About

Maurice DiMino

Public Speaking Coach, TEDx Speaker & Toastmasters Accredited Speaker

As a professional speaker with over over 35 years of experience, I understand and appreciate the effort that goes into running a smooth, successful event. With extensive experience in both the corporate and private sector, and years spent personally producing events myself, I understand the challenges you face putting one together. My message is built with you and your audience in mind, and delivered in an entertaining style that will have your audience thanking you for bringing me in as your speaker or trainer.

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Portrait of Maurice DiMino
  • 1 of 95Accredited Speakers named by Toastmasters International worldwide, 1981–2024
  • 35+years in sales, advertising and on stage
  • 20,000largest audience; smallest, a boardroom of 20
  • TEDxspeaker, San Diego State University, 2013

The story

A study in reinvention

Maurice DiMino's business life is a study in reinvention. He started his career on Madison Avenue at Darcy Masius Benton & Bowles, one of the top advertising agencies of its day, where he was responsible for new business development — inspiring, selling and leading companies with advertising budgets over $5 million. It was there that he learned the psychology behind persuading a prospect to become a client, and the methods for inspiring, selling and leading that still shape his work today.

He carried that into Los Angeles, working for one of the top Value Added Resellers of Avid editing equipment — gear that started at $10,000 and ran as high as $250,000 a unit. Negotiating those high-end sales taught him quickly how to sell and hold his own in the rough waters of big-ticket business, at a pace of roughly $1 million a month. It's where the presentation habits that became The DiMino Presentation Template were first built and tested, deal by deal.

Maurice would be the first to tell you he's been doing public speaking all his life. Already a successful speaker, he joined Toastmasters in 2004, and that same year was named the Number 1 speaker in Los Angeles. In April 2013, the TED Organization recognized him as an outstanding speaker and he became a TEDx speaker at San Diego State University. Along the way he has studied with some of the best in the business — T. Harv Eker, Les Brown, Tony Robbins and others — and folded what he learned into his own approach: a touch of his Sicilian upbringing, three decades of sales experience, and a genuine respect for the audience.

Today, pulling from over 35 years of real-world, in-the-trenches experience, Maurice delivers keynote and workshop presentations for organizations and audiences ranging from 20 people to 20,000. His coaching and training incorporate The DiMino Method, the foundational principles that help clients get results in a way that's easy, effective and, above all, fun. His clients include IBM, Microsoft, the US Navy, The Chinook Group and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, among other corporations, associations and organizations.

Any organization that wants to develop its people into something extraordinary should have Maurice in the room — for a keynote, a workshop, or one on one.

Recognition followed. In August 2018 Toastmasters International named him an Accredited Speaker at its convention in Chicago — a designation created in 1981 for professional speakers, awarded after a judged video and a live presentation before a panel, and held by 81 people in the world at the time. He completed the Distinguished Toastmaster award in 2020 while serving as a Division Director for District 52 in Los Angeles, and he still gives back to the organization that started him: in 2025 he sat as a Master Evaluator at the district’s evaluation clinic, billed with more than 3,000 presentations to his name.

Maurice DiMino on stage in front of a full ballroom
He refuses to let people go to their grave with their message inside them.

Background

Experience and credentials

Toastmasters Accredited Speaker, 2018

Awarded on 25 August 2018 at the Toastmasters International Convention in Chicago. Established in 1981, the designation requires at least 25 paid or non-Toastmasters presentations, a judged video and a live presentation before a panel; fewer than 20 percent of applicants pass, and 81 speakers in the world held it when he did.

TEDx Speaker

His TEDxSDSU talk “What’s Your Story?” was given at San Diego State University in April 2013 and is published on the TEDx Talks channel.

35+ Years of Experience

Director of New Business Development at D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles on Madison Avenue, then post-production sales in Los Angeles for television programs including Dr. Phil and Big Brother — a professional speaker since 2006.

Distinguished Toastmaster

A Toastmaster since 2004 and named Los Angeles’ Best Speaker that year; completed the DTM, the organization’s highest education award, in April 2020, and served as a Division Director in District 52 (Los Angeles).

Author

“The Art of Public Speaking” (2015) and “The 70 Quotes of Highly Effective People” (2016), both on Amazon Kindle.

Audiences of 20 to 20,000

Keynotes for C-suite executives, managers, employees, high schools and colleges, in New York, Dubai, Japan and Fiji as well as across California.

The credential

What “Accredited Speaker” means

It is the one speaking credential Toastmasters International judges rather than awards for completing a curriculum — and most people who apply for it do not get it.

“The Toastmasters International Accredited Speaker Program is designed for professional speakers who combine expert knowledge in a particular subject with mastery of the spoken word, making them sought-after experts in their respective fields.”Toastmasters International
  1. A paid track record first

    Candidates must have completed 25 speaking engagements for non-Toastmasters audiences of 20 or more people within three years, at least 15 of them paid.

  2. Judged twice

    A recorded presentation is scored by a panel; those who pass give a live presentation before judges at the International Convention and need 80 out of 100 from four of the five.

  3. Fewer than 100 people, ever

    Ninety-five speakers worldwide earned it between 1981 and 2024. Maurice was one of six in 2018; Toastmasters reported at the time that fewer than 20 percent of applicants succeed.

His profile at Toastmasters International

Along the way

Selected history

  1. 2006

    Became a professional speaker after joining Toastmasters in 2004, where a shaky first speech convinced him that communicating clearly was a skill worth mastering.

  2. 2009

    Spoke at the UNICO National Convention in Lake Las Vegas, NV, and launched a touring corporate "Management and Leadership Skills" circuit across California and beyond.

  3. 2012–2013

    Taught his presentation template at three-day boot camps in Los Angeles and San Diego alongside Sheryl Roush, and became a TEDx speaker at San Diego State University in April 2013.

  4. 2013–2016

    Ran his flagship presentation-template intensive multiple times at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, CA, teaching entrepreneurs and business owners to build and deliver their own message.

  5. 2014

    Toured as a corporate training instructor for National Seminars across more than a dozen cities, including Reno, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Portland and Seattle, on leadership, coaching and people-skills topics.

  6. 2016–2020

    Delivered corporate keynote and leadership programs for organizations including Microsoft, IBM, the US Navy, The Chinook Group and Marriott Al-Jaddaf in Dubai, UAE, and earned repeat bookings from clients like the National Association of Doctors.

  7. 2018

    Named a Toastmasters Accredited Speaker at the International Convention in Chicago — one of six speakers worldwide that year, and the 81st in the program’s history.

  8. 2019–2020

    Keynoted the District 5 (San Diego) Toastmasters Leadership Institute with “How To Sell Toastmasters”; served as Division F Director and conference MC for District 52 (Los Angeles) and completed his Distinguished Toastmaster award.

  9. 2022

    Placed second in the District 52 Evaluation Contest after winning at Area and Division level.

  10. 2025

    Master Evaluator at District 52’s Evaluation Clinic in Los Angeles, and led the Team Building session at Toastmasters District 11’s Fall Education Day in Indianapolis in November, alongside Immediate Past International President Pat Johnson.

Who he learned from

Trained by the best

  • Maurice DiMino with Les Brown
  • Maurice DiMino with Bob Proctor
  • Maurice DiMino with T. Harv Eker

Want Maurice at your next event?

Keynotes, workshops, coaching. Tell me what you need and I'll be straight with you about fit.

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