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 I'm looking for 12 serious speakers to spend 4 days with me in my home. http://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/retreatcenter.htm You've never seen or heard speaker's training like this before http://www.speakers-institute.info/ ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 96,597 The largest speaking ezine in the world Vol. 5 Number 9 - December 2, 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 *** This guy's a slavedriver and outrageous *********** but he gets results for speakers. He made a preposterous claim and I thought he was full of it . . . until I saw him make it happen with my own eyes. http://www.speakers-institute.info/ ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== Sensitive Audience Members by Tom Antion If you are planning to do a lively presentation that involves the audience members, you must be careful of what you say at the beginning of your speech. Some audience members would rather have you sit down so they could be the star on stage, but others dread the thought of even being noticed while they are sitting in the audience. Here is a critical phrase you can adapt and say during the beginning of your presentation to help the sensitive members of the audience relax and pay attention to your content. "We're going to have lots of fun and interaction today, but don't worry. You won't be put on the spot to do anything you don't want to do." That simple phrase will help all of your audience members enjoy your presentation without anxiety. ========================= From last issue about the problems erasing Dry Erase Boards when the ink has dried for a long time. Readers Mary Roth and Fugi Saito both quickly responded with this tip. Scribble over the old writing with a marker. This re- moistens the old writing which will now erase easily with your dry board eraser. **** Yanik Silver's Birthday Bash **** My friend and stellar Internet Marketer Yanik Silver is throwing his 30th Bday and customer appreciation Bash in Orlando Florida. I'll be speaking there along with my hero Corey Rudl and 8 other Internet marketing greats. Admission Fee: $0.00 Can you believe it? Yanik is footing the bill for his own birthday party. . . . What a guy. For details visit: http://www.surefiremarketing.com/bday/?26283 ********************************** ** Be an Even Better Speaker with Strategic Storytelling ** An inspiring new book by Doug Stevenson teaches you how to use personal stories in business, sales or training. Learn how to make a point, teach a lesson and keep your listeners engaged. Expand your stories with comedy and drama using Doug’s breakthrough Story Theater Method. Become a great storyteller, and achieve speaking success. Order "Never Be Boring Again" within 48 hours and receive over 300 dollars in free e-Reports, e-Workbooks and gift certificates. http://www.storytheater.net/bookpromota.html mailto:doug@dougstevenson.com ********************************************* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== Tough Venues by Tom Antion Did you ever present in a barn? How about a bowling alley? How about a community center where drum lessons are being given in the next room? Well I've been in all those situations and more and so far I've survived the recurring nightmares and waking up in a cold sweat just thinking about them. I've been diagnosed with PTVD -- Post- Traumatic Venue Disorder. If you are really gung ho about speaking, you're going to jump at the chance to do just about any speaking engagement. You should do this because it helps you to get really good, really fast. As you get more experienced you'll learn to use your pre-program research to recognize potentially disastrous venues before you agree to speak. But sometimes, even with the best of preparation, you get blindsided and have to present in a lousy venue. What is a lousy venue? A lousy venue could have one or more of the following problems: => Bad lighting => Bad sound system => Noise coming from outside => Numerous sight blocking fixtures => Poor heating and air conditioning => Large distance between the stage and the seats This list is by no means comprehensive. One time because of a scheduling mishap, I ended up on the dance floor of the sports bar during lunch time. I would call this a lousy venue, wouldn't you? So what do you do? My first piece of mundane, but powerful information is to stay calm and keep smiling. (Don't think I haven't violated this rule before because I just did last month when a very large amount of money was riding on my presentation and nothing was set up when I got into the room.) Then, determine what is in your control and what is out of your control. If the air conditioning is making noise, you can turn it off yourself or go find a janitor to do it for you. (in past issues I have described ethical bribes where I'll grease a janitor's palm with twenty bucks if he can get something resolved for me in the next five minutes) But if you've got 500 people waiting and the sound system just blew up, what do you do? Go directly to the meeting organizers and ask them what they want you to do. They are under as much or more pressure than you are so again, try to keep smiling and portray a very helpful and accommodating attitude. This is no time for prima donna antics. Know your schedule in advance and the costs to reschedule airfare, etc and be ready to tell the meeting planner what you can and can't do. For instance, if you must make your flight to be able to get to your next speaking engagement on time, then you certainly can't agree to do the presentation after they fix the sound system if it will make you miss your flight. It wasn't the other group's fault the sound system blew up at this event so you can't cause them problems by being late. Be creative and be prepared On big events where they have plenty of money, maybe they would agree to charter you a flight or call in the corporate jet if you can stay and get the job done. Maybe the meeting planner of your troubled event knows the meeting planner of your next event and they can help each other out behind the scenes with scheduling so that you can get both jobs done. On local and smaller events you could have your own portable sound system in the trunk of your car as a backup. For noise coming from the next room, have some pre-planned ad- libs ready to acknowledge the distraction and continue if possible.If the weather is nice, take people outside (which has it's own set of problems) or go to another part of the building. I certainly don't have solutions for all the problems you will run into in your speaking career. What I want to get through to you is that bad venues will happen. Sometimes you just can't do anything about it and you must quit or reschedule the event and sometimes you can be flexible and creative and find a way to get the job done. . . . That's what being a pro speaker is all about. P.S. What did I do about the sports bar presentation? I got manager to turn on the DJ booth and show me how to work the disco lighting. I got the lunch patrons involved and a good time was had by all. *********** SPONSOR *********** FREE 7 Day Electronic Marketing Mini Course mailto:minicourse.GS057@aweber.com ******************************** **** This site will get you speaking engagements **** http://www.public-speaking.org/simplyspeaking.htm ***************************************************** ===================================================== 3. Humor Technique ===================================================== Holiday Humor by Tom Antion You look current and polished when you can tie your humor to upcoming holidays. I'm not talking about you saying, "Santa, Rudolf and Blitzen walked into a bar" although if your joke made a point and was relatively funny, go for it. I guess my suggestions are just as goofey, but folks I have made some really big money being a little goofey and entertaining while speaking at events. One time I got a bunch of antlered Reindeer hats and had all the head table wearing them when I spoke. The pictures were hilarious and they loved them. I think it made it into their newsletter. I brought a Santa Costume for the president to wear and it brought down the house. Tell stories of funny things that happened to you at Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc. One time when I had my entertainment company I was supposed to play Santa Clause for a kids party and I forgot to pick up some batteries for one of the toys I was bringing. I was running late so I ran into the mall with just a tee shirt, Santa Makeup, red pants and boots. Parents pretty much started cussing me out to get out of there before any kids saw me. So I ran back to the car, put on the whole outfit and came back in just trying to get to the store to get some batteries. This time a busload of 4 and 5 year olds saw me and were literally hanging all over me. I had kids hanging on both legs where I could hardly move. They were yelling, "We love you Santa Clause." hehehe -- Well I was a little late for my party that day. You could dress in outlandish holiday colors. I saw one guy wearing a portable mistletoe hat. You could write a parody song about the organization you're speaking for based on a Christmas carol. How about this if you were speaking for a food distributor?: "Deck the halls with boughs of Jelly falalalala lala la la" ********* 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 ********************************************** Have fun in the Florida Keys and Lean Marketing from the Greats http://www.SeminarIsland.com/?147 ********************************************** ===================================================== 4. Speaker Marketing Tip ===================================================== Audio Marketing by Tom Antion Technology is moving fast and has now made using audio to your strategic marketing advantage cheap and easy. You can have customers phone in a testimonial about your speeches or for your products and services and have their voice up on your website almost immediately. Have them email you a picture of themselves to go with their audio clip, or grab one from their website and you have an awesome and powerful promotional tool to put on your website. Last week you received a 4 minute Audio Postcard with a speaking tip on delivering punchlines. If you missed it, turn up your speakers and visit: http://members.audiogenerator.com/postcards/?1802719 This postcard required no technical expertise whatsoever. You don't even have to have a website. You can just email your prospects and customers the link to your audio tips and promotions. Here is a sample page of testimonials from people who attended my retreat center weekends on Internet Marketing. http://www.GreatInternetMarketing.com/retreattestimonials.htm You can also put an unlimited amount of audio clips of up to 30 minutes each that showcase your speeches, stories and humor. To get this tremendous and easy to use audio technology for yourself I've posted a link at one of my websites http://www.KickStartSound.com 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 *** Secrets to Their Success ********* This is a very inspiring site with all kinds of people featured. It goes really in depth in finding out how they became successful in their businesses. http://dynamic.secretstotheirsuccess.com/t.cgi/12273 **************************** ===================================================== 5. Speaker Humor ===================================================== => Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated. Come here first. => "If you are blind or cannot read, please ask for assistance" => Girl wanted to assist local magician in cutting-off-head illusion. Excellent health care and salary. => Time is what keeps everything from happening at once. => Laugh alone and the world thinks you're an idiot. Laugh with the world and they still think you're an idiot. => A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory. => We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart? => Iraqi Head Seeks Arms Much more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. Useful Websites ===================================================== http://www.KickStartSound.htm Really easy audio postcards, audio testimonials and audio for your website. http://www.public-speaking.org/simplyspeaking.htm This site will find you speaking engagements http://www.Public-Speaking.org/ebook.htm Free ebook by Tom Antion on "How to Pick a Shopping Cart System that Makes you Money" http://www.NSASpeaker.org Website of the National Speakers Association ****** 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 *********************************************** ===================================================== 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 out to over 96,000 speakers / trainers / execs visit http://www.antion.com/sponsor.htm *********************************************** ===================================================== 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 9558 Virginia Beach, Virginia 23450 USA (757) 431-1366, Fax (757) 431-2050 mailto:Tom@antion.com http://www.antion.com To Join our associate program and make money from your website visit: http://www.antion.com Signup area is just below the navigation buttons.