Only 2 days left to get 20% off all coaching services

The 20%-off special to celebrate my fifth anniversary in business ends on October 31. Take this opportunity now to contact me and lock in your special discount by midnight (PT) Sunday.

It's my gift to you for supporting me over the past five years by reading my blog and newsletter, downloading my handouts, following and retweeting me on Twitter, friending me on Facebook and, of course, hiring me to help you become more effective speakers!

In order to secure the discounted rate, you must book and pay for the service in October. But you have six months to use it!

Giving a breakout session in February? Making a wedding toast in April? No problem! Book now and we'll work on your speech next year! Go to my Services page to see what you can apply your discount to!

Titles a bore? Not any more!

I'm currently reading POP! Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline For Anything by Sam Horn, a book about crafting memorable titles, taglines and slogans. The book is full of creative exercises to come up with catchy names for everything from products to programs, and it reminded me of a clever joke I heard that appeared effortless in its spontaneity.

In the documentary "I Am Comic," Ritch Shydner is waiting in the wings to start his set at a comedy club. He's introduced by the emcee as "One of the pioneers of stand-up." Ritch turns to the camera with a look of astonishment, exclaims "Pioneer!" and bursts out laughing.

He makes his way onstage and tosses out this line: "Yes, one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy. Back in my day we had steam-driven microphones!"

Now, I can picture Ritch sitting there with his piece of paper, doing one of Sam Horn's exercises, one where you draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and make a list on either side of core words about your business, product or service.

In this case, I imagine Ritch using one side of the paper for words pioneer-related, such as "covered wagon," "homestead," or "buffalo," and the other side for words relating to comedians, like "club," "bit," and "joke." The magic combination: "Steam-driven microphone." But what's amazing is that Ritch does this all in his head in a matter of moments.

This is the message of POP! Once you get in the habit of thinking creatively, you will never be at a loss for clever word combinations. And another point: "This is not wordplay, this word profit." Coining an original word or phrase that gets the attention of prospects and media can make the difference between a presentation, product or service that languishes and one that soars to instant success.

If you (like me) have trouble coming up with creative titles and taglines for your presentations, your blog posts, your programs, consider picking up this book. It will change the way you think and give you practical tools to start capturing your audience's attention before you even walk in the door.

(I became paralyzed from the pressure of having to write a clever title for this post, just because I'm reading a book about how to write clever titles. I really need this book.)

How do you know when to stop talking?

One question I've always had for artists is, "How do you know when you're done?" Out of thousands of brush strokes, when does the realization hit that this is the "last one?"

Speakers face the same dilemma. How do you know when you've hit on that perfect line, that pithy quote or powerful statement that slaps you in the face and says, "Stop here!"

I would argue that closings are one of the most difficult aspects of a presentation. Knowing when to stop, feeling like you've said all you can say and punctuating your presentation with just the right ending frequently feel awkward. It's like when you're trying to leave a party and spend an extra half hour saying your goodbyes.

Here's a before and after example from a client's presentation in my group coaching program. Her speech is about how her husband hates to travel, so she finds a way to travel the world every Sunday morning -- through cooking.

Original ending:

"I know that tonight, when we sit down to dinner, he's going to say the same thing he says every night when we sit down: 'I'm the luckiest man in the world, because I get to eat in a different country every night.' And I feel lucky. So I've brought you all your own magic carpet ride. I hope that you'll choose to take one, and that we'll travel together someday at my house or yours."

New and improved ending:

"At the end of the night, my husband will join me in my travels when he sits down, and he'll say, 'Why should I buy a plane ticket? I eat in a different country every night.'"

In the first example, Suzanne wasn't quite sure where she was going with her ending. The quote by her husband was perfect, I thought. But then she continued on with a sort-of call to action, or invitation to try traveling through trying some exotic recipes ourselves. So what's the message? Too many endings and the message gets diluted, whichever one you choose.

Here's another example, from another coaching group client. Jessica's presentation was about health claims on food packaging and learning to differentiate between truth and marketing.

Original ending:

"I'm not telling you these things to scare you, but it's always good to know what you're consuming and to be able to see through the veil of marketing."

Revised ending:

"Next time you're cruising through the aisles and boxes and bags of the grocery store, don't rely on the words that pop out of the package that make you think that they're healthy; actually look at the ingredients label, and you'll be better off."

In the first example, Jessica is asserting that it's a good idea to know what you're eating and to know the difference between truth and marketing. In the second example, she gives a clear call to action to read the ingredient labels to know what you're getting.

Both speeches were only given twice, so you can see how these endings could be improved and tightened up even more. But both speakers went from wishy-washy to straightforward conclusions with just a little effort.

In order to have a strong ending, you have to know the objective of your presentation. You have to create the presentation with the ending in mind. What do you want the audience to do as a result of your presentation? What do you want them to remember? What feeling do you want to leave them with?

Once you know that, it's easier to know what your strongest ending is and when to quit talking.

Are you a giver or a hoarder?

Some speakers hold themselves back out of fear and self-limiting beliefs. They never get out there because they don't want to be judged, fear not being good enough, have unrealistic expectations and so forth.

And then there are the speakers who hold back out of stinginess. These speakers don't fear judgment, they fear the audience itself. They fear that that audience will take their material for free and never come back. So they hoard it and save it for the day when they can bestow it on a paying client.

I've written before about intentionally holding back so you don't overwhelm the audience and yes, you can whet their appetite for more. However, this doesn't mean you give a presentation or write an article that's devoid of content or value, just to entice someone to hire you. It just means you try not to bombard the audience with so much information that they can't possibly retain it all.

How many times have you gone to a free talk or teleseminar only to leave disappointed, when the speaker seemed more interested in promoting his paid products and services than giving any real value?

Read on for three miserly scenarios and ask yourself if you could be just a little more giving with your audiences and clients.

1. You hold back info because you don't want to "give it all away for free."

Let's just address this ridiculous scenario first: There's no way you can give it all away. If your knowledge base is so shallow and fragile that you fear giving it all away in one measly presentation or a few blog posts, then you need to seriously shore up your knowledge.

Here's a comment from Seth Godin, in response to someone asking why he so freely gives away ideas:

"My feeling is that the more often you create and share ideas, the better you get at it. The process of manipulating and ultimately spreading ideas improves both the quality and the quantity of what you create, at least it does for me."

Scott Ginsberg says,

"The more you give away for free, the wealthier you will be."

I don't think there's any question about Scott's and Seth's success, while they still continue to give free and useful advice on their blogs, as well as give away their published books for free.

You can't possibly give away everything you know. And remember, just because a person reads your e-books, hears your presentations and subscribes to your blog, it doesn't mean that the person now knows everything you know, or that the person even fully comprehends or is able to apply everything you've said or written.

That person has tools, but may not know how to implement them. That person may still need your hands-on approach. Don't ever make assumptions about how people are using your material!

2. You offer one "free taste," such as a newsletter, then get offended when people unsubscribe or don't subscribe in the first place.

Everyone learns differently, and not everyone benefits from receiving a newsletter. Maybe your subscriber goes to your blog and reads it every day; maybe she subscribes to 150 blogs in a reader and can only get to yours once every couple of weeks. Maybe she loves getting Twitter and Facebook snippets and links. Maybe she prefers watching a video or listening to audio as she works out or drives.

Everyone is different, and you have to spread your "free" around. The person who listens to audio while driving may not be the person who reads your blog. How can you reach as many people as possible with your ideas?

3. You believe that you can't possibly make money from giving away free stuff. So you just don't do it.

Here are some of the most successful entrepreneurs I follow, whose free offerings are not only frequent, but generous and full of valuable content. These women don't just toss out an occasional bone for their audiences to pick at. These women provide the kind of material -- for free -- that can legitimately help you build your business. But if you want more than just reading material and videos, you can also hire them!

~ Alicia Forest is an author and speaker, whose website, blog and newsletter are full of juicy relevant tips (like this article: "Strapped For Cash? 7 Ways to Have a Sale Today"). She gives away free audio, free handouts and a free teleseminar. Is Alicia financially successful? You can read about her success with her paid programs here.

~ Mari Smith is another example of an extremely accommodating entrepreneur, a speaker and trainer who uses Facebook and Twitter not just to promote her paid programs, but to share bucketloads of free information on how to use social media to grow your business. She has been called "The Pied Piper of the Online World" by Fast Company and is one of the top experts on social media.

~ Joan Stewart is my third example today of a giver who is not afraid to put a lot of free information out there for the taking. Her weekly Publicity Hound newsletter offers tips for getting on TV and radio, being interviewed by the media, when, why and how to pitch your stories, how to improve your press releases, and more. But that's not all. Joan offers tons of free articles on her website, a value-packed blog and links to dozens of additional resources for products and services she doesn't provide.

These three entrepreneurs do not live in fear of giving all their information away for free. They don't save the "good stuff" only for their clients. They are each highly successful in their paid programs, but have attracted many of those clients because of their free options. They trust their audience to know when they need more than a handout or blog post, but don't try to hold back information that could be helpful while the prospect is still unsure of the need to hire someone.

Are you being generous or stingy with your information? Which do you think is a better strategy for attracting clients and giving your audiences true value?

FYI: You can find my "free stuff" by scrolling down this page.

P.S. A Twitter friend mentioned to me that Seth Godin uses similar descriptions (giver and hoarder) in his book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, that I haven't yet read. So, clearly, great minds think alike!

An intro that jumped the gun

Photo by Todd Dailey

Andrew Dlugan wrote a great post the other day on how to introduce a speaker, and it's a definitive article on the subject with 16 right-on points (and some great additions in the comments). I recommend you read this article if you ever find yourself in the position of introducing a speaker.

I'd like to tag along on that blog post with a story I heard from a colleague today about a botched introduction. Although it seems like a no-brainer not to do this, obviously someone did it, so it bears being mentioned.

My colleague (let's call her "Sara") was one of two speakers in a class, and when she arrived, the other speaker had already begun. Sara double-checked with the instructor to make sure she had her bio, and the instructor said, "I already read the bios at the beginning of class."

So what happened next was this: The first speaker finished, and Sara had to walk up to the front of the class -- in silence -- with no introduction or announcement, and start speaking. Now, Sara is no shy wallflower, and I'm sure she launched into her presentation with her usual verve and excitement.

But boy, what a way to take the wind out of someone's sails! Not to mention the confusion the class probably felt. An experienced speaker might know to jump in and at least remind the audience of her name before she begins her talk. A less-experienced speaker might just feel really crummy and awkward.

When you are introducing a speaker, don't read her intro 20 minutes before she speaks. The introduction must precede the speaker -- the purpose is to build up to the speaker's entrance, to create a transition from whatever happened before, and let the audience know that a presentation is about to begin. The introduction is not just a bunch of information that you can insert at any place into the event.

You don't read it a half hour before your speaker takes the stage, you don't jump in and read it in the middle of the presentation, and you certainly don't read it at the end. You read it right before the speaker goes on, transferring the stage from yourself to the speaker. Period.

A "secret" strategy...

Here's a quick tip for you today that may save you some aggravation when presenting. It came up during group coaching last night, so I know I'm not the only one who thinks about this. But I may be the only one who plans for it!

When I speak, I get hot. I expend a lot of energy, my face gets red, and not only do I heat up, I also get sweaty. I'm sure this is a familiar scenario for many of you.

Whether your perspiration is limited to sweaty palms and a pre-introduction "glow" or you get full-on drenched when presenting, this is a pretty common issue for performers.

The last thing I want to be self-conscious about while presenting is damp circles under my arms. The last thing I want is to be unable to gesture freely because I'm afraid of displaying my steamy situation for everyone's distraction.

So I wear patterns. (That's probably not what you expected me to say. You probably expected me to promote some brand of heavy-duty antiperspirant. Some of you may go that direction, but let's just say that's not my "thing.") Yes, I have a wardrobe of presentation clothing that consists of patterned tops or sweaters that are guaranteed not to show sweaty circles.

It's a simple strategy that gives me one less thing to worry about when presenting. Guys, do you have a similar strategy, or do you just keep your jacket on? Which must make you even hotter...

Share your secret (or not so secret) preparation strategies in the comments!

October is half over, and so is my coaching special!

Just 13 days left to get 20% off all my coaching services this month! Help me celebrate my fifth anniversary of my public speaking coaching business, and take advantage of this special before it's too late!

In order to secure the discounted rate, you must book and pay for the service in October. But you have six months to use it...

So if you know you've got a speaking engagement coming up, but it's a little early to start working on it, go ahead and lock in your special rate now and I'll see you in January or April or so!

Five ways to avoid reading from your slides

Let's say you're stuck with a canned slide show.

Let's say you have no control over your slides. They're sent to you by the marketing department, they're riddled with bullets, and that's what you have to work with. It's an unfortunate situation, but not impossible to improve.

How can you keep the audience's attention, not get sucked into reading from the slides, and make this presentation your own?

1. Write your own notes.

You don't have to use the slides as your notes. In fact, it's preferable that your notes are not tied to the computer or slides, but on a separate piece of paper or cards, so that you can move freely and interact with the audience.

Most important, your notes guarantee that you will be able to discuss the slides in your own words, and not be tempted to use the words that are already visible on the slide.

2. Black out the screen before the next slide.

Ideally, you could place a black slide anywhere in the deck that you want to pause and have a discussion. But then, if you could do that, you probably wouldn't be stuck with a deck full of bullet points!

So instead, let's use the B key on the keyboard (or better yet, the blackout function on your remote) to turn the screen black before you get to the slide with a lot of bullets.

Now you can have a conversation, ask questions or tell stories to prepare the audience for the concepts that will be covered, without giving them the opportunity to read ahead and lose focus. Use your own notes and your flip chart to write down any audience contributions.

3. Ask, don't tell.

Let's use an example from a client of mine, who facilitates a review class for nurses on moderate sedation, a technique where medication is administered to a semi-conscious patient though an IV to provide relaxation and minimize discomfort during a medical procedure.

Most of her slides are bulleted lists for concepts like "Goals of moderate sedation," and "Who is a candidate for moderate sedation?" This slide show is a typical one-way lecture-style presentation where the audience could very easily sit, eyes glazed over and drooling, for an hour without a single interaction with the instructor.

Using the previous black screen trick, she can stop showing the slides right before "Goals of moderate sedation." Then she can engage her audience, asking, "What are some of the goals of moderate sedation?" or "Why do we use moderate sedation?"

She takes answers from the audience, writing them down on a flip chart so she can remember which ones they've mentioned and come back to them later if necessary. When she feels she has sufficiently covered the goals of moderate sedation, then she can pull up the slide with the list of bullets. Now, instead of the bullets revealing the concepts for the first time, they are instead reinforcing a conversation that has already happened.

The instructor might find that one or two of the bullets were not covered (we hoped the students would forget "temporary amnesia" so she could make a joke...) and she can take this time to discuss them, or to flesh out any material that was left out of the discussion on the other bullets.

But what she doesn't have to do is read from the slide. Because everything on the slide has already been discussed. And there is no mystery to the audience, so they don't have to read ahead or wonder about bullet point #6. She has turned a lecture into a two-way conversation.

4. Choose the most critical or interesting points.

I have another client who doesn't have the luxury of creating or revising her own slides, and because she's not in front of a live audience, has gotten into the habit of reading directly from the bullets during her sales webinars.

In reviewing one of the slides outlining the benefits her customers receive from her product, it was clear that one benefit stood out among the others in its uniqueness and wow factor -- and it also triggered my client's own excitement about the product.

Now, when she gets to that slide, she only briefly summarizes the overall benefits in her own words (because the audience can read each one for themselves), but spends the most time talking about the one particular benefit that will really intrigue and impress her prospects.

5. Tell your own stories.

Dig up stories, case studies, examples and analogies that make the content more exciting, relevant and powerful to your audience. Use the black screen technique to take a moment to insert your story or example and then move on to the slide the story illustrates. This gives a personalized feel to the presentation, even if the slides are canned.

I know that it's frustrating to be handed a slide show and be asked to deliver it when you've had no input into the design or development of the presentation. But you do have options!

Consider it your raw material, the skeleton that you will flesh out with your own words, your own stories, audience interaction and authentic excitement about your topic. You can make even a traditional dreary slide show shine!

Share your examples of personalizing someone else's slide show in the comments!

Be extraordinary -- be yourself

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We all have our individual quirks as speakers. We all have unconscious movements, vocal habits, facial expressions and physical gestures that are part of who we are and that sneak out sometimes when we present. Where did they come from? Who knows?

Watching yourself on video is the best way to detect these little habits and, if you find them distracting, you can work to eliminate them. But sometimes it's okay to just let go. Is the habit distracting to you or anyone else? If not, then maybe you can just let it be.

Ellen Degeneres was surprised last week to discover that she has a subtle physical mannerism that she had never noticed until a viewer wrote in to point it out.

Not only does Ellen poke fun at her own quirk in the short video below, but she also gives some advice about being yourself -- there's a nice quote at the end (whoever might have said it).


If you have trouble viewing the embedded video, you can see it here.

Three tips for directing your audience's response

Have you ever asked your audience a question, only to be bombarded with personal stories and responses that shifted the direction of where you wanted to go? Have you ever asked a question and gotten no response at all?

Audience involvement is a critical part of any presentation. Allowing the audience to share their knowledge and experience benefits both the audience and the speaker; the audience learns from each other, and the speaker learns from the audience. The audience feels like their contributions are valued and that the speaker is not just treating them as an empty vessel to fill with her vast wisdom.

Unfortunately, the scenarios above are all too common when asking questions of the audience, and keep the audience from fully participating in the experience. When you improve your question-asking strategies, you are more likely to get the responses you want that help to illustrate the points you're trying to make. You also improve the collective experience of the audience. Here are some tips for managing this aspect of audience interaction.

1. Be specific.

You want to know how many of your audience members have performed a particular procedure recently. But "recently" is relative. Some people might think "recently" means "in the last two weeks." Some may think you're asking about the last six months.

If you want to know how many have performed the procedure in the last month, ask for only that information. Make it clear to the audience what specific information you're referring to, and you will get the answer you desire.

2. Direct your question with clear words and concepts.

I have a client who wants to know what her audience thinks of when they hear the word "epilepsy." But what she really wants to know is what myths and beliefs they've heard about epilepsy and seizures. She's looking for responses like "frothing at the mouth," and "you have to put something between their teeth" and "they might swallow their tongue."

In order to phrase her question to get the answers she wants, she has to be very specific: "What are some of the popular beliefs about epilepsy and seizures," might be one way to go. She might also use visual words like "What do you picture/imagine/envision when you think about seizures?" This will help the audience recall the images and pictures they have in their minds about epilepsy.

I like to ask my audiences what rules they've heard about public speaking. I flesh out this question by saying, "What have you been told that you should or shouldn't do when speaking?" And then to be very clear, I say, "You don't have to believe it or agree with it; it doesn't have to be right or wrong." This way, I'm sure to get some of the funnier or more ridiculous public speaking "rules."

3. Only ask a rhetorical question when you don't want an answer!

A rhetorical question is really a statement phrased as a question that is asked in order to make a point, NOT to get an actual response from the person you're asking. An example:

"Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?" ~ H. L. Mencken

Sometimes a speaker thinks he's asking a question of the audience and hopes for an answer, but doesn't get one. This is frequently due to how the question is phrased. For example, if you say, "How did we get into this situation?" your audience could perceive that as rhetorical, especially if you don't give them enough time to formulate their answers.

A better way to ask might be to say, "What do you think are some of the reasons we've ended up in this situation?" And then pause and stand ready with your flip chart and markers to write down the answers!

A similar kind of question is the one where you ask, "Have you ever experienced this?" or "Have you ever felt this way?" The audience may nod or smile, but if you actually want the question answered, say "How many of you have experienced this?" That way, you get an active response, a show of hands.

Be specific. Direct, focus, and channel your questions in such a way that you get the responses you seek. Ask open-ended questions or questions that require a show of hands rather than yes or no questions. Practice these audience interaction strategies and you will find your audiences more involved and engaged, and your presentations more successful.

Share your tips for directing your audience's response!

Playing with my color scheme...

...What do you think? If you're new here, it used to be the reverse, like this.

I need a good color contrast between the main link color and visited link color that doesn't seem completely incompatible when, say, in a list in the sidebar. I've been using #666699, #ffff99, #b6fe1c and #ffcc33 for everything on my site and blog, because there's great contrast. What do you DO with a white background?

Thoughts?

Just when you think you're prepared...

It's been a long time since I had an outright disaster during a presentation. In fact, I don't think I've ever had one, unless I've completely blocked it out.

More frequently, I'm chastising myself for minor mixups and negligence, "Why did you forget this?" "Where did you put that?"

Yesterday was no different. I gave an hour-long workshop on effective PowerPoint for the Nonprofit Support Center here in Santa Barbara, a workshop that's technically still in development as it was only my second time presenting it. The content is there, and I like how it's coming along so far.

But these tiny details that no one but me would notice or care about keep slipping by.

I meant to bring my Flip video camera or camcorder to record myself. Forgot the video camera. I keep trying to remember to bring a camera, even to get some still shots. Forgot the camera. The biggest annoyance of all: Forgot my introduction.

I have recently developed an introduction that is way better than the boring bio that is usually read by the person introducing me. It's funny, it's silly, it's totally me... and I have misplaced it or forgotten to bring it with me three times in the last six months.

I have a large file box filled with all my supplies. My remote, my giant pen for the mailing list, my noisemakers, my handouts, my timer, my bags of hard candy... EVERYTHING is in that file box. Except, somehow, this introduction that I usually e-mail ahead to my introducer, who tends to misplace it as well. But this time I hadn't even e-mailed it, so my organizer just had the bio from the website registration page.

When my PowerPoint looked like hell on the organization's projector, I whipped out my own and had it looking great in a couple of minutes (after all, I can't very well give a presentation on effective PowerPoint with a crappy looking slide show). But the introduction? Nowhere to be found.

Why does this chap my hide so much?

Because it's the beginning of the presentation, and I want everything to be perfect. Sure, I understand that there's no such thing as perfect. I say it all the time on this blog. But that doesn't stop me from trying!

I hate the idea of boring the audience with yet another boring bio, formatted boringly with boring information about me they don't care about.

So today, I am going to do two things. I'm going to print out yet another copy of my introduction and place it in my file box. I'm also going to paste it into Google Docs and Google Notebook so I can always access it, no matter where I am (already done!).

It took me six months to figure this out, but I'm finally going to do what I have to do to be organized.

Do you have a minor annoyance that keeps popping up in your presentations? What are you going to do about it?

Can you laugh at yourself?

"Humor is a powerful weapon," says Jeff Nussbaum, a speechwriter who has worked for Al Gore and Joe Biden. "But to earn the right to wield it against others, you need to turn it against yourself first."

Why do we love a speaker who uses self-deprecating humor?

It humanizes him.

It makes him less threatening or intimidating.

It defuses tension.

It shows he doesn't take himself too seriously.

It makes us laugh... and we love to laugh.

Self-deprecating humor allows us to be smart, funny and confident, while also demonstrating modesty and humility about those qualities. After all, a person who uses self-deprecating humor has to be confident, or she wouldn't risk making fun of herself!

What is self-deprecating (or self-effacing) humor? It's simply making fun of yourself to get a laugh. It's different than flat-out putting yourself down in that you are doing it specifically as a joke, not as a serious statement.

Someone I've written about a few times on this blog is British comedian Eddie Izzard, because I'm such a fan of his self-deprecating humor when he gets into a jam. One of my favorite bits is when he writes a "note to self" on his hand:

"No one got that. Never do that piece again."

"Lost everyone. No one understands."

"No one ever gets that one."

"Where is that bit going?"

He's confident enough in his routine that he can make a joke about a joke that doesn't work. And then he moves on.

Here's another example of someone who used self-deprecating humor at all the right times:

"I thought that remark accusing me of having amnesia was uncalled for. I just wish I could remember who said it." ~ former President Ronald Reagan

Reagan's former speechwriter, Doug Gamble, said, "It seems one of the personality traits we most value in others is a sense of humor. In fact, one of the worst things you can say about a person is that he doesn't have one."

However, you should be careful when using self-deprecating humor:

Use it too frequently and you begin to appear less confident.

Use it too emphatically and you look like you're fishing for compliments.

Use it to define a group and, even if you're part of that group, you'll make someone angry (see this article about Netflix CEO's faux pas in making fun of his fellow Americans. I thought his joke was funny!)

If you'd like to use more humor in your presentations, but aren't sure where to begin, try some self-deprecating humor. We all instinctively know how to do it and we do it all the time!

20% off all coaching services in October!

Is Talktoberfest too corny of a name for a promotion to celebrate my fifth year in business? I thought so.

Regardless of how you feel about the name, you are invited to book any of my coaching services in October (see this page) at a 20% discount!

It's my gift to you for supporting me over the past five years by reading my blog and newsletter, downloading my handouts, following and retweeting me on Twitter, friending me on Facebook and, of course, hiring me to help you become more effective speakers!

In order to secure the discounted rate, you must book and pay for the service in October. But you have six months to use it!

So if you know you've got a speaking engagement coming up, but it's a little early to start working on it, go ahead and lock in your special rate now and I'll see you in January or April or so!

Mention Talktoberfest when you contact me about coaching throughout the month of October to get the discount!