ABOUT ERIK PALMER

 
 
Erik is an author, speaker, and consultant, but his path to his current career has three parts. In his first career, he managed a commodity trading firm for a major Chicago brokerage firm where he was the national sales leader, and traded on the floor of a Chicago commodity exchange. When his sons were born, Erik moved into his second career, teaching. He taught English, math, science, and civics over a twenty year career and coached numerous sports as well as debate and forensics. Erik was a teacher of the year in one of the nation’s most prestigious school districts.

Now in his third career, Erik brings his unique experiences to empower people of all ages to become competent, confident communicators. His consulting work focuses on how to improve oral communication. In his work with educators, he gives teachers a practical, proven way to improve the speaking skills of all students. Erik shares strategies for helping students create worthwhile messages including teaching good thinking (argument, persuasion, and reasoning), for helping students deliver their messages well, and for updating oral communication instruction with technology tools that can be incorporated in every classroom. In his work with business leaders and trainers, he shares a formula for making all adults more effective, engaging, and empowering speakers. Increased success with presentations, meetings, trainings, and wedding toasts result.
 
Erik is a frequent presenter and keynoter at conferences, and he has led workshops for schools, districts, universities, and Fortune 500 companies across the United States and around the world.
 
Erik lives in Denver, Colorado.  His educational background includes Southern Methodist University, Oberlin College (BA Government), the University of Denver College of Law, and the University of Colorado (MA Curriculum and Instruction). 
 
Erik is the author of these books:
 
Own Any Occasion (ATD Press, 2017)

Digitally Speaking: How to Improve Student Presentations with Technology (Stenhouse Publishers, 2012)
Well Spoken: Teaching Speaking to All Students (Stenhouse Publishers, 2011) 

Follow his blog for educators here.

Follow his blog for business leaders and trainers here.

Testimonials

  • Own Any Occasion is the perfect antidote for the fear of public speaking. Anyone who gets nervous speaking in front of people will benefit from this book.

    Debra Fine, Author, The Fine Art of Small Talk

  • Enjoying Erik Palmer’s session on How You Say It. We are only 3 minutes in and everyone has already laughed more times than I could count. Fabulous speaker. To say that Erik is engaging is an understatement.

    ATD International Conference & Exposition, Head trainer

  • “While you are a terrific speaker, I think your most fine tuned communication ability is listening. You understood what we needed and then built an informative, entertaining, “spot-on” presentation for us.”

    Janelle, Professor of English

  • “Wow. Incredibly useful and important information and very engaging presentation.”

  • I have presented in multiple settings and this book is a reminder of what to do before, during, and after the presentation. I have paid for coaching and professional speaking consulting. This is the book that I needed 20 years ago. All speakers and communicators make mistakes. I would have avoided some basic mistakes if I read this book several years ago. After I read this book, I saw immediate results in my next presentation. The author shares how to communicate in multiple settings and how to improve. If you are preparing to speak with an audience of 3 or 3,000, I highly recommend this book!

    Dr. Steven Weber, Superintendent

  • “Ideas I can use right away.”

  • “This is the most comprehensive book, written with delightful style and humor and above all with details that are specific and instructive. Well Spoken has the answers. I’m buying several copies for friends and family and grandchildren who are all in the arena of today’s corporate world. Everyone will benefit from this finely honed book!!”

    ELAINE S. WIENER, for the Gifted Education Communicator

  • “I am in week 2 of teaching a public speaking unit based on Well Spoken,
    and it is just fantastic so far because of Erik’s ideas.”

    Sara, Dean of Faculty

  • “Brilliant, funny, informative, helpful.”

  • “Our teachers absolutely love teaching PVLEGS to their 1st – 4th graders! We now use the PVLEGS oral communication rubric to help evaluate students in this area. We have seen marked improvement in our 2nd graders’ oral communication skills; specifically those that were exposed to the use of PVLEGS in 1st grade the year before…”

    Sarina N. Fierro, Head of Lower Elementary (DK-2) Curtis School

  • “Wow. Amazing. Thank you for showing and not just talking.”

  • “Well Spoken provides a thorough guide for any teacher or school interested in integrating speaking into the curriculum.”

    Educationworld.com

  • “Erik was a fantastic speaker. I am enriched by it!”

  • “Palmer’s new book is perhaps the best resource for teachers of any content area. It is concise (only 148 pages), clear, and organized, with practical ideas and suggestions that can easily be implemented into any classroom, not just English classrooms. The question of how to teach oral communication skills more effectively seems to come up quite a bit in my English department, and Palmer’s book is the perfect little handbook full of answers and ideas to get teachers started!”

    High school English teacher

  • “He was absolutely excellent–the best one.”

  • “I should have been prepared for the utter lack of professional resources related to speech pedagogy. I was not. Fortunately, one of my students discovered your book and website…You have provided an indispensable professional resource.”

    SMSU professor

  • “Outstanding!!”

  • “Palmer’s ideas are an excellent resource…I have already seen an improvement based on his ideas…”

    Middle school teacher

  • “Perfect! So glad I didn’t miss this… Great & accurate & usable.”

  • “I have been recommending your work with teachers ALL OVER THIS CITY! We use PVLEGS all the time…and refer to your comments/feedback frequently.”

    (California school district)

  • Let me start by telling you that I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation in Nashville this past week. Clearly you are embracing the tenets of what you preach.

    I have found that the most obvious things in education are typically the ones overlooked, yet most important. Five minutes into your talk I found myself saying…DUH!, why aren’t we doing this? I think your work is going to be game changing for our students.

    Elementary Principal