By Sandra Zimmer How would you respond if you were accused of incompetence in a media interview? Could you stay calm and open? Could you handle it with grace and dignity? Currently, there is a big media bruhaha around General Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs. He has been accused of allowing veteran’s hospitals […]

Today, Sunday, March 23, 2014, The Houston Chronicle Jobs Section is printing an article entitled “Public Speaking an Important Career Tool.” This article written by Emilia Benton, a copy editor from the Special Publications of Houston Chronicle Media Group, features some of my ideas about the value of public speaking skills for career development. Ms. Benton […]

Recently, I have had several clients and students in public speaking classes who quit or tried to quit classes because I asked them to tell stories from their personal or professional lives.  I could not figure out what was causing people to stop their progress in public speaking when they were doing so well in […]

I have read in esoteric spiritual books that the most transformational activity for humanity is self-expression. I have spent my life testing that theory. In my early twenties, I was driven to self-express through acting. Although I was not a great actress, the training I received in acting and singing techniques freed me from some rigidity and […]

Speaking in groups and meetings is an essential skill for every business professional. You are expected to be able to share your ideas, expertise and experience to contribute to your company’s success. If you can’t speak up and speak out, you hit a glass ceiling past which you can’t advance in your company. So, how […]

“Authenticity is a practice” says Dr. Brene Brown in a conversation with Oprah. You have to choose it every day. This applies not only in one’s personal life, but in business as well. In business, authenticity generates authority. When we speak from our own inner authority, others sense our power. But it takes courage to speak […]

Performing arts training, of necessity, includes methods to develop relaxation, concentration and presence. Years ago, in acting school,  I learned to do a voice and body exercise warm-up before auditioning or performing. While it did not completely get rid of my performance anxiety, it did help calm me. When I became a teacher of public speaking, […]

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 teacher […]