May 5th, Washington D.C. Internet Marketing Camp (see below) ATTENTION AUTHORS: Mega Publishing Profits Seminar May 31 (see below) ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 25,583 Vol. 3 Number 8 - April 24, 2001 Publisher: Tom Antion tom@Antion.com http://www.Antion.com (C) Anchor Publishing 2001 ########################################## No one ever lost credibility by being interesting. ========================================== *** SPEAKER BUSINESS LEADS *** Your subscription gets you free speaking leads when available. Please recommend 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. (It's a good way to stay in touch with client's too.) You don't even have to mail them an article. http://www.antion.com/recommend.html If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and would like to get your own free subscription, visit http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.htm To remove yourself from this list see bottom of this email. 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 ********** OUR SPONSOR *********** Busy speakers don't have time to design presentations - they have a lot to say and too little time! Allow us to tailor your material into a POWERFUL PRESENTATION! Call us at POP Design (416) 368-2929 or mailto:pop@workyourlife.com *Email now to receive the article "The Power Is Not The Point!"* http://www.workyourlife.com ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== ENTRANCE VISUALS by Tom Antion Some type of visual in the room as the participants enter is a good way to signal them that your presentation will be different. It could be an interesting picture or funny quotation on the overhead or PowerPoint screen or a nicely done color flip chart page. You could have helium balloons or colorful airbags lining the walkway into the seating area of your presentation. Use anything that makes the participants take notice. It will build their anticipation of your presentation. ************ SPONSOR ************ Internet Marketing Butt Camp Schedule The people attending these seminars are taking your money! Washington, D.C. Saturday May 5th Phoenix, AZ Friday May 11th Los Angeles, CA Monday May 14th Dallas, TX Friday, July 6 (day before National Speakers Association Convention) Complete Program description http://www.antion.com/buttcamp.htm Can't make it? Send a staff member or get the special Video CD http://www.antion.com/buttcampcd.htm ********************************** ************ SPONSOR ************* BREAKTHROUGH E-BOOK NOW AVAILABLE. . .Tom's complete marketing system revealed. "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Speakers, Authors, Trainers, Coaches and Consultants" 553 pages, Over 700 links to sites you need to know about, Free update website, 280 Term E-Marketing Glossary. http://www.antion.com/click.htm ********************************************* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== SEATING TIPS by Tom Antion => People prefer to sit by aisles. Avoid chairs next to walls. Audience members will feel trapped. => Aisles should get bigger as they get nearer the exits because they must accommodate more people. => Seat for least distraction and best focus on presentation. Turn off wall sconces behind the presentation. Set away from open windows, clocks, and entry doors. => Even after you have pre-set the seats perfectly, suggest to audience members, that they adjust their seating slightly for comfort. => Encourage seating in the front of the room by cordoning off back rows with masking tape, rope, or string, or placing reserved signs on back tables. => Avoid reserving seats through tipping chairs up against tables. The jutting legs tend to bruise shin bones and trip audience members. Trick: Only put out 50-75 percent of the chairs for the expected number of participants and you will almost always have a packed house. Stack the rest of the chairs in the back corner of the room for easy access if needed. Trick: When you have a choice, opt for a smaller room. This again gives you a better chance for a packed house. Excerpt: Wake 'em Up Video Professional Speaking System http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm *********** SPONSOR *********** FREE 7 Day Electronic Marketing Mini Course mailto:minicourse.GS017@aweber.com ******************************** ===================================================== 3. HUMOR TECHNIQUE ===================================================== 4 Sources of 'Found' Humor To Punch and Impact to Your Presentation. Part III by John Cantu Your Best Source of New Material #4 - Your Audience - A Caution. One caveat about audience generated humor. Sometimes an audience member will come up to you after your presentation and share a bit of humor with you. Often they end it by saying, "You can use that if you want". This can sometimes also be a source material but occasionally it can also be a source of humor that can backfire or embarrass you. Here's what to be careful of in material when offered by an audience member after your presentation: When someone comes up to you and says, "When you said, 'such and such', I thought you were going to say 'thus and thus.' In cases such as these, what you have is an unpaid comedy writing collaborator who has possibly just given you a better set-up to your humor piece, a better punch line, or an additional laugh line. In that case, use the material if fits you, your slant, and your sense of humor. Or adapt as needed to fit. But when someone says, "Let me tell you what happened to me (or their spouse, or child, or neighbor) and they tell you a complete anecdote " be a bit leery. This is where you can embarrass yourself. Because often, the story they tell you is not something that really happened to them or an acquaintance, but rather is a story in public use given to you with some embellishment. Maybe something they're embellishing themselves or perhaps something they believe to be true because someone they love, respect, or admire told them it was true. But, it could be a story that is in public domain that has been embellished by their acquaintances to make themselves more interesting or attractive to the one speaking to you. And the embellisher figures, hey what's the harm? Well for the amateur, nothing. Who is likely to find out and what is more important, who cares? But if you, a professional take an amusing tale, adapt it you presentation, and present it as your story (or as integral part of a vignette) and it is actually a story that some of your audience members are aware of for being a story "public domain', you may lose some major credibility. Even if you preface your story by saying "A woman/man in my audience told me this about his/her experience," you can lose credibility with any audience member who recognizes it. Now, having said that, I do believe you can get good material if you take a few simple precautions. First use common sense and intuition. Does it sound fresh or do you have a nagging bit of doubt that it is not entirely new and/or original? When in doubt, throw it out. Secondly, ask four or five of your well-read friends if they have ever heard it before. Especially the people you know who always have a lot of funny stories at hand. Or the person who's read ten or twenty humor books and seems to have a story for every occasion. If they haven't heard it, while I wouldn't say it's 100% it's safe, still your odds have been increased a lot. And finally write it in such a way that you can't be hammered if others do recognize it. I have a funny, funny talk, believe it or not on my cancer diagnoses and cancer operation ("Living and Laughing With Cancer") After a talk recently at San Francisco hospital, here's what an audience member said to me, "A friend of mine's husband was scheduled for chemo treatments and she had her hair cut off and head shaved in moral support of him and none of his hair fell out." Next issue you'll see exactly how John adapted the above humor to be both funny and safe. © 2000 John Cantu, Some material originally appeared in HumorMall JokesWeekly - for subscription follow directions at http://www.HumorMall.com/survey/subscribe.shtml For articles on how to create and/or deliver humor effectively go to http://www.HumorMall.com/ ********* 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. Now available for immediate download in pdf format http://www.antion.com/speakershop.htm click on "E Books" For a FREE Chapter visit http://www.antion.com/products/produc~3.htm ********************************************** ===================================================== 4. $$$$$$$ SPEAKER MARKETING TIP $$$$$$$$ ===================================================== FINDING YOUR BUYING AUDIENCE Part I by Vickie Sullivan For many speakers, the biggest marketing cost isn't a demo video or website. It's the number of speeches they give away, in the hopes that the "exposure" will lead to more clients or engagements. In front of a "buying" audience, exposure can make your business. The problem: such audiences are becoming harder to find. WHO ARE THEY? There's a lot of confusion about "buying" audiences for two reasons: one, there are many kinds of "buying" audiences. A buying audience for an author who wants to sell a $20 book will be very different than an audience for a speaker who wants more $5,000 speaking engagements. It all depends on why you are speaking and what you want to generate. Secondly, the market doesn't make the above distinction for speakers. Many buyers assume that their audience is the greatest and therefore, speakers should speak for free. Because so many speakers are willing to speak for free, buyers start to believe that their audience is a buying one. So, they tell speakers "Oh, we don't need to pay for speakers - everyone speaks for exposure." Bottom line: it's your job to determine which audience deserves your free speech. The marketplace won't do it for you. HARD TO FIND Finding the buying audience used to be easy. For corporate product sales and training, any audience with managers would work. That's no longer true. Why? Training budgets have centralized, taking buying power away from many managers. Same situation with products - managers can buy one copy for their library but not for every person in the department. The same is true for the personal growth and development market. For these speakers, the sales and the entrepreneurial audiences were great. This market has been saturated, and sales are dropping. Result: you can't depend on audience makeup any more. KEY FACTOR So, how can you identify your buying audiences? Here's a rule of thumb: the higher the speaking fees, the more sophisticated and subjective the audience is. Remember, you're not the first speaker that has tried to get more bookings from the audience after the speech - the higher the price tag, the more advanced material and higher performance values the audience has been exposed to by previous speakers. And the more casual is the selling experience. And their decision to buy is based on their comparison between you and other speakers they have seen. In short, the bar is raised in proportion to the price point. That's why in the eyes of the marketplace, any audience is a buying audience - it all depends on the price. Therefore, your success rests in how the speech positions who you are and how your message "fits." Your content and "persona" must go beyond the expectations of the audiences so you can approach the sophisticated audience members as a peer. Next issue in Part II you'll learn how to position your expertise to your buying audience The above is an excerpt from Vickie's newest educational tool for speakers "Speaking in the Strike Zone: How to Get in Front of Your Buying Audience." Since 1987, Vickie Sullivan has helped thousands of professional speakers, industry leaders and experts generate six-figure revenue streams via public speaking. She is the author of "Springboard Marketing, Speak to Sell" and "Speaking in the Strike Zone." Sign up for her free newsletter at http://www.sullivanspeaker.com NOTE: The site below is where I began learning about E Marketing 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 Get your own associate program and have other websites selling tons of your products and services. http://www.marketingtips.com/assoctrac/t.x/12273 Tom's Top Ten Marketing Resources page http://www.antion.com/marketingtools.htm ********* SPONSOR ********* ATTENTION AUTHORS & PUBLISHERS Top experts spill their sales secrets in a 1 day "Mega Publishing Profits" Seminar. Thursday, May 31 If you're headed for the Book Expo, this is perfect for you! **************************** ===================================================== 5. SPEAKER HUMOR ===================================================== Since I'm supposed to be a man, I have no trouble putting out some good man bashing humor. Ladies have fun with it. => What's the difference between government bonds and men? Bonds mature. => What's the difference between a man and E.T.? E.T. phoned home. => How are men like noodles? They're always in hot water, they lack taste, and they need dough. => Men are like... place mats. They only show up when there's food on the table. => Men are like... mascara. They usually run at the first sign of emotion. => Men are like... bike helmets. Handy in an emergency, but otherwise they just look silly. => Men are like... lava lamps. Fun to look at, but not all that bright. => Men are like... bank accounts. Without a lot of money, they don't generate much interest. => Men are like... high heels. They're easy to walk on once you get the hang of it. => "I spent $150.00 on a date last night." "That's not that much" "Well it's all she had." => "I've always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. After having met you, I've changed my mind." => Child calling to mother while daddy snores, "Hurry Mommy! Daddy is boiling over!" => "My husband broke my favorite lamp." "How?" "When I hit him over the head with it." => Did ya hear about the man who wouldn't fly. He said he was going to stay home and watch TV as the lord intended. => I refuse to enter a battle of the wits with you --it's against my morals to attack an unarmed person. Much more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. USEFUL WEBSITES ===================================================== http://www.postmastergeneral.com/?affiliate=antion Email list management company that I use. http://www.unitedvisual.com/2rent/2forsale.asp Used and demo LCD Projectors http://io.spaceports.com/~coolmeme/books/bk11767.htm Public Speaking Books http://www.bookchapter.com/ Discuss chapters from your favorite books and/or start a discussion about your own book. ****** 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 $850.00 and $1700 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/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. 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