Want to tell better stories on stage? You’re in the right place.
This playlist pulls together the best episodes of the This Moved Me podcast all about storytelling for speakers — how to find your stories, shape them, and deliver them so your audience actually feels something (and remembers you long after the applause).
Whether you’re prepping a keynote, a TEDx talk, a team presentation, or your very first time behind a mic, these conversations will help you move from “just presenting information” to telling stories that persuade, connect, and move people to action.
These episodes are inspired by my bestselling book, Speaking Story: A Guide to Being a Brave and Un-Boring Speaker, and feature practical storytelling techniques, real speaker coaching moments, and behind-the-scenes lessons from the stage.
Hit play on any episode below — and if you want to go deeper, grab the book or explore speaker coaching with me.
Your story is worth telling. Let’s make sure it lands.
Speaking Story Chapter 1 – Stories Are The Tool
Chapter 1 of Speaking Story establishes the foundational premise: stories are not decoration, not entertainment, not a “nice touch” on a presentation. They are the tool. The single most powerful instrument of change available to any leader, speaker, entrepreneur, or human being who needs to move another human being.
Speaking Story Chapter 2 – Speaking Is Leadership In Action
In Chapter 2 of Speaking Story, Sally Z makes the case that speaking isn’t just communication. It’s leadership in action. When you speak a story, you’re not just sharing information — you’re standing up for an idea, inviting your audience into a worldview, and asking them to come with you.
Speaking Story Chapter 3 – Why Tell Stories?
Chapter 3 of Speaking Story gets specific about the mechanics of persuasion — and why storytelling is, without question, the most powerful persuasion tool in your leadership toolkit.
Speaking Story Chapter 4 – What Stories Are Not
Chapter 4 of Speaking Story is a myth-buster. Sally Z gets clear and direct about the definition of a purposeful speaking story — the kind that actually does something, that persuades, connects, and moves an audience toward your idea or message.
Speaking Story Chapter 5 – So… What Is A Story?
Chapter 5 of Speaking Story is a short but pivotal chapter. Once you understand what a story actually is, everything about how you speak, lead, present, and connect changes. You’ll start seeing stories in your life that you never noticed before. You’ll stop second-guessing whether something “counts” as a story. And you’ll have a framework to build from.
Speaking Story Chapter 6 – Leadership Stories
Chapter 6 of Speaking Story introduces Sally Z’s framework for the three types of leadership stories — Origin Stories, Customer Stories, and Everyday Stories — and explains when to use each one and why. This is one of the most practically useful chapters in the book, and it’s the map that makes everything else possible.
Speaking Story Chapter 7 – Yes, You Have A Story To Speak
Chapter 7 of Speaking Story is the chapter that proves it. Sally walks you through why we all systematically underestimate the stories living in our own lives — and gives you a framework for finding the stories you already have. Because the story that moves your audience? It’s already in you. You just haven’t learned to see it yet.
Speaking Story Part 2 Chapter 8 – Moving from Expert to Thought Leader
Chapter 8 of Speaking Story is the chapter that frees you from the trap of being “just” an expert. Sally Z draws a clear line between an expert (someone who shares what they know) and a thought leader (someone who shares who they are) — and shows you exactly what it takes to cross it.
The process of speaking your story IS the process of becoming a thought leader. And if that feels scary, this chapter will help you understand why — and what to do about it.
Speaking Story Chapter 9 – How Do You “Become” Someone Who Tells Stories?
Chapter 9 of Speaking Story is about what it actually takes to become someone who tells stories — not as a personality trait you either have or don’t, but as a practice and a choice. Sally shares what she saw happen in that workshop and what it reveals about the storytelling identity we’re all capable of stepping into.
Speaking Story Chapter 10 – Finding Self-Trust
Chapter 10 of Speaking Story is about finding self-trust — not as a destination you arrive at once, but as a practice you return to again and again. It’s one of the most personal chapters Sally writes, and it’s for everyone who has ever thought, “I believe in this work. I’m just not sure I believe in myself enough to be the one doing it.”
Speaking Story Chapter 11 – Signature Stories
Chapter 11 of Speaking Story introduces the concept of Signature Stories: the deep, meaningful, specific stories that live inside your ordinary life, just waiting to be excavated. These are not dramatic crisis narratives or highlight-reel moments. They’re the moments you’ve lived through that contain unexpected truth — and they’re the heart of your message.
Speaking Story Chapter 12 – How Can We Cultivate These Stories in Our Life?
Chapter 12 of Speaking Story is about building the practice of story awareness — the habit of moving through your daily life with a storyteller’s eye. It’s about learning to pause at the moments that make you feel something and ask: what is this moment actually about? What is the truth hiding in this experience?
Speaking Story Chapter 13 – The Power of Pathos
Chapter 13 of Speaking Story makes the case that emotion — real, honest, human emotion — is not a liability in speaking. It is the engine. It is what makes a story land. It is what makes an audience remember you and act on what you said.
Speaking Story Chapter 14 – To Hell with Facts
Chapter 14 of Speaking Story is the chapter that gives you permission to let go of the safety net of statistics and step into the riskier, more powerful territory of human truth.
Speaking Story Chapter 15 – Excavating Our Stories
Chapter 15 of Speaking Story gives you a concrete, step-by-step process for excavating your stories from your own life experience. This is one of the most practically useful chapters in the book — Sally walks you through the exact questions, prompts, and reflection practices she uses with her own coaching clients to help them find the stories that were hiding in plain sight.
Speaking Story Chapter 16 – Putting Your Signature Story in Your Message
Chapter 16 of Speaking Story bridges the gap between finding your story and actually using it. Sally Z walks you through how to identify the story that belongs at the center of your message and how to place it intentionally inside your talk, your pitch, or your presentation for maximum impact.
Speaking Story Chapter 17 – Clarifying the Idea behind Your Story
Sally Z gives you a clear process for clarifying the idea behind your story so that the story and the message land together, as a unified whole.
Speaking Story Chapter 18 – The Moment and the Meaning
Chapter 18 of Speaking Story introduces the Moment-Meaning structure: the two essential elements of any powerful speaking story. Every story needs both. Most speakers only have one. This chapter shows you how to find and build both.
Speaking Story Chapter 19 – Do a SASI Analysis
Chapter 19 of Speaking Story introduces the SASI Analysis — Sally Z’s adaptation of a theater tool that every speaker should use before every speaking opportunity. SASI stands for Speaker, Audience, Space, and Idea. It’s the framework that helps you create the right meaning for the right people at the right time.
Speaking Story Chapter 20 – The Tension of Story Truths
Chapter 20 of Speaking Story explores the tension that lives inside every great speaking story — the gap between what’s safe to say and what’s true to say. Sally Z calls these Story Truths: the honest, specific, human realities that most speakers sand away in the editing process. This chapter is about why that sanding-away is exactly what’s killing your impact.
Speaking Story Chapter 21 – Characteristics of a Good Story
Chapter 21 of Speaking Story gives you a concrete set of characteristics that distinguish a great speaking story from a mediocre one. This is the chapter you return to when you’re not sure if a story is ready. It’s your checklist, your calibration tool, your gut-check before you step up to speak.
Speaking Story Chapter 22 – The Three Dynamics of Story
This chapter is a deeper look at the architecture of storytelling — and it will change how you both listen to stories and tell them.
Speaking Story Chapter 23 – Creating Your Story
Chapter 23 of Speaking Story is the most hands-on chapter in the book. Sally Z lays out the structure of a great story — how to open it, how to build through it, how to land the meaning — and walks you through real examples from actual talks. By the end of this chapter, you’ll have a framework you can use to build and rebuild your stories for the rest of your speaking life.
Speaking Story Chapter 24 – Hanna Brencher
In Chapter 24 of Speaking Story, Sally Z analyzes Hannah’s speaking story — not just what she said, but how she structured it, why it moved people so deeply, and what every speaker can learn from the way Hannah Brencher spoke her truth.
Speaking Story Chapter 25 – Josh Shipp
Chapter 25 of Speaking Story uses Josh’s talk as a case study in how to speak a story that involves real pain, real darkness, and real redemption — without making the audience feel like they’re being manipulated, and without losing the integrity of what actually happened.
Speaking Story Chapter 26 – Jason Jaggard
Sally Z uses Jason’s work as a case study in how to marry a compelling story with a bold, clear idea — so that neither the story nor the message gets lost. This is the chapter for anyone who has big ideas and wants to know how to make them land in a room.
Speaking Story Chapter 27 – Clint Smith
Chapter 27 of Speaking Story uses Clint’s work to explore what it means to speak hard truths — to step up and say the thing that might make people uncomfortable, with enough grace and humanity that they stay in the room with you and leave changed.
Speaking Story Chapter 28 – Andy Zimney
Chapter 28 of Speaking Story is an intimate case study in the power of personal story — what happens when someone moves from keeping their experience private to speaking it out loud in service of others. It’s also one of the most honest chapters in the book about what the journey to becoming a speaker actually looks like from the inside.
Speaking Story Chapter 29 – Jill Bolte Taylor
Chapter 29 of Speaking Story uses Jill’s iconic talk as the final case study of Part 5 — and it might be the most instructive of all. Sally Z breaks down what Jill does that makes this talk so extraordinary: the physicality, the specificity, the way she moves through time, and the moment when she holds up a human brain on that stage and the room goes completely silent.
Speaking Story Chapter 30 – Foundations of Delivery
Most speakers think about delivery as performance: how they sound, how they look, whether they’re doing it “right.” Chapter 30 of Speaking Story throws that whole framework out the window. Sally Z offers a completely different foundation for thinking about delivery — one rooted not in performance, but in presence.
Speaking Story Chapter 31 – Dealing with Nerves and Adrenaline
Chapter 31 of Speaking Story is an honest, science-backed, deeply human look at what nerves and adrenaline actually are, why they show up before speaking, and how to work with them rather than trying to white-knuckle your way through them.
Speaking Story Chapter 32 – Positive Self-Talk
Chapter 32 of Speaking Story is about the inner game of speaking: the self-talk that runs in the background of every presentation. Sally Z offers specific, practical guidance on how to shift your internal narrative — not with toxic positivity, but with honest, grounded encouragement that actually works.
Speaking Story Chapter 33 – Using Our Bodies (aka Distraction Is the Bar)
Chapter 33 of Speaking Story is about physical delivery: the gestures, posture, eye contact, and movement that either support your story or distract from it. The goal isn’t to be polished. The goal is to be present. And when your body is present, your audience is present with you.
Speaking Story Chapter 34 – Integration
Chapter 34 of Speaking Story is about integration: the experience of your story, your voice, your body, and your message working as one unified whole. It’s what great speakers have — not because they’re perfect, but because they’ve practiced enough to let go of managing all the separate pieces and simply be present in their story.
Speaking Story Chapter 35 – Using the Stage and the Space
Chapter 35 of Speaking Story is about spatial awareness: how to use the physical space you’re given — whether it’s a main stage at a conference or a small meeting room — to enhance your story and your presence. Where you stand, when you move, how you claim the space — all of it communicates something to your audience.
Speaking Story Chapter 36 – Using Stage Quadrants
Chapter 36 of Speaking Story introduces the Stage Quadrant framework — a simple, memorable system for thinking about where you stand in different moments of your talk. It’s not a rigid formula. It’s a way of giving your body a map so your movement serves your story.
Speaking Story Chapter 37 – Intentional Movement
Chapter 37 of Speaking Story is about intentional movement — the difference between moving because you’re nervous and moving because your story is calling you there. Sally Z walks through how physical movement, when purposeful and grounded, can dramatize your story, deepen emotion, and create unforgettable moments for your audience.
Speaking Story Chapter 38 – Preparation – Get on Your Feet at 80 Percent
Chapter 38 of Speaking Story reframes what preparation actually is — and gives you a permission slip to step up before you feel ready.
Speaking Story Chapter 39 – The Walk-‘n’-Talk and the Stumble-Through
Chapter 39 of Speaking Story — the final chapter of Part 6 — introduces two specific rehearsal practices that work with the body instead of against it: the Walk-‘n’-Talk, and the Stumble-Through. Both are about getting the story on its feet, literally, before you’re in front of an audience.
