Zumwald to present at PSA’s Independent Speechwriters Summit in Washington, D.C.

ENGLEWOOD, Ohio, March 15, 2018 – Teresa Zumwald is among the professional speechwriters selected to present a session and participate on a panel at the first-ever Professional Speechwriters Association’s 2018 Independent Speechwriters Summit Oct. 24 at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Zumwald will present the afternoon session “How to Write Proposals that Seal Deals.”

“A detailed proposal is a speechwriter’s best negotiating tool,” said Zumwald, who prepared dozens of detailed proposals early on in her career, when she was a communications specialist for Woolpert, a national architecture, engineering and geospatial firm.

Zumwald said she has applied many of the tips and tricks she learned there to win speechwriting and other B2B communications consulting work during her 29-year career at Zumwald & Company, the firm she founded in 1989.

Here’s what attendees can expect to learn in this session:

The initial phone call with the prospect went well — it seems like a perfect fit. But you’re only halfway there. You need to show the client (and usually the client’s boss and a few other colleagues), why you are absolutely the writer for this first project. And you need to do so in a way that establishes your credibility and confidence for other projects going forward. From formatting to language choices, learn what every proposal must contain (and not one element more).

Zumwald will also participate on a panel of speechwriters, answering questions about “how to market your services with imagination (and joy).” In addition, she’ll share many of the common mistakes independent speechwriters make — and the course corrections that can save a speechwriter’s business.

At the end of the summit, Zumwald will join five other speechwriters for a “no-holds-barred” Q&A session.

According to Professional Speechwriters Association (PSA) Executive Director David Murray, the management of a sustainable speechwriting firm demands skills that many speechwriters don’t have, knowledge they haven’t yet acquired and a friendly network of colleagues they can rely on for help whenever they need it.

This is what he plans to begin building at the first-ever PSA Independent Speechwriters Summit.

The summit happens immediately after the World Conference of the Professional Speechwriters Association, which Zumwald will attend. This annual world conference is the place where speechwriters and executive communication professionals gather annually to exchange ideas, solve problems and build relationships.