Greatest Oscar-Winning Speech

I’m headed to Hollywood to attend the 86th Annual Academy Awards this Sunday, March 2, and I’ve been thinking about the greatest speeches ever delivered in Oscar-winning movies. I’ve selected one from acting legend Michael Douglass, whom I had the honor of walking the Red Carpet with at last year’s Academy Awards. Watch this short...

What Differentiates You as a Speaker?

Notice how the same professional speakers dominate the industry year after year? A key reason is most new speakers fail to differentiate themselves and get swallowed in the abyss of the 50,000 people attempting to enter the industry every year in the United States. The solution is creating a unique point of view and the...

The Speaker Branding Myth

The speaking business is ripe with marketing myths, the latest of which is the idea that professional speakers can brand themselves. A few years ago I suffered through a painful session at the National Speakers Association’s CSP/CPAE meeting in Dallas listening to a branding expert trying to persuade us that it was possible to brand...