Presentation Coaching Services from Presentation Expert Bill Cole, MS, MA

William B. Cole Consultants offers professional presentation coaching to help clients learn and master the multidisciplinary skill-sets needed to reach peak performance in any presentation situation. William B. Cole Consultants founder and CEO Bill Cole, MS, MA is an award-winning presentation coach, consultant and author and internationally and nationally recognized peak performance mind coach with many years of experience in presentation skills training and speech coaching.

The collaborative, professional relationship between our presentation coach and our clients addresses pre-program requirements, speech writing, staging, stage fright, other sub-optimal performance issues, technology, authorship, product development, sales and marketing and managing a speaking business. The William B. Cole Consultants speech coach is a trusted, confidential advisor who teaches, guides and mentors clients to reach more of their presentation potential.

Who are you?

One on One Coaching: Silicon Valley Bay Area, Globally

For over 20 years we maintained first-class offices in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Cupertino, and Palo Alto, California. However, with the 2020 COVID-19 phenomenon, we have decided to move our business to a virtual basis.

We've been doing distance coaching all over the world each week for decades and the quality of coaching using video is completely equal to coaching done in an office.

It's also possible that we could come to your location in the San Francisco Bay Area to see you practice, to compete or for coaching in your home or office. We've done that for years. Please contact us for details. Travel fees may apply. We are based in Palo Alto, California.

Video And Telephone Coaching: US, Internationally

"Bill Cole is a world-class coach... A speaker's speaker."
National Speakers Association

"a veteran professional communicator"
Linear Technology Corporation

"Bill, thank you for your excellent writing, coaching and guidance with my speeches and presentations. Your help was invaluable in my political campaign."
Steve Poizner
Candidate for California Assembly District 21 California State Insurance Commissioner

Audio Recording Your Presentation Coaching Sessions

Feel free to audio record our coaching sessions when we meet in our offices to help you remember and master the material. You can do this by bringing your cell phone, laptop, camcorder or other device. You have our advance permission to use this for your personal educational use, but not to share with anyone or to sell or post on the web. There is no charge for your recording in our offices.

If we are doing distance coaching, we can record your coaching sessions via Skype or by phone very easily. We have a special Skype audio program, and also a special high-quality audio-recording conference call line, if we are using a phone. The fee for recording and sending you this mp3 audio by email is $10 per session recording. We send the mp3 to you within 24 hours so you can review the class. That is your copy to keep. The mp3 format is the only format option.

Take This Free Presentation Skills Assessment

Discover Your Strengths And Weaknesses As A Speaker

We are making this valuable 87-item assessment tool available to you at no charge to assist you in determining what is getting in the way of your performing to your full potential in your presentations. It will help you quickly discover your strengths and weaknesses and provide you with an overview of where you stand as a speaker.

You can print this for your own use, or fill it out and then email it to us as a way to begin the presentation coaching process with us.

Take this free Presentation Skills Assessment now.

We have coached individuals from San Francisco, San Jose, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Campbell, Cupertino, Palo Alto, Almaden Valley, Santa Cruz, Los Altos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Alameda, Atherton, Berkeley, Burlingame, Campbell, Concord, Daly City, Danville, Dublin, Foster City, Fremont, Hillsborough, Livermore, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Milpitas, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Leandro, San Mateo, San Ramon, San Rafael, Santa Clara, Union City, Woodside, and many other locations in the San Francisco Bay area, Silicon Valley, and around the United States. You can come to us, or we can come to you.

We can also work virtually. We also regularly consult with clients by phone and email from countries around the world, such as England, Portugal, Australia, Mexico, China, Canada, Israel and South Africa.

We can often start you the same week you contact us. We stay busy, but we know you have important presentations coming up, and we want you to be prepared, confident, and to give outstanding performances. If you need emergency, last-minute presentation coaching, call us, and we will do everything we can to help you right away. We always go the extra mile for our clients!

Order Presentation Coaching Services

The standard hourly coaching rate for one person is $275, with some potential adjustments, based on a quote as part of a custom volume package, and for example, when we include speaking, training and consulting. For coaching sessions outside our offices, and for sessions with more than one person, additional coaching fees and travel fees apply. We also offer two discounted packages, one of five hours and one of ten hours.

Discounted packages are valid only if paid in full, in advance.

Coaching Five-Pack: Buy five hours of coaching and instead of paying $275/hour, you pay only $265/hour. You SAVE $50.

Coaching Ten-Pack: Buy ten hours of coaching and instead of paying $275/hour, you pay only $260/hour. You SAVE $150.

Variable Payments

Normally payments are made using the Credit Card or PayPal buttons in the blue boxes above. However, you can make a custom payment to William B. Cole Consultants by going to the page for making payments of any amount.

Payment And Scheduling Policies

Additional Services

There is no additional charge for reading and responding to reasonable length emails. For emails or attached documents that are longer, any time spent with these activities will be counted as hours in the package you purchased. If the hours exceed the package hours, they will be invoiced weekly.

We can assist you in many other ways in addition to coaching. This is a menu of how you can utilize our expertise to create a robust program of improvement. Any time spent with these activities will be counted as hours in the package you purchased.

These additional services can be paid for in two ways, which we will ask you to designate before beginning them. They could be counted as part of your existing package hours, or charged as additional services beyond the package, at the hourly rate within the package you purchased. If these services exceed the hours in your package, they will be invoiced the week they are delivered, with payment due at that time.

Policies And Pricing On Urgent, Rush Service And After-Hours Project Requests

Urgent, rush service and after-hours project requests count as time-and-a-half. These rates apply upon your approval only.

We have many interview clients, executives, business owners and others who often need immediate turn-around of resumes and cover letters, and other documents. We wish we could accommodate everyone instantly. We know that speed is of the essence in responding to job announcements and last-minute interviews. We do our best to accommodate you so you can be nimble on these, and so you can apply for these positions early.

Most of our clients are working full time and cannot properly respond to a job announcement during their workday. They come home and then ask us to respond with their written work, at the end of their day. We are happy to do so. We do have time constraints, but if we are able, we respond as quickly as possible, often the same day.

However, when you ask us to produce a work product on an urgent basis, or to work outside our normal working hours, we find it necessary to charge a premium for that. The premium we charge for this expedited service is time and a half. So, for example, if you have a coaching-consulting package of 3, 4, 6 or 12 hours and you engage us in rush work, each hour is counted as 90 minutes, and would be deducted from your package accordingly.

We will only designate your work "rush service", or as an "after-hours project" if you specifically tell us this, and if you agree to pay the time and a half rate. Only you can designate such a rush order. We will always ask you to confirm this before proceeding.

Alternatively, instead of engaging us in a rush order, you can simply make your project normal priority. We'll get it done as fast as we can, in our normal business hours, and you won't get charged a premium. Your non-priority work may not get done immediately. In fact, we can't guarantee it will be done quickly if there are other folks ahead of you who have paid for priority rush jobs. And if your request comes in on a Thursday, Friday or weekend, the following week may be the first we can get to it.

Travel Expenses For Coaching And Consulting

We handle travel differently for speaking and training versus coaching and consulting. For speaking engagements we can build the travel, hotel and per diem and other expenses into a custom-quoted all-inclusive fee, or itemize these expenses separate from the speaking fee. For this type of engagement, there is no separate per-hour travel fee in addition to the actual travel expenses incurred. You simply cover our actual travel expenses.

For consulting and coaching engagements, we have two tiers of travel fees. When we drive our company car to such an engagement, our hourly travel fee is $100/hour. We charge that because our time is valuable, and while we are driving we are unable to do work or engage in client coaching or consulting. In addition, there is wear and tear and an increase in mileage on the vehicle, and gas and oil expenses. If we travel by air, train or boat, our hourly travel fee is reduced to $50/hour, since we do not incur expenses to our company car.

Travel From Palo Alto, California

Travel time begins when we leave our offices in Palo Alto, California, and ends when we arrive at your door or the door of the place you designate. Travel expenses include: Taxi, shuttle, ferry, subway, train, or any other conveyance, and tolls and parking fees. We fly out of any of three nearby Bay area airports: San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Oakland International Airport (OAK).

Travel time is not computed only by distance via an online map service for driving. It's based on time, since once we get near your office we may be searching and waiting for a parking spot, taking another conveyance and walking to your offices. We also may be held up by heavy traffic, road work, detours or traffic accidents. All this time counts towards the total travel time. Travel time is also counted the same way when we return from your office.

Travel, Other Fees And Expenses And Time Frames

Travel, hotel and per diem expenses and fees can be handled in any of these ways: You can book and pay for our travel expenses, we can invoice you, or we can take these expenses and fees off any coaching package you purchase.

We serve our clients far beyond normal 9-5pm Monday-Friday working hours, because our clients work across the US and the globe, and because we often travel to observe and coach our clients as they perform, compete and work. We often work early in the morning, late at night, and on Saturday and Sunday to best meet their needs. Travel fees are due anytime we drive our company car to you or an event for you. When we travel to you or to an event for you by plane, and the plane leaves after 8pm and arrives prior to 6am, there are no travel fees assessed, since we could not be serving other clients at those times. Travel fees are waived if any daily coaching / consulting contract exceeds $4,000.

Our Coaching Is Confidential

Trust forms the core of the coaching relationship. We respect what you say, and will not repeat your material to anyone or to any entity. We maintain your confidentiality and privacy in all communications and we maintain safe and secure written records of your account. We do not disclose that you are a client if you do not want that known.

Three Coaching Articles for You to Consider

These three articles explain how you, as a speaker, can attain the mental toughness that leads to peak performance, the many ways a coach can help you reach your goals, and what specifically, a mental game coach will do to assist you in realizing your full speaking potential.

The Mental Game of Speaking:
Are You a Mentally Tough Speaking Athlete?

Bill Cole, MS, MA

Can you play at the top of your game on demand? Mental toughness is the ability to thrive on stress and to perform in the upper ranges of our potential more often. The top athletes who possess mental toughness live this every day.

Professional speakers are the pro athletes of the business world. The speakers who continually perform to their potential over a lifetime know what it takes to build and maintain a strong mental game. Read this article to find out about ten powerful strategies that can propel you into top form on the platform.

Why Hire a Coach?

Ten Terrific Ways to a More Powerful Life

Bill Cole, MS, MA

A personal coach, business coach, executive mentor, tennis coach, golf coach, sport psychology coach...What do all these coaches have in common? Why work with a coach? A coach won't do the work for you, but here are ten ways a coach can help launch you to the next level. ... Read the rest of this article.

What's a Mental Game Coach?

Bill Cole, MS, MA

There are many types of mind coaches, mental trainers, psychology consultants and therapists. How can you choose the right mind practitioner? To find out, read this article.

Meet Bill Cole, Your Expert Presentation Coach

Bill Cole, MS, MA, an award-winning presentation coach, consultant and author, is a nationally-known presentation skills coaching and training expert. He is a speech writer and presentation coach to professional speakers and trainers, executives, business professionals, educators, politicians and everyday folks who just want to give a good speech and not break out in a sweat. He is an internationally-known expert in performance psychology, and specializes in helping speakers overcome stage fright. The British Broadcasting Corporation (The BBC) called Bill "A world-renowned peak performance coach."

For many years Bill has been praised for his skills in coaching presentation skills:

"Bill Cole is a world-class coach... A speaker's speaker."
National Speakers Association

"a veteran professional communicator"
Linear Technology Corporation

"a true platform professional and veteran communications expert"
Central Coast Claims Association

Bill is a prolific author on speaking skills and he is regularly interviewed by the media on the topic of speaking skills. Bill has been featured as an expert presentation coach in Presentations Magazine, the most important speaking magazine in the world, in the article, First Aid For Podium Emergencies. They interviewed Bill on how to coach speakers to handle the many problems that can happen in a presentation.

To learn more:
mentalgamecoach.com/Services/SpeakingAndTraining.html

Bill has trained professional speakers on public speaking skills in his proprietary and popular workshop The Mental Game of Speaking™ Building Composure, Confidence and Credibility:
mentalgamecoach.com/Programs/MentalGameOfSpeaking.html

"Bill Cole did a GREAT job for our chapter. Congratulations to Bill on a most successful Professional Development Workshop on The Mental Game of Professional Speaking. Everyone's needs were met and then exceeded. Bill led a dynamic session which included a professional workbook, various dyadic and group exercises and magic tricks throughout."
Craig Harrison
Board of Directors
National Speakers Association
Northern California Chapter

Bill is a nationally-recognized professional speaker himself, and he practices what he preaches. He travels regularly on the national pro speaking circuit giving keynotes, workshops and seminars, speaking at state and national conventions, corporate events and for professional groups. Bill's one-hour keynote fee is $6,500. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Speakers Association (Northern California) for two years. For seven years he appeared in the honor rolls of Who's Who In Professional Speaking. He is a speech coach to professional speakers, trainers, business speakers, sales professionals, politicians, educators and everyday folks who just want to give a good speech and not break out in a sweat.

Bill was hired as the head speech writer and presentation coach to famed Silicon Valley SnapTrack CEO and Founder Steve Poizner, who is ranked in the top six of all-time Silicon Valley CEO’s, since selling his company to Qualcomm for $1 billion. You may recognize the name Steve Poizner from the over $18 million he spent on advertising in his political campaigns. You may also recognize that he was the 2007 California State Insurance Commissioner. Poizner ran for the State Assembly in California in 2004 and was one of a handful of politicians who were endorsed by “The California Governator”, Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Bill wrote Steve's speeches and coached him on speaking skills. Bill crafted the content and staging for Poizner’s speeches, debates, TV and radio spots and other appearances.

"Bill, thank you for your excellent writing, coaching and guidance with my speeches and presentations. Your help was invaluable in my political campaign."
Steve Poizner
Candidate for California Assembly District 21
Former California State Insurance Commissioner

To learn more:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Poizner

Comedy Coaching And Humor Writing

Do your speeches need a humor punch-up? Do you need to learn how to deliver a punch line in a joke or humorous story? Do you need more laughs in your talks to keep your audience's attention? As the saying in the professional speaking world goes, "Only if you want to be paid. No funny...no money".

Bill can help you with funny.

Bill received extensive training in standup comedy, improv, joke writing and speech humor writing from some of the top professionals in the comedy world. Bill is also a graduate of the San Francisco Comedy College, the largest stand-up comedy school in the country, and he's sat at the feet of many comedy experts, learning their insider secrets. Here are some major comedy gurus who have trained Bill:

Kurtis Matthews. Kurtis is the founder of the San Francisco Comedy College, and has toured with Bill Hicks, Adam Sandler, Sam Kinison, George Lopez, Jeff Cesario, Jim Carrey, Bob Goldthwaite, Rodney Dangerfield, Janeane Garofalo, and Alonzo Bodden among others.

To learn more:
sfcomedycollege.com/
Larry Wilde. Larry was dubbed "America's best-selling Humorist" by the New York Times. Larry is the author of the most popular humor book series of all time. His 53 books have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Larry has appeared on dozens of TV shows including The Tonight Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and in films and commercials. Larry is also the founder of National Humor Month.

To learn more:
larrywilde.com/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wilde
Gene Perret. Gene is considered one of the world's comedy writing geniuses. He was the Head Writer for comedy legend Bob Hope for 15 years, and has written jokes for comedians such as Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Bill Cosby, Tim Conway, and many others. He earned three Emmy Awards for his work on The Carol Burnett Show, and received seven Emmy nominations, including one for original music, and two Writer’s Guild Award nominations and won one Writer’s Guild Award. Gene's television career includes producing Welcome Back, Kotter, Three’s Company, and The Tim Conway Show. Other credits include Mama’s Family, All in the Family, Laugh-In, and many others. Gene has written 30 books on comedy, many of them considered classics. Bill worked one–on-one with Gene.

To learn more:
writersstore.com/authors/gene-perret/

comedywritersroom.com/
The National Speakers Association international and national humor experts. For many years Bill attended workshops and seminars on "humor for professional speakers" and learned from the top humorists in that world. He went to many NSA national conferences and special "Humor Lab workshops" to hone his comedy skills. Bill learned about humor writing and delivery techniques for professional speakers from these top humor experts in the field of speaking. Topics included how to find humor in your life, how to write for the ear, how to use prop humor, how to use humor in stories and how to coach other speakers in the use of humor.

To learn more:
nsaspeaker.org/
The Paul Ryan On-Camera TV Host Workshop And Training

I had the distinct pleasure of first meeting Paul Ryan when I took his on-camera workshop, TV Hosting: Television Interview Training, in Hollywood, California. Paul was one of the best-known coaches in the Hollywood film and TV industry. He was a masterful teacher, coach and director. For seven years Paul taught his Television Hosting Classes, Workshops and Training Intensives out of the CBS Studio Center in Hollywood. He was one of the most outstanding coaches in the business. He also was the author of the book The Art of Comedy:

The Art of Comedy on Amazon

Paul Ryan has hosted and interviewed over 2000 celebrities around the world as celebrity correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight;" series Co-Host for "Mid-Morning L.A.," host/producer/owner of 675 in-depth TV Celebrity TV Talk Shows with guests including Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, and Sophia Loren, as well as legendary directors, writers, and producers. As an actor he's co-starred in films with Michelle Pfeiffer and Sir Peter Ustinov, movies directed by Sidney Poitier and Gil Cates, and guest starred on many TV shows. Paul hosted "Celebrity Master Class" for the Screen Actors Guild Foundation with Diahann Carroll, Burt Reynolds, and George Hamilton and hosted and co-produced the highly successful live event "Hollywood Salutes June Allyson".

Bill also has an extensive library of books on stand up comedy, humor and joke writing and of how to tell humorous stories for speakers.

A few years ago Bill coached an up and coming stand up comic while filming an episode of the Mental Game TV Show, on location at the world-famous Improv comedy club in Hollywood. The show featured international Ford Agency model Ivory May Kalber in her standup comedy debut, with Bill working his mental game magic, coaching her to put forth her very best performance on stage. Ivory May Kalber's current client list includes the London Landmark store, Marks and Spencer. Ivory May can been seen in malls across America as the in-store model for Kohl's, JC Penney, Mervyn's and Target.

To learn more:
mentalgametvshow.com/news_events.html#StandupComedyPilotEpisode

Bill As a Writer For Presentations

Do your speeches need more life? More flow? Want another set of eyes on what you've written? Bill can help you write a speech from scratch, or help edit your talks. He's been the Head Speech Writer for politicians, professional speakers, executives and educational leaders. He's written material for television, radio, podcasts, seminars, workshops, breakouts, web TV, web-based presentations, keynotes, TV infomercials, newspapers, magazines, marketing materials for his clients and many other industries and applications. He'd be glad to help give your speech a face-lift. Bill was the Newsletter Editor of Professionally Speaking, the monthly print and electronic newsletter for the National Speakers Association of Northern California, and many other ezines.

Testimonials for Bill Cole's Work in Presentation Coaching

"You are an engaging, warm and personable speaker with a smooth, relaxed and natural style who immediately puts the audience at ease. You weaved in stories, humor and insights from your experience in ways that helped the audience 'get it' right away. You were able to bring other people's experience into the group conversation, and were able to encourage people to share and learn from each other. You are masterful at getting the audience to own their questions by asking them deeper questions. You have great presence as a speaker and you're very much in touch with your audience."
Rick Holden
Executive Director
San Jose Leadership Council
Silicon Valley, California

"I believe the finest praises a person can receive are those received from one's peers. In this regard you are a SPEAKER'S SPEAKER...your efforts and professional delivery were among the best I have had the pleasure to enjoy."
Chuck Eudy
Professional Development Workshop Series Committee
National Speakers Association of Northern California

"Thank you for contributing to the success of our annual meeting of the California Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. CAHSA looks to experts in the field to meet the unique educational needs of its distinctive member types. You played an important part in meeting our objective, which is to provide high quality education to CAHSA members at every level of care. We trust you know how much CAHSA valued your participation at our annual meeting. Thank you once again. Here are some comments from the participants in your program on leadership, listening and communication skills:

Overall rating of excellent.

Best workshop of the convention.

A longer day with Bill would be great!

Very engaging, and inclusive of the audience.

Absolutely enjoyed this workshop.

I was engaged from the beginning to the end.

Handouts, lecture and role-playing can be applied to real-life situations.

Very good workshop! Good things to think about to be a better leader."

California Association of Homes and Services for the Aging
Sacramento, CA

To learn more about Bill Cole, see his full bio.

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