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Anyone can improve the way they are perceived in the market place through networking and public speaking.

And death came third

by Andy Lopata , Peter Roper

It has often been said that the two key skills for any business in the 21st Century are an ability to communicate a message - and a hungry market to communicate that message to. Now, for those outside of the corporate world, the best way to achieve these two objectives is through networking and speaking to groups.
Andy Lopata and Peter Roper have written a really handy book on how to achieve this. But the book is more than just a guide to the shy and anxious. In a very simple way Andy and Peter have explained how anyone can improve the way they are perceived in the market place through networking and public speaking.

Read more ...

or check it out at Amazon

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Free PowerPoint Twitter tools

Here is a site where you can download tools to add twitter to your presentations ...

Ever wanted to make presentations a more interactive, Web 2.0 experience?
The PowerPoint Twitter Tools prototypes are now available.
Get ahead of the backchannel! Put in feedback slides at regular intervals throughout your presentation, so you’re not the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on!
Tempted, but worried about what people might say? No problem – the tools include the ability to include a moderated feed

How to listen so that you handle the Q&A session effectively

In this excellent article, John Zimmer looks at the question and answer period in terms of listening.  He comes up with 9 excellent ways to handle this sometimes difficult part of a presentation, and covers listening as well.

An important aspect of public speaking occurs, paradoxically, when it the speaker’s turn to stop talking and listen to questions or comments from the audience.  These moments are to be welcomed.  They show that the audience members are engaged and they afford the speaker an opportunity to interact more closely with them.  To make the most of these moments, a speaker must listen actively.

Listen

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Active listening means listening for the meaning and feeling of what the other person is saying.  It means paying attention to what is being said and thinking carefully about how to respond.  This might seem like common sense, but as Mark Twain once said, “Common sense isn’t so common.”  So how we listen actively? Here are some points:

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Every speaker must respect the power of a potato

A potato?  Jim writes ...

Bored audiences will get up and walk out of your speeches. How would you keep the attention of 400+ engineers who were attending an industry dinner event that they didn’t really want to be at on a weekday evening? I recently had the opportunity to be the master of ceremonies at such an event – great gig, tough crowd.

OK so how was a potato of use here?   Read the article for an example of how Jim used creativity and how it works so well in successful public speaking assignments

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Five Rules for Better Presentations

From Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson ...

I often think the presenter would be more compelling if he would ditch the presentation software and just speak. Because of this, I’ve even thought of outlawing presentation software in our company. But alas, It has become a staple of corporate life. It is the ubiquitous prop that attends every presentation.

So if we can’t outlaw presentation software, at least we can regulate it and, hopefully, try to improve it. Here are my five rules for making more effective presentations.

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Are you host or guest at your presentation?

What an interesting thought form Sarah Gerschman:


So often we begin a speech by thanking the audience or someone in the audience for asking us to speak. This small (arguably unnecessary gesture) perhaps unknowingly puts the speaker in the mindset of being a guest. The speaker subsequently must ingratiate himself to the "hosts" - the audience.

What happens?   ... Read more >>>

http://sarahgershman.blogspot.com/

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How to Capitalize on Your Uniqueness to Ensure Repeat Business


 with Glenna Salsbury, CSP, CPAE


Glenna Salsbury

Your platform effectiveness is powerfully enhanced by your clarity of unique message. Are you holding audiences in the palm of your hand? Are you experiencing repeat and referral business time after time?

One of the most practical ways to tap into your authentic message is to begin to dig out of your memory bank the most significant events, most significant people and most life-changing insights that have impacted you.

Life-changing, transformational speakers are those who are captivatingly authentic. Our challenge is to become courageously transparent, to share our own unique truth, with a thoroughly humble heart.

You will learn:

  • methods for clarifying your unique message
  • tips for telling spellbinding stories
  • how to utilize powerful rhythm in your speech
  • why it’s important to deliver elevating laughter
  • practical tools with which to leave your legacy in the lives of your listeners


Register or order the CD or MP3 recording. Note: people who register for the teleseminar will get the MP3 recording of the session for free.

Date: Tuesday, November 24
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern, 6 pm Central, 5 pm Mountain, 4 pm Pacific
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $25


Special Limited-Time Offer:

If you want more information on how to mine your life for presentation content, we suggest the recordings of several earlier programs to complement Glenna’s program:

  • “Digging for the Treasures in Your Stories” with Emory Austin, CSP, CPAE
  • “The Anatomy of a Remarkable, Convention-Maker Keynote” with Joe Calloway, CSP, CPAE
  • “Creating Emotional Triggers to Make Your Stories Memorable” with Doug Stevenson

With your order of Glenna’s teleseminar, CD or MP3, at checkout you will be offered these recordings.

Ten Fatal flaws of public speaking

In this article, Ten Fatal Flaws Frequently Found from the Podium, Sandra Schrift lists 10 basics to success in public speaking.  They may seem obvious, and yet in the focus on writing and delivering a speech, they can be overloooked.  Well worth a look - just to be reminded!

How will you handle your Q & A?

You’ve just wrapped up your presentation, and you’re confident that you’ve conveyed your points clearly and persuasively.  Now, it’s time for the Q&A.

If you’re like many speakers, you view Q&As in one of two ways: you dread them, worried about being caught off guard, or you breeze through them, thinking that the “real work” is behind you. Wrong and wrong, and here’s why Q&A is often the most valuable part of any presentation — it invites dialogue, provides feedback, and, when properly handled, allows you to conclude on an energetic and powerful note.

Q&A is definitely not something to fear; it’s an opportunity to interact with your audience, and it can teach you a lot. But don’t make the mistake of treating Q&A lightly. To take full advantage of its power, consider the following:

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Create your key message in a snap

Olivia Mitchell has written a great post on "How to craft a memorable key message in 10 minutes".  Her post is an excellent model of how this works.  It gives us 9 ways that the key message can be created - all incredibly relevant and useful.   Sometimes it's good to be reminded, like this, to stay focussed.