A few days ago, I had the good fortune to have afternoon tea with Jon, a legendary speaker who was instrumental in helping me enter the field. Although I’m far from the afternoon tea type, his sage advice was worth suffering through every swallow. We crisscrossed every speaking topic under the sun, from content to… read more

Let me begin by assuring you that the title of this article is not meant to challenge or double-dog dare you in the way you might think. In fact, if you look closely at the last word in the title, you’ll see that I’m actually just wishing you a piece of timber. This writing is… read more

  If you’re anything like most people, when you hear the word, “autopsy”, your thoughts immediately turn morbid. If you don’t mind removing your grim reaper hat for just a moment, you might be surprised to learn that autopsy, in the broader sense, means an analysis of something after it has been completed. Of course,… read more

  For the last five years, like clockwork, I’ve received a call from my longtime client, Rodney, who engages me once a year to help him prepare for his company’s annual holiday party. Rodney is super smart, strategic and a little goofy, which he freely admits. Traditionally, during his holiday speech, he would thank everyone… read more

One of the many joys of my work as a speech coach is my great relationships with clients, one of whom is Steve. (I’m intentionally omitting Steve’s last name for reasons that will soon become obvious.) Steve is a busy CEO of a $15 million-dollar company with about 150 employees. One of the reasons Steve… read more

In the biking community, there is an old saying: there are two types of riders ― those who have fallen and those who will fall. Similarly, in the realm of public speaking, there are two types of speakers ― those who have given an impromptu talk and those who will. Whether you’re the former or… read more

      Surveying a group of CEOs is much like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Fortunately, after some arm twisting, I was able to get 25 CEOs to complete a public speaking survey. The purpose of the survey was to uncover their most pressing public speaking frustrations. I’ll go ahead and let… read more