There are a few people working the fringes of Corporate America who are so insanely good at public presentations that you ignore them at your peril. I recently located blogs from two of the best.
Guy Kawasaki single-handedly invented the job title of "product evangelist" in the early heady marketing-driven days of Apple Computers. He stood the high-tech marketing world on its ear by popularizing a combination of buzz and showmanship backed up with deep subject knowledge as a way to build consumer interest. He only started his blog within the last month and I'm tremendously excited. Already his entries have had spectacular tips and advice for anybody who is responsible for public speaking and company/product promotion. You can get to his blog through this link.
My other featured blog is from Seth Godin. Seth is a fascinating guy who concentrates on unconventional approaches to marketing. He doesn't spend a lot of time on the techniques of presentation and speaking (although, like Guy, he is passionate about reducing the amount of text clutter on PowerPoint presentations), but he is so good at it that you need to follow him just to see if he's given out any jewels of wisdom lately. In the meantime, you will get plenty of controversial views on how to promote your company/products/services by flouting standard practices and building a popular base of support. I have met Seth at a couple of conferences, but we are not buddies. I just like his stuff. You can get to Seth's blog through this link.
If you are a large corporate client with some money to throw at a webinar and you want to feature a tremendous guest speaker who brings enthusiasm, credibility, and name recognition to your event... both these guys do speaking gigs. Neither of them knows me (other than Seth having seen and forgotten me) and neither has solicited a recommendation in this space. They are probably expensive... I have no idea. But whatever they charge, they're worth it.
