here are some questions you can ask about your distinctions to begin creating your moving message: What are your passion points? What pisses you off about your industry? Where do you, they, or we need to do better. What makes you different compared to your competitors? Then let's look at the audience bubble. Think about your audience using these questions. Who is your audience? In other words, who are they? What does your audience believe, generally speaking? Where are they struggling? What themes have you found about their psychosocial reality? Who do you love working with and why? Now let's put just those two circles together, you and your audience. How can you in particular help your audience with their particular challenge? Now, when you think about your gifts and point of view, how can you serve this particular audience given this audience's particular challenges and needs? And finally, the third circle. Once we've thought about how you and your audience come together, we layer on the last circle in the Venn diagram, the world, the world and your business in it. In other words, your purpose. Here are some questions to consider about this aspect of your moving message. What's happening in the world right now that your business addresses. What is the market demanding of your business right now? A speaker in the education field, for example, cannot serve their audience the same way now as they did in 2019. How does the context of the world and the market change how you show up and serve your audience? How is your purpose evolving so that you can serve your audience in the context of now. So what happens when these three ideas come together? You authentically, and specifically you, are serving the particular needs of your audience in the context of the world and your business living and breathing in that world. That's your moving message. Once you've gotten clearer on your moving message, an exercise that's worth doing at least once a year It will clarify your purpose and help you adjust it to the world and the changing needs of your audience. And it's step one in ensuring that your story-based message is grounded not just in what you feel like speaking about, but also in what is needed from your audience and in response to the market and the world as they are. That's the end of this chapter of Speaking Story. If you want to keep listening ad-free, you can find the full audiobook on Audible or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. And if this chapter stirred something in you, if it, shall we say, moved you, let me suggest that you start with the Unspeaker Simple Storytelling Audio Mini Course at sally-zimney.com. Www.moving.com/unspeaker. All right, Movers. This moved me. What is moving you? See you next time.
