Michael's "Do-It-Yourself" Speaker Introduction
Please make one wild guess for each question below. (You can see the correct answer by moving your cursor over "And the Answer is...".)
1. In the past 20 years, Michael has presented:
- in all 50 states in the U.S.
- on 6 of the 7 continents (he just can’t get booked in Antarctica)
- at his younger brother Scott’s wedding, dressed as Julia Child
- all of the above
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2. Michael’s educational background includes:
- B.A. degree in speech communication from the University of Illinois, summa cum laude, as a Bronze Tablet Scholar, the highest academic distinction awarded by the University (1975); distinguished alumni award for developing and teaching communication techniques (1999)
- Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago Law School (1978)
- graduate, Second City improvisational theater school in Chicago (1983)
- all of the above
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3. Michael’s diverse background
includes:
- work with young people in many settings, including schools and summer camps, for over 30 years
- writer and presenter of three
1999 Emmy® award-winning
public television programs on communication, airing on PBS
stations throughout the U.S.
- author of four best-selling books
on management and training: Training Terrific Staff!, Training Terrific Staff! Volume Two, Super Staff SuperVision, and Learning Leadership
- member, national board of directors, American Camping Association; two national awards
- named by Successful Meetings magazine, in its annual review of speakers, as one of
top two professional speakers in the U.S (1998)
- trial lawyer and partner in 55 member law firm in Chicago for 9 years
- writer and performer for Chicago Emmy-award-winning educational television series
- writer and host for live stage production in Chicago with Jim Henson’s Muppets, Home Box Office (HBO) and the American Library Association, to encourage young people to read
- professional magician for over 25 years
- awarded lifetime honorary membership in Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. for leadership training
- all of the above
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4. The most physically dangerous thing Michael has ever done is to:
- escape from a regulation hospital straitjacket while suspended upside down over the deep end
of a swimming pool
- tell his parents in 1987 that, after making partner in a law firm, he was leaving to become a
full-time speaker
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5. The most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to Michael as a speaker is:
- when beginning his speech at the John F. Kennedy School for Special Operations & Warfare to the super-macho people who train elite special military forces such as Delta Force, he tripped on his way up the stairs to the podium
- the first time he wore a wireless microphone, he walked into the men’s room just before he was introduced; when he entered the auditorium he received applause, but didn’t know why
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