Mine the Moment
Oct 23rd · Live on Zoom Save My Seat
Live + Interactive Story Mining Experience

The moment you would cut is the moment that converts.

You don't need a bigger story. You need to see the moment you've been overlooking. Join Andrea Merrill live for an interactive story mining experience where you'll mine your own life, learn what makes a story move a room, and watch Andrea take one participant from scattered memories to a message they didn't know was there.

No polished story required. No keynote required. Just bring your life.

Save My Seat Free See how the night works

Live on Zoom · Interactive · Bring a notebook · One live story mining hot seat

When
Oct 23rd · 9:00–10:30 AM MST (12:00–1:30 PM EDT / 11:00 AM–12:30 PM CDT / 9:00–10:30 AM PDT)
Where
Zoom · Live
Entry
Free · bring a notebook
Andrea Merrill
Story Miner · Scottsdale, AZ
Telling your story is surface  -  story mining is soulful
The idea this is built on

The story that moves the room usually isn't the biggest thing that ever happened to you.

It's the five-second moment you almost skipped. The sentence you didn't think mattered. The pattern you've repeated so many times you stopped noticing it. The experience you assumed everyone else had too.

That's what we mine.

Mine the Moment LIVE is an interactive story mining experience where Andrea shows you how powerful stories are actually uncovered, guides you through mining your own life, and then demonstrates the process with one participant, live.

You'll see exactly what happens between “here's what happened to me” and “THAT is the story.”

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How this one is different

This time, you're not just watching.

At the first Mine the Moment, Andrea story mined multiple participants live. The transformations were powerful. But something became obvious in that room: the people watching needed to experience the process themselves.

01

So the experience evolved

Before Andrea mines anyone else, she's going to make you look at your own story first.

02

You answer the questions

The same kinds of questions Andrea uses to uncover keynote stories, asked to the whole room. Privately.

03

You notice the patterns

You'll start identifying the moments in your own life you've been walking past for years.

04

Then you watch Andrea dig

Same raw material. She goes deeper. And you get to compare what she found to what you wrote.

Part one

First, I'm going to make you story mine yourself.

Bring a notebook. Seriously.

Before Andrea story mines anyone live, she'll walk the entire room through several of the same types of questions she uses to uncover keynote stories. You'll privately explore things like:

  • the role you learned to play
  • the identity you built
  • the moments that changed what you believed
  • the patterns you may have normalized
  • what stopped working
  • what you understand now that you couldn't understand then

You are not required to share your answers. You are not required to disclose trauma. You are not expected to arrive with a story prepared. Just answer honestly.

Then keep that page in front of you. Because you're going to need it for what happens next.

I'm Bringing My Notebook

Part two

Then I'll story mine one person live.

One willing participant will be selected for a live story mining hot seat. Andrea will begin with the same kind of raw material everyone else just explored. But then she'll dig.

SHE LISTENS FOR
The word you keep repeating. The detail you almost skipped.
AND FOR
The belief underneath the behavior. The contradiction you don't realize you just gave her.
AND FOR
The moment that looks completely unrelated to your work, until it isn't. The story underneath the story.

The room will watch the questions change based on the answers. No script. No pre-written keynote. No polished performance. Just story mining. Live.

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The core distinction

The writing isn't the hardest part. The seeing is.

This is the difference between telling your story and mining it. Most people can tell Andrea what happened. The work begins when Andrea starts asking:

  • Why that detail?
  • Why that word?
  • When did you first learn that?
  • What did you make that mean?
  • Where else has that shown up?
  • What did it cost you?
  • What changed?

Story mining isn't about making your life sound more dramatic. It's about finding the meaning you were too close to recognize.

What Andrea is actually listening for

I'm not listening for the saddest story. I'm listening for the pattern.

01

Identity

Who did you learn you had to become?

02

Belief

What did the experience teach you about yourself, other people, or the world?

03

Pattern

Where has that belief repeated itself?

04

Moment

Where did something finally change?

05

Meaning

What do you understand now that you couldn't understand then?

06

Mirror

Where does your audience recognize themselves inside your experience?

07

Movement

What should they believe, do, or change because they heard it?

08

That's the shift

That's how an experience becomes a message.

“

She turned someone's story into a 5-minute talk that made the whole room cry.

Andi Hess — Remix Coaching
Proof from the room

What happened the first time we did this.

Not testimonials. Transformations, in the participants' own words.

01

“Wow. That is so stinking good.”

A participant came in talking about perseverance, faith, fatherhood, and the hundreds of times he'd wanted to quit. Story mining uncovered: “Your past gets a voice. Your past does not get a vote.”

02

“I had no idea how in the world you were going to intersect those two.”

Another participant couldn't see how her unconventional childhood had anything to do with the business she runs today. Andrea found the pattern connecting them.

03

“I got goosebumps.”

Another participant shared experiences she believed might have disqualified her. The mined message became: You weren't disqualified. You were unfinished.

04

That's story mining.

Same room. Same night. Nobody arrived knowing those sentences were sitting inside their own lives.

“

I read Andrea's work at midnight and I just about died. She did it. The framework is phenomenal—beyond phenomenal—and the structure is perfect.

The thing I needed most was something in writing I could actually start practicing, and Andrea gave me that. Parts of it are so perfect I can already start memorizing them.

But it's more than the writing. I'm teaching five days a week and I don't have a sparring partner—someone to talk it out with and actually get to an end result. Andrea is that partner. She listens, she pulls it out of me, and suddenly the whole thing clicks into place.

I walked in feeling misunderstood. I walked out understood. That's the best way I can say it. I feel so much better.

Penny — After a story mining session
Watch what happens

Penny, after Andrea shaped her keynote.

Keynote Success
Finally having the words to my keynote. OMG!
Story mining in action

See what a mined moment actually sounds like.

Two short pieces, each built from a moment most people would have cut. This is the kind of work you'll watch Andrea do live.

From Garage to Resilience
A journey of self-worth.
Finding Light
Overcoming dark thoughts with music.
The question everyone asks

But Andrea… couldn't I just put all of this into AI?

You should use AI. Andrea does.

AI can help you write faster. It can organize. It can brainstorm. It can structure. It can edit. But there's a problem: AI can only work with what you know to give it.

THE MOMENT
If you don't know the five-second moment matters, you don't put it in the prompt.
THE PATTERN
If you don't recognize the pattern, you don't ask AI to connect it.
THE SENTENCE
If you think the childhood story is irrelevant, you leave it out. AI never knows what you didn't tell it.
AI can help write the story.
Story mining finds the story worth writing.

That's what you're going to watch happen live.

Read this before you worry

Story mining does not mean trauma mining.

You don't need to tell Andrea the worst thing that has ever happened to you. You don't need a dramatic life. You don't need to cry. And you never have to share something you don't want to share.

A powerful story might live inside:

  • a sentence someone said
  • a decision
  • a business failure
  • becoming a parent
  • leaving a job
  • an embarrassing mistake
  • an unexpected success
  • something funny
  • a childhood memory
  • a moment you almost quit
  • something you've dismissed as “not important”

Drama doesn't make a story powerful. Meaning does.

How the night works

You do not read about story mining. You do it, then you watch it.

01

Come with nothing prepared

No polished keynote. No perfect story. No performance. Bring a notebook and your life.

02

Learn what makes a moment matter

Andrea teaches you what she listens for, and why most speakers overlook their strongest material.

03

Mine your own life

Andrea guides the entire room through a private story mining exercise. You'll write. You'll reflect. You'll start noticing. Nobody has to share.

04

Watch one story get mined live

One willing participant enters the hot seat. Andrea follows the story wherever the answers lead. The room watches the excavation happen in real time.

05

Watch the story become the message

Andrea shapes what she uncovered into the beginning and core of a talk. This is the reveal.

06

Now look back at your paper

Andrea breaks down what she heard, why she followed one answer and ignored another, what pattern emerged, and what changed between the first answer and the finished message. Then you compare it to what you wrote.

“

The real experiment isn't the person in the hot seat. It's you.

Andrea Merrill

While Andrea is mining their story, you'll have your answers sitting in front of you. And at some point you may realize: “I answered that question too… and I never would have taken it there.” Or: “I have no idea which part of my answer actually matters.” Or simply: “What am I overlooking?”

That's the moment Mine the Moment was built for. Not when Andrea finds someone else's story. When you realize there may be something inside yours you haven't been able to see.

What you get

What you'll walk away with.

Free to register. Built to be worth your time whether you ever work with Andrea or not.

01

Your own completed story mining exercise

Written in your own words, in your own notebook, guided live by Andrea.

02

New questions to ask about your life

The questions that surface identity, belief, and behavioral patterns inside your stories.

03

Experience vs. keynote story

A clearer understanding of the difference, and why one moves a room while the other doesn't.

04

A front-row view of the methodology

Andrea's story mining process, unscripted, on a real person, in real time.

05

Clarity on what may be missing

Greater clarity around what your current talk, pitch, or intro is leaving on the table.

06

Where AI helps and where it can't

A new understanding of where AI helps and where human story mining begins.

07

The chance to volunteer for the hot seat

Attendees can volunteer to be story mined live. One participant will be selected.

08

And possibly the most valuable part

The realization: “There is more in my story than I thought.”

The live hot seat

Want Andrea to mine your story live?

During Mine the Moment, Andrea will invite attendees to volunteer for the live story mining hot seat. One participant will be selected.

If chosen, you'll receive a condensed live story mining experience in front of the room: Andrea works your raw material in real time and shapes what she uncovers into the beginning of a message you can use.

You'll also receive the recording of your live story mining segment after the event, so you can go back to exactly what was said and how it was found. Volunteering is optional, and nothing is required of you to attend.

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Andrea MerrillScottsdale, AZ
Who is leading it

I learned how to listen before I learned how to write keynotes.

Messaging Architect · Story Miner · TEDx Strategist · Keynote Writer

Before Andrea Merrill became a messaging architect, story miner, TEDx strategist, and keynote writer, she worked in behavioral science and as a behavior and trauma therapist with a Master's in Applied Behavior Analysis.

That background taught her to listen for behavior, identity, patterns, belief, language, and what people have normalized about their own experience. Today she combines behavioral psychology, story mining, messaging architecture, and keynote strategy to uncover the message hiding underneath someone's lived experience.

She's a bestselling author who built her business from an iPhone 8 in a hospital bed. One client booked a $25,000 contract from a single keynote. Another filled a $10,000 mastermind in 72 hours. She has been featured on CNN, NBC, CBS, and FOX.

$80M+
Client Revenue
$25K
Single-Keynote Contract
72 hrs
$10K Mastermind Filled
Who should be in this room

For people who already have the credentials and want the talk that moves them.

01Speakers writing or rewriting a signature talk
02Coaches and consultants who inspire but do not convert
03Authors, founders, and experts preparing for a stage
04Anyone sitting on a story they keep cutting
The details

Everything you need to know.

The Experience
Mine the Moment LIVEA live, interactive story mining experience
Date & Time
Friday, October 23rd9:00 to 10:30 AM MST · 12:00 to 1:30 PM EDT / 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM CDT / 9:00 to 10:30 AM PDT
Where
Live on Zoom
Entry
Free to registerNo cost. No tiers.
What To Bring
A notebookEveryone participates in a private, guided story mining exercise.
Live Hot Seat
One willing participantAttendees can volunteer on the night. One is selected and story mined live.
Recording
The session is recordedYour private written exercise stays yours. See the consent notes below.
Questions, answered

How a storytelling coach helps you tell your story.

What is story mining?

Story mining is the work of going into a specific moment — often the five seconds you'd skip — and pulling out the identity, belief, pattern, and meaning inside it. It's the opposite of polishing a highlight reel. It's how you find the moment that converts.

How does a storytelling coach help me tell my story?

A storytelling coach listens for what is true, not just what sounds good. Andrea helps you spot the moment you keep cutting, ask the questions that surface it, and shape it into an open that moves a room.

Do I need to be a speaker?

No. Speakers, aspiring speakers, coaches, consultants, founders, authors, experts, and leaders can all benefit from the experience.

Do I need a story prepared?

No. Please don't prepare one. Bring a notebook and show up.

Am I going to have to share my story?

No. The room-wide story mining exercise is private. You choose what you write and what you share.

Does my story need to involve trauma?

Absolutely not. Andrea mines for meaning, not trauma.

Will everyone be story mined by Andrea?

No. Everyone participates in the guided exercise. One willing participant will be selected for the live story mining demonstration.

What happens if I'm selected for the hot seat?

Andrea will story mine you live in front of the audience, following your answers wherever they lead, then shape what she uncovers into the beginning of a message. The event is recorded, and by volunteering you consent to that story mining conversation being recorded and used according to the release below. Volunteering is entirely optional.

Is this an AI workshop?

No. Andrea may explain where AI fits into her process, but Mine the Moment is fundamentally about the human work that happens before any writing: recognizing the moment, the meaning, the pattern, and the message.

Will Andrea make an offer at the end?

Yes. Mine the Moment is a real training and interactive experience designed to be valuable whether you ever hire Andrea or not. At the end, Andrea will briefly show you how to work with her privately if you've realized, “I know there's something here. I want Andrea to find it.” There is no obligation to purchase anything.

How is this different from a storytelling class?

Most classes teach you how to structure a story. This experience makes you mine one — yours — and then shows you the excavation happening live so you can see what you missed in your own material.

Oct 23rd · Live on Zoom

Go find the moment you were about to cut.

Bring a notebook. Mine your own life. Then watch what Andrea can find in someone else's, and ask yourself what's still hiding in yours.

Save My Seat Free
Free to register · Interactive · One live story mining hot seat
Mine the Moment is recorded. Your private written exercise stays yours. If you speak, unmute, appear on camera, or volunteer for the hot seat, you consent to Andrea Merrill Co. recording and using that participation.
The Story Is You.
Free · Oct 23rdInteractive · bring a notebook
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