Public Speaking Training

Major Source Of Inspiration & Strength for Public Speaking

2009-11-18T15:56:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you, there's nothing like an interstate relocation to keep you busy for awhile! Now that I'm settling into my new locale, I'm pleased-as-punch to be able to have the time to blog again.

Today I met with someone who told me that his wife had terrible fear of public speaking and stage fright, to the point of being physically ill.

Not uncommon, my friends.

While most people's jitters are limited to feeling something on a range from mild to extreme discomfort, it's true that many people do more severe manifestations of fear.

Then this afternoon, I was reading a story about a man who lost his sight, but has gone on to achieve many great things and now speaks about his experiences to encourage others - I liked this quote of his:

"Little did I know a year (after losing my sight), that I would be facing a much greater challenge," Crosby said sincerely. "I discovered I was going legally bald. It's one thing to be legally blind going through life, but come on, my hair? How much can a guy take?"

If I wasn't trying to be so "male", I'd admit that practically brings a tear to my eye. I mean seriously - what a terrific sense of humor in the face of the hardships he's endured. I'm not sure I have that kind of strength, and frankly I hope I don't have to find out if I do.

But here's my main point, for those of you who aren't way ahead of me here:

When you read this man's story and see all that he's done and is doing, you've got to admit that even being physically sick about doing public speaking pales in comparison to the problems Crosby has to overcome - daily.

And if you're this side of being physically sick at the prospect of doing public speaking, you almost have zero right to complain or say public speaking is hard, scary, or otherwise something you'd rather not do.

Public speaking is the best, fastest, most fun - and least expensive - way to promote your business. If you're a professional person in insurance, finance, or real estate you are just throwing money away and wasting time in your marketing strategy if you're not getting out and speaking to promote your business and generate/convert new leads.

Sure, it's easier and a lot *safer* to just sit around on Twitter and Facebook all day, but at some point, you've got to go out and "get your money where your mouth is" - literally!

Catch you later,

David

PS: if you want to see a little "travel log" online of my relocation from CA to WA, you can see pictures and read about my "Epic Journey" here:

PPS: if you're dead serious about public speaking training, here's the fast track to seminar success:

Make Money Speaking - Public Speaking Video

2009-10-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Imagine that you could get up and tell your life story to a group and walk away with a nice, big fat $5,000 check.

That's the dream that most public speaking training's would sell you on, and it's the dream that many, many speakers and wanna-be speakers have.

But what's the reality? If you're a new speaker or thinking about being one, here's something you should know:

Most "professional speakers" are being supported by their spouse, or their full-time day-job.

Before you set out to become a professional speaker - or even if you already are on that path - watch this eye-opening video on how to make money speaking.

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking & Your Vocal Cords

2009-09-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

Once you start doing some seminars and public speaking, you're going to become very aware of your vocal cords.

Very aware.

You might even lose your voice, or find your throat getting tired or sore or your voice hoarse after speaking for an hour or more.

I've got a few tips for you on vocal development, and an "inside secret" that professional speakers have been using for years to keep their voice from going out on them - check out this blog post and video I just put up on taking proper care of your voice:

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Humor

2009-09-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, it turns out you're just not very funny.

In fact, you don't have a single funny bone in your entire body.

When you tried humor in your public speaking, seminar, or presentation, it flopped badly.

Well, I've got a solution for you - rather than tell you how to be instantly funny, I'm going to show you:

Watch this video on public speaking humor, and prepare to be instantly hilarious - yes, you!

Catch you later,
David

New Public Speaking Training Video

2009-09-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

What do people remember most when you do a public speaking gig or presentation?

How can you maximize your chances of being remembered at all?

If you do any kind of speaking or presenting, you have to accept that people are looking right at you, but their attention is wandering.

I already showed you a video on how to wake them up and make a point - and be remembered - combine that technique with the technique I'm teaching you today, and you will be remembered and you will get them to remember what you want them to remember.

Watch my public speaking training video right now:

Catch you later,
David

Presentation Skills & Conveying Expertise

2009-09-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

Just about anytime you get up in front of people and speak, you're going to need to convey an aura of expertise.

Most people try to accomplish this the old-fashioned way... by telling the group about your accomplishments and abilities.

And frankly, that's fine and does work - and in fact I recommend you do that.

But here's a secret trick for you - you can convey an aura of expertise without even uttering a word.

That can come in very, very handy if you're fielding tough questions, have a "prove it to me" audience, or you're sharing facts with the group.

You need to be believable, and experts are often seen as believable.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I suppose a one-minute video must be worth at least 10,000 words...

My point is, you can go watch a video on this presentation skill to convey expertise and you'll see the secret of how to do it right now - the good news is, it's very simple and easy to learn and master!

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Home Study Course

2009-09-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Typically, if you go out looking for a public speaking home study course, what you'll find is a lot of hyped-up info on "how you too can make zillions just by flapping your lips..." and other such drivel.

I'm not sure how people sleep at night making those kinds of promises when they know it's not true... well, come to think of it, they probably sleep great on their extra-large, oversize, super-expensive king sized bed paid by sales of their hyped-up course.

I also have a public speaking home study course, but it's a real, down-to-earth "kit" for business owners, entrepreneurs, and solo-professionals who want to generate and convert leads in the fastest, easiest, and most fun way possible.

Is that hype? Nope - one of my students recently did a seminar, total costs were $200 for the room, plus 2 dozen doughnuts - she's pulled in 3 commissions so far at $3,800 each!

I don't promise my students they'll fly first class all over the world and be famous or any hoopla like that.

But I do know that if they just follow my proven system for speaking & seminar success, they'll be able to go out and turn on a flood of new business - yes, just by flapping their lips!

You can find out more about my public speaking home study course for business owners, business professionals & entrepreneurs here:

5 Minute Stage Fright Cure

2009-09-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

It might seem impossible to cure fear of public speaking in 5 minutes.

It might seem ridiculous to propose that you - yes, you! - could conquer stage fright in less time than it takes to eat your lunch today.

Risking ridicule and outrage, I'm going to propose exactly that.

And I'm not only going to tell you how, I'm going to show you!

Go watch this video on my 5 minute stage fright cure:

Then, come back here and post your comments of ridicule and outrage!

Catch you later,
David

Problems Every Public Speaker Faces

2009-09-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

No matter how great you are at public speaking, now matter how captivating and passionate your delivery is, you face a huge problem...

And that is the very real fact that people's minds are going to wander.

That's a huge problem because right when you most want them paying attention, they're thinking about something else.

They're thinking about other things they have to do, or what the person next to them is saying on Twitter with their iPhone, or that weird stiffness that suddenly appeared in their neck that morning.

So then - how do you shake them out of their slumber and get them to pay attention to the important points in your talk?

Rather than tell, I'll show - check out this video on how to wake up your audience and drive your point home.

Catch you later,
David

Which Speaker Would You Rather Book... Or Be?

2009-08-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Which Speaker Would You Rather Book... Or Be?
By David Portney

Today I've got a little quiz for you - don't worry, this won't affect your final grade for this class. Hahaha...

Here's the scenario:

You're running an event where you're going to have a roster of speakers - this is your brain child - you've arranged a large hotel meeting room and you're having speakers come in to speak on a topic near and dear to your heart.

Your event will be on a Saturday - an all-day event, and you're allocating 90 minutes for each expert speaker.

You start making phone calls to experts inviting them to come and speak at your event.

You're excited because this event will bring together experts to speak on a topic very important to you, and you have an audience paying to get in to your event, and the audience is also very excited to hear these experts speak.

To offset the hotel banquet room and marketing costs, you're charging the attendees a nominal fee, so you're hoping to cover expenses or even make a profit. So far you have over 100 attendees confirmed, good job!

Now quiz time:

You've got one last slot to book, and you've got 2 speakers you're considering:

Speaker #1 wants a guaranteed speaking fee of $2,000, plus air fare and accommodations and those are the terms on the contract they've faxed over to you.

Speaker #2 does not charge a speaking fee but they do want air fare and accommodations covered, and their contract says that they'll deliver 80 minutes of solid content and then a 10-minute soft sales pitch for a $997 information package they'll make available for purchase after their talk, and they will split the gross proceeds with you.

You do the math and figure this:

Speaker #1 is going to cost you $2k plus the air fare and hotel room.

Speaker #2 is going to cost you air fare and hotel room, and you estimate that if 10% of the attendees buy the $997 package, you and the speaker will split $9,970, netting you $4,985.

All other things being equal - the expertise of the speaker, their "star power", each has a solid reputation, etc. - which speaker would you choose?

And, if you're a speaker, which speaker would you rather be?

Just curious....

Catch you later!

David
PS: If you enjoyed this article, please forward to a friend - and you might also be interested in a new article I posted on my website titled "Speaking in Public"

Public Speaking Lesson #1

2009-08-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Lesson #1
By David Portney

There are many ideas about what public speaking *is* or *should be*.

Lots of ideas, many of them misguided and not based on the real world, or based on skewed perceptions and experiences that are foisted upon an unsuspecting public hoping to promote or profit from speaking.

Would you like me to translate that last paragraph into English?

Read my latest article titled Public Speaking Lesson #1: and you'll get what I mean - but I must warn you, this article contains my usual No-B.S. tell-it-like-it-is straight talk.

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Pills

2009-08-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Pills
By David Portney

Because I was born in 1960 and with brothers and sisters 4-8 years and more my senior, I was old enough to witness the "drug culture" first hand.

Sure, there might have been a time in my young, impetuous, devil-may-care years when I would have figured a little mild drug use to be mostly benign. To some extent, I still feel that way.

However, to quote the late-great Stevie Ray Vaughn, "At some point it's time to come home from the party".

I just read an article titled: Growing Numbers Use Pills For An Edge

I can understand using drugs to "get through" something, but my opinion is that you're better off "getting through" life's challenges by rising to the occasion instead of opening a bottle of pills to cope.

I believe that the increased levels of confidence you'll achieve by rising to challenges and then acquiring new skills, such as public speaking, are worth facing those kinds of challenges head-on instead of "killing it with pills".

What do you think?

See you later,
David

Public Speaking, The Pitch, & The Public

2009-07-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking, The Pitch, & The Public
By David Portney

I want to share a few private thoughts with you, bear with me here, this will all tie together and, I believe will provide you with benefit worth taking the time to read this:

If you know me at all, if you've been following my blog or reading the articles on my public speaking website or following my Twitter Stream you know that I'm about one thing and one thing only:

Teaching you how to use seminars and speaking as lead generation and lead conversion tools to promote and market yourself, your business, your product, your service, your cause, your issue...

Your A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

My students are out there doing exactly that with terrific success, even in this economy... read on:

Now, after 16 months of solid dawn-to-dusk efforts to write and publish books on seminars and public speaking, create my home study course, and to straighten out my Internet presence (my website), I finally have opened up my schedule for doing workshops, seminars, and public speaking engagements.

My first speaking gig will be this coming September 1st, and I'll be speaking to a gathering of Realtors, real estate brokers, and real estate sales people. There may be a sprinkling of mortgage brokers too (the ones that have survived the crash).

As you may know, I want you out there promoting what you do too - whatever it is - with seminars and public speaking, and I'm leading by example.

You may have heard me say, many times, that seminars and public speaking is highly addictive.

Well, I've been in major withdraws for the last 16 months! So it's really, really exciting for me to be getting back into speaking and seminars.

Second, I believe in providing value - value on my public speaking training website, in my Twitter stream tweets, and right here on my blog.

It's by design that I'm not "the guy who's always in your face promoting something" and I hope that shows.

I bet you, like me, hate it when people are always "hi, buy my stuff", am I correct?

I know I don't like that. If someone provides me with value, I appreciate that, and maybe I'll see if they have a product or service I can use.

Anyway, the other day, I got an email from my publisher - who by the way, worked very, Very, VERY hard on my latest book on seminars and speaking - his hard work made what would have been an excellent book into a truly great book (Get Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) and he said "hey, how come you're not promoting your new book on your website, your Twitter stream, and your blog?"

Well, as I said above, I don't want to be the guy who's always pushing something in your face to buy... That's irritating, and that's the gist of what I replied.

But that said, I got to thinking that if I never told you about my books (especially my new book, if I may say so myself, it's my Masterpiece as far as books go...) then I might actually be doing people such as you a disservice because if I don't tell you, then you may never find out about something that will truly make a significant positive difference in your business and in your life

BTW, that is no exaggeration.

It's kind of like how I tell you to do seminars and speaking to promote yourself, but what if you never told people you had a product or service available!

I think the "lesson" here is that in your seminars and speaking, you should be delivering value, and not just one long sales pitch.

I've always said that.

But, you've also got to put a strong call to action into your seminars too!

So, today, I'm going to give you a strong call to action because I know this is going to be that valuable for you:

You owe it to yourself to overcome your natural resistance to a sales pitch, and I want you to go to my publisher's website right now and buy my new book "Get Your Money Where Your Mouth Is".

I want you to read that book through right away, keep a high lighter and some post it notes handy, you're going to be having a landslide of ideas and actions you're going to want to take.

You must do this because this is something that truly is going to be of great benefit to you.

In "Get Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" you will get a huge amount of hard-hitting real-world techniques and strategies.

I wish I'd had read a book like this 20 years ago, I would have been much further along (and frankly a lot wealthier) than I am right now.

So don't "think about it and maybe do it later someday" - do it right now.

If you're a beginner, this is the best book you'll ever read on this topic and this book will save you a ton of wasted time and effort.

If you're not a beginner, this is the best book you'll ever read on this topic and will help you to expand - if not skyrocket - your results and your income from your speaking and seminars.

If you don't take action on this right now, you're making a huge mistake.

The worst thing that will happen is that you'll be out 24 bucks (big deal) - but what if this book does what I say it will and what I know it will do for you?

Yes, times are tough, money is tight, but investing a measly 24 bucks in this book - and more importantly in yourself - is not going to put you on food stamps, and I know if you take action on the information in this book, you're going to see a flood of new business and an avalanche of new income.

Go get "Get Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" right now.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Phobia

2009-07-27T13:35:00.001-07:00

Public Speaking Phobia
By David Portney

"Phobia" is one of those words that seems to have lost its meaning due to over-use and misuse, like "genius" and especially "awesome".

People frequently report they have a "phobia" about public speaking.

Awesome! Just kidding...

The reality is that while I'm not a psychologist or therapist, I am an expert on public speaking and how to conquer stage fright and fear of public speaking.

And over the years I've had quite a large number of students reporting a "phobia" about public speaking.

When they found they could conquer that stage fright much more easily than they'd have guessed, they were so impressed they called me - you guessed it - a "genius".

I'm no genius. Just an aspiring "Real Men of Genius" from those funny Bud Lite ads... kidding again.

But seriously, it really is a lot easier to cure stage fright and fear of public speaking than people realize. Public speaking fear has attained a legendary status, somehow - no one questions the pervasiveness of this easily-conquered fear.

On my website I have a ton of articles on this topic; I just posted one more with a unique "tough-love" slant, that I just happen to have titled "Public Speaking Phobia".

Imagine that. Yep... I'm an awesome genius!

Catch you later,
David

Effective Public Speaking

2009-07-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

Effective Public Speaking
By David Portney

Effective public speaking means not just what you say, but perhaps even more importantly, how you say it.

You need to convey authority.

You need to come across as believable.

You need to come across as the expert.

Here are 3 Super Tips on exactly how to do just that, and therefore be able to do truly effective public speaking:

Hope that helps!

Catch you later,
David

Nervousness in Public Speaking

2009-07-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Nervousness in Public Speaking
By David Portney

Nervousness in public speaking is often caused by being overly concerned with what will happen once you start speaking.

Here's a very, very common fear: what if someone asks you a rude question?

What if they're persistent or insistent and just plain not-very-nice in the way they ask you a question?

How do you handle that without turning the group against you?

Well, it just so happens I've posted a new article on just this topic called "Nervousness in Public Speaking"

Hope that helps!

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Phobias?

2009-07-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

Glossing Over Glossophobia
By David Portney

Here's what Reference.com shows as the definition of Glossophobia:

Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread.

Stage fright and fear of public speaking are legendary - but to elevate it to the level of a phobia really just adds gasoline to the fire and causes undue harm to those who wish to conquer that fear and be able to do public speaking with confidence.

Seriously: why place the bar so high concerning an activity that people are already experiencing (at least some) trepidation?

Reminds me of the old story where a math teacher give the class an (unknown to the students) unsolvable math problem to work on during summer break; the teacher is flabbergasted when one of the students returns after summer with a correct solution!

Moral of the story: why set people up for pain or failure in advance?

Sure, at first public speaking can seem scary... So was the first day of school, learning to ride a bike, and many, many other first-time activities.

Look - the benefits of doing public speaking far outweigh any perceived fear (f.e.a.r. = false evidence appearing real) because you can use it to further your career or business very, very quickly and for little or even no money when you follow my suggestions and strategies.

To assist you in getting rid of any stage jitters, here are a few little tips to help you get over common "public speaking phobias":

Hope that helps!

Best,
David

Training On Public Speaking

2009-07-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Training On Public Speaking
By David Portney

Today's new article that I just posted shows you how to "get the butts in the seats" the easy way, and answers critical questions about serving food and what people *really* want to hear about.

Here's the latest training on public speaking:

Hope that helps!

Best,
David

Online Public Speaking Training

2009-07-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

Online Public Speaking Training
By David Portney

Ostensibly, people absorb information in different ways.

For example, some people prefer to hear information while others need to see it and others prefer to read about it, while yet others much prefer to just do it.

Complicating things even more is the fact that people tend to also have a preference for context - some really need to know the purpose for learning something, others really just want the facts, while others just want to know how to do something.

Which brings us to the topic of online public speaking training:

While there's a limit to how much you can improve your skills from just reading articles online, make the most of what you can find.

I just posted yet more online public speaking training tips for you.

Hope those tips help you!

Best,
David

Tips to Public Speaking

2009-07-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Tips to Public Speaking
By David Portney

When you do any kind of public speaking at all (speech, seminar, workshop, etc.) do you ever give thought to what kind of reaction you want to elicit in your group?

For many, this will come as a dawning revelation: you CAN (and should) map out ahead of time what kind of reaction you want to get from your group or audience.

Another similar consideration is written audience feedback: should you pass out a feedback form for people to fill out when you're done? If not, why not? If yes, for what purpose?

Makin' ya think, aren't I? ;-)

While you're thinkin', think about this: what do you do to make your presentations bulletproof?

Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging - go check out my latest article on tips to public speaking.

Catch you later,
David
PS: if you're in the U.S., Happy 4th of July tomorrow!

Information on Public Speaking

2009-07-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Information on Public Speaking
By David Portney

Public speaking is not rocket science.

However, once you start to get into it, you find that there are a myriad of details to attend to from how you structure your presentations, where to hold a seminar, how to use humor or if you should use humor at all, and even small details like "what should be the first thing you say" when you start speaking.

These things all matter!

For example, if you're a business owner and you're doing to do lead generation and lead conversion using speaking and seminars (which you should be doing!) then something like where you hold your seminar is of critical importance.

Why? Because where you hold your seminar will have a definite - and predictable - impact on your seminar attendees, and you need to know what that impact will be.

To help you get on the right track, here is some information on public speaking that will definitely make a huge difference.

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Preparation

2009-07-01T10:04:00.001-07:00

Public Speaking Preparation
By David Portney

Of all the oft-repeated, perpetually parroted "advice" out there on public speaking, IMO the only really good advice is "be prepared".

First of all, if you prepare your talk by rehearsing it, I suggest you don't ever try to memorize your speech, talk, seminar. The best thing to do is to have a simple one-page outline of your main points with a few bullet points as sub-headings under those main points.

Then, you can prepare and rehearse using that outline. When you do your actual talk, use that exact same outline as your guide.

That way you won't come off stiff and rehearsed, but you won't lose your place or forget anything important either.

My students (and I) use this technique for each and every seminar, talk, speech we do and it will work great for you too.

Here are 3 more real-world tips on public speaking preparation I just posted on my website.

Catch you later,
David

Are You Using My Free Public Speaking Training Resources?

2009-06-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Are You Using My Free Public Speaking Training Resources?
By David Portney

You know, they say that people don't value what's free.

I love free stuff!

But you know what, it's really true - people generally devalue free stuff; we figure, if it's free, it has no value... otherwise they'd charge for it!

Too bad, really, because there's tons of terrific resources out there.

Such as (ahem) my main public speaking training website which is literally filled to the brim with useful articles that contain terrific tips, secret strategies, and time-tested techniques.

Alliterations aside (couldn't resist just one more, hahaha), here's a few examples (click on the links to go there, but don't forget to come back!):

Incredible free public speaking training videos:

Articles on Presentation Skills:

Advanced Public Speaking Training Articles:

And of course, everyone's favorite - how to conquer stage fright and how to eliminate fear of public speaking:

Not to toot my own horn (but I guess I will!) I've really worked my fanny off to post terrific info, and judging by the fact that Google, Yahoo, and Bing (formerly MSN) rank my sites high on the first page of the search results, THEY recognize that I'm providing high quality web pages...

...so, take advantage of some of the best free public speaking training on the Internet!

Catch you later,
David

3 "Plug 'n' Play" Presentation Techniques

2009-06-22T09:56:00.001-07:00

3 "Plug 'n' Play" Presentation Techniques
By David Portney

Sitting through a boring, poorly delivered presentation is right up there with hearing someone scratching fingernails across a chalkboard or getting a root canal.

If YOU have to give a presentation, you'll have no excuse for a poor presentation - IF you simply use any or all of the easy-to-use presentation skills tips you're about to discover.

Here are 3 "Plug 'n' Play" Presentation Techniques:

Catch you later,
David

Are YOU a Public Speaking Idiot? - New Quiz Reveals the Truth:

2009-06-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Are YOU a Public Speaking Idiot? - New Quiz Reveals the Truth:
By David Portney

Now, it's pretty unlikely that you've been sitting around asking yourself - "hey, I wonder if *I* am a public speaking idiot"?

I mean, most of us are pretty much walking around figuring that our ideas, our beliefs, our perspectives are the *right* ones, correct?

Sure, there are some introspective misfits out there - ahem - who might occasionally question why we do things the way we do, believe the things we believe, and so forth...

...but let's fact it: lots and lots of people are not doing things BECAUSE they think they're making mistakes doing those things, don't you think?

Well, I dunno about you, but I wonder about these kinds of things.

Anyway, would you like to find out if YOU <gasp!> might be a public speaking idiot like I once was?

Take my new 10 question quiz and find out! - it's fast and best of all, it's free! - here it is:

Public Speaking Idiot Quiz

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking On Your Website

2009-06-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking On Your Website
By David Portney

No, I don't mean you doing public speaking ON your website, but you can do that via video if you want....

What I'm referring to here is the fact that your website and and your seminars/speaking are a match made in heaven - here's what I mean:

When you're out speaking, you promote your website and your website promotes your speaking engagements.

You need to / want to / have to get your prospects and customers into a comfort zone with you.

When you speak, offer a valuable free report they can get on your website... that helps with the comfort zone as not everyone will buy from you at your speaking gig.

On your website, promote your upcoming speaking engagements.

Each promotes the other.

Want more info? Read the articles on my public speaking training website! (see how that works!)

Catch you later,
David

What a Future Farmer Can Teach You About Public Speaking

2009-05-31T09:40:00.001-07:00

What a Future Farmer Can Teach You About Public Speaking
By David Portney

Every once in a while a story comes along that really speaks to you (pardon the pun).

Check out what this high school aged future farmer had to say about overcoming fear of public speaking:

“I was petrified the first contest when I had to get up and speak the creed,” he said. “I used reverse psychology and used it to overcome my fear of public speaking.”

What "creed" is he referring to, you ask?

Why, it's the (formerly) Future Farmer's of America, of course! - you had to ask? ;-) (they now go by "National FFA Organization, and you can read their entire creed here).

You can read more about young Eric Kubacki and his triumph over stage fright and fear of public speaking here - and by the way, it's worth taking a look at this story just to see his smiling face, you'll get inspired and maybe even a little warm and fuzzy too.

Catch you later,
David
PS: have you gone through my 9 day free public speaking training course yet?

It's All "American Idol" Now

2009-05-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's All "American Idol" Now
By David Portney

Sometimes I like to use my blog as a bully pulpit - or maybe it's more accurate to say that sometimes I feel the need to complain and vent a bit.

Yeah, this is off topic for this blog - no I won't be talking about public speaking training right now - but I promise to keep this brief.

As you've likely noted, there are a zillion places where "you get to give your opinion" - for example on sites like Amazon.com, YouTube.com, EzineArticles.com, OneMinuteU.com, Ebay.com and many, many MANY others, you get to leave a comment or feedback about a book, article, product, service, or video.

Suddenly everyone is Simon Cowell or Paula Abdul on American Idol and simply must give their opinion.

"So, David" it would be fair of you to ask "those sites have feedback and comments to help other people, so what's got your underwear in a bunch today?"

Have you ever tried to figure out whether to buy or use something based on this feedback/comment model?

Go to BestBuy.com and pick a random appliance - I was looking at a juicer recently, for example - and the feedback was divided into 2 camps: 1. this is a piece of junk 2. this is great.

But beyond completely conflicting and contradictory information that leaves you with more questions than when you started - what really chaps my hide and twists my undies is the fact that everybody and their aunt thinks they're in a position to make discernment about areas of expertise in which they have zero knowledge or ability.

Just to be clear here - I'm not very thin-skinned. Bad feedback and comments on my blog posts, products or whatever don't really bother me much because everyone is entitled to an opinion, but let's face it: your opinion is pretty much worthless when you're making a snap judgement about information in an area you really no nothing about.

It's like everyone has become a judge, American Idol style. It's like a classroom where the class clowns have taken over the class, and no body is really learning anything as a result... we're all just being subjected to snide remarks from people with no actual value to contribute.

It's just too easy for any mouth-breather with an internet connection and a finger to poke at a keyboard to anonymously criticize, flame, reject, or otherwise make negative comments about something they don't know anything about.

Okay, thanks for letting me vent.

Now it's your turn.

Catch you later,
David
PS: I have a fantasy that you my dear readers will flame this blog post in the ultimate irony!

Public Speaking Training: Don't Focus On Bad Audience Members

2009-05-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Training: Don't Focus On Bad Audience Members
By David Portney

You know, one of the stupid stupid stupid things I did when I didn't know any better was to cater to and try to win over "bad audience members".

You know, the ones who didn't seem to pay attention. The ones who wanted to disagree with whatever I had to say. The ones engaged in conversations in the back of the room. The whiny complaining freebie-seekers who descend like vultures and pick your carcass clean and are still not satisfied.

You do yourself and the rest of your audience a giant and terrible disservice by focusing your attention on these people and trying to win them over.

I suppose I did that years ago because back then I was more eager for people to like me and do business with me. But over the years I've learned the hard way that there IS such a thing as a bad customer.

Oh boy, are there bad customers.

And audience members who are not customers and who fit the criteria above, are bad prospects.

Focus your attention and time on the ones who are paying attention, leaning forward, nodding and making a lot of eye contact.

After your talk, do not cater to people who want to tell you their life story, or pick your presentation apart because the others gathered around will quickly disperse - and they were likely the ones that wanted to ask you "buying questions".

Finally, don't be afraid you'll lose your audience if you have to shut down some rude clown trying to hijack your talk while you're delivering it because usually the rest of the group is hoping you'll take control and stop that bozo from ruining their experience.

Comments? Questions? That's what a blog is all about....

Catch you later,
David
PS: Be sure to check out my unbelievably high-ranking public speaking training website:

Public Speaking Training Gone Wild

2009-05-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Training Gone Wild
By David Portney

For my male readers, you probably had all kinds of images flashing through your mind of a public speaking training combined with a girls gone wild video shoot...

Sorry to disappoint you, this isn't that kind of blog!

The other day someone was talking about how Obama is such a great speaker but says "uh" too much.

You can pretty easily guess which orators club this person belongs to. I won't say here, but it has something to do with toast, and not the kind that's cooked bread coming out of a kitchen appliance.

Anyway, I had to laugh. Whether you like Obama or his politics or not, he for sure has made a huge impact with his oratory skills.

But, good ol' Americans who watch too much American Idol and think they're a critic whose "voice simply must be heard" are saying that he's really not that great a speaker if he says "uh" too much.

Sorry, but that's public speaking training gone wild; when the public speaking training organization you belong to or whose beliefs you subscribe to loses sight of the actual GOAL of speaking in the first place, they need to stop and reconsider the point of speaking.

I don't know about you, but getting approval from other speakers or speakers' organizations and/or their members is pretty low on my my priority list... okay, it's not even on the list.

I'm not trying to "dis" anyone here and this is not about Obama; this is about the fact that too many presenters get lost. They forget the POINT of speaking.

What do YOU think the point of speaking is? Do you care if someone says "uh" or "um" *too much*?

I know a speaker who rakes in fistfulls of cash from speaking (not in fees, from back of the room sales) who was once criticized at the end of a talk - the critic (who must watch Amercian Idol) told this speaker that they counted how many "ums" and "uhs" they had uttered in the last 90 minutes.

And, that critic paid good money to be there to receive information, and all they did is count ums and uhs.

Well, um, I can only say - uh - that the speaker in question pulled in more money from that one talk than the critic makes all year!

Now how much do you care about ums and uhs?

Catch you later,
David
PS: be sure to go hang out at my incredibly high-ranking public speaking training website.
PPS: I can hardly contain my excitement about my new book due to pop on June 1 - Get Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.

New Public Speaking Training E-Course

2009-05-02T16:04:00.001-07:00

New Public Speaking Training E-Course
By David Portney

I've just completed uploading a brand new 9 day speaking and seminar success course.

Here it is:

9 day speaking and seminar success course

Enjoy and prosper!

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Mistakes, and Learnings

2009-04-24T15:32:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Mistakes, and Learnings
By David Portney

Okay, so "learnings" is technically not a word. Call the spelling or grammar police ;-)

But seriously, I posted a 6 part article on my website about "what I wish I knew then" titled Superstar Secrets to Seminar & Speaking Success.

Or something like that.

The point is, this is info that took me quite some time to find out, and I don't want you to have to wait a long time to find this out (and don't tell anyone, but this info will actually be part of an upcoming book I contributed to, so you get the "sneak peek").

Oh - here's the article: Superstar Secrets to Seminar & Speaking Success - after you read it, come back here and post your comments, feedback, additional tips etc.

And your "learnings" ;-)

Catch you later,
David

Plagairism Update

2009-04-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, as it turns out, I'm glad I asked you all for advice and opinions rather than going with my first instincts, which was to post an ugly commentary and publicly "out" someone that used my content without proper attribution and adherence to established article site publishing guidelines.

I checked the site that plagiarized my public speaking training article, and sure enough, my name and website link have been added.

I didn't get any kind of communication telling me that I'd been properly attributed, nor did I get an explanation about the initial misconduct, so I don't actually know if this person's error was unintentional or his misdeed was calculated.

I also don't actually know if this person will later remove my name and website link from my article; maybe I'll check back in a month or two and see.

You, like me, probably feel my time is better served moving on to create more content and more value for my clients. I'd rather spend my time that way. I suppose when or if I find another transgression, I'll just handle it the same way.

I certainly have not lost any sleep over this!

I didn't mention that I had, somewhat coincidentally, recently made contact with the owner of a torrent download service as I was alerted of about my name there.

And the owner confirmed that although my content was not on his site, he did bring up a good point - a strategy I'd heard mentioned in several places which essentially is this:

Put in all your content sprinklings of free give-aways or other incentives to go to your site(s). Another similar idea was to put, at the end of a digital book, a note saying "if you've received this for free and gotten value out of this please donate $x..."

The idea being that you *almost* hope your stuff DOES get pirated all over the place, since you've got all that exposure pointing back at you.

Hard to accomplish this with articles you post on an article directory, but I just thought I'd share that with you.

"...And now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast...."

Catch you later,
David

When Someone Plagiarizes My Public Speaking Training

2009-04-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

When Someone Plagiarizes My Public Speaking Training
By David Portney

Let me ask you for your opinion - here's the situation:

Someone has plagiarized one of my public speaking training articles - they scraped one of my articles posted on an article directory and ignored the terms of service, which are that they have to leave author name and website links intact - they took this article and posted in on their blog / website without proper attribution or links.

Instead, this plagiarizer has posted my article as if it's his own, word for word.

I've already contacted this person twice asking him to abide by the article directory terms of service but - surprise surprise - he's ignoring me.

So, do you think I should call him out by name here on this blog?

If I do that, will you just think I'm being "sour grapes" or do you think he deserves to be called a thief in public?

I should point out that this person holds himself up as a trainer and coach; would YOU trust someone who is blatantly plagiarizing other people's content to be YOUR coach or trainer?

What's your opinion(s)?

Catch you later,
David

I'm Ranting Today

2009-04-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

I'm Ranting Today
By David Portney

I've got a little rant today, but this will be worth your time because if you're not using Google Alerts, you're going to discover something very powerful in my little rant here that you can and should use.

So you'll get a cool little education on a cool little tool, and I get to get something off of my chest... a real win/win, don't you think? ;-)

I have Google Alerts set up for my topic of public speaking, public speaking training, fear of public speaking - that sort of thing and so, into my email in-box daily, I get Google News and Blog alerts on those phrases.

Google Alerts are cool - you should at least set one up for your name so you can see if anyone is talking about you, quoting you, that sort of thing. You can also set up alerts for anything you want to stay abreast of.

So my rant - and I'll try to be brief - is the fact that I've been following up on my alerts for a long time now, and I've discovered that there is a whole slew of "garbage blogs and garbage websites" out there on my topic.

These blogs are clearly bogus - often they're just scraped content and *pretend* entries with self-generated *pretend replies* so it looks like something is happening on that blog - meanwhile the true intention of that blog is apparent by all the adsense and adwords ads all over the blog... And, tons of advertisements for all kinds of related products that clearly are affiliate programs the "blogger" has set up.

In other words, these bloggers are NOT experts on public speaking or related topics, they're just trying to capture web traffic hoping someone will click on one of the links that will make them money. That practice creates noise and clutter on the Internet, and my hope is that Google will slap them, and slap them hard.

Even worse, check this out:

Over the weekend one of my alerts revealed that some blogger had taken one of my public speaking training articles and put their own name on it!

Now, the rules are that anyone can republish my public content as long as they link back to my site and note me as the author - but this a**hole put his own name on MY article!!

The nerve, eh?

Okay, so we all already know that even Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google referred to the Internet as a "cesspool".

And if you've spend any time online or have an email account, you know that the Web is being used to propagate all kinds of crap.

So set up your Google Alerts today. You'll be glad you did.

Now, how do we flush this cesspool, anyway? Eric, are you listening??

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Skills Training - 9 Essential Skills

2009-04-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Skills Training - 9 Essential Skills
By David Portney

I've identified 2 paths when it comes to doing speaking and seminars:

1. The path of the great speaker
2. The path of the speaker that gets results.

The path of the great speaker is concentrated solely on the "mechanistic" aspects of speaking - gestures, speech construction/delivery, movements on the stage, etc.

The path of the speaker that gets results is focused on the actual results produced by the speaking or seminar - sales made, appointments booked, and so forth.

There is a huge difference between those 2 paths, and I've identified 9 essential skills you must have (at a minimum) if you intend to be an effective speaker.

I just posted a new article on on this topic on one of my websites - Public Speaking Skills Training - 9 Essential Skills.

Enjoy!

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Fear Cures - What Really Works?

2009-04-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

When it comes to public speaking fear, there's no shortage of that going around.

And when it comes to public speaking fear cures, there's no shortage of advice out there.

I just posted a short article that separates what works and what doesn't so you don't waste your time (or money!) on public speaking fear cures that simply don't work.

Here's the link to the article.

Catch you later,
David

Fear of Public Speaking & Progressive Conditioning

2009-03-31T09:39:00.000-07:00

Fear of Public Speaking & Progressive Conditioning
By David Portney

I was just reading an article on the Huffington Post about treating soldiers with PTSD when this caught my eye:

According to ICT Research Scientist Albert "Skip" Rizzo, the most efficacious approach to treating anxiety disorders such as PTSD has been cognitive behavioral therapy, where the patient is gradually exposed to what he or she fears. This is the classic approach used to treat common anxiety disorders such as fear of heights, fear of flying or fear of public speaking.

The reason this is true is not because you becomes desensitized to your fear of public speaking; the true underlying reason is because you have a direct and undeniable experience that that which you had feared was nothing more than a shadow, an imagined monster hiding under your bed.

While the effects are real (the shaking, sweating, nervous stomach or even vomiting in extreme cases) the causes are imagined bad scenarios and outcomes.

Remember: fear is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. Yep, it really is "all in your head".

Catch you later,
David
PS: for more public speaking training articles visit my website and be sure to check out my latest public speaking training article.

Public Speaking Training Home Study Course

2009-03-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Training Home Study Course
By David Portney

For those of you who've been waiting, the wait is over: my public speaking training home study course has been released.

My home study course, you should know this, is not focused exclusively on presentation skills - yes, I do teach you the highest level of presentation skills in the manuals and on the audio, but the course is focused on one thing:

How to make money with speaking and seminars.

You should also know that I don't try to teach you to become a professional speaker because that's a path I don't suggest.

If you are a business owner or an entrepreneur - or want to influence groups to take a specific action - my home study course is for you.

If you have dreams of getting standing ovations and collecting big checks for telling your story, I suggest you do NOT buy my home study course - someone else will be happy to take your money while supporting that fantasy.

I tell the truth about speaking and seminars and how to make money by creating a surge of new business and a flood of new customers clients or patients which results in a big stream of income for you.

If you're willing to set aside "rock star fantasies" and want the real path to about speaking and seminar success - and you're willing to get off the couch and take action - then my home study course is for you.

Here's more info:

Superstar secrets to seminar and speaking success

Catch you later,
David

My Fear of Public Speaking Story

2009-03-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

My Fear of Public Speaking Story
By David Portney

If you have fear of public speaking, it's likely you have a "my fear of public speaking" story.

I do too. Several of them. It's a wonder to me to this day that I ever conquered my fear of public speaking.

It's also almost bizarre and surreal to me that I'm addicted to doing public speaking and seminars.

As a side note, last night I was talking to one of my students who used to have awful fear of public speaking. As an insurance agent, she knew that she *should be doing seminars* to promote her business.

And she would be right about that.

She called me last night laughing because she told me that she thought I was full of sh*t when she came to my first workshop and the first words out of my mouth were "if you have fear of public speaking, when I'm done with you, you're going to have a new problem: you're going to be addicted to public speaking... welcome to your new addiction... at least this addiction won't cost you money or make you gain weight!"

Everybody thinks I'm full of crap when I tell them that.

The funny thing is that "the joke is on them" because fear of public speaking is so easily cured, but most people, of course, continue to believe that fear of public speaking is some giant scary monster lurking and out to get you.

In fact, there's a whole cottage industry that wants you to continue to believe that lie so they can make money off of you.

Well, anyway - the point is that fear of public speaking is not caused by a virus or from a fear of public speaking ray gun that aliens are beaming at you from just outside Earth's orbit (I assure you, those things are NOT true).

The point is that it comes from somewhere.

Most people think it "comes from" the past.

They would actually be wrong.

Everyone has their "fear of public speaking story or stories - you know, the first time you remember having that lightning bolt of fear run down your spine where all the blood drains from your face and your ears start buzzing and your knees get wobbly.

Want to hear my fear of public speaking story? - yes, it's juicy and embarrassing... click the link to hear, er, read it now.

Catch you later,
David

Fear of Public Speaking - Origins & Cures

2009-03-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Fear of Public Speaking - Origins & Cures
By David Portney

Fear of public speaking does not come from a virus, it comes from ourselves.

That's not to play "the blame game" - no, we're not doing it to to punish ourselves or as unconscious masochism.

No.

Luckily, it DOES come from us which means we are squarely in the drivers seat and can therefore take control of the wheel, take control of our responses and behaviors, and take a road more pleasing and with a more fruitful destination.

Just nice words? I think not.

Take a closer look: here's an article I just posted -

Fear of public speaking, it's roots and cures.

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Training Crash Course

2009-03-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Training Crash Course
By David Portney

In keeping with my "no BS zone policy" here on this blog, I've decided to deputize you.

Yep, that means if you see comments from posters that are BS, you should call them on it.

Heck, if you think MY posts are BS, you should call me on it!

There's too much crap and BS on the web. It's nice that we can all have a voice, post videos, start a blog, and twitter the day away, but c'mon - sometimes you just want to tell someone to shut up.

---Rant Over--- (hahaha)

Now, I've just posted a no-BS public speaking training crash course on my website, let me know what you think.

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Classes - 5 Critical Tips

2009-03-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

Public Speaking Classes - 5 Critical Tips
By David Portney

A friend of mine took some public speaking classes (yes, the irony is delicious, isn't it? Hard to be a hero with your own friends and family, you know... ;-).

He took the classes to learn how to promote a business he's working on. He learned some basic presentation skills and fear of public speaking stuff... Yawn.

Did he get value? According to him,yes.

Will he be able to deliver a presentation that will convert prospects into clients. According to me, no.

You see, different speaking contexts require very different kinds of skills and abilities.

That's why I wrote a fresh article Public Speaking Classes - 5 Critical Tips and just posted it on my website for you.

Let me know what your feedback is.

Catch you later,
David

The #1 Reason You Should Never Fear Public Speaking

2009-03-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

The #1 Reason You Should Never Fear Public Speaking
By David Portney

Today I'm "going all-esoteric on you". Yes, I know - I'm all-business-all-the-time... but imbued in my doings in business and personal matters are some much deeper aspects that I don't mind sharing with people.

What the heck am I talking about, you may ask?

Glad you did...

Sandra Zimmer has a blog/site called "Speaking Freely" and I'd like you to go read her post titled "Don’t Talk to Strangers: How Caring for your Audience Helps Stage Fright and Fear of Public Speaking"

Be sure to read the comment I posted there.

As you know, I teach a number of "battle-tested" methods and techniques to get rid of stage fright and fear of public speaking.

When you read the post and comment I'm referring you to, you'll see that in a way, Sandra and I are teaching "the technique of no technique" to paraphrase the late great Bruce Lee.

Get this, really get this, and you'll never have stage fright or fear of public speaking ever. It will be literally impossible to be afraid.

I realize this may take time to sink in; in the meantime, be sure to use the techniques I teach you at my training site - here's a complete menu of stage fright & fear or public speaking articles to mitigate those jitters and eliminate those nerves.

Feel free to join the discussion, here or there, I look forward to hearing from you.

Catch you later,
David

Public Speaking Tips - Are You Tired of The Same Old Recycled Junk?

2009-03-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

Public Speaking Tips - Are You Tired of The Same Old Recycled Junk?
By David Portney

"Practice" - "Be prepared" - "Everyone gets nervous" - "Make your butterflies fly in formation" - "Be yourself" ...

I'm about to vomit.

I'm so very sick of hearing the same old recycled, work out, outdated advice trotted out and called "public speaking tips".

Everyone is repeating the same old junk. It's like they go to the library and get a couple of books written by - I don't know - Adam and Eve?

And presto! They're a public speaking tips expert!

Or worse, they crawl the web for content to recycle.

You wanna hear a secret? Do you want to know why Google, MSN, and Yahoo rank my site BestPublicSpeakingTraining.com so highly (first page - ahem!).

It's because I post original, fresh, content that is - GASP! - not recycled crap.

And, I don't post "nice theories" that have never been tried.

Everything I write is from my direct experience, and I've done literally thousands of workshops, trainings, classes, seminars - you get the idea.

If you don't know me personally, you don't know I'm not a braggadocio. I'm not a narcissist. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm not a braggart.

My point is that I'm not trying to impress you or put myself up on some pedestal. I'm just a hard-working guy who's spent a lot of time speaking and presenting.

I've made a lot of mistakes, and I've had to learn how to overcome a ton roadblocks - some were inside me and some were out in the world.

But I never gave up, and I'm still willing to learn, and I'm very willing to share what I've learned.

Speaking of sharing what I've learned, and back to the point about public speaking tips - go check out my latest article on my website - the title is:

Public Speaking Tips - Not The Same Regurgitated Junk You've Heard Everywhere Else.

Hope you enjoy it - but I warn you, you might get your feathers ruffled and your panties in a bunch.

Catch you later,
David

Insurance Lead Generation

2009-03-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Insurance Lead Generation
By David Portney

Smart insurance professionals become experts at insurance lead generation techniques - and right now I'm going to tell you the best way to generate highly qualified insurance leads.

Read the rest of the article on insurance lead generation:

Time is Tight: Is Technology Helping or Hurting?

2009-03-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

Time is Tight: Is Technology Helping or Hurting?
By David Portney

Like you, I'm all a-Twitter, my face is face-booked (did I just coin a new term? ;-), and I'm subscribed to receive email alerts via Google Alerts and I haunt some forums and get a number of email newsletters.

I've got a cell phone, laptop, 2 desktops running side by side... I'm more effective and productive, right? Right??

Well, James Fuedo (that's a link to his blog) is not so sure, and I have to agree with him - here's an except from his newsletter to which I'm a subscriber:

--BEGIN EXCERPT--

Taming Technology:

Technology is an amazing thing – with devices such as iPhones and Blackberries, you can have access to your email, instant messenger, social networks and, of course, the internet virtually everywhere. But the big question is does this technology really help you become more productive or does it put you on a virtual treadmill where you’re moving fast but not going anywhere. Truthfully, technology can be a Trojan horse for procrastination so by keeping it in line, you’ll be able to get more done.

Over the last few years I’ve started to feel that technology creates the illusion of making you feel more productive, when in reality the opposite is happening. Two experiences in particular stand out my in mind. The first was an awards dinner I attended in which a young lady seated at my table spent the entire night texting her friends on her Blackberry. This was a perfect example of someone who had an opportunity to make real connections to increase her business, but instead under the guise of multitasking, got absolutely nothing accomplished.

The second experience happened recently when I had scheduled three hours to finish up a project. I made the mistake of checking my email and noticed I had a number of Facebook invitations from people I hadn’t talked to in years. So of course, I logged into Facebook, looked at their pages, wrote them each a note and then responded to a number of other requests I had. Then a few people that noticed me online began to chat with me and before I knew it, my three hours had passed.

--END EXCERPT--

Sound familiar? It sure does for me because I can waste half a day without even realizing that my to-do list has not been touched - all because I'm checking email, following forums and blogs, reading newsletters and so on.

I'm not saying those are not good things to do: the question is, are you able to get off twitter long enough to get back to the important stuff.

Look at my to-do list - this is just a small, small sample:
1. Finish audio outline for my new public speaking training kit
2. Record audio for the kit
3. Write promotional material for the kit
4. Put up 4 new websites for URL's I've reserved
5. Study CSS and PHP
6. Write a new talk for my upcoming bookings about SEO and SEM

That's just the first 6 items.

I know, I know - you're wondering why I'm blogging right now instead of doing that stuff - trust me, as soon as I sign off here, I'm "nose to the grindstone" - I'm not afraid of hard work ;-)

One more think - James also agrees with me that the absolute best way to promote yourself is via public speaking (I knew I liked that guy ;-) - here's another excerpt from his newsletter that really makes my point...

... just so you know I'm not a lone wolf out here howling to the wind about why and how you MUST get off your butt and start doing speaking and seminars to promote yourself, your business:

--BEGIN EXCERPT--

Speaking Can Be an Additional Source of Income:

Yes, you can actually make money giving a speech. There are folks known as professional speakers that make their livings by delivering a couple talks each month. Other people give keynote talks, and are sometimes paid to do so, where they get to share their expertise with a large audience. Even if you don’t get paid for the talk, you get that visibility and can sneak in a small sales pitch which can result in new business.

So as you can see, public speaking skills can help almost anyone. When times are tough, these skills are especially helpful in giving you that competitive edge whether you’re trying to hang on to your job, compete with hordes of people looking for work or running a business in an environment where everyone is trying to cut costs and expenses. With so many opportunities to speak to groups out there, the biggest investment required is simply your time.

--END EXCERPT--

I will say this: forget about making money FROM your speech; if you collect a speaking fee, that's just icing on the cake. The cake is the audience you're speaking to - stay focused on the fact that you're getting free advertising in front of that group, the speaking fee is chump change compared to the business you'll generate.

FINAL WORD: in the next day or 2 I'm going to tell you about one of my best students out there kicking ass with seminars using my systems - you're not going to believe the results she's getting - I'll tell you later.

Right now, it's time for me to turn off my cell phone, shut down facebook and twitter, close my email program, and focus on finishing my audio outline!

Nose, meet grindstone!

Catch you later,
David

Do you, um, "Tweet"?

2009-02-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

The other night I was burned out from working so I switched on the TV and leaned back in my work chair. As I was surfing around, I came across Evan Williams, the CEO of Twitter, on C-SPAN.

Now, I didn't know they put internet moguls on C-SPAN, I thought that channel was reserved for boring government proceedings.

So I was glued to my TV waiting to see if I could finally figure out what Twitter is REALLY supposed to be for.

Finally, someone actually asked him what the point of twitter is. Evan squirmed in his seat uncomfortably and said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "no one really knows".

I'm not paraphrasing much. That's pretty much the gist of what he said.

Then he went on with some drivel about "keeping people connected".

I admit it: I'm "on" Twitter. Do I "get" twitter? Not so much. Most tweets I see are boooring!

Stuff like: "I'm in math class" "I'm going for a walk" "I'm feeding the dog".

I want to tweet back: "I don't care!"

Remember the TV show Seinfeld - the show about nothing? Well, here's a whole website full of nothing.

Sure, the "gurus" say you need to be on twitter. Yawn. My opinion? Thanks for asking: I think people are on twitter because they think they SHOULD be, or they've got waaay too much time on their hands.

Evan plans to monetize twitter. With all the users he has, it's just a matter of time before he introduces an advertising model to the site.

Yawn.

Tweet that!

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Tips: 3 Key Skills You Must Know

2009-02-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

Public Speaking Tips: 3 Key Skills You Must Know
By David Portney

I'm so sick of public speaking tips that are nothing more than rehashed, warmed-over book reports.

Sometimes it seems like Adam and Eve wrote a book on public speaking, and everyone since has been regurgitating the same crappy advice over and over - without ever stopping to check if those public speaking tips are worth a damn in the real world!

Well, I won't let that happen to you. I've got 3 super-critical tips that really work, and work like magic.

Read my new article on Public Speaking Tips that will make you a much, much better presenter literally overnight.

See you later,
David

Are You Guilty of Making This Major Mistake?

2009-02-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Are You Guilty of Making This Major Mistake?
By David Portney

Yesterday my girlfriend Tracy was telling me about a seminar she went to, and paid good money to hear about a very interesting subject.

Tracy told me about it the day before, she was very, very excited to learn a slick and quite sophisticated real estate investment strategy - how to purchase real estate using your IRA.

But the details of the strategy is not why I bring this up; I bring this up because, guess what? The seminar presenter simply sucked! She said he was a native English speaker, about 60 years old, but couldn't present a seminar to save his life.

Everyone in the room, she reported, was growing visibly agitated as this presenter let his seminar get completely out of control because of people asking questions - so out of control, that the presenter sheepishly admitted he had to rush through the "meat" portion of his presentation because he'd wasted so much time on introducing WHY he was there to talk about this strategy.

Everyone already knew WHY he was there! They were all eager to hear about HOW. Now, if you know me and any of my strategies, you should almost always cover some "why" in the beginning of your presentation, but I also teach you...

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

How could this presenter be so clueless as to not realize he had a room full of licensed real estate agents, brokers, and Realtors who ALREADY KNEW WHY he was there!?

2 lessons:

1. Know your audience, deliver what you came to deliver.

2. Never, ever let your audience control your seminar or speaking engagement. I teach a number of different ways to keep your presentation under your control, and the right ways to handle questions.

Are YOU guilty of making these major mistakes?

If you need more info on how to do this, I'm here for you.

See you later,
David

Persuasion Speech Topics

2009-02-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Persuasion Speech Topics
By David Portney

Persuasion speech topics are not just some blatant attempt to manipulate people in some way, so first rid yourself of any ideas that persuasion and speaking are not compatible.

In fact, persuasion speech topics are all around you and happening all the time whether you realize it or not.

You don't have to look very far at all to find that you actually are being persuaded all the time, without even knowing it.

Read the rest of the Article "Persuasion Speech Topics"

Is Pay-Per-Click Worth The Cost?

2009-02-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

Is Pay-Per-Click Worth The Cost?
By David Portney

As a business owner or business professional, unless you already have a steady stream of repeat customers, new business, and referrals coming your way, then you have to be very focused on marketing - more specifically, lead generation and lead conversion.

As you know, I'm strongly advocating to my subscribers, students and readers that they use seminars and speaking engagements as a free method of generating and converting high-quality prospects into customers, clients, patients - and the same method can also generate repeat business and referrals IF you know how (it's very, very simple - just invite them to a customer appreciation event and ask them to bring guests. Be sure to have door prizes and a grand prize drawing at the end of your event).

When it comes to marketing yourself and your business, should you use pay-per-click advertising?

What's pay-per-click? It's how Google has taken over the world! Haven't you ever wondered how Google has generated huge revenues, just from being a search engine??

Simple: pay-per-click advertising has fueled their enormous growth, and it's a very valid form of advertising - IF you know what you're doing!

Pay-per-click advertising is the "sponsored links" you see on the right and top of the page when you do a search in Google (or Yahoo! or MSN or Ask -formerly "ask Jeeves" - remember the butler?)

Pay-per-click is not rocket science, but it's a little confusing when you first start out; in its most simple terms, you are bidding on and buying keywords and keyword phrases that you think (or better, you KNOW) that your target market uses when searching the internet. The idea is that you're paying $X dollars or cents every time someone clicks on your sponsored link. The more competition there is for that keyword/phrase, the higher cost you'll have to bid and pay.

For example, let's say you sell cat collars & leashes; your target niche market is people who like to take their cat out for a walk on a leash, and you sell the collars and leashes - your research indicates that your target market searches by typing "cat collars" into a search engine, for example, Google.

You can go to Google's Keyword Tool and type in "cat collars" and find out if people are actually using that term or not, and how many searches per month (I advise choosing "phrase match" from the drop down menu after your search). You will also be able to see what kind of competition you have, and how much you can expect to pay per each click on your sponsored link.

Pay-per-click, in short summary, is a very direct method of attempting to get your target market to click on your sponsored link and buy from you, make an inquiry, and so on. (Remember, you rack up charges every time someone clicks on your link whether they then make a purchase from you or not)

If you're willing to put a little work in, you can actually bypass pay-per-click altogether and get very good rankings in the "organic listings" (that's the non-sponsored links you see when you do a search) but pay-per-click is a shortcut to the front pages of the search engine results.

Have you used pay-per-click advertising? I welcome your comments and sharing your experiences with pay-per-click!

In the meantime, don't neglect your offline marketing too - seminars and speaking are tried-and-true and will provide you with tremendous results.

See you later,
David

Fear of Speaking: Where Does It Come From?

2009-02-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

Fear of Speaking: Where Does It Come From?
By David Portney

Where does fear of speaking come from?

Does it come from a virus?

Does it come from aliens in flying saucers beaming a "stage fright" ray-gun at you?

Is "The Great Spirit" doing it to you?

Read the rest of the article Fear of Speaking: Where Does It Come From?

See you later,

David

Interested In Professional Speaking?

2009-02-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

Are you interested in professional speaking - if so, I've got a brand new public speaking training article I just wrote and posted - here's the link to check it out:

Professional Speaking Article

See you later,
David

Effective Speaking

2009-02-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Effective speaking means you have to consider– and this is not optional, this is mandatory – 3 critical considerations.

Do not take this lightly: you are NOT achieving anything even close to effective speaking unless you achieve all 3 of these critical considerations before you ever get up and speak or present your talk, presentation, seminar, workshop, boot camp, or whatever the context is in which you are speaking.

Read the rest of this article here:

See you later,
David

Public Speaking: What It REALLY Is:

2009-02-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

I just posted an new article on the topic of public speaking myths and misconceptions and have finally, publicly, exposed public speaking for what it REALLY is.

If the light bulb does not come on for you - if you don't have a giant "a-ha" moment, you'd better read it again and again until that moment happens.

Yes, I really mean it. I'm really serious.

Because when you have that "a-ha" moment, it's going to transform the way you do business forever. No exaggeration.

If you do not have the "a-ha" moment I'm describing, I highly recommend you read it daily until that happens, because it took me YEARS to fully grasp the power of what I reveal in my new article.

If only I had understood this earlier, I'd have earned soooo much more money over the last 20 years...

Learn from my mistake, and you'll rake in money I didn't.

See you later,
David

3 New Public Speaking Training Articles

2009-01-31T16:45:00.001-08:00

I'm on a roll. I've just added three more new public speaking training articles:

1. Speaking Topics: here's a primer on picking good topics so you don't fall flat on your face.

2. Public Speech: what are we so afraid of - more importantly, what can we DO about it?

3. Presentation Skills Training: warning - if you train with the well-known clubs and associations, you're going to be in for a VERY rude awakening!

Enjoy!

Let me know if you have any questions.

See you later,
David

2 New Public Speaking Training Articles

2009-01-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

I've just posted 2 new public speaking training articles.

One is on persuasive speaking, and the other is about presentation training tips.

Enjoy!

See you later,
David

Obama Speeches Spark Japan Book Sales

2009-01-26T08:45:00.000-08:00

Obama Speeches Spark Japan Book Sales
By David Portney

The Japanese newspaper The Rafu Shimpo reported over the weekend that sales are booming for a book containing all of Obama's speeches.

It comes with a companion audio CD, and reportedly is selling like hotcakes. We are talking about Japan, so maybe it's selling like sashimi... Anyway, lame jokes aside, it's the #2 hot seller in Japan right now, and books in English don't sell well there.

The article says that buyers are buying the books to learn, practice, and polish their English. The article also noted that no one is rushing to publish books of speeches Bush made.

No matter what your politics are, whether you like Obama or not, there's an important point to be realized and taken seriously here, and that simply is this:

Obama has gotten where he is (ahem, President of the United States of America, no less) and has such wide appeal and popularity for one reason, and one reason only:

Nope: it's not because he's the first African American President (yes, I know he's a self-admitted "mutt") - guess again.

Yep - it's because of his speaking skills. Period.

I almost feel like my blog post should end there, I mean, doesn't that just speak volumes? I mean, I've been out here trumpeting the value of public speaking and presentation skills for how long now?--and I'm sure many would just say "yeah, yeah, but you HAVE to trump it up because you teach public speaking training and presentation skills workshops..."

Ahem. Really? REALLY?? Have I made too much in the past of the need for presentation and public speaking training that, yes, I just happen to offer?

Well, I couldn't feel more justified!

In fact, I'm going to make a prediction that trainers such as myself who can train people to have high-level presentation skills - yes, like Obama - are going to be very busy here very shortly.

Speaking of which (pardon the pun) I am going to be holding a public speaking training in February; contact me for details.

See you later,
David

Caroline Kennedy's Poor Public Speaking Prompts Withdrawal

2009-01-22T09:52:00.000-08:00

Caroline Kennedy's Poor Public Speaking Prompts Withdrawal
By David Portney

Yeah, I know that reads like a newspaper headline - only because it might as well be and probably is some newspapers' headline story somewhere...

My point is that the internet has been buzzing with blogs and news stories and commentary about how poor her public speaking skills are, and many said she needs public speaking training.

All a moot point now that she's withdrawn her bid to replace Hillary Clinton's seat in the U.S. Senate - if not for the aftermath of commentary about how her extremely poor public speaking skills are what killed her chances. Some have even, somewhat cruelly, said that "her name couldn't make up for her poor communication skills and the bad impression she made".

What do I - and what should you - take away from this?--simple: how you present yourself is going to create a perception in the minds of people, and first impressions are going to be a make-or-break proposition for you.

For all I know, Caroline is a bright, articulate, well-qualified candidate for the Senate seat - but based on the impression she gave from speaking in public, no one seems to think she's any of those things!

In your career or business, you're constantly making presentations - sometimes to groups, sometimes to just one person. Being able to make effective presentations and speak in a clear and convincing manner is simply invaluable in this world.

Just ask Caroline!

See you later,
David

Public Speaking is Not Speech Making

2009-01-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

Over time, I've noticed that people manage to create fear of public speaking in a variety of ways.

Some are really quite creative and imaginative - people envision all kinds of unlikely bad events happening. Some are actually comical. In many of the public speaking trainings I've conducted, my students have confided a wide variety of imagined bad-scenarios.

But one of the ways that people talk themselves into stage fright is by simply seeing public speaking as being "speech making".

You know, giving a speech.

Like politicians do; they stand up and give speeches. They've written out a speech, and then deliver this prepared speech.

In reality, 99.99% of the public speaking you would do is not speech-making - it's really just talking.

If you've read any of the articles on my public speaking training website on how to prepare a presentation easily and quickly, you'll know that public speaking preparation is very, very simple.

Then, when you deliver your talk, you don't have to try to be some great orator like Barack Obama and deliver a speech the way he would.

In reality, you're just talking; talking like you would to a friend.

So, if you've been carrying around the mistaken idea or false belief that YOU can't ever do any public speaking because you've got to be some kind of terrific speech maker, it's time to take that idea or belief and put it by the side of the road - there's no need to carry that around any longer.

You've left other beliefs by the side of the road before too - maybe when you were young you believed in the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny; now you can place the "public speaking is speech-making" belief in your "museum of things you used to believe" along with the others.

See you later,
David

The 1-2 Marketing Knockout Punch

2009-01-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

You're probably already doing both online and offline marketing - but do you know how to combine that into a one-two marketing knockout punch?

Sure, you probably have your website on your business cards, in your print advertising, and on your letterhead.

But... why should anyone bother going to your website?

Can I get a coupon there good a discount for my next purchase?

Do you have a valuable free report telling me how to avoid getting scammed or crucial tips I need to know?

Doing business with people is, ultimately, about getting them into a comfort zone with you. What are you doing to maintain contact with your prospects and establish a comfort zone with them?

What you really should be doing, is going out and doing public speaking engagements and not only telling people about your website, but giving them a reason to go there. And you should be doing that in all your other offline advertising too.

Offer some incentive for them to go to your website, then use email capture autoresponders to not only deliver your coupon or free report, but also to follow up with them automatically with other good stuff for them.

In case you didn't notice, here's a link to a terrific (and cheap!) service that is the same one I use for all my automatic email followups: click here to get more info.

In all your offline marketing, you should be sending people to your online email capture where they get a free report, or discount coupons, or whatever you can think of that will be valuable to your prospects.

Just think about how well this works in public speaking engagements: you have an entire room full of people who are already getting into a comfort zone with you. When you tell them to go to your website to get your free stuff, you'll have a giant spike in traffic to your website, and with your automatic email messages to follow up with even more great stuff for them, you maximize your chances of converting prospects into paying customers and clients.

Any kind of business can do this. Even if you're a psychotherapist or other professional licensee, you can use this online/offline marketing combination as a one-two punch to effectively bring in more business quickly, inexpensively, and very effectively.

Here's the link to the program I use: automatic email program and don't worry about spamming people, you can't with this program because it requires something called "double opt-in" which means people are requesting and confirming that they want email from you. Spam is sending unwanted email, and you're not doing that. Plus, they can get off your email list with a simple click of a button - what could be easier!

So get your automatic email incentives on your website today, and make sure to change all of your offline advertising and marketing to steer people to your free stuff at your website.

Again, make sure to put this into all your offline advertising, but also get out there and do some free speaking gigs and you'll generate a flood of new prospect and new business very quickly.

Questions? Comments? I welcome your input.

See you later,
David

You Might Find This Public Speaking Training Too Esoteric...

2009-01-04T18:21:00.000-08:00

If you "get" this, you'll never be afraid of public speaking... or afraid of very much else for that matter.

Back in the 1990's, my brother and I towed a sailboat across the country.

We started in Newport Beach, CA and ended in Marblehead, MA.

I remember we were somewhere in the middle of Texas amidst flat, desert terrain and my brother wanted to stop and make a phone call from a phone booth.

Yep, cell phones were not ubiquitous and cheap yet.

Anyway, I was hanging out by the trailer waiting for him to get done with his phone call when suddenly I was hit by a most profound sense of isolation.

I was struck by a feeling of inner desolation: I felt completely alone, cut off from everyone and everything.

I began to question the cause or source of this profound metaphysical ennui; was it the desolate terrain? Was I homesick? Was I just tired or hungry?

My gut quickly told me that it was nothing I could think of. Rather than indulge in the feeling, I decided to just feel it and let it pass as we continued on the highway.

I determined that I'd come back to it later and figure it out then.

Flash forward a few months and I'm back home in a Karate class.

Now, in Martial Arts training (as well as most philosophies and religions) you're - at least in the very best schools - trained in the philosophical aspects which are the roots of Martial Arts.

And the core of that is the concept and teaching of Oneness. The concept that ultimate reality is not the duality we experience in every day life, but rather that all duality resolves itself in ultimate Oneness and the indeed nothing is separate in reality.

The symbol for this is the yin-yang symbol; 2 distinct parts are clearly part of a larger whole.

So there we were in class and we were doing Kumite (free sparring) and suddenly it hit me - no, not my opponent, Oneness.

It suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks that my opponent, in reality, is not separate from me, but is more me than not me.

I know, sounds weird or contradictory or like just BS.

But this was more than a realization in my head, I felt with my whole body that this person I was faced-off against in full-speed sparring was not separate from me.

Suddenly, I "knew" every punch and kick he threw before he threw it. I blocked and parried and avoided all of them with ease because I "knew" what he was going to do before he did it. At one point he stopped and just looked at me with a bewildered gaze and finally said "are you psychic or something?-you know everything I'm doing!"

All I could say was "of course I know what you're doing, you're me".

Wow, this is getting longer than I had intended, but modern Physics - in its search for the ultimate building block of the universe - has discovered that reality is indeed stranger than they had suspected (by the way, they'll never discover a "ultimate building block" of the universe because the universe is not ultimately "built up" of things comprising other things...) and that the more they try to dissect the universe and matter, the more they find that everything is connected.

So if you have the experience that all is One, and One is in all, you'll instantly recognize that "feeling separate" from anyone or anything is actually a complete illusion.

In Texas, I was having a profound illusion; I felt totally cut off from everything and everyone - but here's the funny part: That's 100% impossible to achieve!

Get into a space ship and fly to the edge of the universe... and "beyond" is... what?-you can't escape the universe, you can't go outside of it and point back and say "there it is" because you're always IN it and never separate from it.

Well, if just my words here could give you the experience of Oneness, I'd be one hell of a blogger. More than likely, this will sound like BS, or confusing, or just leave you scratching your head. Or maybe it will make sense to you somehow even if you don't experience Oneness directly.... yet.

So when you do public speaking, it's impossible for you to be separate from your group or audience. They are you, and you are them.

Since that's Ultimately true, should you be afraid of speaking to yourself?

See you later,
David

Advancing ANY Career Using Public Speaking

2008-12-31T12:19:00.000-08:00

Evidently it's becoming more and more apparent - to school kids and especially college students - that their future success can greatly depend on their ability to communicate and make presentations.

Here's a few example's I just found:

Public Speaking Tips for Kids - Public Speaking is one skill that kids should enhance. Aside from practice, Public Speaking for kids requires personal coaching. Personal coaching includes the development of self-confidence and the effort on helping kids to improve ...
Fitness Marketing Public speaking nightmare come true - I had been worried about it all year. It had seriously been on my mind from the start of my freshman year in high school. Speech class. Yes, to get out of the 9th grade I was going to have to take Speech class. ...
Fun Workshop on Communications : CS/CIS Blog - Readers of this blog probably know my constant emphasis on communications skills for our students. Quick, what is better than acquiring essential communications skill for enhancing your career? doing so while having a ton of fun. The NSF scholar organization is sponsoring another free English communications enhancement workshop in May.

Kids tend to learn faster than adults and are open to new ideas and methods more than adults.

Too bad for adults.

Frankly, I've always said that intelligence is NOT your IQ, NOT how many degrees you have or how many facts you've absorbed.

Nope. Intelligence, in my view, is your ability to adapt. The more you're able to use your discernment and adapt to changing circumstances, the better off you are - and the more intelligent you are.

Unintelligent people stick to outmoded ways of doing things. Can you imagine any reason to use a typewriter instead of a computer/word processor?

Take a lesson from kids: public speaking and the ability to make presentations is not only going to enhance their careers, it'll enhance YOUR business or career too.

See you later,
David

Don't Make New Year Resolutions

2008-12-31T10:15:00.000-08:00

I'm not saying that for dramatic effect; I'm really saying don't make New Year resolutions.

The first few weeks of every new year, suddenly I see joggers everywhere. I suppose those joggers must lose all the holiday weight they gain in a week or two, because those joggers completely disappear after the first couple weeks.

Same thing at the gym: I can't seem to get on any of the exercise machines in the first few weeks of every new year, too many people there. After a couple of weeks, it's back to normal.

I'm betting that those joggers and exercisers have all made new year's resolutions... "this year, I'm finally losing those pounds and am going to be healthy" - yes, I can read their minds.

But you don't have to be a mind reader: I also can hear people talking to me and each other "I'm setting goals to X, Y and Z in 2009..." and you know what? Just like those joggers and exercisers, they'll be all motivated and excited and take massive action... for a couple weeks. Then it'll turn back to "normal" and they'll give up on their "resolutions".

So I say, don't make resolutions. Don't make promises to yourself or others about what you'll do differently.

In my experience, a much better approach is to forget about resolutions and quietly make the changes you want to make, and force yourself to make the changes a permanent part of your life.

If you really stop and think about it, there's nothing particularly magical about the new year. Just because the Earth has completed one cycle orbiting around the sun does not imbue any special talents or abilities on humans to make changes.

I've been saying for years that EVERY DAY is the start of a new year. So if you must make resolutions, and like the 2-week-only joggers you find that you gave up, today is the start of the next 365 days from today, so just start over again right away and don't wait for the end of the year to come to "start fresh" - you can start fresh anytime, any day.

Today, and every day, really is the beginning of the rest of your life.

So forget about new year's resolutions, but be sure to include public speaking and seminars as part of your marketing plan for 2009 because in case you haven't noticed, newspapers are going bankrupt, advertising is becoming less and less effective, and the economy is on extremely shaky ground.

Seminars and public speaking don't cost you a penny and are the fastest, easiest and most fun way to generate new prospects, customers, and clients.

Get out there and speak in 2009 and you'll be saying "financial collapse?-what financial collapse?" because simply talking about what you do will reap huge rewards for you and won't cost you a single dime.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

See you later,
David

Secret to Great Public Speaking: Make Others Great

2008-12-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

There's more than one way to be a great speaker.

Sure, YOU can be great when you're up in front of people: you can be humorous, entertaining, charismatic.

But an oft-overlooked way to be great, is to make others great.

This is a secret method of being a great speaker: make other people great.

What do I mean?

Have you ever seen Tony Bennett sing? You can't help but notice his extreme graciousness - he compliments the musicians ("aren't these guys great?") he's gracious to his audience ("hey, I know you have baby sitters at home on overtime, but do you want to hear just one more song?") and when he says "you're such a great audience" you feel he's not just saying it, but really believes it.

When Tony does that, when he makes others great, it makes him even greater. Here he is with this loooong career spanning many decades, has had numerous hits, is a truly great singer, a legend in the music industry, but he spends a great deal of time complimenting everyone else around him.

That kind of graciousness - making other people great - makes him even greater. You can't help but be attracted to that kind of thing in people. When a famous person exudes sincere humility and talks about how others are just making him/her look good, that really hits home with people.

You can do the same thing in your speaking. Make others great. Find sincere ways to make your group great. When you make them great, they'll see you as great for making them feel great.

And, that's a secret to truly great public speaking.

Isn't that great?

See you later,
David
PS: If you haven't already, be sure to register for my (great) free weekly public speaking training here.

2009 Public Speaking - What My Students Are Doing

2008-12-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

I've been talking with some of my most proactive students about their 2009 plans to promote their business using seminars and public speaking.

So I figured you'd be interested in a peek at what these folks are doing in case you want to duplicate their success strategies.

First, it's worth pointing out that a common denominator with these students of mine is that they've been taking consistent action already and seeing the results that doing seminars and public speaking will bring.

In other words, they've already proven to themselves that doing seminars and public speaking is a highly successful method of lead generation and conversion.

Here are some of the highlights of what I've heard so far, in no particular order:

Book inexpensive ($125) hotel meeting rooms in business hotels for the first half of 2009, one date per month.
Setting up a series of very catchy seminar titles designed to create intense curiosity on the part of a target market.
Mailing out postcard invitations to a warm-market list of prospects AND existing clients.
Teaming up with vendors and getting them to pay for meeting rooms and other expenses.
Focusing more on moving people emotionally instead of education-centered presentations.
Using more case studies and testimonials to convince and convert prospects and fence-sitters.
Using my "inevitable conclusion" presentation template to create a "logic-path" that moves prospect to become clients.

In 2009 I'm going to continue to offer customized one-on-one trainings. I'm also going to offer them in a special one-day workshop training intensive because a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs are "solo professionals" who really don't want to take too much time away from their business.

Sneak preview: my new book "129 MORE Seminar Speaking Success Tips" is in final preparations for release, my publisher tells me.

Okay, so - what are YOU going to do in 2009 to generate more leads and prospects? What are you going to do to convert those leads into customers and clients?

I say if you're not using public speaking and seminars to generate and convert highly qualified leads into happy paying clients and customers, then you might as well start ripping up $100 bills right now.

See ya!
David

Doing What Others Are Unwilling to Do

2008-12-13T12:08:00.001-08:00

Every day, I encounter people in their comfort zones.

I have comfort zones too. We all have comfort zones.

But how useful is that?

Actually, comfort zones are extremely useful. At the core, our comfort zones allow us to not have to re-decide and relearn routine tasks and everyday actions we need to take.

In other words, our comfort zones free us up to be able to pay attention to other matters and attend to new things.

But somewhere along the way, our comfort zones go from freeing us and actually become a prison cell. This happens without our knowledge or permission.

It's really quite insidious. We end up finding ourselves arguing for our limitations. We find ourselves saying things like "well, that's just the way I am". We find ourselves stuck in routines that we rarely question.

It's up to you to decide which of your comfort zones are worth maintaining and which are worth breaking.

Specifically when it comes to being a business person or an entrepreneur, if you are willing to do what others are not willing to do, you can succeed and thrive where others cannot and will not.

I suggest you start by simply observing your routines. I know you have things you want to get done and accomplish and you're striving to get to a new level of success.

Just observe: what routines actually support your goals? Which do not? What are others who have the kind of success you wish you had doing that you are not doing?

You don't have to reinvent the wheel here; just begin to look at your comfort zones and look for which ones you're afraid to move out of. In my area of expertise, I help small business owners and entrepreneurs break out of comfort zones and conquer fear of public speaking. That can be uncomfortable or even outright scary.

But by being willing to do what others are not willing to do, those business owners and entrepreneurs also enjoy levels of success and prosperity that others do not.

Why You Should Avoid Public Speaking Like the Plague

2008-12-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

You should avoid public speaking at all costs, if you meet the following conditions:

If you work for someone else -

1. You don't care if your coworkers get a raise instead of you.

2. You don't care if your coworkers get a promotion instead of you.

Comment: it's perfectly okay to stay where you are. There aren't any laws or rules that say you have to make more money or advance in your career.

If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur -

1. You are okay with overspending on your marketing and advertising & getting questionable results.

2. You don't care if your competition gets customers you wanted to get.

3. You are okay with taking a much longer & more painful path to building and growing your business.

Comment: Sure, a simple 20 minute talk could get you a flood of new customers as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, but don't you think you'd appreciate your customers more if you spend more money and work much harder to get them?

Conclusion:
Sure, you'd be able to advance in your career or your business much more quickly by doing public speaking (and seminars, by the way) but it's scary and you don't to be uncomfortable, do you?

If you're afraid, you should stay in your comfort zone. You should take comfort in the fact that most other people around you will do exactly that too.

Forget about the fact that if you do seminars or public speaking that you'll shoot way ahead of the pack quickly and easily (and inexpensively).

Now, aren't you convinced that you should avoid doing seminars and public speaking at all costs?

See you later,
David

Learning Fear of Public Speaking

2008-12-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

I was attending a communication skills training some years ago when the trainer started talking about "one-trial learning".

She was explaining that our brains are able to learn very quickly, and that especially when it comes to fear, our brain learns very quickly.

She gave the example of seeing a spider for the very first time - a sudden surprise appearance by this creepy crawler could have frightened us when we were very young, and our brain "learned" to fear spiders in that one instance - a "one-trial learning".

Our brains are marvelous things that are constantly on the lookout for what's happening around us and attempting to interpret what that means to us and if that affects us.

How come some people have "learned" to be afraid of spiders or snakes, while others are not afraid of those critters? It's because at some point we had a "one-trial learning" where our brain interpreted the "meaning" of those things as something to be afraid of.

If you were bit by a snake and experienced physical and mental/emotional pain, that can cause an aversion to snakes that can last a lifetime. And for many people, fear of public speaking is the result of a one-trial learning as well. My aunt was knocked over by a large dog when she was little, and to this day she has a strong aversion to large dogs.

One trial learning in action.

That happened to me too: I had to deliver a book report in front of the class in school when I was very young, and I "learned" to be afraid of public speaking. Yes, it's ironic that now I teach public speaking skills trainings, but that's a different story altogether.

But uncovering the root cause of fear of public speaking is not really enough to get rid of that fear. When you stop to consider how fear "lives" as a thing we experience, it's not necessarily on an intellectual level, it's on an emotional level.

Another way of saying it is simply this: fear of public speaking is more in your gut than in your head. So transforming fear of public speaking is something that really has to happen on a gut level. Just uncovering it, exposing it, and talking about it won't necessarily alleviate that gut-level fear.

If we were to get all technical about it, it starts in your head a flash of a memory of that bad experience, but really all you notice is the bad feeling and the whole process happens so quickly because it's on automatic pilot, it happens all below the level of your conscious awareness.

If you stop to consider the potential reframe here we can get back into the driver's seat and take control of that gut-level fear response by rewiring how we "do" fear of public speaking.

We can't go back and change the past, but we can change how we relate in the present to that past experience. There is the heart of being able to truly conquer fear of public speaking.

See you later,
David

How to "Be Your Authentic Self" When Doing Public Speaking

2008-12-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was having a conversation - via blog posting - with a counterpart in England.

I was responding to a post he made about "being your authentic self". I thought that the uppermost interesting thing was when he told me "my students can spot a bullshitter a mile away".

Wow.

A whole group of people who cannot be duped. Seems, well, hard to believe, yes?

But let me come back to that later, and get to the issue of "being your authentic self".

How do we, how do you, achieve this?

First, what IS your authentic self? Aren't you different around your family than you are with your friends? How about with your coworkers? How about with a group of strangers?

All of those "personalities" are, well, YOU.... aren't they? All are "equally real" even if you feel like in some situations you "put on a face" it's still YOUR face, right?

And if we dig a little deeper into how our personalities are formed in the first place, much of who we are today is a conglomeration of influences. We emulate many people growing up and take a bit from each of those people.

Don't believe that? Do you have children? If so, is it okay with you if they hang out with drug dealers and losers?

I can hear you now - just like when I pose that question in my public speaking training workshops - the parents all say "NO WAY!"

To which I reply, "why not?" and I continue, "you raised them right, correct? they know right from wrong, don't they? Why can't they hang out with losers and drug dealers, they'll know to not become like them, right?"

The parents shift in their seats uncomfortably... they still don't want their kids hanging out with drug dealers and losers.

Because of the very simple fact that we become like people we hang out with. It rubs off on us. They influence us no matter how well we were brought up.

Without a doubt, our personalities were shaped by much more than genetics; nurture and circumstances shape us to an extent many are almost uncomfortable with admitting. But it's true and unavoidable.

In fact, I recommend you read Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Outliers: The Story of Success" and you'll be amazed at how much circumstance and nurture affect our personalities and what we do.

Anyway, getting to the heart of what it means to be "authentic", the reality is that what we're talking about here is really congruence. When you feel like you're totally in alignment and no part of yourself is hesitant or in conflict, you're in a state of congruence.

But are you being "inauthentic" if you're hesitant? The true answer is, NO! What, are you faking hesitation? No, you're authentically hesitant at that moment!

And now we come back to the group of students that my England counterpart has who can "spot bullshit a mile away".

Again, Wow! Imagine, these people will never be conned, never led to believe something that isn't true. While the rest of us mere mortals cannot always detect a lie (even though we think we can) THEY can detect lies 100% of the time.

Hmm. Something's a bit fishy across the pond, eh?

Years ago I took a communication skills training where we were all split up into groups of 3 and instructed to each tell 2 stories - one a complete fabrication and the other the unadulterated truth. The other 2 people were to detect which story was a lie and which the truth.

When it came time to "'fess up" and reveal which story was which, the 2 in my group not only guessed wrong, but they became very upset and insisted that my false story HAD TO be true!

So much for detecting B.S., eh? And when the group reconvened, there were mixed results, but for sure it was true that many believed true stories to be false.

So what can we glean from all of this?

One thing is that you are your authentic self all the time. If you ever feel inauthentic, that's just a feeling of being inauthentic - very likely what's really happening is you simply feel incongruity. Incongruity is uncomfortable, and we don't "feel like ourselves" when we're uncomfortable. When we're at ease, then we feel "like ourself again".

So advice like "just be yourself" is a bit ironic since you can't not be yourself. Go ahead, be someone else - right now. Wait - it's still your voice, your face, your body, right?

You can act like someone else, and you can better yet emulate others who have traits you wish you had, but sorry - you're stuck with you!

And that's no B.S.

See you later,
David
PS: be sure to check out my exclusive customized public speaking & presentation skills training:

Vernon Jordan on Charlie Rose Notes Obama's Victory Due to Public Speaking Skill

2008-12-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

The other day I was going through some shows I DVR'd (is that a verb now, like "I Googled?) and was looking through some Charlie Rose interviews for anything interesting.

I came across a recent interview Charlie did with Vernon Jordan, Jr. and my girlfriend and I did a double take when Charlie said "Vernon will talk about the power of public speaking to get a president elected".

Well, it was something like that, frankly I don't remember word for word what he said, sure sure enough during Charlie's interview of Jordan, Jordan made it clear that in his view, Obama's public speaking skills are in large part what got him elected to the highest office in the land.

I found it interesting the way Jordan at one point said "...that's how a community organizer became president, because of his public speaking skills".

Again, I'm paraphrasing, you can see the interview for yourself on the Charlie Rose archived interviews - and Jordan made it clear that Obama's intelligence, work ethic, and genuine desire to serve his country certainly play an important part in Obama being elected. But he also made it clear that Obama's superb public speaking skills are what cemented his victory.

I predict we're going to see a rise in interest in public speaking skills and public speaking training. Anyone who's followed my blog knows that I've been saying for a looong time that small business owners and entrepreneurs simply must be doing public speaking and seminars to promote and market their products, their services, their ideas.

Obama "sold" the American public (and much of the world, really) on himself. How did he do it? He did it by making compelling presentations.

You can and should be doing the same thing. There are plenty of books, classes and trainings you can take. Of course, I'll mention the fact that I offer the only customized public speaking training of it's kind in the world where you can come and train with me privately.

You don't have to have the level of presentation and public speaking skill one would need to
become president of the United States. You just need to know how to powerfully persuade
groups of people, and that's a learned skill you can master in short order with my help.

See you later,
David

I Hate Public Speaking

2008-11-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

Do you hate public speaking?

Were you called on to give a "Thanksgiving toast" this past Thursday? Or at your Thanksgiving dinner table did everyone at the table each take turns saying what they're thankful for?

That's a pretty common occurrence here in the U.S. over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I would presume that many people feel anxious as it comes closer to their turn to have to speak in front of the group.

I'd further imagine that that situation calls up a memory of a similar situation in school. When we're young and in school, we get plenty of opportunities to hate public speaking.

I can recall the first time I had to literally stand up in front of the class and deliver a presentation. It was a book report. I was 9. The teacher announced to us students that in one week we'd have to stand and deliver.

Now, people who know me now and did not know me then just laugh when I tell them that I was as scared as a hamster at a rattlesnake convention! In fact, that whole week before the report was due I was extremely anxious. I was hoping something - anything - would happen to prevent my having to get up and speak in front of the class.

Yep, I used to hate public speaking. After I delivered my book report, I went back to my seat and collapsed in relief. Silently I said I'd never, ever want to do something like that ever again. Scary and uncomfortable to say the least.

So there you have one of life's ironies, eh? "Former scared to death student becomes professional speaker..."

When I teach my private one-on-one public speaking and presentation skills training workshops for small business owners and entrepreneurs, I know full well what they're feeling if they have any stage fright or fear of public speaking. That empathy, and having overcome that myself, puts me in a unique position to be able to not only relate to them, but help them overcome that fear too.

Some people just do not have any fear of public speaking. As you might imagine, they're not in the majority. But I do get students, occasionally, who just don't need any help with conquering any fear of public speaking. And in some cases, some students do have some fear but it's very slight and so minor that it's just not a hindrance or a problem for them.

On the other hand, some people really do manage to scare themselves half to death. In advance. Just like I did the week before my book report presentation at school when I was 9.

Now here's a twist for you: if you can scare yourself half to death a week before an impending speech or presentation, that is actually a very powerful talent.

Yep, it's a talent. That probably has you scratching your head wondering how that's possible, right? I mean, if you're scared half out of your pants a week before a presentation you have to give, then that's a bad thing right?

Well, right, but also wrong!

Wrong because that ability to create fear is a talent that is simply being used for the wrong outcome.

Similarly, procrastination is another talent, but typically used for the wrong outcome. Most people procrastinate about getting things done they really should get done. So that's bad. But what about procrastinating about, for example, feeling bad about yourself?-What if you put off feeling bad about yourself and just never got around to it? That's a much better use for procrastination, don't you think?

So fear of public speaking is something that is being used in the wrong direction too. How? Well, if you're a business owner or entrepreneur who is NOT using public speaking and seminars due to fear issues, you should instead take that fear and put it to better use - such as fear of your business drying up, or fear of customers going to your competitor.

Times are tough. Those things can happen. You should be generating and converting leads with public speaking and seminars. It's cheap or even free, an it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Hate public speaking?--I suggest you spend your hate on something more useful, like hating the idea of empty bank accounts!

See you later,
David

PS: Oh, in case you're wondering, I didn't title this blog post "I hate public speaking" because I hate it, I don't; I'm wondering if YOU do... feel free to comment whether you hate it or not!

When Even The Famous Fear Public Speaking

2008-11-27T07:48:00.000-08:00

When I first heard that people like Barbara Streisand, Johnny Carson and other very, very famous and successful people suffered with stage fright and fear of public speaking I found it... hard to believe.

I figured it's just a publicity angle, a way to keep their name in the news.

So I was just reading this article about how Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon - and this is the part that caught my attention - Reese Witherspoon was sitting in the audience at the academy awards hoping NOT to win an Oscar because she'd have to get up and face her fear of public speaking!

You can read the article I read today about Reese's Fear of Public Speaking here if you want to.

Anyway, this could just be BS to get her name in the news, but my gut tells me it's a legit story.

And this really struck me because I can't tell you how many people I've had in my workshops over the years who've told me they let raises and promotions at work go to someone else because of their fear of public speaking.

Business owners and entrepreneurs have told me similar stories of having opportunities to go speak to groups and promote and market themselves but they turned them down.

Yep, fear of public speaking. Too bad too for those business owners because public speaking is like shooting fish in a barrel when it comes to getting new customers and clients. In business vernacular, public speaking is the cheapest, easiest, fastest (and most fun) way to generate and convert leads.

Witherspoon DID win the Oscar, but I wonder if she still has fear of public speaking... (call me!)

Well, today here in the U.S. it's Thanksgiving so if you're celebrating the Holiday today, I wish you a "Happy Gobble Day"

See you later,
David
PS: Check out my personalized, customized one-on-one private and exclusive public speaking and presentation skills training here.

Has The Market Spoken About Public Speaking?

2008-11-26T12:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a most interesting phone call.

I was speaking with a gentleman who called to inquire about my public speaking training. This gentleman is very eloquent and well-spoken despite English not being his first language. And clearly he's a very intelligent person, a real go-getter kinda guy.

He was sharing the details of where he is in his business career and evidently this man is very entrepreneurial - I don't think it's breaking confidentiality to say that he's been a Washington DC lobbyist and is now working on some pretty high powered projects.

So he's been looking around at some public speaking and presentation skills trainings to polish up his skills, and he's talked to a number of people and organizations besides me.

To make a long conversation short, in talking with him it was clear to me that although he would clearly benefit from my home study course and my small group trainings, what he most needed and what would benefit him most is a one-on-one training focused on his specific needs and wants.

After we got off the phone, it suddenly struck me that 2 other people - 2 other entrepreneurs to be exact - this month have called me and said that what they most want is to train one-on-one with me.

So that got me to thinking about the current state of the economy and the urgency involved with keeping a business afloat.

I've been speaking with people in the real estate development and finance industries, insurance and financial planning... hmm, are noticing a trend here??

Two words come immediately to mind: customized solutions.

I have a feeling that for the next few years, people - your clients as well as mine - are more and more going to be looking to you for customized solutions to their problems and to help them reach their goals.

Now, you may already feel that you're offering customized solutions, but I think this is a very good time to stop, to just stop and take stock of our strategic focus in our business and how we approach helping our customers and clients.

Remember that perception is reality: YOU may feel you're offering customized solutions, but if your clients and customers feel that they are "just another number" or are just getting prepackaged cookie-cutter solutions from you, I'm convinced those customers will soon be doing business with your competitors.

Perception is reality. This is true when you talk to groups or individuals. Even if you never plan to speak to groups, you may want to find out what I know about using presentation skills to convey believability, confidence, trust, authority, and credibility. Yes, public speaking and presentation skills also "translate" into very powerful one-on-one communication skills.

If you're in the U.S., have a Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're not, have a nice Thursday tomorrow and I'll see you later.
David
PS: here's some info on my one-on-one public speaking training:

7 Reasons Why Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Are Complete Idiots If They Don’t Market Themselves with Seminars & Public Speaking

2008-11-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

Every business owner, every entrepreneur needs to be using public speaking and seminars as a lead generation and conversion tool. And if you don’t, then to put it bluntly you’re an idiot – and here are 7 reasons why.

Chances are you can come up with a zillion excuses why you can’t or won’t use seminars & public speaking to market yourself and your business. But if you argue for your limitations, then you get to keep them.

Smart, savvy, successful business owners and entrepreneurs leverage the power of public speaking and seminars. Which are you?-the kind that argues for your limitations or the kind that will do whatever it takes to reach your goals?

See you later,
David

My Girlfriend the Public Speaking Addict, Part 2

2008-11-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

The day before yesterday I was talking about how my girlfriend went from not wanting to do any public speaking or seminars to a becoming complete addict.

And yes, she came home last Saturday with 2 new clients in her gunny sack after speaking for just 2 hours.

What I didn't tell you on Saturday, is that not only was she originally adamantly against using public speaking and seminars as marketing tool, but English is not her first language, Japanese is her native language. So, she told me she would not only not feel comfortable doing public speaking, but the fact that in many cases she'd have to speak in English, she said that would never, EVER happen.

Well, you know they say "never say never". Now she does seminars and speaking engagements, and yes, she does them in English too.

A dramatic change, wouldn't you say?

You might think that I "hammered her" over the last couple years to do speaking and seminars, but the reality is that I knew that that would be a bad approach to take.

She saw me go out and bring clients home in a gunny sack, and she started to ask me questions about how I did that.

She also attended some of my workshops on conquering fear of public speaking and presentation skills, and even just as an observer, she picked up a ton of techniques.

Next thing I know, she's got seminars and public speaking engagements lined up.

I had to laugh, because on her very first speaking gig, the group paid her $500 to come in and talk for 90 minutes.

Do the math: attorneys make that kind of money... after what - 6 years of law school and all?

But even if she didn't get a cent from that gig, here's the thing: the group she spoke to were a room full of people that serve HER target market but don't compete with her!

Yikes! Do you see the beauty of this? She got PAID to promote herself to a roomful of people in a position to send her referrals!!

Wouldn't you do that for free?? If you say no, I'm going to come over there and shake you so hard!

Generating new clients and referrals through speaking and seminars is a proven-effective method.

If you're not doing it, why not?

In my mind, if my girlfriend can overcome all her objections so can you - moreover, so SHOULD you.

Don't argue for your limitations. You simply must overcome your objections.

I don't care if you take my trainings or someone else's - but get good public speaking training and get it now or else you're missing out on the fastest and easiest (and most fun) way to turn on a flood of new business and income just by flapping your lips.

See you later,
David

My Girlfriend Has Become Addicted to Public Speaking

2008-11-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, my girlfriend decided to focus her business direction and we were talking about marketing ideas over Italian meatball sandwiches one Saturday afternoon.

We we're listing out a number of ways for her to market herself, and of course, I say -

"You need to do seminars and public speaking, that's top of the list because it's free, it's fast, and it works; you get your message to a whole room full of people who want to hear what you have to say."

I was trying to ignore the look of fear on her face.

I went on to point out that talking on her area of expertise in front of groups quickly establishes her as the expert, and that people get a chance to know her, like her, believe her, and trust her in a face-to-faces situation.

She grew more pale... I pressed on cautiously...

"Well, I know most people don't want to do public speaking because, you know, maybe a little stage fright or whatever, but... "

I was going to say that stage fright is actually easily cured that the reality is her new problem would be an addiction to public speaking -

But she was already shaking her head no.

"I-I don't want to do any speaking", she said, eyes a little glazed.

Over the next several months I did a huge slew of public speaking classes, and I needed her to help me with registrations and such, so she'd bring a book to read while I taught.

The funny thing was, and this is partly my fault - she kept looking up from her book and watching the class.

Well, one thing lead to another and she started scheduling public speaking engagements, and she was promoting her business.

Now she's addicted.

My girlfriend's an addict. A public speaking addict.

I kid you not - right now as I type, SHE'S on the way her after a seminar she put together, tells me that she had 23 butts in seats today.

23 people who came out on a Saturday morning to hear her topic.

23 people who want to hear her message.

Oh, and she also told me 2 people made an appointment for next week to discuss financial planning with her.

And of course, more people from today's seminar will call her later...

So what about you? Why not you? I kid you not, you'll be an addict too!

Oops, gotta run: she's at the front door.

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Gives You True Power

2008-11-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

You might expect me to say that, but it's really true - having presentation skill and being able to do public speaking gives you powerful abilities that are not to be underestimated.

I've just posted a new article on my site titled: "Presentation Skill: 5 Compelling Reasons to Master it Immediately".

Read my new article - even if you're already doing public speaking, even if you already have some level of presentation skill, you're going to agree that this article is an eye-opening read.

There are powerful ways to use presentation skill and public speaking to achieve, be and do in ways that you might never have imagined.

Read my article now: Presentation Skill

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Scams

2008-11-19T10:30:00.001-08:00

Today I'd like to tell you about how you can make money and bring in a flood of business with public speaking scams.

Let me clarify - I'm not talking about your perpetrating a scam; I'm talking about you exposing a scam.

For example, one of my students is out there doing speaking about foreclosure scams. As you may know, the housing market is in the toilet and many people face foreclosure. As if that's not bad enough, there are plenty of scam artists out there contacting these unfortunate folks in foreclosure offering to "help them" out of their problem.

Buy what these scam artists actually do is promise to get these homeowners out of foreclosure by paying fees, then the scam artist disappears with their money - and there are even worse scams out there.

So my student is out there doing workshops, seminars, and speaking engagements teaching homeowners how to spot and avoid these scam artists.

Why aren't you doing the same? I don't mean talking about foreclosure scams, I mean out there speaking and teaching people how to avoid scams in your industry?

I don't care if you're a contractor, insurance agent, or a plumber: you name any industry, and I guarantee you that there are scams you can expose.

By getting out there and speaking about these scams you are doing people a terrific service, and you're obviously not a scammer if you're teaching people how to avoid scams.

If you need a primer on how to title your presentation, prepare your talk, put together your handouts, market your speech or seminar and find plenty of places to speak for free, then check out my public speaking training article series - you'll find the exact methods and techniques to do it now.

Get out there, do some public speaking, and start exposing scams!

Why? Because the result for you will be a flood of new business and income.

So unless you already have all the business you could ever want, get busy!

Persuasive Public Speaking

2008-11-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

I could just kick myself:

When I think back on all the hundreds of public speaking engagements I did and the thousands of people I've spoken to over the years BEFORE I knew how to do persuasive public speaking, I could just kick myself.

Imagine all the business I lost! Imagine how much income I threw away. Just think of how many opportunities to help people I wasted due to not knowing how to craft a persuasive speech and a persuasive presentation.

Well, you can learn from my mistakes. So here are some resources for you:

Here are 5 Persuasive Speech Topics to get your creative juices flowing. Looked at from a different angle, here are another 5 Persuasive Speech Topics, so that gives you 10 topics right there.

Once you've got your topics in place, you need to know the factors, the elements that make a persuasive speech - so if you want to touch the hearts minds and wallets of your group then you'll need to know How to Deliver a Persuasive Speech.

While we're on the topic, you should know that a crash course on Leadership Training will also help you to be more persuasive, you'll find 7 Secrets to being a persuasive powerful leader.

While we're on the topic, how would you like to create a speech fast and easy - here's how.

Now, I know some people are a little skittish about public speaking because they're afraid of looking silly or making a mistake, so here's how to handle blunders and mistakes when you're doing public speaking.

Finally, if people like you, they're persuaded by you because they like you, so be sure to check out these ways to use humor in public speaking.

Okay, now you're pretty well prepared to give persuasive speeches and presentations. Let me know if you have any feedback or questions.

See you later,
David

Integrity and Public Speaking Training

2008-11-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

I've got a question for you - here's the context first, and then the question:

Context: someone wants to take my public speaking training and I'm wondering if I should train them or not because they want to speak on a topic I have "issues" with.

So the question is, what do you think? Should I set aside my personal feelings about a topic I disagree with and train that person anyway?

Similarly, should I set aside my bias against a certain type of business model that I think is a bad business model they want to get others involved in by using public speaking as a recruiting tool?

What's your opinion on this?

Also, what if someone wants me to train them in persuasive public speaking skills, but I feel that I wouldn't want them out persuading people, should I not allow them to attend my public speaking training?

I'm looking forward to hearing your input and feedback.

See you later,
David

The Public Speaking Athlete?

2008-11-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

I'm reading an article titled "Why Athletes Often Succeed In Politics"

Here's an except for you:

"The athlete knows what's at stake when under the limelight, and they know how to handle themselves accordingly — the successful ones, anyway. You can't replace 10 or 20 years of that sort of experience by any amount of public-speaking books or courses."

I'm going to suggest that the celebrity of an athlete has more to do with why they're successful in politics than any "experience in the limelight" they've experienced.

It's the same with actors too (anyone ever heard of Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarzenegger?)

It's fame, not limelight experience, that causes "brand recognition" and so people vote for those that they're comfortable and familiar with.

So if you're not famous, you can still create brand recognition in your area of expertise and to market and promote yourself more effectively.

And people will vote for you too, but they'll vote with their wallets and purses!

But how do you get that brand recognition do that people give you business?

Glad you asked, here's 2 ways:

1. Publicity - getting your name in the media spotlight creates a sort-of fame for you. If your clients and potential customers see you in the paper or on TV that's going to create that brand recognition and familiarity and a sort-of fame.

The problem is that getting media attention can be fleeting, and sending press releases is not a guarantee of getting media coverage.

2. Public Speaking Engagements - when you get up and speak, you're getting what I call "The Halo Effect" where you're instantly seen as THE expert on your topic and area of expertise.

Public speaking gigs brand you as the expert, the authority, and creates a longer-lasting impression on people because they've seen you "up close and personal".

If you're already a recognized name in your area, that goes a long way to giving you that Halo Effect, but if your name is not a household name public speaking engagements can put you foremost in the minds of your prospects and your customers.

More importantly, that brand recognition translates into dollars in the bank for you.

See you later,
David

Public Speaking: Why Do You Even Bother?

2008-11-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I find I'm fascinated by why people do what they do.

Somewhat tangentially, evidently so is Malcolm Gladwell who has just published a new book on why some people are super successful - and he has a tantalizing Q&A about his new book "Outliers" that I think you'll find quite juicy.

Anyway, when it comes to public speaking, there are so many barriers people face such as stage fright and fear of public speaking that it's a wonder anyone every does actually get up and speak at all.

So, why DO you even want to bother doing public speaking?

See you later,
David

5 Essential Public Speaking Skills

2008-11-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Even accomplished, experienced speakers need to review their skills.

My Karate Sensei used to always say to me "just because you're a blackbelt doesn't mean you don't polish your basic techniques".

The same is true of speaking skills. No matter how much speaking you've done, no matter how successful you are or you become, don't ever let yourself get so "high and mighty" that you think you're above reviewing your skills and making improvements.

Even Tiger Woods works on his basics!-that's how he stays at the top of his game (not to mention - ahem! - having a great coach to push him to excel)

Here's an article on 5 Essential Speaking Skills that you must at least be aware of, if not have mastered by now - and mistakes you had better not be making.

Review them and please, I urge you, don't merely look them and say "I know that", take action!

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Training on Painless Speech Writing

2008-11-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

When doing speech writing, most people do it the hard way. The very, very hard way.

If you want to (or have to!) make a speech or a presentation as part of your job or to promote yourself or your business, you're going to be faced with a blank computer screen or blank piece of paper as you sit down to create your talk.

That's the hard way to create a speech or presentation. Why do things the hard way?

Wouldn't you rather do things the easy way? Here are 2 simple formulas to easily create any kind presentation and make speech writing a breeze!

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Mistakes

2008-11-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

Most public speakers focus on the content of their presentation, the words they're saying in their talk.

That's natural, of course.

But once you've gotten your speech or presentation down, it's time to focus on HOW you deliver your talk - not just what you say, but how you say it.

And you know what? That's where public speakers get lazy! That's where they drop the ball and make mistakes they don't even know they're making.

Here's a huge mistake most public speakers make - are you one of them?

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Training - Making Money as a Public Speaker

2008-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Lots of people want to make money as a public speaker.

Perhaps more accurately put, lots of people have fantasies about making money as a public speaker and doing public speaking.

And by fantasies, I mean that they have a completely distorted idea about what it actually takes to actually earn money - much less a livable income - off of public speaking.

The biggest mistake would-be speakers make is not understanding what public speaking actually is.

So I'm going to tell you what it actually is: it's a marketing tool. It's the best marketing tool ever. It's the fastest easiest least expensive and most fun way to market yourself.

Dreaming of making money just for telling your inspiring story or talking about your book? You might as well want to be a rock star or famous actor - it's possible but not very likely.

However, if you're willing to put your fantasies aside and listen to reality based on years of experience, here's a public speaking training article on how to make money as a public speaker - and I've got one more word for you to ruminate on as you read that article:

Back-end.

That's right, back-end, as in making your money on the back-end.

Think about that, chew on that - if a light bulb goes on and you have a eureka "a-ha" moment, let me know about it because if you do, you've hit the jackpot and found out how to really make money as a public speaker, so let me know what you think and feel and experience.

See you later,
David

Public Speaking - The Best Speech Topic of All Time

2008-11-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

Are you ready to find out about the best speech topic of all time?

No matter what your speech topic is, you can make a slight adjustment to your speech and voila! - your speech topic will also be the best speech topic of all time!

Want to find out how? Just click on any of the links in this post to be taken to my latest public speaking training article.

See you later,
David

Public Speaking, Public Cursing

2008-11-10T10:45:00.000-08:00

So... just out of curiosity, do you feel there's a place for curse words when you do public speaking?

I just read this article about public speaking and cursing at college classes and this got me to thinking about all the classes, trainings, workshops, seminars and keynotes I've done and if I've done very much cursing.

I'm sure I must have dropped an "F-bomb" here or there in the last 20-plus years and almost two-thousand presentations made across the country... I mean, certainly not every presentation I've done has been squeaky clean.

But I think it begs the question, is it okay to curse when doing public speaking or not?

What do you think?

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Training For Motivational Speakers

2008-11-09T11:29:00.001-08:00

When you say “motivational speaker” to me, I can’t help but think of the late great Chris Farley’s character “Matt Foley”.

The mainstay and catch-phrase from Matt is “…living in a van down by the river” and of course the ironic humor is the motivational speakers’ “you can do anything you put your mind to and succeed” juxtaposed against the questionable success if you have to live in your van, down by the river.

But caricatures aside, can you become a motivational speaker?

Here's a brand-new public speaking training article on exactly how to succeed as a motivational speaker.

See you later,
David

Public Speaking & Leadership Training

2008-11-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Are great leaders born, or are they made?

If you want to be a leader - any kind of leader - there are 7 secret principles you must master.

Here are the 7 secrets to being a highly effective leader:

Leadership training article:

See you later,

David

5 Powerfully Persuasive Public Speaking Speech Topics

2008-11-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to create a persuasive speech?

You're in luck - I've just posted a terrific article you simply must read:

5 Powerfully Persuasive Speech Topics

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Anxiety

2008-11-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

If you have deep anxiety about public speaking, I want you to be very cautious before you even consider taking any kind of public speaking training.

Public speaking training may actually make your anxiety worse!

It's important to make some clear distinctions here: being a little nervous or a little anxious about doing pubic speaking is common.

Having a little public speaking anxiety is so common that some public speaking trainers don't realize that some people have an actual clinical phobia and very deep anxiety.

If you suffer from true glossophobia and not merely a "normal amount" of public speaking anxiety and nervousness, then a public speaking training might actually do more harm than good.

I've heard some terrible stories about public speaking trainings where the trainer - well intentioned I'm sure - took a "sink or swim" approach to anxious students and worsened their anxiety.

One particularly bad story I heard is a public speaking trainer that actually bound a students hands with rope behind her back to prevent her from "making nervous gestures"; you can imagine the damage caused to this poor student of public speaking.

A good public speaking training will offer the student plenty of feedback on what they did well and what needs improving.

A very good public speaking training will not hold back - instead of just getting nice pats on the back for lackluster skill levels, the student will be challenged to improve with honest feedback.

At the best public speaking trainings, the facilitator will know how to set the rules up ahead of time when it comes to giving feedback because mean-spirited comments disguised as "telling it like it is" will do more harm than good.

Evaluate a public speaking training and the trainer carefully.

Speak to the trainer directly and tell them if you have concerns or have experienced anxiety about public speaking in the past. They should be able to have an honest dialogue with you and ease your mind about any uncomfortable situations that you might encounter.

All that being said, even the best public speaking trainings and their trainers can't read a student's mind or know their entire personal history, so ultimately you need to be responsible for yourself and to yourself.

Try to stay out of situations that will result in increased anxiety, and if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, give yourself permission to bow out gracefully and watch from the safety of the sidelines.

Here are even more terrific public speaking training articles:

See you later,
David

Public Speaking & Inspiring People to Action

2008-11-05T08:23:00.001-08:00

This blog is about using public speaking as a lead generation and conversion tool in business. That's my area of specialty - not politics.

But no matter what your particular political or ideological leanings, the fact that Obama has been elected the first African-American president of the United States speaks volumes to more than his race or political party: it speaks to his message which was achieved through public speaking.

The election results show a truly commanding win, and the electorate gave him a commanding win. And based on the voters demographics, it's clear that it's not just that people want Republicans out of office, and it's clear that it's not about race:

It's about his message. His message resonate with what people want. His message resonates with what's in their hears and minds and speaks to cure the pain they feel and restore the hope they need.

You, my small business owner friend, need to do the same with your persuasive public speaking - no, I'm not suggesting you need to use oratory tones to inspire patriotism. I'm stating flat out that you need to speak the minds and hearts of the prospects sitting in your audience.

When they say to themselves that you "get it", that you understand them, that you are suggesting the solutions to their problems, they'll vote for you.

And that vote will be with their wallets.

Want to bring in more business? Learn how to get in front of people with a message that resonates with them.

Want more customers and clients? Learn how to get in front of people with a message that resonates with them.

Want to make more money? Learn how to get in front of people with a message that resonates with them.

I can show you how.

See you later,
David

Beating The Recession With Public Speaking Training

2008-11-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Here in the U.S. most people are focused on the election and most people believe that the next President will affect their income and standard of living.

Maybe... but I know one person that will affect your income and standard of living more than McCain or Obama:

YOU.

But you knew I'd say that, right?

Look, you know I don't like to mince words, I like to tell it like it is: if you're bracing for a recession, your mindset is in the wrong place. Sure, people might be holding onto their money more tightly and curtailing unnecessary expenses, but I can tell you for sure that if you get in front of people and speak, you'll see an increase in business and income.

That increase in business and income will positively affect your standard of living more than the next President.

But just getting out there and speaking is not enough - I know that firsthand and so do my students. It takes more than just being out there, you have to know how to incorporate the elements into your talk that will stir people to action.

And that action is to do business with you.

Tomorrow, the dust on the election will settle, but controversy is sure to follow no matter who wins. No matter who wins, there will be people whining and complaining.

How about you? Are you going to whine and complain, or are you going to get up off your rear and take action to make your life better?

I know what I'm going to do, and I hope you'll join me.

See you later,
David
PS: Soon I'll be gearing up for my next hands-on training here in Redondo Beach, California. If you want to ask me about that, you can do that here or at BestPublicSpeakingTraining.com

Inspriring Public Speaking Stories

2008-11-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

Every so often I think we need a dose of inspiration to go with all of our perspiration.

If you're a hardworking business minded professional or business owner, you probably have your nose to the grindstone a lot of the time.

If you're reading this blog and not out there promoting yourself and/or your business with public speaking, shame on you!--so here's a dose or two of inspiration to get you rollling:

Here's a story of someone doing public speaking and not even in their native language:
If an 8th grader can overcome fear of public speaking, don't you think you can too?
Think even entertainers love public speaking?-no guarantee of being even decent at it:

If you're still struggling with getting out there, get some inspiration from these stories!

And if you're still procrastinating, here's your plan:

Determine the result you want to reach with your public speaking
Write up an outline using any of the presentation formats I've taught you
Start contacting the local chamber of commerces, associations, and clubs - make just one phone call per day, use this public speaking training article as another possible marketing model that really works:

When you see how easy it is to generate and convert very highly qualified prospects quickly and for no money, you'll kick yourself for not doing this sooner!

Let me know if you have any questions.

See you later,
David

Public Speaking Training on the Root Cause of Public Speaking Fear

2008-11-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

Having taught many, many public speaking trainings over the years I've observed that at the core, fear of public speaking boils down to three common fears:

1. Fear of your mind going blank during your presentation.

2. Fear of making a mistake or not knowing the answer to a question.

3. Fear of appearing foolish.

In a way, all fear of public speaking really comes down to a single root fear: fear of rejection. Fear of public speaking wouldn't exist if we didn't actually care what other people think about us.

Worrying that the audience will reject you and make negative comments or have negative reactions or criticism is what creates the fear of public speaking.

In most cases it's normal to have fear of rejection from early childhood experiences of rejection in school and these are not deep psychological problems requiring counseling. Most of the time getting some public speaking training can give you the confidence in your abilities to overcome that fear of public speaking rooted in childhood experiences.

Some people experience significant relief simply by discovering the root cause of their fear. When they confront the original experience or experiences that started the "chain of pain", they can see it as being part of growing up and being an immature child who's afraid of being judged by their peers.

Confronting the root cause of fear of public speaking can create a change on a "gut level". You could think of this as "reprogramming the software" or as "deleting it from the hard drive".

Dealing with the root cause can literally cause a neurological shift in how your brain represents public speaking, but it’s important to reprogram and reframe that early experience and not merely relive it. Don’t dwell on the root cause experience; instead, transform the meaning of that root cause experience into something empowering.

Summary:
Try uncovering the root cause of your fear of public speaking - see those early childhood rejections for the simple growing pains that are natural and even necessary in life. If that causes a significant change in your fear of public speaking, that's terrific. But if not, just move on to other techniques. Don't give up!-it's 100% possible for you to conquer fear of public speaking and reap the many rewards that are waiting for you. And any public speaking training worth its salt will address fear of public speaking and support you in overcoming that fear once and for all.

See you later,
David
PS: here are more public speaking training articles on what to do about fear of public speaking:

Evaluating a Public Speaking Training Trainer

2008-11-01T11:09:00.001-07:00

When evaluating a public speaking training, you must go beyond looking at the syllabus and subject matter - you must take a long and careful look at who you'll be training with.

Here's something I've learned over many years of being a trainer, and many years of taking trainings:

When you train with someone, you unconsciously absorb their beliefs.

That might sound irrelevant or even outlandish to you, but before you dismiss that, take a minute to consider that I might know what I'm talking about...

You may already know that I was a Karate Instructor for the better part of 17 years at the Academy of Judo and Karate in Redondo Beach, CA.

One of the things I learned the hard way (besides get out of the way of oncoming punches and kicks) is the fact that when you mentally decide to train under someone, you are believing that what you're going to learn is valuable and true.

What you are unconsciously doing, also, is accepting that the trainer who's training you is worthy of leading you, and therefore emulating.

And in the process of emulating them, below the level of your conscious awareness you are also therefore emulating their belief systems as well.

This may sound theoretical, but it's as true as true can be, and I found this out the hard way by training with a bunch of Karate, Judo, and Jujitsu masters and I discovered I had taken on their belief systems, and so had their students.

This article is an article I wrote on evaluating a public speaking training and especially the trainer.

Again, you might not take my word for it, but I highly recommend you do so before it's too late and you find you've emulated someone you'd rather not be like.

Choose your trainers carefully and wisely, in or out of the Karate Dojo!

See you later,
David

Fear of Public Speaking Tactics That Work Best

2008-10-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Conquering fear of public speaking is not exactly rocket science, but because it's fear and fear is, well, scary! - people move away from opportunities to confront and conquer that fear.

When it comes to public speaking training to conquer fear and anxiety, I'm 100% against a "sink or swim" approach.

Sometimes just getting used to being in front of people can recondition that fear out of you as this author noted in this entertaining article about her starting to overcome fear of public speaking shows, once you begin to see and experience firsthand that public speaking is s really not a big deal after all, your whole perspective shifts.

I see this happening over and over to the point that I often start my trainings and workshops with "welcome to your new addiction". I've got countless students who used to shudder at the idea of public speaking that are out eagerly lining up public speaking engagements to further their business, their cause, and promote and market themselves.

Besides reconditioning, sometimes it's useful to get at the root cause of fear of public speaking and pull up that fear by the root.

Except in the case of true glossophobia, a good public speaking training that teaches you how to conquer that stage fright, how to be confident, and how to properly prepare a presentation can make all or most of that public speaking fear dry up like a puddle on hot asphalt in the summertime.

But sink or swim can have the opposite effect and create even more anxiety which is why I never recommend that approach.

See you later,
David
PS: I'm proud to introduce my Best Public Speaking Training Toolbar - it's fast, free and safe - and you can have my blog posts automatically updated right on your favorite browser, whether you use Internet Explorer, FireFox, or Flock this toolbar is compatible and you'll have your local weather, radio station, you can set up your all your email accounts in seconds so you'll know when you get a new email! Get our toolbar now, it's fast free and safe - and I use it too!