Let me tell you right now that I am an affiliate for the Speaking Expert Teleseminar. But let me also tell you that I paid for it up front because I recognized five out of the seven experts and knew their work to be well worth the price, and I wanted to ensure I got access to every bit of their expertise.

And you don’t have to be aiming to become a professional speaker to get the full benefit. If you are planning that, though, it’s even more essential.

Here are the benefits to grabbing this teleseminar series as soon as possible:

1. You get downloadable MP3s of all seven sessions. I enjoyed getting to take part in each teleseminar as it happened, but the reality is that the nature of the teleseminar precluded live interaction. By getting the package, you can listen to the recordings as many times as you want.
2. There are three valuable bonuses. (I don’t know how long these will last!) All together, they are worth as much as the cost of the teleseminar.
3. The five experts I am familiar with and the two new ones I learned about are each worth the cost of the teleseminar. I’ll tell you my personal view on each of them in a moment.

Before I tell you about the experts I know, let me put my own situation into perspective.

Knocked off my horse

Over a decade ago, I was starting to develop a professional speaking practice “on the side.” I love teaching college students, and I will keep doing so as long as they let me. But I maintain my credibility in teaching speaking skills partly by putting myself “out there” as a speaker, and that’s what I was doing–putting myself in the trenches, and sharing real-world communication skills with audiences.

In fact, I worked with quite a few companies and audiences before I made the decision to leave the business to take care of family medical issues. Without going into a lot of detail: my parents got sick, and then my wife and I were blessed with a special needs daughter who required a lot of care (she was hospitalized 22 times in her first four years of life). There were other family issues as well that I can’t explain without violating privacy. Suffice it to say: I couldn’t be dependable to clients under those circumstances, and I needed to focus on college teaching and taking care of family. So I stopped accepting engagements.

By last November, though, things had changed. Dad passed away some years ago, and Mom died last summer.  My wife’s mother also died unexpectedly. We miss them terribly, but that also means life is a little less disrupted. Our daughter is much more stable, too–she will always have issues, but she’s only been hospitalized three times in the last four years. It was time to get back in the saddle.

Helping me into the stirrups

Let me tell you what I know about some of the experts in the series.

• Lois Creamer. I heard Lois’s program at a state chapter meeting of the National Speakers Association when I started speaking professionally over a decade ago. She worked with professional speakers who want to book more business, make more money and avoid costly mistakes. She helped me get my business off the ground back then, and had I stayed with professional speaking that help would have continued. When I decided to hit the platform again, I can’t tell you how pleased I was to find that through her Book More Business consulting she has continued to help speakers develop, and has advanced in her own skills for giving such guidance. When I read that she was one of the experts, I was pretty much hooked.
• Bob Bly. Before I was a professional speaker, I was a writer. I began as a newspaper reporter 40 years ago! (Yes, I was very, very young.) I’ve since written for newspapers, small magazines, regional business publications, corporate advertising, Web sites, non-profits, blogs, and newsletters. Throughout much of that time, I kept coming across solid “how to” books by Bob Bly. Some of them were about freelancing; some were about telephone sales; all were about some aspect of business communication. Even when I couldn’t keep up my speaking, he helped me continue writing at least a bit. I had never heard him speak, so you can imagine my delight in hearing him in the series. He is as effective “out loud” as he is on the page.
• David Newman. The Web developed a lot after I stopped speaking, and Twitter exploded. One of the first people I found when I looked around the Web for current speaking expertise was David Newman. A marketing expert who focuses on intellectual property producers, he just kept posting solid information designed to help people like me, and I kept running into him on Twitter. Then he showed up as one of these experts. Seemed like fate.
• Fred Gleeck. I can’t remember when I first came across Fred Gleeck’s material, but I quickly figured out that he is an expert at putting himself “out there,” making his material available in every possible form. I downloaded one of his free offerings, then later another one, bought an ebook or two, sometimes a short audio program, and after awhile I realized this guy really knows what he’s talking about! He’s been at it a long time, and was one of the first to help me realize the need to stop thinking of myself as a “writer” or a “speaker,” and instead to think of myself as an intellectual property producer who has developed expertise in a topic and will share that expertise with people in whatever form they need to access it. Everybody in this series supports and develops that idea–Fred was just the one to open my eyes to it. He also gave me a clear view of how to start from scratch. Although I’ve done this before, the techniques for building from the ground up make the most sense for me.
• Avish Parashar. I can’t tell you when I first was exposed to Avish, either. He’s not as omnipresent as some other speakers, but his name and smiling face kept showing up on Web pages and tweets from other people I did already know and respect. I subscribed to his newsletter, and the material just made sense. Then I picked up an audio program featuring Avish along with Fred Gleeck! Wow! These guys knew each other! I was already hooked on Fred’s material, so I started paying even more attention to Avish’s material. When the Speaking Experts Teleseminar series was announced, and it turned out that Avish was not only part of it, but had organized it, I knew I had to get in on it. (I have since gotten to know Avish more, and the more I know, the more impressed I am.)

That was enough to get me solidly committed to the teleseminar. I don’t mean to ignore the other two experts–I just didn’t know them at the beginning of the series. I’ll tell you about them in a minute.

Why I paid for it

As you can imagine, with a special needs daughter and ongoing medical challenges, money is a bit scarce around our household. But I understand the difference between spending and investing. I knew the teleseminar was worth its price. I decided the investment more than made sense because:

1. The unexpected has a way of popping up around our house. I’ll bet it does around yours too. I had the chance to listen to each teleseminar for free as it was being recorded, but I just knew that unless I ensured my access, something would inevitably crop up around 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings that would prevent me from hearing at least one of the speakers. In fact, I missed two of the live sessions because of something that came up at the last minute that had to be addressed. But since I had ensured access to the recordings, I was able to take care of the unexpected without missing the valuable insights and information of those experts. I’m glad I did, because now I can listen to each of the seven experts as often as I want, to think about and figure out exactly how to apply their insights to my situation.
2. The “bonus” offerings interested me almost as much as the main teleseminar series, and they were only available as part of the paid version–and they were immediately available too. Talk about the best of both worlds! I got the bonuses immediately, and I also ensured access to a seriously useful series! It was like getting to open a present every week, while still satisfying the need for immediate gratification.

Whether you want to be a full-time information professional, want to supplement your “regular” job, or want to use information channels to promote another business, the Speaking Expert Teleseminar will give you solid guidance.

I discovered two new mentors!

Shari Alexander, one of the folks I didn’t know before, turned out to be a highlight of the series since she used her theatrical background to develop solid presentation skills for herself and for her clients. I should have known about her before, since my work in training people for effective real-world speaking has continued unbroken throughout all the family challenges, and her material would have given me useful insights. I’m so glad to have learned about her!

Michael Goldberg cut through a lot of my misunderstanding about the nature of networking. I discovered networking is simply about finding ways to build genuine relationships. I knew it wasn’t just sleazy self-promotion, but Michael showed me practical techniques as well as attitudes to make networking just plain fun and useful for all concerned.

While not all of us seek to become full-time information professionals, none of these experts will waste your time! Full-time, part-time, or embedded inside another business, you’ll find the material to be extremely practical and useful.

This is not ad copy. This is just me telling you I have genuinely benefited all seven of these experts (and the bonus material). I bought the Speaking Expert Teleseminar, I’m very happy with what I have received, and I think you would find it worth your while as well. I’d like to hear your experiences, and invite comments on this post. Go get it, before you miss out!

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