Speaking of Quality... Actress Michelle Hutchison

Michelle Hutchison is an actress, voiceover coach, writer, and producer. She also teaches professionals in the medical product industries on how to present more effectively-- we knew we couldn't talk about motivational speaking with talking about the speaking part!

In this episode, Michelle talks about performance in presentations with Leslie and I to discuss getting past slide decks and communicating with skilled expression and your emotional palette. 

To learn more about Michelle's classes visit: https://www.skilledexpressions.com/

Transcript

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Aaron Harmon: 0:00

Hi, I'm Aaron Harmon.

Leslie Cooper: 0:01

And I'm Leslie Cooper. Welcome to Inside Out quality.

Aaron Harmon: 0:05

Leslie and I are quality nerds. We like to figure out what can go wrong and how it can be prevented. Cap is our our friend. How can we use quality to build better safer products? Can quality be a tool entrepreneurs use for success? On this

Leslie Cooper: 0:19

podcast we talked to some fascinating guests and listened to their stories about quality events gone both right and wrong. we dissect the stories to teach and learn from the experiences of our guests. So grab your coffee, secure the lid, ensure it's not too hot and enjoy our episode.

Aaron Harmon: 0:38

While I was seeking out a quality assurance motivational speaker, a colleague and I were discussing communication and the need to be good at it. He recommended to me Michelle, a quality assurance professional is positioned to help a company improve as Bart said on the last episode, quality is doing better tomorrow than today. So we have to influence change in organizations. Being an influencer is way easier when we are good communicators. My university training was in microbiology, but not changing cultures or communication. So I need help. And I'm guessing others do too. We need expert guidance. Michelle Hutchison is that expert. She's an actress. She's acted in my best friend's wedding Fargo than I and a bunch of others. She's performed in plays, done voiceovers and even worked in casting talent for movies. Now she's helping those in the medical device industry learn to communicate. Welcome to Inside Out quality. Michelle,

Michelle Hutchison: 1:33

thank you. Excellent to be here. I'm excited to talk about this.

Aaron Harmon: 1:38

So first of all, how did you get into acting?

Michelle Hutchison: 1:41

Well, it's a long story. But I'd started when I was a very young person. I was always interested in the performing arts. Having been in dance I played the trumpet and was in a very disciplined high school band. We traveled all over the country marched to the Rose Bowl parade. And in high school, it was thought that in order to be an actor, you had to be a singer of which I wasn't. And my senior year, I finally decided I was going to go for it because Carol Burnett was my hero. And I loved comedy, I was a bit of a goofball and did a lot of comedy as a kid just entertaining my friends. And so I finally auditioned for Once Upon a Mattress, which was a play that Carol Burnett was really well known for on Broadway. And so I got one of the lead roles. And as the saying goes, That's all she wrote. I was excited to be a part of the theater. It was a natural fit for me. And I pursued it in college and I have my degree from the University of Minnesota in theater, and have been working professionally ever since. I should add that my family, my mother's side of the family, we're all theater people at the turn of the century. And they performed doing Uncle Tom's Cabin on the road back in the early 1900s. So I have I kind of like to think it's maybe in my blood. So Carol Burnett,

Aaron Harmon: 3:10

her hair was about as red or red as mine used to be when I was younger. Yeah, so I always felt like I'd see her and be like her hair is like mine.

Michelle Hutchison: 3:19

She's just an amazing comic. And to this day, many, many actors and comedians from today, I always refer back to Carol Burnett because she just set the bar so high alongside of Lucille Ball, of course. Yes, yes. But I think Carol Burnett was really somebody that I grew up watching every Saturday night. And so she had a lot of meaning from me. And I wish I would have met her. But I when I first went to Los Angeles many years ago, I met her daughter. So I think that is as close as it's ever going to get.

Leslie Cooper: 3:54

Wow, that's really cool. So how did you begin training professionals in a medical device industry?

Michelle Hutchison: 4:01

Well, that's an interesting question, because I was teaching at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, which is a world renowned theatre. And I had really, and probably the last, I'd say 10 to 15 years. Alongside working in the industry as an actor, I was also working as a teacher. So I was teaching on camera acting, working at universities, and I also have my own business teaching on camera acting. And so that led to me teaching at the Guthrie Theater, and I would teach acting for non actors. And I had a scientist who took my class. And at the end of the class, he said it was the best thing he ever did. He wished he would have done it at the beginning of his career. He connected me to a neuroscientist at one of these companies, a large company and we started to work together he brought me in to work with neuromodulation and I created a curriculum and what was able to offer this class, that multi week class for scientists and engineers. And it was really wonderful because they were very open to the idea of getting up on their feet and trying things that were completely outside of the norm, which obviously is a major part of the work that I do, which is learning how to be open to connect, to use your body to do use your voice to use your stories. And so leading these people into the realm was something that was really wonderful. And of course, there was some discomfort, and some resistance to that, because that's not necessarily where you work every day as scientist or an engineer, slowly, but surely, I would really start to see these changes. And it was just a wonderful for me personally, just to watch people grow, and to watch them become vulnerable, and then to see them become empowered. And I feel like the work that I'm doing now is mostly this type of work. And I offer all kinds of curriculum, and teaching people how to be much more present, learning how to create interesting content. And then lastly, what I would say is the development and delivery of that content, which is mostly over overlooked, and the way that people prepare and then present. So

Aaron Harmon: 6:21

as a quick confession, when I first met you, we had a zoom call setup. And I knew that you had this background in training people and I thought, I'm gonna be judged the entire time, I'm on the Zoom call. So I was like, trying to make sure I had the lighting right behind me that I had my like face occupying most of the. And I was like watching myself and how am I like, where my eyes tracking during the conversations being very, very, like, introspective about how this is gonna go down. But I feel that do you see like these common pitfalls when you take business folks or engineers and scientists and try to teach them how to communicate, they like things really like, oh, man, it's such a rookie mistake. I see that

Michelle Hutchison: 7:03

all the time, all the time. And, you know, I don't blame anybody, because we don't walk around with this self awareness. Being an actor, this is we use our bodies, our brains and our personalities in the way that we think that's our toolbox. So as a person outside of the realm of what I do, that's not necessarily what you're thinking about, and what you're using in your day to day work. So actors have a hyper sense of awareness just because we have to. So I would never judge people according to that, but I do appreciate that you thought that much to get ready for the call. I do see the pitfalls, because it starts on the academic level. And I understand why because people are learning the work. They're learning the content. And there is a bit of a gap when it gets into the business realm, because people are hired for their expertise in what they've learned academically. But there's not always that time that is spent developing you as a communicator. And there might be some courses that some universities offer, and I've been fortunate enough to be brought in for those. But I don't think it's the norm. And nine times out of 10. When I will talk to somebody about presentations, they'll say, I'll send you my slide deck. Well, we know the slide deck has become so I guess primary in how people present because it's what corporations talk about. We don't always talk about how do you walk in the room? How do you hold yourself? How do you breathe? How do you look people in the eye? How do you connect with them? How do you influence them? And that's the part that younger people coming into the industry are really just more concerned with what they know, versus how do they deliver what they know. And that is where I say is the next step? Because businesses are predicated on good relationships, and they're also competitive. And it's also about how do I get my ideas out there in order for me to influence change, and to be able to accomplish the objectives that I have. And that doesn't happen through a slide deck.

Aaron Harmon: 9:17

Right? And just reflecting on my career. And what I've noticed, I felt like my early formative years of my career were about training me to not have emotion, and to say, We document things when we're writing reports when we're reading plans for a study whatever. It's not about like this will be really exciting. It is we will enroll X number of trial subjects, we will do this everything you're writing is this passive form of dry emotion free writing. And then behavior wise. I was kind of taught that you're not supposed to have motion. You hear things like this is a business decision. This is not about you personally, but it's about isness and all those things kind of push you as the person trying to navigate the space to start thinking without emotion. And then when you lose that feel like you'll lose that ability to connect. And I was,

Leslie Cooper: 10:12

I was just gonna say that we had the similar thing, you know, especially in the scientific fields were very black and white. It's all facts. I actually had somebody once told me, we aren't allowed to use the terminology feel we have to say, I think this not I feel this. Because with the industry we're in, it's very thought driven as not emotionally driven. And so when you say I feel that makes it look like you're using your emotions and not factual.

Michelle Hutchison: 10:41

That's right.

Aaron Harmon: 10:42

Is that a misnomer? That we are not? We are all humans feeling driven. But we just like view it as a bad thing. Possibly.

Michelle Hutchison: 10:51

I, you know, I think it's a I think it's a difficult question to answer. But I do think that there are certainly, there's an appropriate way of keeping your cards close to your chest in order to get what you need. And if that is described as being either humorless, or without emotion, then so so it is. But I also think that there is a way to be appropriately motivated and passionate about what you are pursuing in a conversation or a presentation that is palatable for all. And I think learning how to do that, I think, what is a misnomer is that I show up, and I have zero emotion, and I become a corporate talking head, versus somebody who is trying to inspire others. And when you look at the medical device companies, what are they about? They're about people, and it's about how do we make people? Well, that's our mission. And so why do we turn off that part of the heartbeat in the way that we present? I think that's missing a really important piece. Yeah. And let me clarify, I don't think it's about being emotional. I think what it is, is about being driven and motivated and passionate, in a way to be impactful. And so I think sometimes when we think of the performance arts, we think of people crying and beating their chests and going over the top, I don't think that's what it's about.

Aaron Harmon: 12:18

It doesn't work out. Well. I've tried all of them in meetings.

Michelle Hutchison: 12:23

And in their own right at your chair. Yeah. But it's, it's a really curious. It's a really curious work. And every company that I've worked for, has a different culture and has a different ethos in which they work. And I'm aware of how that is. And I have to read that accordingly. But I do think that when you look at the people who move and that are leaders, they've learned how to bring those elements into the way they present. There's an interesting case study done by Albert Mehrabian, who is a, I believe it's a social scientist at UCLA. And it's a well worn case study called the Moravian study. And he took speakers and he took audience members and the audience members had to rate what they found to be most important from the speakers. And what they found is that there were three elements that rose to the top and 55% 38% and 7%. What do you think was number one and 55%? Important to the speaker? Important to the audience? From the speaker? Yes.

Aaron Harmon: 13:33

Eye contact? It's my guess.

Michelle Hutchison: 13:36

It's a good guess. Anything you want to say? What do you think Leslie?

Leslie Cooper: 13:39

I was gonna say engagement. Like, there you feel sucked in when they start talking?

Michelle Hutchison: 13:45

So I think you're both right, but it's tied to body language, their body language was number one, and those are the nonverbals and how do we connect with people in a way that influences competence and trust? If we show up with our knees knocking and we can't look somebody in the eye, and we're not breathing properly, and we seem anxious, and we feel anxious? That's not necessarily sending a vote of confidence learning how to manage those emotions is a big part of how we present and anxiety is public speaking is the number two fear next to death according to the lots of the research that I've done. And not surprisingly, because so much is hinged on that. It's really important. What do you think is number two at 38%?

Aaron Harmon: 14:33

You go first time honestly.

Leslie Cooper: 14:34

Oh boy. Oh, yeah,

Aaron Harmon: 14:36

my answer locked in

Leslie Cooper: 14:37

you got you're locked in. Let's see body language. I was gonna say tone of their voice. If it's very monotone, I get bored real fast.

Aaron Harmon: 14:46

I was critical. That was my thing to tone of voice. You

Michelle Hutchison: 14:50

are both right. You get both gold stars, some Halloween candy because it absolutely is. The voice and here's how One thing I like to ask people, raise your hand, if you love the sound of your own voice, raise your hand. And I'm

Aaron Harmon: 15:08

about halfway, but that's forced Oh, learning because I have to listen to myself constantly editing these podcasts. I had to do it so much that I had to just embrace that it is my voice and it is what it is.

Michelle Hutchison: 15:20

That's right. So you've learned See, you've, you've learned how to use your voice. And most people do not have that kind of training to understand the beautiful thing that their instrument is and how to use it properly. I really love to work with people on that because as an actor, you learn how to use your voice to have range quality, consistency, tone, timbre, inflection, if you will, all those things that come into it. And Leslie, I think something you said is interesting, I get bored. Now think about if we are coming to an audience with zero passion, zero interest, zero inflection, but just delivering a message? How much are we going to capture their attention? How do we impact them? Knowing how to use your voice is is part of that? And what do you think is last 7%?

Aaron Harmon: 16:11

The first stab at this one?

Leslie Cooper: 16:13

Yeah, your turn dress

Michelle Hutchison: 16:14

what you're wearing? Lastly,

Leslie Cooper: 16:17

I was actually gonna say the same thing is your appearance.

Michelle Hutchison: 16:22

The last is content. Oh, okay. But the dress is number one, right? Because that's part of how do we appear to our audience. We're very, this is part of being a human being how we have immediate judgments. I'm sure that there are things that we pick up from people, just by the way that they stand, they look, they talk, they move our voices, all of that is having a, a keen understanding of who we are, and how we present and how we feel about ourselves, and how we send the message accordingly. That's the intersection that I see day to day to day. And when people get caught up with being anxious or worried, really what it is, is it's a fear not only a failure, but a fear of will I look like a fool? Will I be able to do this thing will I be able to really achieve my objective, when really, the perspective should be, I want to connect with you. I'm the host of this party, I want to include you, I want to invite you into my proverbial home, as it were. And that changes the perspective and the way we present. Something that Tina Fey said that I think is really fascinating is she said, I finally learned what acting is about, it's about the other character. And there's some kind of a release or liberty that happens when we start to think about it in those terms. But of course, you have to feel confident in the way that you do present in order to go to the deeper level of that engagement. Because when we're focusing on ourselves, it's really hard to focus on the audience.

Aaron Harmon: 18:10

So can I say something that was sound really bad? I think there might be truth in this, they can correct me on our actors and actresses, emotional manipulators. So the reason I say this is, you mentioned something earlier, which was holding your emotions close to your chest. So you can convey get what you want. And I was watching some of your roles and watching how you expressed emotions, and I can understand what that character was feeling and thinking is I thought I could by what I was seeing portrayed. But when you show up to act, you have to take on this role and portray this so that the audience gets it, you're not able to, you know, if you had a bad day going into your acting job, you can't go in and Miss have your actress or your character have a bad day as well, you have to fit the role.

Michelle Hutchison: 19:01

Right. And it's not necessarily emotional manipulation. I know it can sound sort of cloak and dagger, but it really isn't. It's It's understanding your own emotional inventory. And using that as a palette for the role of the character. One thing there's many check boxes that you go through when you create a character is you have to ask all the pertinent questions, who are they? What are the facts of who they are, but then how do they play out those facts? And that's just having an understanding of human behavior. A lot of actors have to have a deeper understanding of psychology and what motivates us. And so you use that as a template within the role itself. And I don't like to think that when we present we're putting on anything that's false or disingenuous. I think it's about bringing who you are, the deepest parts of who you are and the greater parts of you who you are to the top. And learning how to coach those and how to bring them forward. The work I'm doing with people, not only groups, but individuals sometimes can be very deep work. I was working with a man who in the group, I had everybody present themselves and he gave me the shortest introduction to himself as anybody in the group. And I'd like to drill down from time to time to say, what's that about? Turns out as a child, it always links back to some wrong thinking, or maybe a difficult past, he felt that his father did not want him to talk, he felt he wasn't worthy. And because of that, he always carried that along like a heavy Samsonite luggage. And we dug into that. And I don't like to say I'm a therapist. But sometimes I feel like I am in this work. Because really, it's getting to the core of how do we feel about ourselves. Instead of putting on a mask, and digging some of those wrong thinking or behaviors out in order to be have more liberty and freedom, we can become very self judgmental of ourselves too. And that can also keep us really closeted. And I attribute that also to the work that I do as an actor is you have to come overcome a lot in yourself in order to serve these greater characters that you play. So if you have any areas of your life that you're uncomfortable with, you have to learn how to become comfortable and you overcome them. And there's a lot of freedom that comes with

Aaron Harmon: 21:41

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Aaron Harmon: 22:25

So to amend my previous comment, but it be more correct to then say, somebody who is acting or communicating has an emotional palette that they can pull from to fill the role they're trying to achieve in that position.

Michelle Hutchison: 22:41

Absolutely. And that's why I say your life experiences are the template from which you draw. So for those older folks out there that think their work is done not by a longshot because you have life experience and understanding to bring to the work that you do. And younger people have a different kind of energy based on what they've learned so far in their life. So I think that everything is useful, good, bad and ugly.

Aaron Harmon: 23:08

This has got me thinking about what Maverick would be like in Top Gun and played by Will Ferrell

Michelle Hutchison: 23:17

will be an excellent choice. Yeah, I actually did years ago, and I'm just telling myself a little bit I did a show years ago in Los Angeles. And it was a group of women that we performed a show called cabin pressure. And it was way before 911. And it was a group of women who were almost like TSA agents. It was a comedy. And so we had some people in Los Angeles that were interested in this as a possible pilot. So we did our last show for these group of people that could have pushed the project forward and Will Ferrell is it was a friend of a friend of a friend. And so he acted as an usher for the audience. And he was hilarious. He came in as if he was part of the ground crew, bringing people in with flashlights and dancing along it was hysterical. And this is I think right before he was on Saturday Night Live. So he is honestly probably one of the funniest actors. I love how he's very funny.

Leslie Cooper: 24:21

He's hilarious. So I feel like you've given us a lot of insight already. But can you tell us a little about the training you offer?

Michelle Hutchison: 24:30

I offer a variety of curriculum. I have many different things that I offer. On a high level I offer training for teams that can be a full day can be multi week could be longer than that if they desire. I also offer through these medical device companies I offer training within that are fixed curriculum. But just to give you high level topics, what I do is storytelling is one of my favorite classes that I offer called storytelling one oh One engage your audience, I have another called performing in the moment, the art of thinking fast on your feet, which incorporates the skill of improvisation, which I used to perform and still do perform. I tell most people, if you could get to an improvisation class, you should run to it because you will learn to trust yourself more. And to get over the idea that you might feel foolish. There's a lot of wonderful things breaking through that worry and concern, after another one called presenting outside of the box, have another call of speaking to a global audience, which is about leveraging global communications, learning how to deal with different cultures and languages and idioms. That's just sort of the high level of some of the courses that I offer. My company is called skilled expressions. And I love this type of work not only working with individuals, but working with teams. And then obviously, I've worked within departments too. And getting to know people, some of the people I've been training in these groups have continued to bring me back yearly. And I've continued to see these people grow from five years ago to people coming from behind them, and watching the language of this skill being passed on and people having a deeper understanding. So it's truly very rewarding. And in many ways, I am in not so much in the spotlight, but certainly more in the backdrop helping in coaching and mentoring. And there is something quite beautiful about that I really enjoy it.

Aaron Harmon: 26:38

So many of these sounds really good. And have a company I can have you come and help work with us on some curriculum and, and doing this as an individual. If I just want to show up, can I reach out to your website, identify a class or contact someone and then

Michelle Hutchison: 26:57

absolutely, Michel, at skilled expressions.com, email me, and feel free to contact me. As mentioned, I work with individuals. If I have somebody that says I just want to do a coaching package I have that they say I want to just meet with you and work one to one hour with you. That's fine. I want to meet with you because I have a team that needs some help. How do you work. And I will share with you that before the pandemic starting in 2015. I've been working online, and now they're one of my clients, I work globally. So I have the ability to work all around the globe. But hey, if you want to fly me to Paris, I'm open to that too.

Aaron Harmon: 27:41

That's a good gig, I want to do that. We'll do a train that would be

Michelle Hutchison: 27:45

a phenomenal gig

Aaron Harmon: 27:47

might be some added costs, I suppose.

Michelle Hutchison: 27:50

Yeah. But you know, the virtual training works really well. And I realized that it does help people to be able to connect. And it's been interesting for these teams that have people in Eastern Europe, people in Africa, people in Middle East, and they can all get together and work in this collective way. Because there's also a really interesting aspect of coming together and allowing yourself to be vulnerable with your workmates. And I see a lot of changes in really good conversations that happen as a result. I think it's more peripheral that that happens. It's not necessarily what I intend. But it happens as a result.

Aaron Harmon: 28:29

Adding to this like discussion about the remote stuff. And through these things like zoom, I noticed a lot of people hesitant to turn the cameras on. And so in the classes I teach, I wouldn't have gone into zoom. I have students that went from being very outspoken and talkative in the class and engaging as soon as we go on zoom cameras off. And they're asking questions, and we're kind of like added touch during the class. Right? Does that tie back? So when you mentioned the question, like raise your hand, if you're comfortable with your own voice? does that tie into appearance now that we're in this world of webcams, and

Michelle Hutchison: 29:05

I think it's a big part of it. And when I do my on camera training, I always record people. And it's so fascinating because the first class people show up, I record them. And the next time I see them, they're all completely physically changed. They're wearing different clothes, their hair, their makeup, everything is completely different because now they see how they appear. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think that's a good thing to be aware of. Because we are at working in this hybrid model and learning how to do it and do it well. is so important to your career. I will go back to that Moravian study what was the number one aspect of 55% body language, if you don't have your camera on, you've just taken 55% of your ability to impact an audience away. And I think it's really important to learn how to work on camera because that's what it is. Now as far as the students are I actually request everybody turn their camera on. And I would say the first class people have that sense of discomfort. But I have sort of the tricks of the trade to get them to be a little more engaged. And by the end, I really think people aren't thinking about it much anymore. They get used to seeing themselves. I do think when people are constantly watching themselves on Zoom, that can be distracting. But zoom also has a feature that you can turn off your own self loop, if you will, in order to not see yourself. And I think that that's also useful.

Aaron Harmon: 30:38

I didn't know about that. That's good to know. Yeah, I didn't know. Yeah. So this will be a confession time. So my name My coworkers are listening, they'll know. Occasionally, I'll play a game on Zoom. Right? Try to sit as still as I possibly can to make everyone think my screen froze. So I do feel like the camera feedback has been helpful for that, because I can watch myself and see how still I'm actually holding. Yeah, which might show you like my occasional engagement, some of the meetings I'm in like, kind of stray off that far. But

Michelle Hutchison: 31:08

I think that's fun. I think if you have fun with your audience, that's great. Because there's enough pain in the world. So why not have a little fun? Exactly. But I do think that being good on camera, and turning and encouraging, is something that I do quite a bit with my groups is I say, Look, you represent this department. If you as a leader, do not turn your camera on, what are you sending to your audience that it's not necessary to show who you are? And we're in a people business. It's not just ideas, look at what we watch on our phones all day long videos of people, people, people, people, people, we can't get enough of it. But we show up at work and don't turn on cameras on. It does not make sense. No, that's very true.

Leslie Cooper: 31:54

Wow, what you've been talking about, it keeps reminding me, I'm sure you've seen the movie, The King's Speech? Oh, sure. I always find that scene where they have him recording he has the headphones on so he can't hear himself. And then they play it back. And have you seen this movie? No, you should watch it. It's really good. But he stutters and he can't give a speech. Well, there was no TV back then. And so he actually they, they have somebody come in and help him with his speech. And he's wearing headphones, and they record him and he's listening to loud music and reading. And when he hears himself talk, the stutters gone. So when he couldn't hear himself, and he wasn't thinking about it, he just went with it. And it just kind of made me think about that whole concept of, if you're worried about what you're doing, you're probably not you worrying too much about yourself, you know, instead of your audience, you're worried you're gonna say something wrong or do something wrong. And that's where your mind is that not actually conveying your message.

Michelle Hutchison: 32:52

Exactly. And it's hard to focus on the other. The other character as it were, which is the audience if you're thinking about that. But in the training, we do focus on ourselves in order to be able to learn how to be to see this more as a craft. I always say if you put a golf club in your hand in the right way, for the first time, it feels awkward until you learn how to make it work. And it becomes second skin into your point, Aaron, you and mentioned that when you were for the very first time, recording yourself, and then had to listen back, the disembodied voice can be very jolting to yours, pretty much. But now you understand how to not manipulate it, but how to use your voice and the way that you intend and what you hear in your ear. And I think that that's what this is about is learning. What do I want to look like? How do I want to sound? How do I want to connect? And now how do I do it? And that's very intentional. When I take voice lessons, I have a voice coach, I do all the training and the technique with him. But when I show up for the audition, I let it go. Because I'm working on it behind the scenes until it becomes part of who I am. But in the performance itself. I'm not doing that hyperfocus on all those elements, you get to release that. I've never thought of myself as a vocal artist. But to put that on earth now you

Aaron Harmon: 34:25

do. Yeah. One thing I realized, and having to go through this process of like editing my own. My own voice on podcast is the podcast in itself as a product that has different purposes, different values to people. And as being a voice on the podcast, I'm part of that product now. And so I have to think like, how is the sound of my voice coming through? Am I making lots of clicking sounds? Do I stutter when I'm talking all of those elements are kind of subtly in the background, my mind and so when I'm going through the editing process Over time, I hear myself getting better and better and better. Because I'm building that thought pattern, I think into my delivering of, essentially each episode.

Unknown: 35:10

That's exactly right. Because it's a craft, it's not, I think so much in our culture, we'd say, I just want to be myself, I want to be natural. Well, natural isn't always good and natural isn't always compelling. So to learn how to build the craft, in order for it to become natural, is really is really the hope.

Aaron Harmon: 35:30

You went to college for this, like, this is not a you just woke up, and you were an actress. This was like, oh, no,

Michelle Hutchison: 35:36

this, this is right, you study it for four years. And then in your work, you begin to learn, I worked as a voiceover artist not coming out of college that took time to develop. And it took a lot of learning hard knocks, and playing back. But I would take copy, which is anything printed, could be a story, it could be a commercial, it could be whatever I wanted it to be, and I would record myself. And that was back in the day when we had the little eight tracks, and you know, the the cassette tapes where you would talk into a little phone microphone, and I would record myself. And that's how I almost taught myself by training my ear, listening to commercials, listening to TV commercials, and then trial and error and perfecting it and smoothing out my voice and learning how to use it. It's not something you just fall into. I work sometimes training people on the mic. And people will say, Well, I was always told that I had a really great sounding voice. Well, that's great. That's just the beginning of it. It's like saying, I have an athletic build. So I should be able to play basketball. Well, you got to learn the game.

Aaron Harmon: 36:48

It's easy to try to like not draw attention to yourself, but to do the role well of communicating and influencing others and conveying a message and getting them engaged in your message and doing the body language and all these things. How do you coach people to feel uncomfortable in that role, to kind of embracing the spotlight and saying, Yeah, I will jump up on this platform at this big convention and present because what I've got is compelling, how do you get through to people?

Michelle Hutchison: 37:14

Well, and that's, that's a really good question. I think that's the secret sauce is my personal approach is that I am my personal way of thinking is that everybody has something that is worthy. And they have something that's important that that they need to share. And I start there because if you don't believe that, then why are you on the stage at all? And I coach people into helping them believe that and know that. And most people and their deepest parts really do. They just doubt whether they can succeed at it. And so I start there, and then I craft the message with them. What are you trying to say? Not what's your slides? Not? What is your story? What do you want to say, at the end of the day? What is your through line, and there's a through line, to every story, novel, play song poem. It's what writers call the through line. And if you don't have a through line, then you just have a lot of ideas. But at the end of the day, you have to know what your through line is. I had a playwright, describe it to me that it's the clothesline, of which all your ideas, hang on. And so that through line is the first place of where we start. And then we build the ideas that come from that. What is your supporting evidence? What are some of your stories, what are the elements that really support your thru line, and then we frame it up, and then begin to hone it. As far as getting somebody to get comfortable in their own skin, or use theater games, improvisational breathing exercises, getting people comfortable in their bodies, first of all, and also use emotional psychological things to get them to feel relaxed, and to focus on the piece, what it is they're trying to say, through line and get them in a place of comfort and trust. And you have to build trust with people because we have reasons to be suspicious. We don't know what someone wants from us when we're working with you. And a lot of people I find at the end of the day are really whether you are in the lower rung of the corporation or a CEO. Everybody has self doubt to some degree. And I think that that is the greatest way of when I start a class is for everybody to talk about the thing they worry about and they find out right away. Oh wow. I never thought in a million yours, you'd have that discomfort that worried that anxiety. And I think in some ways, once we learn that it helps us to not feel so alienated in our own discomfort.

Aaron Harmon: 40:13

You are like a therapist.

Michelle Hutchison: 40:17

I'm telling you, I've done a lot of deep thinking about it. And it's, it's an odd thing that I watch people go from maybe not having a clue, or some people feeling that they're really good at it, and learning so much and becoming more at peace with what it is. Because you want to be able to enjoy this, you want to be able to enjoy the moment that you get to connect with an audience, even if it is fraught with fear. Fear is not a determinant as to whether or not you can do this. I am a seasoned performer, and I get anxious too. It just goes with the territory. And a little anxiety can give you good energy too. We call it opening night jitters in sometimes the night that you don't have jitters is the night mistakes are made.

Aaron Harmon: 41:09

That's the way to sign up for classes. Now,

Leslie Cooper: 41:11

I know I was just thinking that, well. You talk about your voice my husband is in. He used to be in television, and now he does marketing. But he does a lot of radio. So I always joke with him that he has his radio voice and will be like driving down the road and his he will record it a commercial. And the kids hear it and they'll be like, Hey, that sounds like dad. Yes, I love that. So I agree the classes sound fantastic.

Aaron Harmon: 41:37

I feel like we could just talk on and I know I have all these like thoughts and questions going through my mind now. But your time is also valuable. And so you probably have to bring things to a close,

Leslie Cooper: 41:49

you know, also, I was gonna say I really liked the Guthrie since you direct there. It's a very nice theater.

Michelle Hutchison: 41:57

Oh, it's a beautiful space. And you know, since the pandemic, it's obviously changed. But now things have come back in the last year, which has been nice. And I'm training the Bachelor of Fine Arts students at the University of Minnesota coming up in the next couple of weeks. They the Guthrie has a partnership with the University of Minnesota. And it's just full circle for me to have started at the University of Minnesota getting my degree in theater. And now I'm training these people.

Leslie Cooper: 42:26

That's really cool. Yes, it's, it's,

Michelle Hutchison: 42:29

it's a blessing. I still love to perform. And I do miss it because I'm like I said, I'm a goofball. And when I'm in front of corporate audiences, they may not always know that and I think you have no idea how goofy I am. But this side of who I am is just equally as strong. And so it's been nice in my latter part of my career to leverage my understanding of the work I'm doing now I find it to be very rewarding.

Aaron Harmon: 43:00

So goofball is part of your emotional palette. Absolutely.

Michelle Hutchison: 43:04

It actually starts there. Well, thank you, Michelle. Absolutely. It's my pleasure.

Aaron Harmon: 43:11

This is awesome. I feel like I've learned a ton already. Just in this episode.

Michelle Hutchison: 43:16

That's great. I would love to work with you and anybody else who's interested, feel free to reach out via my email at or am I skilled expressions.com.

Aaron Harmon: 43:26

We will include those in the show notes too, so

Michelle Hutchison: 43:28

that people have fantastic, I appreciate it. And thank you for having me on. It was great.

Leslie Cooper: 43:33

This episode of Inside Out quality was brought to you thanks to South Dakota biotech Association. If you have a story you'd like us to explore and share. We'd love to hear from you. Submit your ideas by visiting www.sd bio.org

Aaron Harmon: 43:48

You've made it this far in the episode. Thanks for listening