----------------------------- No Sweat Speaking(sm) Ezine ----------------------------- Speaking Tips for Greater Confidence, Skill, Influence & Profit ----------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 2, Number 5 May, 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 TWO 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- **How To Use Humor When You Think You're Not Funny** by Allan Kaufman and Allan Misch How do you interject humor into your presentation if you think that you're just not funny? Try this... 1. Develop your own humor library. Go to new and used bookstores, and buy humor books. Look for books on business humor and other "clean" humor topics. Visit your local library. Take out humor books. At the end of this article, we'll give you a list of some good humor resources to consider. 2. Practice telling jokes to everyone -- to your friends, your co-workers, your relatives. If they laugh, then save the joke for your collection. 3. Personalize the humor. It’s okay to change the names in the joke or story to your wife, your brother, or your cousin. You can put yourself in the story. Also make the humor relevant to your topic or point. For example if you were speaking on the topic of compromise, you might say... "The secret to my successful marriage is that my wife and I have learned the art of compromise. For example, for our anniversary this past year, I wanted to get a new car and she wanted a new mink coat. So we compromised... We bought a mink coat and keep it in the garage!" 4. Before using humor in your presentations, practice it on others at least 25 times. If you're not getting laughs, don't use it in your presentations. 5. Begin interjecting relevant humor into your speeches. Use at least one joke, story or humorous anecdote every five to ten minutes. If your presentation isn't too serious, try injecting humor in your opening. Then, one or more funny pieces in the body of your speech, and end with a story. Try this first by using humor in the body of your presentation. Once you taste success, begin to use humor in the opening or close. You'll be amazed at how this will improve your programs. 6. Here are some sources of humor... Anything by Larry Wilde –- do a search on him. He’s written more humor books than anyone, about 60 books. "The Official Wasp Joke Book," "The Official All America Joke Book," "The Ultimate Lawyers Joke Book," "More The Official Doctors Joke Book," "The Official Computer Freaks Joke Book," "The Official Golfers Joke Book," etc. These are paper back books. Then there is his "Library of Laughter" and his "Treasury of Laughter" hardback books. Jacob M Braude’s "Complete Speaker’s and Toastmaster’s Library," eight small volumes. Jacob M. Braude’s "Braude’s Handbook of Stories for Toastmasters and Speakers" Jacob M. Braude’s "Treasury of Wit and Humor" "1,497 Jokes, Stories & Anecdotes, A Speaker’s Handbook" by Herbert V. Prochnow "Podium Humor" by James C. Humes So learn to be comfortable using humor in your presentations. Start a humor library. Personalize your humor. Make it relevant to your topics. Practice it. Use it throughout your presentations. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** Check This Out! *** *Is Your Public Speaking Fear Holding You Back?* Are you not getting the job you want or the promotion you deserve because you suffer from speaking anxiety? How much money, loss of opportunities, or damage to your reputation is this fear costing you? *We Can Help You!* Using our No Sweat Speaking(sm) techniques, we provide personal coaching to help you get rid of your speaking anxieties in a relatively short period of time. Send us an email and tell us you want assistance. We will email you some questions to assess your situation and then send you a proposal as to how we can help you. It doesn't matter where you live as this can be done via email and phone consultations. mailto:allank@nosweatspeaking.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. No Sweat Speaking(sm) Tip (Reducing Performance Anxiety) ----------------------------------------------------------------- **How to Handle Specific Anxiety** by Allan Misch Specific anxiety is one type of speaking anxiety. Specific anxieties are caused by a lack of skill such as an inability to organize your presentation, not knowing how to prepare for your presentation, and not knowing your subject thoroughly. You can eliminate specific anxieties by learning how to organize a presentation, knowing how to plan for a public speaking activity, and learning all about your subject. You can do this by taking public speaking courses from a competent teacher, or by working with a competent public speaking coach. When you master the skill, the anxiety should go away. If it doesn't there may be other underlying issues that won't be addressed by mastering skills. These issues cause generalized anxieties, which are difficult to eliminate through traditional approaches. Our No Sweat Speaking(sm) Process addresses generalized anxiety. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Repeat the Question** by Allan Misch During a Question and Answer session, repeat the questioner's query. Do this for a few reasons. First, so your questioner knows that you heard and understood the question. Second, so the rest of your audience hears the question, especially if you're using a microphone. Third, if the question is couched in negative language, repeat it but recast it using positive language. And fourth, if you're being audio-taped or video-taped, so that the question and your answer are captured on the recording. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** 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. **Why You Shouldn't Tell Your Audience That You're Nervous** by Allan Misch I attended a seminar recently. The speaker began by stating that she was a little nervous, because it was the first time she was presenting the program. Talk about "warming down" your audience! I thought, "Oh boy, she might as well jump into the hole and cover herself with dirt!" Sure enough, it was down hill from there -- a disaster. Here's the effect her comments had on the audience members' subconscious minds. They felt they would be short changed. Actually, she knew her material, but it didn't matter to the audience. She put them in a negative emotional state from which she couldn't recover. If you're feeling nervous and unsure of yourself, don't tell your audience how you feel, hoping that they'll be sympathetic. Usually, they won't. They'll just feel unsure about you. If they do have some sympathy for you, they'll still feel unsure about you. Instead, use this strategy. Act as if you feel confident and move on. Your audience won't know how you feel. They'll mirror your confidence, and they'll judge you on the content and delivery of your program. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** 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. This is what we used to get started. So visit... http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/769587 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Humor Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Use Humor Right Away to Grab your Audience's Attention** by Allan Kaufman Get your audience laughing in the first 10-15 seconds and you're home free. You'll develop instant rapport. How do you do this? Ask a superfluous question while keeping a serious expression on your face. This question should be one that you know the audience will answer with a "YES." Raise your hand as you ask the question. For example, "How many of you work for a living?" Raise your hand and wait for everyone to raise their hands. If a few don't raise their hands (there are always a few who are afraid to participate), you can say, "Most of us, except for a few of you who are independently wealthy." Then tie in your question with the subject of your speech. Here's another good question, "How many of you graduated elementary school?" Wait for them to raise their hands. They WILL laugh because it's obvious the question is superfluous. Then you could say, "Well, I'm glad because it'll take only an elementary education to understand what I'm about to tell you." Try this technique and then write us back and tell us how it worked for you. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Dear Allan and Allan (Answers to Your Questions) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Allan and Allan, How should I dress when giving a presentation in front of a business audience. Nancy in Nevada. Dear Nancy in Nevada, It's important to make a good first impression. Your credibility depends on it. How you look and how you dress are critical to your success. Be well groomed and neat. Have a neat and appealing hairstyle. Dress as well as your audience or a little better. When speaking before audiences who are dressed in traditional business attire, wear a blue or gray suit with a white blouse. You may also wear a business dress with a matching jacket. Make sure your dress is not too short and all of your buttons are buttoned. Avoid wearing distracting jewelry. Read John T. Molloy's "The Woman's Dress For Success Book" (in paperback). 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. 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"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." 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. And from Moscow... "Thank you so much for your message. As a Vice-President PR, I'll pass on the information to all our members at the next meeting so that everybody learns about the valuable online resources that you have created." Olga Zeleneva Vice President PR Moscow Free Speakers U-6386 Thanks Olga. It's gratifying to know that even from such a long distance we can be helpful to our new friends in Moscow. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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!" 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