Testimonials

"Few times in my almost 20 years in education have I ever come across a concept that is more impactful for my students both for their now and their future. FOSTER has enabled our high school students to be able to develop mature conversations with adults in the "real world" which have directly led to internships, scholarships, and college acceptance. The tools in FOSTER are simple, relatable, and easily practiced and learned. The book itself is easy to read and as mentioned by the numerous colleagues who I have shared it with is a must for their student leadership, internship, interviewing, and college preparedness classes. Additionally, we have had teachers in both our Business and English departments use the FOSTER book and the techniques contained within in their junior and senior classes.
In short, if you take the premise of the book to heart and practice its techniques, the few hours it will take you to digest this outstanding book will help you start better, more meaningful conversations that will directly lead to better relationships and limitless possibilities." - Mr. Mark Skowron, Leadership Academy, Lancaster High School, Lancaster, New York

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"The amazing thing about the FOSTER Conversation method is how widely applicable it is to a high school student audience, experienced business professionals, and everyone in between. In just three days last week, I saw a high school student credit FOSTER for an award-winning internship experience and then heard from a broad group of our business community describe a FOSTER seminar as the best training experience they ever had.  The FOSTER seminar with a FOSTER book to reinforce the learning is a powerful combination that will help develop strong personal and professional relationships."                                                                                                                                            - John Chmarney, President, Lancaster NY area Chamber of Commerce

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"I would like to make 3 observations from the business world I have picked up over the past 30 years: 

 1)      No job interviewer ever asked about the interviewee's ability to text message, but instead, communication skills are observed and judged during the interview.

2)      Stars at work all understand that no matter what their profession, they are first and foremost in the relationship business.

3)      Any highly compensated employee, as a base line, possesses excellent conversational skills.

 If you are a student with desires to enter the business world or are already in the work force and would like to get a leg up on your peers by becoming a better communicator, then FOSTER is for you.  Ron Ruggiero makes it easy for us to absorb and immediately put into action his proven conversational techniques.  A great opportunity for anyone, regardless of their current communication capability, to dramatically improve conversational skills."

- Tom Henninger, Director Sales, Dell Software

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"Thank you for presenting your three-part workshop, FOSTER Conversation, to our DECA students at Lockport (NY) HS.  As you know, I am a business volunteer who brings enrichment programs to our DECA students to help improve their chances of success in the outside world.  Your program was a gift they will use for a lifetime.

You are a fabulous and engaging presenter. Your topic couldn't have been more valuable or relevant - how to create, encourage, and weave interesting conversations to connect with people from all walks of life. It is the kind of training one can put to use immediately, and I actually saw that happen.  Two days after giving your third and final lecture (on FOSTER for Job Interviews), one of our students struck up a conversation with an outside presenter that resulted in a very exclusive job shadowing opportunity.  This would never have happened if she hadn't attended your workshop and grasped the essential tools of your communication technique.

Our students just returned from individual Career Day experiences and, across the board, FOSTER was a huge help in giving them easy, accessible strategies for conversing with the people they met that day.  Who knows where it will lead?

On behalf of teacher/advisor Ms. Jill DiTullio and our students, thank you for sharing FOSTER with us.  We are forever grateful!"

- Kristin E. Badger-Bach, Think Tank Strategic Marketing, LLC, Lockport, NY

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“A class act, Mr. Ruggiero had a lot of great advice to share with the high school students. He not only kept his audience interested using several stories and personal experiences from the business world, but the information he presented was very educational and motivational.” - Mr. Krupski, Business Teacher, JFK HS, Cheektowaga, New York

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“Recently I have been using FOSTER quite frequently with much success. I was at a trade show in California last week where I entered not knowing a soul, and by the time I left I had formed several great relationships that will help establish partnerships and grow our company’s business. I can’t wait to roll this out to our entire team!”

- John, Service Director

"I can honestly say that I was moved by the FOSTER conversational skills program. What a message to high school students about building connections with people, especially strangers. It’s true, you never know where that next opportunity is going to come from. It could be the person sitting next to you on a bus, a restaurant, or a conference; you’ll never know until you initiate a conversation. Let me also say that I have had dozens of guest speakers come into my classroom over the years and Ron Ruggiero was the best. What a dynamic speaker with a very important message. I know that the message was received by my students because they come to me everyday to tell me that they recently had a FOSTER conversation with someone.” – Jim Whalen, Entrepreneur Class, Iroquois HS, Elma, New York

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"Our Clarence (NY) HS Leadership Academy had the distinct pleasure of participating in Mr. Ruggiero's Effective Presentations Lecture. Once again, students benefitted from Mr. Ruggiero's vast experience and dynamic delivery. Certainly, our students were able to take away some simple strategies for immediate and practical application of these critical skills.  

Thanks for another great session, Ron!"

- Kim B, Clarence Central Schools

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Such kind and inspiring words from a reader:
"My story: I'm pretty tall for a woman and walking into a room I instantly get noticed and much to my horror that made people want to talk to me. I couldn’t even say my own name when I would get approached by a stranger. I tried to become invisible, or pretend that I didn’t hear them. It got so bad that whomever I was with at the time, took to answering other’s questions for me. Dating for me was so uncomfortable that I avoided it at all cost. Anything that drew attention to me and required me to interact with anyone would bring on a full anxiety attack. When it came to me having to come up with something to say, it sent me in a cold sweat. I had my close friends and that was good enough for me. Then one day I realized that I wasn’t living life, I was hiding from it. I was so far from where and who I wanted to be. I had to make a change, somewhere, or I knew that I was going to end up hallow and alone. "FOSTER" was recommended to me by a close friend and professor at Utah Valley University. I waisted no time ordering it and began a correspondence with the author. I read the book within the first day and thought about it for another day. Then read it again. The formula seemed so easy and the writing brought the tactics home. "FOSTER" offers a blue print of conversation skills on how to navigate a simple conversation. It helps you ask yourself questions on what you think and what you do, what to share with others, and helps you convey your message clear and to the point. Having the ability to carry on a conversation, and not shudder when a question is asked that you weren’t prepared for, has changed my life. With the FOSTER outline under my arm, I was able to compete as Ms. Utah Premiere and win, I was also awarded a scholarship that took me to London to study literature, and I was also the recipient of two other scholarships. FOSTER helped me recognize my own skills and my own inner strength to handle anxieties and navigate through them. I highly recommend this book." – Steffani K, Utah

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Some nice comments from a reader:

"Set aside 60 minutes and read FOSTER: Exceptional Conversation Skills (For the Rest of Us). This easy and helpful read will make you think about your ability at making meaningful connections with personal friends, business associates, and complete strangers. Meaningful connections are difficult to establish in today's world of social media, email, and immediate response time. FOSTER recognizes the need to dig deeper in our personal and professional relationships. FOSTER provides you with six easy-to-remember steps that help you engage in thoughtful conversations that build meaningful relationships. The scenarios examined in FOSTER are familiar to just about everyone and the lessons learned can easily be applied to any type of conversation- business or personal.

FOSTER is a great activity for a staff training day in the office. In addition to the business professional, FOSTER should also be on the reading list of every student. The lessons in FOSTER are helpful to the senior in high school going for a college interview or the college student trying to break into a career.

Pick up a copy of FOSTER. There is a lot of helpful information in this quick read!"       - Mark K, North Carolina

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"I love to learn something amazing and share it with my audiences. I've spoken to over 10 million people and from this point forward they're going to learn about the FOSTER™ method of conversation to open doors to new friends and business opportunities in their futures."        -Bob Kittell, Motivational Speaker, Trainer and President - UltraMemory Systems