We want to be the best at maximizing the impact of your shared ideas.
That’s why we’ve spent the last 25 years honing our craft. (And we’re a certified Women-Owned Business, which we think is awesome).
Our method is to create a warm and supportive environment that provides:
✓ Straightforward framework of key skills
✓ Immediate application of skills through recorded practices
✓ Live-coaching to adjust speaking behaviors in real time
✓ Practical strategies for crafting clear messages
✓ Best practices for creating crisp visuals
OUR UNIQUE APPROACH
Effective speaker coaching is an intricate balance of being direct but kind, honest but empathetic, challenging but supportive, disruptive but productive. Our ability to do this well makes us unique.
Amy Wolff, President
Speaker Coach, TEDx Speaker Coach, Author, Speaker
Amy Wolff is President of Distinction Communication, Inc, a speaker coaching firm out of Portland, OR. When clients need a trusted truth-teller to help them accurately assess their presentation skills, she provides expert, hands-on coaching. In addition to coaching business professionals, Amy is also a TEDx speaker coach for TEDxPortland, one of the top five TEDx organizations in the world. In May 2017, Amy accidentally began a global movement of spreading hope and love, which became the Don’t Give Up Movement, and shares the inspiring story in her book Signs of Hope. When Amy’s not with clients and running a nonprofit, she’s playing board games with her young family and trying to keep (too many) house plants alive.
Distinction Board Members
Jim Endicott
The OG, Founder of Distinction
Jim founded Distinction in 1998, where his passion for helping professionals experience personal success became the legacy of the business. Jim was also a Jesse H. Neal award-winning columnist for PRESENTATIONS magazine. After 24 years, in December 2022, Jim handed the keys of the coaching kingdom over to his daughter. Now you can find Jim sailing in the San Juan Islands, making furniture in his workshop, and traveling with his granddaughters.
Jacob Wolff
Customer Success Director,
Government Technology
Jake brings over fifteen years of sales and customer success experience to the Distinction board, providing insight into driving growth and maintaining relationships. When he’s not in virtual meetings or traveling to clients, you can find Jake birding in the Oregon coastal mountain range or finding creative ways to share his passion for the outdoors with his two young daughters.
Evangeline Pattison
Vice President Client Services + Senior Consultant, Nonprofit Consulting
Evangeline brings over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit sector to the Distinction board. Serving in both higher education and nonprofit administration and development roles, Evangeline brings a unique perspective on how to creatively support the professional development initiatives of our clients. When she’s not supporting nonprofit, Evangeline is delighting her community at farmers markets and local events through her fun side hustle: Swirled Frozen Goodness, a soft-serve ice cream truck.
Jim Walker
Senior Vice President, Financial Technology
Jim brings several decades of entrepreneurial experience to the Distinction board. His perspective and insights have been instrumental in guiding Distinction into the future. When he’s not at his day job, Jim is hiking, biking, exploring the world, or reading C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, and N.T. Wright.
Diana Endicott
Event Planner and Team Care,
Nonprofit Services
Diana brings historical knowledge as a Distinction board member for the last 20 years. Her attention to detail, ability to ask good questions, and warm support have greatly benefited Distinction. When she’s not planning community events and mentoring others, Diana enjoys the Oregon countryside through long drives and spoiling her granddaughters.
We love our clients, and luckily, the feeling is mutual.
To honor our corporate agreements, we don’t share our client logos, but here are the beautifully diverse industries that represent clients we are actively supporting, from important individual contributors to C-suite executives.
✓ Automotive
✓ Healthcare
✓ Technology
✓ Robotics
✓ Cloud Computing
✓ Manufacturing
✓ Athletic Apparel
✓ Financial Advisory
✓ Utilities
✓ Construction
✓ Higher Education
Don’t just take our word for it.
“My expectations were high and the outcome exceeded even my lofty expectations.”
Bob H.
Chief Digital Officer
“The interactivity of the course was key. The size of the class felt perfect and allowed for enough discomfort to force vulnerability but not enough to be completely uncomfortable practicing in real time.”
Syrigna V.
Senior Business Development Manager
“Our coach was an engaging, warm, and a constructive teacher who modeled all of the behaviors she recommended during the training - living proof that it works!”
Gwendolyn T.
Account Director
“This is one of the most beneficial trainings I have ever gone through. Our coach walked the perfect balance of challenging us, giving us feedback, but also building our confidence up.”
Stephen B.
Manager of Retail Concepts
We believe that success is best shared.
That’s why we donate over 10% of our annual profits to local and global organizations making humanity better. Here are some of our favorites:
Good News International - Supporting the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide through intentional community and economic opportunities
Harper’s Playground – Creating playgrounds where people of all abilities connect through play and thrive
Foundation for Prader-Willi Research – Finding treatments for Prader-Willi Syndrome
Prevention Now – Leveraging data and technology to uncover why human trafficking occurs, who is most at-risk, and then driving resolutions with partners to stop it before it starts
MomCo - Mobilizing moms all over the world to build life-changing community
Parkinson’s Resources of Oregon – Supporting people with Parkinson’s, their families, and caregivers
Celebrate Recovery – Providing a safe place to find freedom from your hurts, hang-ups, and habits
Vivian Lee Foundation – Supporting those living with Cystic Fibrosis and funding research for therapies and medicine
Safe Families – Supporting and strengthening families, preventing child abuse and neglect, and reducing the number of children unnecessarily entering the child welfare system
Distinction is a family legacy that started as a career crisis.
In 1998 Jim Endicott was caught in a layoff as a corporate presentation slides designer. Although he retained his small clientele independently, he anticipated the phone would stop ringing and the job hunt would have to begin.
But that never happened.
When clients kept calling, Jim made it official and launched Distinction Communication, Inc. Unfortunately, there was a glaring problem. Jim’s crisp visuals couldn’t mask his clients’ weak messaging.
In a 2000 collaboration with a Seattle psychologist, Dr. Scott Lee, Distinction created a science-based messaging methodology to offer clients. Which unfortunately revealed another problem. Crisp visuals and clear messaging couldn’t overcome a client’s nervous, mechanical delivery.
So in 2003, with the help of employee number two, Fred Barnes, Distinction cemented the third and final puzzle piece: speaker coaching. The trifecta was born:
✓ Crisp visuals
✓ Clear messaging
✓ Confident delivery
In December 2022, 24 years after building Distinction, Jim handed over the keys to the coaching kingdom to his daughter Amy as he retired. Jim’s legacy of growing a small start-up into a reputable speaker coaching firm continues through Distinction’s care and support of clients around the world.
