The following post is from Speaker Services team member Jack Barnard. jackp.barnard@verizon.net

Jack says “it’s important to get your information and structure together but you can have perfect form and still not hook the audience. What makes your information come alive is what will be covered in Mesmerize Your Audience the workshop.  Openings, closings, storytelling, humor, involvers (exercises and processes) — the sizzle that really helps audiences keep their excitement levels high.” This post is focused on one of those elements humor.

“We’ll now take a ten minute break. Those of you who are asleep
can wake up. And those of you who remained awake can take a nap.”
From Current Comedy Newsletter

Of all the sweeteners, humor is the sweetest. We all love to laugh. Humor relaxes the audience, breaks the tension of digesting the material and creates an opening. The audience opens up their bellies for you to put the gift in. An added bonus of including humor in your talk is that listeners make an unconscious assumption that you must have great command of your topic if you also know how to make it fun and funny. In speeches and presentation, humor looks like lacing your points with stories and anecdotes, including jokes, playing with the audience, laughing.

The Point of Humor…Humor can be part of every presentation.
1) The main value of humor is it’s softening effect. It loosens up the audience so your gift (message) can be more deeply embedded. Here’s another way of saying it: Humor is a digestaid, it allows your audience to open up and assimilate your more challenging points. (And let me add, if you’re not bringing us material that is a bit challenging, you’re not much of a sherpa.)

2) It gives the audience a psychic and emotional break. Especially if you’ve been pounding home your message, a little humor allows the audience to regenerate their focus.

3) It lends credibility to your presentation. An audience subconsciously assumes that you must really know your stuff if you’re able to lighten the load with a touch of humor.

“Pardon me, I don’t tell jokes!”
18 out of the 20 people in just about any class I’ve taught

Most people don’t think they can tell jokes. Of course, there is a big difference between jokes and humor. Jokes are meant to make you laugh. Humor is meant to make you laugh and reflect. Generally, humor — especially as used in presentation — is more believable and illustrates a point.

“It’s great to be among friends — pity none of them are here.”
Max Hitchins

Now, I know that everyone has a sense of humor buried in there somewhere. Bringing that humor out is part of the work I do. It takes a little trust to tickle the funnybone. Humor relies on timing and confidence.  You’re funny if you think you’re funny and if you stay committed to your unique style and viewpoint. In any case, jokes are just a small part of humor. Even if you can’t tell jokes, even if you have difficulty relating humorous stories, you can have fun. you can have fun!

And if you have fun, we have fun. Lightheartedness fills the space. That’s 3/4 of it. If you have fun, we have fun. Not everyone is a great storyteller (although you’d better learn to tell stories if you want to create lasting impact), you don’t need to deliver a fabulous punchline, you might not have a knack for creating an improvisational environment. But, if you have fun — it offers the same result as being funny — and everything important pretty much takes care of itself.

“As far as impact is concerned,
being funny and having fun is the same

Jack Barnard is a writer, speaker, performer and group leader. His eclectic background blends business, human potential facilitation and artistic expression. He is the developer of SourceWork, a playful technique of dynamic expression; a mixing of the ceremonial, the theatrical and the mysterious. Jack has facilitated hundreds of SourceWork events in both the US and Europe.

Jack works with speakers and would-be speakers one-on-one and in workshops. His technique emphasizes the specialness of the individual, focusing on the permission to bring forth one’s unique expression and style. Jack is the author of We Get our Cue from You: The Communion Approach to Public Speaking, and Presentations.

Join us in for Mesmerize your Audience Workshop, 11/12/11 in Los Angeles, lmtd to 10 peeps

Read more and register, $125

Resource: CD or mp3- 2 hours, Mesmerize Your Audience, $25

Order and learn more

I want you all to know that I am adding many new event planners to our database. In addition to approx 5,000 meeting planners who are on our database at the moment I have identified about 800 more associations, companies and organizations, schools etc. who hire speakers.  I am researching them and contacting them as well to let them know about our speakers and authors plus our services.  I will be able to give you qualified leads in your target market if you are willing to go the extra mile to make contacts (especially if you are listed with Speaker Services.)  A speaker listing is helpful to promote yourself and it is a very good idea to have a one sheet overview and a video demo for you to get hired.  Not sure about the one-sheet?  We can help you out.

If you are in Los Angeles and have not taken the class Market Yourself as a Speaker I encourage you to attend on Saturday, 1/15 or 3/19, 10am-2pm.

This is about the business of speaking and essential to your success in securing gigs. . See what I cover in the workshop http://www.speakerservices.com/services/marketyourself.html .

With a lot of coaxing from my clients I am going to teach a workshop on Saturday,  February 12, Market Your Business with Social Networking Workshop, 11am-4pm, $99  there are several openings at the moment.

This interactive hands on workshop is designed for busy, smart people who feel they “should” be active in the social media marketing revolution, but they also feel like they’ve missed the boat.

Well, it’s not too late, you can catch up… Learn the basics you need in just a few short hours.

Marketing is being completely transformed. The days of traditional advertising are numbered. Social media has profoundly altered the way we market and communicate.  Don’t get left behind.

I will show you step by step how I get 75% of my business via social networking. read more

Saturday, January 22, noon to 6pm, $99
Web Video & Marketing Workshop, You on Camera, Barbara Niven & Susan Levin
Psst this may be the last time we teach this class and there are 5 spaces open at this moment

In this interactive workshop we will show you how to create and market dynamic videos for your website, social media, video tips, video blogs, You Tube, info products, video email and more. Learn more/register  http://t.co/qltHtIH

NEW
March 5, 10am-5pm, $125

Low Cost Ways to Convert Your Expertise into Multiple Streams of Income, Susan Levin & guests

Got content?  Want to earn more from your expertise?  You will walk out of the workshop with a product in place and ideas on how to create at least 20 more products from just one product.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one   – Mark Twain
Read more: http://t.co/2s0gGyv

One-on-one consultations http://t.co/adHPp5y

Susan Levin, publisher/owner
Los Angeles, CA
310-822-4922 PST
______

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/speakerservices
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/susan.levin
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/susanlevin
SpeakerServices Utube Channel http://tinyurl.com/2e3dzjm
______

Web Directory: Speaker Services:
http://speakerservices.com
We bring speakers/authors together with audiences

Get Listed in the Directory:
http://speakerservices.com/adv_pkt.html

Speaker Marketing Consultations
http://www.speakerservices.com/marketing.html

Speakers’ Community –a membership club
http://www.speakerscommunity.com
60 days complimentary

Workshops/Teleclasses
http://www.speakerservices.com/services/la.html

Using Your Kindle Book To Gain Market Reach
by Kathleen Gage, StreetSmarts Marketing

Looking for a new way to get in front of potential book buyers? Try your hand at publishing a Kindle book. It’s one of the easiest ways to get your material published…fast!

I couldn’t believe how simple the process was from the very first attempt. What’s great is you don’t need an ISBN to publish your Kindle version book. You can publish just about anything including:

•    eBooks
•    Reports
•    Articles
•    Blogs
•    Books
•    Transcripts

The fact is, if you can write it you can publish in Kindle.

There are a few reasons you would publish in Kindle. One, to be published. Two, to make money. Three, to build market reach and credibility. Four, to build your opt in list.

If you’ve been dreaming of being a published author and are not yet there, Kindle is a great first step. There is virtually nothing easier. You don’t have to publish a full length book. Nope. You can publish information you have on your computer. It’s really that simple. So no more excuses.

Although you can make money with Kindle you likely won’t get rich. If getting rich is your main motivator you may want to rethink why you are publishing with Kindle. However,  Kindle books can lead to other, more lucrative opportunities.

One of the best reasons to publish a Kindle book is for market reach and credibility. Yet, you can’t simply get your Kindle book up and expect sales to flood in. Any author who wants to get the most traction for your published works needs to be very proactive with marketing and promotions. There’s no way around this.

The more you market the more visibility you get. The more visibility the more sales. The more sales the more likely readers are to visit your blog and/or website. When you optimize your sites you are prepared for visitors with an opt-in opportunity.

Ignore setting your site up so visitors can opt-in for something and you miss lots of great opportunities. Make sure your site is ready for the traffic you generate.

As you can see Kindle books serve many purposes, the most important of which is to create high quality information for your readers. Create high quality information and you set yourself up for greater success.

Check out my  newest Kindle Book -
The fast and easy way to build your opt-in subscriber with Mini-Courses [Kindle Edition] Click Here

Post by Donna Gunter, OnlineBizU

Putting all of your eggs into one basket in your business is never a good idea.  Diversity is key, which means that your revenue should come from a number of clients (not just two or three) and preferably should come from multiple sources other than your primary service.  These multiple sources of income are called multiple streams of income.

How to Sell Your Ebooks and Reports in Amazon’s Kindle Store by Denise Wakeman

How to Get Published on Amazon Kindle from Denise Wakeman on Vimeo.

Have you added your ebooks to the Kindle Store? Share your links here in the comments so we can check out what you’re doing!

How to Create an Ecourse That Will Triple Your Prospect Conversions by  Donna Gunter, OnlineBiz.com

For years, I’ve been giving away a PDF ebook as my client attraction device to entice prospects to sign up for my list.  This strategy has served me well as a way to grow my list. However, what I’ve discovered during that time is that many people download my ebook and then never open it. So, as you might imagine, my rate of converting a customer prospect to a buyer isn’t as high as I’d like.

Just like the people who join my list, I, too, often don’t open a PDF ebook when I download it. What I have noticed, however, is that when I subscribe to an ecourse that someone is giving away as a client attraction device, I’m much more likely to pay attention to it, since I’m getting emails every day with new information in them.  And, all indications are that the conversion rate of prospect to customer is higher, as well, for this same reason.  Your mini-course helps you automatically build a relationship with subscribers and drive sales of your products and services.

Here’s how you can create your own client attraction ecourse to help you triple your conversion rate:

1.  Buy autoresponder system.  In order to create your email mini-course, you need to purchase an email marketing system that has autoresponder capability, which is the ability to pre-set emails to go out at a periodic interval when someone opts into a list.  My recommendation is GetMoreClientsAutoresponder.com.

2.  Determine your theme and catchy name. Your ecourse needs to have a theme or subject.  What is it that you want to teach your prospects?  Once you determine the theme, your ecourse needs to have a catchy title.  Typically, you’ll want to focus on solving a problem or the result someone receives by enrolling in your mini-course.

3.  Create content.  Your ecourse should consist of 8-12 emails.  The bulk of these emails need to contain valuable, actionable content that will help your prospect solve her problems.  In a couple of the emails, you can break up the content delivery by introducing your prospect to other resources you offer that will help them, as well.  In my new mini-course, I simply repurposed a number of articles I had already written, paring them down to 400-600 words each, in most cases.

4.  Add your soft sell.  Rather than hammering a prospect over the head with sales hype, I did three things in each of the followup emails.  First, I included a resource box at the end of the email with a link to the call to action I want my prospect to take or a postscript (P.S.) that included a link to the call to action.  Secondly, in the body of the email, I made a natural transition based on the content of the email to ask people to buy the product I wanted them to buy. Thirdly, at the end of each lesson, I added, “In our next lesson, we’ll talk about…” to keep the reader engaged and anxiously awaiting the next email.

5.  Format and upload your ecourse.  In order to best track your open rates of each segment of the ecourse, you’ll want to format each email as HTML.  This means that you’ll want to have a header designed and template created so that you can simple copy and paste the content into a properly formatted HTML template.  To increase the likelihood that your ecourse will reach its destination, also format a plain text version of each segment of the course, as well. Next, create a catchy subject line to entice your reader to open that email. Lastly, copy your ecourse into your autoresponder system and create the followup sequence.  Ideally, you want your prospect to receive one email from you for a 8-12 days.

6.  Design your opt-in box.  Your email marketing program should provide instructions on how to create an opt-in box for prospects to join your list.  Typically, all that you want to request of your prospects is a first name, last name, and email address.  Once you have created the opt-in box, copy the code you’ll need to add the opt-in box to your web site.

7.  Create a graphic.  To make your email mini-course more appealing, have a graphic designed that visually represents the ecourse.  I simply had a spiral book cover designed that contained my name and the name of my ecourse.

8.  Create your landing page.  To entice prospects to sign up for your ecourse, you’ll want to create a landing page that “sells” the mini-course.  In today’s world, you have to “sell” free just like you do something for a fee, so create a short list of the benefits that someone will receive by signing up for your course, and add the code for your opt-in box.  Since anyone opting in for my ecourse is also added to my ezine list, I make sure that all prospects know this at the time they sign up.

9.  Copy the course content to your web site.  To prevent your prospects from emailing you that they are missing some number of lessons in the ecourse, copy the content to your web site.  Then, at the bottom of each email lesson, you can add a note that if they have missed any of the lessons, they can read them on your site.  You can create one page for each lesson, or a couple of pages containing a few lessons.

10.  Track and measure. The only way to realize the success of your mini-course is to track and measure.  Create a simple spreadsheet with the open rates of each email and the unsubscribe rates. If you notice over time that many prospects are unsubscribing from your list when they receive a certain lesson, you need to review the content of that lesson and change it until your unsubscribe rate diminishes.  And, of course, you need to track how many sales result from your ecourse.

Create an email mini-course to help you establish a relationship with your prospects and lead them to taking the action you desire.  You’ll discover that a mini-course is the most effective way to convert a prospect into a paying customer.

Post from Kare Anderson for Business@HomeJournal

Even the most time-pressed business owner can attract more customers with less effort through the right cross-promotions. Why? Because when you join forces with other credible people who also reach your market you can reach your customers more efficiently, credibly and memorably with the right offers and services.

To stand out from their competition in a crowded advertising marketplace, businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies are enthusiastically adopting this nimble approach to “outmarket” bigger competitors. Their cross-promotions include “bundled” offerings, joint media appearances and events, and unconventional cause-related marketing. It might also include collaboratively produced how-to’s and other resource booklets and videos, co-branding, coop advertising, and shared space.

Cross-promotion has the potential for a big marketing payoff because partners can successfully expand through each other’s customer base. They can gain an inexpensive and credible introduction to more of their kind of customer more effectively than with the traditional “solo” methods of networking, advertising, or public relations.

Here are some low-risk and high-opportunity ways to jump-start your first cross-promotion:

* Print joint promotional messages on your receipts.

* Offer a reduced price, special service, or convenience if customers buy products from you and your partner.

* Hang signs or posters promoting one another on your walls, windows, or products.

* Mention one another’s benefits when you speak at local events or are interviewed by the media.

* Drop one another’s flyers in shopping bags.

* Pool mailing lists and send out a joint promotional postcard.

* Share inexpensive ads in local shopping papers or a nonprofit event program.

* Give a joint interview to local media.
* Give your partner’s product to your customers when they buy a large quantity of your product, and ask your partner to do the same.

* Use door hangers, posters, flyers, or postcards to promote special offers for each other’s products.

Here are some cross-promotion strategies that can really help your company stand out:

* Co-produce special promotions you could not afford by yourself. Hire local community college broadcasting/cable TV students to produce a “how to use” video and/or audio tape that involves you and your partner’s products.

* Have a contest, with the prizes contributed by your partners. For the next contest, roles change, and you contribute your product or service as a prize for a partner’s contest.

* Give customers a free product or service from a participating partner when they buy something that month from all of the partners listed in an ad or on a promotional postcard.

“Sayitbetter E-Zine, Copyright © by Kare Anderson, author, speaker, and founder of the Say it Better Center, http://www.sayitbetter.com. All rights reserved.”

Connect, Get Hired, Get Noticed by Meeting Planners MP3 by Kare Anderson . Learn more.

by Ali Brown

When I teach one of my Online Success Blueprint Workshops, the section that gets my attendees most excited is when I walk them through an actual product launch.

What’s a launch?

It’s when you release a new product, program, or service for the first time to your mailing list. A launch is a super opportunity to rack up a TON of sales in a short amount of time.

I basically have seven steps to a launch. In my workshops, I walk through them in great detail and include actual examples and results. But to get you started, here’s a brief description of each step and how it works. You can do a launch for any service, product, or program, but for the sake of this article, let’s assume we’re talking about a product.

1. Drop hints in your ezine beforehand.

Before your product is even ready, start getting your readers curious and excited! Drop hints that something big is on the way and what the benefits are. For example, “I’m working on a brand new product that could help you easily double your sales this year. I can’t say anything about it just yet, but you’ll know the full story on October 1.”

2. Create your sales letter and thank-you pages.

Again, you can do these steps even before your product is ready. In fact, many experts recommend you write your sales letter BEFORE you even create the product. After your sales page, you will need a page to send people to once they purchase — the “thank you” page — where they can also download your product if it is digital.

3. Set up the product in your shopping cart.

Log-in to your shopping cart program and set up your new product name, price, and the thank-you page URL. Don’t forget to add on shipping or sales tax if applicable. I hope you use a shopping cart with all these capabilities! (I use, love, and recommend QueenCart.com.) Then stick the product link on your sales page.

4. Send out a solo mailing to your customer list.

When everything is ready, it’s time to start your promotions! The first people I alert about any new product are those who have already bought from me. It’s my most responsive list, and this will be your most responsive list, too. Keep this email short and sweet. Your only objective is to drive them to your sales page, where they can get the full story. To make your customers feel special, give them a special discount or bonus that’s just for them. And give them a deadline to respond by.

5. Send out a solo mailing to your ezine list.

I do this a few days after I promote to my customer list. Same idea, different list. Got it? Good. : )

6. Let your affiliates know how to promote this new product.

After I launch my product to my own lists, I let my affiliates know that I have a new product they can promote! Send them an email with the details, their individual affiliate link that gives them credit on any referred sales, and even ad copy they can paste into their ezines or websites. Don’t forget to mention how much commission they get per sale. (I do this all through QueenCart.com.)

7. Promote in your ezine on an ongoing basis.

Once your launch is over, don’t let your product wither away and die! Keep the momentum going. Make sure you highlight it on a regular basis in your ezine via ads or articles, and that it’s also easy for visitors to find on your website.

BONUS TIP: Give them a reason to buy today!

People are so busy these days that they will put off ANY decision possible. So, you will ALWAYS get more sales when you give people a reason to buy NOW and not later. For example: Put a time limit on your offer or have a limited quantity available.

© 2005-2009 Alexandria Brown International Inc.

Ali Brown publishes the award-winning ‘Highlights on Marketing & Success’ weekly ezine with 36,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at www.AlexandriaBrown.com

Today’s post is by Lisa Sasevich she is the The Queen of Sales Conversion

Lisa is best known for teaching coaches, trainers, healers, leaders and experts how to enjoy massive back-of-the-room paydays every time they speak. She is also passionate about providing service professionals with high impact, low cost marketing strategies for increasing conversion in seminars, workshops and any other presentation style sales opportunity.

Speaking comes in many forms and it’s not always to a live audience face-to-face. One of the ways I made 2008 my best financial year ever was through adding teleseminars to my speaking agenda. I was also blessed to learn from some industry experts how to use teleseminars to touch a lot of lives and make big bucks doing it.

So here are 3 ways that I made my valuable information pay by using tele-seminars in 2008…and that you can model going forward in 2009!

1) Do a one-time Free call to preview something you are offering

Whether it’s brand new or newly updated, it’s important to keep the word out about your offerings. A quick, easy and inexpensive way to generate interest and sales is to offer a Free call on the topic that your book, info product or tele-course covers. During the free call provide a lot of valuable information they can use right away and then offer them a limited time special on your product. Be sure to show them exactly where and how to purchase it online.

Rather than including the call-in number in the promotion of the free call, set it up so that people have to Opt-In (give their first name and email address) to get the call information.

By doing wide promotion of a free call and using an Opt-In system, you end up with a “bucket” of folks who have raised their hand and said, “I’m interested in that topic!”

The beauty of using the Opt-In and collecting the “bucket” or list of interested parties is that you now have a targeted list that you can market to over and over, plus you have their email so you can send them the audio replay of the live call too. (Be sure to record the call. I use www.audioacrobat.com for recording tele-classes and client calls. It’s great!)

This is important because only about 25% of people who Opt-In for a free call will attend live. You have an opportunity for the other 75% to hear your message if you’ve used an Opt-in and sent out the audio playback.

You’ll double or even triple your sales beyond what you did after the free call by providing this playback as well as a series of reminder emails that lead up to your special promotion ending. (I use www.invisiblecart.com to manage collecting my bucket of leads with an opt in, send them auto responders and let them purchase my offering.)

2) Use A Free or Paid Teleseminar Series to Create a Product

This is one of the quickest, least expensive and most effective ways I know for experts to get their message out while making money and creating a product they will be able to sell for years to come. It’s simple…

Announce a free or paid teleseminar series to your list (if you have one). If you don’t, invite all of your current and past clients and ask them to spread the word. You can invite prospective clients too!

- Run a 5-week teleseries and record it.
- Voila! You now have an information product you can package and sell over and over for years to come. You can turn your recordings into CDs, have the call transcribed, provide transcripts and create or include worksheets and handouts that support participants in applying the material.

Note: Some of the best handouts are items you use every day to make your business successful. This might include sample emails you use for promotional purposes, sample contracts that a person might need to get started, sample ads that have worked for you in the past.

3) Take an existing information product that you have and deliver it with a tele-series

This is what Suzanne and I did with our Get Started Speaking Program and it’s a beautiful model for both you and your clients. Here’s how it works…

- We did a small, local live event previewing our Get Started Speaking course. This is how we discovered how truly powerful the information we provide together is!
- We had a sound tech record and edit it.
- We packaged all the worksheets, got artwork and made it into a beautiful product.
- Rather than just selling the product online, we decided to offer it along with a 5-week telecourse.

We are shipping participants the Get Started Speaking product and providing them with instructions on which CDs and Worksheets they need to complete before teleclass #1, #2 and so on.

The time on the 5 week Live teleclass with us can be spent answering questions and doing live hot seats about the material that was covered in the worksheets and CDs. The participant gets the best of both worlds. They have a physical product they can keep in their success library and use over and over again for years, they get live individual coaching on the scheduled calls, they benefit from hearing the Q&A and Hot Seats of other participants and best of all, they actually open the box and work through the course because they know they have a live call to prepare for next week.

No more unopened products collecting dust on top of a file cabinet somewhere! You’re work actually gets put to use and makes a difference!

And isn’t that ultimately what we all want? To touch as many lives as possible while making a profit?

If you have info products in the form of books, CDs, DVDs, recorded classes, webinars, trainings, etc…I invite you to consider how you could use this model to revive something amazing. Of course, if it’s been out for a while, make sure to do the necessary updates.

I just did that with The Invisible Close. It’s been out for nearly 3 years so I just updated it with new order form samples, a new bonus chapter on converting sales from your website and beautiful new formatting. It looks so nice that I’m even shipping it now!

Sales conversion specialist Lisa Sasevich has x-ray vision for seeing the sales opportunities that exist in every company, and the creativity to convert them into gold! If you’re looking for simple, quick and easy ways to boost sales without spending a dime, get your FREE Sales Nuggets now at www.theinvisibleclose.com.

Known by many as “The Queen of Sales Conversion,” Lisa Sasevich has x-ray vision for seeing the sales opportunity in any situation and the creativity to turn it into gold.

You can learn more about Lisa’s work at www.TheInvisibleClose.com.

Good speakers become great speakers with the proper training. Investing in professional speaker training can greatly improve your bottom line.

There is no downside to improving your speaking skills.

The key to effective speaking boils down to one thing: The ability to be able to tell a compelling story. I was taught years ago that effective advertising was reduced down to the acronym A-I-D-A, which stands for 1.) Attract their ATTENTION. 2.) Stimulate their INTEREST 3.) Create DESIRE and 4.) Move them to ACTION.

Creating an effective speaking presentation is not much different than those guidelines. When we speak, we are actually selling. We are trying to communicate or get someone to adopt truths, facts, inspire action, etc. How many times has someone in your life said to you, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”? Most of us have heard that. We have all worked with very accomplished, well-educated people who are absolutely brilliant in their field, but when they spoke, they almost put us to sleep. How many of us have listened to an individual who was charismatic, compelling, and attractive and then when it was all done, you ask yourself, “What did they just say?” or you don’t remember a thing they said. It was all show with no substance. To get on the road to more effective speaking, you must master what you say AND how you say it. The best way is in a story-type format. In my sales training over twenty years ago I was taught that “facts tell, stories sell”.

Stories or story-type speaking bring a message to the heart and mind of the audience. One such method is what I call the PSOx3 speaking template. It is a no-brainer method for creating compelling speeches. This stands for presenting a Problem, Solution, and Outcome and doing it three times during the presentation. This humanizes the presentation and it allows the listener to relate to the issue presented. It creates a mental picture which makes the topic more memorable. Here’s an example. Let’s use a motivational topic that goes like this; “John Smith had only twenty dollars in his pocket. He was laid off with no possibility of being rehired. His position was outsourced overseas. He had two kids in private school and a baby at home. His wife worked part-time three days a week.

They could not make it on her income alone. They only had enough financial cushion to pay their bills for about three months. He knew he had to make something happen, and do it quickly. One day after paying his bills he actually had to make a decision whether to fill up his gas tank or buy groceries. This was the turning point in his life. It was either cave in to the desperation and depression or rise to the occasion and go into business for himself. He felt no one was going to hire an over-40 professional like him at the salary he had been accustomed to. One day while reading newspaper, he read a story about how a large percentage of attorneys were not getting the clientele they desired. He spotted a need. Problem leads to profit. He was skilled in writing marketing materials for a large company for the past twenty years. Why couldn’t he do it for another industry?, he asked himself.

This lead him to make his first phone call to a local attorney who confessed that his business was slow and he was at odds in how to get more clientele and increasing his referrals. John made an appointment with that attorney. He became John’s first client. That was 250 clients and three years ago. John’s now has three employees that all work as independent contractors from their homes. He also works out of his home. He and his staff meet in person once a week for brainstorming sessions to give the virtual company a more human feel.”

Now when you read the story of John, in a very short period of time, you are pulled in to his plight, feel his despair, and experience the hope he has with the advent of his new business. When this story is told, as opposed to just telling facts, you feel for John. When it is presented with pauses, increases and decreases in speech volume, and the appropriate body gestures, you are well on your way to creating a memorable speech. As in a good TV screenplay, you can clearly identify the problem, solution, and the outcome. The story of John is one you remember and isn’t that the reason why we do presentations at our work, places of worship, and service organizations?

George Bruno has been speaking in the private and public sectors for 25 years. He has been a guest and host on various talk radio programs in New York and Pennsylvania. In the early 80′s, he traveled on a drama team for three years performing in churches, prisons, and schools. In the late 80′s and early 90′s, he performed as an improv comedian in comedy clubs, café’s and fund raising shows in cities on the East Coast, including the renown Bonkers Comedy Club and the Chestnut Street Cabaret in Philadelphia.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=George_Bruno

Related Resources:

StoryTelling CD or MP3
Spice up your presentations through storytelling by Jack Barnard

Speakers’ Bootcamp – practice stories and organize them into your template

At the Speakers’ Summit08 I talked about Creating Info Products -take a look at this short video I created.

I will be using the video for selling the mp3 of the talk on the description page and I will make it available for folks who want to hire me for the presentation to their groups and I might put it in my e-zine as well as in the Speakers’ Summit08 description of my talk and I am sure that I will find other uses for it as well.

Here is a short list of info products that you could create which was part of my handout at the Summit.

TURN YOUR EXPERTISE INTO PROFITS

➢ Books
Published or Self-Published

➢ Mini-Books
Smaller versions of your book with cut-down content used as premiums

➢ E-Book- Compile related product information or instructions into an ebook. You could publish it in text, pdf, html format

➢ E-Book Of Reviews – Publish an ebook of stuff that’s related to your target audience that you could review like products, web sites, movies, etc

➢ Dictionary Of Terms-Publish a web directory or ebook dictionary of terms relating to your specific business industry or subject.

➢ Audio/MP3 Books

➢ Transcripts- Create an ebook of text transcripts of a related live event. It can be a seminar, speech, class, interview, etc.

➢ Article Compilation

➢ Blog Compilation

➢ Teleseminars – Expert Call Ins Set up a date and time when your customers can call up and talk directly with experts that are related to your industry

➢ Online Video-Allow customers to download or view a related how-to video or informative seminar right over the internet.

➢ Webinars over the internet

➢ Audio/MP3 Programs
Allow customers to download and listen to a recording of an expert that is being interviewed right over the internet

➢ Video Trainings- DVD’s/MP4’s

➢ Multi-Media Products
Combine Printed materials, video and CD’s

➢ Home-Study Courses
Multi-media product format designed to be a complete system in a box.

Susan’s note: As speakers and authors we have unlimited possibilities for creating products. Many speakers make more money from BOR back of the room sales then from their talks. Why? Because people want to take you home with them. For speakers products create passive income that can be repurposed and repackaged for various audiences on and off line. Take a look at some of the products I have created for speakers and authors. Click here to view.

It is really quite easy to create products with the advent of the latest technology.

For example if you are offering teleclasses you might consider using audioacrobat

AudioAcrobat is an audio recording, streaming and hosting service. All of your audio messages are automatically converted into a single of html code that can be uploaded to any Website. Which means you can convert the audio into various formats including mp3′s and you can upload video too. And you can try it out for 30 days for FREE.

Consider transcribing your teleclass and offering the mp3 or CD with the handout and call it a Special Report or sell them on their own. Need a transcription service? Call Patsy Bellah (310) 840-2957. Patsy can also create an e-book for you.

Need more resources? Take a look at Speaker Services Resources

I will be talking about How to Create Info Products Easily and Simply at the Speakers’ Summit on May 2 and the mp3′s and my 6 page handout will be available for purchase following the event. Check it out

Today’s post was written by Donna Gunter-12 Steps to Creating Your First Info Product. Donna offers a clear map on how to move forward. Go forth and multiple!

The creation of your first info product is a huge first step toward implementing multiple streams of income in your business. It means that you have something to sell prospective customers to “size you up” as they consider purchasing your services, that you can sell something 24-7 from your website that demonstrates your expertise, and that you’re well on your way to creating a passive revenue stream for your business.

Your process doesn’t have to be as detailed as I’ve outlined here, but if you want to do a thorough job in the creation process, I suggest that you embark on all the steps.

1. Solution to a Problem.

The best-selling information products provide a direct solution to a major problem of your target market. If you’re a professional organizer, the problem might be how to clean and store and organize holiday decorations so that they can be easily found and used from year to year. If you’re a weight loss coach, the problem might be how to stay motivated when you’ve hit a weight loss plateau. Jot down some of the primary problems of your target market and the process by which you help your clients resolve these issues.

2. Determine Your Offering.

Info products come in all types of formats, from ebooks to ecourses to recorded teleseminars to podcasts to special reports to CD and DVD sets. Take stock of your target market and determine what format would best fit their lifestyle. Are they virtual business owners who work from home at their computers for most of the day? Then an ebook or ecourse would probably work well for this group. Are they busy executives who travel frequently? Then you might consider a portable audio format. You can also combine formats to appeal to a variety of learning styles or lifestyles.

And, of course, cost is a major consideration. Do you want to create a physical product that has to be shipped, or would an electronic download work? There are much greater costs on your end to produce a physical product than an electronic one, and you also have to deal with product fulfillment as well if you choose to sell a physical product. I tell my clients to start with an electronic version and test it out, and if it’s successful, move to a physical product, which has greater perceived value in the eyes of consumers.

3. Pricing.

Pricing of info products is all over the map. Check out your competition (yes, there will be competing products on the same topic aimed at the same target market) and see what they’re charging. You also need to take a look at your contact database and make some assessments of the value of your information to them as well as what you think they will pay. You can survey your database to determine this info, or base it on comparable offerings in the marketplace. Many times my clients get hung up on the notion of comparing pricing for their info product to what they can find in the local bookstore. Generally, pricing for info products is higher than retail bookstores because the info being sold online is specialized for a target market and is delivered immediately upon order (if it’s an electronic download).

The pricing strategy that also seems to sell better online is ending your price with a 7, like in $17, $47, etc. If you offer a high-priced product, consider offering payment via an installment plan, where you charge a bit more each month for the product than if someone were to pay for the product in full at time of purchase.

4. Technology.

Do you have the technology in place to create and deliver your offering? If it’s an ebook, you’ll need either a PDF writer program or ebook compiler software. For an audio program you’ll need a microphone and audio recording and editing capabilities. For an ecourse you’ll need either autoresponder software or a direct to desktop solution. For delivery you’ll need a shopping cart that can deliver electronic products or take shipping info for physical products as well as some type of merchant account to take credit and process credit cards. You’ll also want a sequential autoresponder service to follow up with your buyers.

5. Create the Product.

This is typically the most labor intensive part of the process, as you’re actively recording or writing or videotaping your information for the product. Some products are easier to create than others, especially if you’re recycling other content that you have into a new product. If you’re starting from scratch, however, give yourself a full 3-6 weeks of steady work time for product creation. After creating the product you may want to have it proofread and/or edited in some fashion by a proofreader or an audio/video expert.

6. Graphics.

A picture tells a thousand words, and more importantly, info products sell better when the visitor has a graphic representation of this intangible info product item. If graphic design isn’t your specialty, find someone to design an ebook cover or podcast album art for you. You may want to have the designer also create a website header banner for the product that you can use on your sales page. You can generally have both of these done for around $200. The more professional your image, the better perceived value your product has.

7. Domain, Hosting, and Website.

I believe that each info product should have its own domain name and sales page to be most effective. Domain names are pretty inexpensive, so you could actually buy several for each product — one that reflects the product name, for example, and one that reflects the result someone will receive after using your product. You can use the various domain names and websites for a variety of testing purposes as you go to sell your product. If your plan to create multiple info products, you’ll probably want to obtain a website hosting account that will enable you to host multiple domains from the same account. Another option is to forward your product’s domain name to a “hidden” page of your primary site.

8. Copywriting.

There is a specific formula to copywriting for one-pages sales letter websites. The best way to get ideas for your sales letter is to create a Marketing Swipe file of other sales copy that you like. From your swipe file take a look at the headlines, the introduction, the subheadlines, the listing of benefits, the product description, the outline of the features, the call to action (request to buy), the closing, and the postscripts. You’ll begin to see a pattern emerge when you look at 4-5 sample sales pages.

9. Shopping Cart.

Once your product is complete, you need to upload the product into your shopping cart and set up the cart for purchases. This may mean that you also need to set up shipping and handling charges for physical products and integrate your shopping with your shipper of choice. If your state requires the collection of state sales taxes, you’ll need to integrate that as well.

10. Followup Autoresponders.

Creating a series of autoresponders to follow-up with a customer after purchase enables you to stay in front of the customer and reminder her about your other product/service offerings. Design a series of 3-5 autoresponders that will be sent out after a purchase to check in with your customer and tell her the next step she needs to take after her purchase. This might mean referring her to another info product, asking her to join some type of subscription service, or experiencing your service with a free trial.

11. Capturing Contact Info.

Sadly, not everyone who visits your website will buy what you’re selling. However, you can still capture their contact info by creating a free giveaway for those who may not be ready to buy. This might be a special report or free ecourse, and you follow the same steps outlined previously for creating this giveaway. You’ll also need to create 3-5 followup autoresponders here as well that will ultimately offer them your product once again.

12. Publish and Promote.

Now, you’re ready to sell. Publish your website and begin to promote your offering to your own database. You can create a buzz about your product by writing a press release, offering a free teleclass, buying ads on other websites or in other newsletters, publishing articles, creating podcasts, purchasing pay-per-click advertising, requesting colleagues to send out notices to their contact lists, and creating an affiliate program in which others can sell your product for a commission.

Creating your first info product can be a time-consuming process. However, once it’s created, you stand to earn income from it for years to come. Start to expand your business offerings today with information products.
Copyright (c) 2007 Donna Gunter

About this author

Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at http://www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com

One of my intentions for ’08 was to offer a complimentary teleclass/webinar with the folks from webmeetlive.com and their team. Tim Romero the owner of webmeetlive has graciously been spending time with me to educate me on the latest technology and value of webconferencing. Webinars are the next step up from teleseminars and they are done over the internet and you do not need a bridge line.

There are many advantages to offering a webinar for speakers, authors, coaches, business folks. If you can join us I am offering a complimentary teleclass/webinar interview and demo Thursday, February 7, 11am-12:15pm PST or 2pm-3:15pm EST. I will be interviewing Tim on the benefits of webinars. Here’s what we will be talking about.

Webinars: Latest Technology to Explode Your Business interview with Tim Romero owner of webmeetlive.com.

You are welcome to join us register now

- Benefits of a webinar
- How a webinar be as effective as a live workshop
- How a webinar can significantly increase your sales, no matter what type of business you have or what product or service you are selling
- Effective methods for creating web based training for presentations, seminars, conferences and meetings for your customers and employees
- How to generate leads and products with webinars
- How a webinar makes it easy to engage speakers located anywhere in the world for a more cost-effective training with no reduction in quality

Register for complimentary telelcass

The following tips are from the folks at webmeetlive

11 Simple Steps to a Powerful Webinar

The keys to a successful Webinar are selecting a valuable topic and content for the audience and having a good speaker. Follow these simple steps to conducting an effective Webinar.

1. Determine the goals of your event - educate clients and prospects, generate sales leads, launch a new product.

2. Determine a compelling topic that will make the right people want to attend

3. Choose your technology – You’ll want to use a reliable web conferencing solution that works with a variety of operating systems, is scaleable to a large number of attendees, and has the features you need including VOIP, chat, Q&A, and recording. This will ensure a completely interactive and enjoyable experience from end to end.

Not all web conferencing services are created equal!
Many “so called” webinar services are not accessible to dial up or satellite users, do not include Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), and require the use of a teleconference bridge for the audio portion of your webinar.

The drawback to an old fashioned teleconference is that when the line is open for Q & A it can become a very noisy, non-productive environment. This can leave a negative impact on your guests, who have sacrificed their time, and in some cases, their hard earned money to attend your event.

4. Select your speaker and meeting support team.
a. Speaker: It’s best to have a speaker who is recognizable to the audience, credible and has good speaking skills. This may be YOU!
b. Moderator: A Webinar is much like a radio show to your audience. A skilled moderator improves the flow and feel of your event in several ways. A moderator will put a nervous speaker at ease with easy questions and prompts that will help them stay focused on their presentation. In addition, a good moderator can read the audience’s mood by viewing the questions and comments submitted by online participants. This gives the moderator cues about speeding up the program, or taking time to answer pressing questions raised by the audience.
c. Support person: Have a support person on hand to handle any technical issues experienced by participants.

5. Select an appropriate time for your Webinar: For events based in the U.S., 10:00 am PST, 11:00 am MST, 12:00 pm CST, 1:00 pm EST is usually a good time. Skip Mondays and Fridays.

6. Establish your registration process: Streamline the registration process as much as possible – make it quick and easy. Online registration is effective and convenient. Also, make sure the technology can separately track who attended the meeting for follow up.

7. Engage in a mix of offline and online promotion early and follow up, follow up, follow up. Send confirmation e-mails immediately after registration and at least two reminder e-mails prior to the Webinar.

8. Pre-seminar walkthrough - Practice your Web seminar with your speaker(s) and content at least once prior to the actual event.

9. Conduct your Webinar.
a. Join early - Presenters should join at least 15 minutes early to set up the presentation including any interactive content such as polling or Q&A.
b. Interact with the audience - Your content can be delivered with PowerPoint slides, co-browsing, videos, followed by Q&A.

Many webinar conferencing solutions offer a chat feature so that participants can send questions to the presenter without interrupting the presentation. Interactive content is recommended when possible in order to keep your audience engaged in the seminar and it enables you to collect valuable information and feedback. Remember, keep your webinar educational and avoid sales pitches. Your webinar is not a sales fest!
c. Emphasize the main points: Annotation tools are a great way to emphasize what you are talking about at any given time. These tools allow you to highlight areas within your presentation and keep your audience focused on the subject at hand.

10. Collect feedback – Use polling, surveys, Q&A and chatting transcripts to learn about your audience and develop a post-event FAQ.

11. Archive for playback - By selecting a Record and Playback option, both the audio and the visual portions of the presentation are synchronized for future playback, further extending the reach of your event.

A personal conference center is an ideal way to hone your webinar skills and produce training content, live and on demand pay-per-view events, pre-recorded 24/7 “infomercials” for your business, product or service. It’s also great for customer service, business meetings, sales presentations and just keeping in touch with friends and family.

Get your own web conferencing center today and you can by clicking on the following link www.speakerservices.webmeetlive.com

Today my colleague and friend Patsy Bellah talks about why teleseminars are probably the single most prolific source for new products. One teleseminar can produce at least 20 streams of income or marketing strategies (and counting).

1. Charge for the teleseminar

2. Edit the audio and that becomes a product.

3, 4, 5. Extract portions of the audio to turn it into more than one audio product, an RSS Feed, an audio on your blog, Tips for a new website, etc.

6. Get the teleseminar transcribed and the audio and transcript become a packaged product.

7, 8, & 9. Using the transcript from the teleseminar, extract portions for multiple articles.

10. The transcript of just one hour-long teleseminar is perfect for a Special Report.

11, 12, & 13. Use portions of the transcript for magazine or Ezine articles. One hour-long teleseminar will probably produce about three articles.

14. Using the transcript from one hour-long teleseminar is perfect for a chapter in your book, ebook or home study course. One hour-long teleseminar will usually produce about 20-30 pages.

15, 16, 17, & 18. . Combine several teleseminar transcripts and they become a book, eBook, eCourse or home study course.

19. RSS Feed.

20. Blog entries.

There are more and I’m sure I’ll be increasing this list for days. I had to stop at 20 because this article was becoming too long.

A transcript of an hour-long teleseminar, which you can get for less than $100, plays an important role in either helping to market or create at least 14 of the above listed items. What is an information product? All of us already have knowledge about many different things. Sometimes we feel that because we know something so well, everyone else must already know it.

That isn’t true. Information that you can give to other people is important to them and there is somebody who would love to have your knowledge, even though you think that everybody already knows all about that subject.

There may be other people with the same knowledge, and you may hear someone say, “Oh, I know all about that.” That can sometimes be discouraging and intimidating. But don’t let that daunt you. There will still be plenty of people who would like to have your knowledge. You just have to get it out of your mind and onto paper.

Record your knowledge and get it transcribed, and prosper from it.

What is transcription? Transcription is taking an audio recording and typing out the words so that they are a written document, usually a Word document. In it’s literal sense, transcription of an audio is word-for-word of what is said, leaving in all the grammatical errors, ums, ahs, etc. Working closely with a transcription service, they can help you edit out most of these unwanted phrases.

Thus you have created another product to complement your audio product.

Patsy Bellah is the owner of Great Transcriptions where the spoken word becomes the written word. Check us out at http://www.greattranscriptions.com For more information about recording your information products, read “How To Get Your Info-Product to Market With Lightning Speed!” for only $29.95 at http://www.lightningfastinfoproducts.com We can help you with recording your Teleseminars. We can host your teleseminars, consult as to bridge lines, help with recording, provide a transcription of the teleseminar, create and submit articles from the transcription.

Here are several suggestions on mapping out a marketing plan for your speaking business.

Also an article on what meeting planners look for when hiring a speaker with tips on video demos too.

Establish yourself as an expert through speaking – a powerful marketing tool that lifts your business or service to the next level. Begin now to build a profitable speaking business that gets your message out to the world.

- Design an irresistible presentation kit that makes meeting planners want to hire you.
In this kit would be your one-sheets for each topic you speak on

- Customize your talks with targeted pre-program questionnaires

- Launch new product ideas based on solid game-plans

- Produce powerful video demos

- Create powerful websites, blogs and e-zines

What Meeting Planners Look for When Working with Speakers

• Are you easy to work with? The desirable speaker or trainer is organized, professional in all communications, and is flexible as opposed to “whiney” and demanding. Make their job easier and they will use you again and recommend you to others.

• Are you an expert in your topic? They look for a presenter who can communicate effectively with impact, drawing in and captivating the audience.

• Do you take the time to learn about their organization and customize your presentations for their people? They want someone who will take the time to research, and then adapt your presentation so that it is relevant and appropriate to the culture and climate of their organization.

• Do you engage the audience? Decision makers want a presenter who will get the audience involved and invested. They look to see if your audience seems sincerely interested and responsive to you, as opposed to someone who is just tolerated.

• Will you help the company achieve its goals? If their goal is to create long-term change, they need to be convinced that you can accomplish this before they invest in you. If they are looking for entertainment, they want to know that what you do will achieve this for the majority of their people.

• Do you have a video demo? Is it streamed on your website?

A great video demo can be your ticket into places you could have never reached without it. It can increase the number and the caliber of your bookings. It can be sent through the mail, streamed on your website, and even sent by e-mail. For most serious speakers and trainers, it is an absolute necessity for success.

Many meeting planners and executives will not even consider a speaker or trainer without seeing them in action. So your video demo can get you in the door, but then you have one chance to impress your prospect quickly. There is a lot of competition out there, and most professionals have a demo video. To stand out from the pack it’s essential for your video be creatively and intelligently designed, with excellent quality. It can mean a significantly higher income.

It makes sense to invest in a demo, but to increase the return on your investment, you need to design your demo to target, reach and persuade those who have the power to say yes or no to you. With that type of planning, you’re shooting at your target with laser guided precision! Without great planning and execution, you are just shooting arrows with a blindfold on.

Of course every speaker and trainer is unique, so each video should be unique. The tone, pace and image of your video will differ from others because of who you are and what you do. However, there are some basic attributes that appeal to most decision makers. It is up to you and your video production company to communicate that you have those qualities.

Tips on Video Demos:
Your demo video is like a five to seven minute sales call. A quality three camera professionally produced demo video lets your client know that you are a professional, experienced and in-demand speaker. A poor quality video has the opposite effect, and will usually not be watched at all.

• Stream your video and post it on your website so that you can be seen right away.

• Make a CD or DVD of your demo to send out to the planners when it is requested.

A quality demo video can:
- Help you get in the door and past the “gatekeepers” to the decision makers.
- Make a quick and great impression.
- Show your unique style and how the audience responds to you.
- Entice potential clients. Grab their interest so they’ll want to hear more of your presentation.
- Give you a quality tool to reach thousands of potential clients by streaming on the web.
- Increase the caliber of your bookings.
- Get you hired and increase your income!

See streaming video samples of 3 camera video demos that Speaker Services produces for their clients at the Video Demo Showcase. Next showcase is November 4, 2007.

Turn Your Keynote into a Book
by Dawn Josephson

Many professional speakers want to turn their keynote speech into a book. This is a great way for you to leverage your content, but realize that you’ll often have to do more than simply type out your keynote and submit it for publication. Because speaking and writing are two completely different mediums, what works in your speech may not work in your book. Most speakers find they need to give their ideas much more development in written form. Some also find that they need to change their content’s tone so it has impact in print. The first step is to tape record your keynote speech and get it transcribed. Read your transcript and note the areas that need further development. Then, organize the raw material accordingly, and start adding. Another option is to have an objective outsider interview you about your topic. Be sure to tape record these sessions. Since the outsider does not know your topic as well as you, this approach helps you identify specifically which areas of your keynote may not transfer well into written form, or that may be confusing to readers. Usually the information the outsider helps you uncover are the true bits of wisdom that will make your book the best it can be, while still being true to your core message.

Dawn Josephson is a professional speaker, internationally acclaimed author, and the Master Writing Coach™. She is president of Cameo Publications, an editorial and publishing services firm, and is the creator of The Ground Rules™ book series.

Dawn empowers leaders to master the printed word for enhanced credibility, positioning, and profits. As the author of Putting It On Paper: The Ground Rules for Creating Promotional Pieces that Sell Books, she is the go-to person the media turns to when they want reliable writing-related information. Dawn believes that a person’s ability to write clearly and succinctly is the true reflection of their genius.

Dawn may be contacted at http://www.masterwritingcoach.com

Note: Teleclass CD available: WRITE TO SELL! CREATE PROMOTIONAL PIECES THAT SELL BOOKS . Learn more/order

I share the following Marketing Tip with you:
Market Yourself Through Public Speaking
Copyright © 2006, Marketing Maven, Wendy Maynard

I could not say it any better then the Marketing Maven.

Susan’s note: Speaking is the absolute best way I know how to grow your business and income. You do not have to be a professional speaker to speak. What you do need is to be passionate about what you speak about and be wiling to share information and inspire your audience and be wiling to be coached and go to workshops and keep on learning and getting better at what your practice.

Speaking to small or large audiences is a great way to create leads for your e-list, sell your products and to garner clients.

Last week I offered a Teleconference called Speakers’ Summit. I interviewed 9 experts on branding/media, communion, connection and content, info products, to Web 2.0, creating CD’s and I did one on the Business of Speaking take a look at it as it is offered as a home study course and you might just want to have it. There are 10 MP3′s and over 150 pages in handouts.

If you are ready to do an intensive and really want to play the game of speaking-check out the Speakers’ Bootcamp offered Aug 1-5 or again in March ’08. This is only for serious folks, 60 hours of interactive coaching with a saml group of 20.

BTW: Have you signed up for Speaker Services e-zine? Past issues are archived on the website from 1998-chock full of information.

Take it away Wendy…

A noteworthy way for you to get exposure and new customers is public speaking. As a small business owner, it is always a more powerful position to be in the front of the room than in the back. You further position yourself as an expert and reinforce the brand as YOU. People tend to perceive speakers as being more important than non-speakers.

Create a core talk that reinforces your specialty and practice it. Come up with a compelling title for your speech. Remember, your presentation isn’t a sales pitch; it’s a way to showcase your expertise. So, provide great, practical information that is helpful to your listeners.

Make the same speech in lengths of 30 minutes, 45 minutes and 90 minutes. This will be a talk you can use over and over again at many different types of events. Show confidence by using humor and letting your passion shine through!

During your speech, your audience gets an opportunity to meet you without obligation. They get a sense of your personality, style, and expertise. And, you get to showcase your expertise. The people who like your approach will either hire you or spread the word about your company.

Your audience is a goldmine of prospects, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to get their contact information. Be sure to pass around a sign-up sheet to collect the names of attendees. As an incentive for signing the sheet, offer them a free special report or a subscription to your ezine.

In every city, there are associations, service clubs, and support groups that are looking for speakers for their meetings. Check your telephone book and highlight some of these. You can start with smaller groups as practice.

After you feel comfortable with your speech, seek out larger groups who have members in your targeted audience. When you call, ask for the name of the person in charge of lining up speakers. Offer to speak for free and explain the ways in which your speech will benefit the group’s members. Be sure to mention the remarkable title you developed – it will help sell your presentation.

Once you begin to promote yourself as a speaker, groups will hear about you and you’ll find yourself getting requests, as well. After you begin to get more engagements and feel at ease with speaking, add more speaking topics. If a group liked your speech, you can contact them again and tell them you have new material and they may ask you to return to speak again.

Develop a speaker’s sheet that you can send to groups with your speech title and description. Create a page on your website that describes your expertise, background, and speaking style. Include testimonials if you have them. Hand out information to your audiences about you, your company, and your services. If you have information products, you can often offer these for sale for people to purchase at the event.

Public speaking is a powerful way to get new customers and leads, so be sure to incorporate it into your quiver of marketing techniques. You’ll find opportunities abound when you commit to getting yourself out there in the front of the room!

ACTION ITEM: What idea do you want to develop into your core talk? List three potential ideas right now. Then, come up with an attention-getting title. Show them to your existing customers and ask them which one is of the most value to them. Develop the winner into a speech of different lengths.

Wendy Maynard, the Marketing Maven, publishes REMARKABLE MARKETING, a weekly ezine for small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. If you’re ready to skyrocket your sales, easily attract customers, and become more profitable, get your FREE TIPS now at http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/ezine.html

Welcome to Market Yourself as a Speaker blog. Dedicated to sharing information with business folk and authors who are interested in using speaking as a way to grow their business.

I am Susan Levin a marketing consultant for speakers and authors. I was one of the first 1500 people to have a website in 1994. I have assisted thousands of people with their speaking careers for the past 15 yrs.

www.speakerservices.com is my website which brings speakers and audiences together. Unlike a speaker bureau I do not take commissions however, I do charge a fee to be listed on our site and all the calls go directly to the speakers and they do their own bookings. I feel that given the opportunity to speak to a group of 10-100 is a blessing and a terrific way to attract business.

Speaking is a business and like any business it must be nutured.

In addition to the online directory I offer conferences, symposiums and summits plus video demo showcases.

I have a fantastic team of folks who I work with and I refer to them all the time.

Our E-Zine is archived on my website for the past 5-6 years. It offers great articles and tips and advice as well as leads.

Next time I will share some marketing tips with you.