"The tailoring that goes
on in a one-on-one session is so far beyond what is possible
in a group setting. You can really hone in on the issues
you're dealing with."
Rich Polt, owner,
Louder than Words. Follow Rich at his blog,
Communicate Good, or on Twitter.
Quoted from an article in our Success stories series.
Click
here to read full article. |
Develop a compelling authentic leadership presence through
public speaking coaching
While we often encourage people who contact us to begin
by attending either one of our small
group public speaking coaching programs or one
of our long-term public
speaking courses (because, after all, public
speaking fear usually arises when we are in group situations),
confidential one-on-one public speaking coaching is often
the perfect solution for people in certain circumstances:
- Does the very idea of joining any type of group program
to deal with your fear of public speaking feel daunting
and you're hoping to find a way to ease into it by getting
some individual coaching?
- Are you preparing for
an important presentation and feel overwhelmed,
either because you can't figure out what to say and how
to say it, or because you know you could really benefit
from practicing with someone?
- Do you plan to use slides
as part of an important presentation and know from personal
experience just how boring and ineffective poorly designed
slide shows can be?
- Would it be especially useful to spend some private time
with a coach to develop a personalized
strategy for being more relaxed and confident
in a variety of public settings.
- Do you have a dream of speaking professionally about something
that is deeply important to you but feel at a loss as to
how to go about structuring your talks and developing
a long term plan to take this work out into
the world?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions,
then you might consider scheduling
a private coaching session either in person or by phone.
For his daughter's wedding
toast: "Carla helped me focus on the key feelings
and messages I wanted to get across. In the process,
she helped me deal with the nervousness I was feeling
about this highly personal life event. My toast was
very well received, much more effective and memorable
than if I hadn't worked it through with Carla."
David Gumpert, a multi-published
author, consultant, and columnist for BusinessWeek.com.
www.davidgumpert.com
Quoted from an article in
our Success stories series. Click
here to read full article. |
Who has benefited from our coaching services?
People often ask what kinds of clients do we serve. We have
found that our client base consists of anyone who has something
to say wants to be more effective when speaking, and this
is not limited to any particular field. Here is a sampling
of the types of clients that we've worked with:
"While the group sessions
help you become more relaxed in general about public
speaking and help you think on your feet, the one-on-one
coaching session is tailored to what you
want to focus on,"
Tracey Vincent, electrical
engineer http://www.linkedin.com/in/traceyvincent
Quoted from an article in
our Success stories series. Click
here to read full article. |
Coaching format
Our coaching program is entirely customizable to meet the
specific needs of the individual and organization. During
our first meetings we will discuss your concerns and goals.
We will then design a program to meet your exact needs.
While most coaching sessions occur in-person either at your
office or Carla Kimball's office in the Upper Valley region
of Vermont and New Hampshire, Carla can also coach by phone
if it is not geographically possible to meet in person.
Please call (802-436-1144) or email
us to talk about your specific needs or for more
information about our coaching services.
"When you are in Carla's
presence, you are the most important person in her world.
She is working with the 'whole you,' not just the speaker
in you. Any apprehension or anxiety that you have when
you arrive for your private session is removed during
your work with Carla, replaced by a deep sense of confidence
and competence."
John Sullivan, Managing
Partner of SalesVision,
a consulting firm focused on sales optimization.
Quoted from an article in
our Success stories series. Click
here to read full article. |
Testimonials
Here's what some of our clients says about their coaching
experiences:
Ruven
Liebhaber
Architect,
Project Development Advisor
Motivational Speaker!
I have a desire to be able
to convey my thoughts to an audience in a way that can
touch them. I have struggled with this for a several
years. Having entered a new field of work and written
a manual, I knew that being able to both write and speak
well was important.
I recently had an important
opportunity to speak to a national audience. It was
essential to me to go into that experience making a
impression and to feel confident and connected. Having
attended several Speaking Circles with Carla and seeing
how she worked, I decided to seek coaching from her
on an individual basis.
Carla creates a very safe
space. Her openness and encouragement allowed me to
feel comfortable during our time together and to carry
that experience into my presentation. By learning to
feel confident and relaxed in our meetings and visualizing
myself being successful, I then had an experiential
memory to draw on when standing in front of the audience.
Carla was able to help me identify and embrace all my
internal and external resources. She encouraged me to
work with my own personal images of success and to develop
a strategy for staying centered and balanced throughout
the presentation. While our work together had an immediate
impact on the presentation at hand, my work with Carla
ended up being not just about giving this specific talk.
It was also about personal growth.
After our two meetings together
I felt confident and relaxed in the days before the
presentation and I was not at all nervous in front of
the audience. In fact it was fun. I really enjoyed it.
I found the place where I was comfortable being me and
not trying to be someone I wasn’t. I found my
element and didn’t just stand there, but was able
to move around, bring in some humor and use a variety
of props.
Since that presentation, I’ve
had a couple of opportunities to speak to groups as
large as 200 people. I found I felt a very close connection
with what I was saying and who I was talking to. I spoke
without notes, speaking from both my head and my heart,
and felt much more spontaneous.
Perhaps one of the most important
lessons from my work with Carla is that I learned that
there isn’t one perfect way to say what I have
to say – there’s a whole universe of possibilities
and that whatever I say in the moment will be just right
for that audience and that context.
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Charles
Knight
co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives at
the Commonwealth
Institute in Cambridge, MA, and father of three
and grandfather of two:
I’ve participated in
Speaking Circles on and off for about a year and just
completed [a] small group coaching program. In both
of these programs, I have always been impressed that
what I think I’m about to learn is not what I
end up learning. People used to tell me that I was a
good speaker but I knew I would be much better if I
didn’t simply read from the written text that
I had prepared in advance. When I began Speaking Circles,
my goal was to learn to get used to speaking using just
notes rather than reading a fully written text. I had
no idea that I would not only become comfortable speaking
without my text, but that I would also find myself confidently
speaking without any plan at all!
After participating in Speaking
Circles for a few weeks, I realized that I didn’t
have to rehearse what I was going to say; that I would
learn more of what I needed to learn if I threw away
all my ideas about what to talk about. Eventually, I
found myself daring to do just that. With practice I
gained confidence that there are things that I can do
when speaking that really work. I’ve been able
to practice them in the real world where I’ve
gotten great feedback from the people in the audiences.
I can actually do that! It feels important that I now
feel so good about it. I found that I didn’t just
wait for the others' turns to be over so that I could
have my turn. I was seeing people really working with
the issues that were holding them back. They inspired
me to take more risks. We were all dealing with different
things. But seeing others getting over their hurdles
inspired me to do the same.
In [our group coaching] program
I gained confidence that I had all the information I
needed and that it was, after all, easily accessible
without elaborate preparation. I could work without
even having notes and still have something valuable
to say. Going into this experience I would have said,
“No way. I can't do that.”
This experience took me further
than I had imagined was possible. And, contrary to what
I expected, the steps weren’t linear. The route
there was often totally unexpected. In the past I’d
been pretty good at avoiding public speaking situations.
I would compare myself with the really good speakers
and say to myself, “Unless you’re that good,
don’t even bother.” Now I’m enjoying
myself and I'm letting go of my self-judgments. I’m
hooked! I can now put my skill level in a much better
perspective and that makes speaking exciting and rewarding
rather than something to avoid.
A final, but very important
note: This experience has been really meaningful to
me well beyond public speaking. In the past I had a
few experiences with eye contact that felt far too intimate.
I saw so much in a person’s face that it felt
overwhelming. For many years really looking at someone
was such a powerful experience that I shied away from
it. The Speaking Circle practice allowed me to be more
comfortable with eye contact and be more comfortable
with its power. When I choose to, I can now make meaningful
connections even in the most inconsequential encounters.
I also can choose when it’s appropriate to do
so and what level of connection feels right in the moment.
This feels like a very significant change for me and
its possibilities permeate throughout my life.
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"Carla
developed a dynamic and riveting slide show
for me and coached me in the delivery of a
powerful, meaningful, and extremely well received
presentation at the International Symposium
on Health Care Design."Susan
Frey, PhD, ND, RN, Founder
Avalon
Health Associates |
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testimonials |
Personalized
speaking strategies
Carla Kimball brings a unique blend
of stress management expertise and public speaking experience
to her private coaching. The ultimate goal of her work with
clients is to develop, practice, and implement a set of personal
public speaking tools.
Coaching sessions can include helping
clients understand of the mechanisms of stress and
to help them begin to recognize this response in public speaking
situations.
Together we identify specific stress
management tools that can be implemented on a daily basis.
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Preparation
for specific presentations
Often the hardest part of a presentation
is the anxiety that arises during the time prior to the event.
For some people, once they are launched into the presentation
the anxiety eases and they are able to relax into the experience.
For other people, the entire process is painful, from the
moment they learn about the presentation until the event is
over. In preparing for a presentation, many people have found
that private coaching sessions with Carla have helped them:
- Considerably reduce their pre-presentation
anxiety
- Develop an organizing metaphor that
can serve as a roadmap for their talk
- Develop powerful and effective openings
to their talks
- Design strategies for engaging the
audience
- Organize the content of their presentations
- Develop compelling materials, such
as slide shows and handouts, that support but don't overwhelm
the presentation
- Repeatedly practice the delivery
of their presentation while being coached and videotaped.
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Slide Show Design
No presentation or speech seems complete these days
without PowerPoint. But do slides, densely packed with bullets
and words, really enhance the impact and the message - or
is this tool getting in the way of truly effective communication?
With a background as a web designer, her MBA
and her strong visual sense, Carla Kimball is uniquely qualified
to be able to assess the visual impact of a slide show. She
can help you design individual slides and the entire slide
show so that it truly supports your audience in understanding
your message.
Carla can also help you stay present and connected
with your audience as you deliver your talk with slides so
that you are truly an effective speaker.
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Long-term public
speaking goals
Some people are yearning to share their knowledge and vision
with others, but because they are so close to the material
don't know how to organize their thinking so that audiences
can "get it". It often helps to have a sounding
board — someone who can listen to your ideas, identify
themes and help you organize your thinking so that your audiences
will feel moved, inspired and motivated.
Carla's broad background in business, technology, the arts,
and the healing professions as well as her ability to grasp
complex ideas, provide an invaluable backdrop for you to articulate
and organize your thinking.
Often, people with a vision also need a strategy for how
to take their material out in the world. Carla can help you
identify venues and strategize an effective plan for for presenting
your materials.
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Coaching format
Our coaching program is entirely customizable to meet the
specific needs of the individual and organization. During
our first meetings we will discuss your concerns and goals.
We will then design a program to meet your exact needs.
While most coaching sessions occur in-person either at your
office or Carla Kimball's office in the Upper Valley region
of Vermont and New Hampshire, Carla can also coach by phone
if it is not geographically possible to meet in person.
Please call (802-436-1144) or email
us to talk about your specific needs or for more
information about this program.
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