Are you an experienced speaker and want to improve your next presentation with just a little bit of coaching? Do you want to improve your extemporaneous speaking or work on a product pitch? Polish Your Presentation is our new 2-session coaching option! Go over your presentation and delivery the first session and get tips on writing, delivery, pronunciation and more . Practice it between sessions, and then deliver it in front of the coach the second session to fine-tune it. Both sessions with the same learner must be used within 30 days. The slight disadvantage is that you may need more coaching for your next presentation. Get the advantage you deserve!
This is customized coaching to your specific needs, and within your budget. It can include one or more of the following: making pronunciation more easily understood by a specific audience, public speaking, job interviewing, conversational/small talk, executive presence, listening, or body language skills. The slight disadvantage to this is that, while you will learn more, the program naturally takes more time.
FAQ's
How do I offer this service to my employees?
Companies may choose to offer coaching in any aspect of communication to those employees who are motivated enough to request it. or to all employees. Emphasize that this coaching is to increase a skill-set, such as being able to be more easily understood by a specific audience. Being bilingual, for example, is an asset if listeners to the person's second language can easily understand him or her. English is a difficult language to learn because of all the exceptions to the rules, and some speakers would benefit from customized coaching in certain aspects of pronunciation or grammar. Mistakes take listener attention away from the speaker's message, making some speakers reluctant to share their knowledge with others. All speakers need to adapt to the a given audience's communication needs in pronunciation, wording, and depth of material.
I am an experienced speaker. Can you help me polish my upcoming presentation?
Yes! You will get the greatest benefit if you have an outline of your presentation and have run through it a few times, and have at least 2 weeks to practice. (If you want to work on your pronunciation, starting earlier would be even better.)
Pitches to venture capitalists or angel investors are a special type of presentation. Learn how they differ from regular presentations and how you can make them more effective.
We can also work on making small talk, American style, as well as speech rate, stage fright, body language and communication skills for leaders. Your sessions are customized to your needs.
I have a strong foreign or regional accent. Can you help me with standard American pronunciation? Yes. We will start with a quick skills-gap assessment, to understand your areas of strength and opportunity, and go from there. If you are combining this with giving an upcoming presentation, we will work on the words in your presentation first, and later we will work on other sounds and words. Rate of speech and pronunciation are easier to change. Usually intonation, or "lilt", is only slightly changed, as it is a function of brain neuroplasticity.
I don't have a strong accent but want to learn to use my speech, vocabulary and voice more effectively.
We can work on your speech rate, diction, pausing, vocabulary and other verbal skills to make your speech more powerful.
I want to work on my communication skills for leadership or sales primarily. We can focus on listening and questioning skills, meeting management and leading powerful idea-generating group sessions, delegation skills and using a research-based protocol. to improve idea-generation. You choose your topics of interest for our sessions!
I have difficulty saying long words, and live in NC. Can you help me? As a certified speech-language pathologist, I am happy to try. We will know by the end of the second session if this method is helpful to you. Mispronouncing words is frustrating!
I need to get speech coaching for a presentation that is coming up very soon. I offer a two-hour package just for this. The first hour is to hear the presentation and teach some modifications. The second hour, another day, is to fine-tune your practiced version. (Getting speech coaching further in advance is recommended when possible.)
Can you work with people all over the US? As a certified, licensed speech-language pathologist, I work only with people in specific states, based on your state's regulations. That is why I will ask about your state. If I cannot work with you, I will try to refer you to someone licensed in that state. I am located in Durham, NC, but work virtually. I also work with clients in other countries.
Business Speech Improvement offers expert coaching in:
Presentation skills and pitches We help you develop a powerful delivery and will advise on the writing as well.
Pronunciation improvement Do listeners have difficulty understanding you easily? Our clients may have a strong foreign or regional accent, fast rate of speech, or other communication concern.
Executive presence: Leaders need strong communication skills as part of their executive presence. We offer your choice of coaching in listening, asking questions, coaching, delegating, and meeting management
Other verbal skills: communicating complicated ideas in simple language, basic lipreading, more
Companies can offer communication coaching among the other courses they offer or sponsor for employee career development. Motivated employees can choose to enroll with the company's sponsorship.
An individual manager can choose the direct or the indirect approach with a given employee. The direct approach is to say, "Clear communication is essential for employees, and we would like to sponsor you in group or individual coaching on your choice of topic. We value you on our team and want to help you improve your career development skills. Would you prefer coaching for pronunciation improvement or public speaking?" The indirect approach is to say, "There is an expert speech coach who helps employees improve their American English pronunciation or presentation skills. We will pay for some motivated employees to take this training so they can communicate more easily. The training is done online. Would you be interested in this opportunity?"
Companies offering this valuable service can add it to their unique value proposition, as a way to stand out to highly qualified candidates in difficult-to-recruit fields.
Decide on the topics the employee is to learn. Complete the short enrollment form below. Pay for the sessions below and then choose your preferred schedule for them. Once we are notified of these, we will send you a Zoom link for the sessions within 24 hours. If there are any questions, contact us at info@BusinessSpeechImprovement.com.
I'm a "one-stop speech spot" (and yes, I can teach you the secret to saying it correctly, fast!). I help companies with multiple communication improvement needs, as well as individuals who start with one need and then want coaching in another area. Afterwards, many clients report increased self-confidence as well as better skills!
Katie Schwartz, MA, CCC-SLP, director of Business Speech Improvement is a certified speech-language pathologist and has over 20 years of experience in working with professionals in many fields. Clients may be companies or individual professionals. Coaching is done online. It is available by appointment only; Sunday sessions are offered.
After you schedule your appointment and pay, you will hear back within 12 hours with a zoom.us invitation for your first session.
We will start by talking about your needs and time-frame, and assess your skills. We develop a plan and start working immediately on at least one skill - all in the first hour!
The number of sessions needed depends on how you are doing when you start, what you want to learn, how much time you have to practice, and your goal for when you finish. After your first session, you will be given an estimate of the number needed to reach your goal. We can also estimate the needed number of session after a complimentary 15-minute Zoom meeting. Clients can also choose to determine the number of sessions they want. Sessions are usually held once a week, but can be scheduled more often on request if time is available. If you need more specific information for scheduling training, contact us!
We love our customers, so feel free to contact us during our business hours.
Get help through customized professional coaching or instantly-available concise e-guides on the topics that matter to you: public speaking, diction, accent modification, executive communication skills for leadership development, communication for sales and customer service, and slowing your rate of speech.
Two sessions are enough to get a good start on communication challenges and to polish an already-drafted presentation for most people. Otherwise, two sessions are enough to get an assessment of a challenge and a start on resolving it.
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