In the News

Telly Awards

SpeechSkills, LLC won four Telly Awards for its videos Speaking with Credibility and Confidence and Improving Your Speaking Skills. Each video received two awards in the categories of Corporate Training and How-To/Instructional Videos.

A panel of more than 40 industry professionals, each a past Telly winner, judged more than 13,000 entries on a 10-point scale against a high standard of excellence.

"We're thrilled to be recognized by the Telly judges," said Ed Alter, director of marketing for Speechskills. "Our goal was to produce DVDs to help business people take their careers to the next level by building speaking skills that enhance how they're viewed by their clients and colleagues. Winning awards in both the Corporate and How-To categories demonstrates how our videos are effective for both businesses and individuals."

Speaking with Credibility and Confidence helps business people to identify the behaviors that signal confidence and credibility so they can take control of the image they project. Improving Your Speaking Skills gives detailed, step-by-step demonstrations to help viewers develop the most important communication skills - from posture to eye contact to vocal variety.

Videos can be purchased at www.speechskills.com or www.amazon.com.

IFA Speaker of the Year

Ed Alter, one of our principle trainers, was honored with the 2010-2011 "Speaker of the Year" award by the International Fiscal Association, U.S.A. Northern California Region. Formed in 1938, the International Fiscal Association (IFA) is a leading non-governmental, international organization dealing with tax matters. The IFA has approximately 10,000 members worldwide in over 90 countries. The USA Branch is the largest IFA branch, with approximately 1,000 members.

Improving Your Speaking Skills

(2007) 50 min. DVD: $99.95. SpeechSkills (tel: 800-994-2042, web: www.speechskills.com).
Review by Video Librarian: It's evident that instructor Cara Hale Alter knows whereof she speaks: her every inflection and body movement here serves the message she's communicating-namely, that every presenter needs certain skills in his or her toolkit.

In Improving Your Speaking Skills, Alter-who teaches at Stanford and does commercial voice work-presents a solid program aimed at those who want to deliver more at the podium. Alter stresses that public speaking is a physical activity that requires practice. Skills taught here cover body-mechanic basics such as correct breathing and controlling volume, as well as articulation, inflection, and pacing. In addition, Alter addresses the subtle psychology of stance, posture, eye contact (tricky with large crowds), and answers that big question-what do I do with my hands? Packaged with the DVD is a CD-ROM with a PDF format workbook.

Also newly available is the 30-minute Speaking with Credibility and Confidence, priced at $79.95. Highly recommended. Aud: J, H, C, P. (C. Block) April 15, 2008 (Web Review)

Master the Art of Presentation

Excerpt from the article by Amy Dobson: Having the right body language can also be a huge advantage when talking to a crowd. "When people are effectively communicating they aren.t just talking with their mouths, they talk with their bodies too," says Hale Alter. "Your body language and your voice need to be in sync. That is where you get the bonus points." Hand movements and facial expressions are some of the obvious places to work on body language, but there are also more subtle features as well. How someone tilts his or her head while listening to another person, or how far into the conversation someone leans can be important cues for conveying trustworthiness and credibility. "People would never go into a job interview without looking in a mirror, but people rarely check their moving image," Hale Alter says. Read the full article.

Best of Local Business Award

The US Commerce Association "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. The USCA works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Their mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America.

Does Your Body Speak Your Language?

Excerpt from the article by Cara Hale Alter: People make up their minds about others at lightning speed-without attempting to analyze why they find them likable, authoritative, credible, or insert-adjective-here. These conclusions are based on observable cues-nonverbal signals such as the position of a chin, width of a stance, speed of gestures, or duration of eye contact. Together, these behaviors form a composite that influences personal perceptions.

Most people rarely notice the impact that their habitual mannerisms have on the image they project. But unintentional behaviors, such as speaking softly, lazy articulation, extraneous head movement, asymmetrical posture, or stiff facial expressions, can have serious repercussions. They may get in the way of securing clients or attaining promotions, keep you relegated to backroom research, distance you from colleagues or senior partners, or prevent you from being assigned to prominent cases. Your career may stall, and you may not understand why. Read the full article.

Strengthen Your Skills

Excerpt from the article by Lynn Gunney: Despite more than 10 years of engineering expertise, Michael wasn’t winning the confidence of his clients or the senior partners at his firm. His career had stalled, and he sensed that his job was at risk.

Anxious for help, he attended a workshop led by Cara Hale Alter, founder and principal trainer for Speechskills LLC, a communication training firm. Alter spotted familiar culprits: weak volume, little eye contact and stiff body posture. Equipped with a video camera and 15 years of experience, Alter coached Michael to align his nonverbal signals with his message, helping him to project a more professional, credible image. Here are hints on how you can, too: Download the article as a PDF file.

Wine and SpeechSkills

Excerpt from the article by Jeannine Sano: Instead of attending any of the numerous wine events taking place in the Bay Area on any given Saturday, I decided to devote the entire day to a speech workshop given by Cara Hale Alter of www.speechskills.com. Unless I am forced to work, you would be hard-pressed to drag me away from wine on a Saturday. But after seeing Alter transform stuttery, muttery, and insecure speakers into poised performers who look as though they have spent their lives public speaking on stage, I had to see if she could work her magic on me. I am fine (most of the time) with a blank page and a word processor alone in my office, where I can write, rewrite, and reformulate my words again and again until they sound relatively smooth and articulate. In front of a crowd of people, however, it is a whole different story. Download the article as a PDF File.