You’ve just begun your professional speaking career – CONGRATULATIONS!! You’ve created your presentations that you’re ready to get paid for, started looking for events/organizations you can speak at, and have been passing your business card to anyone and everyone you come in contact with. Sooo…why are the engagements not happening? It could be for any […]

My Aunt Cheryl has a big DVD collection (yes, DVDs still exist). When I go visit her, she’ll sometimes suggest a new movie that we should watch together. The movie obviously made an impact on her, or she would not have even brought it up. However, my aunt knows me well. I don’t watch a lot of movies; I go […]

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Zig Ziglar I love this quote by the late great Zig Ziglar, a well-known motivational speaker and author. I think most of us have the genuine desire to be great at something, but taking those necessary steps to become great is […]

I’d bet my last dollar you’re familiar with the Transformers movies that have come out the last few years. These action films, full of explosions and unexpected twists, were directed by Michael Bay. Unfortunately, he experienced an unexpected incident of his own while promoting Samsung’s high definition curved TVs back in 2014. When a teleprompter malfunctioned, he […]

Greetings! I hope you have had a joyous holiday with your loved ones.  Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I love all the happy feelings that come with it and spending time with my family. However, I saw a social media post recently that gave me pause: “Christmas feels more like a deadline than a holiday.” […]

Omne trium perfectum. If you’re not familiar with this Latin phrase, it means “every set of three is complete” or “everything that comes in threes is perfect.”  We see examples of this everywhere: The Three Little Pigs…The good, the bad, and the ugly…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Most flags have three colors. Groupings of three are […]

One common way that many speakers can negatively impact their credibility is by using crutch or filler words throughout their presentation. If you’re not familiar with this term, it means the words that we use when we’re not sure what to say next or to buy us time to find the right word we want to […]

There are times when you will have to give the same presentation numerous times, to numerous audiences. This is especially true if you work in a field where you have to train groups of people, such as sales, human resources, or insurance. Let’s face it – sometimes it can start to feel a little boring […]

  Have you ever started reading a book, and found it tough to continue reading because the first few pages didn’t grab your attention? Or have you watched a movie that just dragggggged in the beginning? Both situations are painful to endure! Imagine how an audience feels when listening to a speech or presentation that […]

The other night, I was at a meeting where there was a guest speaker.  I knew the gentleman, but more on an acquaintance level. So my ears perked up when the meeting MC began to formally introduce him to the group, since it’s always interesting what you learn about someone from their introduction. It started […]