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Hi!
I'm Tom Burke!
As a speech-language pathologist and voice coach, over the past 20+ years, I've helped Broadway Singers & Hollywood actors recover from vocal injuries and prepare for roles; coached 22 TED talks for the TED institute; trained leaders across Google to prepare for high-stakes speaking engagements; and been featured on MTV Made, The Oprah Winfrey Network, Good Morning America and BravoTV.
I've distilled those years of experience into what I call, "The Magic Word Method." Whether you're a speaker or singer, this method is one of the fastest, most effective ways to craft a compelling story; bring it to life with an authentic, powerful, and versatile voice; and solve a number of technical vocal challenges along the way.
Tom has been there...
I’ve been working with Tom for the past 5 years...from his Estill Voice Training intensives, to his "Belt for Days" classes, to then coaching me through the material for my callback and final audition for & Juliet on Broadway to rehearsing for the cast album at his Hudson Valley estate.
Tom is an expert in anything related to the voice and creating sound. Because of his vast knowledge, I feel so safe with with him. He really gets it and he’s able to translate and communicate in such a way that I understand my voice and my body better as an actor and singer. Thank you Tom!!
-Tony Nominated Actress, Lorna Courtney
Twang Farm Returns
The Twang Farm returns this fall! IYKYK!
For those of you who don't know, it's my signature voice system: one of the fastest, easiest, and most fun ways to learn to sing in different styles and solve your most difficult vocal challenges.
I can't recommend Tom highly enough
"Working with Tom allowed me to build upon my public speaking foundation and ultimately take it to the next level. I can't recommend him highly enough."
-TED Speaker, Mike Kinney
The Magic Word Method for Speakers
The Magic Word Method is a step-by-step process, I've used to help TED speakers, executives
and more...
- Become the most clear, concise and confident communicator in the room
- Develop a visionary narrative
- Scale that narrative to different contexts like podcasts, panel interviews, product pitches, social media assets, and more
- Prepare for high-stakes speaking engagements like TED talks, keynotes, and media spots
- Deliver with executive-level presence that reflects their authentic humor, intelligence, humility, and humanity.
Enter the Hero's Journey
The foundation of the Magic Word Method for Speakers goes beyond my years of experience and speaks to a structure that has existed for centuries. And in order for you to be a compelling communicator, you need to know it.
You need to know the Hero’s Journey.
Why? Because it’s the foundation of all great communication. Think about it. Across the world, people have different ways of communicating; different senses of humor; different ideas of what professional vs. personal communication should look like. So, in a globalized world, where you may have to communicate with people from vastly different backgrounds, how do you what to say and how to say it in a way that resonates?... Or at the very minimum, how do you say what you need to say without putting your foot in your mouth?
Enter the Hero’s Journey.
The Hero’s Journey, first coined by Joseph Campbell in his book, A Hero With a Thousand Faces, details the structure that underlies all great stories across all cultures over hundreds if not thousands of years. It’s the one communication structure that appears in all cultures. So if you can learn to leverage it, you’ll know that you communication will resonate with the widest amount of people. I’ve taken the full structure and reduced it to 6 manageable components you can use to create any compelling communication.
Once you understand this structure, you can build a variety of commnunications or narratives like: presentations, pitches, talking points for podcasts, questions & answers for panel interviews, keynotes, TED talks, or what I call “back pocket narratives” which are the 4 narratives you need to succeed in work and life.
When you prepare to communicate at this level of depth, it renders the idea of stage fright or nerves moot. You will have done your due diligence to think about your audience and crafted a narrative that is so relevant, useful and engaging for them, that you will naturally feel confident in sharing it. And if not, I have some mindfulness tools and ways of practicing your voice, speech and body language to help bring your authentic, powerful, unique self to any stage in a way that will move your audience, whether that’s 1 person or a 1000.
The Magic Formula is made up of 6 key components. To learn how to apply them to your communications...
"Tom is an experienced advisor who helped us think about how we express the history and future of Boxed. He helped us pull together our thoughts into a coherent message."
Chieh Huang
CEO of Boxed.com
"As one who delivers many speeches, working with Tom on a TED focused speech was a very good experience. Tom strives to help the speaker and the audience connect. That is the essence of communication."
Musimbi Kanyoro
President and CEO, Global Fund for Women
"At the core of Tom's work is his ability to tease out the true stories of one's work and tie them together powerfully and meaningfully into one cohesive narrative."
Abigail Posner
Head of Strategic Plannning, Google
"Tom has made my public presentation skills much, much better. In everything from body posture and hand movement to inflection and tone, he has detailed, subtle and amazing insight on how I can be better. More than everything else, Tom has taught me to really "feel" what I say in a way that makes my presentations genuine, exciting and appealing.
(That he can do this with someone who would rather write software or poetry than speak to 5000 people is a further testament to his skill and ability.) Thank you, Tom!"
Sridhar Ramaswamy
Former, Senior VP of Ads & Commerce, Google
See some of my clients on the TED stage.
Hear from some of my clients
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