With your help, we raised money for twelve PyGotham speakers to receive free training from opera singer and speaking coach Melissa Collom. Most of the speakers were new to the conference scene; Melissa helped them focus on their value to the audience, clarify their ideas, and speak with confidence and charisma. In a survey, nearly all speakers said the session was “very beneficial” and made them “much more likely” to propose conference talks again.

Melissa’s available for coaching for anyone with an upcoming presentation. I hire her for most of my talks. You should too.

Here’s what some of our speakers said:

“The coaching provided me with the areas I should focus on practicing, and improved my confidence in this presentation.”

“For me it was really important to understand how to breath properly, in order to have a good pace with adequate pauses.”

“Melissa is very sensitive to the speaker goals, and was able to help me focus on improvements that will make the most impact on my talk.”

“Speaking with Melissa was certainly a factor that helped me deliver a quality talk that resulted in a number of compliments from the audience.”

Thanks for helping us provide free speaker coaching! This year we’re expanding the program to PyOhio and PyTennessee. With your support, we’re ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to deliver a terrific conference talk.