FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF TALKPOWER
Over the past twenty years I have heard every horrific public speaking story imaginable
. Hair raising tales of public humiliation, excruciating stage fright, panic attacks, loss of memory,
speechlessness, and botched presentations
have been recounted by my students .
My job has been to train my students to overcome their
debilitating fear of speaking in public with my original and transformative
Talk power program .
MY OWN STORY
When I returned to college after many years as a professional
actress, director and acting teacher to prepare for my second career as a
psychotherapist I took a course in Public speaking .As I was waiting for the
instructor to arrive, I heard bits of conversation .
“I sound like a moron”
“My voice is so monotonous”
“I hate this”
“They don’t like me .I know it :I can feel it “
“Oh my God ,last week she was reading a menu during my
entire speech”
The presentations began. I listened to the endless
speeches. The visibly shaking,
pacing, breathless students obviously stressed ,tried to deliver .The
instructor kept saying “relax, relax”. Was I the only one aware of the of the
discomfort and lack of concentration .This was not anything like the systematic training I had received as an
actress where we were given
intensive coaching for concentration, relaxation, attention, and body
awareness.
Offering gimmicks, bit’s and
pieces of information, old wives tales ,and a hodge- podge of theory the class
was ineffective in helping the students
to calm down
and take control of themselves. I realized that there was no
established procedure for training the mind and the body for public speaking. I
had my “Aha” moment. It occurred to me that the same kind of systematic technique used to train actors
called The Stanislavski Method could be adjusted so that
non actors could develop concentration and performance skills for speaking
comfortably in front of an
audience .Yes! a step by step method was the logical answer for eliminating
serious public speaking distress.
This included speaking at meetings, interviewing for job, making a toast, asking a question
in class reading in church and even walking down the aisle .
Above all, my program would answer the question that all people who are phoebic or uncomfortable about speaking
in public ask “How can I keep my concentration focused on what I am saying when
everyone is looking at me .I called my program Talkpower . One year later I
started teaching the Talkpower Method in a class called “Panic Clinic For
Public Speaking” at Baruch college Of Continuing Education . I introduced these
first students to a new and original mind body training designed to restore
their shattered confidence . Step by step on a muscle memory level they learned how to become calm, how to concentrate and finally how to
speak in front of an audience .Beginning with one sentence ,then a paragraph,
by the end of the class every student was able to deliver an eight minute
presentation .
Today Talkpower is successful seminar business , internationally recognized as a
unique state of the art method for
training speakers.
Clients include American Express, United Parcel Service ,
United Nations, National WestministerBank, Texaco, J.C. Penny Co, AT&Talbert Einstein College of Medicine ,
IBM, The Women’s Bar Association of The State of New York, MCI
Telecommunications Co. Karpas Health Information Center, Chase Manhattan Bank,
Organization of Black Airline Pilots, Hoechst Cleanese Corperation ,Howard J. Rubenstein
Associates Ford Moter Company , and so many more .
Letter from a Corporate Client
Dear Natalie
I just want to thank you for the excellent Public Speaking Without Stress you put on for us this year.
Your course is so helpful to people. It really changes them in a fundamental way after they attend. We are always able to fill your program when we offer it. This is because the word- of-mouth around the company is so positive about the program. People really enjoy it and they feel it works. Iwould have to say that your seminar consistently get’s among the best ratings of any of the on-site-classes we offer our employees.
Natalie, you are a pleasure to work with and I look forward to jointly putting on more programs with you again next year.
Sincerely,
Vice President
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