Online platform overcomes speech barriersby Stuart Tiffen
Darren Schwartz – Photo by Stuart Tiffen/Medill
published May 21, 2008 in Medill Reports. Here’s an exerpt:
“SureSpeak software lets users view video lessons and then record their own speeches via webcam.
Finally, there’s a solution other than picturing the audience in their underwear for people who struggle with public speaking. Highland Park resident Darren Schwartz, founder and CEO of SureSpeak LLC, has spent the last eight years developing an online training platform to help business people communicate effectively.
“We were definitely able to get people ramped up quickly,” said a client, Brian Macias, former vice president of banker training at Quicken Loans Inc., in Detroit. “The ability to rehearse on webcam and watch it played back was very telling,” Macias said, adding that the process helped build mental muscle memory.
Over six years Schwartz trained 5,000 Quicken call center sales representatives and saw a 25 percent increase in the company’s revenue which he attributed to his training. For his work he booked a tidy $1.5 million.
…
Dr. Sheryl Rosin, a speech-language pathologist and director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Birmingham, Mich., said she is using the platform as a pilot program with eight-to ten-year olds with high functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
“The kids are having a great response … they naturally like using computers,” Rosin said in an interview, “They would almost rather interact with the computer versus people.”
The next step for SureSpeak is growth. Schwartz is confident SureSpeak will continue to expand as it maintains its cutting edge technology and reaches out to new customers, corporate, institutional and individual, who can benefit from a digital mirror on the wall. “
Tags: autism, Brian Macias, coach, coaching, development, internet, Sheryl Rosin, surespeak, training, webcam
