Public speaking and success for your business

Give a speech. Win a client.
As simple—or even scary—as that formula sounds, a host of entrepreneurs have found that conquering public speaking can be the route to more contacts and customers. Impressing people with your expertise at a conference, in a classroom or over the radio can sometimes win more business than making sales calls or manning a booth at a trade show. Not to mention that the most successful speakers can take home thousands of dollars in fees for an appearance.

Read on for motivation and some very practical secrets to success. The Gift of the Gab

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9 Internet Revenue Streams to Make Your Web Income Soar

I Love the “IRS”:
9 Internet Revenue Streams to Make Your Web Income Soar
with Tom Antion
The Internet affords us multiple low-risk/high-return opportunities to earn big bucks and to promote our speaking/training/consulting businesses. If your business has been affected by the slow economy, Tom will show you how to create income streams so you’ll still have money coming in if your primary business is off.
In this fast-paced session, Tom will share nine different revenue streams you can tap to take your income and fame to completely new levels. Tom’s been immersed in Internet selling every single day for the last 16 years. You do NOT want to miss this teleseminar and the secrets he shares.
You will learn:
• How to maximize your income from website visitors. Not all of them can hire us to speak, but all of them can spend money if we give them the chance.
• How to insulate yourself from ups and downs in the economy. Having multiple streams of revenue is a good insurance policy.
• How to bring in revenue from side projects that don’t even require a website. It’s fun to get surprised with checks and PayPal deposits from deals you don’t even remember creating.
• How to attract and service high-end clients to the point where they could buy you a new house. This is not hocus-pocus. Tom’s been living this life for years and he says the people listening to this call are the perfect candidates to replicate his success.
• Tom’s exact technique on how he can legitimately say, “He couldn’t stop the money coming into his checking account if he tried.”
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More information => http://bit.ly/bmvNcn

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5 Myths About Public Speaking That Are Limiting Your Growth

Public Speaking has been my personal development path to phenomenal growth for more than twenty years now. I am not alone. There are millions of people all over the world who engage in some form of speaking to the public every day as a means of earning income and most of them enjoy it.
Yet I continue to hear such utter rubbish about this activity from normally intelligent members of this place called earth. It makes me sad that they would just embrace this information, internalize it and let it take them to a place where they are ever so happy to be afraid of public speaking.
Are you holding any of these myths in your mind? Then you are certainly limiting your own growth and getting in the way of your best fabulous life! What if these myths did not exist for you? Can you imagine how free and exciting your journey through life could be?
Well, today I’m starting your new journey with you. I will debunk five of your myths for you and you will begin to accept that yes you can stand up and speak before an audience and sit down and smile.
Myth # 1 – Public speaking is a gift that you’re born with
Fact:
It is the skill of expressing your thoughts, convictions and ideas in an orderly manner, to an audience, so as to interest and convince them about a particular subject.
Notice first of all, that it is a skill. This means that it can be acquired and with practice, it can be improved. Practice is the key activity here. Can you imagine reading every book you can about swimming and then expecting to represent your country at the Olympics? Well you can’t read about speaking to an audience and expect to be good at it either. You have to acquire and practice the skill.
Myth # 2 – Speaking in public is so stressful
Fact:
Speaking in public is no more stressful than anything else you do in life. Like everything else it’s your interpretation of the circumstances that makes it so. Thousands of people who were initially terrified of speaking to an audience (like me!) have learnt to eliminate or reduce this fear. With the right approach and practice, you can too.
Myth # 3 – You have to be brilliant to succeed as a Public Speaker
Fact:
Who ever told you that? I am living proof that that’s not true. The essence of making presentations is that your audience walks away with something of value. You don’t necessarily have to be brilliant, witty or perfect to deliver a presentation. Admittedly, these things help, especially if you want to make a career of speaking to people. Essentially what you need is to be clear on your purpose for speaking and that it adds value to your audience.
Myth # 4 – You have to have lots of information in your speech.
Fact:
All you need is two or three main points. Research shows that people remember very few of the mountain of facts that some (inexperienced) speakers throw at them. Your audience basically wants to walk away with one or two main points that have meaning for them, so the degree of complexity that we think is necessary, is not.
Myth # 5 – Every time you make a presentation in public something “bad” is sure to happen.
Fact:
I know that the belief that something awful, terrible or publicly humiliating will happen to you when you speak in public is at the source of many public speaking fears. This is simply not true. Think about all the presentations you have seen. How many times did something “bad” happen? Why should it happen to you? Moreover, everything “bad” that happens can be used to your advantage. For example, if the microphone does not work, this should give you a chance to get closer to your audience.
There you have it! Five myths about public speaking that were holding you back and they came with five facts that will take you forward. Now every time these fears come up immediately focus on the facts, acquire the skill and step out there and speak.

My training in public speaking spans twenty years and include training and coaching thousands of people to achieve their public speaking goals. Before your next speech, download my Basic Steps to Public Speaking Handbook from the Purchase Zone at http://www.itds-training.com so that you can stand up and speak and sit down and smile.
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Beyond the Speech: How to Dramatically Increase Your Clients' Results and Your Income

You know in your heart that a one-hour — or even a one-day — presentation rarely creates long-term change. Yet you don’t know how to create a system (which could include books, tapes, DVDs, software, workbook, coaching) that will truly help people make lasting changes — and compensate you well. Bill faced this same dilemma and knew he wanted to make a bigger difference in his audience’s lives beyond a one-hour or one-day program. He’ll share his decisions along the way and how you can take your content and create an ongoing system. Bill’s business generates well over $3 million annually thanks to these strategies that could help you move to a higher level, too.
Warning: this program is for professionals who really care about making a difference in others’ lives — or as Bill puts it, “this is for people who give a crap that someone does something with their content!”
You will learn:

  • What kind of content lends itself to an ongoing system
  • The questions to ask yourself to determine what kind of system will work for your material
  • How to sell a systems-approach before or after a one-time presentation
  • The pros and cons of having a system to implement
  • How other staff can support the users to get results
  • How having a system expands your revenue and personal satisfaction — and determining if is it worth the trouble

Details are here

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Public Speaking Will Be Your Most Important Skill in the Future

The days of the shrinking violets are over. The world is changing, and there is no longer a future for people who are unable to promote themselves and sell their services and skills.
As the economy changes and hopefully eventually shakes off the current recession, one thing that is not going to come back will be jobs. 9.5 million unemployed in the USA alone or 10% of the work force.
What does that mean to the man in the street? It means that no longer will you be able to send in a resume, twiddle your thumbs through an interview and start work the next week.
What will you need to do? If you hope to find a job, you will need to be dynamic in your presentation of yourself and your skills. You will be competing with many applicants and you have to stand out.
If you can’t find a job because there are none, for instance in the motor manufacturing sector in the US, then you will need to offer your skills as a freelancer or consultant and your success will depend on how you can present yourself.
One thing is for sure. Shy and retiring isn’t going to do it for you. And it needn’t be so. Presenting yourself in public, or also known as public speaking, can be learnt. This is not a skill that you are born with and that only a rare number of people have. Nobody is born cowering in the corner too shy to speak up.
Do you know many kids who are not noisy, brash and in your face? Would you feel comfortable about presenting yourself in a job interview situation or talking to a group of people, where you wanted them to sit up and listen to you and take you seriously?
Public speaking is a skill that you can acquire.
This will be of huge importance to you. You need these skills applying for a job. You need them when trying to grow your business if there are no jobs available. If you are thinking of starting an internet marketing business, you should include video presentations and podcasts as part of your marketing mix.
In fact, there is really no situation in your life where you don’t present yourself and where you don’t need some strong public speaking skills. It’s a misunderstood discipline mostly, as people tend to think of public speaking involving a microphone, huge auditorium and loads of people.
Not so. Your public speaking skills are of great use in countless situations. And as formal employment goes out of the window, more and more people will have to rely on their public speaking skills to further their careers and businesses.
Michael Lee
Download an amazing FREE report that reveals the simple steps to deliver a dazzling presentation and get a standing ovation every time at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/dazzling.htm

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How to Produce Profitable Public Seminars

Can you still make money by selling seats at public seminars? Or is it one of the easiest ways to lose your shirt? Yes, and yes.
Public seminars are a fantastic way not only to make good money, but also to have potential clients preview you, and build your list of fans. Yet there are pitfalls you must avoid or you will be lamenting paying the hotel’s non-refundable deposit. Monica will share her secrets on making sure that all the are bases covered before you begin. If producing profitable public seminars is a goal for you, this session will provide invaluable learning, tips, and tricks of the trade. Plus, you may even learn a few things to avoid at all costs!
What you will learn:
• What decisions have to be made BEFORE you market
• From what sources to get your revenue
• How to cut your expenses
• Other benefits public seminars can provide you
• Common fears and how to overcome them
Click here for all the details …

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Who needs a book on public speaking?

Tim Ferriss replies to the question: What books should I read to learn how to get good at public speaking? … in five minutes. This is practical advice, worth reading.
Not sure about the diet coke!!
http://bit.ly/9TSu3e

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Secret to World-Class Speaking

It was downright devious, definitely bordered on preposterous, and decidedly over the top. Maybe even a little cheesy. Yet the audience gobbled it up.
The speaker gave a brilliant performance. He courted his audience’s emotions. He pushed and pulled on their hot buttons. He pandered to the whimsical fancies of the crowd.
Effective?
Yes… if you’re looking for a temporary high.
Valuable?
No, not at all. I remembered what he did-but I didn’t get anything meaningful from his talk. In short, it seemed like he was just blowing motivational smoke down into our collective consciousness.
With his deep, thundering preacher’s voice he rhythmically concluded his speech in a poetic cadence. Then he ripped open the front of his shirt ala Hulk Hogan. The buttons danced all over the stage injecting spontaneous combustion to his ending.
And the crowd roared with abundant enthusiasm…
They chanted. They cheered. They fed off his energy. They wanted more. They rose off their seats applauding His Highness.
I discreetly shook my head in disbelief…
He gave the crowd a buzz and milked it for what its worth. He sold them their fix by shooting them in the arm with a rush of “feel good” adrenaline. I thought the days of rah-rah hype ended in the 80’s. Guess not.
You see, His Highness didn’t engage his audience at all. He pumped them up with motivational “feel good” bullet points. This type of oratory works well if you balance it with substance and meaning. Otherwise people will lose that good feeling somewhere between the time they drive off the parking lot and the time they swing open their front door.
So what’s the secret to engaging your audience at a world-class level?
1) Start with a story. But not just any story. A personal story. One that puts you right dab in the middle of it. Preferably, one that no one else in the world can tell but you. And by all means, let us know who you really are.
2) Expose the conflict. Is there a problem that needs resolving? Is there an archenemy? Can you quote facts and figures? Who are the victims if nothing is done?
3) Identify the solution. Is it a product? Maybe a program. Perhaps it’s an organization. What makes this solution unique? How does this stand out from other solutions?
4) Name the beneficiaries. Who benefits from this solution? Are they your clients? Maybe they’re your donors. Do they live overseas? And how are they benefiting?
5) Give your reason. Now answer the why question. What do you get for doing this? What caused you to get involved? Why should prospects join, buy or promote what you offer?
I know you’re smart enough to not follow in His Highness’ footsteps. You have an authentic, passionate message you want to present at a world-class level. And you realize giving genuine value through a personal story will touch, engage and affect an audience much more and much longer than chants and cheers alone.

Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today athttp://www.TommyYan.com.  If you’re a speaker, trainer, coach, or a consultant, the major challenge you face is connecting with your audience. You talk, shout, or recite your message while they are dreaming about dinner.  Their eyes are glossy, their minds’ elsewhere, and their bodies ready to bolt. You don’t have a lot of time, so you’ve got to grab their attention fast. Or else, you’ll die wrestling against audience resistance.  Find out how
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Positioning Yourself For More Speaking Engagements

12 essential Steps to Attract Your Ideal Customers
With all due respect, love and admiration, why do you, some of our planet’s best teachers (professional speakers) think that all you have to do is throw up a website to get invitations to speak? What’s with the trend to try to build relationships only over the Internet? Can you imagine the response of a meeting planner if the author of the best-selling “how to” book actually picked up the phone and called the CEO of an organization to suggest a way in which she/he can solve at least three of the organization’s five challenges?
Yes, of course, you can imagine it. Then I’d like for you to tell yourself that the only difference between you and the high profile speaker is positioning – and OK, I’ll concede, more experience. There are so many ways to showcase your expertise to the world, and I’m going to show you the most basic, yet essential steps that you can take to keep from being on the endangered speakers list.
No cynics, please. If you’re excited about building your speaking business, this is one of the most important articles you’ll read. No matter how many different formats I use to communicate this information, these 12 Positioning Steps are critical to meeting planners taking you seriously.
These steps are based on my experiences in booking more than 2,200 paid engagements. They include simple steps that Mark Victor Hansen taught me back in 1982 and the current strategies that Internet marketing experts recommend.
Positioning Yourself Creates the Clarity You Need to GROW Your Business
I believe that it’s ideal for you to have someone represent you full time, rather than do it yourself. But since many speakers begin their speaking careers with another primary source of income, it’s a transition that can be costly unless you have thoroughly positioned yourself. Besides, when you have done what’s necessary to position yourself, you will more readily attract a commissionable salesperson (and bureaus) because you won’t be so darn hard to book! Once you have clarity about your positioning, you’ll find low cost ways of implementing the on-going strategies.
Whether you’re an emerging or active speaker, review these 12 Positioning Steps and set the stage to finalize each step. Be willing to take responsibility for not getting booked as much as you’d like to be. I’m giving you the system here and once you begin to complete each step, you’ll be ready for the next one.
Taking 100% Responsibility for Where You Are Now, Begin with #1
1.) List your core competencies. Your core competencies are the source of your competitive advantage. By combining a set of core competencies in different ways and matching them to the needs of your target market, a speaker can launch a business. Core competencies are the glue to your business model. What do you do best? What do you know the most about? What are your strengths?
2.) Make a list of facts about yourself. As a speaker, you are hired for two reasons: facts (about you) and third party endorsements (of you). Have you won any awards? Have you addressed eight of the 50 chapters of your professional association? Are you a voice in your industry? What are the results of your expertise in a particular industry? What are your professional credentials that separate you from your competition? Are you a top producer in your sales field?
Are you a published author, have you written home study guides and or recorded educational CDs that demonstrate your value in your target market? Are you a columnist in your local newspaper? By the way, if you’re a beginning or emerging speaker, one of the best things you can to to build your credibility is to get published. You don’t have to have an agent or a publisher, you can self-publish. Or you can write an ebook and sell it from your website.
3.) Make a list of third party endorsements. The first reason as stated above that you are hired is because of facts about you. The second reason is third party endorsements. You get hired more often than not because of referrals…others who believe in you and pass on the good word about you. Meeting planners will focus on the results you’ve gotten for others. The more you can focus on the results that you have provided for others, the more others will pay attention. That’s why people buy.
4.) Compose your I AM, I DO statement. The advertising term is “unique selling proposition” or USP. It’s the same thing as your “elevator speech.” I’ve created a template in one of my products called Let Me Introduce Myself where you create two sentences that succinctly describe your expertise and your value to your target market.
Choose the appropriate adjectives, adverbs and direct objects that separate you from your competitors. These two sentences reveal exactly how you will bring value to your target market. Even high profile speakers who fail to continually refresh their USPs can track their lack of bookings to fuzzy USPs, making the erroneous assumption that their celebrity is sufficient, or their past accomplishments will secure their future invitations to speak. Wrong! Too much new talent coming out to secure anyone’s future who has remained stagnant. Your clarity about your value to your target market is imperative and should be very clear in your USP. This is your marketing message.
5.) Craft your signature speech. When you’re beginning, focus on one presentation topic. This should be the one that you are most passionate about communicating. It should be no more than two paragraphs plus bulleted deliverables; in other words, the bullets are the audience takeaways. This will prevent the presentation topic from being all about you and/or your philosophy. Your prospective buyers want to know what’s in it for them, not what’s in it for you! It should reflect your ability to influence others to have more productive lives, have greater success at work, reduce stress, generate new ideas, overcome the odds, increase performance and or reduce costs, etc. The more experienced you become, the more your presentation topics can be described in ways that benefit the buyer.
6.) Identify your target market or your ideal client. Craft your ideal client profile. For instance, if you are a top producer in real estate, your target market might be the real estate industry which would include all companies and all associations in the real estate industry. Your ideal clients would be real estate agents who want to become top producing Realtors®.
Once you excel in that niche, you can broaden your outreach to include a secondary target market such as general sales. All commissioned sales individuals are seeking ways to increase production. You already have the proven systems, the daily sales activities, the marketing strategies that lead you to become a top producer, so why not expand your outreach? Ask your clients what they struggle with and figure out how to help them increase their production or decrease their losses. The more experienced you become, you may even be able to expand to other secondary markets.
7.) Create a compelling website. Your site can be simple if you have the necessary elements to describe your expertise and your value to your target market(s). The eleven (11) standard elements are:
1.) Info about you/ your biographical sketch containing facts about you
2.) Third party endorsements – These can be under a “reviews” section or these can be integrated into the site or on flash pages, or using scrolling text
3.) Your signature speech with descriptive paragraph and bullets and other presentation topics if you have more than one
4.) A DVD of you in action, speaking
5.) Articles about you or by you
6.) Meeting planner’s tools – This is a valuable meeting planner resource page such as various photos (color and black/white) of you that can be uploaded, your introduction, your pre-program questionnaire, your AV requirements
7.) Products that you offer to your client base
8.) Your shopping cart – Offer your extended learning materials here such as CDs, books, training manuals, study guides, ebooks, teleclass recordings, boot camps, continuing education courses and other products that bring value to your ideal customer. A good shopping cart tracks your customers and profits coming into your company.
9.) Create an opt-in box on your landing page. An opt-in box is the tool that makes it possible to build and track your customer base notifying them of your new products, your blog, helpful articles, etc. You’ll want to provide incentive for them to opt-in by giving away free information, reports and tips. Free information that you offer will builds your list, leverage your outreach and increase your profit if used wisely. Speakers with large databases are appealing to those experts who host boot camps and educational intensives. The opt-in box is an ideal way to grow your database.
10.)Privacy policy
11.)Site map
8.) Establish your speaking fee with options for generating a profit. Fee flexibility can be the key to making money speaking in this economy. There are 7 ways to earn money when you speak:
1.) Fee plus expenses
2.) Fee only
3.) Expenses only
4.) Fee + expenses + product sales
5.) Product sales only
6.) Product sales + expenses
7.) Pay the organization a % of your product sales
9.) Turn your expertise into products. These include CDs, manuals, workbooks, teleclasses, DVDs of you speaking, CE courses, coaching/consulting programs offering accountability systems (most people get better results when they’re in a program). Bundle various products that you’ve created. You can interview industry leaders, top producers, successful managers, community activists, radio personalities and association executives and turn your passion for speaking into an exciting educational opportunity for yourself.
10.) Identify all of the possible marketing activities that you can do to attract your ideal clients/your target market. If you do something in several of these categories on a daily basis, covering all of them in a month, you’ll begin to build a stead flow of inquiries and clients.
11. Systematize the marketing process into daily activities.
This should be a repeatable process the week days of every week. Eventually you can rely on a schedule so predictable that it can all be on auto-pilot. You can even hire virtual assistance to do many of these tasks for you. No more panic attacks in the middle of the night about how you are going to pay your bills. It’s properly positioning yourself and systematizing your marketing activities that is going to make a difference. Spend time every day working on multiple activities so that you aren’t waiting by your phone for it to ring. You’re being pro-active in evaluating the success of each step and considering new ways of implementing them. If you continue to take action steps every day, you will develop a belief system in your company, in yourself and in what your value is to your target market.
12.) Make contact with your prospective buyers. Make it a priority to contact your prospective buyers once you are positioned. Have your systems in place so that you can dedicate time each week to contacting your past clients and future clients. Do not assume that you can reach out to your customer base without picking up the telephone. It’s a great way to introduce yourself to meeting planners if you’re positioned properly. If you are, you will not get ignored. You’ll be making hot or warm calls. But if you’re not positioned properly, you’ll be making cold calls. See the difference?
The path of least resistance feeds on the natural tendency of people to fear prospecting. Cold calling has become a dirty word associated with high pressure calls and unscrupulous tactics resulting in no sales. If you’re a beginning speaker or a speaker who is not generating inquiries with your website’s SEO, if your database is still small, if your email blasts are not yet generating telephone inquiries, it’s time to complete the Positioning Steps above so that you’ll be comfortable with reaching out and actually contacting your buyer, either face to face or via telephone.
How’s Your Current Positioning Working for You?
Do you live in the world of cause and effect? It’s a great advantage if you’d like to get to the truth of why you are not booked as much as you’d like to be. When you devote the time and attention to undertake these 12 Positioning Steps, you’ll have a system. You’ll know what to do. You’ll know what to say. Your telephone will ring. Your web inquiries will increase. You’ll begin holding new dates on your calendar. Stand back and watch how big your voice becomes in your target market.
Mary McKay, speaker marketing specialist, is the founder of the Turnkey Speaker Booking System, where you learn to position your expertise for more paid speaking engagements. To get your F.R.E.E. weekly tips, relevant articles and coaching on positioning and marketing your expertise and attracting more clients, visit http://www.TurnkeySpeaker.com.

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Eight Speakers Look Ahead to 2010

Kate Mytty writes:

Like many industries, the speaking and publishing businesses have just breathed a sigh of relief that 2009 is over, and are looking forward to a better 2010. All the experts are saying that the recovery will be slow; that’s the conventional wisdom. But for a deeper, more thoughtful look ahead, we went out to some of our favorite speaker-authors and asked them what they’re thinking about right now as they ponder the year to come. And they came back in great form, with unusual insights and perspectives. Here’s a sneak peek what they’ll be telling audiences around the world this year.

http://bit.ly/ahB7m1