First Word

Already impressed by Josh Mathe's new book In the Footsteps of Greatness , I sat down to my own writers' group ( Writers Who Mean Business ) last night to listen to his presentation on the subject. Kudos to Josh for a dramatic home run. As his publisher and publicist I want to point to why Josh's presentation was well done. Organized and thoughtful . He had created a PowerPoint he kept on his iPad so as he went through the slides he had it there to prompt him, but he didn't rely on it per se. He referenced it. Targeted and on message . He knew what he was talking about and (more importantly) WHO he was talking to. He was discussing "how he wrote his memoir" to give other writers fresh perspective and ideas. Natural and easygoing . He was "authentic" (as he described it) and relaxed. He wasn't try to sell anyone on his book. He was naturally and effortlessly leading the audience along through his message. In other words, Josh acted like ... ...

Bo Bradley, operations manager, and yours truly at offending event. Are you a want-to-be speaker or a professional speaker? Today's peanut gallery wisdom comes after a rude speaker proceeded to disrespect the audience's time not by 15 minutes, not by 30 minutes, not by 60 minutes, but probably longer since we got up and left after the offending hour had past. For all we know this speaker continued another two hours past time allotment. Why no one got up and left sooner than they did is beyond me. My operations manager Bo Bradley and I sat and became more and more miffed as we wanted to go home -- it was already 10:00 p.m. and her speaking time was supposed to end at 9:15 p.m. A few attendees began to slowly slip out to family responsibilities. We finally ran into the group organizer who encouraged us to pack up. Well, I am a business owner ( 3L Publishing ), and I am mindful of appearances. I didn't want to give a "rude" appearance to the group, but after the ...