In Conversation with Patricia Fripp

Fripp and I met 20 years or so ago at the National Speakers Association (the “NSA” she refers to in her comments). She was in their Hall of Fame a decade before I was (that’s the “CPAE” designation she cites). She is a legendary speaker and speaking coach, and the only thing she has more of than awards in her closet are hats. She is an insatiable learner, and studies body movement, acting, screenwriting, and a dozen other disciplines to constantly improve her own performance as well as coach others in how to do so. She’s a former hair stylist for 20+ years, and her brother is the legendary front man of King Crimson, Robert Fripp (who says he’s not surprised she’s a great coach because she was so bossy when she was younger). We talk here about the pleasures and pains of coaching executives, the state of communications in society, and unusual adventures in the speaking trade. My favorite personal story, about her discipline and determination: We were doing a presentation together for a couple of days in Boston and I told her my videographer would stop by to film about 20 minutes for promotional purposes. She told me she didn’t think that segment would work, and I told her that I would do it alone, no worries. When the time came to shoot, I found her with a different outfit, different makeup, and tugging a huge artificial plant onto the stage. “What are you doing?” I asked, “I thought you didn’t like this segment on tape.” She promptly informed me, “If we’re going to do it at all, we’re going to do it right.”

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