Merrie Spaeth has a unique background in media, government, politics, business and the entertainment industry. She is a pioneer in communication theory and executive training, and is acknowledged as one of the pre-eminent crisis management strategists in the country. Merrie founded Dallas-based Spaeth Communications, Inc. in 1987. The Firm provides communication training and consulting for a wide range of companies and institutions.

She is also the founder and president of the Institute for Strategic Communications, a not-for-profit foundation devoted to studying and reporting on business communication issues. Merrie served as a White House Fellow and was assigned to FBI Director William Webster. She was the first Fellow and one of the first two women on the director's staff. From the FBI, she served two years at the Federal Trade Commission as director of public affairs, and in 1983, President Ronald Reagan named her director of media relations at the White House.

Merrie introduced satellite communications to the White House, and the electronic White House News Service. One newspaper headline said she "took the White House into the Space Age". She has worked in every area of print and electronic media. She's been a radio and television talk show host, a reporter and writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Daily News, and a producer for ABC's 20/20. Family Weekly (later USA Today Sunday Magazine) for several years featured her weekly column on personal finance and investing called "Your Finances".

Her first book Marketplace Communication (MasterMedia) is a collection of her commentaries on Marketplace, the daily business show on public radio stations across the country. Today, she writes a weekly column for UPI on communication challenges facing businesses, and she is a regular commentator on public radio and television. In the entertainment field, Merrie's best-known work is "The World of Henry Orient" with Peter Sellers and Angela Lansbury.

As a teenager, she appeared as a guest actress in several series. She later became a speechwriter for the legendary William S. Paley, chairman of CBS, Inc. Other honors include the Young Poet of New York, 1971; Glamour Magazine's 10 Outstanding Working Women of America, 1983; and the National Council of Women's Citation of Accomplishment, 1980. A cum laude graduate of Smith College, she is a graduate of Columbia Business School and was awarded the school's Overall Achievement Award. She has lectured in the Global Executives program at the Wharton School, the graduate school of business for the University of Pennsylvania, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Business Leadership Center in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

She also regularly lectures to participants of the business executive program at the University of Birmingham, England. Board memberships include Pose Tech, which seeks to teach the world to run without injuries. Charitable board memberships include the National Children's Eye Care Foundation and the Law Enforcement Television Network (LETN). Her firm commits between 5 and 10 percent of its time each year to pro bono training for civic and charitable organizations. Merrie and her two children live in Dallas, TX.

• Mastering the MediaSM: While the economy rules the headlines, this is the perfect time to get creative by reaching out to local and specialty media to position your company as the experts in your field. Learn to avoid common interview mistakes and turn tough questions into opportunities. As an added bonus, a section on "new media" will examine the new and exciting channels of communication available today.
• Rev up Your Speakers Bureau: Every community has groups that meet regularly ? and want speakers! Tap the experts who want to volunteer to speak in your organization. Remember, this isn't about how much information you can cover or how much you can cram into a presentation. It's about inspiring confidence, packaging and sizzle, and of course, delivery skills worthy of a top motivational speaker.
  (This session can also be offered as Persuasive PresentationsSM without suggesting that your company offer a formal speakers bureau to community groups.)
• Humor as a Leadership Tool: The research is clear. Humor, when used effectively, makes a workplace more effective, relieves stress, builds team spirit and actually keeps people healthier! This isn't stand-up comedy and jokes. It's about how to use humor to defuse a difficult situation, set up a meeting, convey accessibility and much more. There are techniques for the "humor challenged," and a look at how many companies are using humor as a way to build a unique corporate culture.
• Storytelling: The newest (and oldest!) sales tool. Storytelling builds corporate culture, helps recruit and retain employees, gets the word out into your community about what your company contributes and is a great sales tool. What makes a good story? How do you turn facts into stories? Do the new channels of communication help or hurt? All companies have great stories...if they'll only share them!
• PowerPoint: pain or panacea? Have you seen too many presentations with PowerPoint slides you couldn't read? Or didn't want to? Are the PowerPoint slides really a handout, not a visual? One anti-PPT article was headlined, "Friends don't let friends use PowerPoint." This session teaches participants how to use PowerPoint as a powerful tool to drive memory, set up a presentation, introduce the concept of pacing and variation, and reinforce what a speaker is saying.
• It's a YouTube World...or is it? With all the attention to "new media," what's relevant and what's not? And what is all about? A company's core messages are still the most important part of your communication to employees, customers and neighbors. We'll discuss a common sense approach to what companies should be saying and how they should be saying it...and give an update on all the new developments in communication.
• Employees as AmbassadorsSM: As company founder Merrie Spaeth has taught for years, your company's own employees are your most effective communication channel, and not just when they're on the job! Spaeth studies show that employees are regularly asked about their jobs by friends and neighbors. But most companies don't take full advantage of this powerful opportunity. The trick? You can't tell people what to say, but you can empower and motivate them. This seminar shows you how!

All Spaeth seminars are highly interactive and illustrated with real examples on video. Longer training sessions offer the opportunity to practice and benchmark skills. Spaeth can also arrange for participants to record material on DVD which can be used with internal or external audiences. In the age of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, you should be experimenting with these new channels, and we'll show you how!