April 13, 2026 Keeping it Real Why audiences don’t want polished presentations—they want someone who’s actually done the work In retirement, I’ve unexpectedly found myself being called upon as a speaker at national industry trade shows, conferences, and expos. No one is more surprised than I am. I never took Speech in high school, never performed in a play, never presented to a boardroom full of executives. The only meetings I led were daily production meetings at my company—and even those I eventually handed off to someone better at it than me. Yet now, I’m standing in front of 30, 40, sometimes 50 industry peers who’ve…
December 1, 2017 If You’re Not Growing, You Might As Well Get Going! Let’s talk professional development for a moment. This can be any or all of these: A computer course at your local community college A seminar on social networking A trade show with some education attached A course given by your industry’s trade association A class in your particular field given by a national association (ie. marketing, sales, accounting, law, bookkeeping, education, etc.) A motivational seminar (ala Dale Carnegie or Jeffrey Gitomer) Additional degrees, such as Associates, Bachelors, Masters You might think that during difficult economic times, it’s bad to be spending money on something that might or might not pay…
