The most essential feature to look for is, of course, it’s intuitiveness. If you can’t make the software work it doesn’t make a difference how great it is hyped to be. Be certain to dry run different packages before you select a provider for your ebrochure. The second main decision you need to complete is about security. Now you should be concerned about hackers. Is your work secured? How about the content? Can individuals just copy-paste your brochure content or has the software vendor protection in place peventing these things? Is content secure from copying and pasting by the everyday reader? You’ll need to think about the business plan as well to properly your electronic magazine. Is non-traditional media consolidation necessary? How about handling ads? An over-arching of your business should be present throughout. Having content co-operative with search engines is also essential when considering marketing your flash publication. Old editions are one thing you’ll need to think about when you create a digital brochure. Will your interactive brochure be publically accessible? If not widely available you have unlimited hosting possibilities and you should look around a variety of hosting options. So what plans have you put in place to advertise this flash publication?

Lastly, in picking out a flash software host try to choose one that offers quick tech support. How customer-oriented are they? Be assured of their response time! How are the FAQ pages? These are matters you should look at before you have problems any problems, it’ll be a good thing you did!

The final decision in provider could make or break this zine. Google the terms “create digital edition” for further information.

There is something about getting up in front of a group of people that cripples, freezes and terrifies even the most confident and educated.

Many are in fear of being scrutinized by their peers, their customers, or their co-workers. “What if I say the wrong thing? What if I forget to mention something important? What if someone asks a question that I can’t answer?” There is only one elixir…Preparation.

Fear is a direct result of ill-preparedness so rehearse often and you’ll do better than you imagine. If you are consumed with worry about how you’ll probably forget your content, stumble through your thoughts, forget key points and stutter, you most certainly will…exactly as you rehearsed it in your mind over and over again because you worried so much about it. However, if you mentally envision how effectively you will capture and hold the attention of your audience leaving them begging for more, you certainly will. It’s all in where you place your focus.

There is a famous saying that goes a little like this… If you want to be great, first you need to be good. If you want to be good, first you need to be bad and to be bad, first you need to try. Once you try, you’re on your way!

HOW AND WHERE DO I TRY?

Great question! The first thing you need to do is to get yourself to www.toastmasters.org and join a local Toastmasters club in your area. The cost, ahem, I mean investment to join for one year is less than it costs to top off the tank in your SUV and the meetings last about as long as three episodes of Seinfeld. Every couple weeks or so you’ll have an opportunity to present in front of a group of people just like you; people interested in becoming better presenters. At the end of your 5-7 minute speeches you’ll receive encouraging compliments with a dose of constructive criticism to work on for your next speech. Ask someone to record you on camera and you’ll be blown away by how much you improve after just a few speeches.

In fact, consider joining several clubs…the memberships are cheap and you’ll get that much more floor time in front of different audiences.

Here’s another great idea – Many cities have those bars/pubs that have open mike nights where you can get up in front of an audience of 3 to 50 or more and try stand-up comedy. Be not afraid – not too many people in these places can stand up and be funny at the same time so don’t worry about being funny. I’ve learned that the funny comes naturally, when you least expect it. All it takes is for you to put 3 jokes together and turn it into a 6 minute story line. It’s simple when you think about it, and the more you do it, the more you’ll want to go back and do it again.

Now, if you wanna get nuts, let’s get nuts…join an improv class at any improv theatre in your area. You may need to travel some distance (if you live in the middle of corn fields and general stores that sell feed, Old Spice cologne and farm-fresh-eggs under the same roof) but you’ll have a blast and you’ll learn a lot.

ROCK-STAR PRESENTATION SKILLS

So what makes a great speaker? Preparation, gestures, preparation, vocal variety, preparation, movement around the room, preparation (get the picture?), sincere eye contact, pregnant pauses between thoughts, interactivity, repeating key phrases to emphasize main points, asking for volunteers to help you make your point, dressing/presenting yourself appropriately for your audience, being mentally prepared for the unexpected and the most important of all, a sense of humor. If you can make ‘em laugh, they’re all yours. Oh, I almost forgot – preparation!

Don’t be afraid to let your personality be on full display during your presentations. People can fall asleep with their eyes wide open when speakers are perfectly proper and poised in their gray suit and red tie with their wingtips nailed to the floor behind a podium. This may be a great stance for an oil painting but not for a speech!

Think of it this way – a good speaker motivates, inspires, educates and challenges their audience to take action. A great speaker also knows how to entertain.

POWER POINT = POWER NAP

If you can, stay away from power point at all costs unless you need to display photos or graphics to drive a point home. If you can, a better option would be to include those photos or graphics in your handouts for your audience to take with them when they leave. DON”T have dozens of pages with bullet points to help you through your speech unless you have a good supply of Ritalin with you to pass out. Props are good and so are large, blank flip-charts for you to jot key messages on. There’s nothing that would turn my a face an authentic shade of fire-engine-red than to know my audience is watching me navigate through my Windows XP desktop trying to figure out how to get my power point to work while everyone is staring at my lame desktop image. People come to see and listen to you, not an enlarged image of a computer screen projected on a large slab of drywall.

Well, I hope this helps. Find yourself a Toastmasters club and best of luck to you!

Scott Seroka is Vice President of Seroka & Associates, an advertising and public relations agency in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Scott has presented to many different groups on a variety of topics, both professional and personal. He can be reached at sseroka@wi.rr.com.

The Muses are often given credit – or blame – for everyday events that are a normal part of life.

Strictly as a point to ponder, I would like to suggest that any “normal” writer has a trio of muses that tag along to help, inspire, and often hinder, complicate and confuse the creative writing process for us.

But it would seem, good or bad, they are a necessary component of the writing process. They are the voices in your head that assist, direct, suggest, and sometimes demand attention as you write.

This trio of muses are fraternal triplets, born of the same heritage: Talent. Talent is the mother of all creativity. Talent was born with basic skills. She teaches us how to develop those skills through her children, the Muses, named Lynda, Jessica, and Bobby Ellen.

Sometimes their advice is well received. Sometimes their advice is confusing and difficult to understand. Sometimes they offer no advice…and watch us, with pleasure, to see if we will succeed. Lessons are learned when principles taught must be applied on our own to demonstrate our own understanding and creativity.

Lynda is a muse of carnal erotica. When she is present you can feel the radiant heat of the closeness and wantonness of her silken, smooth nakedness. Her bronzed flesh she willingly bares, rising and falling in poetic motion for your own pleasure. You can smell the thick, heady scent of her aroused sexuality as she whispers gently, but deeply, into the ears of your mind. She is the perfect portrait of a sultry, sensuous goddess.

Jessica is a euphoric romantic. Like a newly stitched quilt, you are easily enfolded by her soft, penetrating whispers into the comforting warmth of her enveloping presence. Your mind and heart are set at peace as she chants her sing-song melodies of romance and love as you recline casually in her presence. Thoughts of futures yet to be flow freely through your mind. You are lifted, invigorated, and encouraged beyond measure. Armed with her knowledge and support you are able to go forward and achieve.

Bobby Ellen is the practical voice of reason. She is the one who attempts to plant your feet firmly in the soil of reality. She is the champion of honesty, fidelity, and truth. She doesn’t let your head get too big. She speaks reason to your mind and encouragement to your heart, gently reminding you that you can always improve and do a little better. She supports the concepts of continuing education, daily planning, goal setting, and the practice of your developing skills. She whispers in your ear that failure is only found in the acceptance of yourself as you are, rather than choosing to become even more. She will encourage you upward, if you will listen. She is the root, the stem, the development of elementary, true passion.

The Three Muses. Always passionate, provocative, and persistent. You have seen them, heard them, felt them, in some form or another.

They are all in your mind.

Or…are they?

They should be!

In the following sentence, see whether you can detect the dangling modifier:

It was early morning. George rose from his bed taking his furry slippers with him and began his march downstairs where breakfast awaited him.

In this complex sentenceas grammarians would call itcomplex because the sentence contains the independent clause, “George rose from his bed taking his…downstairs” and the subordinate clause, “where breakfast awaited him,” we have a “not-so-obvious” dangling participial phrase. The reason that the “dangler” is not so obvious is because the intent of the writer is obvious from the context; we know who is taking the slippers. Yet the way the sentence is structured, the bed, by its juxtaposition to the participial “taking,” is the one doing the taking. One could argue that this is splitting hairs and being overly pedantic, yet this example, by the very insidiousness of the “dangler,” demonstrates very well that if we are not careful with these grammatical structure razers in cases such as these, we would become very sloppy in more serious cases, in which the meaning becomes grotesquely distorted.

Though the meaning be clear in the previous example, this does not make the infraction pardonable. A good writer needs to be aware of these “danglers” and has to conform his writing so as to minimize their occurrence. We are all guilty of these infractions and should not stop writing because our writing is not always perfect. Since the dangling modifier is such a common erroreven among good writerswe need to be ever aware of its stealthy manner of sneaking into our prose. We should rewrite the above by making any of the following changes:

Rising from his bed, George took his furry slippers with him and began his march downstairs where breakfast awaited him.

Or,

Taking his furry slippers with him, George rose from his bed and began his march downstairs where breakfast awaited him.

If you want to write well, beware the “dangler.” And go get a good book on grammar and learn about the language you wish to express yourself in. This will be well worth your while.
More on this in another article. Stay tuned…

Joe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and an award-winning former teacher of both college and high school mathematics. Under the penname, JC Page, Joe authored Arithmetic Magic. As a result of this publication, Joe was invited to be a guest on the television show the Book Authority. Joe is also author of the charmingly pithy and popular ebook, Make a Good Impression Every Time: The Secret to Instant Popularity; the seminal collection of verse, Poems for the Mathematically Insecure, and the creator and scriptwriter of an upcoming DVD series that is both visionary and highly educational. The diverse genre of his writings (novel, short story, essay, script, and poetry)particularly in regard to its educational flavor co continues to captivate readers and to earn him recognition.

Joe propagates his teaching philosophy through his articles and books and is dedicated to helping educate children living in impoverished countries. Toward this end, he donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every ebook. For more information go to www.mathbyjoe.com.

While there is a lot to gain from speaking publicly, there is also a lot to lose. Here are seven reasons to be scared…

Number One: No skill.

Would you want someone repairing your car that knows nothing about mechanics? The average speaker receives no training, takes no classes, and doesn’t read one book on presenting. He or she expects to do an adequate job with no experience.

Number Two: Not Fearing Death

The OLD adage is that public speaking is the #1 fear. If you would RATHER die than speak, then you don’t need to be speaking. Period.

If you spillover Niagara Falls walking a tightrope, you’re going to die and it will all be over. When speaking you won’t die. You’ll live to face the embarrassment, the whispers, and the snickers. But you’ll still be alive. If you look forward to a Niagara, yet look away from speaking then put on your swim trunks and stay away from the podium.

Number Three: Failing to Organize.

One of my services is critiquing the outlines of speakers. On average the format and structure is elementary at best and confusing at worse. It’s as if the speaker’s brain spewed out on a sheet of paper and left it at that. Organizing does not take long, nor is it difficult, but only a handful do it successfully. Without a proper outline the fear is understandable.

Number Four: Confusing Writing and Speaking

Writing is formal. People rarely forgive errors in spelling and grammar. From this article I’ll get several people attempting to correct me. However, there is room for error when speaking. The ears are very forgiving and the brain is sharp enough to fill in the blanks.

Speakers get tripped up when they try to talk like they write. They become more academic and antiseptic and who wants to listen to someone like that. How many college professors did you find hypnotizing? Do you remind yourself of a monotone bore? Frightening, yes?

Number Five: Trying to Survive.

“I just want to get through the speech and get it over with.” If that is your attitude then be afraid. Chances are extremely high that you will not do well. “Survival” causes you to do and say things you wouldn’t without the duress.

Number Six: Lack of Commitment

This ties into the first point. The majority of speakers do a single presentation and that’s it. No problem. A book can help them. On the other hand, there are thousands of monthly, or even daily presenters who fail to make marked improvement. Why? No commitment.

You can’t take one class and do brain surgery. You can’t attend one seminar and suddenly become a tax expert. The same with speaking. One book, class, or course will not create excellence. To become the best you have to commit yourself to long term achievement.

Number Seven: The Freeze Factor

Chances are high that you will forget something and freeze during your speech. Unless you know how to play it off, or use the moment, you will look uncomfortable, or even stupid. People will talk about it afterwards. They will mention how they felt sorry for you.

It seems that folks are always looking for ways to be afraid. Well, you just got seven reasons. The question is: What are you going to do about it?

Paul Evans is the executive creator of Instant Speaking Success. His company has helped over 35,000 speakers avoid the fear and strengthen their skills. If you just want to survive one speech go to wwwGreatPublicSpeaking.com If you’re committed to becoming a speaker visit www.InstantSpeakingSuccess.com and click the speaking success zone.

We will begin this week by taking a look at the huge opportunity that search engines can provide your store.

There are two distinct opportunities to capitalize on in search engine traffic.

1) People looking for you specifically – These are people trying to find your store information or your website..they could be looking for a way to get in touch with service or parts. They could be trying to contact sales…who knows? We just know they are looking for you. The questions are:

a) Can they find you when they are using the name of your dealership? If you’re website is not present in the top 5 listings when somebody is searching for your dealership name, chances are you are losing that potential customer to a lead generation company (for more on how this happens to you everyday look here).

b) Can they find you when they are looking for a dealership in your market that sells your products (that’s still you right?)? Potential customers may search for “Charlotte ford dealers”. If you’re a Ford dealer in Charlotte don’t you want to get in front of that client?

c) Can they find you when they know you exist but can’t remember your name? If you are a Honda dealer in Arlington and there are searches for “Arlington Honda” but your dealership name is Billy Johnson Honda, who do you think they are trying to find? You of course.

d) Can they find you when they can’t spell your name? Whether they hit the wrong key or they just can’t spell..we still want to sell them something! But are they finding you when they can’t spell your name?

2) People shopping in your market – These people are trying to find a specific dealer (not you) or information about specific products or services in your market. When they are looking for information about a product you sell or they are looking for one of your competitors wouldn’t you want to have an opportunity to get your name in front of them?

Let’s talk briefly about search engines in general.

They don’t care if you rank first, last or anywhere in between. It’s up to you to develop a strategy that puts you where you want to be in each engine. They will ban (throw out your site) you for activity that they believe to be detrimental to their goal..serving good search results to their end-users. Banning doesn’t happen often but we have seen a local Toyota dealership get banned from Google and they are still doing things that will get them banned from the other two major engines. Different search engines look for different things to determine where you will rank. They all consider what is on your pages…appropriate titles, good content, etc. Some will also weigh factors that are not on your website, like links to your site, and terms used in those links as well as who is linking to you.

Search engines can be a real hassle to keep up with…but if you develop a plan to get on top, I can guarantee that you will sell more cars and spend less on advertising doing it. It is one thing you can do today that can impact your sales today.

But did you know there are music works in the public domain? And that there are movie clips in the public domain? And that there are works of art that are in the poublic domain?

And yes, you can use these and not have to pay any royalties! Read on.

Have you ever watched any movies on the Turner classic channel? Many of the movies shown are old classics dating back to the early 20s or 30s. Ted Turner offers these movies on his channel and makes millions without having to pay a cent in royalties! What he has done is simply take these old movies and broadcast them on his channel.

You can be the Ted Turner of the internet by offering old movies that are in the public domain as downloads from your site. Don’t worry. It’s all 100% legal. You can also put them on CD or DVD and sell them. Amazing! Did you know there are sites doing this? They put old movies on VCDs and DVDs, brand themselves as a classic movies site and sell their products.

What about old songs? Same thing. You can create an album of old classic songs in MP3 format and allow your customers to download them from your site. This MP3 download is legal. How about collecting old love songs and writing them on to a CD and do a Valentine giveaway Plenty of possibilities. Here’s an excellent directory on finding free sheet music. http://www.freesheetmusic.net/

For more sources of finding, not just text, not just music but also pictures, jokes, classics, religious material, photos, images, video, poetry that are in the public domain, visit http://www.InstantAuthors.com/pdresource.htm

Please remember that although the songs themselves are in the public domain, a specific performance of the song by an artiste is NOT in the public domain. If J-Lo does a re-make of an old classic song, obviously her performance of the song is her copyright. And you cannot be distributing her MP3. Of course, you can also do your own re-make of the song with your band and you can own all copyrights to your version and sell it to rival J-Lo’s release. You can sell the audio or video under your own copyright.

Did you know there are also classic paintings and artwork that are in the public domain? What can you do with these masterpieces? You can use these images and create posters, postcards, banners and graphics with the art piece as a backdrop. Those who have a way with words might also want to incorporate inspiring verses on the poster. And there you have your very own one-of-a-kind beautiful masterpiece products to sell!

You can also work with copyright-free images, software, audio, technology, religious material, poetry, classics and more.

Where do you these material? I have created a list you can download. ~ visit http://www.InstantAuthors.com/pdresource.htm

So, if you’re thinking about becoming a published author read this before you power up the PC and prepare to pen a masterpiece because there are a few (17 that I’ve found) landmines to watch out for on the road to self publishing success.

Following are seven of the primary reasons many authors fail. Is your book is positioned to fly or flop?

1. Publishing books with unprofessional covers. Despite of what your Mom might have told you, people DO judge books by their covers and if your cover does not look like it was professionally designed it won’t sell as many copies as you’d hope.

Take the time and do the research on a quality cover designer who will help you bring your book cover to life professionally and affordably.

Here’s a great way to get a surge of inspiration – even if you never intend to see your book in the bookstore – go to the section in the bookstore that you would find your book and get ideas from the covers that are already there. Jot down the titles and go online to see which of them are top sellers and then model their success for your book.

2. Printing in larger quantities then they have proven they will be able to sell. The book business is more a marketing and promotion business than it is a publishing business. No matter how great your book might, you’ll face financial frustration if you blindly print 5000 copies on the “hope” that they’ll sell quickly.

Without advance marketing and pre-sales promotions it’s very easy to overestimate the initial quantity for your first order. So as soon as you have a quality cover designed you want to use that visual representation as way to promote your book, generate buzz and best of all gauge your first print run size.

3. Paying large amounts for services upfront to “save” money. Many first time authors believe that they will save money by printing a large quantity of books all at once. In fact, that is only partly true. If you print 5000 copies of your book to “save” $1.00 per copy on printing but only sell 1000 copies, you may be loosing more than you save if you haven’t factored in the additional money you need for marketing and promoting the remaining 4000 copies.

To keep your initial “savings” from actually costing you future sales, consider working with a Print-on-Demand printer that will allow you to purchase smaller quantity print runs. While it might seem like you’re paying more per copy the reality is you’re making a more financially sound business move.

4. Working without a coach or mentor. Information is great, but too much information can actually lead to inactivity. Have you ever been so blown away by a great idea that you didn’t know where to begin; so you did nothing? It happens to the best of us. That’s why most often it’s not more information that will lead to your success, but a structured plan and accountability to see it through.

Tiger Woods is arguably the world’s best golfer. He has broken records and sent golfers 20 years older packing. He’s focused and determined to win, and despite all of his success he still has a coach. His mentor isn’t necessarily a better golfer than he is, but a person who understands the game and can see things from a different vantage point to offer him tips, advice and coaching for maximum success.

5. Not testing a title before it’s printed. Often when we have a great idea we can become so attached that we loose objectivity. When I wrote my book, “Teen Money Tips: Simple Steps For Banking, Saving & Making Money” my original title idea was “Get In The Driver’s Seat: 7 Keys To Making The Most of Your Money” it was cute and cleaver but it didn’t give the reader an instant indication of what the book was actually about.

After testing the title with more than 50 potential purchasers in my target market the results were in overwhelming favor of “Teen Money Tips,” a title that I though was too boring. But I had to remember it didn’t matter what “I liked” if the intended audience wouldn’t buy it.

Boy, am I glad I listened because my market has rewarded me time and again with a steady stream of book sales!

6. Writing books they think people “should” read. The famous 12-step program operates on the sole belief that a person must first admit they have a problem before they will truly work towards recovery.

If your book addresses an issue that people “should” be concerned about, but that they don’t know about, don’t care about or are to afraid to take action on, then it might not be the best investment of your time or resources to be the first one to write the book.

Writing for established markets that have proven to be willing to pay for information and a solution to their problem will enrich your life and theirs.

7. Waiting until the book is completed to market it. I’ll admit that writing a book can seem like a single focus task, and it should be at times. But authors must never loose sight of the fact that books are written to be sold. If no one knows about, or anticipates your book’s release, then your initial sales will be low and disappointing, making it difficult to cover the initial investment and even harder to play catch-up.

Movement encourages success, and very few things guarantee movement like having advanced marketing for your book. Book announcements, virtual book tours and bundled book bonus offers are just a few things that you can do in advance to market your book and boost your bottom line.

There are many other reasons that first time authors don’t reach their full potential. I’ve been there so I understand what it’s like to be long on enthusiasm and ideas, but lacking a full understanding of all the nuances to be successful as an author. That’s why I’m passionate about helping aspiring (and even previously published) authors write, publish and promote their way to self publishing success.

By avoiding the “Seven Ways To Sabotage Your Self Publishing Success,” you’ll experience the upside of self publishing:

* Controlling your own work * Pocketing more profit * Credibility as an Author * Expert status

And many more benefits much sooner; which is the whole reason you decided to become a self published author in the first place!

-Henry Fielding

Ah yes… The pen is truly mightier than the sword. Coming from someone that has been ‘physical’ his entire life, this statement has proven to be the most personally empowering concept I have ever known. And when you fully understand this, it is without a doubt quite liberating. But what few people don’t fully grasp is that when written words become spoken words, they explode like fireworks! If books speak volumes, speeches and speakers ignite entire lives.

Interestingly, there are three explicit categories of words: the written, the meditated, and the spoken.

Simply put…written words can enlighten, inform and give entire fields of possibilities and probabilities about topics or events. Meditated or contemplated words have the potential to bring out volatile, fiery or caustic ideas. But when both the written and meditated words are verbalized, the result is remarkable, to say the least. In particular, spoken words are fired from the barrel of a gun (the mouth), through a triggering mechanism (the tongue) and when used effectively, words are like bullets that hit targets accurately and leave an ineradicable mark.

The act of speaking itself is a unique technique for the transmission of messages. It really does involve the body and the soul. It’s capability to create a visual drama with live emotions and gestures that put life into the message like no written or meditated messages can achieve is truly startling. In speaking, you really become the message rather than just being the messenger. Consequently, entire multitudes can literally go bananas in public with a moving speech.

I have learned through a good deal of painful, yet rewarding experiences that it truly pays to learn how to speak with fire or antithetically use a tongue of flower. The power of the spoken word is insuperable. Entire nations have been united and divided by one dominant leader who spoke winningly of a particular cause. Abe Lincoln spoke and convinced divided Americans to unite, many years before the ‘true’ birth of the modern and potent media viability.

Conversely, Vladimir Lenin spoke with fiery persuasion to influence Russian peasants and workers to bolt away from Czar Rule and even called on the Proletariat or working class of other nations to an analogous action.

You can also brandish this mighty tool of speaking very credibly to an individual or multitude by just learning and practicing the principal points of public speaking. You might be astonished that the steps to develop potent public speaking skills are quite simple and easy, yet practicing them is critical. Delivering the spoken word with command and authority is an art and science that entails due/do diligence.

The development of personal or professional power is gained through mastery. Prevailing, potent and powerful leaders from the past to the present have mastered the ways of the spoken word. And in order to attain the power and the glory of the spoken word, you have to persistently practice your skills in public speaking by speaking publicly.

Kurt’s website http://www.kreatefitness.com, as well as his Provo Utah Private Fitness and Empowerment Facility, Synergy Fitness Systems, specializes in in providing leading edge exercise, nutrition and self improvement programs and the groundbreaking Neo Physis super premium supplement line. Kurt is a nationally recognized author, fitness and self improvement coach and proud husband and father.

After nervously waiting through five other talks, Mandy took her place at the front of the room-her heart pounding and hands shaking. She plowed through her 10-minute presentation with her mind in an out-of-body blur. When she finished, Mandy obeyed the instructor’s direction to remain front-and-center to receive her feedback. Comments started with a few “That’s a good color on you” and “You had good eye contact” platitudes, but then the real critique began. She used way too many “ums.” She shifted her weight too much. Her hair was in her eyes. Her voice was too soft. Most of all, her excessive gestures simply had to be brought under control! Luckily, the instructor had a gesture-reduction plan. He playfully took a piece of rope from a cardboard box, used it to bind Mandy’s hands behind her back, and had her give the entire presentation over again.

Did this experience help Mandy overcome her feelings of vulnerability and self-consciousness? Of course not. She shuffled home feeling humiliated and victimized. Rather than compassionately working with Mandy as the vulnerable, dignified, gifted human being she is, the instructor treated her like a horse whose spirit and wild habits had to be broken with ropes. Literally.

Previous Training As A Source of Fear

In my 15 years of coaching public speaking, I’ve worked with hundreds of anxiety-ridden speakers. Surprisingly, they often referred to previous speaking training as a source of their fear. They’ve been badgered, nit-picked, and intimidated-all stemming from a well-intentioned belief that if you fix the mechanics, confidence will follow.

For many people, this approach is, at the very least, ineffective-and it can damage one’s sense of dignity. If you see the audience as the enemy, mastering the art of the upward-hand-sweep-with-the-dramatic-flourish will not make those faces any less threatening. Even worse, this mechanical approach can be devastating if you feel insecure to begin with, then walk away with an even longer list of deficiencies to correct.

Of course, there’s value in noticing distracting habits and getting them under control. If you’re already comfortable in the spotlight, great; go ahead and fine-tune the mechanics. But if you’re like Mandy and anxiety is your primary issue (and believe me, you’re not alone), a mechanical approach may do more harm than good.

What You Need from Training

So what do you need, if not the mechanics? Here are four things you’d be wise to demand from your training session:

1. Work on the cause of your discomfort, not merely the symptoms.

Most people say that one-on-one or in a small group, they’re comfortable with speaking; they only feel awkward when speaking to a large group. If that’s the case, there’s good news: You don’t have to work on your speaking; you have to work on getting comfortable being the center of attention. It may not seem like a significant shift but it is. Speakers tend to work only on what they’re putting out to the audience (content, appearance, visual aids, voice). Often, the real work is learning to let in what’s coming from audience members, namely their attention.

2. Demand a dignified, healthy process, not just a good outcome.

In Mandy’s case, even without ropes, she would probably gesture less the next time she spoke, but is that really success? Though the end result of her training was fewer gestures, the teacher cut a swath of emotional destruction on the way. Desired ends don’t justify humiliating means. Always demand to be treated with respect as you work to develop your speaking skills.

3. Insist on privacy regarding your video.

A common tool in presentation skills training is video, but your video is no one’s business but yours. I have seen accomplished, respected professionals shrink in horror as their video was shown to and critiqued by the entire class. All learning value was lost because they were too mortified by the public display to learn anything. Besides, it’s a waste of time. The class just saw you present the real thing. Why make them watch you twice? In my workshops, students go to the fun and funky “Learning Lounge” where they have a private video monitor with earphones, snacks, a comfortable chair, cozy quilts, and a soothing foot massager. The lighthearted atmosphere takes the sting out of self-awareness so students can concentrate on learning. Nothing good comes from public humiliation, so if you’re not comfortable with a public video viewing, stand up for your right to privacy.

4. Feel free to explore your gifts.

“Stay inside the lines.” Remember that one? You got a new box of crayons and wanted to go crazy with them, but a teacher or parent squashed your creativity by making you color inside pre-existing lines. The same happens in speaking. Max, a former student of mine, had always been told to follow the rules as a speaker, so he concentrated on his voice, his stance, his visual aids, etc. When given permission to forget the rules and speak from his heart, a delightful dry sense of humor emerged that made him much more likeable and, therefore, more persuasive. He incorporated this gift into a presentation that was already effective in the traditional sense, but now had a wonderful new dimension that would have been missed had he not played “outside the lines.”

Mechanics have their place, but you may need to go beyond nit-picking mechanics. You’re a unique human being with gifts, talents, stories, fears, dreams, and heart. Don’t settle for anything less than a dignified, compassionate approach.

Even horses deserve that.

* Name has been changed to protect privacy.

(c) 2002, Upside Down Speaking

About The Author

Melissa Lewis turns traditional thinking about public speaking upside down to give people more comfort, confidence, and charisma in front of groups. She does this through keynotes, workshops, coaching and innovative virtual learning programs. She is a former comic actress, a certified facilitator of SPEAKING CIRCLES, president-elect of the National Speakers Association Kansas City Chapter, and author of the soon-to-be-released book, Upside Down Speaking. For more information, call (913) 341-1241, email mailto:MelissaUDS@aol.com or visit http://www.upsidedownspeaking.com.