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 => See Tom Antion Live in St. Louis this month => Mega Book Marketing University Coming up in March => Great Internet Marketing Retreat Center date announced for April (all dates have sold out quickly so don't delay) ########################################## GREAT SPEAKING Circulation 92,957 The largest speaking ezine in the world Vol. 6 Number 1 - February 16, 2004 Publisher: Tom Antion tom@Antion.com http://www.Antion.com (C) Anchor Publishing 2004 ########################################## 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 *** Events for Speakers, Authors, Coaches, Consultants *** If you can't make either of these events, get the recording: See Tom Antion live in St. Louis for his infamous Internet Marketing "ButtCamp. February 26, (the day before the National Speakers Assn. Eastern Workshop) http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67429 ButtCamp Tapes or CDs http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67430 March -- Mega Book Marketing University with Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul Fame. Also see a host of other personal advisors to Mark that will teach you that your book is just one tiny piece of your empire. http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=117962 ************************************ ===================================================== 1. Quick Presentation Skills Tip ===================================================== Last Minute Practice by Tom Antion If you happen to be staying in a hotel in a room next to mine, it is very likely you would hear parts of my upcoming speech bellowing through the walls. Even after the enormous number of presentations I've done I still practice my stories and various bits of material the night before my event. I heard Zig Ziglar saying that he does the same thing. Unless you are speaking every day, it is almost impossible to stay razor sharp with your delivery. Being a keynote / large event speaker, I may go 90 - 120 days between times when I tell certain stories on stage. The last thing I want to do is flub up a line or bumble through a piece of material because I hadn't thought about it for a couple months. Don't get cockey! Practice your material several times right before you do your speech and you'll have a much greater chance that each word will come out perfectly. *** Study in the lap of luxury *** The Great Internet Marketing Retreat Center is the only facility of its kind in the world. This is an exclusive center with class size limited to six. This is your chance to live and study with an Internet multi- millionaire. One guest said, the retreat center was "reality Internet marketing on steroids" Another guest said, "The towels were thicker than my winter coat . . . and I'm from Wisconsin." Only serious business people should visit http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67428 ********************************** *** What is professional speaking all about? *** There are lots of places to speak and lots of ways to pull enormous paychecks for speaking. The report at the link below is my gift to you for being a subscriber. http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67427 ********************************************* ===================================================== 2. Advanced Presentation Skills Article ===================================================== Audio Failure by Tom Antion Wouldn't you know it? I just got my laptop back from getting fixed because it was locking up. That problem was fixed beautifully, but the shop must have done something to mess up the headphone / audio output jack which I never thought to check. I set up my seminar and plugged my external speaker / amplifier into the headphone jack as I had done a hundred times before. Terrible static came out of my external speakers. I tried different cables and nothing would fix the static. The fix I had to use was to put a microphone next to the tiny speakers of the laptop which were working fine. This little trick was enough to save the day. In fact, this is a handy trick in many situations when you think you are going to be able to hook a tape player or some other audio device into the main sound system, but can't. It's also handy if it's just not worth the trouble to hook into the main sound system to listen to a brief audio clip. I'll also remind you that I am a big advocate of handheld microphones. Being able to either hold or lay a microphone close to a speaker is yet another reason I like them. This trick would be a real hassle with a clip on microphone. *********** SPONSOR *********** FREE 7 Day Electronic Marketing Mini Course mailto:minicourse.GS057@aweber.com ******************************** ===================================================== 3. Humor Technique ===================================================== Fake Phone Calls by Tom Antion This is so much fun. I keep my cell phone with me when I'm on stage and I either have someone call me while I'm in the middle of the presentation, or I just pretend the phone is vibrating and I have to answer the call. Since the audience can't hear the person calling, you could fake the entire conversation if you wanted to. Just recently I had the organizer call me on stage just as I was giving a small discount if the audience members wanted to buy my back-of-the-room package. The organizer was telling me that the discount I was giving was not good enough. We started arguing about it on the phone which was making the audience members laugh. Note: If you've listened to my 2 hour album on "Selling a Ton at the Back-of-the-Room" http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67431 you know that having the audience laughing in the middle of your close is a very good thing. I gave in an dropped the price a little more on the package I was selling. Immediately the phone rang again, with the organizer telling me that wasn't good enough. We had another argument and now the audience was really laughing. I gave in again and dropped the price to the rock bottom and sold a ton. You could pretend your mother or father is calling and nagging you about something. Or you could make up just about anyone that will allow you to make your part of the conversation funny to the audience. Make good use of your cell phone while you are on stage and those will be some of the most valuable minutes you ever used. ********* 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 ===================================================== Hover Ads by Tom Antion I get so sick of the pseudo experts giving out incorrect information about Internet marketing. I just saw in another speaking ezine a tip from a guy who obviously doesn't know what he's taking about. He told speakers they should not use pop up boxes and that they were ineffective anyway because of pop up blockers. This is half baked information which is typical of the pseudo experts. They tell you either wrong information or just enough information to make you dangerous to yourself. Even worse they keep you from maximizing your Internet potential. My pop up boxes make me a small fortune by using sell down techniques for digital products and finance options for big ticket products. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then I can assure you that you are leaving lots of your customer's money in their wallets instead of yours.) 1. When used properly pop up boxes are still very effective and I have not had one complaint about the ones I use because I don't use them in an intrusive fashion. 2. New and inexpensive technology is already here to defeat the pop up blockers. If you don't believe me . . . turn on all your pop up blockers and try to block my ezine subscription sign up at http://www.antion.com This pop up box immediately doubled my ezine subscription rate and it's great for all kinds of promotions that will get you a high response, . . . which means dough in your pocket. It is called a "Hover Ad" and to the pop up blockers it looks just like part of your page, but to the visitor it looks like a pop up box that bounces in and lands on the page. The company that created it also gives you five other formats for pop up boxes so you can fit just about any look you want. Check it out at: http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67425 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 Download your gift ebook "How to Pick a Shopping Cart System" http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67445 *** This is how Tom keeps up on advanced Internet Techniques *** Ken McCarthy's "System" training is very high level and designed for the very serious person who wants to start an Internet business or take the one they have to the next level. http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=67439 **************************** ===================================================== 5. Speaker Humor ===================================================== => There was an absentminded professor who saw a sign on his door that said, "Back in thirty minutes." So he sat down to wait. => The first thing that strikes an out-of-towner in New York is the accent. The second is generally a taxi! => A man broke a mirror, but he didn't have seven years' bad luck. He died two days later. => A genius put his hand in a lion's mouth to see if he had any teeth. The lion closed his mouth to see if the man had any fingers. => He's the kind of guy who always hits the nail squarely on the thumb. => An accountant tells his client, "We can get your books to balance if you'll strike oil on the way home!" => I have some accountant. What he doesn't know about taxes could fill a prison cell. => It's a thrill to read Fortune and find out your accountant is one of the dozen richest men in the country. => I know an accountant who gave his clients a great tax break, he put all their money in his name. => I have a CPA who's brilliant, they just named a loophole after him. => Old accountants never die, they just lose their balance. => My accountant just went into business with General Motors. They make the cars, he's making the license plates. => You've been here for a long time and are now in pain. As anybody knows, there's no better painkiller than: Thank you and good night! Much more FREE speaker humor at http://www.antion.com/humor/speakerhumor/speakerhumor.htm ===================================================== 6. Useful Websites ===================================================== http://www.alexa.com Get their tool bar and spy on your competition's website. http://toolbar.google.com/ also has a tool bar that allows you to search quickly from your browser and tells you how important it feels your page is. http://www.KickStartSound.com Easily put audio samples of your speeches on your website and have clients phone in testimonials which can be put on your site in seconds. Also send audio postcards with no technical expertise. http://www.Presentations.com Mostly geared toward selling projectors and corporate hardware. If you feel you need to use PowerPoint (I'm against it) then there are lots of articles to help you do a better job at it. ****** 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 93,000 speakers / trainers / execs visit http://www.antion.com/sponsor.htm *********************************************** ===================================================== To subscribe to GREAT SPEAKING visit http://www.antion.com/ezinesubscribe.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.