A special contributor to The Tribune Newspapers,  writer Richard Asa, contacted me recently.  He was writing an article on fear of public speaking at family events, such as weddings and funerals. I shared some ideas that I thought might be valuable.  Public speaking when the public is family can produce anxiety for some people.  Many of [...]

  This weekend I attended a workshop on Sound, Color & Vibration taught by Elias Demohan and Rafael Demohan.  Elias has been the most significant spiritual teacher in my life.  I have not seen him for many years as he now lives in Calgary, Canada.  The workshop was for me mostly a review of methods [...]

  Pearls are created by irritation and discomfort.  An oyster is irritated by a grain of sand.  To thrive and survive, the oyster develops a hard shell around the grain of sand and it becomes a pearl.  Through the process of discomfort, the oyster grows a beautiful pearl.  Ever think about the phrase pearls of [...]

   I don’t want you to work so hard at public speaking. Consider opening to the experience that public speaking doesn’t have to be so hard and that you don’t have to work so hard to connect with listeners.  I have this new battery operated toothbrush that does all the work for me.  But I [...]

The following Article was written by Josh Popichak and published in the June Issue of Steve Harrison’s Book Marketing Update.  It is offered here by permission of the author. Have you ever had a nightmare about having to make a speech, or found yourself panicked about speaking to a group in real life? If so, [...]

Many thanks to Kathy Reiffenstein who writes the popular Professionally Speaking Blog on Creating Confident, Persuasive Speakers!   Kathy wrote a superb review of my book, It’s Your Time to Shine: How to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking, Develop Authentic Presence and Speak from Your Heart.   For many valuable ideas on public speaking, visit [...]

  Seth Godin, author of Tribes, writes a blog on leadership at sethsblog.com.  He quotes his book, “Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.” He continues with:  “It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It’s [...]

  “Jump right into the middle” and “open the shoot and let the bucking bronco out of the pin” are my mottos for opening talks, speeches and communications to groups.  I don’t like to hear speakers mumble phrases like “I am so honored to be here” or “Thanks for inviting me.”  No one is listening [...]

  My Zimmer Method approach to helping people to transform stage fright and fear of public speaking has been evolving since 1984.  It began by asking people to stand quietly in front of my acting classes to see if they could just be there at the center of attention.  Most people had great difficulty simply [...]

  Over several years, I developed a pattern for the process that guides people safely and slowly into healing stage fright so they feel free to share their thoughts and feelings in all kinds of situations.  Even more remarkably, this process awakens in people a powerful and authentic presence that radiates from them.  However, this [...]