The Accredited Speaker Program

In March of 2007 there were 56 Accredited Speakers worldwide. On average this is less than one per district. District 33 has five Accredited Speakers:

Jerry Wayne Choate, DTM; Thousand Oaks, California
Don Ensch, DTM; Ventura, California
George Gilbert, ATM-S; Las Vegas, Nevada
John Kinde, DTM; Las Vegas, Nevada
Dana LaMon, DTM; Lancaster, California

District 33 is proud to have a world champion of public speaking - Dana LaMon, DTM; AS Lancaster, California

Click here to view the Accredited Speaker Program (Rules and Application)

A Nice Applause For Whatshername

The introduction can be a rip-roaring beginning to a presentation, or it can be disastrous.

By Gene Perret

Sometimes those few remarks that are meant to “bring you on” can bring you down. Here’s how I was introduced once as the keynoter at a convention: “Ladies and gentlemen, our only speaker tonight will be Gene Perret. The rest of the evening will be entertainment.”

If the speaker has a prepared introduction, read it as is. Many speakers write out their own introductions. They do it to prevent disastrous blunders like the ones I listed earlier, but also because it may serve as a preamble to their presentation. Often they will have items in their speech that refer back to and depend on the scripted introduction. As the masterof ceremonies, you owe your speaker that courtesy.

Avoid, too, the temptation to ad-lib. Adding your own remarks is not reading the intro “as is,” and it very well might destroy whatever setup the speaker had intended for the intro.

I once heard an emcee read a prepared statement and then close with a witty ad-lib to the speaker: “I hope I read that just the way your wrote it.” Very clever, but it ruined the speaker’s opening line, which was (or would have been), “That was a wonderful introduction. It should have been. I wrote it myself.”

Click here for the full article on A Nice Applause For Whatshername