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 James Jorasch |
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James grew up in California but has spent almost half his life on the East Coast. He is the Founder of Science House, an organization that invests in early stage science-related companies. Prior to that he headed the inventing group at Walker Digital where he was a named inventor on more than 300 issued patents. These patents cover fields such as telecommunications, financial services, electronic commerce, retail systems, videogames, lottery, casino gaming, healthcare, and vending. He helped incubate a number of businesses while at Walker Digital, including Priceline.com and RetailDNA. James also serves on the Board of Directors of By Kids For Kids, a company which markets children’s inventions. He is a co-founder of HandHold Adaptive, a company which creates innovative technologies that make life easier for disabled persons and their caregivers. Before joining Walker Digital, |
Speaking Background
James joined Toastmasters in 2001 and has worked diligently to grow the club. Under his term of presidency, the club expanded to more than 80 members, making Greater Stamford Toastmasters one of the twenty largest Toastmasters clubs in the world. At the time it was the only club in Connecticut that met six times per month, and was the most successful club in competitive speaking. James has a track record of success in Toastmasters competitions, including a first place finish (out of 2,000 district members) in the Table Topics contest in 2002.
James has spoken before a wide range of audiences and is skilled at grabbing and holding on to the audience’s attention. Whether they are high school students trying to cause trouble in the back row or droopy-eyed computer specialists at a conference, James is adept at reining in their attention and interest.
He regularly teaches two seminars for Toastmasters - a Memory Workshop (which emphasizes practical techniques to quickly improve your memory) and a Beginner’s Night (which focuses on reducing the nervousness of inexperienced speakers).
In January of 2004 James founded the Stamford Comedy Workshop to provide a venue for teaching improvisational games and standup comedy. From this workshop he formed the team that ultimately became World Class Indifference.
James is available for private speech consultations to business executives, providing help with speech preparation, memorization, and presentation skills. Having provided written and verbal feedback on more than 500 speeches, there are few public speaking issues that have escaped his eye.
James can be reached at 203-451-6692, or via email: jorasch (at) gmail.com
Recent comments about James' "Beginner's Night" event:
"I feel more confident after just one hour. The group was very supportive."
- Joey T."Very good. I quickly became more comfortable in front of the group."
- Bo D"Beginner’s Night and the support I received helped break down barriers between myself and public speaking."
- Tom L"Beginner’s Night was a great way for me to start beating my fears!"
- Dan K
Toastmasters Speech Contest Results:
2005 Table Topics Contest - 1st Place at Area Level.
2004 International Speech Contest - 2nd Place at Club Level.
2004 Tall Tales Contest - 1st Place at Club Level.
2003 Humorous Speaking Contest - 1st Place at Area Level.
2003 Table Topics Contest - 3rd Place at Club Level.
2003 International Speech Contest - 2nd Place at Club Level.
2002 Table Topics Contest - 1st Place at District Level (highest level)
2002 Evaluation Contest - 1st Place at Club Level.
2002 Tall Tales Contest - 1st Place at Area Level.
Memory Competition Results:
2005 US Memory Championships - 7th place 'Speed Digits', 7th place 'Speed Cards'
Links: Walker Digital, Greater Stamford Toastmasters, Memory Consulting
