New England Speakers Conference See Tom and other Great Speakers in person and SAVE $45.00 because you subscribe to "Great Speaking." http://www.antion.com/newengland.htm Orlando Electronic Marketing Camp Next weekend (see below) ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 16,012 Vol. 3 Number 6 - March 16, 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 *********** ORLANDO ELECTRONIC MARKETING CAMP (BUTT CAMP) for Speakers, Authors & Consultants March 25th, 9-5:30, Hyatt Regency Airport "Tom Antion is the best I've ever seen on Electronic Marketing. He saved me from a $6,000.00 mistake in about two minutes." Bill Brooks, CSP, CPAE http://www.antion.com/buttcamp.htm Can't make it? Send a staff member or get the CD http://www.antion.com/buttcampcd.htm ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== DON'T GO TO THE BATHROOM by Tom Antion I just spoke at an association meeting where I had set up all my equipment and got everything working just right. Before the event, I made the big mistake of going to the bathroom while other audio visual people were coming into the room. When I returned, my entire setup was moved. They actually picked my table up with my laptop and moved it about 8 feet closer to the screen which made the picture so small no one would have been able to see it. They insisted on using their projector which was a piece of junk (we ended up using mine anyway) and they generally disrupted my entire pre-program setup work. So, don't leave a careful setup unattended and always be there early to take care of nightmares like this BEFORE the attendees arrive. ************ SPONSOR ************ FREE NEWSLETTER HELPING YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS FREE SUCCESS newsletter helping you Grow Your Business, Close More Sales, and Make More Money. Includes tips on Setting Priorities, Achieving Goals, Getting Focused & more. Published by Success Coach Jeffrey Mayer, best selling author of "Time Management for Dummies" & "Success is a Journey". To subscribe, fill out the Web form at http://www.SucceedingInBusiness.com ********************************** ************ SPONSOR ************ FREE "Simply Speaking" Speaking and presentation tips Ezine http://www.ljlseminars.com/ ********************************************* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== STORYTELLING TIPS Part I by Tom Antion => Use stories during public speaking engagements to illustrate points and state the point in addition to telling the story. Always make your story relevant to the subject at hand. => Select stories to match the intelligence, experience, occupation, and age of the audience as well as the nature of the occasion. You don't want to talk over the heads of the audience members and you don't want to bore them with stories that are too simple. => Space stories at intervals to provide a change of pace and to reemphasize your message. => Tell about your troubles, stupidity, or ignorance. People like you when you use self-effacing humor because they see themselves mirrored in your weaknesses. => Eliminate inconsequential detail. Use the fewest number of words that convey the message in an interesting fashion. Writing the story out will help you see words that can be eliminated without hurting the story. => Keep your humorous stories short during your public speaking engagements. The size of the laugh is inversely proportional to the number of words used to get to the punch line. Rule: The longer a funny story is, the funnier it must be. You must make jokes and humorous stories believable up to a point. Use factual, specific details that the audience can relate to, i.e., say the brand name like Lots-o-Suds rather than a laundry detergent. The more truthful and specific the story sounds the more your audience will get caught up in what you say. (excerpt from the "Wake 'em Up Professional Speaking System" http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm *********** SPONSOR *********** FREE 7 Day Electronic Marketing Mini Course mailto:minicourse.GS014@aweber.com ******************************** ===================================================== 3. HUMOR TECHNIQUE ===================================================== 4 Sources of 'Found' Humor To Punch and Impact to Your Presentation. Part I by John Cantu Cantu's number one rule of being funny: Always follow the laughter. Whenever someone laughs at anything you said or did that you did not intend to be funny, assume that it can be re- created another time for another audience and look for HOW that can be done. Here are four tips. Your Best Source of New Material #1 - You on the platform One of your best sources of fresh, funny, creative, original material is the line that you inadvertently ad-lib while on your way to saying something else. Here is one of the comments that I frequently hear. Sometimes it will come up when I am coaching executives and professional speakers and other times it comes up during the Q&A after one of my humor workshops: "Some of my best stuff comes when I am just talking to the audience ad-libbing and these lines come out." In response, I always ask the same question "What do you do with those lines?" And invariably all I get is a blank look. Think about it for a moment. The principle is: If an audience laughed at the line once, they might laugh again. This is the reason why it is always a good idea to tape record your presentations. So when you ad-lib that perfect laugh line; that witty phrase, that trademarkable motto, you have it captured for future use. So, from now on, when you 'write' (i.e., ad-lib) a brand-new line without sweat, blood, or tears for goodness sake record it, recall it, and reuse it. If you were a professional performer this would be second nature to you. Performers will often come off the stage and excitedly ask a friend, "What was that new line I ad-libbed that got that great laugh?" Or they will rush off to listen to their taped set to find it. But for speakers this is great source of material that is too often used once and tossed away forever. It isn't intuitive to most speakers to recycle a line that was funny the first time out. Your Best Source of New Material #2 - You off the platform. You should also treat as possible new usable material your ad- libbed lines and spontaneous off-the-cuff lines that you deliver in every day conversation. The lines you ad-lib off stage in casual conversation might also be grist for your platform humor. I noticed long ago that some people who consider themselves as spontaneously funny, still need a line (or situation) to play off, in order to create a funny line. Thus, all ad-libs are simply an on-the-spot joke creation. If you look at the process of how most ad-libs in every day conversation are really created, you will realize they are most often a joke writing collaboration with one of the writers being unconscious of the fact. I.e., the funny person (you) usually has a straight person who sets you up, with he or she being unaware that he/she is being a straight man. He/she says "(LINE)", you cap on it (cap on it means reply with a remark meant to be funny). And YOU get the laugh and the CREDIT even though it was a collaboration. Since most people look at events in their life as a series of disparate events you might have perceived the capping line as a just a singular one-time funny spontaneous punch line. But you can often recreate the off- stage situation on the platform by describing what lead up to the ad-lib, and thus you have increased your opportunities for new material. You do this by saying something along these lines. "I was talking to (INSERT WHO YOU WERE TALKING WITH WHETHER IT WAS AN INDIVIDUAL OR A GROUP OF SOME SORT). He/she/one of them said (INSERT WHAT WAS SAID) and I replied (YOUR TAG LINE)" and now you've got a brand new 'joke'. Sometimes the ad-libbed line doesn't have to be something someone said. One time Sam Horn (author of "Tongue Fu") told me about a comment that Bob Murphy (Murphy is a delightful humorist and long time National Speaker Association member) once ad-libbed in response to an extremely visual scene. Standing in a hotel lobby he saw a bellboy pulling a wheeled stand with a potted tree on it. In his dry, droll, Nacagdoches, Texas accent he said, "Looks like some dog has ordered room service." Do you see how easy it would be to think that was a 'You hadda be there' situation? But all you have to do is do as Sam Horn did for me. You describe the situation and tell your listeners what you or your friend said in that situation. Now, once in a blue moon, you will discover yes, it was a 'you hadda be there' situation. But always come to that conclusion very reluctantly. Always apply time, effort, and creativity to find a way to recreate laugh before giving up. Next issue John will give us two more ways to "find" humor. © 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. $$$$$$$ SPEAKER MARKETING TIP $$$$$$$$ ===================================================== RECOMMEND THIS PAGE by Tom Antion You always want to make it easy for other people to recommend you or things you have created. Their third party endorsement is much more powerful than anything you might say about yourself or put into advertising copy. You can now make it really easy on a visitor to suggest your website to their friends and/or colleagues. You can put a tiny piece of code on each of your webpages that creates a recommend form. This form allows your website visitor to easily send the address of the your webpage (URL) to a friend or colleague. This will result in many more visitors to your website because it is so easy for your visitors to do. I'm in the process of adding these forms to every page of my new website http://www.public-speaking.org You can try out a simple version of this form at http://homeworkingmom.com/newsltr/index.htm Scroll down the page a little and you'll see a form that has three simple blanks to fill in and a "mail this page to a friend" button. It couldn't be any simpler to get more and more traffic to your site. To find out how to get one of these for your site mailto:webmaster@mastersyndicator.com or call 804-733-2843. 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 ********* SALE: This issue only. 13 Hours of the best in Speaker Marketing Kick Series of audio tapes. http://www.antion.com/telesemtapes.htm SAVE $40.00. You pay only $125.00 post paid You must email Tom directly and mention this issue to get your discount. **************************** ===================================================== 5. SPEAKER HUMOR ===================================================== SIGNS => In the front yard of a funeral home: "Drive carefully, we'll wait." => At a car Dealership: "The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment." => Outside a Muffler Shop: "No appointment Necessary, we hear you coming." => Billboard on the side of the road: "Keep your eyes on the road and stop reading these signs." => At a tire shop in Milwaukee: "Invite us to your next blowout." => Door of a plastic surgeons office: "Hello, can we pick your nose?" => Plumber -- "We repair what your husband fixed" DEFINITIONS => TOP BUNK: where you should never put a child wearing Superman pajamas. => TWO MINUTE WARNING: when the baby's face turns red and she begins to make those familiar grunting noises. => AMNESIA: Condition that enables a woman who has gone through labor to make love again. => DUMBWAITER: One who asks if the kids would care to order dessert. => FEEDBACK: The inevitable result when your baby doesn't appreciate the strained carrots. => STERILIZE: what you do to your first baby's pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby's pacifier by blowing on it. Job Application => SEX: Not yet. Still waiting for the right person. => DESIRED POSITION: Company's President or Vice President. But seriously, whatever's available. If I was in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place. => DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle. => MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes. => DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?: Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment. => SIGN HERE: Aries. LETTERS FROM CHILDREN => Dear Pastor, Are there any devils on earth? I think there may be one in my class. Carla. Age 10, Salina => Dear Pastor, I liked your sermon on Sunday. Especially when it was finished. Ralph, Age 11, Akron => Dear Pastor, I would like to go to heaven someday because I know my brother won't be there. Stephen. Age 8, Chicago => Dear Pastor, I know God loves everybody but He never met my sister. Yours sincerely, Arnold. Age 8, Nashville. Much more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. USEFUL WEBSITES ===================================================== http://www.wap.com/ Your guide to the wireless Internet http://www.anywhereyougo.com/ More wireless Internet resources http://voicedatabase.com/ All kinds of resources for voice, voiceover, and voice care. http://www.ritzav.com/ New & Used Projectors and carrying cases ****** 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. Thanks ******* Do YOU WANT TO BE A SPONSOR? ******* REACH OVER 16,000 SPEAKERS / TRAINERS / EXECS For automated sponsorship details send mailto:sponsor@antion.com *********************************************** ===================================================== To subscribe to GREAT SPEAKING visit http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.htm 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:Tom@antion.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