Tag: internet

 
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How To Get the Most Out of Your Speaker Investment

In a perfect world, you would have an unlimited budget to hire top speakers for your next meeting or convention. Since it’s not, here are some tips on getting the most for your meeting dollar. Let me tell you about a project I worked on with the American Payroll Association that could be a model for you — or at least expand your thinking about ways to use speakers.<br><br>
APA’s Executive Director/CEO, Dan Maddux had a week of speaking and seminar slots to fill. Instead of assigning each slot to a different speaker, Dan chose to maximize the contribution of a few top people, using three of them in three different ways. That’s how Dan made 1 + 1 + 1 = 9. Three speakers used three ways equals nine slots filled. Here’s how such a move can save your organization and money and let you “trade up” to speakers you otherwise couldn’t afford.<br><br>
<b>Save on Hotels and Airfare</b><br>
Cutting the number of speakers might or might not reduce the total nights lodging needed, depending on your schedule. However, you’ll definitely save on transportation — for instance, three round-trips versus nine.<br><br>
<b>Speakers May Reduce Fee</b><br>
I can’t promise you that all speakers will do extra presentations for the same rates — they won’t. But the speaker you hired last year might have been more flexible if you had only thought to ask, “After your keynote, could you do a breakout session?” Or,” Could you emcee?” “Could you moderate a panel?” Even, “Our chairman is a bit nervous. Could you coach him on speaking?”<br><br>
Speakers may give you a better price for three consecutive days at one hotel, rather than three separate dates months apart.<br><br>
For example, for the Florida Realtors Association, I asked, “After my luncheon speech, would you like me to do a seminar on speaking skills?” They said, “Well, the agenda is already slotted in, but we’d love it if you would emcee our Top Producers’ panel, the first breakout session after lunch.”<br><br>
For the California Interment Association, I was scheduled to present a two-hour seminar after lunch. I said, “What else is going on? Would you like to me to do a spouse program?” They said, “We’ve never had one, but we’ve invited spouses for a breakfast get-together.” I added a 45-minute program that same morning. The only difference to me was that I had to go to the hotel a few hours earlier. Like most speakers, I want my clients to know I am there to serve them, not to pick up my speaking fee and run.<br><br>
<b>It’s Easier to Get Sponsors</b><br>
Trading up to big-name (or bigger-name) speakers makes it easier for you to get sponsors. Whenever people say, “We can’t afford you,” I always ask, “Do you have sponsors to help pay for your event?”<br><br>
Who would sponsor your event? Consider approaching the exhibitors at your conventions, or whoever sells to your members or who wants good PR with the people in the audience. List these “angels” prominently in the program. I always make a point of giving sponsors a good plug in my presentations. For example, after my opening story for the American Cemetery Association, I quoted the founder of my corporate sponsor, Service Corporation International. Then I gave examples to reinforce my points by reading from their newsletters, and my walk away line incorporated their name. I always let sponsor know, “Don’t worry, they won’t have any doubt who paid for me,” and make a joke about it in my speech.<br><br>
<b>Three Invaluable Bonuses</b><br>
Having speakers on hand throughout your event gives you far greater flexibility in scheduling. Continuity can establish a powerful connection between audience and speaker, getting your message across in a way that a wide variety of speakers couldn’t. Dan Maddux says, “We found that when we triple-booked those speakers, they become even more popular, really getting to know our people who always want them to stay around longer.” Continuity, during an event or from year to year, means your speakers are able to notice and volunteer to help your organization in special ways you may not have thought of.<br><br>
<b>How It Works</b><br>
Recently, 1,674 members of the American Payroll Association attended its Sixteenth Annual Congress in Nashville. Dan chose as keynote speakers Art Linkletter, Susan RoAne, Willy Jolley, Al Walker, and me, Patricia Fripp. He had little trouble getting sponsorship to help pay for these keynoters because of the success of his past conferences.<br><br>
The Congress was scheduled to start on a Monday. Dan came up with the idea of offering an extra pre-Congress program on Sunday, “For Women Only.” This isn’t as sexist as it may sound because seventy-five percent of APA’s membership is women. Dan figured that many could take advantage of cheaper Saturday night airline tickets, saving their company’s money, so they might be open to an extra day of education and fun.<br><br>
He called this extra program “Women on the Ladder to Success: Career Strategies for the Millennium,” and used six presenters. Three were from within the Association and industry, including the current president. Three were professional speakers who were also scheduled to speak during the main Congress. Each of the professionals gave two talks at this separate Sunday session. I did “Women in the Workplace, the Evolution of Career women” and “Are You a Wonder Woman or Superman in Payroll?” (In a custom-made Wonder Woman costume I had made 20 years ago. The fact I can still wear it deserves applause!) Susan RoAne spoke on “Taking Charge of Your Accomplishments” and “Women Who Make Things Happen: Traits of the Savvy and Successful.” Diane Parente’s programs were “Your Passport to Image Credibility” and “Looking Your Professional Best Without Spending a Fortune.”<br><br>
Then, at the kick-off Monday session for the full membership, Susan was the keynote speaker with “Schmooze or Loose: How to Gain the Verbal Edge.” She also presented a program for the vendors, “How to Make the Most of the Trade Show.” Diane Parente delivered a breakout session on “Image, a Powerful Tool,” and gave Dan’s Board of Directors one-on-one consultation as a bonus. (17 in all.) I delivered the Congress’s keynote speech, “Insights into Excellence,” presented a marketing seminar for the vendors, “How to Nurture Relationships Once You Leave the Trade Show,” and, as a break-out, conducted a workshop on “How to Sell Yourself and Your Ideas.”<br><br>
Having booked the Sunday before the conference, Maddux thought of a way to use his talent pool for a Speakers’ School on Saturday. Last year this program had been a success, but with a smaller audience of their speakers who talk on tax law changes, it had not justified a hiring a keynote caliber presenter to teach it.<br><br>
As I was already going to be there for several days I was excited at the prospect. I suggested we invite his association members scheduled to give programs during the congress. He also invite the APA leadership from the State chapters who have to speak at their meetings and get no formal public speaking training. As far as I am concerned the more the merrier. I charge the same whether my audience is five or 5,000. After the session I helped the President and Woman of the Year totally rewrite their talks. They have now requested I train them at least 3 months before next yearÌs convention.<br><br>
<b>Synergy Makes Good Sense</b><br>
Dan says “Using proven professionals in several slots so they develop a rapport with the audience is a better investment than bringing in a different speaker for each slot. In our case, two of the speakers, Diane and Patricia, had been so successful as keynoters the previous year that the audience was looking forward to seeing them again. This gave us the advantage of repeat role models, because our presidents turn over every year. The added fact that Patricia, Diane, and Susan had worked together before, and are best friends, gave us even more bang for our buck. We could never have put a dollar value on that kind of synergy.<br><br>
“I need my speakers to deliver a message and be powerful role models. Patricia, Diane, and Susan are all self-made women over fifty, looking good, feeling good, and they’ve built their careers themselves. This is an important message for our Association audience.”<br><br>
<b>More Bang for Your Buck</b><br>
Dan Maddux was able to negotiate with his speakers for a lot of extras. Many professionals figure that, as long as they are there anyway and being well paid, their time belongs to the client. Therefore, they are happy to take on extra tasks.<br><br>
The next time you are planning to hire a speaker, consider using him or her in multiple ways. It doesn’t hurt to ask if the speaker would be willing to:<br><br>
<ul><li>Deliver one or two “breakout sessions” or a spouse program along with the keynote at the same half-day fee.</li>
<li>Introduce other speakers.</li>
<li>Emcee the event that they are part of.</li>
<li>Help association Presidents of Board of Directors with their own presentations, either in advance or while the speaker is there.</li>
<li>Say a prayer at a meal.</li>
<li>Moderate a panel.</li>
<li>Sign autographs.</li>
<li>Appear in the sponsor’s booth to make their sponsorship more of an investment.</li></ul>
Like most of my comrades in The National Speakers Association, I want to be memorable and to give full value for your meeting dollars. For the Hamilton Bank in Philadelphia, I even leaped out of a spaceship, wearing a Wonder Woman costume. (Getting into the spaceship was a little more complicated, but that’s another story.)

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How to be a Public Speaking Star with The Use Of Computers

You can use computers to help you write your speech, as well as to help you research effectively, edit your work, check spelling and grammar and more. Computers can help you avoid wasting time; avoid never ending revising of your speech.

No, you will not be giving a speech using computers. A computer cannot speak for you on stage. No, that is not what this topic is about. I am saying computers can help you get in touch, while helping you search for information. You can use computers to help you write your speech, as well as to help you research effectively, edit your work, check spelling and grammar and more. Computers can help you avoid wasting time; avoid never ending revising of your speech.

A well-written speech should be typed on a computer. This looks more professional than handwriting. Furthermore, speeches often require research, support, correspondence and so forth. If you have a computer you can e-mail important messages much faster than taking the message to the post office. Furthermore, you can use the powerful Search Engine to find out any information you are searching for on the speech topic.

How much better can it get. The Internet has a variety of newsletters, articles, headlines, magazines, newspaper and more that can put you in connection faster with important facts needed to finish your speech. Imagine spending hours at the local library compared to spending a few minutes online. After all, it&#8217;s all about saving time and working sufficiently.

The Internet also has libraries all over the world with available information that will help you with the research process. Imagine delivering a ground-breaking speech to the public that is saturated with facts you can verify. The libraries often have helpful information and some libraries will literally find the information for you if it is not available in their library. As you can see you are not only saving time you are finding more information than you can deal with while writing your speech online.

While writing your speech you can also use spell checkers, grammar checkers and other tools to edit your speech. Furthermore, you are going to love this, you can actually use the Thesaurus to discover new words that might enhance your speech. The computers also give you the ability to research languages, i.e. if you want to point out something in Spanish in your speech, you will have the tools to do so even if you can&#8217;t speak Spanish.

Not only this, the time you spend writing your speech off the computer will stress you out. If you write, research and prepare your speech on a computer it will save you time, energy and money.

One important issue you want to keep in mind while writing a ground-breaking speech on a computer is that the Worldwide Web of Chaos has a bunch of suckers that will drag you into their arena. Stay out! Set your goal and plan ahead of the game and include in plan avoiding getting into computer based nonsense that will hinder you while writing your speech.

One thing you want to avoid also while writing your speech is stopping and revising the sentences as you write them. This will only hinder your progress. Instead, write the darn report and read it after you finish. If it makes sense and sounds good, use it, if it sounds disturbing&#8230;then you can edit the sentences.

As a writer one of the best tools I have is the ability to finish my articles, read them aloud, which helps me to spot out areas that needed brushing or polishing. In the world of editing you could nick and pick through every word and sometimes never find sense in the words, however, a good edit will read the words and define them carefully before considering abolishing the sentences. Thus, they look at structure, characters, grammar, spelling and more to decide whether it fits.

Conclusion

Overall the point is by using a computer; you can save time which in turn will reduce stress for you.

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Improve Comedy for Speakers

Learn how to use fundamental ideas from Improvisational Comedy to be a better, more engaging, more confident, and more dymanic speaker.

Public speaking. For some, the mere thought of getting up in front of a group of people and presenting a speech is more terrifying than heights, snakes, or even death. Imagine how terrified those people would be if they were asked to get in front of an audience and speak with nothing prepared in advance ñ no script, no speech, no nothing.

Sound crazy? Well that is what Improvisational Comedians do every day. Improvisational (or ìImprovî) Comedy is a form of theater where a group of actors take the stage with nothing prepared in advance and use audience suggestions to create instant comedy. If you have ever seen the popular television show, ìWhose Line Is It Anyway?î then you have seen Improv Comedy.

The skills that allow an improviser to create instant comedy can immensely help any speaker to be more comfortable and powerful from the platform. Here are three reasons why, if you want to be a more effective speaker, you must learn how to be a great improviser:

1) Improv Comedy, at its core, is about self-expression. An Improviser has only himself on an empty stage. Every idea he puts forth comes from inside of him. The best improvisers realize this and trust their instincts and let their ideas flow out. Similarly, the best speakers realize that the audience is there to see them. Rather than hide behind other people’s ideas or style, they are 100% themselves as they speak. Many speakers make the mistake of taking acting classes to be more ìdramaticî as they speak. The result is a speaker that looks fake and wooden. Audiences don’t want ìdramatic;î they want natural. Practicing improv comedy techniques can help you be much more natural.

2) Improv Comedy is an interactive format. Improvisation may be the only art form where the audience is present at the time of creation. As a result, the audience’s needs, wants, and mood can be taken into account to direct the content. Great improvisers feed off of a crowd’s energy and build content the audience appreciates. The performer pays attention to the audience and makes subtle adjustments as she goes. Speakers would do well to adopt this approach. Most speakers prepare their speech in a vacuum and deliver it exactly as practiced. However, every audience is different. If a speaker pays attention to the audience as she is speaking, she can also make subtle adjustments to increase her effectiveness (adjusting pacing, energy, volume, etc) If you do this, not only will your speech be more powerful, but you will also develop that coveted ìrapport and connectionî with the audience.

3) Things will go wrong. A speaker who relies solely on what they’ve memorized will be easily thrown by the distractions that invariably happen. If time gets cut, or a cell phone rings, or a heckler demands attention, the speaker will have no response. To an improviser, distractions are just one more tool to use to make their point. A key improv attitude is to ìgo with the flow.î As a speaker, this attitude will allow you to be unflappable from the stage. You will be deemed a true professional, and audiences will admire your ability to handle interruptions.

These are just three simple ideas that are a powerful way in which improv comedy can make anyone a more powerful speaker. There are many more ways related to all aspects of speaking: content, delivery, storytelling, style, humor, etc, but these three are the perfect starting point.

If you have never done or used improv, then consider taking a class. Not only will you learn useful skills for speaking (and life), but it will be the most fun class you’ve ever taken!

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How To Communicate In His Love Language

Are you wondering how to communicate with that new man in your life? Or maybe you are just wondering about the next man in your life? New or old, it’s never too late to learn how to communicate in the language of love.

Maybe you’ve seen the tomboyish girl that somehow has men flocking around her. If you stopped turning green with envy for a moment, you’d notice why she was a man magnet. She just sort of fit herself into him, like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that he didn’t even know was missing.

Instead of rolling your eyes at that dazed and happy-in-love look he has on his face, why not look into how she did it? Learn these tips on how to communicate in a whole new way by getting to know his love language and speaking it fluently!

We all know that love is built on the solid foundation of communication. When we are in love we are on the same page as our lover. It’s a special level of communication that people in love have.

Some call it chemistry, but really, in order to even get to the chemistry stage you need to know his love language. For a clue as to what that might be, we need to understand how he relates to the world around him.

Everyone perceives their world with three senses – sight, sound and feelings. Psychologists have discovered that even though we use all three senses, one of these senses is always more pronounced. It doesn’t mean that it replaces the others, but if you pay attention, the more dominant one will reveal itself to you.

Asking questions is the easiest and fastest way to learn his language and since asking questions is the most common way to get to know someone or start a conversation, he’ll never suspect.

He’s just returned from a business trip. You ask about his trip. Pay attention to his answer:

1. If he’s visual he might say: the weather was terrible. I didn’t get to see the sun once!

2. An auditory guy will talk about sounds: we got the account, which was good. But the hotel I stayed at was too noisy.

3. He is a feeler if he answers something like: I have to admit; I’m not much into traveling alone. I get lonely when I visit new places.

Knowing a man’s love language is the key in how to communicate with him in a way that will make him feel that you are the missing piece to his puzzle. You’ll just fit. Of course, one question isn’t going to tell you. You’ll have to watch for a pattern to emerge.

Once you do find the prominent sense, you’ll want to speak his language. Talking with your visual man will be all about what you saw on the way over, while the auditory fellow will want to know about the new CD you just bought.

It doesn’t matter what your love language is. As long as you know how to communicate to him in his Love Language you’ll soon be the envy of all the other girls. That is, unless you tell them your secret.

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Newbies Tips, Definitions, Download pages, and E-books

Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.

IS A….

COMPUTER: That thing thatís really clever but doesnít understand anything you tell it to do! It looks like a TV, but if you spend enough time in front of it, you will make money from it.
ISP: Internet Service Provider
SERVER: A computer that stores web page files and makes them available to the internet.
DNS: Domain Name Server, The address of the server, it looks like this ###.###.###.### or this, NS1.XXXXXXXX.COM (XXX = a word, and ### = a number)
DOMAIN:Is a unique set of characters used to identify a piece of cyberspace. These characters are called a ëDOMAIN NAMEí, NO TWO CAN BE THE SAME. They look like MMM.XXXXXX.com/net/web,etc..( MMM = www)
PARKED DOMAIN:A Domain name that has been registered but hasnít been HOSTED.
HOSTING: The service that provides a SERVER for a DOMAIN.

So we can see that a DOMAIN can be HOSTED on a SERVER and then files can be added to the ëDOMAINí and this will give you aÖ..

WEBSITE: All the files hosted on a server and are available on the internet using the unique ëDOMAIN NAMEí
WEBPAGE: Any ONE of the Files (pages) on a WEBSITE they each have an NAME that comes after the DOMAIN NAME. Like this; MMM.XXXX.com/NAME
URL: The address of any WEBPAGE
HTML: Is the base language from which web pages are made.
SOURCE CODE: Is HTML

Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.

How do I make my hyperlink open in a new window and why do I want that to happen?

HEREîS HOW in response to a question I received recently about creating a ëDownload pageí
It answers the above questions and gives some other valuable tips.

TIP #1
Hi, I clicked on your XXXXX link and found that it worked fine. However, it loaded the XXXXX page in the same window as yours, so I was taken away from your download page, very inconvenient for someone trying to download.

To fix it do this: Add ìtarget=_blankî into the code after the URL. Make sure you save your original page first and work on a copy, then when your copy is done upload it and test it, then save it as the original on your desk top, then upload the new original to your server. Done!

(In this example I use [ ] instead of V brackets, to make this publishable.)

Tip #2

Hereís a friendly way make prospects SAVE YOUR EBOOK full of your links on their computer.
If you don’t do this they might just look at the ebook in their browser and then close it. You will have lost them maybe for ever, but if you made them save it onto their hard drive; you will always get another chance, even if they remove themselves from your mailing list. The links are still in the E book on their computer, and who knows when they might open it again and go click!

HEREíS HOW: Just use this as a guide.

Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook. Then Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can easily find it. Make a note of the location that you’ve saved it to so you can easily access it again in the future.

NOTE: Add the “target=_blank” code to the “right click here” link, so that if they just left click and load to their browser at least your download page (with a link back to home) is still on their desk top!

WHY HAVE LINKS OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW?

Adding “target=_blank” to all links on a home page will keep the home page on the prospects desk top for as long as possible this will increase the chances of a sign up!

WARNING!!! DONíT use the code to open a new window on links back to your home page this will just annoy people.
Below, is a complete template for a typical download page. I have used ëí to indicate the hyperlinks. You should use ìtarget=_blankî on all links except the one that takes them home.

TEMPLATE

Step One: You will need XXsoftwareXX to read the E-book. If you do not have it installed on your computer, Please ëCLICK HEREí to get the software.

Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook.

Step Three: Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can find it easily. Make a note of the location where you saved it, so that you can easily access it again in the future.

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The 5 Ws Of Ebooks

Anyone browsing the Internet for information quickly encounters ebooks. Sometimes those electronic books are clearly identified by name and intent but other ebooks are so cleverly disguised that a reader may not even realize they are actually a book and not a web site or some other electronic document.

What exactly is an ebook? An ebook is simply an electronic book. Many ebooks today are found in pdf (or portable document format) but you can also find various word processing documents being used as ebooks as well as programs and text files that serve as ebooks. There are also some unique programs that create ebooks in a format specific to that program.

Ebooks (just like their print relatives) are documents containing words in a convenient package. Ebooks do also have the ability to secure or protect access, which means sometimes you can’t print an ebook or copy it while others can be copied and shared easily.

While many professional publishing companies now create electronic as well as traditional books, many ebooks are now created by individuals or small organizations. The readers who use ebooks are just as varied as those who create them. You can find electronic books in physical and electronic libraries and bookstores as well as throughout the Internet.

Ebooks are used to share information, teach, entertain, and sell or promote — just as are their print counterparts.

Ebooks have many advantages over print books. They are much more inexpensive to produce and can move from idea to finished product much more quickly as well. This also makes ebooks much easier and more cost-effective to keep updated. In addition, ebooks allow greater interactivity with the reader and the Internet.

However print books still retain the advantage in some areas. Some ebook formats are restricted in use to specific types of computer programs, web browsers or operating systems. Also, while computers and electronic devices are pervasive in much of the modern world there are still areas where a print book is more convenient or feasible.

For Internet marketers, ebooks can serve a variety of purposes. Ebooks can be created and packaged as commodities to sell, but for many Internet marketers, ebooks that are given away are a much more powerful tool. Creating useful ebooks that share free information that is attractive to a specific target audience can be a powerful viral marketing tool.

Creating an useful free ebook can help provide valuable advertising for any Internet marketer by establishing credibility and expert status which may well lead the reader to then visit the author’s web site and/or sign up for a newsletter. Some ebooks are created with a “soft sell” approach to achieve that goal while others use a “hard sell” approach and go for a sale within the book itself. If you create an ebook that includes valuable information that can be freely exchanged with others then it can, and will be circulated around the Internet and continuously work to promote its creator’s web site and products.

Ebooks can be a very valuable Internet marketing tool.

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