----------------------------- No Sweat Speaking(tm) Ezine ----------------------------- Speaking Tips for Greater Confidence, Skill, Influence, & Profit "Your next presentation doesn't have to make you sweat!" ----------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 5, Number 2 February, 2006 ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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) 2006 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 --------------------------------- 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. 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 unique No Sweat Speaking(tm) techniques, we provide personal coaching to help you get rid of your speaking anxieties in a relatively short period of time. Go to our website and complete the Coaching Inquiry Questionnaire at http://nosweatspeaking.com/coaching_inquiry.html. Completing the questionnaire doesn't obligate you or us to work together. We will assess your situation and send you a proposal about how we can assist you. It doesn't matter where you live. Our coaching can be done via email and phone consultations. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- **Grow your Business: Speak to the Needs of your Audience** by Allan Kaufman Kathie is a financial planner. She consulted with me on how she could stand out from all other financial planners. I suggested that she identify a niche audience and customize her subject matter into a presentation that would meet the needs of this niche market. She chose speaking and consulting to women as her niche. Why is this strategy a good idea for Kathie? Not only does it separate her from others in her field, but it also establishes her as the expert in her field when it comes to delivering presentations to women's groups. So if you want to be unique, and to grow your business, consider customizing your presentation to meet the needs of your audience. Follow this three-step approach. Step 1 -- Analyze your audience. Step 2 -- Identify your audience's needs. Step 3 -- Adapt your subject to meet the specific needs of your audience. Getting back to Kathie, her subject is financial planning. She could give the same canned presentation to every audience. Many financial planners do. But to stand out, she is creating subset presentations geared specifically for different audiences. Here's how she could customize her talk to better meet the needs of all-women audiences: *Step 1 -- Analyze her audience.* First, she knows that the audience consists of women. What ages of women are expected to be there? Younger women have different needs than older women. What is the income level of the expected audience? Women with greater incomes and assets have different needs than women with lower incomes. What is the average educational level of the audience? Kathie can ask the group president or program chairperson for answers to these questions. *Step 2 - Identify her audience's needs.* Now that she has analyzed her audience, she can better identify their needs. For example, older women may be newly divorced or widowed. They may have depended on their husbands to handle all or most of the financial aspects of their lives such as investments, insurance, wills, etc. These women will greatly appreciate the advice of a friendly, supportive, informative financial advisor. Single women in their twenties may now find themselves suddenly on their own with their own incomes and have no clue how to invest for the future, how to save to buy a house, the importance of having a will, etc. Then there are married women who would like to learn how to be more informed and educated about financial matters so that they are not so dependent on their husbands. Another way for Kathie to identify the needs of her audience is to prepare a short questionnaire, get a list of all or a sample of some of the expected audience members, and survey them to find out what their needs are. *Step 3 -- Adapt her subject to meet the specific needs of her audience.* Finally, Kathie can pick and choose those subtopics of her expertise to meet the specific needs of her audience. When speaking to older women, Kathie might focus on how to budget, how to determine cash flow, how to make investments for now and the future, and the need for different types of insurance. If these women have children, then some discussion about college costs may be appropriate. In summary, Kathie will be speaking to the needs of her audience. By analyzing her audience, identifying their needs, and adapting her expertise to meet these needs, she will have a presentation that will be much more meaningful and valuable. Kathie will establish herself as an expert in the field of financial matters. Once she demonstrates to her audience the importance of having a financial planner in their corner, she will pick up a lot more clients every time she gives her presentation. You can do the same thing that Kathie is doing. First, analyze your audience. Second, identify your audience's needs. And third, adapt your subject to meet the specific needs of your audience. Take these three steps, and watch your business grow. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- **What Do You Do When the Projector Bulb Burns Out** by Allan Misch Murphy's Law states, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." It's going to happen. You arrive at the venue and the laptop or projector that was supposed to be there isn't, or the projector bulb burns out. What do you do? First, have a saver line prepared if necessary. (See the humor tip, below.) Second, always have a Plan-B or even a Plan-C. Your Plan-B could be a handout with your key points for your audience. If your audience is a small group, you could use a flip chart. If you're bringing a presentation file on a CD, bring a copy of the file on a 3.5" diskette and on a USB thumb drive. If you're bringing a laptop, bring a second one as a back-up. Remember, stuff happens. So be prepared with Plan-B in case the bulb burns out or the equipment doesn't show up. ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- **How a Few Saver Lines Can Save You** by Allan Misch "A $300 picture tube will protect a 10-cent fuse by blowing first." That's another Murphy's Law. Sometimes, equipment and logistics will not work in your favor no matter how well you plan. This can have dire results on your presentation. So, you want to prevent a potential disaster by having a few "saver" lines ready to use. A "saver" line is a humorous response to a situation that causes your audience to laugh, reduces their stress, and turns control of the speaking environment back to you. Here are a few saver lines you can use. *Feedback from the PA system* "Great, just when I start to speak they have a fire drill!" or "If you think that's bad wait until I start singing." *When the Lights Go Out* "Since you're all sleeping anyway, I turned off the lights." *Projector Bulb Burns Out* "Can anyone see this in the back...or front...or anywhere?" So develop your own or research in humor books saver lines for situations that could happen during your presentations, learn them, and use them when Murphy's Law strikes. ----------------------------------------------------------------- **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. You get an incredible 1,000 megs of space, 500 POP email accounts, 40 gigs of transfer, website builder, 24/7 customer support, free setup, marketing package, and much more... all for an incredible $7.95 per month! 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If you learn a basic structure such as Opening-Body-Close, you could fill it with any content. Then, you will always appear credible and knowledgeable. Look in our ezine archives for articles on organizing presentations. Allan and Allan 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. So visit... http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/769587 ----------------------------------------------------------------- *** A Fantastic Resource *** Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links? 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