What Do Your Awards from the National Speakers Association Mean? By Patricia Fripp  My executive speech coaching client and meeting planners often ask me “What do your credentials from the National Speakers Association mean?” In case you are interested here is the official answer as advertised by the NSA. As you know, certifications and professional credentials […]

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Adult Learning for Presenters and Public Speakers by Patricia Fripp  Just back from a vacation in Paris. Now clearing the desk and getting ready for the National Speakers Association convention. As part of that preparation I am reading a great report Neuroscience shows that the average adult attention span is 10 minutes. Current 21st century […]

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Creative Ways Your Clients Afford You as a Professional Speaker Or How the American Payroll Association Made 1 + 1 + 1 = 9 By Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE In a perfect world, our clients would have an unlimited budget to hire keynote speakers for every meeting and convention. Since it’s not, here are some […]

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Develop Your Storytelling Abilities by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE When we think of Hollywood, what we usually remember most are the moving, dramatic, and funny stories that movies tell. The screenwriter Robert McKee says, “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of […]

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A Great Acceptance Speech Example from Bruce Phipps, American Payroll Association 2011 Man of the Year. Every year I help the American Payroll Association’s Man and Woman of the Year prepare their speech to be delivered at the APA national convention called Congress. The Man and Woman of the Year deliver an eight-minute speech the […]

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Improve Public Speaking with Three Techniques for Better Storytelling By Patricia Fripp, Presentation Skills Guru Everybody loves a good story. No matter what our culture, we grow up knowing that hearing a story is somehow a reward. Stories are how we learn values and our family’s legacy. When we go to school, we discover that […]

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Anytime you’re giving a speech, always remember it’s a conversation. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking we’re presenting a monologue. It’s easy to think of a speaker as the vehicle delivering a load of wisdom. In reality, every speech is a conversation. A two-way conversation with the audience. It’s important to remember that […]

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Bill Gates spoke in Las Vegas on January 7, 2007. Arriving almost four hours early guaranteed me a seat about 100 yards from the speaking platform. Thank goodness for big-screen projection. The crowd and the lines were something like a Rolling Stones concert. Except there were more geeks. About an hour from the start of […]

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Fellow students of humor, stand up and make ’em laugh! I say “fellow students” because through teaching others and making techniques and concepts graspable I, too, gain more clarity. I’m still on my own ever-changing path of humor mastery. Many of you have heard me speak in person. One of the favorite things that I […]

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Every year the World Championship contest is an amazing event. Lance, the 2005 World Champion, was wonderful! He connected with the audience and executed his speech perfectly. Lance’s message was simple and crystal clear. And a speech well worth studying! My favorite line, however, came from one of the other contestants, Rowena Romero. During her […]

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