The Bill Gove Speech Workshop/Public Speaking Coaching Welcome! You've just found gold. If you're into networking, speaking, network marketing or public speaking.

	Bill Gove, is known around the world as the father of professional speaking. Since 1947, Bill delivered more than 5,000 paid speeches, ranking him among the most popular speakers of the 20th century. Bill was the first president of the National Speakers Association, and was inducted into the International Speakers Hall of Fame in 1975. His awards include the Cavett, which is considered the Oscar of professional speaking, as well as Toastmaster International's Golden Gavel Award. "Bill Gove was the best professional speaker on the planet." -Bob Proctor (LifeSuccess Productions)
GS:	How did you get started in your current line of work?
BG:	Like most speakers I know, I was the classroom "clown". I must have had a high need to be "out front" . . . a high need to perform.
GS:	What were the 3 biggest obstacles you had to overcome?
BG:	Getting Paid. I had done so many "freebies" when I started out that meeting planners almost fainted dead away when the words fee and expenses came into the conversation.
	History has already recorded you as one of the greatest speakers of all-time. How did you get so good?
	That's an embarrassing question. I might have been one of the busiest - but greatest? I'm not going to touch that one.
	You have shared the stage with many of the best speakers of the twentieth century. Who are the best you've worked with and why?
	So many. Jeanne Robertson, Dr. Ken McFarland, Larry Wilson and Bob Proctor. They are all magnificent "story tellers" and know how to hold an audience's attention.
GS:	What are the three most important qualities or skills every speaker needs to be effective?
BG:	I think that the key to effective speaking is one's attitude toward the audience. I used to try to attack them, really go after them. Then, at some point in time I started to see the audience as part of my very own SUPPORT SYSTEM. A writer can write alone, a painter can paint alone, but a speaker cannot speak alone. We need the audience. When I began to see my presentation as something I was doing with the audience, I knew I was in the right business - something I wanted to stay in for the rest of my life.
GS:	Why do you think learning to speak in public is so important in network marketing?
BG:	Learning to speak in public is a skill that all network marketers should learn. Can you think of anything duller than an opportunity meeting - where you have brought three or four of your warm prospects, that features a speaker who has trouble leading a group in silent prayer?
GS:	If you had your life to live over again, what would you do differently?
BG:	I'd play third base for the Boston Red Sox.
GS:	Bill, you are almost 90 years old. You've been a world-class performer for over fifty years and have influenced millions of people. Everyone we have interviewed tells us what a happy person you are and what a great attitude you have. Let me ask you, what is your secret to success, fulfillment, and happiness in life?
BG:	Along the way, I must have picked up some good genes because I seem to have no trouble handling distractions. I've always been able to bounce back from a bad audience, a lousy golf game or a disastrous relationship, with my feet on the ground and my head on straight. This certainly has helped me on the platform, particularly when the audience looks like a posse going to a hanging.
GS:	Tell us about your relationship with your business partner, Steve Siebold.
BG:	Steve Siebold came to my Speech Workshop and caught on so fast that I knew there was something we could do together. We formed a partnership . I can count on him to do the heavy lifting . and it has been a joy. We see "eye to eye" on almost everything. We seem to laugh at the same things; even his family - Dawn, his wife, and his parents have become mine and Ada's extended family. Incidentally, he is becoming extremely popular on the speaking circuit.
GS:	You have said many times on stage and in the press that you believe that the "Call 10 Tiger Program" for networkers is the single greatest marketing program you have ever seen. Considering your extensive work with major corporations, this is a bold statement. What makes the Tiger program so special?
BG:	I have said many times that the "Call Ten TIGER Program" has been the most productive marketing thrust I have ever seen in my seventy years in business. "Call Ten TIGER Program" asks its participants to grow up - to make some specific commitments and accept responsibility for what they are doing. No "babying", no "whining", just commitment. AND IT WORKS!!!
GS:	After 50 years as a professional speaker, and over 5,000 professional speaking engagements, tell us the truth: have you ever bombed?
BG:	Have I ever bombed on stage? OF COURSE. I've had good experiences on the platform . . . and bad ones. The thing is, when you bomb and don't know it, maybe you think you hit a home run, you're in trouble. On the other hand, if you bomb and know it, you hurry back to the drawing board. Maybe you get some outside help. AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
GS:	For someone becoming a professional speaker, what advice can you give them?
BG:	Attend a professional workshop. Join the National Speakers Association. Put together a thirty-minute talk on a subject that is near and dear to your heart . . . and then Speak! Speak! Speak! Every chance you get. Do "freebies" (Rotary, Jaycees, Kiwanis, etc., etc.) That's the best advice and only advice I can give you, honest. Except to practice, practice, and practice!
GS:	The Bill Gove Speech Workshop has been called the Harvard of all speaking schools. You have trained more outstanding speakers than anyone alive. Many graduates of your course say it catapulted them to the top of the industry. What makes your workshop so life changing?
BG:	First of all, the Bill Gove Speech Workshop is experiential. The enrollee speaks, learns to do introductions, learns to critique the other workshop participants and speaks some more - three full days of practical speaking skills. Find someone who has attended. They'll tell you more than we can.
GS:	For those of us who have never met your wife, Ada, (or Ms. Ada as Steve calls her) tell us about your relationship and how she has impacted your life.
BG:	I call Ada our "crisis manager". I couldn't get along without her, having known her for over twenty years. She helped me put together a workshop in the late 70's, which we did for a few years. It was called The Speech Experience. Knowing her style and warm and easy manner with people, her sense of humor, she's always laughed at all my stories and "jokes" . . . maybe that's why I married her. Besides being a lovely, classy lady, I find that she's always there for me and my best interests. She's a registered nurse, and you'd better believe I have to take my medicine, and on time, too!!! Ada is a real KEEPER; I'm a very lucky man.
GS:	Your friends refer to you as one of the wisest, kindest, smartest people they have ever known. As the "father of professional speaking", you are one of the most highly respected people in the industry. My question is, how does it feel to look back at your life and see all of the great things you have done?
BG:	Another embarrassing question. Look, I've been doing what I have loved doing all of my life. I've got a bunch of friends all over the country. I have three children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. I have been blessed with good health and I can remember the names of all of the members of my 1930 graduating class. Like most speakers, I exaggerate to a certain extent when I tell some of my stories-but when it counts. When someone might get hurt, my integrity level is as high as most. I lucked out with my selection of wives. My late wife, Georgia, was a great lady and a superlative mother and grandmother. Ada, as I mentioned before, is so much fun to be around. Our home is filled with laughter. She's a keeper!
GS:	Our research shows that you have three children. Tell us about them and how they have impacted your life?
BG:	Again, I lucked out. I have three great kids. Nancy, 64, lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan. She is dedicated to the grandchildren. If there were a "Grandmother of the Year" award, she would be the winner. Harriet, 59, spends half of the year in the North Carolina Mountains in a golfing community and the other half in another golfing community. Her husband, Tom, is one of the nice guys. Harriet is active in community affairs. Bill, Jr., 50, lives up in Maine and is married to a darling girl from the county. (Aroostuck). He inherited a very bright stepdaughter, Emily. Bill is in the investment business and is doing very well.
GS:	Your friends say that you have retired 5 different times. Why do you keep coming back to the professional speaking business?
BG:	I retired when I was 65, again when I was 70, tried it again when I hit 75, and thought I really meant it at 80. How about 85? You guessed it. Today, at 89, Steve and I are busier than ever. Like the energizer bunnywe just keep beating those drums!
GS:	Besides speaking, what other activities do you enjoy?
BG:	I enjoy golf, reading and writing.
GS:	Friends describe you as a spiritual man. Not necessarily religious, but very spiritual. Would you mind telling us why you think spirituality is important in life?
BG:	I think there's a big difference between religion and spirituality. Religion teaches obedience. Spirituality teaches discovery.
GS:	Bill, my last question is one that I believe everyone in the world wants to ask. You are almost 90 years old. You have seen and experienced the greatest period of time in history in terms of technical and human advancement. You have lived through two world wars. You worked your way through the great depression. You were part of the civil rights movement in the 60's. You have seen so much, done so much, and endured so much. So here is the question that all of us are trying to figure out. What is the meaning of life?
BG:	I don't know. I've already outlived all of the actuarial tables. I am, as they say, playing with house money. Steve and I were running through the Detroit airport the other day, late for a flight, and I told him I had to stop and rest. He says to me, "Come on Bill! You're not even 90 yet! George Burns was running marathons at your age!" I had to remind him that I'm two years older than Arizona! I'm 89 is what I am Siebold! I think it's important that people learn to lighten up. I've seen very few problems that couldn't be softened with a laugh or two. I have been criticized over the years for not taking things seriously enough. At 3M, I missed out on a significant promotion for that reason. "He's a good marketer but he fools around too much." At the time, I was upset, but as I think back, I'm delighted! "If I had gone big-time corporation," I would have had to give up speaking and I might have wound up with a hole in my belly. That's a lousy tradeoff. The meaning of life? Take it easy-and laugh a lot!
GS:	Thank you Bill Gove! You are truly an American legend.
	In the loving memory of Bill Gove 1912 - 2001