"Wow!I was going to give this a quick read and then dump it, but I can't. There is loads of good information in here. Thank you." ***Cindy Ventrice, Potential Unlimited Special Valentines Day Issue ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Tom is single Vol. 1 Number 3 - February 12, 1999 Publisher: Tom Antion tomAntion@aol.com http://www.Antion.com (C) Anchor Publishing 1999 ########################################## No one ever lost credibility by being interesting. ========================================== VALENTINES DAY CONTEST, CONTEST, CONTEST, CONTEST, CONTEST Count how many times the phrase "Tom is Single" is in this E-Zine. Post your answer, E-mail, and name at: http://www.antion.com/valentine/valentine_contest_form.htm On Feb. 14, Five Grand Prize Winners will be picked randomly from correct entries. GRAND PRIZES -- Autographed "Wake 'em Up Business Presentations" ALL LOSERS -- win a date with Tom. hahahaha (just kidding . . . its actually two dates with Tom) =========================================== Please feel free to forward this E-Zine because, Tom is single, to any unmarried women you know that are interested in being better presenters, or who may want to make money speaking and training, or who want to win a free book. 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) DEADLINE FOR PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE ON BENEFIT VIDEO FEBRUARY 15, 1999 (see below) 3. Humor Technique Series 4. Speaker Marketing Tip 5. Speaker Humor 6. Websites for Speakers *** SPEAKER BUSINESS LEADS *** Will be delivered when available as a special insert *----------- OUR SPONSOR ------------* THE HUMOR PROJECT 14th annual international conference on The Positive Power of Humor & Creativity April 23-25, 1999 Saratoga Springs, New York. This learning-filled, laughter-fueled program draws people from all 50 states and six continents. Includes pre-conference workshops, opening keynotes with Yakov Smirnoff, Jack Canfield, and Rosita Perez, and over 50 sessions filled with laughter and practical, powerful ideas. Call 518-587-8770 or visit http://www.humorproject.com mailto:antion@humorproject.com (For FREE 48-page 1999 Humor Sourcebook see humor section below) *--------------------------------------* ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== The Differences Between a Man and a Woman . . . in the Audience that is . . . by Tom is single Antion There is nothing I like better than an all female audience. All female audiences tend to laugh more easily and louder than all male audiences. All-male audiences are the toughest because the male ego gets in the way of laughter. They look around to see if anyone else is laughing before they laugh, and they won't laugh as loud because they think they will look less powerful. If you present to an all-male audience it is more critical to bond and be "one of the guys" especially if you are a female presenter. I'm not being sexist here. I don't believe in sexist language. I'm just giving you the thoughts to keep in mind if you are a female presenter and you want to be successful in front of a general all-male audience. You must realize: not all males out there in the business world are as sensitive as me (send all big hugs to me in care of the publisher . . . which is me). If your all-male audience is a general audience not from the same company or field, stick to sports, business, and money to best connect with them. One of the hardest audiences to deal with consists of a group of executives from the same company when the CEO is present. If you say something funny, the executives will start to laugh, but they choke it off until they check to see if the CEO is laughing. If he or she is laughing, then they go ahead and laugh.This kind of audience will create timing nightmares for you. If you are the CEO and you are in the audience for a presentation, it is your obligation to laugh and at least act like you're having a good time to "give permission" to everyone else to laugh. As a Wake em Up presenter, you can sometimes take it upon yourself to gently explain to the CEO how everyone will look to him or her for approval. Audiences that consist of more than 50 percent women are good too because Tom is single. The presence of the females provides a good buffer and makes it OK for the men to laugh, since so many other people are laughing. (Ref: Wake em Up Business Presentations Pages 15-16) *----------- SPONSOR ------------* TECHNOLOGY WAVE: Futurist and professional speaker Bill Bruck's FREE electronic newsletter includes simple tricks that can save you hours a week; breaking information that lets you lead the conversations about the trends affecting your industry; and free software that the experts use to supercharge their Pcs. mailto:listserv@bruck.com and put SUBSCRIBE WAVE in the body. *--------------------------------------* *----------- 10,000 Visitors per Month ------------* Want this many people to come to your site? A 1.5 hour consultation with Tom will tell you how to get there. To schedule an appointment call (301) 459-0738 mailto:tomantion@aol.com *--------------------------------------* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== Gimme Three Steps by Tom Antion Do you remember that song by Lynyrd Skynyrd? "Gimme three steps, gimme three steps mister, gimme three steps towards the door." I try to remember that song when I am moving on stage. When you are moving on the stage, make sure that your movement has a purpose. If you take a step, go at least three steps in that direction to cue the audience that you are moving for a reason. One of the biggest problems I see, even when coaching top speakers, is that many of them wander around or take a step here and a step there. This is extremely distracting to the audience. When making an important point, move toward the audience. Three steps forward from center stage would be a very powerful position that would command attention (especially if you walked right off the stage and fell on your face -- hahaha). Upstage (away from the audience) left and right are weak positions. They can be used when you feel you are overpowering the audience or when you want to remove attention from yourself. I use these positions when I direct the audience to do some task, such as talk among themselves. Upstage center is a strong position, but one that makes you appear disconnected from the audience. I usually avoid this position. When I want to be playful and/or really get the audience involved, I'll go right into the crowd. I might have to come down off the stage, but to me it is worth it. I get really connected and I feel like one of them when I am out there. I am also sending a message that I really know what I am doing. I don't need any notes. I don't need any visuals. I don't need anything but interaction with them. They love it! The main thing you have to watch out for when you are out in the audience is that in large rooms with lots of attendees many people can't see you, so they start to lose interest if you stay out there too long. This is counteracted if you are being projected on a large screen and you have an on-the-ball and well-rehearsed video crew. (If you don't alert the video crew ahead of time of your intentions, they will be scrambling to follow you and it won't look good on the screen.) You will probably be lit poorly too. When you are being projected, think about toning down your overall movement because it's not easy to follow you wildly around the stage with a video camera. (Ref: Wake em Up Business Presentations Pages 117-118) *----- CYSTIC FIBROSIS BENEFIT SEMINAR VIDEO -----* This speaker training deal is outrageous. The footage is "In the can" and the editing process begins. YOU can still take advantage of the special pre-program price. Since Tom is single, he has nothing to do but create great products. SEMINAR COMMENTS: These are actually "unsolicited testimonials" hahahaha I normally hound someone for months to get them. LOL "Your presentation and materials taught me more in those few short hours than I've learned in months of research." R. Mielke, Centreville National Bank "Spending the day in your workshop was worth every penny AND every minute of my time." Dr. Margaret New, The Middleburg Group "I have NEVER received more for the money than what you presented to us at the "Wake em Up seminar." Bill Ecker mailto:wecker@bluecrab.org For video details visit http://www.antion.com/cystic2.htm or mailto:cystic@antion.com DEADLINE FOR PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE FEB. 15, 1999 *--------------------------------------* ===================================================== 3. HUMOR TECHNIQUE ===================================================== In Fun (part 3 of a ten part series) by Tom Antion Sigmund Freud wrote: "The most favorable condition for comic pleasure is a generally happy disposition in which one is in the mood for laughter. In happy toxic states almost everything seems comic. We laugh at the expectation of laughing, at the appearance of one who is presenting the comic material (sometimes even before he [she] attempts to make us laugh), and finally, we laugh at the recollection of having laughed." This concept has been termed "in fun" by people that study humor. If you want your audience to laugh, they must be in fun. You, the speaker, must be in fun. The emcee or program coordinator must be in fun. The whole program should be designed in fun. Do not do anything to take them out of in fun. Do not discuss controversial subjects like religion or politics and do not make unfriendly comments to audience members. If a problem occurs which must be dealt with, find an in fun way of doing so. For instance, if Im at a presentation and someone asks me who I voted for I say, "I voted for the USA." That's a cute way to say that I really do not want to talk about it. One of the greatest humorists of all time Dr. Charles Jarvis, told me about a friend of his who was an excellent speaker, but lost his audience when he forced someone to turn off a tape recorder. He was so nasty about the way he said it that the in fun audience totally turned against him. An in fun audience is more critical for the speaker who is there to entertain, but the concept should be in the back of every presenter's mind. Your material may be controversial by nature, but that does not mean that you should go out of your way to do or say things that will take the audience further out of in fun. Also, pay close attention to the total program. One friend of mine had to present comical material just after a passionate plea went out to the audience to collect funds for starving babies. He came on stage just after the teary eyed audience had seen slides of emaciated children. If you ever get caught in this situation, DON'T start right in with your humorous material. Start out gently with a sincere reference to what the audience has just seen. Cut most of your early humor and get to your subject to ease the audience's transition to your more lighthearted topic. How do you put in fun into practice? One time I had a ventriloquist introduce me at an early morning meeting to wake up everyone and get them in fun. You could pass out fun snacks to the audience, or put balloons on their chairs. Meeting announcements and agendas can be decorated with cartoon characters. Funny props are great for putting people in fun. Do anything you can to be sure your audience knows that it's OK to laugh. (Ref. Wake em Up Business Presentations Pages 27-28) Next issue learn the techniques of good timing. *------- GREAT SPEAKER LEARNING TOOL -------* 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. $$$$$$$ SPEAKER MARKETING TIP $$$$$$$$ ===================================================== Cool, Custom, & Cheap, Content Sheets by Tom Antion This technique has saved me thousands of dollars in printing costs and helped close more deals too. I print up a ton of two color letter size sheets that are blank except for a photo and a colored border. This is pretty cheap to do. I keep my program descriptions on my computer. When a meeting organizer calls me for information, I interview him or her and write down keywords that are said to me. For instance, someone might tell me that morale is down and they need some excitement during the program. I'm jotting down the words, "morale" and "excitement." After we hang up, I go to my computer and alter my standard program description to include phrases like "this program is great for morale" or "this program generates lots of excitement." When I print out the program description on one of the two color blanks, I end up with a custom program description that LOOKS like it came from the printer. When the meeting organizer gets it, I know they say, "Wow! This was just what we were looking for!" How do I know this? I know it because they tell me when they call to book the job! NOTE: I just ran across the most fabulous marketing site I have ever seen. I'm 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 *--------- Speaker Training Junket ---------* Do you want to take the fast track in your speaking career? Tom has slots available for his specialized Speaker Training Junkets. Two openings for Nuevo Leon Mexico Feb.28-March 2 and three openings for Baltimore, MD, April 8. See junket details at http://www.antion.com/trainingjunket.htm READERS: Let me know if you would be interested in a "singles" speaker training weekend retreat. Put I AM INTERESTED in the subject line and mailto:tomissingle@antion.com *---------------------------* ===================================================== 5. SPEAKER HUMOR ===================================================== => A boring speaker: One who doesnt go without saying. => With some corporations quality is their middle name. The problem is that their first name is "lousy." => America is a great country. Where else could a CEO lose a billion dollars and get a 14 million dollar bonus for it. => I bought a dog that is a cross between a pit bull and a labrador retriever. At least if he bites my leg off, he ll bring it back to me. => Health care executives are now wearing rubber gloves. It s not for sanitary reasons. They just dont want to leave fingerprints on your wallet. => Im shooting for immortality. It is a long shot I admit, but someone has to be first. => I listened to my motivational tapes backwards and became a failure. => I always wondered when Im flying if the seat cushion becomes a flotation device, why cant the plane become a boat? => Old Age: When it takes you longer to get over a good time than to have it. => Rhyme: Late to bed and early to rise . . . makes you baggy under your eyes => I was born during the depression . . . It wasnt the countries . . . it was my mothers. => One spouse to the other: "If you really loved me, you would have married someone else." => Childrens variations on the Lords Prayer: "Harold be thy name" or "How did you know my name?" "Give us this day our jelly bread." "Lead us not into Penn Station." "And deliver us from people." => Economize: To spend money without having any fun at it. => Original: Dont cross the bridge till you come to it. New Millenium: Dont cross the bridge till you know its there. => Customer service? "Isnt there a smarter clerk to wait on me." "No, madam. The smarter ones saw you coming." => Success: Keeping your head up and your overhead down. => Failure: The path of least persistance. => Business etiquette: To listen with interest to things you know about, . . . from someone who doesnt. => Father to fighting boys: "Whats going on here?" "Well Dad, it all started when Tommy hit me back." To receive free 48-page 1999 Humor Sourcebook, contact The HUMOR Project, 480 Broadway, Suite 210-A, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 or call 518-587-8770 or visit http://www.humorproject.com mailto:antion@humorproject.com Lot's more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. USEFUL WEBSITES ===================================================== http://www.nowonder.com/ --- Here's a really useful site for speakers who are working day and night at their computers. It's a FREE tech support website. You can post all kinds of computer questions to the message board or get a personalized response. This was picked as one of the top 10 Net Essential Sites by Yahoo Internet Magazine. Hmmmm I do wonder what you do if your computer won't work at all. http://209.24.233.206/ --- This is a site that can teach you how to do just about anything including Write a speech. You can also share your expertise on their "learnline." These are two map creation sites. http://www.mapsonus.com/ http://www.mapquest.com --- I use this site on virtually every speaking engagement. In less than one minute I can type in an address and print out a map. You can zoom in to the street level or zoom out to the regional level. Real handy site. *-------- EARN BIG REFERRAL COMMISSIONS --------* You can earn a 10 - 25 percent commission for referring Tom is single 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 here or email me to request a list. All you have to do is print the article in it's 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? --------* For sponsorship details visit http://www.antion.com/sponsor.htm OR 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 Free for All Links http://www.antion.com/links.html