Happy Valentines Day (see special below) Please alert Tom if you are getting duplicates ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 9353 Vol. 2 Number 2 - February 15, 2000 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 7. Tech Tip with Mike Rounds *** SPEAKER BUSINESS LEADS *** Will be delivered to full subscribers when available. ********** OUR SPONSOR *********** VALENTINE'S DAY SALE FOR "GREAT SPEAKING" SUBSCRIBERS ONLY "Wake em Up Business Presentations" is quickly becoming the standard training tool for professional level presentations. TWO DAYS ONLY! DEADLINE: Feb. 18, 2000 Regular $24.95 Valentines sale $9.95 + s/h. SAVE $15.00 Info: http://www.antion.com/wakebook.htm Easy ordering at http://www.antion.com/speakershop.htm ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== LAY DOWN THE LAW by Tom Antion It is always best to communicate a clear set of groundrules near the beginning of a presentation. For instance, if you do not want questions until the end of your program, state that up front and get agreement from the group. If comments from the audience are allowed, ask that they be kept to a certain amount of time (like 30 seconds or less). Getting everyone to agree to your plan in the beginning puts enormous peer pressure on an individual violating any of the rules. ************ SPONSOR ************ HOW TO WRITE, PUBLISH AND $ELL "E" BOOKS! Angela Adair-Hoy makes more than $4,000 per month selling her E books online. You can, too! Check out the best selling book at Booklocker.com! http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/aadair.html Booklocker will list and sell your ebooks...for free! ********************************** ********* THAILAND ********** CIMPA "Connected International Meeting Professionals Association" START BUILDING YOUR INTERNATIONAL RESUME Join Tom Antion, Keynote Speaker at the 9th International Technology, Meetings and Incentives Conference to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on October 26-29, 2000. "Great Speakers Make Great Meetings: Speaker Showcase" will be held on October 26. There will be pre and post-conference trips to China, Philippines and Vietnam. We have arranged highly discounted airfares on Thai International Airways for this event Dont miss this chance to build your global network. For details: http://www.meetingprofessionals.org or Contact Andrea Sigler, PhD mailto:cimpa@cimpa.org (type "Bangkok Conference" under subject) Tel 703 978 6287 Fax 703 978 5524 ********************************************* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== THE CENTERPIECE AREA by Tom Antion Whenever you are speaking at an event where food is being served at round tables, you can use the centerpiece area as part of your program. I recently saw Dr. Shirley Garrett do this at large keynote speech. She was using juggling scarves on stage. The centerpiece of each table was draped in these scarves. It looked great, it was inexpensive, it related to her presentation, and it gave each attendee something to take home to make it easier to remember her message. This idea could also score you some points with the meeting planner who may be able save quite a bit of money on flowers or other ornamental centerpiece items. In addition, this area of the table could be used as revenue generator for you. I cover this in tape six of the "Wake em Up Video Professional Speaking System" http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm You pre-sell your books or tapes to the meeting planner and stack them attractively in the middle of the table. This gives everyone at the table something to take home and won't cost much more than a fancy centerpiece that only one person at each table gets as a door prize. Use the middle of a roundtable to tie your message in AND make more money. ============= READER COMMENT: Ref: "Stand Still" article v2n1. Laura Leigh Wolbrueck says "Boy, can I second this article!! Another good way to spot irritating movements around the stage is to fast forward through a video. I learned this accidentally: I had emceed an event, involving 4-5 mins of up-front warm-up and then introducing several contestants in a speech contest. When we later played the video, we were fast-forwarding to get to the contestants and my movements around the stage were very distracting in fast motion!! I looked like a little ant pacing back and forth seemingly aimlessly." *********** SPONSOR *********** ATTENTION SPEAKERS, TRAINERS, & PROFESSIONALS: Earn $5500.00 or More Per Speech and Have the Meeting Planner Call You "The only video professional speaking system available anywhere." => 5 Hours of Professional Level Presentation skills that will make them remember you forever and get you referral business. => 2 Hours of Advanced Speaker Marketing Techniques that require NO COLD CALLING. => 4 1/2 Hours of Bombproof Humor Techniques . . . They will love you when you Make em Laugh. => 336 Page "Wake em Up!" Reference Book . . . Always have somewhere to turn when preparing a talk. => 77 Page Fast Action Guide . . . You will know exactly what to do in virtually any speaking situation. => Quick Response Bonuses, and Much, Much More! Full details at http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm Or Call Tom at (800) 448-6280 (Continental US only) Outside US (301) 459-0738 mailto:tom@antion.com (Available in PAL & NTSC formats) ===================================================== 3. HUMOR TECHNIQUE ===================================================== RETRACTION NOTICE: An alert "Great Speaking" reader noticed some incorrect and / or misleading statements that I made in an article on using funny advertisements. In "Great Speaking" Volume 1 Number 22 ( http://www.antion.com/ezinebackissues.htm ) I was not clear on the fact that it may be a violation of intellectual property rights to copy an advertisement and project or distribute it. I have no trouble holding an original advertisement up for the audience to see while making comments about it. Also, in any fake ads you dream up you will not have problems with regard to copyright because you own it. ========== ANACHRONISMS by Tom Antion A person, place, or event that is placed in a time period in which it does not belong is called an anachronism. For instance, Paul Revere riding a motorcycle or George Washington sitting in front of a computer would be anachronisms. You see advertising strategies using anachronisms all the time, especially around Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays and Columbus Day. I saw an ad for fluorescent light bulbs that had Thomas Edison working on a phonograph. The caption read: "If Thomas Edison wouldnt have wasted his time on this (incandescent bulb), his phonograph might have been a CD player." The relationship between new and old is always interesting. Anytime you can highlight that relationship you will evoke mild humor and create more attention on your product, service, or point. Here is a good fill-in-the-blank format. Would (big name from the past) have________________ if he had ________________? All you have to do is make a simple relationship and your message will be funny and memorable. Would George Washington have thrown his money away in the Potomac if he had ABC investment company on his side? Once you get the relationship down, you can adjust the form to suit your presentation. The George Washington/ABC investment anachronism could turn into a good, usable one-liner. "George Washington wouldnt have thrown his money in the Potomac if he had come to us for advice." (Source: "Wake em Up Business Presentations" Chapter 13 "34 Ways to Be Funny WITHOUT Telling Jokes" ) ********* 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. $$$$$$$ SPEAKER MARKETING TIP $$$$$$$$ ===================================================== ELECTRONIC INFRASTRUCTURE by Tom Antion In past issues ( http://www.antion.com/ezinebackissues.htm ) I have given you lots of ways to market yourself, your products, and your services electronically. To do this efficiently requires some basic infrastructure in the form of computer hardware and software and a connection to the Internet. You probably have the hardware already. A basic computer with a modem and scanner pretty much does the trick. If you want to make your work a little easier, these additions might help. => A bigger monitor will make the time you spend in front of the computer easier on the eyes. => Buy all the RAM you can afford. => A wheel mouse will save some strain on your mouse finger. => A small network of several computers could be more efficient if you have several people working at the same time. SOFTWARE For software, spending some money can give you some real time savings AND also give you critical information that you may not even know you needed. For instance, I spent about $400.00 on a sophisticated, but easy to use bulk email program. This program does in seconds what used to take me hours to complete. So my dollar investment allows me to do email marketing that would have been too cumbersome to do with regular email programs. You can read about "Mailloop" at http://www.marketingtips.com/mailloop/t.x/12273 Being able to update and / or create your own website is the best single investment in time and money I ever made in my career. I use Front Page 2000 to create and maintain my website which would have cost me nearly $50,000.00 had I paid for all the work and updates. Front Page costs less than $150.00 and I spent about a $1000.00 for advanced training spread out over two years. It took me about a month and a half part time getting competent with the program. I would say the time spent was really worth it. I can have an idea and six minutes later have it in front of a world market PLUS the frustration I saved from avoiding dealing with webdesigners was worth at least a million bucks. STATISTICS Getting statistics on your website is critical. The statistics will tell you how much traffic you are getting, how long they are staying and where they are coming from. This information is necessary to make your site pay off. Too many speakers have a beautiful website that no one visits or buys from. I use "WebTrends" as my statistics package which is provided to me by my Internet Service Provider. Check with your provider to see if they include a statistics package with your hosting fee. If not, get one. Ask your host for a recommendation and learn how to use and interpret your results. There are other software programs you can get like "Web Position Gold" that will tell you where the search engines are placing you and teach you how to maximize your pages to get high rankings. Once you get all these systems in place and learn how to use them you are in a position to really skyrocket your electronic marketing. NOTE: The site below is where I learned virtually all of my electronic marketing techniques: 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 ********* SPONSOR ********* If you want to get really good at specific areas of speaker marketing, visit http://www.antion.com/telesemtapes.htm **************************** ===================================================== 5. SPEAKER HUMOR ===================================================== => A mans best friend is his dog. That is assuming you want a friend who messes on your carpet and drools on your newspaper. => Men are like small children. You bring a new one home and the ones already there resent it. => Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused. => I believe the only time the world beats a path to my door is when I am in the bathroom. => Into every life some rain must fall. Usually when your car windows are down. => If genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, I wind up sharing elevators with a lot of bright people. => Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator. => Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world. => Somewhere, over the rainbow...that is where the airline will find my luggage. => I have found a sure way to relieve office stress: Step 1: take a deep breath. Step 2: count to 10. Step 3: set the wastebasket on fire. => For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program. => A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory. => A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good. => By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends. => Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it. => No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes. => Opportunities always look bigger going than coming. => If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you have never tried before. => Remember: you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar... Of course, how you spend your leisure time is your business. => Winning isnt everything. Winning and gloating and rubbing their noses in it... thats everything! Lot's more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. USEFUL WEBSITES ===================================================== http://www.phonespell.org/ Find out what your phone number spells. http://www.marketingtips.com/assoctrac/t.x/12273 Find out how you can make a fortune selling your products and services with associate / affiliate programs . . . over 50 pages of articles at this site. ===================================================== 7. TECH TIPS WITH MIKE ROUNDS ===================================================== If you're looking for site statistics (on your site, of course) or where and how to get "goodies" that you can give away, you'll be interested in all the free tools you can get at http://www.mycomputer.com Mike Rounds Quick Tech Tips www.RoundsMiller.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/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 9300 SPEAKERS / TRAINERS / EXECS For automated sponsorship details send mailto:sponsor@antion.com *********************************************** ===================================================== For Back Issues visit: http://www.antion.com/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 To Join our associate program and make money from your website visit: http://www.antion.com/associates/assoc_program.htm