The part no one teaches but everyone feels

When I was a newbie speaker many years ago, I told a story at a leadership event.
It had everything: structure, timing, even a neat little takeaway.
People smiled. Clapped. Then, politely forgot it ever happened.

Later that evening, over coffee (okay, wine), I told a different story.
No polish. No point, really. Just me blurting out how I once thought I’d bombed a pitch and cried in the car park.

That bombed pitch story?
It landed me three speaking gigs and brought two people to tears.
And no, one of them wasn’t me!

(One hugged me. The other person looked at me like I’d just read her diary. I took it as a win.)

And here’s what I realised:
We spend so much time perfecting our stories, shaping them, editing them, and smoothing the edges.
But what lands isn’t story structure. It’s what it costs you to tell it.

The bit that made your voice shake.
The thing you almost didn’t share.
The mess that still makes you wince a little.

That’s the bit people remember.
That’s the bit they feel.
That’s the gold.

So, what’s the story you’ve been scared to tell?
That might be the one someone’s been waiting to hear.

PS. No carparks were harmed in the making of this newsletter. But a few egos were beautifully dented.