Last chance for big savings! (See Below) Happy 4th of July ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 6874 Vol. 1 Number 12 - July 2, 1999 Publisher: Tom Antion tomAntion@aol.com http://www.Antion.com (C) Anchor Publishing 1999 ########################################## No one ever lost credibility by being interesting. ========================================== Please feel free to forward this E-Zine to anyone you know that is interested in being a better presenter, or who may want to make money speaking and training. If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and would like to get your own free subscription, please visit http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.htm PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not distribute your address to anyone. Period. ============================================= IN THIS ISSUE ============================================= 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article (Beginners should read this too) 3. Humor Technique Series 4. Speaker Marketing Tip 5. Speaker Humor 6. Websites for Speakers *** SPEAKER BUSINESS LEADS *** Will be delivered to full subscribers when available. ********** OUR SPONSOR *********** ATTENTION SPEAKERS Double, Triple, or Even Quadruple Your Speaking Income LAST CHANCE FOR PRE-RELEASE SPECIAL http://www.antion.com/products/newvideo.htm ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== Give Me a Brake by Tom Antion . . . a mental brake that is. Here are some mind tricks when you speak too fast. => Imagine that your audience is comprised of 5 year olds and you have to explain some difficult concept to them. You must obviously go slowly so they can understand you. => Force yourself to use difficult word combinations which will force you to slow down so that you don*t stutter over them. => Do specific practice sessions concentrating on varying the speed of your delivery so that you get a better control over this aspect of your talks. Also, varying the speed makes you more interesting automatically. You must do these practice sessions out loud. To save time, they can be done in the car, or while doing your hair or jogging, etc. => Cut out some of your material so that you do not feel rushed to get it all in. Going faster is usually futile because the retention level drops so low that you may as well have omitted the material in the first place. ************ SPONSOR ************ DUNN and ASSOCIATES DESIGN NOTE: I have seen the work this firm puts out. They are fabulous!!! . . . AND they are doing my next book cover -- Tom Design That Sells YOU and Your PRODUCT! Best-selling book covers. Hot-selling back-of-room product package design. Attention-grabbing speaker presentation kits. Quick-response promotional one-sheets. We know what it takes to get you noticed. Since 1985 we have served clients like Tony Robbins, Ken Blanchard, Dottie Walters, Simon & Schuster, Prentice-Hall, and HarperCollins. Call DUNN+ASSOCIATES DESIGN at 715 634 4857 or mailto:mjirik@win.bright.net. ********************************** Speakers: Get More People to Your Web Site Tom gets 10,000 Plus Visitors per Month and over 40,000 individual page views at http://www.antion.com and it is growing. A 1.5 hour consultation with Tom will tell you how to get there. To schedule a non technical "dummies" appointment call (301) 459-0738 mailto:tomantion@aol.com ********************************************* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== 4 Common Ways to Remember Material (Part I) by Lenny Laskowski c 1999 LJL Seminars Remembering speeches can be a very intimidating experience. There are many ways one can remember material and I would like to focus on what I believe are the 4 Common Ways to Remember Material. 1. Memorizing 2. Reading from complete text 3. Using notes 4. Using visual aids as notes In this issue I will be discussing only the first two: Memorizing and Reading from complete text. 1. Memorizing - In my opinion this is absolute worst way to keep track of material. People are preoccupied with the trying to remember the words they*re saying and not the ideas behind the words (or with the audience). As a result, normal voice inflection disappears. And worse, those terrible blank moments become inevitable. With memorizing, it is not a matter of "will" you forget; it*s a matter of WHEN. 2. Reading - Listening to someone read a speech or presentation is hated by most people. People say, "If that*s all they were going to do, I could have read it myself." I*m sure many of us have experienced this at least once when attending a conference or two. Below are reasons why I believe people read poorly: a. The speaker loses normal voice inflection because they lose touch with the ideas behind the words. Listen for pauses. Natural speech is filled with pauses; unnatural read is not. b. The text isn't spoken language - too often speakers write their speeches in "business language". That is often hard to read, much less listen to. c. The speech isn*t static - the potted plant will probably move more. There is little movement, little energy, little interest behind the lectern. d. There is little or no eye contact - any eye contact is with the text, not the audience. To read text while trying to maintain eye contact with the audience takes a lot of practice. e. The speaker is scared - many speakers read because they are afraid to try anything else. They know reading will fail but at least it will fail with a small "f" rather than a capital one. NOTE: Don*t get me wrong, there are times when speeches MUST be read. Many times it is necessary to read policy statements or company announcements. Also, some speeches must be timed right down to the second. WHEN YOU HAVE TO READ! If reading is absolutely necessary, here are some suggestions: 1. Pay attention to the inflection in your voice - to sound natural, rehearse often, checking yourself for pauses. Ask yourself if your words sound the way you would say them if your weren*t reading. Tape yourself and listen to your own voice. 2. When preparing your written speech, say the words "out loud" in order that your written text read closer to your speaking style. This will make is easier to read and much easier to listen to. People often DO NOT write the same way as they speak and this makes reading more difficult. If we use wording and phrasing we normally use in our everyday language it will be easier to add the correct voice inflection and tone. Annotate your text to indicate which words to emphasize. Numbers are the easiest target words to say slowly with emphasis on each syllable. 3. One of the biggest problems speakers face when reading text is that we often forget to use gestures. We are so busy is making sure we read the text we are not communicating with out entire body. One thing we can do to help is to double space the written text to leave room to add any notes or cues about gestures and other reminder type clues. We need to practice using this annotated text of our speech so we can easily and smoothly react to the cues for our gestures while at the same time am reading the text. This does take some practice. Some people do this very effectively. Videotape yourself reading the speech and then sit and watch the speech, making notes as to the gesture which could have been used. Add notes to your written text, using notes or even pictures of the gestures to use and deliver the speech again, trying to now add the gestures. After a little practice, this will become second nature. 4. When we read speeches, the amount of eye contact with our audience is usually less. In some cases, people who read speeches have NO eye contact. To avoid this, first write like we speak (see suggestion #2). When typing the text use upper and lower case letters. This will make it easier to read. TYPING EVERYTHING IN UPPPERCASE, AS I HAVE DONE HERE, MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT TO READ. Don*t have long paragraphs or you*ll lose your place every time you look up. Start a new paragraph every sentence or two. Also, have your text double spaced. Some people even go so far as alternating the color of the text for each paragraph. 5. Use unstapled pages for your text. Paper clip your pages and just before you begin, remove the paper clip. As you prepare your text, keep in mind that you will have to handle these pages and you want to do this as smoothly and quietly as you can. Do not have part of a sentence begin on one page and continue onto the next. End the page with a complete sentence and paragraph. During your pause, smoothly "slide" the page you just finished using to the side and continue with the text on the next page. Do not pick up the page and place it behind or turn over the page when done. This can be distracting and will bring attention to the fact that you are reading. With a lot of practice and careful preparation you can deliver a powerful speech, even when read. Some of the world*s greatest speeches were read, but you can be assured, they weren*t reading them for the first time when speaking to their audience. Practice, practice, practice. Lenny will teach us about using notes and visual aids as notes in the Next Issue ========================================================= Lenny Laskowski is a keynote speaker, seminar leader and speaker coach. He is the author of "No Sweat Presentations - The Painless Way to Successful Speaking" several videotape and audiotape programs. Lenny is the publisher of "Simply Speaking.." a FREE E-zine for people looking to improve their speaking skills. To subscribe to Lenny*s E-Zine send an e-mail to majordomo@ljlseminars.com and in the BODY of the message type: subscribe simply or visit Lenny*s website http://www.ljlseminars.com. Also, feel free to particpate in Lenny's NEW discussion board. Goto: http://www.ljlseminars.com/discussion.htm ========================================================= *********** SPONSOR *********** Speakers: Want to Make $5500.00 per speech the easy way? Don*t Laugh visit http://www.antion.com/products/newvideo.htm ******************************** ===================================================== 3. HUMOR TECHNIQUE ===================================================== Finding Humor for Specific Industries by Tom Antion If you are looking for stories and humor in a specific industry, you must work a little harder than you would have to find general humor. Certain professions like medicine and law have many individual books, newsletters, and articles written about them. But if you are a plumbing executive, or you are speaking to the plumbing industry it is unlikely you could go down to your local bookstore and find a plumbing joke book. Start a file right away for industry-specific information you find. A good place to start looking for information to fill this file would be in a trade journal for the specific industry. Almost every industry you can imagine has one or more associated trade journals. If you*re looking for humor, sift through back issues to find humor you can use now. Virtually no one remembers cartoons and jokes more than a month or so. Watch for industry newsletters so you can extract usable material. Check company bulletin boards regularly for funny signs and postings. Call others in the industry to look for stories or incidents that would be of interest to your audience (remember to give credit). Collect everything you can collect that is interesting and industry specific and soon you will have the best collection around. Don*t forget our friend the Internet. Anytime I need humor on something really specific, I simply type the keywords (ex. plumbing humor, or water humor) into one or more of the major search engines. Something is bound to come up. You must be ready to do some sifting though before you find some usable material. Here are just some of the lines I came up with for the plumbing engineer group I was speaking to. Note: these are the people who figure out how much water it takes to flush a toilet hahaha My wife*s an earth sign. I*m a water sign. Together we make mud. --Rodney Dangerfield The shower is the greatest invention. I don*t like to take a bath. I don*t like to wash my face in the water I*ve been sitting in.--Lewis Grizzard How come when you mix water and flour together you get glue ... and then you add eggs and sugar and you get cake? Where does the glue go? --Rita Rudner Getting married is a lot like getting into a tub of hot water. After you get used to it, it ain*t so hot. --Minnie Pearl (Re: Wake *em Up Business Presentations Page 199) ********* GREAT SPEAKER REFERENCE ******* BE THE HIT OF YOUR NEXT PRESENTATION! "Wake em Up! How to Use Humor and Other Professional Techniques to Create Alarmingly Good Business Presentations" "Toms program and materials will cut five years off a speakers learning curve." -- Cavett Robert, Founder National Speakers Assn. For a FREE Chapter visit http://www.antion.com/products/produc~3.htm ********************************************** ===================================================== 4. $$$$$$$ SPEAKER MARKETING TIP $$$$$$$$ ===================================================== THEMES by Tom Antion Chicken Soup, Dummies, Idiots, One Minute, and Wake *em Up are themes. All are legitimate international best sellers except one. I*ll give ya three guesses which one isn*t. . . . . OK I*m working on it. hahahaha Themes take advantage of the name recognition and synergy effect that all the previously sold copies, publicity and advertising provide. Pretty soon we*ll see "Chicken Soup for the Wallpaper Hanger*s Soul," or "The Idiot*s Guide to Being an Idiot." . . . Guess what. They would both probably outsell me because of the very strong theme recognition they enjoy. I picked my theme or actually it picked me a while back. I started with "Make *em Laugh" both video and audio, then the "Wake 'em Up" book and video came and soon the "Wake 'em Up" audio album is coming. I guess you could say I have the "em" theme. It will lend itself later to "Wake *em Up Management," "Wake 'em Up Service" and so forth. Themes can get you booked and are usually more memorable than your name. After one program a meeting planner told me that the boss told her to get that "Wake *em Up" guy in here. I guess that*s me. Use themes to take advantage of your past marketing efforts which will make your future efforts more efficient. Next issue I*ll talk about how themes of products can eventually turn into an even more valuable system. NOTE: I just ran across the most fabulous marketing site I have ever seen. Im using a tremendous amount of what I learned at this site. Check it out http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/12273/ Want to really take advantage of your E-mail marketing . . . WITHOUT BEING A SPAMMER? GO TO http://www.marketingtips.com/mailloop/t.x/12273 Note: Dr. Direct (see below) just did some work for me and it was right on! ********* SPONSOR ********* INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR MARKETING/ADVERTISING EXPERTS National advertising trainer Drew Eric Whitman--a.k.a. "Dr. Direct!(tm)"--seeks experts with powerful, exciting speaking voices for unusual, new audiocassette anthology, "PROJECT-X: Underground Success Secrets from Today's Advertising & Marketing Master-Minds(tm)." The album will be produced to Nightingale-Conant-quality specs and will include your name, bio, photo, voice and international marketing support and publicity. Featured expert is the great Dottie Walters. Space is limited. mailto:Drew@AdSurgeon.com with PROJECT-X in the SUBJECT area for full details via email. **************************** ===================================================== 5. SPEAKER HUMOR ===================================================== => As a speaker, sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness. => Ladies and gentlemen in conclusion . . . and keep in mind that a conclusion is the place where you get tired of thinking. => Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with. => If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you*ve never tried before. => "Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there"--Will Rogers => I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where*s the self help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. => If at first you don*t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried." => When did my wild oats turn to prunes and All Bran? => Everytime I think about exercise, I lie down til the thought goes away. => The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends. => "According to statistics there are 7 million Americans not working and even more if you count those with jobs." ---Bob Orben => The diet doctor told me he wanted three fourths of me back in six months. => Child to teacher: "I don*t want to scare you, but my Daddy said if my grades don*t come up, someone is gonna get spanked." => Note to Teacher: Johnny was absent yesterday because he had diarrhea and his boots leak. => Another Note to Teacher: Sally missed school yesterday because the whole family had a fever. Her father even got hot last night. => Dumbest Note to Teacher: Jennifer missed school yesterday for a good reason. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday. => Church Bulletin Blooper: Thursday at 6 p.m. there will be a meeting of the Little Mother s Club. All ladies wishing to be little Mothers please meet with the pastor in his study. => Church Bulletin Blooper: This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Johnson to come forward and lay and egg at the altar. => Church Bulletin Blooper: A bean Supper will be held on Saturday evening in the church basement. . . . Music will follow. => Country Western Song Title: If I Can*t Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You. => Country Western Song Title: If my nose were full of nickels, I*d blow it all on you. Lots more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. USEFUL WEBSITES ===================================================== Reader Dr. Allan Braslow recommends the following two sites: http://www.moviefone.com/ Enter your zipcode and you'll get all the theatres, movies and times in your area. http://www.shopper.com/ Computer and software shopping site that compares prices for you. Very handy. Reader RAQUEL CACOILO raquel731@hotmail.com says "Here*s a web site your readers may like. I found out about it after getting a CertifiedMail email from a customer. Now I use it so my vendors can*t say they didn*t get my message!" BTW, you*re site is required reading around here. Keep up the great work!!! http://certifiedmail.com I encourage your website suggestions. They should be at least loosely useful to speakers, trainers and those that are interested in public speaking. mailto:tomantion@aol.com ****** EARN BIG REFERRAL COMMISSIONS ****** You can earn a 10 - 25 percent commission for referring Tom for speaking engagements and bulk product sales. Commissions normally start between $500.00 and $1250 depending on your level of involvement. For complete details visit http://www.antion.com/referrals.htm *********************************************** ===================================================== FREE ARTICLES FOR YOUR PUBLICATIONS ===================================================== I have many articles available for reprint in your publication, company newsletter, etc. You may use articles written by me that you see in great speaking. Back issues can be viewed at http://www.antion.com/ezine/ezinebackissues.htm OR mailto:freearticles@antion.com for an automated list of additional articles. All you have to do is print the article in its entirety along with the by line at top and the credits, and complete contact information at the end of each article. I would appreciate a tear sheet or electronic copy too. Thanks ******* Do YOU WANT TO BE A SPONSOR? ******* REACH OVER 7000 SPEAKERS / TRAINERS / EXECS For automated sponsorship details send mailto:sponsor@antion.com *********************************************** ===================================================== For Back Issues visit: http://www.antion.com/ezine/ezinebackissues.htm ===================================================== Antion & Associates / Anchor Publishing Box 2630 Landover Hills, Maryland USA 20784 (301) 459-0738, Fax (301) 552-0225 In Continental US (800) 448-6280 orders or paid consulting only mailto:TomAntion@aol.com http://www.antion.com Trade permanent links with us mailto:linktrade@antion.com This ezine featured at EzineCenter.com - the Ezine Search Engine(tm) - http://www.ezinecenter.com/