People are often incredulous when I share my story about being trained an actress and yet having such fear of public speaking. But acting is a skill based on saying the words of a character, not usually your own words. In acting there is no need to reveal your own thinking, whereas in public speaking, [...]

As 2013 and the movie version of Les Miserables open, we can all use a little inspiration to remind us it is possible to fly and to spur us all on to new heights. No one did that better than Susan Boyle at her first audition of Britian’s Got Talent! Her is a video of [...]

  Learning by doing is how we learn!  Seems so simple.  Yet old fashioned teaching methods have teachers, instructors and professors lecturing on and on and on and students tuning out. The flipped classroom concept allows students to watch short instructional videos outside of the classroom and then to practice skills in class while a [...]

  On August 29, 2012 The Houston Chronical reprinted a Chicago Tribune article on shyness in people who are single and breaking the bashful barrier.  The article states that behind shyness is extreme self-consciousness.  Shy people constantly worry that others are judging them, and they blame themselves for negative outcomes, so they choose to not [...]

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Steve Martin shared that his experience doing stand-up comedy at universities in the 1970s gave him a sense of confidence that people could smell. When Steve describes confidence this way, I think he means that he learned to create chemistry with his audiences. He learned to be so good [...]

  I am excited to announce that I am creating a new workshop called YOU on VIDEO: Showing Up and Being Heard for Skype, YouTube and TV I have always been fascinated with video, both the technology and the on-camera presentation of oneself. As a former actress, I loved doing radio and TV commercials.  It [...]

   You, as employer, supervisor or coach want your presenters to be open and transparent, because you know that clients respond to authenticity more than to slick and canned presentations. Supporting presenters to be genuine is hard work!  You can’t afford the luxury of telling them what is wrong with their performance.  Presenters are vulnerable, [...]

  Last week I was coaching a new client who is an amazing expert on wireless technology at a Fortune 100 company and I heard myself say, “Maybe it is time to move from being an expert to being a master.” What’s the difference? The difference is in how one asserts their information. It seems [...]

I have been dreaming about teaching acting for some reason.  I taught acting for about 30 years and thought I had had my fill of it.  But last week, in a dream, I seemed to be auditioning to teach acting. Strange!  Some rather  arrogant acting teachers were complaining how hard it is to train beginning actors. [...]

  Presence happens when you are so deeply relaxed into yourself and accepting of yourself that you feel free to be genuine.  The secret to presence is to be fully grounded in your body so that you have a full-body sense of awareness.  When you are grounded and present, you experience sensation and awareness in [...]