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I Speak…

sleepI would like to talk today about structuring a speech. It’s important to put together the right speech, in the right way. In this blog article, I describe five structures. I hope you take them and run with them. These five structures should cover most of the situations in which you find yourself speaking.  Each of these structures can be built to fit your purpose. Let’s look at them.

Problem-Solution Works In Your Favor

Persuasion. That’s why you are giving a speech. Begin by framing the problem. Then go as deeply as you dare into the problem, making both intellectual and emotional arguments for the severity of the problem.  Then go for it! Give the people your solution!

Going Through the Motions

If the subject has strong arguments on all sides of the issue, you may want to use this technique. Explain the problem, and then go through the possible solutions and thoughts of others. Try to give people as much information as you can and then go through all the arguments for solutions as carefully as you can. Give credit, show that you take all sides of the problem and all solutions seriously, then give people your own solution. This will give you credibility and people will listen to your argument with more care.

Tell the Story…

Yes, we are all interested in your new idea and your new product. But why don’t you tell us about it in an interesting way? Try to begin by describing the basic situation, giving only the relevant detail. Introduce a problem. A rival business? A problem in your sector? Then give people the resolution they truly want. Resolve the crisis and become the hero.

Stay in Order

Some hate chronological, some love it. But I think it’s best to start at the end of something. The result. Did you sell 8 million dollars’ worth of product? How did that feel? It must have felt good. Then go to the beginning and explain the situation you were in to start with. Then tell the story in order and bring people back to the success you ended with. This way you have “WOWED” your audience and showed them your path. It’s a winning speech strategy.

Demonstrate Like a Pro

Some businesspeople can do this better than anyone else. It’s salesmanship. Start with the reason. Why is this product or idea important? Why do people need it? What does it solve? Demo the idea and give people a reason to really root for it. Is it cool? Is it something that will save lives? Hint at the future and leave people wanting more.

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I Write…

once uponWriting content is a little bit like being a sales person. You must think strategically. What does your target audience want? Why are they surfing the internet? What are they searching for? Do you have the right product and/or idea for these people? What is the decision breaker? Who is the decision maker? There’s a lot of thinking that goes into putting together the right content, for the right audience, for the right company. Let’s take a look at some of the initial steps.

Relax…

The brainstorming process is not the time to be in a hurry. Grab a journal and a pen and go on a walk. Watch the wind. Give yourself permission to be a little lazy. Creativity requires relaxation. When you relax, your mind can wander, to jump around to lots of different ideas, to make strange, serendipitous connections. Take the pressure off yourself to come up with the perfect idea.

Come Up with a Lot of Ideas

Choosing the next project is a negotiation between your skills, your ambition, your audience, and your soul.

What can you write?

What content would help me if I were my customer?

What does my audience want to read?

What do I need to achieve from this content??

Surprise yourself. Don’t censor your ideas! Write your ideas on a piece of paper.

Kill the Wrong Ideas, But Do Not Say They Are Bad!

This is the most important step. Kill the ideas that aren’t as relevant as others to your main theme and continue to think up new ones as you go.

Ask Your Audience

It’s easier to finish your content writing project if you believe a greater awareness wants you to write it. As I consider my list of ideas, I always go to my audience and ask them questions. “Should I write about this?” If my audience says, “No,” I don’t write about it. Sooner or later, I stumble on an idea my audience says “yes” to. This sounds strange, but asking others is the key to success. Learn!

Second Guess Yourself

If you’ve gone through all the steps above, it’s okay to get started now. Do a little research. Start writing an article. But while still in the initial stages, before you fully commit to an idea, second guess yourself. Is this really the content I should be working on? Is there a better idea lurking within this one? If I’m going to abandon my project, I’d rather do it at the beginning, before I’ve invested a lot of time.

And Once You’ve Chosen…

Before you can say “yes” to one idea, you have to say “no” to a lot of ideas. Most of this process is about saying “no” to ideas. However, once you’ve chosen, you have to commit. There will be times when finishing your blog seems stupid, painful, and not worth your time. This whole process is about developing the faith in your idea that you will need to get through the doubt that will come in the middle.

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I Teach…

once uponYou’ve gained clients and you have a full meeting book, but you find that your clients are too on edge to be comfortable and allow themselves to develop. This blog post is all about building a relationship with your client and getting them to open to you. If you can’t connect with your client, you won’t be able to do your job. So when you meet a client and start a meeting, why don’t you try some of these top tips…

Gentle Sounds

Music can help your clients feel relaxed. Try slow, relaxing, gentle music and allow the mood to do its job. If your client is relaxed, you will have them talking about the real issues in no time at all. The right music puts people into a great mood—and that’s your first goal.

Be the Host with the Most

Offer your client a coffee or a soft beverage. Nothing alcoholic. You’ll find that the client will feel more important and will start to work with you. Be a good host to get the most from your clientele!

Be Modern, Be Comfortable

A fan may help relax a client and help to keep them cool and calm.  Make sure the room is warm first.  The most important thing you can do is keep your client comfortable. If they are too hot, their mind won’t be on the task at hand; same if they’re cold.

Keep the Conversation Going 

Chat about your client – the upcoming wedding, the kids, the job. People tend to ease up when the conversation is about them. Make everything about your client.

Reassure

You will do well to reassure your clients that they are doing a great job during the entire coaching session. You want to make sure you are reassuring them as much as possible towards the start when they will be the most nervous.

Fake It ’Til You Make It

If you’re fairly new at coaching and you’re scared of appearing unprofessional—just fake it. The more comfortable you are, the more at ease your clients will be. Never give the impression that you don’t know what you are doing.

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I Speak…

coachWe have been talking about public speaking over the last few weeks. We have discussed how to learn about your audience, how to create a rapport—but this week, I’d like to mention a few things that you should try to avoid. If you are planning to make a public speech, try to avoid falling into these tar pits.

“Can everyone hear me out there?”

Inexperienced speakers often make one big mistake. They walk out in front of their audience, tap their microphone and shout into it and ask if the people in the back of the room can hear them. If you’re speaking at a larger conference, there’s a good chance that someone has already checked the audio. It’s always a good idea to check it before you go on stage.

“Are you there? I can’t see you….”

When you’re on stage, the lights can be nearly blinding. But no one needs to know you can’t see anyone in the audience. Simply speak into the dark and give the best presentation you can. In fact, it might be better for you to forget that anyone is out there. Just try to give the audience the impression of your interest—look at them directly and… smile!

“Let me read my presentation to you!”

A presentation full of words is BORING. Use pictures, short phrases and bullet points. Try not to read your slides to the audience. That’s what their eyes are for. Everyone came to see you speak, to share your ideas, not read aloud. Any visuals or props you choose to bring along should only serve to enhance your speech. You’re the speaker—speak. Don’t read!

“I’m sorry… I didn’t prepare…”

Try not to start your presentation with an excuse like this. The people listening to your presentation are expecting you to do your best, regardless of how you feel or how much time you’ve had to prepare. If you don’t have a lot of time to practice, choose a topic that’s familiar to you. If you don’t feel well, keep calm and stay hydrated. Just get out there and entertain, educate and be a public speaker.

“Ermmmmmm…”

Try to avoid conversation breakers such as “um,” “erm,” “uh,” “you know,” and “like.” Using these words too often takes away from the effectiveness of your presentation. They are also distracting and make you sound unsure about what you’re going to say next. Try pausing if you must think of the right word. Just be calm, collected and don’t rush it. Rushing will cause you to have to use filler.

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I Write…

coachWhen it comes to writing content, there are hundreds of avenues you can take. From lists to articles about news events; from current issues to product reviews, the world is your oyster. But whatever you do, you would be well advised to follow some of the rules of content writing. Let’s take a look at this list and see what you can do with your content.

Make Your Content Valuable and Relevant

When internet users type a topic into a search box on any search engine, they expect the search engine results to provide information relevant to their search. If they click on your site and find irrelevant or outdated information, they will bounce from your site to the next result to find what they need.

Keep Your Content Concise

There is no need to belabor your point. Website visitors are skimmers and prefer to quickly review information. Don’t tie them down with reels and reels of information.

Keep on the Right Track

Visitors usually search very specifically and become frustrated if forced to work through a lot of information to find what they are looking for. If you have a very broad topic, consider breaking your content down and introducing one topic per paragraph so your readers can find specific information easily. You can also add links within your page content to related topics on other pages of your site rather than trying to include all your information on a single page. This will make your website infinitely more user-friendly.

Check and Recheck for Grammar and Spelling Errors

Nothing says unprofessional like a website full of spelling or grammatical errors. After you are finished copywriting, walk away from the content and come back later with fresh eyes. You may notice errors that might have otherwise been overlooked.

Use the Tried and Tested Method

Many bloggers and content writers swear by using the same technique. Put your conclusions at the beginning of your page content and work backwards from there. This puts your most important information front and center.

Write for Your Audience

You have probably heard of the importance of making your website content search engine friendly by using keywords, links, and other SEO techniques. This is important, but so is making your content readable and engaging for the humans visiting your site. After all, your goal is to convert visitors into customers. Use a conversational tone to connect with your audience, and avoid using too much fluff and marketing language.

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I Write…

once uponWriting content sounds very easy. It’s just a case of sitting down and pouring forth ideas, right? Well… it’s not really that easy. It has to be structured. You have to know what you are going to write, how you’re going to write it, and how the reader will react to it. You have to understand that the reader can click off your website at any moment. You want to keep them there, but you don’t know how. Why don’t you follow the rules of writing content? Let’s take a look at them.

What Do You Want to Achieve?

One major reason for taking your time when writing content is to decide what it is you want to say. What are you hoping your content will accomplish? Is the purpose of your article to explain how something works, put a customer on a determined conversion path, build brand trust? Whatever goal you’ve decided on, have it in mind before you start writing.

And Your Point Is…

Every piece of content you write should have a pretty big hook built into it. Whether it’s a current event, a problem, a joke or an educational piece, you want to decide how you’re going to draw people in. Keeping the hook in mind will help you frame your article and organize it in your head. It will also determine the writing style that you use. Give it a try.

Walk Like a Panther… Think Like Your Reader

Before you put your fingers to the keyboard, get into the heads of your audience because your content is for them. If you’re attempting to explain something, talk about it from their point of view. How deeply would they need something broken down? Which terms would they use? Where might they get confused? Put yourself in the place of your customers and write like they would.

Read Your Content Out Loud and Proud

If you want to improve your content, read it to yourself before you publish it. If you find yourself stumbling over something or think you’re being bland, it may turn your reader off. I never publish or commit to any piece of writing before I’ve read it aloud to myself several times. If you try this technique, you will find yourself writing much better content.

And Then Root Out the Typos

Everyone falls victim to typos. Be careful and re-read your work. Even the biggest books from the biggest publishers have a typo hiding in their best selling books. Take your time, root them out and then publish when you know you’ve done your best.

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I Teach…

sleepThis week, we are going to look at coaching and beginning a career in coaching. You’re now in a position to be a coach, and you’re ready to begin… but where do you start? How do you get those crucial first clients? How do you know how much to charge? What do you do? What have others done? This article is all about the first crucial steps towards success as a coach. Let’s take a look…

A Clear Path to Success

One of the most useful pieces of advice is to have a plan and see how you will fulfil your goals. In the meantime, have smaller, doable goals, so you know you’re on track. Each time you achieve one of the smaller goals, you will find yourself closer to success with the bigger goals. You should always be looking at the bigger picture—where are you and where do you want to be?

Keep It Simple

Nobody in the world can do it all. That being said, you should plan on putting in lots of hours and energy into your business, at least for the first year or two until you have a good clientele base with a waiting list, and you have a reliable marketing engine. Later, however, you will want to learn the power of saying “no.” Nobody needs to work 100 hours a week.

Family Support

Your loved ones can also assist you in your endeavors and make it easier. Rather than feel bad that you’re not doing as much for everyone else, use your coaching skills to fully communicate what you’re really up to. When you share your inspiration and how much this means to you, the people who care most about you will whole-heartedly join your team, and they may even help you find clients.

Look After the Money

When you know you have enough money coming in already, you can afford to trust the process of attracting clients. Starting a business is not like starting a new job. You won’t get a reliable paycheck every two weeks. But your time investment up front will pay off handsomely if you go the distance. Reduce debts by negotiating for lower interest rates. Stop paying for things you aren’t using. Be careful with your money, and you’ll go far.

Promote, Promote, Shout

In your first year of coaching, even if your coaching skills aren’t fully honed yet, share your excitement and inspiration about coaching with pretty much everybody. Don’t be attached to getting them to understand coaching the way you do. They probably won’t. But do share your energy.

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I Speak…

writingA huge part of public speaking is knowing about your audience, and knowing how you are going to approach that audience. This week’s public speaking article is all about your relationship with your audience. How do you capture their interest, and how do you know what their interest is? How do you turn a mundane subject into something people will want to listen to? Well, buckle up, and let’s take a look at some of the steps!

Research and Understand Your Audience

When you are in front of a business audience, it is important to know their background. Are they colleagues, middle managers or trainees? Finding out about their business experience and their companies will be very important. Armed with this information, you can make a passing reference to their company’s history or profile, which they can relate to. You can tie your information to the subject that matters to them.

Go Beyond Your Words…

You are communicating a message or information, or entertaining. Or it may be a combination of all three. The words you are using are merely a vehicle for conveying your ideas. They are not sufficient on their own. You must feel what you are saying.

Don’t JUST Read Your Speech

There are several reasons why this could be disastrous. If you just stand in front of the audience and read, you will be in danger of boring your listeners. Remember that really dull college professor who droned on for hours on end? That would be you. The more you read, the more you will chance mumbling and failing to make eye contact. Improvise, and feel your way towards a great speech.

Practice, Practice, Practice

You need to get really familiar with the contents of your speech. If you lack confidence, the best way to do this is to try and memorize the main points, and you can use a list of notes for this. You have to go over and over it again, timing yourself so that you do not go over the time allocated. If you prefer, you can also use cards with the main points on them, just in case you forget. A good idea is to number the cards, just in case you drop them! Give it a try—it’ll work like a charm.

Become Personal

No, don’t take this the wrong way. Nobody wants to hear the ins and outs of your divorce. But people still love stories. An anecdote or two can work wonders. Tell them about your personal involvement in a project and what went right or wrong. Jokes are great, too, although these should be kept to a minimum. All these things are important for bonding with your audience.

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I Write…

writingAs we’ve been talking about content over the last few weeks, I’d like to discuss creating good content this week. The kind of content people will actually want to read. The fact is that you can hire a great content writer, but you still have to understand the rules of content—you have to get the basic marketing facts. And some of them can be found below!

YOU Not Me

People love themselves. It didn’t take the advent of the selfie for that to be evident. So, create content that is customized to your audience. Use their names, their faces – anything that makes the content about them. Make everything about the people you want to sell to.

Everyone IS Listening…

One of the most overlooked sources of content is your customers. They ask questions about your brand everywhere. The content might not go viral, but your customers will appreciate being heard and responded to, and it will lessen the burden on your content writer. Plus, the feel-good factor will really please your customers. A company that actually listens to people? Who’d have thunk it?

We’re Only Human

Try to capitalize on the human side of your brand by being human in your content. And remember, just like humans, brands are not perfect. They make mistakes, and they can laugh at themselves. It’s okay to make fun of yourself—seriously!

Content Is FREE

Creating content that is free does not mean endless self-serving, evergreen articles replete with shameless plugs and links to your product pages. It means investing the time to create something of value to people. It can be as simple as one piece of useful, well-designed content, like a cooking cheat sheet or in-depth, brand-free buying guide. Become a trusted resource for valuable information first. For example, look at the toys McDonalds gives away—those are useful gestures that bring kids back again, and again, and again. Think of your content in the same way.

Cute Is GOOD

It is never more evident that we are sold by sentimental content than when the ads with cute turtles, kittens, or doggies come onto your TV. Cute means sales.

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I Speak…

sleepSo, we’ve spoken at length about public speaking and ways to excel as a public speaker—but we haven’t spoken about actually getting work as a public speaker. This blog is all about ways to find work. It’s not easy to convince someone to pay you to speak—sometimes it will seem impossible—but if you truly want to be a paid public speaker, you should be exploring these avenues.

Universities, Colleges and Schools

Look around you. Chances are, you live close to a university, college, state school, technical school, or some other educational institution. Team up with a professor or department head to hold a forum a subject relevant to you and the educator’s interest group. Invite people from the community to attend, as well.

Network in Your Business Groups

These lead exchange or facilitated networking groups are designed to be a tightly knit group of individuals from diverse businesses who meet regularly for the purpose of bringing business opportunities to the other members. Popular groups are Le Tip, Business Networking International (BNI), and Local Business Network (LBN). Join your preferred group and let the members know that you’re interested in speaking opportunities.

Clubs and Special Interest Groups

Music fanatic? Mother of a child? Coder with mad skills? No matter what your interest or circumstance, there’s a group for it. And if you can share information on a topic that’s relevant to its members, they’ll welcome you as a speaker.

Local Publications

Most areas have a magazine or newspaper devoted to area business news. Check out the periodical’s Events page (in print or online), then contact the organizations who have listed presentations and pitch them for speaking.

Your Clients

No need to get all fancy and overlook one of your most highly qualified sources! Ask your clients which groups they belong to and whether they accept outside speakers.

Other Professionals Who Speak Professionally

Look around at your colleagues, competitors, and other professionals who target the same audience you do. Check their websites and LinkedIn profiles to see where they’ve spoken. You can follow in their footsteps.

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