Handy Free Guide to Public Speaking

This free book from Bookboon is a very handy addition to your digital library if you're thinking of using seminars and presentations in your business (or if you've been told you have to make a speech!).

Successful Public Speaking, like all Bookboon books, is completely free:

We've also published through Bookboon, as well as our books on Kindle, including, of course, The Complete Guide to Seminar Success, available now at Amazon.

Roy

Public Speaking Mistake #6 fom Joanna Martin

In this sixth video of seven on mistakes speakers make that keep them broke, Dr Joanna Martin talks about the dangers of bringing your ego to the stage:

Joanna Martin is in London on 7th and 8th of May demonstrating the secrets of how any small business can use public speaking to massively grow their bottom line. This is much the same information as you'll see in Niche Seminar Secrets, but demonstrated live, and for a specially reduced price of just £47.

Let Joanna explain the event and why public speaking is so valuable for your business, here.

I'll bring you mistake number seven soon.

Roy

Public Speaking Mistake #3 with Joanna Martin

Continuing Joanna's series on the seven public speaking mistakes that keep speakers broke:


Part four will be soon!

Roy

Public Speaking Mistake #2 From Joanna Martin

Here's the latest from Joanna on the seven mistakes public speakers make that cost them business - and money.



Number 3 very soon!

Roy

NEW Public Speaking Tips

Public Speaking Tips With Joanna Martin.

How to make public speaking events and seminars work for you and your business.




In this series, Australian speaking coach Dr Joanna Martin will show you how you can speak more effectively, persuasively and profitably!

I'll be adding more from Joanna at intervals from now on.

Roy

The Secret to Creating Content

If you think public speaking might be for you, if only you had something to talk about, I've got some great news - you do or you will do.

But first, a genuine seminar secret...

How do you think all those speakers you admire so much got to know so much about their subjects? Answer: they learned about them.

Okay, it's no great shock, but it's an important point all the same.

Add a dose of personal experience, a few new angles and a pithy quote or two and you have a great presentation. By that, I mean a genuinely valuable and entertaining speech.

Now think of yourself as a teacher. How do teachers learn their subjects? From their teachers.

You can do the same, and when you add your own personal experiences - and you will have experiences that add value to your talk - you can be a great seminar speaker, too.

But if there's a subject that interests you, the chances are that you'll know a fair bit about it already. I bet, with some preparation, you could talk about it for an hour or two. If you have any gaps in your knowledge, fill them, but remember you'll almost certainly have too much material to fit into one presentation already.

Add your experiences, seek out some pertinent, pithy quotes (Einstein is always a good bet), and you're there.

Then just add practice, the confidence that comes from competence (that comes from practice), and you'll knock 'em dead.

Go to it!

Roy

PS. The latest edition of Niche Seminar Secrets is now available. Go to Niche Seminar Secrets, HERE.

Because everybody knows something, including you. And whatever subject you know about, you will find people who would like to know about it too.

Attention Seeking For Fun and Profit

In a recent poll of Oscar-winning actors and actresses, 68 percent said they were 'shy'.*

In a recent survey of professional musicians, 62 percent decribed themselves as 'basically shy'.*

But in a recent poll of Internet marketers, only 54 percent said they were nervous about presenting to an audience.*

And 97 percent of the audience said they couldn't care less anyway.

So, however shy you might think you are, you're probably more confident than, say Angelina Jolie and Bono. Possibly even less shy than, let's say, Sean Roach or Derek Gehl - probably not, but possibly!

So stepping up in front of an audience and telling them all about your business, your product and your service will be like a walk in the park. Especially as 97 percent of your audience are on your side.

You can find out how to present to an audience, how to wow them with your know-how and how to get them to come and listen in the first place, when you take the $17 dollar trial edition of Niche Seminar Secrets.

It's not just for niches. It's not even just for seminars. But it is packed full of secrets.

And, when you decide to upgrade you even get a piece of me. Mentoring, coaching, answering questions - mainly by email but we can use the phone when you get really serious - and I might even speak for you, too.

Worth stepping up for, I'd say.

Get the Niche Seminar Secrets 17 Dollar trial package here.

Roy

* Sorry, I made all those figures up. But it's a fact that most actors and musicians describe themselves as shy.

Get Clients For Free (or even get paid)

To know how much you should spend to acquire new clients and customers, you need to know how much each customer is worth, over time.

Something that can be difficult to calculate.

If your clients cost you nothing, though, there's no problem. You just want as many of those kind of customers as you can handle!

For a great way to get customers, and especially clients, at no cost to you or even at a profit, there's nothing to beat speaking engagements.

In front of you, when you speak at an event, will be an audience of potential clients and customers, specially selected to be interested in what you offer.

Why else would they be there?

That's why conversion rates from attendees at seminars and workshops to customers and clients can be astronomical - close to 100% in some circumstances - but as they're all costing you nothing, any customers you acquire this way are good news.

Simply give your audience good information to demonstrate your expertise and your generosity, offer your services or product at a special rate or within a special package for 'today only' and see how many customers and clients you can pick up.

Get some practice at other people's events under your belt, especially if you're a bit nervous about the idea, then think about staging your own event. You could even get so good at the events that they earn more than your original business!

Roy

PS. Discover the secrets to the seminar/events business for one dollar!

Answering Another Question From The Survey

One of my survey respondents wonders how they can rely less on Powerpoint.

('Powerpoint' is the Microsoft program that enables you to create and display slides for your audience. I'm sure there are other programs, but we tend to use the term 'Powerpoint' for all of them).

I think we've all been victims of 'death by Powerpoint' and I can understand how you want to avoid inflicting that fate on your audience!

But we've all been to lectures and presentations where the slides have added a lot of useful, even essential information. I think there are a few rules we can try to keep to, but I am aware that circumstances will vary a great deal.

Anway, assuming you'll be using some slides, here goes:

1 Only use slides that actually add something to your spoken words. Don't just use the slides as the text of your presentation.

2 Keep your slides brief and pithy - in other words, they must be quickly understandable and make a memorable point.

3 You can use slides to highlight any quotes, key phrases, website addresses or other points you want your audience to write down. Then you can move on while the slower writers make their notes.

4 Use a consistent design for your slides, including the colour scheme, a simple font, etc, and don't try to be clever. You need your audience to be able to take in the content of each slide at a glance and then return their attention to you.

5 On which point, don't try to use your slides to divert attention from you! If you're going to put on a slide show you shouldn't be on the stage at all.

6 When you want the audience's attention (ie, most of the time) make sure any slide that's showing isn't a distraction. A blank screen looks accidental, but a simple logo or company name looks far more professional, especially if you're recording the event on video.

7 Be the most engaging, entertaining and dynamic speaker you can be, with your content pitched at a level your audience can grasp (but not necessarily remember in detail) and you'll hardly need any slides at all. Naturally, some subjects will be more complex, but they'll mostly atract a more intelligent audience anyway. If you feel your subject is bound to be above the level of many in the audience, be sure to pepper your presentation with enough 'amazing' facts to keep them entertained as well.

8 Why not practise in front of an honest critic, without slides, and see what he or she thinks of it. At any points where they feel 'lost' or need some information you can't convey clearly in your spoken presentation, consider using a slide. You might be amazed by how few you need.

If you have any thoughts on this or any other subject I'd be delighted to get your feedback, via the comments below or by email.

Roy

PS. The One Dollar Trial goes on! Try Niche Seminar Secrets for a whole 30 days, for just one dollar, then get a $20 reduction on the full price too!

Two Ways to Improve Your Speaking Confidence

Here's another question I received from you in the Niche Seminar Secrets Survey:

'How do I overcome nerves/become more confident as a speaker?'

As with the very old joke I quote in Niche Seminar Secrets, to get to Carnegie Hall, 'You Gotta Practise.'

Dale Carnegie would agree (I know the hall was financed by Andrew Carnegie but the coincidence adds a nice symmetry).

Essentially, practice is the thing. First, write your presentation to sound as relaxed and natural as you can manage, then practise speaking it out loud (not just in your head), amending and adjusting it each time so that it becomes more and more like your natural 'voice'. A natural presentation is much more pleasant for the listeners, since an uncomfortable speaker makes them feel anxious, too.

By the time you've got a really natural-sounding presentation you will probably have learned it well enough to do without the script. If not, practise some more! When the time comes to make your presentation, you should need no more than your opening lines, plus some key words to prompt you and help to keep you to a logical sequence, plus your closing remarks. Put these on cards and staple them together.

If you've signed up to my niche-seminar list you should have had your copy of Dale Carnegie's 'The Art of Public Speaking', which still makes great sense today. Sign up now if you haven't done so and I'll send you the download link, free of charge.

I know some people prefer to learn in other ways than by reading, though, which is why I've previously recommended 'Step Up and Speak', an 11-part audio and video course (plus extras) that I'm confident you'll find useful. It's modestly priced and can transform your confidence and performance as a public speaker.

Remember, the more convincingly you speak, the more your public speaking will boost your business.

There are also some simple ways to combat nerves, which I've described in some detail in Niche Seminar Secrets, including taking moderate exercise and a great technique called Thought Field Therapy that I can personally recommend - TFT helped me overcome crippling nerves and I demonstrate some simple methods in an appendix to the manual.

Few things eradicate nerves as well as knowing you're well-prepared, though, so I'd recommend you use Dale Carnegie's book and / or 'Step Up and Speak' to help you prepare, then practise, practise, practise.

Enjoy the experience and you won't need me to wish you 'Good Luck'!

Roy

PS. The One Dollar Trial of Niche Seminar Secrets continues, here: http://seminar-secrets.blogspot.com/2008/12/one-dollar-trial-with-difference.html