Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot Before You Even Open Your Mouth The Writing Guide for Professional Speakers. Do you want to become a professional public speaker, someone who gets paid to speak in public about topics you are passionate about? If so, I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that it's a crowded ole world out there-every Tom, Dick, and Harriet seem to be a "professional" speaker, armed with a book, a blog, and a boatload of subject-matter expertise. The good news is that only a few of these "professionals" can spell or even construct a correct sentence in American English. Look around If you want to stand out, if you want to impress potential hosts, if you want to get hired again and again, then you have to recognize that your written words will probably be read before your spoken words are heard. In other words, your written words have to be flawless. In Before You Even Open Your Mouth, nine-time, award-winning author and public speaker Liz Coursen shares her expertise about how to write to impress. Liz speaks professionally 80-100 times each year, and part of her success, she believes, is the attention to detail she brings to every aspect of her speaking, including her promotional materials. "Punctuation and grammar is easy, and it's fun," she says. "And, since our writing is part of how people judge us, it's important for every professional speaker to know how to write well."