My name is Val, and I’m a public speaking strategist and coach helping leaders, professionals, and purpose-driven speakers show up with confidence, clarity, and impact—without the fluff, filler, or panic sweats. Inside Off the Cuff, my weekly email, you’ll get exclusive tips, sneak peeks at new trainings and resources, and first dibs when new programs or workshops open up. Join now—because confident speaking doesn’t happen by accident–It happens Off the Cuff... and On Purpose.
What Will You Regret NOT Doing By December?
Hi Reader,There’s something about September that feels like a second New Year for me. What do you actually want to do so that when you look back three months from now, you can say "I DID this for myself!"? Too often, we let the seasons sweep us along—family, kids, projects, meetings— the "busy" and before we know it, we've done everything important for everyone else...except ourselves. The kids are back at school....and so... are our brains! But if you don’t deliberately carve out space for your own growth, you’ll blink and soon find yourself donning your ugly Christmas Sweater wondering where the time went. This isn’t about adding more to your plate. It’s about choosing better. Choosing yourself.
Maybe it's making a career change, maybe it's nailing that interview coming up. Fall doesn’t have to just be about back-to-school for kids. It can be back-to-growth for you, as well. Public speaking growth is something that can positively affect so many areas of your life. That's why I made this free quiz — and to help you get a head start on the process, all my quiztakers unlock instant access to the The Confident Speaking Sprint (email-based course) absolutely FREE Ready to level up your speaking confidence (on and off the screen)?
Make this your season to show up for yourself! To new adventures, |
Val Erickson–Public Speaking Coach
My name is Val, and I’m a public speaking strategist and coach helping leaders, professionals, and purpose-driven speakers show up with confidence, clarity, and impact—without the fluff, filler, or panic sweats. Inside Off the Cuff, my weekly email, you’ll get exclusive tips, sneak peeks at new trainings and resources, and first dibs when new programs or workshops open up. Join now—because confident speaking doesn’t happen by accident–It happens Off the Cuff... and On Purpose.
Hi Reader, When the stakes are real, people often assume confidence disappears.It doesn’t. What disappears is control. And when control slips, something interesting happens.People fall back on what’s familiar. What they’ve always done.And it’s visible to the audience. Some people speed up.Some add explanations the moment or the audience doesn’t require.Some start defending a point that was already clear. Not because they’re unprepared.But because moments like these reveal what we default to....
Hi Reader, Most people move more when they feel unsure. In fact, nervous speakers speed up, fidget, and fill every gap with words — because silence feels risky. What confident communicators do is the opposite. They pause.They stay grounded.They don’t rush to fill the space.They’re not scrambling for the next thought. That’s self-trust — the willingness to pause without panicking. This is true whether you’re speaking in person or online. Stillness tells people: nothing needs to be proven right...
Hi Reader, Most people add words when they feel unsure. It shows up as one more sentence, extra explanation or clarifying something no one asked for. But in presentations that matter, something different shows up. People who know what’s at stake speak less. They stop sooner and trust the point to land. Not because they have nothing more to say — but because they know what actually matters. Authority isn’t volume. It’s knowing what matters. If you want to see what this sounds like in practice,...