May, June, July and August are busy times for us and probably for you. We combined May and June in one issue and July and August in this issue. We hope you are having an exciting, enjoyable summer. ---------------------------- No Sweat Speaking™ Ezine ---------------------------- Speaking Tips for Greater Confidence, Skill, Influence & Profit ----------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 4, Number 6 July/August, 2005 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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) 2005 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- *********************** Check This Out! *********************** "Last year, I made a career change from engineering management to marketing at a new company. Public speaking and even presentations to small groups were my greatest fears and I had gone to great lengths to avoid them throughout my career. In my new company, public speaking was not something I could avoid and my speaking ability would be quickly tested. After a lot of research, I turned to Allan & Allan. Most other companies only offer skill training. What I needed was to overcome my life long fear of speaking in front of groups. The No Sweat Speaking system seemed illogical to me at first and I was skeptical. The great part about the system is that you don't have to understand it or believe that it will work. It just happens. Today I speak in front of groups, give media interviews and conduct training sessions on a routine basis. Not only is my speaking anxiety gone, but my skills continue to improve and I look forward to my next opportunity to speak. I give my highest recommendation for Allan and Allan's system. If it works for me, it can work for anyone." Thanks, Jim M. Connecticut FOLLOWUP: Allan, Things are going well...For our fiscal year ended Mar 31st, I was awarded a Marketing Award at our National Sales Meeting. In addition, I received the highest marks of all presenters for a presentation I gave 3 times for groups of 30 - 50 each session. Jim Editors' Note: WAY TO GO JIM! --------------------------------- Is Speaking Fear Holding You Back, Costing You a Lot of Money? --------------------------------- 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? A whole lot. Let's be honest. If you have performance anxieties, you know you need to kill those butterflies in your stomach, but you're afraid to take the next step and/or you're not willing to invest in yourself to make it happen. One man just said to us that he knows he really needs us to coach him, but he thinks he can't afford to. What he can't afford to do is do nothing and continue NOT getting promoted and continue NOT seeking better job or business opportunities because he may have to speak in front of people. This is so sad. It's especially sad when that same person will take out a $20,000 car loan on a depreciating asset. Getting rid of your speaking anxieties and developing your speaking skills are appreciating assets. They increase your value. This means once you do it, you continue to reap the rewards. One promotion leads to another one and another one, but if you don't do what you need to do to get that first promotion, you can forget about it. ************************************************************** NOTE: This person FOUND a way - he convinced his employer to pay us to coach him! Where there is a will, there is a way. His speaking anxiety is now GONE! ************************************************************** You could be promoting your businesses and increasing your income by speaking to groups who need your products and services, but your speaking anxiety and other performance blocks are holding you back. Probably, you're reading our ezine because you have some speaking anxieties. If they're bad enough, don't you think it's time to do something about it and improve your self-confidence? How much is having a sense of confidence worth to you? Not just in your work and business life but also in your social life? Have you ever thought about being the life of the party? About being less shy? --------------- We Can Help You --------------- Using our No Sweat Speaking™ 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. In the SUBJECT line of your email, put "I need speaking coaching." 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Featured Article 2. Presentation Skills Tip 3. Humor Tip 4. Dear Allan and Allan (Answers to Your Questions) ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Featured Article ----------------------------------------------------------------- **The Most Important Part of the Speech!** by Craig Valentine, MBA "Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself." Aristotle The most important part of the speech is also one of the most neglected parts of the speech. You can improve your storytelling, establish interesting conflicts, make fascinating points, sell them with the push, pull, and passion approach, and use all of the suggested public speaking tools, and yet you will fail to be effective if you do not put into practice the most important part of the speech. Let's look at it in detail. When I give a 45-minute workshop on the art of public speaking, I usually open by thanking my introducer and making a comment such as, "That was a great introduction. It was fabulous. It was... just how I wrote it!" This gets a laugh. Then I go into a self-deprecating humorous story about a terrible public speaking experience I had in which I failed miserably. Then I have the audience do a very quick 15-second activity while standing. Then they sit. After I have spoken for about 4 minutes, I ask the audience, "Have I made any points yet?" They think about it for a second and answer, "No!" "Why not?" I ask. Someone will eventually say, "You were building rapport!" "Absolutely!" I then explain that it is extremely difficult to give people advice without first knowing them. Therefore, it is critical to use what I call get-to-know-you time. This is the time you take at the very beginning of your speech to simply get to know the audience and let them get to know you. I am sure that you would not go up to a stranger on the street tomorrow, stop him in his tracks and say, "You know... you should really start setting some goals in your life!" That person would call the cops on you! Well, audiences are similar when you do not spend any get-to- know-you time with them. If you dive immediately into your points, the audience will ask themselves, "Who does he think he is?" Or, "She does not even know me at all so why is she bombarding me with suggestions?" The way to avoid this is by developing some material for the get- to-know-you time and using it for approximately the first 5-10% of your speech. In a 45-minute speech I may use the first 3-5 minutes for the rapport building. What should you do during this time? That is completely up to you, but the one thing you should not do is make any significant points. It's not the time for that yet. This time is simply used for one thing -- to connect! I call it the most important part of the speech because... If you do not connect up front, your audience will not be around (mentally or sometimes physically) for the remainder of your speech no matter how powerful it may be. Here are some suggestions for things you can do during these first few make-or-break-your-speech moments: o Give thanks to the people who brought you in to speak and mention them by name. o Talk about something interesting that happened on the way to the engagement (perhaps while traveling). o Share something funny that one of the participants said to you and call them by name to make a greater connection. o Share a humorous (self-deprecating) story without attaching a point to it. This works great because your humility will attract the audience to you. o Speak about the city or even the specific location of the event. o Do a very quick activity (15-30 seconds) that involves them in some kind of physical movement such as crossing their arms and then re-crossing them with the opposite arm on top. These types of activities work because they make a kinesthetic connection with the audience. o If the group's energy is already sky high, go ahead and do a call and response, or at least ask them how they are doing and possibly put your hand to your ear so that they will respond verbally. o Mention something positive about the speakers who spoke before you, if there were any speakers. o Do whatever builds a connection without making any points. Why is this so important? Check out the Aristotle quote: Aristotle wrote, way back around 350 BC, about the importance of "putting the audience into a certain frame of mind." The get-to- know-you time empowers you to put the audience into a certain frame of mind while establishing a solid connection with them. ### Author, Craig Valentine, MBA is the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International. As a professional speaker he has given speeches in 44 states and five countries. He is also the author of the brand new book entitled **The Nuts and Bolts of Public Speaking: Practical Tools for Powerful Presentations.** Come to class with the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking on August 11 without even leaving your home. If you have a computer, you can attend his interactive classes without leaving the comforts of your own home or office. This is made possible through his new web-based seminars, or webinars, that begin on August 11. Attendance is limited to 30 participants, so it's a great way to learn through small-group instruction. Click the link below for details of the upcoming webinar entitled "How to Go From Lackluster to Blockbuster Storytelling." https://championsedge-craig.webex.com/championsedge-craig/mywebex/default.php?Rnd9095=0.5705694580952328 Note: This ezine is being sent out post August 11th. Go to Craig's website to get information on future webinars. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Keynote was a huge success! You were right about everything -- from bringing my introduction to adding humor. I ended up adding about 9 humorous things to my presentation -- I actually brought the house down with the expandable ball visual. Thanks for everything. You made all the difference." Best, Trish "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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Presentation Skills Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Presentation Slides: Less Text Is Better** by Allan Misch Your slides should contain graphic elements and text. Select graphics that complement your point or message. Strive to make your graphics full screen with no more than a headline of text that makes your point. Put all the usual bullet points and other text, which you usually see on slides, in a handout. Each page of your handout should consist of a reduced version of your slide in the top half of the page, and your text in the bottom half of the page. Presentation software such as PowerPoint lets you do this in the Notes portion of the application. More on this in a future feature article. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** 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 URL into your browser. http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?AFID=50475&u=www.antion.com/public-speaking.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Humor Tip ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Some Humor Do's** by Allan Misch In the May/June 2005 issue I highlighted some humor strategies to avoid. Here are some humor strategies to spice up your presentation. - Do make fun of yourself. The best target for your humor is you. Find something about yourself that you can exaggerate or joke about. - Do use personal anecdotes. Preparation takes less time and your stories build rapport. - Do personalize jokes and humorous stories. Instead of saying, "This guy said to another guy..." say, "My uncle Vito said to his brother Dominick...." - Do use humorous graphics and visual aids to help make your points. - Do practice, practice, practice using your humor pieces before you use them in your presentations. - Do have fun when you present. When your audience knows that you're enjoying yourself, they'll get on board and enjoy the trip with you. ----------------------------------------------------------------- **If You're Looking for a Home for Your Website, iPowerWeb Makes Website Hosting Simple!** We did a lot of research on Web hosting companies and compared many of them. We decided on iPowerWeb to host our website, and we made a good decision. iPowerWeb is rated #1 for affordable, high quality web hosting. 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First, we'll assist you in discovering the root cause of your fear and any related aspects. Then we'll work with you in applying the No Sweat Speaking™ Process on the root cause and aspects of your fear. Your anxieties will begin to disappear, and within a short time you will speak with confidence. Allan and Allan *As a follow-up note, Brad hired us to coach him and is now happily giving presentations standing up. Way to go Brad! Submit questions to mailto:questions@nosweatspeaking.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** 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. 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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... your newsletter is incredible, enlightening, informative... the best I've read to date... and I've read some good ones!" 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.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- No Sweat Speaking™ 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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