The best comedy comes from real life

"What we do is take the worst things in our life and turn it into something palatable for everybody else, because the best comedy comes from real life.

I think that when you talk about something that really happened, whether you make it a caricature of what happened, or whatever, but it is a version of the truth, you connect with the audience in a way that you cannot with contrived material."

~ Comedian Robert Schimmel, I Am Comic documentary

What Schimmel is saying does not just apply to comedians. You may not think of yourself as a comedian and you may not feel the need to use the Comedy Evaluator Pro to determine the percentage of time your audience is laughing, but humor is a valuable tool to bring to any presentation, and not just the "yuk yuk" kind.

Let's say you're talking about something that your audience considers boring but necessary, like OSHA regulations or sales figures for the last quarter, or insurance premiums. The easiest way to make less-than-engaging topics more palatable for the audience is to insert some humor from real life. Think of something your audience can relate to, industry or office humor that is universally understood and appreciated, and use it. It will be welcome relief from the facts and figures.

What if, like Robert Schimmel in his quote above, you are discussing a topic like cancer (his son's and his own) or epilepsy or eating disorders -- a topic that makes an audience uncomfortable at best. Think there's no humor in disease and death? More than any other topic, humor is critical here to lighten up what can be a very heavy and distressing topic for your audience.

The trick is to weave humor in and out and not use a heavy hand. Your audience doesn't have to laugh uproariously. A lighthearted quip that brings a subtle chuckle can be just enough. I mentioned a client of mine a few years back who opened her presentation to fellow eating disorder professionals with "Who's hungry?" as she began her talk on what she calls "hunger disease." I imagine a lot of people raised their hands!

Another client of mine talks about his time in prison for securities fraud and intersperses entertaining stories (including a poignant one about inviting his parents to lunch to tell them he was going to prison), to keep the audience from getting caught up in the darkness. Can you imagine telling your parents such a thing? He brings it right to the forefront.

Feel free to be a little silly with your humor. When my client with epilepsy talks about how she lives a normal life, has advanced degrees and her own business, is married and has kids, she also tosses in that she was sixth-grade class president. Because it's cute, and it also underscores that, if her fellow 11-year-olds elected her, knowing about and having seen her seizures, then she must not be too much of a weirdo! Isn't that what we all want? To be accepted?

Another client, who is an expert in anxiety disorders, humorously shows a slide titled "Carolyn's Stressed Hypothalamus" while walking the audience through her body and brain's reaction to a stressful experience being exacerbating by hunger and exhaustion -- causing her to snap at her husband. Who hasn't been there?

I've been to funerals with plenty of humor to break up the sadness. Who wouldn't want to hear the positive and funny stories from the deceased person's life? It doesn't take away from the solemnity of the event; it allows a more well-rounded picture of the person whose life is being celebrated. I bet my various pastor and officiant friends and clients could back this up.

What works in all of these situations is the real life stories told by the speakers, and the juxtaposition of serious with funny. Serious makes funny funnier! It's a tension-breaker and it's an authentic expression of the spice of life.

Whether the audience is bored, anxious, uncomfortable, skeptical or fearful when faced with your topic, a little humor goes a long way toward reducing their anxiety and discomfort and taking them along on your journey, wherever it ends.

Update: I just learned that Robert Schimmel, quoted above, died three days after this post, of injuries sustained in a car accident. After making it through his young son's death by cancer and surviving his own cancer, and living with liver disease, it just seems like dying in a car accident caused by another driver is a really unfair way to go. RIP, Mr. Schimmel.

Your opinion doesn't matter

Out of town for a couple of days, so I thought I would pass along a blog post or two featuring bloggers whose ideas I admire and will help you with your speaking!

This one is from Tony Chimento, a former client and now general all-around Web pal who I've never met in person. Tony is a pastor in Texas who writes an insightful blog that sometimes crosses over with ideas applicable to public speaking. He also came up with one of my button/magnet sayings: "I could talk till you're blue in the face." Here's a brief excerpt from a recent post about giving your opinion:

"Your opinion really doesn’t matter. Well it does. But there are times when it just doesn’t matter. And, in my opinion, here are a few reasons why it won’t matter.

1. Your opinion won’t matter if you were asked for it in a meeting, you didn’t give it then, but gave it after the meeting. Useless. You are now expressing your opinion to the wrong people at the wrong time in the wrong place. It doesn’t matter at that point....

2. Your opinion won’t matter if you give it arrogantly. You may be right. You may be wrong. But if you give your opinion in an arrogant manner, people won’t hear your opinion, they will hear your haughtiness and reject you and your opinion.

3. Your opinion won’t matter if you don’t care about the collective good. Your opinion should be given to help move the collective good forward. Will your opinion help? Will it bring progress? Will it shed light? Will you be helping to lift the discussion?"

As a speaker, you must have an opinion. You must express your opinion if you want to persuade an audience to take action. Yet many speakers are afraid to stand up, to have a voice, to engage the audience's emotions, to rock the boat if necessary (as I mentioned in Thursday's blog post). And, as Tony points out, even if you express your opinion, there are several ways you can sabotage yourself and render your opinion meaningless.

Read the rest of this post at Tony's blog Living Forward.

If nothing else, be original

I was browsing a public speaking coach's Facebook page today (no, you don't know her). Now, to be fair, I haven't heard her speak, so I don't know what kind of material she delivers to an audience. But post after post on Facebook was a quote or article written by someone else -- some of them overused clichés and some even erroneous. I started to wonder if she had any ideas of her own.

It's true that there aren't many new ideas out there, and most of us are repeating a lot of the same information, just in a different way. But that's the key: In a different way.

When you simply quote others and repeat their words, you're not saying anything new AND you're not saying it in a new way. I see this on Twitter all the time: Stream after stream of pithy quote after pithy quote. This tells me nothing about the person. They just come across as a mimic.

If you are going to say the same thing everyone else says, in their voice or in their words, why bother? You aren't going to stand out. You aren't going to be memorable. You aren't going to make an impact on your audience, so why waste their time and your own?

What is your own unique point of view? Everybody has one. Each of us has our own stories and experiences that inform how we see the world. That's what audiences want to hear.

If you're afraid to be different or rock the boat, get over it. If you don't want to stand out, then you should quit public speaking right now, because there's no room for speakers who blend in with the crowd and repeat someone else's material. Audiences don't appreciate giving up their time (and sometimes money) to listen to regurgitated, boring content.

Be original or get off the stage.

Lessons from a lifestyle entrepreneur

I'm enjoying Jane Pollak's book "Soul Proprietor: 101 Lessons From a Lifestyle Entrepreneur." Jane is a business coach who specializes in working with creative women entrepreneurs.

I first heard Jane speak when I was starting my jewelry business, and even though I'm no longer in a crafty field, I still find her lessons and insights to be helpful in building my business.

I especially appreciate her stories about her own learning experiences, candid and sometimes painful retellings of prideful and embarrassing stumbling blocks that only made her stronger, more persistent and more committed (I can so relate to standing in my booth for hour after hour, not selling a single item).

Here are a couple of Jane's lessons that you can easily apply to public speaking.

Lesson 5: What makes you unique makes you successful

"When I tell people that Arnold Schwarzenegger is my role model, they look at me as though I'm crazy.... He was told that no one in this country was interested in body building, that he had to lose his accent because no one would be able to understand him, and that he had to change his name, because how on earth was anyone going to remember Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Making my living as an egg decorator was not an easy path, but like Arnold Schwarzenegger, what makes me hard to comprehend, unique, and memorable is exactly what has made me successful."

Lesson 9: In changing what is into what can be, we learn what we need to know

"Entrepreneurship is not easy. I have endured near-empty bank accounts, rejections, humiliations, envy and despair. I don't like to talk about any of that. However, I find myself devouring any morsel of information written about someone else's bad experiences. I want a thorough description of how those people moved out of the dumps and moved on with their lives....

When I give a keynote speech now, I tell humorous stories about those early days, about my embarrassment when I stood alone in my booth for hours on end, and the audience members laugh with me....

There doesn't seem to be a kinder, gentler way to get to the end of the tunnel and see the light."

Lesson 16: Step out of your comfort zone when someone asks you to do something that seems hard

"At our May Grand Networking Event, I arrived early to set up the registration area. The president of EWN came over to me and said we were short on hostesses. Would I be willing to act as a greeter?

'What does that entail?' I stalled. 'Just go up to everyone you see, introduce yourself, and start talking.' It's that 'just' word again. Like it's so easy. So I took a deep breath and acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world for me to do. An amazing thing happened. Everyone I approached bought me as the hostess with the mostest; I watched each woman's face brighten because of the attention I was paying her."

Lesson 22: Attention to detail matters

"When I was describing the differences between white eggs and brown eggs, I paused. I knew that I had heard something about their nutritional value but couldn't remember. I knew that I could craft a sentence that disguised my lack of knowledge: Some people think that brown eggs have greater nutiritional value. Or: Brown eggs are often perceived to have greater nutritional value.

But sentence one made me feel like a fraud, and sentence two bored me....

I called the University of Connecticut -- well known for its agriculture department. A professor told me that the nutritional value is the same. I could now inform my students and my readers that there is no difference."

Lesson 90: Learn from each experience -- positive or negative -- and move forward.

"We had several meetings to discuss themes, materials, and direction for the line. I created sketches, drawings and finished paintings of the frame patterns. We met with a marketing person to help us position the line in the marketplace....

The glitch came when the factory overseas was unable to reproduce the colors in the designs I painted. Rather than working with porcelain, which has its own integrity, the factory was using a less expensive ceramic mold. The quality of the finished product was below the standards that both Gigi and I expected. Ultimately, after we both spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on the project, Gigi decided to pull the plug....

I have experienced several dead ends like this in my business. You could call them failures, but along the way they taught me what I can't do and what I'm not good at. They also have shown me which dream I need to discard and which dream I need to continue dreaming."

Check out Soul Proprietor here and Jane's blog here.

4 in the morning...

Here's one of my favorite TED talks, and one with a theme I'm unfortunately a little too familiar with lately: "4 in the morning."

Poet and storyteller Rives cleverly attempts to solve the mystery of the "repeated artistic depiction" of 4 in the morning that pops up in movies, poetry, literature, and music.

Before I ever saw this talk, I had noticed the same thing; I rarely hear a reference to 2:00, 3:00 or 5:00 in the morning as the most remote, worst possible time of day, the time of day when desperate people lie awake thinking of fried pork chops or stay up to work on inaugural speeches. So when I came across the presentation, I was elated! I'm not the only one who thinks there's a conspiracy or mysterious code behind 4 in the morning!

Or maybe I just need to get more sleep.

Fall group coaching program starts 9/14 in Santa Barbara

Do you need help with public speaking, but aren't sure what options are available? Try group coaching!

Santa Barbara's only public speaking group coaching program starts a new six-week series on September 14 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Public speaking group coaching emphasizes building skills and confidence in a safe and encouraging environment, and includes exercises, discussion, opportunities for practice, and videotaping of practice presentations. Group coaching is also more affordable than individual coaching and -- with a group size of only six people -- it's more personalized than a seminar. If you enjoy the support and camaraderie of a small group environment, this program is for you!

Some of the topics covered during group coaching include managing fear and anxiety, engaging the audience, structuring a presentation, creating a strong opening and closing, PowerPoint design, proper preparation, relaxation tools, and more. The small group size allows for flexibility in topics and focus areas.

There are only six spaces available, so reserve yours now!

Get more information and register here!

3 reasons your wedding speech is a piece of cake

Many people consider the "wedding speech" to be their worst nightmare. Whether they're the best man, maid of honor, father of the bride, or just a family friend who's been asked to say a few words, they feel pressured to be formal, funny, profound, touching and memorable.

They feel that it's their responsibility to sum up their entire lifetime relationship with the bride or groom in two minutes, while not embarrassing themselves or the wedding party. And then there are those whose goal is to embarrass the wedding party... but that's another blog post.

Here's the secret of the wedding speech: It may be the easiest speech you ever give, so look at it as an opportunity to have fun, and don't make it more than it is. Don't believe me? See below.

1. The audience isn't there to hear you.

In a typical presentation, you are expected to know stuff. You have material to deliver, and your audience depends on you to learn something or take action after your talk.

However, at a wedding, there are no expectations of expertise on your part. You are just a guy (or gal) who's there to support the bride and groom. You don't have to know anything!

2. You don't need to create content.

At a wedding or rehearsal dinner, all anyone wants to hear is stories about the bride and groom. The stories can be funny, heartbreaking, silly or (slightly) embarrassing, but you don't have to make anything up. Any story you remember from your relationship is good enough. And if you've been asked to speak, you certainly have many stories to choose from. Tell a story and you're good.

3. People just want to drink.

Notice how everyone has their hand wrapped around a glass of champagne? They're just waiting for you to finish so they can make a toast and tip their glass. The audience is there to celebrate. It's a party. So keep it short and bottoms up!

I hope these tips help you find the fun in the wedding speech. Always remember: It's not about you, it's about the audience. And in this case, it's about the bride and groom. No speech could be easier, when the audience is so focused on someone else! Speak from the heart and have a great time.

L'Chaim!

Fun Friday: Comic Sans and Helvetica walk into a bar...

Here's some delicious PowerPoint humor for a fun Friday.

Don McMillan rips PowerPoint culture to shreds and busts my gut at the same time.

I especially liked the parts about graphs and charts: his family org chart with Steve the cat at the top, his spreadsheet of spreads, his potpie chart and his various cake charts.

Enjoy!



If this video doesn't work, watch it on YouTube.

8 tips on how to be a blogging machine

There are a lot of blogs and articles out there where you can read about how to come up with blog content and discipline yourself to write frequently. But how many of those tips are coming from people who have 1,000+ blog posts themselves?

As a way to celebrate my 1,000th post, I decided to put out the word to prolific bloggers to find out how they keep their blogs alive, fresh and fruitful. Whether your blog is a primary marketing tool for your business, or you just use it to share a topic you love, follow these suggestions to keep the blog posts coming!

1. Make a commitment and stick with it

For about a year, I committed to writing six days a week. It was HARD, but I mostly kept up. That year of consistent writing is what I believe propelled me from just having a link on the front page of Google to becoming #1 on Google for "public speaking coach."

I don't feel the need to write six days a week any more, but I don't feel productive unless I write at least three posts a week. What works for you? Find a groove and commit. You'll be more inclined to write even when you don't really feel like it.

Denise Wakeman said, "Stay focused on your core topic so you don't confuse your readers and they know what to expect from you. Figure out your optimal posting schedule, say 2 to 3 times per week and stick to it so you become a content machine and build a robust resource in your niche for which you become the go-to expert."

2. Be conscious of examples in your daily life

In my blog post about incorporating more analogies in your presentations, I mentioned steps that also apply to prolific blogging, including looking at the world as a giant library of resources.

Tara Burner said, "'Life" happens daily and there's something to learn from what we go through on a daily basis. It makes for quality consistent content."

Henk-Jan van der Klis said, "Actively seek inspiration, try new things, visit new places, test, look, listen and blog your findings. Don't forget to enjoy the writing process. :-)"

3. Save ideas in your drafts folder

Every time I think of a topic to write about, I save it -- even if it's just a sentence -- as a draft blog post. I set a scheduled publishing date a year in advance, which keeps the draft at the top of my list of blog posts.

Now, any time I open my blog dashboard, I have 10 or 15 or 20 drafts at the top of the page that I may or may not decide to blog on that day.

4. Don't be afraid to express controversial opinions

Maybe 20% of my posts might never have been written if I let concerns about my readers' potential disagreements prevent me from writing.

Erica Friedman said, "Have something unique to say and say it uniquely."

5. Use guest bloggers when necessary

Don't get me wrong; I want the voice of Speak Schmeak to be mine. However, there are times when guest bloggers come in handy.

For example, when I was dealing with my panic attacks at the beginning of last year (yes, I told people I was sick, which was partially true), I knew I couldn't keep up the blog to my usual degree, so I asked a few of my public speaking blogger friends to help out. It was a win-win situation, as I could take the time I needed to recover, while my pals were exposed to new readers, and my readers exposed to new ideas.

Vacations are a good time to bring in a guest blogger. And sometimes I just get too busy, so having a guest post or two in the wings is helpful if I think my posting frequency is going to drop off too much in a week.

6. That being said... Write even when you don't feel like it!

During the period of my worst anxiety last year, I still had speaking engagements and clients I had to see. And I still had to contribute to my blog or watch it fall by the wayside. Looking back at January and February 2009, I'm surprised at how much I was able to post myself, remembering how crummy I felt.

I didn't feel like writing, but I have a commitment to my readers, and I have a commitment to myself not to let this blog become a dusty ghost town. So I forced myself to write, even when I really didn't want to. Also, those draft posts came in handy!

Dave Saunders said, "Waiting for motivation before writing is a great way to write nothing at all. Inspiration follows action so write badly but write something."

7. Be creative about your content

Sometimes I find a video that represents a public speaking concept I want to convey. Sometimes I post song lyrics. Sometimes I post a commercial or a print ad.

Sometimes I post a quick 200 words, and sometimes it comes out to more like 900 words. I love using analogies, stories, examples from clients, links to other bloggers, and Twitter. How can you tell your story and get your core message across in creative and unusual ways?

Huub Koch said, "Very inspiring, for myself and others, is to blog about books. I discovered that most publishers are very much willing to send you a review copy if you ask them."

And finally...

8. Have a goal for your blog

If you don't know why you're writing, it might be harder to keep yourself motivated. What's your goal? Entertainment, education, making money, personal journaling, accountability? There are probably as many reasons for writing blogs as there are blogs, but knowing your specific reason and goals will help you keep your commitment to yourself and your readers.

John Ettorre said, "To keep it going every day for years, you have to choose a broad topic that resonates with you over time, maybe even that's central to your life's work. If you don't continue to care about the topic over time, or have a real passion that's obvious to readers, there's no chance they'll care."

I hope these tips help keep your mind fertile and your blog fruitful, especially in those times where you are least inclined to produce. Keep up the good work!

Beyond Bullet Points -- Live! Early bird pricing ends tomorrow!

Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, is offering -- for the first time ever -- courses to the public on his BBP method! (If you haven't read Beyond Bullet Points, I highly recommend it. You can get it here.)

On November 11, Cliff is offering his one-day basic PowerPoint course, and on November 12, he's offering his advanced version. You can sign up as an individual or as a group.

Here are all the details, and when you're ready to register, please use this link (it's an affiliate link for me -- I get credit for people who sign up!).

Sign up by tomorrow, August 11, and you get Cliff's early bird rate!

The program will be held at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Hope to see you there!

1,000 posts

I asked my Twitter friends what I should write about for my 1,000th blog post. I was feeling a lot of pressure and stress to write something profound or funny or brilliant.

The first, and only, answer I got was from my pal Kristiana Kocis, who said this:

That sounds like something I can sink my teeth into! It's going to take me a few days, but I'm putting together a post for you about what it takes to populate a blog with regular, useful and relevant content for your readers.

That, however, will not be my 1,000th blog post. Because this one is!

I started this blog on October 9, 2006, about a year after I started this coaching business. Which means that, not only am I celebrating 1,000+ posts this year, but it will also be my fifth anniversary as a public speaking coach. What a year!

Thank you, readers, for continuing to show up, for continuing to comment, for continuing to ask me great questions which, in turn, become blog posts. It pleases me to know I'm not just talking to myself, and that some people are actually finding this blog helpful in their public speaking endeavors.

If you want to post your own public speaking discussion topics to talk about, head over to my Facebook page where things are a little more interactive.

Thank you for being here, and stay tuned for some advice from me and some other bloggers who've successfully maintained a blog of over 1,000 posts!

Customers don't always enter through the front door

I've been enjoying the recent upgrades to La Cumbre Plaza, Santa Barbara's oldest shopping mall (or "outdoor lifestyle center," if you like), which opened in 1967. And I don't necessarily mean adding upscale stores like Tiffany and Louis Vuitton to balance Sears and Claire's.

The owners, who have changed twice in, I think, the past ten years, have been adding improvements to the shopping center: more plants, more seating areas, and generally making a more welcoming environment for shoppers. They've restructured the store facades (don't know how I feel about that) and created an ever-changing decorative garden space in front of Macy's that transforms each season.

However, a large portion of the mall had been ignored for decades. This has now become part of the remodel, and I couldn't be happier.

If you look at the image, you can see the walkways and courtyards shaded purple. This means that the vast majority of the property is parking lot. So the first thing you used to see when driving into La Cumbre Plaza was not beautiful facades, water fountains and potted plants, but the backsides of stores. No windows, no decor, mostly a fortress.

This has all changed. Now when you drive into the parking lot, you see benches, potted trees, and even some display windows and storefronts, as the company has reconfigured some of the shops with front doors facing the parking lot.

Believe me, I'm going somewhere with this.

You may think that the moment you walk onstage is the first impression your audience gets of you. However, you are onstage from the minute you arrive at the venue. In fact, you are onstage when someone is browsing your website to determine if they want to invite you to speak!

You are onstage when you're tweeting, Facebooking and LinkedIn-ing. Walking onstage is oftentimes your LAST opportunity to make a first impression. Your parking lot is what event organizers and some audience members see first.

Is your website up to snuff? Or do you have generic stock photos, hard-to-find contact information and a sketchy bio? Do you respond to business e-mails and phone calls in a timely manner, or do you come across to prospects as unprofessional and unresponsive?

When you walk in the door, are you harried and stressed out about getting yourself set up? Or do you smile, breathe, and take the time to chat with the organizer and early-arriving audience members?

Do you wash your car before a speaking engagement? I don't have off-street parking and therefore, my car has the occasional dust, sap drippings and bird droppings that come with parking under trees. (Who am I kidding? It's more than occasional.) Every time I drive up to my venue in a dirty car, I feel like I'm representing myself poorly.

Pay attention to the architecture and decor of every facet of your presence, in person, online and onstage. No matter where people are positioned, you should present a great view. When you get in front of your audience to speak, you should have already made positive first, second, third and fourth impressions.

Customers don't always enter through the front door. Your front door is frequently the last thing seen. Don't waste the opportunity to impress your prospects and audience as early and often as possible.

How to go from boring to bravo

As I seem to be slightly under the weather this week (perhaps I'm having a mental block due to being at 997 blog posts...), I'm going to introduce you to Kristin Arnold, president of the National Speakers Association. Her book is called Boring to Bravo, and she's offered an excerpt, which I've posted below! Because we've been talking a bit about Q&A lately, I thought this was a good fit. I do love a guest blogger when my brain isn't working properly. Thank you, Kristin!

How to go from Boring to Bravo with National Speakers Association president Kristin Arnold

No one wants to be boring, and no one wants to be bored listening to you. During a presentation you are delivering to customers, co-workers or cohorts, you can’t afford to have your audience disengage – or worse – walk out.

While it will always be easier to recite information (one way) than it is to make an engaging speech (two way) presentation that connects with your audience, today’s audiences are demanding more engagement and interaction. They are expecting you to bring specific knowledge they can’t get anywhere else – and deliver it in an entertaining way.

Get out of your comfort zone and choose to make your presentations more engaging and interactive.

Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Boring to Bravo, which offers tips on implementing a successful Q&A in your next presentation:

I once watched a famous retired football coach deliver an after-dinner speech to a group of a hundred managers. As to be expected, when he came to the end of his presentation, he asked if anyone had any questions. What I did not expect is that no one had a question. Not one. Here is a guy with several Super Bowl rings on his fingers and no one had a question about anything he said. We looked around at each other for a few terrible moments until one of the VPs broke the ice with some lame question. There was another polite one and then the crowd started asking pertinent questions.

This question-and-answer session (Q&A) did not have to be so painful. Obviously, this coach had given this speech once or twice before, and yet his ending Q&A was the first time he engaged the audience one-on-one. Even though he knew what to expect, it is hard to involve the audience seven-eights of the way into a presentation!

There is no law that says you have to save your Q&A until the end of the presentation. You can

· Take questions as you go.
· Stop periodically and ask for questions – particularly if a participant or two looks puzzled.
· Create small groups to formulate the questions.
· Use a cellular phone, Web technology, or index cards to solicit questions.
· Hold questions until the end (but then wrap up with your final comments or story).

There is no right or wrong approach, although I have a strong bias against holding all questions to the end. By the time you get to the end, your audience will have forgotten the burning question they had twenty minutes earlier. They will be ready to take a break and grab another cup of coffee.

It all depends on your topic, your audience, and how much time you have. Just pick an approach, tell the audience how you will take questions, and then stick to it. You may want to ask the moderator (if you have one) to introduce the Q&A approach, to call on the questioners, and to intervene if it gets off track.

You will never be boring if you genuinely care about and connect with your audience. And, the added benefit is that you’ll have more fun, too!

View the trailer for Kristin's book here.

Kristin Arnold is on a mission to make all meetings more engaging, interactive and collaborative through her new book, Boring to Bravo. Arnold is president of the National Speakers Association. Visit BoringtoBravo.com to order your copy today and for free downloads.