Saturday, September 24, 2005

Will Seminars Get You Clients?

C.J. Hayden

I often suggest public speaking as a powerful way to show prospective clients what you can do. Many professionals and consultants have built successful practices by giving free presentations to associations, businesses, and educational institutions. But what about producing your own seminar, where you arrange the logistics and invite the guests? Does this work as a strategy for landing clients? Offering a seminar can be an effective means to become more visible to your target market. If you are a good (or even fair) presenter, and the right people come to your seminar, you will definitely get new customers. But to use seminar marketing successfully, you need to be very clear on your goals, and plan each seminar carefully.

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Friday, September 23, 2005

Death by PowerPoint!

Rob Waite, speaker, author and business strategist shares a near death by PowerPoint experience and offers safety tips as well as a free PowerPoint First Aid Kit.We've all endured them - PowerPoint presentations that drone on forever. I call this "Death by PowerPoint". At the end of this release, learn more about how to get your free PowerPoint First Aid Kit via email.The most critical job of a manager, when you boil it all down, is communication. To be successful, a manager has to be effective in communicating one-on-one, in writing and in groups. While weakness in any of these three disciplines will compromise the ability to lead, the weakness most often seen in managers is in group communication.

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Thursday, September 22, 2005

Ten Steps to Fearless Public Speaking

Graham Jones

There is plenty of dubious material which suggests you can combat public speaking fear. Much of it includes fancy techniques such as 'visualisation' or 'breathing techniques'. Well, they might work. But this ten step system is GUARANTEED TO WORK. That's because instead of fancy tricks and techniques, this system of dealing with public speaking fear uses your body's natural defences against fear.STEP ONEPrepare well.

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

The Spoken Word: Still the Most Powerful Form Of Business Communication

Bob Lipp began his career teaching public speaking to college students to help them organize their thoughts and express themselves more effectively. Today he does the same thing for business people, and while the stakes can be somewhat higher, the need is more apparent than ever.“Everyone claims to communicate, but for most businesspeople that means email and cell phone messages,” said Lipp, president of Better Business Presentations (www.betterbusinesspresentations.com). There’s a big difference between making an effective sales presentation that can win a new account and simply leaving a message.”Lipp and his team help businesspeople improve the content, delivery and impact of their presentations to sales prospects, fellow employees, investors, and even the media, through a variety of proven coaching and counseling techniques. The results can be impressive, since effective communication skills increase the potential to connect with and motivate an audience, while ineffective presentations can waste time and money. “Sales prospects who don’t buy into your pitch; employees who don’t understand a new directive; investors who just don’t get excited; and reporters who quickly end an interview, are all examples of ineffective communication,” states Lipp.The mantra at Better Business Presentations can be summed up in three letters: OAD.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Better Business Presentations: A Free White Paper Provides the Basics

Ever wonder what makes a good presentation? Bob Lipp and his team at Better Business Presentations understand that it’s less about what you say and more about how the audience reacts to your message. Their free White Paper entitled “Presentation Basics,” is available at www.betterbusinesspresentations.com and provides an outline that any business person can use. Lipp, who began his career teaching public speaking to college students to help them organize their thoughts and express themselves more clearly, today develops custom counseling programs to support sales people, executives, product managers and more.“Anyone can become a better communicator, whether it’s improving messaging, enhancing delivery, or being a better listener,” states Lipp. “The business person who recognizes how much time and money is lost because of ineffective communications is already on the way to greater success.”Among its successes, a Better Business Presentations client recently announced it would be acquired by a major software company. “We helped their team focus on its message and interact with the media,” stated Arthur Germain, BBP’s vice president and a specialist in media training.

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Monday, September 19, 2005

10 Worst Tips To Give A Speaker

Alan Matthews

1. Learn the speech by heart or read it from a script. This is meant to be a way of making sure you don’t forget what you’re going to say. Instead, it’s usually a way of making sure you don’t connect with your audience. Most people who use a script end up reading it out and, unless you’re a professional actor or a very experienced speaker, this will come across as unnatural and stilted and it will stop you looking at your audience.

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Sunday, September 18, 2005

You Don't Have to Imagine Their Underwear - Public Speaking Tips

Kevin Kearns

Death is often quoted as the second greatest fear for people. While, public speaking has reigned at number one for quite some time. Although I would pick a speech over death, there was probably a time in my life when I would have seriously considered the choice. In college, Communications was my minor, but I never signed-up for Communications 101 because you had to present in front of the class. I thought I was pretty slick for avoiding the class.

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