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At twelve, Clare was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Years later after an accident at a gym, the diagnosis became traumatic brain injury which affected her ability to speak. She had to learn to speak again as well as learn the many new ways to live a successful life. She taught herself how to speak through a structured program she calls ColorWheeling™ - a program she now shares with others as a way to plan for success. Clare learned how to turn her disabilities into abilities and a new career as a motivational speaker, TV Producer and host. Her show is called Colorful Journey of Success. Guests include authors, actors, designers, coaches, and key people in a variety of industries including science, medicine, and psychology. Her motivational speeches and writings share her own intriguing stories about her Colorful Journey of Success including her six step system of success using color codes. Even with hidden disabilities, Clare has achieved successes. She raised a daughter alone, graduated from San Francisc

Using the “single most powerful question anyone could ever ask”, Terry Barton helps individuals and businesses connect to what is preventing them from moving in the direction they want to go. Whether it is an operational issue, a performance issue or a problem with a team, Terry helps people and organizations get to the root of the problem, identify their role in it and connect to solutions that get them moving again. An accomplished leader, facilitator and executive coach with more than 20 years of management and leadership development experience in the retail, container shipping and biotech industries; Terry founded The Barton Group to provide leadership development and performance coaching services to individuals and businesses. After seeing firsthand how organizations and individuals get in their own way, Terry now enjoys helping her clients come to the “Ah-ha” moment that inevitably gets them moving in the direction they want to go. Terry is a contributing author of Savvy Leadership Strategies for

At the end of the second day of the Ragan Social Media Conference I met Susan Gluss who is the Media Relations Director and spokeswoman for the UC Berkeley School of Law. She is investigating the use of social media, specifically blogging, as as way of promoting both the activities of the Law School and her own OpEd's in the San Francisco Chronicle. If you have any suggestions for the ways Susan can specifically tailor social media to meet her needs, email her or send a tweet to @BerkeleyLawNews. To hear her questions on the topic of social media, click on the podcast icon below.

I was fortunate to volunteer as a speech contest judge for an impromptu speech contest for High School students held Friday and Saturday as part of the State Leadership Conference of the California Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). FBLA is the largest and oldest business student organization in the world. It promotes competent, aggressive business leadership and helps students establish career goals and develop character and self-confidence. The goal is to facilitate the transition from school to work. To accomplish these aims, FBLA holds conferences and seminars; sponsors a competitive awards program; produces national publications; and provides scholarships, programs, and other services for its members. Impromptu speech contest The 2011 State Leadership Conference took place on April 14-17 at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, CA. I had responded a call for judges for a speech contest which came through at Cisco, where I am currently an executive communications manager. The speech contest, simila

Born and raised in Australia, Linda Benn brings a breath of fresh air to the USA. She shares her cultural experiences and unique approach to overcoming the issues related to stress in the workplace and improving worker productivity. The native Australian relocated to the US where she observed people experiencing fear, overwhelm and uncertainty about the economy and their future. She noticed people focusing more on problems rather than solutions. She shares her cultural experiences and unique approach to overcoming the issues related to stress in the workplace by sharing a mindset of possibility, collaboration and productivity. Australians have a unique perspective of their "No Worries Mate" philosophy which can be applied and learned by American workers. Linda's training includes: postural evaluation; alignment correction; yoga training; meditation; nutritional counseling; breathing exercises; communication and reflective listening exercises; coaching; mentoring and offering training seminars. She skillful

Mark Stiving, MBA, Ph.D. helps companies implement value based pricing strategies to increase profit. As a pricing strategist, he 'spreads the gospel' of value based pricing. His message inspires manufacturers, marketers and others concerned with pricing to capture greater value through pricing improvements and to focus on creating real, quantifiable value for the benefit of their customers and their bottom line. Mark has addressed pricing professionals and executives at major conferences for the Professional Pricing Society, International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC), American Marketing Association, Consumer Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), Marketing Science and in additional professional settings. As a coach, Mark helps companies create and implement new pricing strategies to capture more of the value they create. He has consulted with Cisco, Procter and Gamble, Grimes Aerospace, Rogers Corporation, and many small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. He currently

Kurt Shaver delivers high-impact sales training and consulting to companies seeking increased production from their sales force. Kurt’s live training classes are followed by reinforcement sessions and exercises that insure the lessons become lasting habits. Consulting includes areas such as sales systems (CRM) implementation and effective compensation plans. Kurt brings 25 years of real selling experience to each client. His “street credibility” is critical to being accepted by a room full of seasoned salespeople. As a sales rep, Kurt learned how to build rapport, uncover needs, and differentiate his solution to win the business. Kurt won numerous Top Salesperson awards in his role as an individual contributor. Major accomplishments include closing a $5M deal for AT&T’s first private satellite earth station for a corporate customer and selling some of the first electronic catalogs to companies like IBM, Sprint, and Texas Instruments. As his management responsibilities grew, Kurt built sales teams at a num

Joel F. Wade, Ph.D. is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Life and Executive Coach, writer, and speaker. He is the author of Mastering Happiness: Ten Principles for Living a More Fulfilling Life; a book that makes the burgeoning research from the field of Positive Psychology accessible and useful for anybody with a desire to live a happier, more resilient life. He has played competitive water polo for many years, playing at UC Santa Barbara on their 1979 NCAA championship team, captaining their league champion team of 1981, and as a member of the US National team. Now in his fifties, he continues competing at the Master’s level. From these experiences and through his work, he knows what it means to be passionate and devoted to a course of action, what it takes to see it through to success, and what resilience and gratification – and great fun - can be borne of such dedication. Having personally traveled to over 60 countries covering six continents, he has seen and experienced the tremendous variety

Melinda is an enthusiastic, effervescent motivational speaker, coach and management counselor with over three decades of experience in the dental industry. She is a past board member of the Academy of Dental Management Consultants and a DiSC certified trainer. Since 1986, she has been assisting Dental Professionals and coaching winning teams. As a specialist in communications and operations, she has trained, coached, and counseled numerous winning teams and worked with over 500 professionals in a variety of disciplines. Her expertise employs practical experience as well as innovative strategies to help dental practices deal successfully with today's industry challenges, specializing in professional development with an emphasis on productivity, efficiency, and personal growth. Her unique strength is the ability to enhance communications within dental teams and create a more productive, satisfying work environment. She accomplishes this through a personal, collaborative, upbeat approach when teaching denta

At the resent PRSA Conference in Washington DC I attended a presentation by James Walker on Diversity and Social Media. He's a Gen-Y Communications professional interested in Public Relations, Diversity, Marketing and Social Media. In 2010, James combined two major interests to launch Socially Diverse , a six month online journey seeking out diverse conversations, discussion leaders and ways to connect through social media channels. Socially Diverse: Engaging With Diverse Communities Online Embark on a journey through social media — both the blogosphere and social networks. Explore the findings of the presenter’s six-month journey through social media, during which he engaged with active members from several online communities. Gain understanding of how to identify, analyze and engage with active participants of diverse communities and social interactions, and also learn how to create a social media home base from which all online activities can operate. Find out how to create a sustained online presence,

Thursday evening at the Silicon Valley Computer History Museum saw the launch of Nancy Duarte's new book Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences. A couple of hundred guests celebrated a book that author Garr Reynolds says "takes you on a beautiful journey illustrating how to construct and deliver the kind of presentations that are truly remarkable, memorable ... and may even change the world." Hear what some of the guests had to say by clicking on the podcast icon below.

Harold Lustig is the Founder and CEO of the California Estate and Elder Planning Center and Managing Member of Lustig Financial Services LLC. After the distressing experience of hearing his father saying he had outlived his assets, Lustig began a life-long journey to assist seniors increase income and protect their assets, enjoy a higher quality of life and reduce their tax obligations, thus leaving more wealth for their spouses, children and grandchildren. With over 30 years of financial planning experience, his focus and passion is to help seniors and their families with retirement and estate planning as well as long term care planning. Lustig obtained a business degree in accounting and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Drexel University in Philadelphia. Currently, he holds the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), the California Life and Health Insurance license as well as the Series 65 Investment Advisor's License. Lustig is the author of the first

Diane gives talks about living with bipolar disorder. Her husband, David (profiled in this series back in March) had to overcome his own struggles with bipolar. It's estimated that 1 in 50 people in the USA have this disorder. It is also estimated that 20% of people with bipolar disorder will commit suicide either on purpose or by reckless behavior during depressive or manic episodes. Biploar causes more deaths than aids and most forms of cancer. Bipolar disorder is believed to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and is treatable with many different medications. However, medication alone is not enough to effectively control this illness. She and David share what else is necessary to live a healthy happy life in spite of having this devastating illness in their book Surviving Bipolar's Fatal Grip - The Journey to Hell and Back. Diane's presentations describe her own story about living with this illness in her family and offers practical advice to others. She shares a success model and encoura

Guy Kawasaki is a Silicon Valley legend. The erstwhile Apple software evangelist, now a successful VC, has written a string of best sellers from the 1990 The MacIntosh Way to the 2009 The Art of the Start. He's currently working on a new book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. On Thursday he gave an entertaining presentation to an internal sales group at Cisco - where I'm employed in executive communications - based on his new book. From tips on how to smile with sincerity, to ways to enchant the influencers in a group, Kawasaki shared insights on ways to understand and influence change. I caught up with him after his presentation and asked him to share something about his approach to public speaking and life as a professional speaker. Click on the podcast icon below to hear Guy reveal: what he looks for in an audience to see if his message is connecting with them; the reason he likes speeches built around Top 10 lists; what he thinks of people tweeting while he's speaki

Museum artist Allison Massari found peace, purpose and happiness after overcoming two extraordinary personal tragedies. In 1998, Massari survived a near fatal 60 mph car crash where she was trapped and burned severely. Just three years later, she was hit again at 60 mph and sustained a brain injury. The level of betrayal she felt from life seemed insurmountable. She became determined to create an amazing life. Taking a long, steep climb from ashes into recovery, she learned very clearly how to navigate her way to true healing and to a life beyond anything she could have dreamed possible. The award-winning painter and sculptor added a new medium to her inventive work—the written and spoken word. Her rededicated mission is to share her story of transformation and revitalization to activate visionary change in people and the organizations that nurture and inspire them. Allison Massari is passionate about igniting the human spirit—the core of her message is courage, heart, happiness and redefining the impossibl

Celebrated keynoter, facilitator, author and ICF-certified business leader coach, Marsha Egan is on a quest to help others save thousands of hours and reclaim their lives due to email mismanagement. She has been a featured guest on ABC Nightly News, FOX and Friends, and NBC talking about the 12 steps to curing email addiction now outlined in her best selling book Inbox Detox - a guide to shifting your e-mail habits that shows you how to take charge of your inbox, your workday, and your life. Marsha rocketed to national prominence after publishing a simple e-book on curing email addiction. Requests for media appearances flooded in from around the world, as she shared her insights on changing our email culture, one inbox at a time. I sat down with Marsha at the recent National Speakers Association Convention in Orlando and asked her the details about what she tells audiences about the steps to free up and time and attention from email. In the podcast (click on the icon below) you'll hear Marsha: Share sho

Rory Vaden is a Self-Discipline Strategist who relates profound truths coupled with humorous anecdotes empowering professionals to conquer their fears and take immediate action in their businesses and their lives. Consulting with organizations, companies and individuals on leveraging self-discipline to create extraordinary performance, he has shared the stage with John Maxwell and conducted special programs for both Dave Ramsey and Zig Ziglar’s companies. His insights on overcoming procrastination, creative avoidance and personal setbacks have been shared on shows such as Oprah radio with Dr. Oz and featured in print media such as SUCCESS™ Magazine. As the Co-Founder of the multi-million dollar public training company, Southwestern Consulting®, his pragmatic advice has been field tested by thousands of professionals from all different industries and he has personally coached clients such as Chad Goldwasser, the former #1 Keller Williams Real Estate Agent Worldwide. In 2007, Rory became the World Champion o

How does someone prepare for a Toastmasters International Speech Contest? In the second part of my podcast interview with Toastmasters District 57 winner Christine Robinson, we discuss the upcoming 2010 Toastmasters International Convention. Very few women have ever won the World Championship, and Christine is only two speeches away from that possibility. Every one of us at Christine's home club, the Speakers Forum in Concord, CA, is doing all we can to help her prepare and practice a new speech for the final round of the contest. To hear how she plans to prepare for the event, click on the podcast icon below.

How are winning Toastmasters speeches created? I asked Christine Robinson, whose speech The Empty Chair won the District 57 Spring Conference May 8, 2010, held at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo California. In this podcast interview, Christine discusses the original motivation for the theme of the speech and then shares the mechanics of writing and practicing the speech. Her speech is rooted in the passion and conviction for the topic: "It had it's own vitality...it is time, now more than ever, to fill our chairs, to be present for others." Tomorrow, I'll share Part 2 of the interview, where Christine talks about the upcoming contest in Palm Desert. To hear Part 1 of the interview, click on the podcast icon below.

Matt Upton's employment career has taken him from selling cards and lawn care to flipping burgers, folding tacos, selling knives, air conditioners, home insulation, to overseeing housing developments, to leading a sales force in five western states for a food manufacturer, leading various for profit businesses as well as non-profit businesses. The common thread has always involved public speaking. As a professional speaker, writer, wisdom coach, and trainer Matt has conducted over 3000 presentations both throughout the United States as well internationally. His background in small groups and large group setting presentations has positioned him as an authority the area of business, personal and relationship growth. He brings to the audience participants his successes and failures with humor and professionalism allowing them to learn while enjoying their invested time. Matt works through the theme On the Move … FORWARD. This has enabled individuals as well as businesses both small and large advance forwar