Speaking as Hospitality

The best speakers aren ‘t performers. They’re hosts.

Public speaking books reinforce the scary part of speaking. They teach you how to stand, what to say, how to look, what to do with your hands, how to make eye contact, and how to appear confident.

None of this is about WHO, who is speaking and who is listening.

My new book, Speaking as Hospitality, begins with a turning; it asks what happens when we stop trying to impress and focus on welcoming.

The book will be published by Sutra House on January 5, 2027, and the pre-publication page is now live at the link below. I’m grateful to begin sharing it with you.

Who will benefit from this book?

People who speak as part of the job and dread it: managers, clinicians, teachers, clergy, consultants, anyone facing a room they did not ask for. Ormson draws on decades of speaking in classrooms, sanctuaries, and public venues, as the book moves from principle to practice throughout. It includes a five-minute pre-speech ritual, a checklist for keeping a talk from going stale, a working document for testing your material against where your field is headed, and conversations with a professional speaker, a stand-up comedian, and a product manager about what they learned from experience.