As instagram likes and comments confirmed, it was bliss. The picture below shows my longtime client Carolyn, a seasoned mind-body-fitness specialist, teaching a Change Your Age® specialty week at Rancho La Puerta, the world-class destination spa in Tecate, Mexico. I was alongside her each step of the way.
This was a dream opportunity for Carolyn with a lot of creative latitude.
Vision. The first pivotal step: establish a clear vision of the desired outcome. In Carolyn's case, a roomful of students inspired and changed over the course of the week by the new freedom and ease of youthful movement. Carolyn commented that she loved the presence, ease and connection of speakers who communicated effortlessly without notes on the big stage. Presenting note-free would be new to her, but she knew the connection and ease it created would help unlock the changes she desired for her students.
Focus. From this vision, we established a focus. Early on, I helped Carolyn select two principal goals: create a stellar learning experience for the participants of her progressive, week-long mind-body movement class and develop the confidence and comfort for her to present and teach note-free, with ease, in several formats at the Ranch.
Plan. I sketched for Carolyn a strategic framework for realizing her goals and vision, distilled into a series of actionable steps—to guide her from before to after. We co-created work systems and practices that set her up for consistent progress that she could track. This allowed her to stay motivated and on-point during her months of preparation.
Constraint, acknowledged and mobilized. Part of the challenge of this mind-body work itself is how it depends on a careful, intentional sequence of verbally-guided movement exercises to unlock new movement habits and new learning in the brain. It is sophisticated material that when done right is seamless and easy for participants to follow. Carolyn's expert status earned over 25 years as a mind-body specialist—along with the nuance and depth that knowing more about a field brings—made her sensitive to the need for communicating ideas in order and with ease, within each class, from class-to-class in the progressive course, and in all touchpoints with students. We devoted energy here.
“I pointed out to Carolyn, that like many experts, she was deeply curious about her field and always learning—exploring new modalities and insights. Teaching Change Your Age® on large public stage, note-free, was simply the next in her learning and ability to serve others.”
Mindset. But first, we tackled mindset. I knew Carolyn always worked comfortably without notes with her 1:1 body-work clients, but had developed the habit of relying on notes in her public classes. To prepare Carolyn for this change in mindset, I pointed out her longtime teaching experience (she even long ago earned a teaching credential), and noted the fact that students always complimented her on her beautiful, free speaking voice. Folks simply liked listening to her. We also discussed other life venues in which she advocated, note-free, for herself and others. I invited her to "change her story," through action, and arrive that following Tuesday to teach her ongoing public class in LA note-free. She was not to memorize the script, but think of it as a play in acts: introduction, rising action, first turning point, second turning point, falling action, and integration. While she later told me of a few butterflies and palpitations heading in, she texted me excitedly that afternoon: NO NOTES! I also pointed out to Carolyn, that like many experts, she was deeply curious about her field and always learning—exploring new modalities and insights. Teaching Change Your Age® on large public stage, note-free, was simply the next in her learning and ability to serve others.
Audience. Focusing on her audience, and their needs in a closely-grained way, shifted her focus away from herself to all of the students she could help.
Messaging. Carolyn's aha-moment during her deliberate practice: the possibility of letting go of a script when she had clear anchoring messages. Clarity of messaging—and a repeatable framework for achieving it—became a corner piece of our work together. We established benchmarks for her anchoring messages: each message needed to offer a strong viewpoint, exquisite insight, and a path forward. In other words: clear, inspiring, and actionable. These would be criteria for creating and sifting the possible messages that could anchor a progressive, week-long course on the power of new movement habits.
Research + Distillation. To uncover and distill these messages involved three main avenues of research on my part: interviewing Carolyn to draw them out, seeing the work for myself, and reading on my own. She first brought her anchoring messages back to her low-stakes practice venue of her on-going LA class, to test and refine them. We settled on four simple, yet powerful messages that translated Carolyn's expert knowledge about the mind-body connection into lay terms, spot-on relevant to her Ranch audience.
The four messages were:
- experience a new perspective of thinking, feeling, sensing, and moving
- unwind what gets in your way
- understand how small actions can create big impact
- recover new learning: once you unlock a new movement possibility, you can go back and find it again
We added one bonus message: this new way of moving is doable, possible, and within reach
“Carolyn’s aha-moment during her deliberate practice: the possibility of letting go of a script when she had clear anchoring messages. Clarity of messaging—and a repeatable framework for achieving it—became a corner piece of our work together. We established benchmarks for her anchoring messages: each message needed to offer a strong viewpoint, exquisite insight, and a path forward.”
Values. The messaging was intentional—and connected to purpose. We also made sure it aligned with Carolyn's values and what she believed about the power of movement to change people's lives. This made it genuine and allowed her to internalize (not memorize) what she was teaching. By internalizing her teaching, she could effectively communicate, conversationally and with ease. She created, by example, a path forward for students to intergrate the material. To allow Carolyn to be fully present in our meetings, I provided her an mp3 audio of our sessions—to which I know she often re-listened.
“The messaging was intentional—and connected to purpose. We also made sure it aligned with Carolyn’s values and what she believed about the power of movement to change people’s lives.”
Baking. We then got to work baking these messages into every aspect of her course content and touchpoints with Ranch guests. These touchpoints included promotional material, public introductions, private conversations, learning opportunities between class sessions, handouts, pacing, action-oriented learning, and the invitation for feedback. This allowed the messaging to be pervasive, focused, consistent, cumulative, conversational, and ease-filled. We then finessed it all together, spending extra attention perfecting Carolyn's two welcoming presentations—one in the Ranch dining hall in front of 200 guests and the second on the first day of her course. She knew that making a great first impression would set the stage for a fabulous week. She practiced daily until the ideas flowed effortlessly, almost without thinking. During the week she was teaching at the Ranch, I was in contact with her assistant, getting feedback, giving encouragement, and passing on some live-time coaching and suggestions to further integrate the course into the rhythm of the Ranch.
Outcome. An undeniable success, by all measures: the number of guests who took her classes; the impressive number who stayed for the whole week and completed the 6-day series; the written comments and gratitude she received from her students; and the clarity and transformations her students experienced through the Change Your Age® program she taught, note-free. The effectiveness of her teaching depended on her students being able to integrate the messages and this was evident in student feedback. When asked what they found most valuable and meaningful from this experience, students answered:
"little movements can be impactful,"
"small movement, large impact,"
"I arrived feeling stiff and am leaving feeling supple and fit."
"understanding movement as a lever for change"
"a very well planned progression—the feeling in the room created by Carolyn was supportive, kind, encouraging, and optimistic. loved it!"
"exploration of daily movements performed in new ways.
"heightened awareness of....fluid movements."
"that comfort is important"
"learning to pay attention to the subtle things about your body and movements"
"to know you are not 'stuck" with [a] habit" and
"you are a walking example of how to look/feel/think young!"
Equally powerful was the transformation Carolyn experienced in herself and her work. Carolyn's words say it best.
Additional Services + Notes: my Custom Story and Strategy Project with Carolyn:
In addition to the live presentation and public speaking coaching, our custom strategic communications project included writing and editing. I interviewed Carolyn, helped her hone her well-received teaching proposal, coached her as details were being worked out with the Ranch team, and edited her marketing materials for the Ranch website and guests. Lastly, Carolyn made great use of our pre-planned post-Ranch integration session. We reviewed the comments she received, and used them to adjust a half-day workshop she subsequently led in Los Angeles.
Carolyn is based in LA, and travels occasionally to Northern California. Over the year-long project, we worked mostly virtually, with a couple of half-day in-person intensives in San Francisco.
And full disclosure. There was an extra joy in this project as Carolyn is my mother. I enjoyed sharing in her success, and am thrilled that she chose to put faith in me for the big time!