Media, Business, Public Speaking Consulting

media, business, personal consulting

Dr. Wendy Patrick will make you a better communicator on every level. She will enhance your skills of influence, power of persuasion, confidence, and chemistry.

She is a behavioral expert and career trial attorney with decades of experience on the speaking circuit. She offers media coaching, ethics training, business development, and public speaking preparation for companies, political candidates, and organizations of every kind. Her programs incorporate cutting-edge research on image management, interpersonal dynamics, and viewer receptivity. Utilizing role-playing, video review, and content crafting, Dr. Patrick will help you cultivate a style that is comfortable, credible, and captivating, and a message that is perfectly tailored, both visually and verbally, to both the topic and the setting.

Research Based Techniques
Unlike other coaching programs, her trainings incorporate decades of courtroom experience in front of judges and juries with cutting-edge research documenting the techniques and tactics that generate credibility, likeability, and competence, as well as the qualities that facilitate audience bonding—both live and on air.

Corporate Packages
Advantage Speaker® corporate packages are designed for groups of any size, and offer instruction, information, and lively interaction. Perfect for corporate meetings or corporate retreats, we begin with collaborative exercises that demonstrate how quickly and easily people form snap judgments and quick impressions of others—and how to make this reality work for you.

Corporate packages instruct through illustration. From expression to emotion, word choice to tone of voice, and attire to animation, participants will role-play a variety of scenarios to illustrate the ways in which a speaker's presentation can captivate an audience and increase receptivity.

Lunch and Learn Programs
Advantage Speaker® Lunch and Learn programs are informative and interactive in a group setting, followed by the opportunity to sign up for individual sessions of one-on-one coaching.

Below are some of the most popular programs offered. Please contact us for rates.

Sound Bites for Success
With over 7,000 media appearances including numerous hits on CNN, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, and a wide variety of other networks—both national and international, Dr. Patrick will help you develop insightful comments and catchy sound bites that will catch fire as instant quotables.

Role Playing with Fire
Here is where 7,000 media hits and 25 years of cross-examination experience are put into practice, equipping you to be ready to rumble with the toughest interviewers and co-panelists. Dr. Patrick will prepare you to graciously and effectively handle any question you are asked with confidence, competence, and credibility.

Everyone Loves Eye Candy: Sweetening Your Verbal Pitch with Your Visual Persona
It does not matter what you look like. Visual appeal comes in a variety of flavors. Enhance your appearance and positive attributes to create an on-air persona that generates attention and instant attraction.

Value Goes Viral: Earning Your Hashtag

Viewers want instant gratification. I will help you satisfy your audience—whatever your topic. Turn talking points into kitchen table talk by giving your audience practical tips they can use immediately in their daily lives.

Let Your Voice be Heard: Pitch Matters

Learn how to speak so others listen. Dr. Patrick will help you cultivate the perfect tone and tenor to perk up the ears of your listeners, and the modulation to match your message, employing vocal variety and confident delivery.

Spark a High Speed Connection: Cultivate Chemistry
One of the important yet overlooked aspects of media commentary is the dynamic between you, the host, and co-guests—either on set or remotely. As author of “Red Flags” and co-author of the revised and updated New York Times bestseller “Reading People,” Dr. Patrick will enhance your ability to “read” your host and co-guests immediately, in order to adopt a communication style designed to create chemistry with even the most difficult company.

Brand Management: Promoting Your Product by Promoting Yourself
When promoting your brand, you are both the messenger, and the message. Dr. Patrick will help you promote your product through showcasing your knowledge and expertise in a fashion designed to generate interest in your product through interest in you as the promoter. She will help you generate excitement through enthusiastic endorsement.

Avoid Counterintuition: Match Your Mannerisms to Your Message
To exude authenticity, match the visual to the verbal. Dr. Patrick will enhance your ability to speak with credibility and consistency through practicing matching your movements to your message, so it becomes second nature and automatic, even under pressure.

Flash and Substance: You Need Both
Focus with flash, sustain with substance. Even the highest level of expertise expressed in robotic, monotone fashion will put viewers to sleep. Participants will work on both style and substance to deliver both charisma and content in a fashion designed to captivate and maintain audience connection.

Keeping Your Cool in the Hot Seat: Practice Makes Perfect
When you are preparing to discuss a provocative or controversial topic, Dr. Patrick will help you brainstorm, role play, and practice different angles within your topic area to increase your comfort level, prepare you for difficult questions, and enhance performance under pressure. Because you need to keep cool in the hot seat, practice makes perfect, and planning produces preparedness.

Winning the War of Words: Charm and Disarm Your Adversary
When you are preparing for a potentially contentious on-air debate, particularly in a group setting when you fear you will be outnumbered in enemy territory, before you venture onto the battlefield, Dr. Patrick will help you develop techniques to win the war of words by disarming your adversary before those verbal missiles have even been fired.

Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst: Avert Disaster With Preparedness
Individuals in Advantage Speaker® disaster preparedness workshops will participate in mock interviews and presentation exercises to prepare for everything that can (and often does) go wrong on air. Because there is no “take two” on live television, advance preparation boosts confidence and ensures you have a backup plan if you hit bumps in the road. We operate on the understanding that practice makes perfect, and planning breeds preparedness.

Top Ten Tips for Media Appearances

Black Swan Verdicts® media coaching sessions are all about you. Personalized and tailored to fit your needs, they are designed to address your unique objectives and goals. There are, however, some common tips in a commentator´s toolbox.

1. Preparation Prevents Panic. Conquer fear with facts. Knowledge is power. The more you can cite, describe, and explain, the more comfortable you will be. However, because media calls can be last minute, be prepared. Have trusted news sites bookmarked on your phone or laptop for easy access to relevant information.

2. Start Strong. Unlike your fitness routine at the gym, a live hit does not include time for a warm up. Be strong, clear, and focused right out of the gate. Your goal is to capture the attention of your viewers immediately.

3. Don't Be a Well-Kept Secret. Reveal your expertise early on, while people are paying the most attention. Work it into your answers in a way that is educational, not off putting. You have been asked to join the program for a reason, and viewers want to be reassured that they can trust what you say.

4. Sound Bites that Sizzle. Make yourself memorable by using well-thought out, descriptive, even humorous sound bites that complement or illustrate your points.

5. Less is Not More. Media hits are several minutes or less, and you are often one of several guests. If you do not deliver sufficient content, everyone will forget you were there. To maximize your time and prevent evaporating into irrelevance, choose sound bites that are short and sweet, but follow them with substance.

6. Words Matter. Think through all possible connotations and definitions of every word you use. Pay particular attention to slang terms and expressions, to avoid unintentionally offending viewers by using words or phrases that are socially inappropriate. When in doubt, leave it out.

7. Cultivating the Cold Start. Unless you are a regular, media appearances involve instant interaction without introductions. Without icebreakers, media appearances often feel like an ice bucket challenge. Researching your host and co-guests beforehand and using their names and titles can bring warmth and build rapport.

8. Avoid Counter intuition: Make the Optics Match the Topics. In the public eye, appearances influence reality, and inconsistency breeds insincerity. So whether discussing war overseas or the spread of disease, make sure your mannerisms match your message.

9. Clothed in Credibility. Attend to your attire. When credibility counts, dress to impress. Select clothing to match your credentials.

10. Out of the Ivory Tower. Over-polished expert commentary filled with technical jargon will leave viewers with eyes glazed over and attention spans waning. Drop the industry lingo and use practical examples to educate and engage.