April Speaker: Tami Evans, CSP
ShowBUSINESS: Ideas to Punch Up Your Presentation
Saturday, April 12, 2025 | 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
CoHatch Waterfront |  | Powerful presentations are important & relevant to inbound marketing because an engaged audience (live or virtual) will remember you & your message long after they leave the event or the website. This kind of attendee enjoyment and content retention is important to event planners, making you desirable at events that can bring more eyes to your content. When an audience experiences an exceptional program, they remember you, talk about you and engage with you on-line, which is one of the fastest ways to grow your business.
The experience we create is critical. Customize your content with techniques that will leave your audiences AND your clients delighted. Learn easy tools that will instantly elevate your content from words to WOW.
Tami Evans is living proof that transformation doesn’t have to feel heavy. As a former corporate manager turned professional actress (plot twist!), Tami brings a unique blend of business savvy and stage presence to every keynote.
With an MFA and degrees in Broadcasting Communications and Theatre tucked in her back pocket, she’s helped industry giants like Microsoft, Raytheon, The New York Times, and Dove Chocolate transform their workplace culture through the power of levity. As the former president of the National Speakers Association of NYC, she knows a thing or two about captivating a room.
Click the image above to watch a special video invitation from Tami
Monthly Mastermind Session
April 15 at 8:00 am
All chapter members are invited to attend our monthly mastermind sessions.
| March Speaker
Lois Creamer
Book More Business; Growing Your Business in a Competitive Market | The focal point of Lois Creamer's presentation was creating a Positioning Statement such as this:
“I work with leaders who want to ________________ (positioning statement) in order to be able to _________________ (3 outcomes).
She emphasized outcome—“What are people going to do differently after working with you?” She said outcomes are why people hire you so focus on that. “Don’t try to talk people into things.” Here is her Positioning Statement: “Lois works with professional speakers who want to book more business, make more money and fully monetize their intellectual property!”
She also highlighted the importance of having a One-Sheet, a primary marketing piece that you can send to prospects, use as a handout, and as a script for when you are selling over the phone. It should include a business picture, your positioning statement, speech titles and bullets that explain the take-a-ways the audience gets, testimonials, a blurb about your expertise, and contact information.
When deciding whether to work with a business, she suggests using the 3Ms: Meeting, Money, and Motive. Do they have a meeting date? Do they have your fee? How interested are they in your topic? She also said to never speak for free; you can waive your fee if you want but don’t say you’ll speak for free.
| Updates From Our President | If you were not able to attend our March meeting you missed a special opportunity with Lois Creamer. She worked with 10 or 11 of our chapter members, including yours truly, on refining and/or defining position statements. These statements help provide clarity for the speakers but also for potential clients. It was illuminating to see how she identified certain words as money words. It was a great learning opportunity for all who attended.
On Sunday, Mark Houser, President-Elect, gave her an opportunity to experience one of his rooftop/skyscraper tours on Pittsburgh. If you have never been in the lobby of the Koppers building, add it to your list. It is a beautiful art deco styled lobby, stunning.
Thank you Mark! Lois lived in Pittsburgh growing up and was over the moon to see our city from this perspective.
Mark did a great job organizing the Last Story Standing competition for the chapter and we had the privilege of listening to our winner, Anna Thomas and our runner-up James Ice give their presentations. Thank you to all of the participants. We wish Anna all the best as she advances to the regional competition.
Our own Charlie Krebs hosted a series of virtual presentation on speaking skills. 20 people signed up for the three sessions and everyone who attended highly praised his skills during the presentations.
Watch for the slight change in speakers for April and May. Don’t forget to vote for our slate of officers and board members for the 2025/2026 season. Happy April!
Karin J. Lund
Proud President
NSA Pittsburgh
| New Slate of Officers for Next Year's Board |
The following chapter members have been nominated to serve on the 2025-2026 NSA Pittsburgh Board of Directors:
Mark Houser: President
Brad Killmeyer: President Elect
Charlie Krebs: Vice President
Rich Ermlick: Secretary
Leslie Middleton: Treasurer
Karin Lund: Immediate Past President
Rob Oliver: Past President and Mastermind Coordinator
Charlie Batch
Dan Bolena
Jennifer Eisenreich
Dionne Malush
James Protin
All chapter members should have received an email with the link to cast your vote to approve or disapprove this slate of nominees. Email admin@nsapittsburgh.org if you didn't receive the email.
| Last Story StandingWinner | | Anna Thomas, who won our first Last Story Standing contest gave her speech at the March meeting and captivated us about the preparation her daughter’s day care center had done that saved everyone when a tornado struck. She now moves on to nationals. Jim Ice also gave his speech about the H.E.A.R.T. of a business plan. | | | May Speaker
Corey Perlman
Social Selling for Speakers:
If They Can't Find You, They Won't Book You
Saturday, May 17, 2025 | 9:00 am - Noon
CoHatch | Takeaways from Corey’s presentation will include:
• Which platforms to focus on and which to ignore
• How to win the algorithm game
• Content best practices: Squawking Parrot vs. Wise Owl
• What to outsource and what only you can do
Corey Perlman is the celebrated author of three bestselling books. His first, eBoot Camp!, ranked No.1 on Amazon in every major business category. His most recent, Authentically Social: Break Through By Being You! has been called engaging, relevant, a must-read, and spot-on marketing advice for any business. Close to a decade of keynote speaking has produced a long list of highly satisfied clients.
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There is one more opportunity to work with Mark LeBlanc either in person or virtually. Auction price was $1,000 and at CLI he booked about 20 NSA members at $2500/person. Please contact Karin if anyone is interested. | Member Spotlight: Dr. Anna N. Thomas | | This month’s member spotlight features Dr. Anna Thomas, a newly joined NSAP member and a dedicated palliative care physician with a special passion for supporting working women who are also family caregivers. Through her speaking, Anna aims to raise awareness around caregiving issues. “I speak to organizations looking to help their employees who are struggling with work-life-care balance,” she explains. “My topics cover leadership, self-development, and healthcare-related subjects.”
Although Anna describes herself as quiet and shy by nature, she’s found that she has a lot to say when it comes to topics that matter to her. “Now, I enjoy speaking on subjects I’m passionate about,” she shares. Her unique perspective is shaped by her childhood experiences growing up in both India and Canada. “I have many fond memories of spending time with my grandmother in India,” she recalls, which has played a significant role in her journey. | | | In addition to joining NSAP, Anna was recently named the winner of our Last Story Standing competition! She reflects on her experience: "I've been working on my storytelling skills, focusing on expression and engaging the audience. I applied everything I've learned to my Last Story Standing entry."
"I am so honored to be selected as the NSAP chapter winner for the Last Story Standing competition! Crafting a compelling story with a lesson in under five minutes was much harder than I expected, but it was an incredibly rewarding experience."
We are thrilled to have Dr. Anna Thomas as part of our community and look forward to her continued contributions!
| Our board member, Brad Killmeyer, gave away some Penguin tickets this past weekend and several of our members took him up on the offer. Here are Jeff Tobe, Julie Kirsch, Nana Hong, Rich Ermlick, and Dawn Marie at the game!! We should do things like this or happy hours, or parties more often. We are a fun group of people and things like this can be a blast and a great way to get to know each other. | Speaking about DOING captivates an audience far more than speaking about BEING so use active verbs often. Compare: “The idea IS interesting” to “The idea INSPIRED a revolution.” Compare: “The new law IS discriminatory” to “The new law DEMORALIZES the lower class.” Compare: “The sky IS beautiful” to “The color of the sky DEFINES blue.” The verb “to be” can have various tenses and persons such as “is, are, was, were, being, been” but they are all passive and all inert. They describe states of being that explain conditions which are static. Active verbs speak of action and propel us into new territory. They intrigue, excite, and stimulate. Look at verbs like: “entice, captivate, and provoke.” They have what I call going-somewhere-ness and take us with them. Action pulls people into your story and compels their interest. Action statements will inspire, conjure, and arouse your audience, which is what they want.
| “There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured,
such as poetry, music, painting, and public speaking.”
—Jean de la Bruyere | © 2025 NSA Pittsburgh. All rights reserved.
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Bethel Park, PA 15102-6909
www.nsapittsburgh.org
admin@nsapittsburgh.org | |