Welcome to our many new subscribers who signed up through, Antion.com, public-speaking.org, and our many other signup partners. (see bottom to leave "Great Speaking") Headlines Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup for the Soul Fame) is holding his "Mega Speaking Empire" this week. Only a few seats remaining. http://www.MegaSpeakingEmpire.com (details below) Small Publishers Assoc of North America Publishing College Oct 24-26 Los Angeles http://www.spannet.org (details below) ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 100,919 The largest speaking ezine in the world Vol. 5 Number 8 - October 13, 2003 Publisher: Tom Antion tom@Antion.com http://www.Antion.com (C) Anchor Publishing 2003 ########################################## No one ever lost credibility by being interesting. ========================================== *** Speaker business leads *** Your subscription gets you free speaking leads when available. We pay you to send us subscribers http://www.listpartners.com/cgi-local/cashpartner?406 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 clients too. Send this and tell them you were just thinking about them.) http://www.antion.com/recommend.html If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and want your own subscription, visit http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.htm To leave this list see below www.antion.com/privacystatement.htm ============================================= 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 *** Professional Level Speaking - Build a Speaking Empire *** Mark Victor Hansen is telling all his secrets and teaching you how to build a Mega Speaking Empire (even if you don't have a worldwide best selling book) I'll be there along with Robert Allen and many other experts who will give you a step-by-step plan to build your speaking empire. Mention "Great Speaking" when you sign up and you'll get a free Chicken Soup book. We have maxed out the available space, so there are only a few seats left. Check it out at: http://www.MegaSpeakingEmpire.com ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== Beware when you prepare dry erase boards by Tom Antion I am a real sticker on preparing in advance. There are some rare instances when preparing too far in advance could cause you trouble. This is one of them. Let's say you have access to your presentation room the night before, so you visit the room and decide to put your opening dry erase board comments on the board. The next day you start your presentation, talk for 15 minutes, refer to your dry erase board comments for several minutes and then you go to erase them. --- oops. They might not come off without some serious scrubbing of the board. This happened to me once and I had to hold the back of the board with one hand and scrub each little inch of writing really hard to get it erased enough to continue. * ******** Help with your Humor ********** I will make your speech FUNNY! Comedian & award winning comedy writer will "punch up" your talk. http://www.JohnConnor.com/get_funny.php * ***************************************** *** Cartoons for Speakers *** Complimentary to our readers! Speaker/ cartoonist Mike Moore's Cartoons For Speakers plus newsletter and speaking resources http://motivationalplus.com/cgi/a/t.cgi?tom mailto:mikemoore@motivationalplus.com 519-753-0702 ********************************************* *** All Small Publishers Must Attend *** If you want to make your small publishing business flourish, or if you want to start an information publishing company, you must be in Los Angeles Oct 24-26 for the "Book Publish 2003" the Small Publishers Assn. of North America Publishing College. You'll learn all the ins and outs of how selling information can make you wealthy. Details at http://www.spannet.org ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== 21 Tips to Skyrocket your Back of the Room Sales Part 3 of 3 by Tom Antion See part one at http://www.antion.com/ezine/v5n6.txt See part two at http://www.antion.com/ezine/v5n7.txt 15. Add Bonuses People love bonuses and they will definitely help you close the deal. I give ads in "Great Speaking" Ezine. Consulting time, special reports, extra tapes and CDs. Use whatever you have that would be considered valuable on its own. 16. Make Your Pitch In my system of selling there is a pitch . . . but not like you know it. With the careful use of example, scare techniques and need building, in essence I have been pitching the entire time I'm on stage. I structure my final pitch so that the audience members are laughing and having a good time during my pitch which knocks down sales resistance. 17. Present order mechanism I use a two part carbonless form so audience members can fill it out themselves, rip it apart and they already have their receipt. This makes moving them through really fast when they all rush to buy. 18. Be Clear and make it easy We're back to being clear again just like we were in the first point of Part I of this series. This time, though, you are telling them exactly how to write their information in their form and exactly what to do to close the deal. If the steps you want them to take aren't crystal clear, you will lose sales and you may lose tons of sales. 19. Don't Oversell You could make offers that were so outrageous that you can't come through -- which will create lots of ill will, chargebacks and returns. Don't do it. 20. Close the deal Besides giving precise instructions, you can create urgency by limiting the number of specials you are offering or limiting the time that the special is on. Offer to sign books or add some other unexpected bonuses for filling in their form right now. 21. Isolation technique for big ticket sales This is a technique that has come into vogue in the past couple years and can triple the value of your sales for any particular day. You tell people that you have a program only for fast trackers that is xxxx dollars so only highly qualified people can get in it. After your talk you are going to meet for 15 minutes in a room off stage to discuss the program. During that session you pitch your mentor or coaching program or whatever big ticket products and services you have. Limit questions only on the package you're selling. Want the entire story immediately? I taped one of my best teleseminars ever a couple months ago and this time I even give you a choice of tape or CD. You'll get two full hours of all the nitty gritty details to skyrocket your back of the room sales AND you get an immediately downloadable transcript of the tapes. For details visit http://www.antion.com/audiotapes.htm http://www.antion.com/cds.htm *** You will sound sensational! *** Seduce anyone, anytime, anywhere just by using your voice. Famous broadcaster reveals easy secrets of vocal persuasion. A crash course in voice improvement for anyone who speaks more than 5 minutes a day. Satisfaction-guaranteed. http://www.greatvoice.com/products/antion.html ********************************************* *********** SPONSOR *********** FREE 7 Day Electronic Marketing Mini Course mailto:minicourse.GS057@aweber.com ******************************** -=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for using articles to drive Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links... without spending a dime on advertising! Visit> http://hop.clickbank.net/?23526/ezarticles -=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ===================================================== 3. Humor Technique ===================================================== Funny props by Tom Antion I almost always use some kind of funny prop when doing a presentation that is supposed to have a high percentage of humor. Some props are just funny looking themselves, . . . like putting an Elvis wig on yourself or an audience member. Other props need an explanation to be funny. I use a little odd looking piece of plastic that holds socks together so they don't get lost in the washing machine. It's not obvious what the prop is until I tell the audience what it does and why I so desperately need a sock organizer. I like props because they offer a different way of keeping the audience member's interest. The concept of "keeping interest" is the cornerstone of my entire "Wake 'em Up!" speaking system. Funny props also take some of the pressure off of you to be glib with your humor. You may want to add some humor to your presentations and you may realize the value of doing so, but you may not feel confident enough to pull it off. Props can save the day because funny looking ones can carry the load for you because they inherently get laughs even if your timing is not perfect. This doesn't mean that props don't take skill and practice. You have to know when they should be seen and when they should be hidden. And if they are hidden, you need to know just when the right time is to reveal them. If you are on camera, you need to know how to hold them so they are seen by the camera. Start looking for funny props and I highly suggest buying the massive prop and costume catalog from Morris Costume in Charlotte, NC (They're old world, they don't have a website and you'll pay for the catalog and they have order minimums, but I can tell you that I've gotten massive laughs for many years with stuff I've bought from them) Call them at 704-348-3020 ********* 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 ===================================================== 5 Deadly Mistakes to Avoid with Web Copy By Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero of Red Hot Copy (tm) The Internet is one of the best places to market yourself as a speaker. IF you do it right. Words on the web are a different animal than words in print. As a copywriter, I watch the trends. And YOU need to be aware of online behavior too. That is IF you want potential clients to read what's on your website. Studies show a full 79% of Internet users SCAN the page rather than read word for word. What does that mean to you? It means whatever they DO read had better be GOOD. Here are 5 web copy mistakes you need to avoid. Mistake #1: No compelling headlines or subheads In print, eyes go to the picture first. Not so online. Research shows the first thing web users see is a headline. Now, remember what I said about scanning? Eyes drift down the page looking for easy-to-pick-up words. Well, the headline and subheads should effectively tell scanners what's on the page without having to dig into the real copy -- like a quick summary of the entire page! Headlines get the attention. The first subhead identifies the problem of your target audience. The next wows them with the solution - YOU! This way scanners can gloss over the content and get the whole story with the headlines and subheads. Once they're hooked, they can go back and really read your copy. Mistake #2: Not building copy around keywords and phrases Quick lesson. Keywords and phrases are what Internet surfers type in to a search facility, like Google. Google comes back with a list of related sites. Surfers tend to click over to sites at the top of the list. Search engines put the sites with relevant keywords HIGHER on the list. They find those sites by reading the copy on your web pages. Get it? So figure out what words your target market would type in to find you. Those are your keywords. Now build them into your copy. Mistake #3 Not enough white space You can guide the eye where you want it to go -- if you have a path. Don't clutter up the page with too many confusing options. Or slow-loading graphics. Use strategic white space to pull your reader through your copy from start to finish. Remember, reading on a computer screen is tiring on the eyes. In fact, online reading is 25% slower than reading print. So make it easier. Break up your information into bite-sized pieces. Use short, snappy sentences. Paragraphs with one thought and one thought only. And use bullets liberally. You never know which is the magic one to turn a reader into a customer. Make your copy scan- able. Mistake #4 Boring the reader away Your message has a heck of a lot of competition. People don't have to read your copy unless they want to. YOUR job is to keep them engaged. Let me let you in on a little secret I learned from marketing genius, Joseph Sugarman - the purpose of copy is to get you to read the first sentence. Then that sentence should get you to read the NEXT sentence. And so on. And so on. And so on. Ever hear of the "Bucket Brigade?" This term comes from the times before fire departments got organized. If there was a fire, villagers lined up down the streets. One end of the line started at the water source. The other end was at the blaze. To put out the fire quickly, they passed buckets of water down the line. Briskly. Without letting up. Without slowing. Imagine that pace when you're writing your copy. Each sentence leading you into the next. Mistake #5 Underestimating the importance of copy Copy describes what you do and persuades the reader to take some action. But what really makes copy invaluable is its ability to build a lasting relationship with your reader. Whether you're there or not. 24/7. Good copy is friendly. Informative. Establishes rapport. Grows trust and loyalty. It deepens the connection between you and your audience. Once you have that bond, you don't have to bother convincing them how great your product or service is. They're READY to sign up! Visit http://www.Red-Hot-Copy.com For tips on getting your message read in an attention-deficit world, sign up Lorrie's bi-monthly ezine, "Red Hot Copy" http://tinyurl.com/9gon Change your words - change THEIR minds. Copyright ® 2003 - All rights reserved Shopping cart system that Tom uses. You get a three-hour orientation with Tom narrating to lead you through the basic set up and advanced sales strategies. http://www.kickstartcart.com My cornball story by Tom Antion I know it sounds corny and it sounds just like the ads you see in business opportunity magazines, but 15 years ago I was broke, injured, and living on a mattress in a vacant house. Now I'm a multi-millionaire with my own mansion (not one I borrowed to take a promo picture in front of). What made the difference? -- The speaking business --. Learn my story and what speaking can do for you. http://www.antion.com/public-speaking.htm ===================================================== 5. Speaker Humor ===================================================== => Adam and Eve had an ideal marriage. He didn't have to hear about all the men she could have married, and she didn't have to hear about the way his mother cooked. => Maybe he/she doesn't "act stupid"; it might be the real thing => Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure? => When someone asks you, "A penny for your thoughts," and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny? => The trouble with reality is there's no background music. => Do not make fun of the humor impaired, they won't understand! => My idea of a happy meal is one I don't have to cook. => He is a man of rare gifts . . . he hasn't given any in years. => I'm a woman of the world . . . and you know what shape the world is in. => Why did God create economists? . . . To make weather forecasters look good. => CFO = Corporate Fraud Officer You might be a redneck if . . . (all attributed to Jeff Foxworthy) => . . . your house still has a "Wide Load" sign on the back. => . . . you carried a fishing pole into Sea World => . . . there are more than three kitchen appliances on your front porch. => . . . more than three hound dogs live under your front porch => The people on Jerry Springer's show remind you of your neighbors => You need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos. => If you refer to the fifth grade as, "your senior year." => Your sister is the third generation of women in your family to conceive a baby as a result of an alien abduction. Much more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. Useful Websites ===================================================== http://www.speakforprofit.com/cartoonsforspeakers.html Cartoons for speakers http://www.fortogden.com/foredneck.html You might be a redneck humor http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/jokegateway/ Political humor http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/pubspeak/ McGraw Hill's public speaking site http://www.ritzav.com/demo_equipment.htm Demo projectors at great savings. http://www.techsmith.com/ Home of "Camtasia" a program that lets you throw away PowerPoint and make your own visuals that you can sell. You can see the product that I made at http://www.antion.com/buttcampcd.htm http://www.greatvoice.com/products/antion.html Command your audience with your powerful voice *** New speakers & just-getting-started speakers *** Fast Start your Speaking Career! Learn the secrets of this multi- billion-dollar business. Start earning megabucks now! Cut 5 to 10 years off your learning curve in LifeKraft's 4-day Speaker Intensive Training. Find your "passion" topics, learn what sells, explore markets and industries that will make you a millionaire, create your promo materials and marketing plan, write seminars and keynotes. Develop a new business in four days! LifeKraft CEO Instructor, Liah Kraft-Kristaine, J. D., is an award-winning international speaker, author of 8 books, former attorney and CNN broadcaster, who was an author- guest on Oprah Winfrey. Sign up now for 4-day Speaker Training and get free one-on-one coaching worth $300! LifeKraft New Speaker Intensive Training: Nov. 13 - 16, 2003. http://www.lifekraft.com/Fast_Start_Speaking.htm 877-LIFEKRAFT ***************************************************** ===================================================== 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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