MEDIA PRAISE FOR
BUSINESS PRESENTATION CLASSES
In the ABC-TV report, (below)
Janet Davies of Channel 7's Chicago Close Up says:
   *  An acting class for business people who do not want to act.
    *  Designed to give non-actors the skills they need to perform in everyday life.
    *  Be able to benefit from being able to turn on the charm.
    *  Turn everyone we meet into our audience.
    *  Focus their powers of persuasion.
    *  Learn how to be a crowd pleaser.
    *  Check it out.  There's help to do just that.
    *  Once you learn all the right moves, who knows where your talents can take you.

Ted Sarantos says:
    Students know they have to get in front of people and speak. They want to be more comfortable whatever it is they're doing, business presentations, parties, or whatever.
    Every one who is petrified at the beginning gets to the point where they are really happy with getting on stage, or getting in front of a group, even at work, and enjoying it, which they never thought they would do."
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Chicago's Entertainment Trade Paper
PERFORMINK  says:

PERFORMINK, CHICAGO'S ENTERTAINMENT TRADE PAPER 
REPORT ON ACTING CLASS AT Sarantos Studios  (32 Seconds)   
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The Chicago Tribune Newspaper says:

3 CHICAGO TRIBUNE PHOTO ARTICLES about
"Acting for Non Actors" at Sarantos Studios (38 Sec)

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As a novice just out of law school, Carrie Fung trembled whenever she went before a judge. Her mouth went dry. Her voice quavered. Her hands would shake. "It was a dreadful experience," she says. And it only got worse.
Enter Ted Sarantos, acting coach for the weak-kneed and faint of heart.

For 35 years, Mr. Sarantos has been teaching lawyers, business owners and other non-actors how to overcome sweaty palms and butterfly stomachs at Sarantos Studios in Oak Park. In the past 10 years, annual enrollment at his school has increased from 300 to nearly 400 students. One out of every 10 is a lawyer.

"Even if they have been in court many times before, most people still have performance nerves," says Mr. Sarantos, 69, who charges $285 for a session of eight weekly classes.

DEEP BREATH . . . AND RELEASE

When Ms. Fung started taking Mr. Sarantos' class, her classmates could barely hear her and she had trouble concentrating when speaking in front of the group. The cure? Spot breathing.

"I learned that before you go onstage, or in my case, before a judge, to take a deep breath and hold it and release it," she says. "It's a way to clear your head and focus on the task at hand."

She had other goals, too. "I wanted to learn to be more spontaneous and more comfortable with my voice," says Ms. Fung, 32, a lawyer with the Cook County public guardian's office. "I was a little shy and afraid of being laughed at."

But it wasn't long before Ms. Fung was doing improv exercises with her classmates, such as pretending to make small talk at a party with co-workers. She read scenes from plays such as "The Diary of Anne Frank" to improve her voice projection and practiced court presentations in front of the class.

"Ted talked about connecting with your audience by stopping at the ends of sentences and making eye contact," she says.
Last month, Ms. Fung had her first victory over stage fright while representing a client in Probate Court. "In the past, I would have trouble sleeping the night before a trial because I'd be thinking about it all night," she says. "When I got to court, I gave opening and closing arguments. The nervousness never came."

'SWEATING TO THEIR KNEES'

It's not only about controlling the voice. Lawyers will also often try to mask stage fright by using exaggerated hand gestures and swaggering around the courtroom. "We show them how to appear relaxed and confident without strutting," Mr. Sarantos says.

George McAndrews, a senior partner at McAndrews Held & Malloy Ltd. in Chicago, recently hired Mr. Sarantos to teach his lawyers the basics in a one-day seminar. "These young lawyers sometimes go into court sweating from their armpits to their knees," Mr. McAndrews says. "Law schools are doing a poor job of preparing them for that."

©2006 by Crain Communications Inc.

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