Prepare to Strategies started with a simple observation: while there are many resources that tell us what makes a successful communicator, there aren't any that tell us how to become one.

It's something Gayle Brickman, principal of Presentation Consultants, found when establishing a public speaking course at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, during the mid-1980s.

"As I formed the structure of the course, I started researching the presentation resources on the market," she says. "Many of the books outlined the components of a strong presentation, but nothing offered a clear path for creating a presentation."

Virtually every speaker has some knowledge of the basics: Be organized, have a clear message and establish good delivery. But how? The methodology was missing.

She broadened her research to include speakers. "I researched great speakers, and what it was that made them great," she says. "All great speakers are clearly organized. Because of this organization, they're able to effectively present their ideas in a way that is easy to understand for the audience."

Her research and teaching became the springboard for a textbook, and Gayle then co-authored Organizing for Impact (Kendall Hunt, 1986). It also became the basis for the Prepare to Speak™ system. The system has been taught at various universities, including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graduate School of Business, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Cincinnati.

"People tend to take public speaking courses, and once they complete the course, they often return to their old way of doing things," she says. "It isn't that such courses are ineffective, rather that they don't give people an organized structure for creating an effective presentation. That's the key to the Prepare to Speak system - the structure is always available for organizing a presentation from start to finish."

While helping clients master the Prepare to Speak system, she found that its benefits weren't limited to formal presentations. "Prepare to Speak applies to any speaking situation including meeting, responding to questions or leaving a clear voice mail," she says.

This observation became the genesis for Prepare to Strategies. "There's no reason why such an approach couldn't be applied to other forms of communication," she says. "That's why we decided to expand our reach to all forms of business communications, with Prepare to Speak acting as the foundation for the entire communication system."

For more information on how we can improve the communication skills in your organization, e-mail us at info@preparetospeak.com or call us at 414-352-9550.

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