Confessions of a Public Speaker

Get the Education Advantage

Did you know that LA Kelley Communications had the very first on-line listing of national scholarships? We started this many years ago, and now update it yearly. Go to our scholarship page to learn more. But this week I want to highlight one right here.

For the fourth consecutive year, Baxter Healthcare Corporation is sponsoring the Education Advantage scholarship program for hemophilia A patients. Baxter has increased its funding of this program year after year.

To date, 104 scholarships have been awarded, totaling $565,000. Students working toward a bachelor’s degree are eligible for up to $15,000 per year. Students seeking an associate’s degree or pursuing a technical/vocational certificate program are eligible for up to $2,500 per year. Scholarships are renewable for up to three years or until the student finishes school.

The program is administered by Scholarship America, the nation’s leading non-profit scholarship administrator. Scholarship America is solely responsible for reviewing all scholarship applications, determining financial need and eligibility, and selecting scholarship recipients.

The Education Advantage program will start accepting new scholarship applications on February 1, 2013.  Completed applications are due
to Scholarship America and postmarked by April 1, 2013.
The program goes beyond financial aid with resources to help people with hemophilia A get more out of life, including education planning, career development, health management and community involvement.
For more information on the program, visit www.thereforyou.com/educationadvantage or call Scholarship America at 877-544-3018.
Interesting Book I Just Read
Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkum (Kindle)
Scott Berkun may be a professional public speaker, but speaking and writing are two different media. This book is a mixed bag. He shares his own career as a public speaker, trying to be part comic and part storyteller, but neither really works at first. The opening chapters are awkward and clumsy, with repeated references to aliens and spaceships for some reason. Lots of the information he shares is info you can get from much better written books. But midway through the book it does get more interesting. It becomes less about his direct experiences (which are kind of lame) and more about the psychology of presenting, listening and delivering. I found the chapter on TV and other media interesting (perhaps because I don’t do a whole lot of that and wanted to know more).
Know that at least one-third of the book is appendices. These contain good condensed information. I didn’t like his use of profanity,
and wondered what kind of a speaker teaches about what to beware of when he himself swears! Unless you know your audience intimately, unless you are on the level of a Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, or unless you are a comedian, never use profanity for risk of alienating your audience. Two and a half out of five stars.
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