1955 to Present Day:
Central Catholic High School (CCHS) 1953 to 1957
In the spring of 1955 I was a candidate for Junior Class Representative to Student Senate. My campaign consisted of a three-minute presentation to the Sophomore Class Council. To this day I cannot tell you what I said. I panicked! I drew a mind blank! However thanks to Bob Stearns I won the election. Right then I promised myself I would never let that happen again; but I didn't know how to overcome my fear of presenting.
During my Junior Year I must have done something right. In the spring of 1956 I was a candidate for President of Student Senate. I won that election also. As a result I had many opportunities to speak to groups including Toledo Area Student Council, parents' groups, student assemblies and other venues.
Even though I took Public Speaking as a senior elective, I never felt I really had a plan for public speaking although I was more comfortable in front of groups. Note that CCHS had over 2,000 students in that era.
Even though I took Public Speaking as a senior elective, I never felt I really had a plan for public speaking although I was more comfortable in front of groups. Note that CCHS had over 2,000 students in that era.
How I became an effective presenter is this story.
Toledo University (TU) 1957 to 1963
Toledo University (TU) 1957 to 1963
I began my college career in the fall of 1957. Although encouraged to take part in campus politics, I did not run for office until the spring of 1958 when I was elected Sophomore Class men's representative to Student Senate. A year later I was elected President of Student Senate for the 1959-1960 school year. These three years opened up numerous public speaking opportunities. Academically I took every public speaking course available. I thought I was getting pretty good, but later found out that I still did not have a plan that I could rely on. I spoke to student and parents groups; campaigned for the 1959 Toledo charter amendment funding (TU was a municipally supported university and did not become a state school until the mid 1960's); lobbied to the Ohio State university funding program; and, many other entities.
I graduated with a BBA in June 1961 and entered UT Law School that fall. UT Law School was a night only curriculum and I worked at the largest law firm in Toledo during the day to pay for my schooling. All this time I stayed active in area politics as well.
However, by spring 1963 I decided that law and politics were not for me.
Army National Guard (ANG) March 1963 to September 1963
I enlisted in the Ohio ANG in March 1963 under the six-year RFA program which surprised most of my family and friends. The truth of the matter is that I felt I had to get away from Toledo and academics while abandoning my lifelong career plans. This made sense to no one other than myself. I did my two-months basic training at Fort Knox, KY followed by four months of medical training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX.
During medical training at Fort Sam, I had a life-changing experience. Ever since CCHS I had made a practice of critiquing presenters, TV and movie personalities and college professors. I had discovered that those who made a career of public speaking, acting, etc, were the best people to imitate.
During my classroom training at Fort Sam I observed that all of the army instructors followed the same basic teaching plan. It was likely one I had become familiar with but didn't appreciate its meaning and simplicity.
The plan had three steps. Step One: tell the class WHAT you are going to TELL them; Step Two: Tell them WHAT you want to tell them; and, Step three: TELL them WHAT you just TOLD them.
WOW! It's that simple! This became the bedrock principle I needed that I would flesh out over the next three years and perfect over the next 40 years.
When I returned home from active duty I made two decisions that proved to be major life-changing decisions. First, I decided not to return to law school. Second, I started interviews for a job in business.
At the same time I was introduced to Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, MD. It was an epiphany that further changed my life. I didn't delve into it completely at the time, but it became constant reading material even to this day.
The key element beginning to understand the power of the Subconscious Mind (SM). I'll go into details as we go along; but, PC impacted almost everything I've done since then.
I enlisted in the Ohio ANG in March 1963 under the six-year RFA program which surprised most of my family and friends. The truth of the matter is that I felt I had to get away from Toledo and academics while abandoning my lifelong career plans. This made sense to no one other than myself. I did my two-months basic training at Fort Knox, KY followed by four months of medical training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX.
During medical training at Fort Sam, I had a life-changing experience. Ever since CCHS I had made a practice of critiquing presenters, TV and movie personalities and college professors. I had discovered that those who made a career of public speaking, acting, etc, were the best people to imitate.
During my classroom training at Fort Sam I observed that all of the army instructors followed the same basic teaching plan. It was likely one I had become familiar with but didn't appreciate its meaning and simplicity.
The plan had three steps. Step One: tell the class WHAT you are going to TELL them; Step Two: Tell them WHAT you want to tell them; and, Step three: TELL them WHAT you just TOLD them.
WOW! It's that simple! This became the bedrock principle I needed that I would flesh out over the next three years and perfect over the next 40 years.
Psycho-Cybernetics (PC) September 1963 to present day
When I returned home from active duty I made two decisions that proved to be major life-changing decisions. First, I decided not to return to law school. Second, I started interviews for a job in business.
At the same time I was introduced to Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, MD. It was an epiphany that further changed my life. I didn't delve into it completely at the time, but it became constant reading material even to this day.
The key element beginning to understand the power of the Subconscious Mind (SM). I'll go into details as we go along; but, PC impacted almost everything I've done since then.
Johns-Manville (JM) October 1963 to October 1964
Among the companies I interviewed with was JM. They had an opening for an Industrial Engineer at one of their plants in Defiance, OH. I did not take any courses at TU that would qualify me. But I scored well on their tests. In truth this was an entry level position in their management program wherein most of their top managers were Industrial Engineering trained.
The initial training was focused on Time Study for job incentive purposes for workers; and, Methods Time Management for efficiency analysis. Strange as it may be, both subjects were to become very important in later careers as I will show.
Air-Shields, Inc (A-S) November 1964 to September 1966
Among the companies I interviewed with was JM. They had an opening for an Industrial Engineer at one of their plants in Defiance, OH. I did not take any courses at TU that would qualify me. But I scored well on their tests. In truth this was an entry level position in their management program wherein most of their top managers were Industrial Engineering trained.
The initial training was focused on Time Study for job incentive purposes for workers; and, Methods Time Management for efficiency analysis. Strange as it may be, both subjects were to become very important in later careers as I will show.
Air-Shields, Inc (A-S) November 1964 to September 1966
A side benefit of JM was to point me in the direction of sales as a career. While that seems logical now, it wasn't in September 1963. My experience with A-S literally combined all of the educational and vocational elements from CCHS up to that time. The new concepts were:
- I learned how to deal with multiple product lines whose only common association was they were all in the medical field: premature infant care; respiratory therapy; inhalation therapy; surgical ventilation; and cardiac monitoring and resuscitation.
- All of the products were sold based upon the Feature/Benefit/Advantage sales presentation strategy. This concept became central not only to product presentations, but sales strategy in general.
- 'People buy Benefits...not Features' became the beginning of true Goal Oriented selling and Sales Presentation strategy that I have employed since then both as a product manager and salesman and sales trainer. It's the core element of ThePowerOrator concepts.
- The product managers for A-S created 'canned pitches' for all products that we were literally forced to memorize word-for-word. 'Canned Pitches' were an anathema to professional sales people, but their approach was very sound as I will detail later. It also spawned very important and successful sales presentation techniques I developed for ThePowerOrator.
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