Season One Wrap-Up: What Did We Learn?

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Welcome to Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking.

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It's a podcast and a community.

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I'm Kirsten Rourke, speaker, presenter, and founder of Rourke Training.

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And this is Kellie.

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Hey there, I'm Kellie, producer, writer, and herder of cats.

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Oh, so many cats.

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After over 20 years as speaker and presenter, I've seen it all,

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and I'm sharing it with you.

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Ongoing mastery is about continual improvement of your craft.

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You'll learn tips and hear from industry leaders.

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I'll tell you straight up what works and what doesn't, so you can thrive.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to episode number 10.

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We made it to double digits.

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We did, so proud of us.

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Yay.

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So in this episode, we're going to talk about the things we learned

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about making a podcast and some of the things that are coming up for our

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season two, which will be expanded.

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So, what did you mostly take away?

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What was one of your big discoveries in doing this?

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I think my biggest one is I used to hate the sound

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of my own voice, recorded.

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It was low.

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I thought it was uninteresting, but somebody I've heard in the past

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couple months said about her own voice, "My voice is my voice, and

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other people can just get used to it," and I really took that to heart.

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But I know I have to work on articulation.

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I used to lisp as a kid and in listening to the recordings, I can hear a

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little bit of sh-sh-shness, a little bit of slushiness that maybe no one

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else can hear, but I know it's there.

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But I think enjoying my own recorded voice is something I've

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taken away that I did not expect.

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Awesome.

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I, I unfortunately can't say that I don't like the sound of my voice because

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I've always liked the sound of my voice.

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I will talk to total strangers if they're holding still long enough.

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But what I really was surprised by was I knew that I would like what we produced,

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but I really like what we've done.

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I like the interviews.

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I like what we created.

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It took us a little while in the very beginning, not that long, but like three

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or four or five different shots at it to find the location and the patter and

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the way in which we were going to be communicating that would get across what

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we were trying to get across verbally, emotionally, you know, and so on.

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Five-take Bartlet, that's what they call you.

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Yeah, twenty-five-take Bartlet is more like it, but we're getting there.

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We're getting there, and appreciating the process and the practice.

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We have had to pivot.

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It's been rewarding to walk the walk of the Prep, Practice, Pivot model,

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and we're not just saying stuff.

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Yeah, so it's, it's good to do what you teach, and in our coaching

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and consulting work, we use Prep, Practice, and Pivot as the foundation

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of what we walk people through.

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And having us go through, and we're doing a pivot for season

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two, it'll take more prep.

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It'll take more practice.

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And I think we're going to be creating some fun, exciting, new things.

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So I think it's, it's good, we're expanding.

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Yeah, and it took us a couple of location tests to find even just

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for season one, what was going to work out, and we had to keep at it

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because as it turns out, rain is loud.

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Yeah, I knew the rain was going to be a problem.

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I just didn't, I, I was kind of trying to willpower it to not be a problem.

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And that actually doesn't work.

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I don't have those skills.

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And my teenager, who was wonderful and brilliant and I

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love to pieces, he walks loud.

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He is an active young man, yes.

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He is.

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And he's always made very, I mean, even when he was a little, itty bitty kid, just

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learning to walk, it was thump, thump, thump, and you're listening to him and

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kind of going, "Where's that sound coming from in that tiny little body?", and he

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just, that's, that's the noises he makes.

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And they're picked up in the equipment that we choose to use.

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Now, we can expand because there's lots of different microphones,

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but I am really in love with the Apogee MIC96 that we're using.

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It's been my baby forever and I just enjoy it.

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It's very portable.

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It creates a nice sound that I like.

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So we decided to shift to Kellie's office and are going to be trying

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some different recording technology for season two and see how that goes.

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Yeah, just so that we don't have to be beholden to coming to

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my office in late hour or weekends when my officemates aren't here or

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it's not the school semester and other people aren't in neighboring

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offices having conferences and so on.

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Yeah, and at some point, maybe I'll invest in some more sound padding

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and a booth and all of that, but right now, I think what we're planning will be

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good, and we want your guys' take on it.

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So we will be asking for feedback, not only on what is coming up, what

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we'll be announcing, but also what you enjoyed and what you would like to see

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added in what we've produced so far and what we're going to be producing in

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the future, because we're going to be expanding out to more interviews and also

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adding in some live coaching sessions.

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What kind of folks are we hoping to talk to in season two?

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Well, I definitely want to get a couple of voiceover professionals in.

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There are some creative artists, there's, I want to see if I can get

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somebody who does really good improv, and some, a dance teacher who does amazing

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body work to come in and talk about gestures and energy and performance.

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So we'll see, see if we can get on people's calendars.

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I do want to do a quick shout out to Amy Woods of Content 10X, because Kellie

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and I asked for an hour of her time, we bought an hour of her time, and she did a

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very, very wonderful, comprehensive look at our socials, at the podcast, at the

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website, and took some really detailed notes and then got on a call with us and

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gave us some guidance on how we could market the podcast and also ways to

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repurpose content, which is her specialty.

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And it was helpful and clever and focused.

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And,

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And it was clear, not just that she'd done her homework, and not

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just that she has an approach that she uses with her clients, but that she

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was thinking about our stuff and what did our stuff need to be better, right.

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And that it was definitely not cookie cutter.

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She was really engaged and she'd done a lot of homework and had

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this well-integrated plan for us.

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And it was really impressive.

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So, Content 10X, definitely check them out.

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So, Kellie, I learned something interesting when you and I were talking

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about doing this episode, which is that you were never really a theater kid.

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I wasn't.

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I had one, very miserable, eighth grade musical theater experience

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in which my brother was a far more leading character, and I was,

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like, in the chorus and hated it.

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And I was not in the theater subset in high school.

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That was a different set of students.

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We didn't really cross paths a whole lot.

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It wasn't especially welcoming to me.

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So I've never thought of myself as a theatrical performance type person.

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I can't say that, but I can say that I was not in theater

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in high school because I was definitely one of the unpopular kids.

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I was definitely one of the Freaks and Geeks crowd.

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And the time I did try out for one of the shows, they created a

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non-speaking, non-singing part for me.

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Ouch

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That's how well I did.

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But I ended up getting into the Rocky Horror cast with the other stoner

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friends of mine and we did Fridays and Saturdays for five years and ended

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up doing it in multiple locations.

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We even performed at UConn and it was, it was a lot of fun.

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The number of people I know who are alum of the Rocky Horror Picture

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Show performing casts is definitely double-digit percentage of my friends.

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It's, yeah, it's, it's definitely a culture, all of us who

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worship at the shrine of, of Tim Curry.

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I will say I owe a huge thank you to Desert Moon Dancers and Nancy Barrett,

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because the 25 years I spent in the dance troupe of Near and Middle Eastern

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dance really helped me find this latent need and this latent ability and give me

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an opportunity to express it and learn skills that I use professionally now.

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And a lot of the theatrical training comes from the fact that this group, I mean,

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we were together for a really, really long time and we performed all over the

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East Coast and, and parts of the U.S.

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And it was, it was something where if you would ask my 16 year old self if

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that was something that I would do, I would never, ever have said yes.

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But, if you then checked in with my 20 year old self, I was completely in,

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100% on board and had really been able to dive into this wonderful world.

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So between Rocky Horror, between the dance troupe, all of that actually

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contributes to the way we work with people and are able to help people speak

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differently and enunciate or project or express themselves differently and how

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they appear on camera, how they appear on stage, what the floor pattern is that

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they're walking, how they're gesturing.

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All of that is fed into from these experiences.

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So I'm really glad that we're building something that can incorporate that work.

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And I came to performance more by way of teaching and thinking very

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deliberately, making specific choices about how I was engaging my students

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and what kind of gestures I was making, what kind of presence I had in the room.

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Because even with college students, if you don't bring the energy,

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they don't bring the energy.

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Yeah

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And, but I didn't think of myself as a theatrical person, right.

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The theatrical quality was secondary to the teaching.

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So discovering that I kind of like it and it is a more significant

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part of my personality than I realized has been a nice bonus.

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And I'm, I'm just trying

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Kirsten is making a face at me

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I'm trying not to laugh.

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How did you not know you were a theater geek?

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I mean, I've known that the entire time I've known you.

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I was a late bloomer in many respects.

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Really?

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I just

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I thought I hated musicals and it turns out I hate a specific

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style of musical, but having seen three in the past three years,

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including during the pandemic, might suggest that I like musicals.

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And if you don't like Hamilton, there's something

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seriously wrong, I'm just saying.

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Been to Hamilton.

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It's impossible not to like Hamilton.

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I'm just, no judgment.

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No, seriously, there's judgment.

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I, I will, I will own that, there's judgment.

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I, my teenager loved it and I'd resisted because the concept of American

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history via rap, I just thought it was such a, such a trick, such a gimmick.

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And then I listened to it and it is dang catchy.

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It's brilliant.

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And then we saw it and now we watch it on repeat

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Yep and it, it, it made me cry.

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Oh,

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It made me cheer.

Kellie: 00:12:34

You know what's happening in Act Two and I'm

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bawling the entire time anyway.

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It's amazing.

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So, what we're going to be doing is coming out with some previews,

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some sneaks, throw together a couple of our outtakes and give you guys some of

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that before, you know, we'll have a two week break to get some stuff together

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and then be launching season two.

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Please give us your feedback.

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Come find us on all the socials.

Kirsten: 00:13:00

Come find us on LinkedIn.

We have an Ongoing Mastery: 00:13:01

Presenting & Speaking group on LinkedIn, and we'd

We have an Ongoing Mastery: 00:13:06

really like to know what kind of stuff you want, want to get into?

We have an Ongoing Mastery: 00:13:10

What do you want to explore?

We have an Ongoing Mastery: 00:13:11

Who would you like to hear from?

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What kinds of things that we touched on do you want us to

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go into further detail about?

Kellie: 00:13:19

We can keep talking, that's not the problem.

Kirsten: 00:13:21

Oh God, yeah.

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The problem is, is stopping talking, I think.

Kellie: 00:13:26

Generally, yes.

Kirsten: 00:13:27

Yeah.

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And on that note, I think we can wrap this up.

Kellie: 00:13:31

Okay.

Kirsten: 00:13:32

All right.

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Well, thank you everybody.

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We will see you next season.

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Cheers.

Kirsten: 00:13:38

Thank you for joining us for Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking,

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the podcast for everyone who wants to work on their own skills and lift up others.

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If you enjoyed this episode, continue the conversation on our

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Ongoing Mastery LinkedIn group.

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The link is in the shownotes.

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Share the love on social media and tell your friends about the podcast.

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Be sure to catch our next episode

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