Still video frame with text: During Becky's presentation, I could feel like my whole body was electrified, like the feeling before lightning strikes.

Why my cows are in my speaking reel

ByBecky McCray

I finally made a speaker reel. After more than a decade of keynotes and workshops all over, I worked with Logan Young from SPKRstudio.com to put together footage that would show what I bring to you on stage.

Logan started filling the spaces between speaking clips with beautiful, professional stock footage. These were gorgeous shots of rural landscapes, country roads, horses, farmers, and charming small town storefronts. It all looked polished and professional.

And I made him take almost all of it out.

Instead of stock footage, you’ll see video I shot on my phone of our own cows on our place. You’ll see the waving wheat at the far end of Main Street in Hopeton, where I live. You’ll see what I saw on a tour of a real factory in Madill, Oklahoma, manufacturing stock panels and wire fencing. You’ll see Deb’s views from a sidewalk cafe in Colorado and inside a store in Iowa.

Is it a little shaky? Lower resolution than the stock footage? Absolutely. But it’s real, right down to the ground.

See, I don’t just talk about rural issues. I live them.

That phone footage of my cows isn’t a flaw in a professional production. It’s the point. Those aren’t “some cows in some rural place.” They’re OUR cows, OUR town, OUR visits to rural places.

Once I shared that with Logan, he got it! He made the most of even older clips from across my career. Yes, there’s polished footage from big stages, and there’s also the community center in Potlatch, Idaho, audience participation in Elliot Lake, Northern Ontario, and Deb and me at the little sheds in Tionesta, Pennsylvania.

I don’t talk about rural places because it’s a hot trend or something. This is me. It’s decades of lived experience in rural communities, from the smallest of small towns to regional organizations to international keynotes.

I don’t bring generic ideas that might adapt to rural settings. I don’t share a lot of theory or general inspiration.

Audience members get practical steps and ideas from someone who deeply understands rural challenges and assets. They get advice shaped by the input of hundreds of rural communities and over 2,200 rural people on our survey.

You don’t have to know all the answers if you can stay open to new ideas. That’s what I help audiences discover: how to take action now with what they have, where they are.

If you know someone who selects speakers for state association conferences, county or regional rural-focused events, or national organizations working with rural communities, I’d love for you to share this reel with them.

Watch the speaker reel at www.beckymccray.com or on YouTube at https://youtu.be/EUrUFVbYjX8

And when you spot my cows in the B-roll, wave to Bubby and Patty. Now you know exactly why they’re there.