What Smart Speakers Do Differently in Tough Economic Times

Saturday’s meeting of the Northern California chapter of the National Speakers Association featured a panel of Past Presidents who discussed ‘What Smart Speakers Do Differently in Tough Economic Times’.

Host Barry Wishner talked with:

* Michael Soon Lee, CSP
* Marilyn Manning, PhD, CSP, CMC
* Craig Harrison
* Patricia Fripp, CPAE, CSP

In this video, the second of four highlights from the event, Barry asks the panelists what it takes to thrive in today’s tough economy and which opportunities they see out there.

In the video you’ll hear:

* Why follow-up and personal relationships are important
* What else, apart from keynote speaking, can bring in business
* Why you should listen to clients
* What people who hire speakers really want
* Fripp’s secret for becoming an industry expert … fast!

What Smart Speakers Do Differently in Tough Economic Times

Saturday’s meeting of the Northern California chapter of the National Speakers Association featured a panel of Past Presidents who discussed ‘What Smart Speakers Do Differently in Tough Economic Times’.

Host Barry Wishner talked with:

* Michael Soon Lee, CSP
* Marilyn Manning, PhD, CSP, CMC
* Craig Harrison
* Patricia Fripp, CPAE, CSP

In this video, the first of four highlights from the event, Barry asks the panelists what’s their response to the challenges of today’s economy and what they are doing differently today compared to the past.

In the video you’ll hear:

* Why professional speakers need to re-focus on new vertical markets
* Which topics are popular with audiences and conference planners
* How to use the Internet to promote your speaking business
* Why you should consider giving free talks
* Why it’s important to develop products to sell along with your speeches
* The importance of personal relationships

…would you read an interview conducted over lunch in Ljubljana with a provocative Slovenian Marxist philosopher called Slavoj Zizek. After munching on medallions of veal and lamb with thyme the “perpetual thought machine in manic motion” offers his interpretation of the current financial crisis:

The ruling ideology is trying to shift the blame from the global capitalist system as such on to its accidental deviations – such as overly lax regulation or the corruption of big financial institutions. In some respects this has allowed capitalists to assert their values even more aggressively: while bailing out Wall Street they are shredding collective bargaining agreements at General Motors and relegating the problems of global warming, Aids and hunger.

“The problem is today that when you have chaos and disorder people lose their cognitive mapping. So it is an open struggle as to whose interpretation will win,” he says. “Never forget that this is how Hitler won.”

According to Zizek, the reason Hitler came to power in the 1930s was because he offered the most attractive interpretation of disastrous events. He simply flattered the Germans by claiming that their army had been betrayed in the first world war and by laying all the blame at the feet of the Jews.

We order fruit salad.

And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

– Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach

Freelance speechwriter Mike Long was interviewed by Mark Ragan at the recent Ragan Speechwriters Conference. Mark asked Mike to share some ideas about the ways speechwriters should conduct research.

Mike shared his tips on:

• The value of mining existing speeches for content.
• Why you should connect with subject matter experts inside a client’s company.
• The best reason to use Google as a research tool.
• Some pitfalls to avoid when quotes and his technique for finding unique quotations.
• The secret of using statistics effectively in speeches.
• Why it’s important to put numbers in context.

Answer: They are, according to the International Labour Organization, the only four nations on the planet with no paid maternity leave.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports, countries not run on twisted draconian principles of 19th Century capitalism, are debating whether to increase government mandated paid maternity leave. Imagine. The UK is considering an increase from nine to twelve months. Sweden offers 480 days of paid parental leave.

The FT considers the ‘cost to employers’ argument that some 3rd World countries (and these United States) claim is too burdensome, but concludes:

Maternity leave provides clear benefits to society. Apart from the advantages of babies spending their early months with their mothers, breast-fed children have lower rates of infections, childhood diabetes, eczema, obesity and asthma.

Companies benefit from maternity leave by allowing women to return to work when their children are a little older, rather than forcing them to resign if they want to be with their babies. Employers hold on to people and escape the additional costs of having to replace those who leave.

Little wonder President Obama saluted “the hardest-working people on Earth” in his recent address to Congress. With family values like these, Mom has no choice.

Practice Makes Perfect

One inescapable truth about public speaking is that the more you do it the better you get — practice makes perfect. Like many other pursuits, being an accomplished speaker takes time and effort. The first time most of us spoke in public we felt awkward, unsure, terrified even. It was no different the first time we strapped on skis, swung a golf club or rode a horse.

Those who now ski, golf or ride with apparent ease — especially those who make a living at it — will attest to the hours, days and years of dedicated effort taken to achieve mastery. It is the same with professional speakers. No-one is born knowing how to speak effectively to an audience. It is, however, a skill that can be taught, if you’re willing to invest the time and money to learn. Professional sports teams pay handsomely for the best coaches. Even Tiger Woods takes every opportunity to spend time with his coach.

It’s rather surprising that few amateur speakers invest in any form of coaching. There’s a wide range of support available from the members of the Northern California Chapter of the NSA. From the services of elite presentation coaches, to speech writers and graphics consultants, there is no reason your next speech needs to be a hit-or-miss attempt.

Visit our Chapter meetings for a taste of the professionalism we bring to the art of public speaking. Meanwhile, enjoy this edition of PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING. The articles have been written by speakers with a total of over 100 years of experience! That’s a lot of practice. Read about the lessons they’ve learned along the way and you will surely pick up something that will improve your next speech. It’s a perfect opportunity.

In this Issue

Susan RoAne — Networks as safety nets during gritty times. Learn how to strengthen yours.

Marilyn Manning, CSP, CMC — How a clear vision, values and mission position you for success.

Aldonna Ambler, CSP, CMC — Tips for obtaining corporate sponsorship to grow your business.

Ford Saeks — Ways to increase bookings, boost product sales, and watch your business grow.

Craig Harrison — Improving your customer service orientation to close more business.

Lauren Mayer — Tips from a professional entertainer to address common audience distractions.

Marci Shimoff — Boost your happiness quotient … right now!

Order your copy of the magazine today.

Kudos to HSBC Chairman Stephen Green for acknowledging a mistake in a direct manner:

“HSBC has a reputation for telling it as it is. With the benefit of hindsight, this is an acquisition we wish we had not undertaken.”

Green was letting investors know that the 2002 acquisition of Household Finance – a Chicago-based consumer finance business focused on subprime consumers with patchy credit records, now HSBC Finance Corporation – has destroyed around $10bn of shareholder value.

This direct approach, as I recently outlined in the first of 10 tips for giving speeches in tough economic times, is the best way to communicate bad news.

He communicated in a simple, direct and honest way about a mistake, even though it was one that had been made by his predecessor who placed too much faith in quantitative analysis of the risk the bank was taking with the Household acquisition:

Executives led by Sir John Bond, then the bank’s chairman, talked regularly about the bank’s team of more than 100 employees who had PhD degrees and were experts at predicting consumer behaviour. But they did not predict the collapse in the US mortgage market.

Hopefully the PhD’s are now being asked to measure it as it is.

NSA/NC Meeting Report: Saturday February 28, 2009

Marketing expert and larger-than-life character Ford Saeks flew in from Wichita, Kansas to share his ideas on how to use Social Media to make money.

Ford is best known for positioning people and their products and services for profit through proven marketing and innovative publicity campaigns.

The sold-out crowd at the National Speakers Association Northern California Chapter meeting were treated to four hours of Ford’s high-intensity ideas on how to start making money on the internet and leverage Social Media Marketing to build influence, reputation and brand within communities of potential customers. Some core principles:

“What problem do I solve that people will pay to make go away?”
“The purpose of business is to generate a customer. The purpose of a customer is to generate a profit.”

‘Nuff said. Here’s some of what Ford shared.

Creating an online cash machine

Speaking and training + Digital and physical products + consulting and coaching = a fully-rounded revenue model. Web 2.0 places a dialog with customers and prospects at the center of business today. Sharing opinions, comments, and other content in the form of audio podcasts, video, links, bookmarks, articles and slides makes a site successful.

Research the top keywords for your niche and use them relentlessly to help the search engines find your site when a customer is looking for your solution to the pain they are feeling. Learn the all-important modifiers that people use to focus search results.

Know the answers to three core questions about your business:

• Why should someone pay attention to you – what is your message?
• Who are you trying to market to?
• How are you getting the word out – what is the method?

It’s a FEATURE if it’s about you, your products or services or your company. Ask “Which means…” and you get the BENEFIT that describes an emotional or intangible result the customer gets.

Social Media Marketing

• Helps you expand your internet footprint
• Makes it easier for prospects to find you
• Improves your search engine ranking
• Establishes you as an expert
• Improves communications and feedback
• Builds relationships and networks
• Drives a steady stream of prospects to your online business

There’s a gazillion (or so) Social Media sites listed at go2web20.net. Ford recommends you start by:

1. Building a blog with WordPress.org – hosted on your own website to optimize SEO
2. Establishing your Channel on YouTube – peppered with relevant keywords
3. Building a profile on Facebook and LinkedIn – with posts from your blog and YouTube videos
4. Experiment with Twitter. Start by reading Randy Gage’s recent assessment of the uses of abuses of Twitter.

If you’d like to see the slides he used, Ford has kindly made them available. What you won’t get from the slides, or this report, is any of his incredible energy and specific insight into the ways these tools can work for you today to make money on the Internet.

For that, you had to have been there.

Today’s Financial Times reports that executives from the largest hotel chains have written to members of the US congress warning that companies are canceling meetings because they fear being criticized.

This follows President Obama’s recent comments that companies receiving government bailouts should not “go to Las Vegas on the government dime.”

Meeting cancellations threaten 250,000 US travel related jobs this year, claim the hotel executives.

The 4,000 members of the National Speakers Association are no doubt finding that meeting cancellations are affecting their bookings. As face-to-face meetings decline, options such as teleseminars and Cisco TelePresence Suites are emerging as alternatives.

Although it’s probably too soon to say that “What happens in TelePresence stays in TelePresence.”

And thinks he that the chirping of a wren,
By crying comfort from a hollow breast,
Can chase away the first-conceived sound?
– Henry VI, Part ii, Act 3, Scene 2

Speaking while people Tweet

Olivia Mitchell has a useful article on Pistachio’s Touchbase Blog about the growing phenomena of members of your audience using Twitter to comment on a presentation in real-time on laptops, Blackberries and iPhones.

She advises audience members on the best way to engage in the conversation. She also advises speakers on how to deal with this new ‘back-channel’ of information.

Presenting while people are twittering is challenging. But isn’t it better to get that feedback in real-time when you can do something to retrieve the situation – than wait till you read the evaluation sheets a few days after the conference – and find that you bombed?

The 92 comments (to date) highlight the many implications, including this from Morriss on the way Twittering instantly repurposes a speech beyond the confines of the room:

You left out a huge bonus to the presenter: key highlights of your presentation are being sent out to an audience much bigger than those in the room. If you have something truly insightful or newsworthy to say, your message may be retweeted far and wide.

Twitter is just one aspect of modern technology that is changing public speaking.