----------------------------- No Sweat Speaking(sm) Ezine ----------------------------- Speaking Tips for Greater Confidence, Skill, Influence & Profit ----------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 2, Number 3 March, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Allan Kaufman & Allan Misch, Editors, Allan and Allan, Inc. mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com http://www.nosweatspeaking.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- This monthly newsletter is distributed by request only. If you want to stop it, you can find instructions at the end of the newsletter. (c) 2003 Allan And Allan, Inc. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Please send this Ezine to those you know who (1) need to give technical, sales, marketing, or management presentations; (2) are interested in developing or improving their presentation skills; (3) want to make money speaking and training; (4) need to improve their performance; or (5) have a fear of speaking or are nervous when they speak. This newsletter also is good for building relationships with your clients, customers, associates, and friends. Send this to them with a note that you're thinking about them. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Attention *** If you're receiving this issue from someone and would like to get your own complimentary newsletter plus 2 valuable BONUS reports, please visit... http://www.nosweatspeaking.com or... mailto:nssezine@nosweatspeaking.com?subject=Subscribe ----------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVACY STATEMENT: We absolutely will not share your address with anyone. Period! ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Learning to communicate is like taking out an insurance policy. You never know when you'll need it, but it's too late to take it out after you need it." Allan Kaufman as quoted in Baltimore Magazine ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** A Fantastic Resource *** Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for using *free* articles to drive Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links... without spending a dime on advertising! We use this resource and it's incredible! The idea is simple and ingenious. Find out more at http://hop.clickbank.net/?aanosweat/ezarticles. ----------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Featured Article 2. No Sweat Speaking(sm) Tip (Reducing Performance Anxiety) 3. Presentation Skills Tip 4. Stealth Communication(sm) Tip (Communicating Subconsciously) 5. Humor Tip 6. Dear Allan and Allan (Answers to Your Questions) ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Fast-Track to Become a Confident Speaker *** Say Adios to Speaking Anxiety and Grow Your Business! http://www.nosweatspeaking.com/coaching.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Featured Article ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Make Boring Technical Presentations Come Alive!** by Allan Kaufman Many people make their living giving technical presentations. Unfortunately, presentations on technical subjects often are boring. To make your technical presentations and workshops interesting, consider spicing them up by doing the following: => Grab your audience right away -- Go to http://nosweatspeaking.com/articles/grab_audience_article.html and read our article entitled, "How to Grab Your Audience by Their Corpuscles and Wake Them Up!" This will get you started. => Use humor throughout your presentation - Read our humor tips in all our Ezine issues. To view back issues go to http://nosweatspeaking.com/ezine/back_issues-2002.html => Keep your audience continually involved. Increase audience participation as your presentation or workshop time increases. The days of audiences sitting by passively as speakers lecture to them are gone. In programs of 45 minutes or more, consider using individual exercises and group exercises to help get your points across. You could have every 3 to 5 people form a team. Give out a team exercise and then have each team appoint a spokesperson to report its findings to the rest of the audience. => Use the experiences and successes of some in your audience to illustrate your points. Your audience will related to "their" successes and you'll develop powerful rapport, get more "buy-in" to your ideas, and strengthen old relationships and develop new ones. I once coached someone who gave boring week long technical workshops. He feared for his job after he got very poor evaluations from the participants. After a coaching session, he added humor and workshop exercises, asked more questions, and lectured less. He got the best evaluations ever and saved his job. Do the same and you may even get a raise! For coaching in this area, go to http://nosweatspeaking.com/coaching.html. Sometimes it takes only a small amount of refining your technique or style to make boring technical presentations come alive. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Check This Out! *** "It's Bad Enough That Most Public Speakers Are Knee-Knocking Scared; Even Worse, Most Are Deathly Dull! You Don't Have to Be One of Them." http://www.instantspeakingsuccess.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. No Sweat Speaking(sm) Tip (Reducing Performance Anxiety) ----------------------------------------------------------------- **It May Not Be Public Speaking that You Fear** by Allan Misch Sometimes, the anxiety that presenters feel is related to an event or trauma that rears its ugly hidden head as a public speaking fear. To get rid of the anxiety, you must first discover and acknowledge the "real" problem. For example, I worked with a woman who thought she had a speaking fear. From childhood on, people -- especially her parents -- told her that she spoke in a low voice. Her real fear was a fear that her audience would not hear her. After applying our No Sweat Speaking(sm) process on the low voice issue, her "public speaking" fear disappeared, and she spoke audibly and clearly. Based on our work, we believe that many public speaking anxieties stem from emotionally upsetting issues that are family or school related issues. Some anxieties may also result from work or other stress related issues that aren't directly related to public speaking. So go within, and search for the real cause of your public speaking fear -- maybe a father that withheld appreciation, a mother that told you children should be seen but not heard, or another problem -- because public speaking may not be what you fear. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "In minutes you were able to do for the audience what some people have been trying to do for themselves for a lifetime. You two helped audience members get rid of the fear of public speaking right before my very eyes.... Any organization can benefit greatly by witnessing your seminar.... You two are a great team!" Craig Valentine Toastmasters International 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Presentation Skills Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------- **The Art of Introducing** by Allan Kaufman What is the purpose of your speaker introduction? Is it to make you feel good? Hopefully, not. Your introduction should... 1. Get the audience ready to hear and see you -- to put them in the right mood and tell them why they should listen to you. 2. Aid in developing a rapport with your audience. 3. Credentializes you as the expert or knowledgeable person who is going to either share valuable information or do what your audience expects. 4. State your presentation subject and it's importance to your audience. For more information on introductions and some examples, go to http://nosweatspeaking.com/spkr_resources.html and select introducing a speaker. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Great Speaking Resource *** Turn your speaking, training, or sales skills into cash. Check out a great professional speaking resource. We recommend it highly. Lots of great tips and tricks. Just click on or paste the 2-line URL into your browser. http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=50475&u= www.antion.com/public-speaking.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Stealth Communication(sm) Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stealth Communication(sm) is communication that's fast, can't be seen or heard by the conscious mind but consistently hits its target -- the subconscious. **What's Important About That?** by Allan Misch When trying to influence prospects, such as meeting planners or other decision-makers to book you, use your service, or make a favorable decision, you should know what's motivating them -- what are their needs. Show how you can meet their needs, and you have an excellent opportunity to influence their decisions. A powerful question to ask is "What's important about that?" Another way of stating the question is "What will that do for you?" You can substitute the other person's words for "that." After asking the question four or five times, maybe less, you'll learn their most important motivational need. Here's an example: The meeting planner says that she wants a motivational speaker. You say, "What's important about having a motivational speaker?" She says that the attendees need to be motivated. You say, "What's important about motivating the attendees?" She says that last year's opening speaker was dull, got the event off to a bad start, and she got a lot of criticism. You say, "So what will having an exciting speaker do for you?" She says that it will get the meeting off to a great start and she'll get kudos not grief. It took three iterations of the question to find out that her greatest need is that she wants a speaker that'll make her look good and get things off to a good start. Armed with that information, you're now in a position to explain how you can make her look good and get her event off to an exciting start. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Hot Internet Business Secrets *** Over 1,000+ PAGES of the Hottest, Proven Profitable Internet Business Secrets Broken down Into An EASY-TO-DUPLICATE System! We highly recommend checking out this site. It's jam-packed with THE EXACT INFORMATION YOU NEED to start, build, and grow your very own, profitable Internet business. So visit... http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/769587 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Humor Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Personalize Your Humor** by Allan Kaufman Anecdotal humor generally is the best and easiest humor to find and use. But you could also use humor that's in the public domain. When you do use public domain humor, personalize it. Make it sound believable. Make sure it's relevant to your message, and practice it on yourself, your family, and others before you use it in your presentation. It’s okay to find a joke or story you like and then to make it your own by changing the names in the piece to people you know, or by putting yourself in the story. You could say the situation happened to you just last month or to your brother last winter. The point is this -- it’s okay to embellish. Your goal is to get your message or your point across to your audience. You can do this by using humor that you personalize and that relates to your message. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Dear Allan and Allan (Answers to Your Questions) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Allan and Allan, In your Strategy 3 (from the bonus report that you send when signing up for your NSS Ezine), you mention writing a speech to minimize distracting notes, but also recommend not reading a speech -- to speak impromptu off of notes. You also recommend rehearsing/practicing your speech -- do you rehearse being impromptu (don't know if I'm saying this right) or do you actually speak extemporaneously? Grady from Great Neck. Dear Grady, In Strategy #3, writing your speech to minimize distracting notes and speaking impromptu are separate issues. When we use notes, they contain keywords -- a few words that stand for our points or stories. We learn and practice our presentations and rely on our keyword notes to prompt us. We also recommend that you practice speaking impromptu -- speaking on subjects for which you have not prepared and have no notes. In our workshops, attendees practice this skill. It helps you to think quickly, organize your thoughts, and speak with confidence. Allan and Allan Submit questions to mailto:questions@nosweatspeaking.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Attention Small Business Owners *** Here's one of the best websites on the Internet for small business marketing. We use this site and its great information as a resource. Get a free 24-page Marketing Plan Workbook. Visit... http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=50478 ----------------------------------------------------------------- **************************** Earn Referral Fees **************************** You can earn a 15 percent finders fee for referring Allan and Allan, Inc. for speaking and training engagements. For details contact us at... mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Complimentary Articles for Your Publications ----------------------------------------------------------------- We will have articles available for reprint in your publication, company newsletter, etc. You may use articles written by us that you see on our website at... http://www.nosweatspeaking.com/articles/article_index.html and in the NSS Ezine. View back issues at... http://www.nosweatspeaking.com/ezine/back_issues-2002.html Print the entire article along with the by-line at top and the credits, and complete contact information at the end of each article. Also, please send us a tear sheet or electronic copy. Thanks! ----------------------------------------------------------------- We don't send out an unsolicited newsletter. You must request it to receive it. We don't like receiving SPAM, and we sure as heck try not to SPAM others. But sometimes people sign up their friends. If you received this issue and don't recall requesting it, refer to the email address at the end of the Ezine. If it's not yours, then someone sent it to you. To get your own copy, sign up now. To stop the newsletter, refer to the instructions below. ----------------------------------------------------------------- To Request the No Sweat Speaking(sm) Ezine: http://www.nosweatspeaking.com or mailto:nssezine@nosweatspeaking.com?subject=Subscribe To Stop Receiving the Ezine: http://www.nosweatspeaking.com/unsubscribe.html For Back Issues: http://www.nosweatspeaking.com/ezine/back_issues-2002.html To Submit Questions to Dear Allan and Allan: mailto:questions@nosweatspeaking.com For Feedback on the Content of This Issue: mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I just had to write to thank you for that wonderful seminar.... Your 'No Sweat Speaking' offered us a new approach to calming our fears associated with public speaking.... You worked individually with each participant to determine each person's needs. The technique is easy to understand and applicable in any situation! Public speaking is not a threat after having learned how to soothe any anxiousness associated with speaking to large groups." Karen Henry, President Anne Arundel County Employees Toastmasters ----------------------------------------------------------------- We like to think that what we do has a positive impact on others. That's one of the reasons why we publish this Ezine. It's gratifying when we get positive feedback from our readers. Here's what one reader sent us. "I have no idea where or how I subscribed to your newsletter, and the sad part is that I cannot say, "Thank you!" to the person who extended this blessing to me. I am a networking coach who happens to speak... but I've trained endlessly, and I've even taken an extended course at UCLA Extension in California. The course was about $500.00 and lasted 8 weeks. I've learned more from 2 of your newsletters than I learned in an 8 week course. It wouldn't be right if I did not pause to let you know that your newsletter is incredible, enlightening, informative and a real treat for many. Without a doubt, your newsletter is the best I've read to date... and I've read some good ones! Keep up the outstanding job... you are making a tremendous impact. Thank you, thank you, thank you." Warmly, Janice Smallwood-McKenzie The Networking Coach/Author "101 Commandments of Networking: Common Sense But Not Common Practice" http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/2513 (The link is for your information. We make nothing on it.) Thanks Janice for your warm thoughts. You obviously practice what you preach. ----------------------------------------------------------------- No Sweat Speaking(sm) Ezine ----------------------------- Publisher: Allan and Allan, Inc. Editors: Allan Kaufman and Allan Misch P.O. Box 2721 Columbia, Maryland 21045-1721 USA Tel: 410-363-0080 Fax: 410-356-8374 mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com http://www.nosweatspeaking.com "Your next presentation doesn't have to make you sweat!" Experience No Sweat Speaking(sm)! -----------------------------------------------------------------