NSA/NC Meeting Report: Saturday January 10, 2009

The Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA/NC) kicked off 2009 with a meeting that attracted over 80 members and guests, including visitors from Nevada, Oregon, Massachusetts and New South Wales, Australia!

Jeff Rubin – Profiting from Punctuation

The day began with Jeff Rubin, founder of National Punctuation Day® who explained how he turned a National Holiday into a branded, moneymaking enterprise. Jeff has developed a speaking program for children and an instructional DVD for teachers. These products have now become major business enterprises. We learned how to take an idea that might come in the middle of the night, develop it, market it, and become known as THE expert in that discipline and make money from it.

My only problem with blogging about Jeff’s presentation is anticipating his comments about all the, ere, punctuation; mistakes” (in, this: blog – report). Sorry Jeff.

Grow Your Speech into a Published Book

An update on the opportunities for publishing a book or magazine for speakers is becoming a January tradition for NSA/NC. Last year I reported on a meeting chaired by ace literary agent Mike Larsen. Mike is the driving force behind the upcoming San Francisco Writers Conference — NSA members who liked today’s meeting are encouraged to attend.

Mike returned with a panel of experts who covered the many aspects of publishing. On the panel were his wife Elizabeth Pomada from Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents. Mahesh Grossman discussed ghostwriting – a common and respected way to Write a Book Without Lifting a Finger

We also heard from Jessica Church of Planned Television Arts on publicizing your book.

Rounding out the panel was editor Alan Rinzler who has worked on books by Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson and Jerzy Kosinski in his 40 years of experience at Simon and Schuster, Macmillan, Bantam Books, Grove Press, and the Rolling Stone Book Division of Straight Arrow Publishing.

10 Options for Getting Your Books Published (Mike Larsen)

1. You can collaborate with other writers in a co-op venture in which you share the production and marketing costs to create, for example, an anthology of your work.
2. You can pay for all the costs to publish your book to a vanity publisher, but vanity publishing has no credibility in the industry.
3. You can use subsidy publishing, which means that you pay part of the publishing costs, an option with less credibility than a trade publisher.
4. You can partner with a foundation that will support the writing and promotion of your book because it will further their cause.
5. You can self-publish your book using one or more of the following options:
   – Photocopying your manuscript and selling it in a three-ring binder
   – Print-on-demand (POD)
   – using print-quality-needed (PQN) for short runs
   – using offset printing for longer runs
   – publishing it for free online so it can be downloaded
6. You can publish it in other media such as a podcast, CDs and DVDs or sell the rights to a film or audio company.

7. You can sell it as a calendar or other form of merchandise.

8. You can sell the rights to:
   – an on- or offline trade or consumer periodical that will serialize it
   – a publisher for a flat fee, as a work for hire
   – a small press, niche or specialty publisher, or a regional publisher
   – a academic or university press
   – a professional publisher that publishes books for a specific field
   – a midsized house
   – one of the six New York conglomerates that dominate trade publishing
9. You can work with a packager who provides publishers with an upload ready for a printer or finished books.
10. You can hire an agent.

Proposal Writing Workshop

The afternoon session was a step-by-step proposal writing workshop with Mike and Alan. Books often sell to publishers on the strength of a good proposal.

“Proposals usually range from 25 to 50 pages, and they have three parts: an introduction, an outline, and a sample chapter.”

Telling it like it is

Authenticity is a rare commodity, especially when people speak to an audience. Many speakers represent corporate or institutional interests. They are instructed to stay ‘on message’. Does anyone really expect the Chairman of the Federal Reserve or the CEO of a corporation to speak authentically? There’s too much at stake on Wall Street or the press for the head of a major institution to say what’s really on their minds.

Let’s face it; this is the era of ‘spin’ and the sound bite. Can authentic communications survive the talk shows and tabloid headlines? I believe it can, and members of the National Speakers Association represent authenticity. The NSA Code of Ethics directs all members to “speak in a most professional and ethical manner”.

As independent professional speakers I believe we have a unique opportunity, and responsibility, to integrate all the aspects of our personal and professional lives and tell it like it is to others.

When we step to the front of the room we have the opportunity to create an environment where everyone’s voice is heard. We can speak for those in our audience, or in the world, who might lack a voice. Using our professional skills to tell it like it is on behalf of those who need someone to speak out for them can make a profound difference.

Many of us have special talents. We light up a room and cast a spell over the audience. We can teach others that they are also special people, and hold a vision that brings light into their lives so they can in turn tell others like it is.

As professional speakers we add value to the events we speak at. We should more than justify our fees. Exceed expectations. Tell it like it is by bringing our energy into the room and delivering results. Help individuals achieve their goals and organizations meet their targets.

In all we do, we help people understand something they would not know if we’d not shown up. They have faith in our expertise. We invest in our own education and long-term professional growth to justify that faith. We tell it like it is and change the world, one speech at a time.

Professionally Speaking is another example of the authentic voice of our members, telling it like it is. Order your copy of this unique magazine now.

In this edition you’ll find:

Using words that embrace a wider audience
by Jessica Pettitt
Learn how the language you use can help audience members feel valued, understood and appreciated.

Puncutate this!
by Jeff Rubin
Boost your credibility and set yourself apart from competitors through proper punctuation.

How to throw a Facebook Party
by Larry Chiang
Social networking success strategies for leveraging your presence on Facebook.

Tips on making Google happy
by Jim Carrillo
Simple strategies to optimize your website and boost your website and blog’s ranking on Google.

Creating confidence
by Robert Graham
How to feel and project more confidence in your professional and personal life.

Have you read a good audience lately?
by Daniel Moirao
Understand what’s going on in the minds of your audience members, why they act the way they do and what you can do about it.

Basic intellectual property concepts for professional speakers
by Sandy Shepard, Esq.
Understand the basics of intellectual property protection for speakers pertaining to copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, trade dress and patents.

Order your copy of the magazine today.

Note from the International Federation for Professional Speakers Newsletter:

“When the Economy is on a downswing, it is great to be a professional speaker. If your business drops 20%, you still have 80%. If you worked for a large corporation, you could go from a paycheck to zero and the unemployment line.”

–Dan Poynter

YouTube profile

Betsy “The Queen of Green” Rosenberg and National Speakers Association 2007 Pro-Track graduate has created a nice promo piece on YouTube.

While not all speakers can access a media library that includes getting the last word in on Fox News (no mean achievement!) many of us can make much better use of video and post the results to YouTube. Don’t have professional footage? Get a Flip

Catherine Athans, Doctor of Clinical Psychology, is the author of several well-received books. She is a frequent guest lecturer on topics, which enable people to improve the quality of their lives. The recipient of several humanitarian awards, she is the founder of the Morgan Manor Foundation. Morgan manor donates to and supports the working poor in Santa Clara County, California. Dr. Athans wrote Make Your Dreams Come True Now! to supplement her series of lecturers entitled, How to Manifest Your Wishes, Dreams and Desires

Make Your Dreams Come True Now! supports our journey of discovery in terms of:

• Let go the lies – distinguish face from fiction.
• Get back on the path to love.
• Benefit from great teachers’ principles.
• Learn universal principles that operate just under the surface of life.
• Grow in your family relationships and have more satisfying social relationships.
• Find the healing power in your words.
• Re-establish hope for your life.
• Gain the life that God – the Source – meant for you to have.

In 2003, Catherine was a delegate to the global Peace Initiative for Women at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. There she lectured on How to Teach Children Peaceful Means of Communication.

She can be reached at catherine@angelsisland.com

Pro-Track Profile

To hear her discuss her book and experience with the NSA/NC Pro-Track Program, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:23 — 1.2MB)

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Guaranteed to make your spine tingle — a montage of inspirational speeches from 40 movies. Everyone from Henry V to Charlie Brown, John Belushi to Braveheart hitting the emotional and rhetorical highs. Watch it before your next Toastmasters presentation and blow the doors off the evaluations!

Thanks to FirstShowing for featuring it. An awesome job of editing by Matthew Belinkie.

I spent four days in the desert in mid-November at the National Speakers Association (NSA) Fall Conference. This is a much smaller affair than the big Summer Convention, with only around 250 registered. We stayed at the sprawling Doubletree Scottsdale, right by Camelback Mountain. Stetson-wearing Mama’s drove their SUV’s past the Saguaro outside the compound.

On Thursday Bob Pike did a pre-conference workshop Who Else Wants to Be One of the Highest Paid Professional Speakers in Their Niche? This was wonderfully well-facilitated learning experience by one of the champion trainers in the country. I’ve already implemented many suggestions from his workshop in a proposal I submitted last week and, hey, I got the business!

Marketing Intensives

On the Friday and Saturday I attended the marketing intensive tracks. Phenomenal value. These two all-day sessions were different strokes for different folks. Bob Smith – Surefire Proven Ways to Out-Think, Out-Maneuver and Out-Market Your Competition filled 20 pages of my notebook with action items and to-do’s. On Saturday Steve Miller stayed true-to-form as a maverick and did not record his material; there were too many ‘trade secrets’ being shared. One tip that I immediately followed-up on was to buy a Flip Mino video camera so I can add more You Tube videos to my blogging and podcasting mix.

Top Eight Sessions

What of the rest of the Conference? Here’s a list of the the eight most popular sessions (as shown in the post-conference wrap session where people listed take-away’s from each session – these eight had the most post-it notes on the wall-charts – apart from Bob & Steve’s Marketing intensives that is.) I’ve placed my order for a copy of each of them for my continuing education.

Note: each session link is to the recording that ANYONE – NSA member or not – can purchase on CD or as an MP3 download.

1. Ford Saeks – Mega Session: Social Media Marketing Secrets of Growing Your Speaking Business
2. Aldonna Ambler, CMC, CSP – Mega Session: The Strategic Working Session YOU Need Right Now–Evaluate How You and Your Business Are Really Doing
3. Francis Bologna, CPA and Vern Hoven, CSP, MT, CPAE – New Roads to Wealth and Opportunity for the Professional Speaker
4. Becky Pike Pluth – Teaching From Tinseltown: How to Use Movie Clips to Teach and Train
5. Heather Lutze – Become the Easiest Speaker to Find – Online! Learn how to achieve 1st-Page Search Engine Presense Using the FindAbility Formula!™
6. Robert Bradford, MBA, CSP – Mega Session: Sell Your Speaking When You Stink at Sales: How to Stand Out in the Speaking Marketplace
7. David Greenberg, CSP – Secrets to Creating a Killer Speech and Earning a Ton of Money Now!
8. Dianna Booher, MA, CSP, CPAE – Writing in Layers: Developing a Creative, Quality Book Quickly

A group of us created a Vision Statement Movie to celebrate President-Elect Barack Obama’s victory speech in Chicago on November 4th. The opening words of his speech deserve a place in the annals of great American political oratory. The words he spoke that night started with:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
.
.
It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

We are pleased to present this video to honor those words.

During my recent visit to the Toastmasters Conference in Oakland I was pleased to run into the 2000 World Champion of Public Speaking – Ed Tate. Ed won Toastmasters highest award – a world-wide contest open to all 175,000 members of Toastmasters International. He’s now an internationally known keynote speaker and fellow member of the National Speakers Association. He’s earned a reputation as the “speaker who energizes, educates, and entertains.” He has spoken professionally in 46 states and 10 countries, and on 4 continents. Ed is also a successful trainer and author.

I took the opportunity to ask Ed what are the three most important pieces of advice he has for business leaders who speak. I also asked him if he could remember the first time he delivered a speech. To hear what he told me, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:02 — 2.8MB)

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Shining Spirit

12 years ago, Cindy Light emigrated from her native China to America not knowing a single person or how to speak a word of English. All she had were four simple things: one small suitcase, two hard working hands and a heart filled with American dreams. Today, she is a successful entrepreneur, a certified image consultant, a professional speaker, and the author of an upcoming book about Chinese culture and its business impact.

Chinese background

Cindy graduated at age 19 from Beijing University. She started her career as an assistant professor of philosophy in Hangzhou Business University. Then she become a marketing and PR director for a big company in Hong Kong. Later, she was hand-picked by the Chinese Government to be a policy consultant helping foreigners set up their business in China.

Life in the United States

Despite her impressive accomplishments in China, setting out in the U.S. not knowing a word of English was not easy. However, while growing up with her grandmother, a master-tailor in Shanghai, she learned how to sew and design clothes when she was only five years old.

In 1999, she started her first business “Cindy’s Sewing and Design Studio” at her home in Atlanta. She designed and hand-crafted suits, dresses, home decor and even matching outfits for people and their dogs! Her work quickly attracted discerning people in the South-East.

Next, with improving English skills, she started to teach sewing, design and dress-making classes in local fabric stores. Soon, she was invited by clubs, corporations, and organizations to teach people how to dress right for their business and personal life. She had a flair for suggesting how to put together a powerful, beautiful and professionally appropriate wardrobe without spending a fortune.

In 2007, Cindy was hired as a speaker for the Association of Image Consultants International Conference on the topic of Chinese culture and it’s business impact. She now plans a book on this topic.

Pro-Track Profile

Following her success as a speaker, Cindy found the National Speakers Association website.

In early 2008, she flew to San Francisco and attended an NSA/NC chapter meeting. She signed up for the Pro-Track program and commuted to the next three meetings from her home in Atlanta before relocating to Sausalito.

To here what she told me about her image consulting business and her three tips for Professional Speakers on how to dress for maximum impact, click on the podcast icon below.

(Cindy Light is a certified image consultant, professional speaker, and author of an upcoming book about Chinese culture and it’s business impact. She can be reached at 415-889-9399 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              415-889-9399      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or via email at LittleBigSmile@aol.com)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:54 — 1.6MB)

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