Letters

Coaching's elastic balance

Thank you for an enjoyable April issue with a good analysis of the "art and science" of the speech coach ("In search of the perfect coach"). May I add my two cents? Great presentations transcend great gestures. Presentations are complex, with countless subtle nuances. Speaking is an elastic balance of many things, including informing, persuading, selling and performing. You have to climb down deep into yourself — to be yourself — to be a great speaker. Can you and your new coach do that? It's also about people. Does your coach know people? That is, do they know psychology, sociology, persuasion, motivation, sales, marketing, public relations, etc.? In summary, are they a complete speaking coach?

Thanks again. Keep those great issues coming.

Victor C. Broski
Costa Mesa, Calif.


Fact-checking for breakfast

I enjoyed your "Great beginnings" article in the May issue of Presentations. A quick historical note: In the "Breakfast with FDR" section you wrote "[In 1938] World War II was escalating…" The war started on Sept. 1, 1939, with Germany's invasion of Poland (or, more legalistically, on Sept. 3 of that year, when Britain and France declared war on Germany in response to that invasion). Other than that (and that Charlton Heston's first name was spelled wrong) it was a great article!

John Grinde
Creative Director
InHouse Media
Minneapolis


Another LED idea

I enjoyed your article on LED projectors (On the Wall column, May). My son was playing with an LED flashlight this week, which caused me to think of another possible benefit and use for LED projectors — lamp life. The lamp life of my son's flashlight is many thousands of hours. If LED projectors have similar lamp life, they could find many uses as display devices in the retail sales display, point of sale, store window areas.

Just a thought.

James Hogue
Plainview, Texas


EDITOR'S NOTE: Trust us, projector manufacturers are way ahead of you. The minute they can replicate the brightness of a xenon-arc lamp with an LED, they will.