This is our summer issue. We use this time to rest and recharge. Our next issue is scheduled for September. We hope you have a fun-filled summer. We'll be in touch in September or earlier with some surprises. Enjoy! ----------------------------- No Sweat Speaking(tm) Ezine ----------------------------- Speaking Tips for Greater Confidence, Skill, Influence, & Profit "Your next presentation doesn't have to make you sweat!" ------------------------------------------------------------ Volume 6, Number 7 July/August, 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------ 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) 2007 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 send a blank email to nssezine@nosweatspeaking.com with "Subscribe NSS Ezine" in the subject. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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! *********************** "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? --------------------------------- Let's be honest. If you have performance anxieties, you know you need to kill those butterflies in your stomach, but you may be afraid to take the next step and/or you're not willing to invest in yourself to make it happen. One man 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 stagnate. 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? Several of our clients were able to get their employers to pay for our coaching services. --------------- 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 by 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 ------------------------------------------------------------ **Use a SLAB to Persuade** by Allan Misch Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean that you should hit audience members broadside with a slab to be persuasive, although that strategy does work with individuals in some cases. Instead, I recommend that you use the SLAB Formula in a persuasive presentation. Usually, you deliver a persuasive presentation to get buy- in from a decision-maker for your proposal. You also give a persuasive talk to move your audience closer to your position. One construct to use in the body of your presentation is the SLAB Formula. It's designed to relate a situation where you learned a lesson, then you suggest how your audience can benefit from what you learned. These are the components of the SLAB Formula. S -- Tell Your STORY Begin the construct by describing to your audience what you or someone else experienced. Tell it in an anecdotal, or story, format. It should be a story where you or the other person learned a lesson. It could be a personal life experience or a business related story. Here is an example using a personal life experience. Your audience is your executive staff. Your organization just had two major project failures and the leadership is not favorably disposed to invest in another project. Here's the story. "When I was in college, I failed Political Science 101, a course that everyone had to take. I re-took it and just passed with a 'D.' Eventually, I changed my major from Engineering to Political Science. Don't ask me why. I also failed the first Political Science course in my major. So I'm sitting with two 'F's and a 'D' in my major and I barely started. "Most students would have given up and changed their major, but I decided to go for it. I received straight "A"s in the rest of the courses. I made my decision the right decision." L -- Tell the LESSON that You Learned Once you've told your story or another's story, link a lesson learned to it. This is a personal lesson that you or the other person learned but one that can be generalized to fit your audience and the current occasion. The example continues. "I learned a valuable lesson and have applied that lesson in many areas of my life. I learned that I shouldn't judge my future based upon my past experiences. I didn't conclude that I would fail or do poorly in my major courses even though my past experiences ended in failures and poor performance. I made a decision to move forward, I worked hard, and I achieved success." AB -- Tell AUDIENCE How They Can BENEFIT from Your Lesson Previously, you've linked a lesson to your story. Now you link the lesson to your audience's concerns. So, you explain how the lesson that you learned can benefit your audience if they apply your revelation. "I know we've experienced some recent setbacks and this hurts. It hurts financially and emotionally. I urge you to not let the past predetermine our future. Instead, we need to seize opportunities to move our company forward, to recoup our losses, and to reap profitable rewards. I believe my proposal will separate us from those past setbacks, and help us recoup and move forward." So use the SLAB Formula. First, tell your story. Next, relate the lesson you learned. Then, show your audience how they can benefit from your lesson. Developing a persuasive presentation is an art, but it also is formulaic. You don't have to bash your audience's heads with a slab. Just apply the SLAB Formula. ------------------------------------------------------------ "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 ------------------------------------------------------------ **Keep Presentation Slides Brief** by Allan Kaufman Don't clutter your PowerPoint (or other presentation software) slides with words. You've probably seen slides where the speaker photocopied or downloaded a whole printed page onto the slide. This is a bad idea that will send your audience into Snoresville. A slide should just highlight one idea. Use a title phrase and a full-screen graphic related to your idea or point. Put the details in a handout. A great reference book on this approach is "Beyond Bullet Points" by Cliff Atkinson. You can find it on amazon.com for about $13. If you must use bulleted text, such as when summarizing, limit a slide to three bullet points with three to five words per point. If you have six points, use two slides. Whatever you do, don't violate the "7 x 7 Rule," which is: "In general, it is best not to use more than 7 lines per slide nor more than 7 words per line." ------------------------------------------------------------ *** 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=w ww.antion.com/public-speaking.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Humor Tip ------------------------------------------------------------ **Use Humor . . . Just in Case** by Allan Kaufman Recently, I asked a client, who I was coaching, "What would you do if right in the middle of your presentation, your mind went blank?" She thought for half a second and replied, "I would panic, have a blank stare on my face and want to run out of the room." Then she asked me, "What should I do?" I told her, "Smile at your audience. Slap the side of your face and say, 'I am having a senior moment. How many of you have ever had a senior moment?' Raise your right hand when asking that question. Then ask your audience where you were in your presentation. Someone will tell you." Now if you think you are not old enough to say you are having a senior moment, you can add "and I am not even a senior yet." Also, if no one in the audience provides an answer for you, then you can add, "Since no one knows where I am, I guess it does not matter what I cover next. What would you like me to cover?" This is one way to alleviate a stressful situation using humor. Allan and I have used it numerous times. 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Dear Allan and Allan (Answers to Your Questions) ------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Allan and Allan, I work in the marketing department. I give presentations to clients and prospects about our software products that can save them time and money. What is the best way to start this kind of presentation? Melinda in Memphis. Dear Melinda, It depends on several factors--who you're trying to influence, what's important to the decision-makers, and where you're giving the presentation. One powerful way to open is to use a short, dramatic benefit statement that addresses their problem or goals. For example, "In the next fifteen minutes, I'm going to share an idea with you that will save your company at least three and a half million dollars with a return on investment of six hundred percent." You can be sure that such a statement would capture their attention and put them in an emotional state to want to hear your idea. 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? "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. ------------------------------------------------------------ **************************** 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 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. 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For Back Issues: http://www.nosweatspeaking.com/ezine/back_issues-2002.html To Submit Questions to Dear Allan and Allan: mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com For Feedback on the Content of This Issue: mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com ------------------------------------------------------------ No Sweat Speaking(tm) 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: 410-381-8924 mailto:cust-serv@nosweatspeaking.com http://www.nosweatspeaking.com "Your next presentation doesn't have to make you sweat!" Experience No Sweat Speaking(tm)! ------------------------------------------------------------