This week, I’m inviting you into a truly special moment—the Make a Scene book launch party! We celebrated in style here at the Mic Drop Method World Headquarters in Los Angeles with friends, family, clients, and colleagues. There was sangria, a red carpet, and so much love in the room for this book, and I’m thrilled to share part of the experience with you.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• A live reading from the book (including the emotional dedication to my daughter, Viviana).
• Stories behind the book’s creation—like how an E.T. backpack at the airport gave me the sign I needed to keep a chapter.
• The evolution of Make a Scene through multiple drafts and plenty of late nights.
• Why this book isn’t just for keynote speakers but for anyone who’s ever been told they’re too much, too quiet, or just not enough.

This book—and this party—are about celebrating your voice, your story, and your power. I hope it inspires you to step up, speak out, and, of course, make a scene.

Grab Your Copy of Make a Scene

You can pick up the book at MikeGanino.com/books or wherever you love to shop for books. And if you’ve already read it, please leave a review! Reviews help get the book in front of more people, and I would be so grateful for your support.

Episode Highlights:

• [00:02:00] Behind the scenes at the book launch: sangria, snacks, and celebrating with loved ones.
• [00:06:45] Reading the dedication to Viviana—cue the tears!
• [00:10:30] The E.T. chapter: How storytelling connects us and why it almost didn’t make it into the book.
• [00:18:00] The book’s journey: discarded drafts, celebrity references gone wrong, and finding the perfect balance.
• [00:25:00] My favorite quotes in the book—from Taylor Swift to Lucille Ball—and why they inspired me.
• [00:30:15] The acknowledgements: A thank-you to everyone who stood by me and helped make this book a reality.

Connect with Me:

• Website: MikeGanino.com
• Instagram: @MikeGanino
• Facebook: Mike Ganino

Don’t Forget to Subscribe & Review:

If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe and leave a review! It means the world to me and helps more people find the podcast.

Final Note:

The stage is set, the spotlight is ready, and your audience is waiting. Let’s step up, speak out, and make our scenes together.

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

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In this episode, we talk about storytelling from all perspectives -- how to find your story, how to shape the story, and what it takes to tell it on stage.

My guest this episode is Margot Leitman.

Margot Leitman is an award-winning storyteller, best-selling author, speaker and teacher originally from Matawan, New Jersey.

A leading expert in the growing field of storytelling, Leitman has written two books on the subject: the best-selling, Long Story Short- the Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need and her latest What’s Your Story? A Workbook For the Storyteller in All of Us both from Sasquatch Books. Her comedic memoir, Gawky…Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase is available from Seal Press/ Perseus Books.

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She has written for NBC, DreamWorks TV, the Hallmark Channel and the PixL Network and a variety of print and online sources including Cosmo and Backstage Magazine. In 2016 she worked as the west coast story scout for This American Life.

Margot is a five-time winner of The Moth StorySLAM, and was the Moth GrandSLAM winner in New York City achieving the series' first ever score of a perfect 10. Her stories have been featured on NPR's “The Moth Podcast,” “Good Food," “Unfictional,” "Strangers," and is a frequent contributor to the popular podcast “RISK!"

Leitman is the founder of the storytelling program at the UCB Theatre, where she has performed in dozens of shows over the years and is a frequent monologist at their flagship show "Asssscat."

Margot travels all over the world as a public speaker, storyteller and teacher. Internationally she has performed and taught at the SPOKEN FEST in Mumbai, India as well as a six-week teaching residency at the Blue Room Theatre in Australia.

In her spare time Leitman is an amateur baker, avid yogi and a devoted bibliophile. A proud graduate of the Ithaca College Theatre Department, Leitman now resides in Los Angeles.

Links

https://www.margotleitman.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/margotleitman/

Books

Long Story Short https://amzn.to/3m8XmM9

What’s Your Story https://amzn.to/3SzgDCF

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

In this episode, I speak with UK-based comedy director -- Chris Head about storytelling, humor, adding contrast to your speech, and how the Jungian archetypes applying to performers.

We also look behind the scenes of Caroline Goyder's hugely popular (like 9 million views popular) TEDx talk -- where Chris directed her -- to see how these ideas come to life on stage.

Chris Head is a comedy director, teacher and script-editor. He has taught stand-up, sketch and sitcom for twenty years and teaches on the BA Comedy Degree at Bath Spa University. Chris recently script-edited BBC Radio and Channel 4 sitcom scripts, a comedy short film that was a global hit, and a sell-out comedy play seen at Assembly in Edinburgh and Soho Theatre in London (that he also directed). His stand-up directing work has been seen at Soho and Bloomsbury Theatres, Pleasance, Assembly and Underbelly in Edinburgh, and internationally.

Links

www.chrishead.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/xopherhead/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/chrisheadcomedytraining/

Books

Creating Comedy Narratives: https://amzn.to/3ILobii *affiliate link

A Director’s Guide to the Art of Stand Up: https://amzn.to/3SiAmX9 *affiliate link

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

In this episode, Mike talks about the big list of "dos" and "donts" when it comes to writing your speaker or podcast introduction.

It's an excerpt from The Mike Drop Method's Magnetic Intro + Bio course -- which helps experts, entrepreneurs, and speakers craft engaging introductions for stages and podcasts as well as bios for show notes + event marketing.

You can get your hands on the workshop at www.mikeganino.com/intro

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Jermaine Fowler is the founder of The Humanity Archive. He has spent his life in pursuit of knowledge earning the nickname “the professor.” He is an author, speaker, and storyteller sharing the untold stories of history.

After years of dedication to scholarship and storytelling, Jermaine launched the website and podcast and was able to go full-time to running The Humanity Archive in 2021. He goes “outside the textbooks to find stories that are recognizably human.”

His new book, The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth releases February 28, 2023.

Retelling History with Jermaine Fowler

Links:
The Humanity Archive Podcast

Book: The Humanity Archive, available February 28, 2023 *affiliate link*

The Humanity Archive Patreon

Follow Jermaine:

IG: @thehumanityarchive

TikTok: @thehumanityarchive

Web: thehumanityarchive.com

Patreon: @thehumanityarchive

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Neen James is the author of Folding TimeTM and Attention PaysTM. She has been named one of the Top 30 Leadership Speakers by Global Guru several years in a row because of her work with companies like Viacom, Comcast, and Virtuoso Travel among others.

Neen has boundless energy, is quick-witted and always offers powerful strategies for prioritizing focus in what matters most — all so you can pay more attention, create more significant moments and increase productivity at work and home.

Whether presenting in person or virtually, Neen is the kind of speaker that engages, educates, entertains, and delivers the real-world solutions that apply in your organization, your home, and your community. She also provides one-on-one consulting in a variety of leadership topics and loves serving her audiences.

Links

www.neenjames.com

https://www.instagram.com/neenjames/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neenjames/

Books

Attention Pays” https://amzn.to/3kvMB5A *affiliate link

Folding Time: https://amzn.to/3iR8BaN *affiliate link

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

In this episode, I chat with Maggie Bayless – Founder of ZingTrain, about her entrepreneurial journey of 30 years where she has built training organization that's delivered for hundreds of organizations, including banking, real estate, health care, manufacturing and non-profits.

Maggie’s entrepreneurial journey taught her how to turn failures into positives, or at least how to look deeper and say, “What's the lesson here? How can we improve, improvise, make something different?”

Her decades of running a training and seminar-based business shaped the cultural impact of training and seminars on every organization she worked with. From workshop design to making sure that when someone leaves the room, that they are actually improved afterwards.

Maggie brings an honesty to her training that people appreciate by saying, “This is what we do, this is what's working, this is what's not working. Here are some things we've tried that didn't work. Here are some things that aren't working as well as we'd like them to be, but we think are important and we're continuing to push on.”

Find out more about Maggie

IG: https://www.instagram.com/zingtrain/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ZingTrain/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zingtrain-zingermans-training-inc/

Web: https://www.zingtrain.com

Join me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikeganino

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.