On the first day of school President Obama’s speech was televised to school children all over the country. Here is my analysis of his speech. As in all of my coaching, I strive for comments that are 50% positive and 50% constructive suggestions for change. I summarize with the top-two priorities:
Here’s what I liked:
1.Outstanding use of stories and examples to make his points: getting up at 4:30 am to work with his mom on school projects; missed having a father; Michelle Obama came from a simple family but went on to college. He gave 3 …

In the SpeakersTrainingCamp workshops you will often hear me coaching people to smile more. Audiences want their presenters to use a great deal of facial expression. I’ll often have someone who challenges me by asking, “Why should I smile? I’m not saying anything funny?” The reason for smiling is because when you smile you are conveying friendliness toward your audience and enthusiasm for your topic. The audience is reading your face for clues. I’ve noticed that people over 35 years of age often look like they are frowning when their faces are in a …

I was driving home after attending an exhausting three-day seminar.  In the middle of the five-hour trek, I decided to stop at my favorite fast-food restaurant:  Burgerville USA.  Burgerville is located on the West Coast and has become famous for using local, fresh ingredients such as Tillamook cheese, Walla Wall onions, hazelnuts, etc.  As I was sipping my extremely delicious fresh strawberry shake, I noticed some motivational thoughts printed on the side of the cup.  I thought that was really cool:
*Be the difference
*Reach out
*Start a conversation
*Share a smile
*Create a memory
*Inspire hope

Commencement speeches should be quick and snappy.  That’s it – in a nutshell.  Our daughter, Lindsey, recently graduated from dental school, and as I sat with my buttons popping with pride – the coach in me also analyzed the speakers.  I do want to congratulate the dental school for completing all speeches and graduating 70 students (with great individual attention and presentation of doctoral hoods) in 1.5 hours.  That was amazing!  The only really good speaker was the class president.  She spoke for only a few minutes and presented a top-11 list of her dental school memories.  The faculty speakers, …

This weekend I was attending a dog training workshop in a horse barn with a metal roof.  It was a stormy day and frequently rain pelted on the roof so hard that you could not hear the instructor.  This was one of the world’s gurus in her subject matter, but for several stretches of time, no one had a clue about what she was saying.  What would you do?
This sounds so very simple, but it happens all the time.  The instructor is so caught up in their own thing, that they fail to see the big picture.  Holy cow!  People …