Telling it like it is – Selling it like it is
NSA/NC Meeting Report: Saturday November 1, 2008
Over 75 members and guests of the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association attended Saturday’s meeting at the Burlingame Hyatt. The meeting theme was ‘Telling it like it is – selling it like it is’.
Selling it like it is
National President Sam Silverstein, CSP brought his No More Excuses approach to an interactive session.
Sam’s marketing and sales expertise focused a wide-ranging discussion on:
- How to get the most value out of NSA?
- How to pick a niche market?
- How to best invest time and resources in our speaking business?
- What’s the effect of changes in the economy and technology?
Sam used a powerful conceptual framework illustrated with a Venn diagram of three equilateral triangles to show how we can position ourselves for success:
- What are you GOOD at? Avoid the common mistake of not valuing this.
- What do you LOVE?
- How do you make MONEY?
The point where these three overlap is your ‘Power Core’. It’s bounded by knowing WHAT you deliver of value to customers; WHO you deliver to and HOW you deliver products and services.
For NSA members, the #1 thing you deliver is a speech. Simply record this to make an audio file and deliver a CD, then transcribe it and deliver an article or booklet. Multiple streams of income follow.
Sam recommended we read The E-myth Revisted
Telling it like it is
NSA/NC member Linda Vanderwold, CSP delivered two presentations which showed how to develop content that tells it like it is.
As a professional speechwriter, I found her material incredibly useful.
Her first session detailed the value of mind map diagrams. Many people use free-form mind-mapping on a blank sheet of paper. Others invest in high-tech mind-mapping software.
Linda has structured a mid-tech solution. She’s developed a series of templates to use either in hard-copy or an a PowerPoint file. These VanWrite Maps allow us to write less and say more.
This example enables us to set priorities – choose a menu for each day of the week; plan a vacation or list items to pack
There’s a series of maps available for free download.
I’ll make use of Linda’s mind-maps to plan my next writing assignment and FAX the outline in map form to the client for instant verification that the project is on the right track.
As good as Linda’s morning session was, the afternoon session blew me away altogether. It also made it a challenge to write this blog entry! (Checked with the trial version of the Sentence Aerobics software.)
Linda took us through her unique Sentence Aerobics system which is the core of her VanWrite method. This is based on actual business documents, not academic theory. Linda conducted primary research to define “strong” and “weak” business writing. Then she “bottled” her observations in objective, measurable fashion, and formulated a very easy-to-take cure for the business communicator’s headache.
Her presentation, full of humor and sparkling wit, kept those who stayed wanting more.
Oops, I meant to write:
Her humorous and witty presentation kept those who stayed wanting more.
Thanks Linda!
3 Comments so far
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Wonderfully worthwhile meeting. Sam was inspiring and Linda delivered an important message about written communication that is especially timely for me. It was great to see two awesome speakers and learn from not only their message, but also their platform skills.
By Leslie Canham on 11.02.08 2:05 pm
Excellent capture of what happened. Thanks, Ian
By ellen on 11.02.08 2:50 pm
Thanks Ian – great recap. I especially liked Linda’s presentation. Extraordinary presenter, and she used that tablet PC presentation like no other I’ve seen.
The lunch session was also the best I’ve been to. Jenny De St Georges led the conversation, and posed tough scenarios to the table that we might come across during our profession. She gave her perspective on how she handled them. It was a wonderful learning experience.
Jim
By Jim Carrillo on 11.03.08 1:20 pm
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