TERRY GLASER, M.A.

Terry has thirty years of experience as a professional acting teacher, nationally acclaimed stage director, and dynamic communication skills trainer. Whether working with business executives, performers, or trial attorneys, she uses techniques drawn from the world of theatre to integrate the body, voice, and intellect into an irresistible instrument for communication, negotiation, and persuasion. Her classes are entirely experiential, using role playing and exercises to release and refine the natural communicative power she believes each of us possesses. Her unique training methods encourage risk-taking and produce rapid results.

Terry's workshops for trial attorneys focus on critical aspects of nonverbal communication and body language that make the difference between winning and losing a case. In particular, her detailed coaching in Status Transactions reveals the hidden meanings in gestures, postures, and vocal inflections. Terry brings the attorney's unconscious physical behaviors into the limelight so that they can be controlled and used to reinforce verbal communication and establish rapport. With the ability to control one's own nonverbal communication come the equally important abilities to prepare clients for testifying and to point out to jurors the revealing body language of opposing witnesses.

Before moving to San Diego in 1997, Terry spent four years as Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Earlham College in Indiana. While there, she taught courses in all levels of acting, directing, and improvisation. Expertise in improvisation is vital for trial attorneys, who must know how to respond quickly, calmly, and professionally to the unexpected, without revealing through body language or vocal inflection the slightest hint of surprise. No matter how much research and writing go into preparing a case, the trial attorney is like an actor who has only half the script. The other players -- judges, jurors, witnesses, and clients -- provide the rest of the script, and the trial attorney must be able to incorporate new information effectively and without hesitation.

In Washington, D.C., where Terry made her home for twenty years, she founded Glaser Communication to conduct seminars in communication and presentation skills, listening skills, team building, and stress reduction. Her clients included the American Management Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Bureau of the Census, the Support Center of Washington, and the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital. Using her extensive knowledge of whole-brain learning techniques, Terry also trained public school teachers in the Prince William County, VA, School System; the Prince George's County, MD, Library System; and the Oswego, NY, School System.

Since moving to San Diego, Terry has taught at the University of California San Diego, the University of Southern California, the University of San Diego, the California Institute of the Arts, and the Old Globe Theatre. She holds a B.A. in Playwriting from Brown University and an M.A. in Theatre from Syracuse University.