Hi, it’s Juan from the Straight Talk Speakers team. You may have met me in one of our many webinars. 

I thought I’d share a few biographical factoids about our founder, Dave Bricker.

Shh!

 

Dave lived on sailboats for 15 years. He sailed thousands of solo miles throughout the Bahamas, navigated the Gulf Stream and the US Intracoastal Waterway, and crossed the Atlantic in a classic wooden yawl.

Today he enjoys sailing Clementine on weekends. She’s a 50-year-old Tartan 30 that he and a friend restored and installed an electric motor in.

He created his own web-based eBook format for his sailing memoir at https://theBlueMonkBook.com . That book won an independent publishing award.

 

 

Dave Bricker started Spot Grafix, a graphic and web design company in 1995—back when most people still thought Internet was a hair product. His company worked for clients like Apple Computer, BMG Records, and Johnson and Johnson. He won an Adobe Site of the Day Award and was a semi-finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards. He doesn’t design sites for clients any longer, but the Straight Talk Speakers site and all its graphics are his work.

Dave has a master’s degree in graphic design. He taught at Miami Ad School and Miami International University of Art and Design for 15 years. Much of what he learned about presentation skills comes from having to teach four-hour classes(!) to distracted college students.

Dave is the author of 14 books, including three novels, a sailing memoir, and numerous books about writing, storytelling, speaking, and publishing. See his Amazon page at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dave-Bricker/author/B003TX8M28 

 

Though he doesn’t promote it, he still loves to design books. If you’re interested in writing, publishing, and book design, check out https://theworldsgreatestbook.com .

Dave has been playing guitar for 45 years in a variety of styles, mostly acoustic. He also plays a Jonathan Wilson Guitar Viol which can best be described as a six-string fretted cello. He’s even designed a few cool instruments.

Here’s his Bauhaus Guitar:

 

And a recording of Dave performing.

 

Dave has spoken at numerous conferences and events, including the 2018 National Speakers Association Influence convention. He’s given numerous workshops at Toastmasters events and NSA chapters. He’s coached TEDx speakers and one of his mentees, Errol Leandre, made it to the  final round of the 2020 Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking.™ And he has a shelf full of his own real, simulated gold speaking contest trophies.

 

With his deep background in storytelling, Dave Bricker helps writers, speakers, professionals, and visionaries turn their messes into messages. If you want to say it, share it, or sell it, bring him your story; he’ll help you tell it!

 

And dogs are the best people on earth. Dave takes care of three rescues: a deaf white Boxer, a mini-Australian Shepherd (ears for the deaf boxer), and a broom-haired dumpster terrier who’s the only one of his breed. The two cats adopted him.

He lives in Miami with his wife, Suzanne, in a 1926 Spanish stucco house.