Praise for The Orderly Conversation

Read what others say about The Orderly Conversation.

Business Leaders || Presentation & Communication Experts || Learning & Development Professionals || Academia

Business Leaders

“Readers of The Orderly Conversation are in for a treat. The book captures the real-world wisdom that participants in Turpin Communication’s workshops have experienced for many years. Turpin’s approach is unique and powerful – they help business-people become better at informing and influencing decision-makers by being authentic communicators, and letting go of the foolish gimmicks and ‘rules’ that weaken a speaker’s ability to engage their audience.

“The book will whet your appetite and provide great insight about what you need to do differently – and will inspire you to call Turpin and enroll in one of their workshops. My team significantly improved after doing the workshop years ago – and yours will too.”

Mark Crowell
Director of Organization Development and Learning, Los Angeles CA

“Forget what you’ve been taught about speech-making in a business setting. This book is about what really makes deals happen – the conversations between you, and your boss or your customers. The Orderly Conversation will turn your presentations into focused conversations that will have your audience engaged and supportive of your project, sale or proposal. Every consultant and manager will glean practical, immediately usable ideas from this book. A definite BUY review!”

Drew S. Mendoza
Managing Principal, The Family Business Consulting Group, Inc.

“Challenging the traditional concept of business presentation as performance, the authors share practical techniques for engaging your audience in productive conversations.

“Free from tedious checklists and confining rules, their methods help you focus on what matters in business: results, and the connections that make them possible.”

Mike Nalley
Computer Systems Analyst, City of Cincinnati, Ohio

“I believe this book would be of use to business people at every level…I’ve given hundreds of presentations and the approach taken in The Orderly Conversation was very useful. The conversation concept is particularly unique and valuable. I’m excited to use what I’ve learned on my next presentation, and I’m buying several copies for my colleagues. Dale and Greg…Thank you!”

Nick Rosa
Managing Director, Sandbox Industries

“As I was reading the book, I felt as though I was sitting in the training room with the authors. They have a unique ability to bring the book (and the eight workshop participants) to life.”

“I learned some new things, which is always refreshing. It’s like the authors captured a winning formula and framed it up with practical strategies for self-improvement. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to be one of the first to read The Orderly Conversation.”

Tomissa Smittendorf
Sales Organization Effectiveness & Engagement, Fortune 500 CPG Company

“Giving presentations well is essential to succeed in today’s workplace.

“The Orderly Conversation provides wise, practical advice that helps presenters engage and connect with their audience.”

Michael Lee Stallard
President, E Pluribus Partners
Author, Fired Up or Burned Out

Presentation & Communication Experts

“The Orderly Conversation takes a deep yet practical approach to helping business presenters feel comfortable with engaging their audience. For example, the authors discuss eye contact and pausing, but rather than stating specific rules to be performed, they explain that these techniques help the presenter connect and engage. As they state, ‘We work from the inside out. Get engaged first, increase your self-awareness, and everything else will more easily fall into place.’ This natural approach will be helpful to presenters with a variety of obstacles to successfully meeting their goals in front of an audience.”

Ellen Finkelstein
EllenFinkelstein, Inc.
PowerPoint MVP

“I sometimes wonder if there’s any hope for professional communication in this modern era of presentation software, where we hide behind rigid outlines of bullets rather than truly converse with real people. It’s exciting to finally see a work that challenges this persistent insanity. Dale and Greg’s book resonates with a deep need I’m noticing among presenters today, a desperate desire to stop ‘performing’ and be real with audiences instead.

“Spread the word, gentlemen. If I had my way, your text would be required reading in every business school in the land.”

Robert Lane
Director, Aspire Communications

“The ideas contained in The Orderly Conversation are unique in their approach and effective in their results. While most books on the subject stress how to look good speaking at people, The Orderly Conversation shows how to truly connect with people, so you can stop performing and start engaging.

“As a professional trainer for the past 15 years, I’ve spent thousands of hours honing my craft, and I wish I’d had this book earlier in my career as it would have saved me a lot of time and bad advice.

“If you present your ideas to others (and who doesn’t?), then you need to read this book. It will make you a better communicator.”

Blaine Rada
“America’s Greatest Thinker,” The Great American Think-Off

“The first thing I noticed that makes The Orderly Conversation radically different from others I’ve read on the subject: the authors draw a clear distinction between ‘giving presentations’ and ‘making speeches.’ Other books fall short by treating every presentation as if it were a keynote speech, which is clearly not the case. This book will make you rethink everything you’ve been taught or learned about business presentations and making an authentic connection with your audience.

“I’ve been a corporate spokesperson on national television, and I’m no stranger to giving presentations of all kinds, from solo speeches to panel discussions to group workshops and sales pitches. The Orderly Conversation is filled with ways I can immediately make all of my presentations better.”

Brian Sibley
Principal, Sibley Communications

“The Orderly Conversation recognizes that the best presentations, like the best conversations, are dialogues rather than monologues that often take unexpected paths but produce invaluable insights. This book offers a way to stay true to your presentations plan while still capitalizing on what’s happening in the moment. By doing so it helps redefine the modern business presentation.”

Dave Zielinski
Editor, PresentationXpert newsletter, www.presentationxpert.com

Learning & Development Professionals

“What a joy it is to read Dale and Greg’s perspective on how we can each take significant steps to change aspects of organizational culture that are way outdated, and are long overdue for a fresh take! Presentations that are entirely tell-oriented have been a bane in my corporate existence for many years, and this book offers practical, “real” advice in business communication for how to engage people.”

Barry E. Altland
Learning and Organizational Development Leader
Community Health Centers, Inc.
Serving Central Florida since 1972

“I have always followed the work of authors Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger because we agree about what training concepts produce good presentations (and what concepts don’t). It’s not about ‘perfection,’ because it doesn’t exist. A good presentation is about connecting through authenticity.

“Speakers can and should be themselves, because it’s critical to making a powerful connection. Ludwig and Owen-Boger’s focus, that of expressing the authentic, professional self, avoids the deadly ‘one size fits all’ notion of what constitutes a good presentation, a notion that drives the fear and self-consciousness that too often derails a presentation.

“The Orderly Conversation quite sensibly acknowledges that most presenters are not primarily public speakers but experts in some other area altogether. Thus, the book not only expresses their very intelligent and useful approach to public presentations, but also does so in a very accessible manner, thus providing comfort to presenters who too often feel out of their comfort zone.”

John Cooke
Writer and Trainer
President, Crab Pot Productions, Inc.

“As a professional actor and improviser for about 20 years, I definitely know where I tend to lean in the Writer-Improviser model set forth in The Orderly Conversation. And, as an instructional designer who specializes in developing communication skills, I have certainly had to scan many of the old fashioned ‘do this, don’t do this’ self-help guides for presenters.

“The Orderly Conversation is miles beyond. This text explores what is really happening between a presenter and an audience and how we need to see presentations as a way to connect audience members to the true needs of the business. I can’t say enough how much more powerful this book is than any other one I’ve seen on the subject. In a world of generic blends, these two guys are Single Malt Scotch.”

Matt Elwell, CPLP
President and CEO, ComedySportz of Chicago, Inc.

“You just got promoted and your first task is to address the organization at an upcoming all-employee sales meeting. The last time you gave a speech was in college. What do you do? If this is a challenge you face, read this book! The Orderly Conversation: Business Presentations Redefined is not your standard self-help speech-making book. Through the masterful work of Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger, you’ll learn how to shift from giving a speech to facilitating a conversation … thus creating an engaging and positive exchange between you and your audience.

“In my work with Turpin Communication, I’ve witnessed the beauty of the Orderly Conversation in action. By taking advantage of this rich resource, you will too.”

Sarah Jeffcoat
Performance and Learning Consultant, CEFCU,
ASTD National Advisor to Chapters

“The Orderly Conversation is a peek into the personal experiences of several business professionals who, like me, struggled with communicating in a professional yet compelling way. I really got to know these characters (and we became friends) on our journey to learn and apply some very simple and effective conversation techniques.

“You will use what you learn in The Orderly Conversation in the office, at home, and really anywhere the stakes are high and you need to get business done.”

Antonia Fico
Director, Performance Solutions, US Cellular

“Whether you present seldom or often, and are comfortable or uncomfortable doing so, you will benefit from this resource. Written by authors who genuinely understand business realities and share applicable methods to improve business presentations.”

Renie McClay
Global Learning Consultant, Inspired Learning LLC

“For many of us, facilitation skills come naturally. Or so we think. In truth, it’s a slippery slope between excellent business presentations and immoral edutainment and trickery. With success comes laziness, and a tendency to throw content at our audience. Revive your most important business tool – the effective presentation – through this very actionable nuts and bolts book. I guarantee, when you open this book you’ll find out you can still improve. The Orderly Conversation is an excellent way to do it.”

Lou Russell
Queen, Russell Martin & Associates

Academia

“As a teacher of public speaking 101, I am quite familiar with the ‘rules’ for speaking that students learn in college. I have been trying to help students adapt these rules to their own styles and strengths for many years–and I really could have used the concepts in this book!

“In The Orderly Conversation, Dale Ludwig and Greg Owen-Boger are building the bridge so many have been looking for: the one between college speaking 101 and the real world. The book would be perfect as a text for Business Communication classes or as a supplement to the traditional 101 text. For example, I plan to incorporate the concept of ‘Writer’ vs. ‘Improviser’ in my own teaching. The text’s emphasis on ‘engagement’ moves presenters away from the recitation of pre-packaged content, and points them toward a dynamic conversation that will empower both presenter and listener.

“With this book, the disoriented ‘fun-house’ feeling of presenting is replaced by the solid ground of an authentic connection with listeners that one sees only occasionally in the fundamentals class.”

Kay Holley
Teacher of performance and communication for 36 years, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“Finally, someone has offered solid and practical advice for all levels of executives to improve their business presentations. I’ve taught Executive MBA courses for over 20 years and I’m constantly amazed at how many of these bright and motivated executives struggle with their communication skills. In this well-written and concise book, Dale and Greg offer a fresh perspective for truly mastering business presentations. Their advice, based on years of consulting experience to a wide range of companies, is applicable to all executives from entry level to the C-suite and to all functional areas. Even if you think you are a master communicator, you need to take a look at The Orderly Conversation. This book offers that edge that we all seek in this increasingly competitive market.”

Dennis E. Garrett (Ph.D.)
Award-winning marketing professor who has taught at Marquette University,
University of Oklahoma, University of Illinois, and St. Cloud State University

“Where was this book when I was starting out?!? The Orderly Conversation provides a refreshing approach to speaking for the business professional—one that provides a pathway to tap our individual strengths and bring our authentic selves to every presentation.”

“This could change the way people do business!”

Pamela Meyer, Ph.D.
Author, From Workplace to Playspace: Innovating, Learning and Changing for Dynamic Engagement

“This book is truly unprecedented in its ability to transform the difficult task of teaching the skills required to present one’s ideas to another. It is transformative for the teacher and the practitioner alike. By focusing on conversation as the central feature of a presentation, it orients presenters to the familiar. In doing so, it helps them realize that the process of presenting is one they have been engaging in all life long. By extension, it changes the process for the teacher as well, enabling the process of instruction itself to move forward as a conversation not a lecture.”

Mary Ann Murphy
Professor, Communication Studies
Director of the Center for Community Action and Research at Dyson College
Pace University