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Plastic Comb Binding Finishes Before The Reader Even Starts

I’m sold. That is the look you want to see or feeling you want to get from someone after they view your work. Whether it’s an end of year stock performance portfolio, a presentation on your company’s closest competition for the company board of directors, a fundraising cookbook for your church, or your final composition for your literature course, its undeniable that the manner in which a document is presented may be, in part, what helps persuade a reader.

Sure, you’ve seen the vinyl binders, you used them for homework from about kindergarten on, the rings just got larger as you got older, and you became more particular about the color, and whether they had that plastic overlay that you could easily slide pictures in. They are ideal for just about everything from keeping chronological information, and particularly for documents that need to be accessed quickly. In the office, they are most frequently used for manuals of some sort. They are relatively inexpensive, and are readily available, but are better used as an every day tool in the office for your personal use, rather than for presentations.

Poly-ring binders are similar to the vinyl binders, but are tougher, and you won’t ever have to worry about the rings warping and then not meeting or pinching your finger because they’re not aligned properly. They wipe clean, and are ideal for those who work in a less than pristine environment, say outside or at a construction site.

If your presentation truly is of a sales nature, your best choice would not be a plastic comb binding but rather a turned edge binder. Ideal for on-the-go presentations, this binding system allows the flexibility of changing material easily, presenting in landscape form, so that items like photos and graphs can be easily seen an referenced, and yet can be folded up flat for portability.

Making the sale on the run? A great way to hold a number of separate documents for quick access is a presentation case. This would be ideal for a real estate agent, or a mortgage broker. Also convenient for monthly bill paying or invoice processing, the case isn’t really a traditional binder, but does perform the same function in a slightly different manner.

If you’ve ever been in any kind of professional meeting, you’ve seen a combination binder padholder or clipboard. While these can be a little cumbersome if you do not have a desk to set it on, it is perfect for holding documents or agendas for reference while taking notes on a separate piece of paper.

Newer to the market are cassette, video, DVD, and CD binders. Specially formed to hold the appropriate media, they provide a convenient way to access and store any number of items.

A metal spiral binding is usually more appropriate for documents that will be of a more permanent nature. Dateless information would be suitable content for a metal spiral binding.

A plastic comb binding not only keeps the documents together, but also allows for information to be removed and added if necessary. They are lightweight and can be sized according to the size of the documents. Both sides may lay flat for the ease of note taking, for instance. It is generally cost effective and can be utilized for both landscape and portrait presentations.

This article published by the editorial staff of National Tollfree Directory. For more information about Plastic Comb Binding, Vinyl Binders and CD Binders, visit Advance Loose Leaf Systems at http://www.sellbinders.com. Please direct any feedback on this article to editorial@strbusinessmedia.com.

Three Proven Strategies to Develop Public Presentation Confidence

The first of my three strategies is this: if you don’t feel calm, fake it. That’s right. If you cannot be genuinely cool, calm and confident pretend you are. I’m going to show you how to fake it, to act as if you’re calm and confident.

To see how a change in your thinking will affect your bodily reactions and symptoms of fear, think about your impending public presentation. Do you immediately feel that all-too-familiar stab of fear? We sometimes call them butterflies in the tummy. Tuning in to those feelings lets you experience with me how those feelings are only that: feelings. And you can also see clearly that it’s YOUR THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES which have produced the feelings - the butterflies, the dry mouth, the racing pulse, the quivery voice. Your memories of previous fear-filled events, have triggered symptoms of fear.

For our first way to greater confidence, please take these steps:

Deliberately open your mouth just a little bit, and consciously let your tongue go very limp.

Look at yourself in the mirror. It’s physically impossible for you to be tense and anxious while you’re opening your mouth just a little bit, and while you’re keeping your tongue limp and relaxed.

Now that I’ve got you relaxed, a little…talk to yourself in the mirror. It’s alright. There’s only you and me here and I won’t tell anyone. Keeping your tongue very limp and your mouth, chin and jaw areas very loose, say a few words. For instance, try saying “I’m feeling really terrified about that talk next Tuesday.”

Now, please go and get your speaking notes, the ones you’ve prepared for the talk. If you haven’t finished your preparation, postpone this exercise until you have an outline of your talk distilled to speaking notes which will be your special prompts or cues on the big day.

With those brief notes, stand in front of the mirror again. Keep your mouth nice and relaxed. Let’s forget about keeping your tongue too limp, just concentrate on looking at yourself in the mirror knowing that your face from the nose down, is relaxed.

With that very relaxed mouth, start giving your talk. Smile at the little joke you’ll tell your audience next week. Look suitably worried when you give that statistic about the spread of illiteracy or poverty. That’s the first strategy.

Maybe you want to say to me: “But Jeannette, I’ve only been pretending that I was feeling calm and confident about that next presentation. I’ve only been acting as if I was truly calm and confident for the sake of this exercise”. My response?

“Think about this, my sweetness. During the five minutes or so that you were doing that exercise, you WERE calm and relaxed. And you can feel that very same way in front of an audience”.

In my counselling and coaching, and in my e-kit Calming Words, I constantly remind people to be kind to themselves. To take little steps toward your confident self. Next step is to do that calm relaxed rehearsal again with an audience of a few family and friends. Tell them you’re doing an experiment.

If you don’t have time to get a little friendly audience together, remember I’m up there with you at your next presentation. Feel my calming presence next to you.

Just before you start your presentation, do this: open your mouth a little and remember that image of you standing relaxed in front of the mirrror. The mind is a marvellous thing. Just by triggering that memory of that relaxed state, will re-produce that feeling. Finish this sentence: if my memories of fear can produce feelings of fear, my memories of speaking in a confident and relaxed way can produce feelings of being _________and _______.

SECOND STRATEGY: LET’S GET PHYSICAL AND REALLY TENSE Some people respond better to physical ways to feel more relaxed. This is a tactic used by actors before going onstage. Stand at arm’s length away from a wall. Place both your palms flat on the wall at about shoulder height in front of you. Push against the wall with your palms - as if you were trying to push the wall down.

Notice that your abdominal area is totally engaged in that effort. It is those muscles in your solar plexus that are vital to keeping you centred and calm. While engaged in that physical effort your body cannot also produce the noradrenaline which is the precursor to those panicky feelings of fear.

Even in this short article, I do need you to understand that there is a physical relationship between:

The way you breathe,

How you stand and hold your abdominal muscles and

How you speak.

Doing exercises to strengthen your abdominal muscles and to become more aware of them, will be of great assistance to you in controlling nervousness.

Contracting those muscles reduces or stops the production of norepinephrine or noradrenaline - the panic hormone. In fact, one of your body’s major nerve-control centres lies behind what’s called The Vital Triangle, so controlling that area is good also for control of anger and pain.

THIRD STRATEGY - VISUALISE SUCCESS Another strategy to assuage your own nervousness is to make sure that you’re totally familiar with the venue at which you’ll speak. When you’re practising or rehearsing your presentation in front of the mirror, when you’re smiling and basking in the positive feelings from the audience, imagine that you’re there in that auditorium or theatre and on that stage. See the colour of the curtains. Or even their color! Visualise the placement of the chairs for your audience. Put as much detail as you can into your visualisation. Feel it.

That marvellous feeling of actually being there and feeling calm and confident.

My three strategies or public speaking tips were… just the tip of the iceberg. To your continued happiness and success.

Based in Melbourne, Australia Dr Jeannette Kavanagh is a solution-oriented counsellor helping people overcome anxiety and panic attacks, particularly when speaking or performing in public. Sign up for her FREE ezine Public Speaking Success

Your Audience Loves You. If Not, At Least They’re On Your Side

In my coaching I advise people to research their audience - the people to whom they’ll present their information, opinions and ideas.

Why? Because the more you know about the general composition of your audience, the better you can direct your talk to them.

Every audience is unique and deserves a unique approach. I assume and even hope, that you wouldn’t dream of giving exactly the same presentation, in the same way, to a group of sixteen to twenty year old people, as you might to a group of people aged between seventy and a hundred and one.

So yes, in as short a space of time as possible, learn as much as possible about who’ll be listening to you. Their ages, gender breakdown, educational background and so on. Again, if you’re addressing a small group of post grad students you’ll include different levels of detail about your topic than if you’ve been asked to speak to a Junior High School students.

Then, forget the audience.

By that I mean, please don’t try to double guess them. In just about every public speaking seminar I’ve conducted, or public speaking coaching session I’ve done, I have found one very common mistake being made.

People make assumptions about their audiences based on how the audience seems to be responding. In turn, those perceptions are based on things like the facial expressions of the listeners. They’re also based on the speaker’s sense of how the audience should look, and how they should be responding.

Let me reassure you. You’ve done the research about the audience, you’ve spent an adequate amount of time preparing your presentation, you have your notes and you’ve done at least one quick rehearsal of your presentation.

That’s it. You’ll be marvellous. While you’re delivering your talk please don’t start to worry about the fact that your audience is not laughing, or they seem to be frowning. Doing that is only using energy you should be using on your presentation. Based on years of experience let me tell you: chances are the facial expressions of people in your audience have absolutely nothing to do with you.

It’s just an undermining distraction for you to start focussing on audience reactions.

That’s why in my coaching, my seminars and my e-programs, I place such an emphasis on exercises which help you to perceive your audiences as allies or friends rather than a hostile mob waiting for you to forget your next line.

In some instances, you may be the person delivering bad news or you may be the not-so-preferred politician who’s speaking to a group of people who don’t normally vote for your Party. Fine. That’s difficult. I admit it. I deal with that in my article ‘Dealing with Difficult Questions and/or Difficult Audiences’. For most occasions, your audience is made up of individuals just like you. They’re wishing you the very best. They’re hoping you’ll be great. After all, they’ve given up a great day at the beach just to hear you. And it will be worth it. As always, to your continued happiness and success.

Based in Melbourne, Australia Dr Jeannette Kavanagh is a solution-oriented counsellor helping people overcome anxiety and panic attacks, particularly when speaking or performing in public. Sign up for her FREE ezine Public Speaking Success

Two Essential Ingredients of Splendid Presentations

With practice, you’ll feel much more positively about your audience and in turn, more confident about presenting to them. With each public presentation, you’ll begin to know and to accept more that your audience is simply made up of individual human beings much like you. Each person in the audience expects your best and hopes that you deliver your best.

And their expectations are like a silent beam of positive energy beaming from the centre of their being into you.

Genuine rapport is based on empathy. Confident public presentations are made by people who respect their audience and who use their entire repertoire of communication skills to really connect with their audience.

TO ESTABLISH RAPPORT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
1. Vocal tone:
That’s where the dreaded word monotonous comes in. If you detect that Mother Nature made your voice mono-toned, please consider hiring a speech coach.

2. Facial expressions:
Rehearse your facial expressions using a mirror, or better still, a video. Check that your facial expressions are appropriate and varied. Using the mirror or a video, please check that you have minimised or eliminated any nervous facial gestures you make. Some people emphasise the end of each sentence by opening their eyes just a bit wider, or they draw their mouth back in a grimace. You can’t sort out problems like that, if you don’t even know you have them.

3. Hand gestures:
I’m notorious for speaking with my hands, so I’ve had to tame them a bit. Make sure you don’t look too wooden or too distracting.

4. Pacing:
In my e-program Public Speaking Success e-Program, I outline the proper pace for optimum comprehension by your audience. Worldwide, there is an accepted proper pace for optimum comprehension by your audience. In America, when speaking English, a pace of about 155 words per minute is fine. The pace of American English tends to vary from State to State. If you have a strong accent, it’s always good to slow down just a trifle. In Australia where we tend to mumble, the pace per minute shouldn’t be more than 150 words. You can record yourself reading out three minutes of your presentation at your normal pace. If in three minutes you were able to cover more than 480 words, you’re speaking way too quickly. If in three minutes, you only covered 420, the snoring in your audience will let you know that you’re speaking way too sloooooow.

5. Pitch:
Please don’t commit the terrible crime of ending your sentences by going up in pitch - unless you are in fact, asking a question. It’s a trend I’ve noticed among young Australians and there should be a law against it, it’s so irritating. Rule of public speaking, if you really want to emphasise a point, a piece of information, lower your pitch for the last couple of words in your sentence. Above all, make sure you establish plenty of eye contact.

SECONDLY, SPLENDID PRESENTERS GENERATE REAL TWO-WAY DISCUSSIONS.
The next ingredient in absolutely memorable presentations is to be able to generate real interaction with the audience. Of course, if you’re just proposing a quick Toast at work to welcome someone new, or to farewell a colleague, interaction isn’t appropriate. In most presentations, particularly keynote addresses, it is a winner.

To fulfil that part of truly splendid presenting, you’ll need to practise your public speaking skills in order to develop the confidence needed to carry this off.

HOW TO ESTABLISH INTERACTION WITH THE AUDIENCE
One of the best ways to impress your audience is to take them out of their comfort zone by inviting them to be speakers as well as just passive listeners.

If your presentation has an element of true interaction between you and your audience, you will make a lasting impression - on the people with whom you directly communicate, and also with the people listening to the way in which you handle questions.

One thing that I have learned from giving lectures, keynote addresses and everything in between is this: People in audiences are often too intimidated to ask questions.

So, to make my presentations truly interactive, I ask the audience questions which initially just require a show of hands. After a few general questions I then lead gently into a series of questions to which I require verbal answers. Pretty soon, I know that we’ve relaxed our way into a discussion. We (the audience and I ) have come to a point where I can ask: “does anyone here have a question they’d like to ask, or a point of view they’d like to share with us?”

It should come as no surprise to you to know that many people feel shy or intimidated about asking questions in public. Except the audience in those talk shows like Oprah. Generally, it’s almost as difficult to frame a relevant and interesting question in a succinct way as it is to frame the entire presentation. If you do want genuine interaction between you and your audience, begin that part of your presentation by asking them some general, non-threatening questions. And please make your questions thought-provoking, stimulating, and open-ended.

A FINAL NOTE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR PROGRESS TOWARDS GREATNESS
A tangent: in my e-program Calming Words which allows you to overcome more general anxiety and attacks of panic, I advise that you must be kind to yourself. Please don’t expect to be great before you’re even mediocre.

I know that sounds harsh, because so many people these days are constantly telling you that you’re great. At this stage in your acquisition of public presentation skills, I want to tell you the truth. You’re not great. Yet. You will be as great as you can be, but you may never be as great a public presenter as JFK.

There are many, many presenters who are so much better than me. That’s fine. For some, it’s their true vocation, their calling in life. I earn a great living making presentations, so I know that I am a thousand times better now than I was twenty years ago. However, if I went around comparing myself with others, I might never open my mouth again.

UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS ARE A HUGE STUMBLING BLOCK TO SUCCESS. It will take you time to be as great as you can become. Even then, you may not be as compelling, entertaining and informative as I am. Or vice versa. So, along the way to your true potential, judge yourself kindly. If in the early stages, you make a couple of mistakes or you’re just not confident enough to orchestrate the flow between you and the audience…. Fine. You still need to practise your skills, to finetune your approach, to feel comfortable with your style.

How long will it take? It might take twenty talks for some people, two presentations for others and eighty-three for someone else. Again, that’s fine. You’ll get there. When you’re really confident, you’ll increase the extent to which you interact with your audience - but always to an appropriate level. Audiences love it. As always, to your continued happiness and success.

Based in Melbourne, Australia Dr Jeannette Kavanagh is a solution-oriented counsellor helping people overcome anxiety and panic attacks, particularly when speaking or performing in public. Sign up for her FREE ezine Public Speaking Success

Dealing with Difficult Questions and/or Difficult Audiences

In most instances when you’re hired to make a presentation to a group, the group will behave in a civilised manner. Being realistic however, sometimes that won’t be the case. For example, you might have been hired specifically to be the bearer of bad news. Neither pleasant nor easy.

In this short article, I can’t go into too much detail about how to deliver bad news to specific groups of people.

When you’re delivering bad news, your audience may be understandably hostile. My experience is that they’ll still probably behave in a peaceful and civil fashion. It’s just that their questions might be difficult.

FOUR POINTS TO REMEMBER ABOUT QUESTIONS - EASY AND DIFFICULT

1. PLEASE TREAT YOUR AUDIENCE WITH THE RESPECT YOU’D LIKE TO HAVE SHOWN TO YOU.
Answer their questions directly and honestly. Hedging around because you feel uncomfortable just leads to ‘death by a thousand cuts’. That phrase describes what you’re doing if you tell outright lies or delay telling the truth in answer to difficult questions.

2. “I DON’T KNOW” IS A VERY ACCEPTABLE ANSWER TO SOME DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.
You don’t have to know everything! So relax. If you’re asked a question and you feel you should know the answer, please consider saying: “Thank you. That’s a very interesting question. I’ll have to get back to you on that, after I’ve spoken to _________. I’ll get the answer to that back to (the organiser of the event) by Monday. Thanks again for raising that matter.”

I don’t think I have to say here that if you promise to get back on Monday with the information….I won’t say it. You know what you have to do.

3. SET A TIME AND A TIME LIMIT FOR QUESTIONS
In any presentation it’s always a good idea to set a time when the audience can ask questions. Unless it’s an interactive seminar where I’m actively seeking input, I specify that there’ll be time at the end of the talk for questions. It’s also good to set a limit to that question time. If you’re a member of a panel of speakers the Chair will do that for you. If not, just announce first up that you’ll take questions for ___ minutes at the end of your presentation.

4. NEVER END YOUR PRESENTATIONS WITH A Q AND A SESSION
While it’s great to keep the questions until after you’ve spoken, please make sure that you have the last word. Literally. When you’ve answered questions, be sure to end your presentation with a strong assertion of your main message(s).

DEALING WITH A DIFFICULT AUDIENCE
During your presentation, if someone or a group of people, start being disruptive you won’t be the only one who’ll be annoyed or upset. You can use the audience to support you in dealing with difficult members within it.

For instance, you can ask the audience if they want to listen to you or to the people being disruptive. Put that question positively: “this person/group is here today to deliver another point of view. Could I have a show of hands to indicate who wants to listen to them now instead of me?” In 99% of cases, you’ll get audience support to continue.

If however the audience does want to hear the other person/group, you have nothing to lose by acceding to that. You’ll have come across as a gracious and reasonable person interested in your audience.

Besides, you’d have no way to keep their attention under those circumstances, so it is preferable to allow a slight break in your presentation. In twenty years of making hundreds of public addresses, that has never happened to me.

With difficult audiences there are a limited number of things you can do. Apart from actually involving the wider audience in keeping the peace, you can:

* Politely but firmly advise the disruptive person that s/he’ll have a chance to speak and ask questions later.

* Again in a polite but firm manner, remind the person that you’re there to present your point of view. Neither s/he nor you is a member of a debating team.

Your role is to present your ideas and information in a compelling and engaging manner. It is not a good idea to get into arguments with one audience member or a small group.

Always remember that the audience has the responsibility to listen with polite respect. They’re not required to agree with you, but they are required to listen. As always, to your continued success and happiness.

Based in Melbourne, Australia Dr Jeannette Kavanagh is a solution-oriented counsellor helping people overcome anxiety and panic attacks, particularly when speaking or performing in public. Sign up for her FREE ezine Public Speaking Success

Six Tips for Great Public Speaking

Your first tip is that aural (speaking and hearing) communication is very different from visual communication. So it’s vital that your visuals (charts, photos and so on) complement what your audience is hearing. To quote Dorothy Sarnoff, one of my favourite writers on the subject of public presentations:

“Speechmaking confidence comes from knowing that you have something worth saying and that you can say it in a way that’s worth listening to”. (Sarnoff 1981: 42)

A picture is only worth a thousand words, if your visuals illuminate and extend the meaning of your spoken words. I know you’d never confuse your listeners by presenting difficult-to-follow visuals which I’ve had to endure.

Spend your preparation time to distil some complex information into a diagram that’s clear and easy to understand, with lots of white space around it, not a diagram that looks like a circuit for a computer - boxes all over the place, arrows going both ways, and a confusing colour scheme. Make three separate images, rather than try to squeeze an assortment of images onto one diagram.

My approach to public presentations is inspired by something Albert Einstein is alleged to have said:

“If you really understand something, you can make it understandable to a ten year old.”

So, be like Einstein: keep it simple. Your words and your visuals. If your visual aids don’t stand alone, or make sense by themselves, dump them.

If you don’t discard them, please at least have a very good second look at them. If your visual material is going to require lots and lots of verbal explanation, then they’re too complex for a public presentation. Include them in your conference paper, or hand-out materials by all means.

Notice, my sweet reader, that I’m referring to IMAGES your audience is seeing….NOT TEXT they’re reading on your slides. That leads me to an even bigger crime, I wish could carry a jail term of about 210 years.

Using PowerPoint!

GENERAL TIP # 2: PLEASE DON’T USE POWERPOINT
Except if you’re creating visual imagery.

Well, if you absolutely must, I suppose you must. I try to restrain myself about my hatred of PowerPoint, but there are so many reasons not to use it. PowerPoint is a way of dumbing down communication to a few dot points which usually have no meaning outside the PowerPoint presentation. If a text slide needs a speaker to explain what the words mean, then either the speaker or the slide is redundant.

Yes, alright. I’ll concede that PowerPoint can be useful for hand-out notes. Those notes will remind listeners about what they heard. Having them up on a projector while you’re speaking is just a total waste of time, and a distraction.

PowerPoint slides are ugly and clunky and they’ve ruined public presentations. They’re also easy to use so I admit I’m fighting a losing battle.

GENERAL TIP # 3: WHEN IT’S APPROPRIATE, LEAVE HANDOUTS FOR YOUR AUDIENCE.
Your hand-out material might be a list of books/articles they can read for more information, the text of your paper, marketing brochure about your other services. Handouts add to your credibility and allow people to recall the key points in your speech. When your audience goes home with handouts, they can also feel as if you have given them something ‘for free’

GENERAL TIP # 4: READ UP ON EXCELLENT PUBLIC SPEAKING AND PRESENTING.
I mention a couple of books I think are great in my bio. Your local library has many of them, and one cannot have too much information on such a foundational skills as speaking well.

GENERAL TIP # 5: JOIN TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL OR A SIMILAR GROUP.
To become a great public speaker, that’s it. You have to actually find as many opportunities as you can to practise what you’re reading about. That’s why joining Toastmasters or a similar group is great. Those groups offer a safe, supportive but challenging environment in which to do that. Let me repeat: the best way to improve your skills in anything is to practise - just do it.

GENERAL TIP # 6: INVEST IN A COURSE IN PUBLIC PRESENTATION SKILLS.
There are many such courses available, ranging from half-day seminars to courses that are twenty hours in contact time, plus assignments in between. If you’re a total beginner, I doubt that you’ll acquire much useful information and skills in half a day. However even that’s better than no exposure to public speaking protocols at all.

Based in Melbourne, Australia Dr Jeannette Kavanagh is a solution-oriented counsellor helping people overcome anxiety and panic attacks, particularly when speaking or performing in public. Sign up for her FREE ezine Public Speaking Success

Vinyl Binders Come In Many Colors To Suit Your Every Need

Vinyl binders have changed markedly over the last several years. Previously limited to just a few colors and ring sizes, they have become a staple of not only business but also academic and home lives. As vinyl binders evolve to meet our changing needs, we find more unique uses for them, ensuring that the vinyl binder will not reach extinction in the foreseeable future.

From the multitude of uses for the vinyl binder come the newer features of the vinyl binder, including personalization of the cover, label holders on the spine, and business card holders in the binder. These features help to ensure that we cannot only keep our treasured materials in the binder, but that we can surpass our own expectations for organization with their use.

In years past, when you wanted to personalize the cover of your vinyl binder, you had to use either masking tape, or a label system to place a small label on the cover, which by the way would fall off when the adhesive wore off. Now, thanks to the magic of new technology, you can not only order your binders with name personalization, but even provide custom artwork as well, such as a logo or emblem relevant to your usage. One of the most exciting uses for personalization is for a company logo or a school logo, so that you can show your business loyalty or school spirit through your vinyl binder.

Once upon a time, we were forced to use an outdated labeling system for the spine of our binders, and with thin vinyl binders, we even had to abbreviate the titles, or make the titles horizontal instead of vertical. Notwithstanding this creativity, we now have a foolproof way to find what is in our binder when they are sitting on a shelf, and that is the label holder on the outside of the binder. Though the spine is also a space that could be used for personalization, a label holder ensures that you will be able to change the contents and the title as many times as necessary.

For those more concerned about the aesthetic quality of the vinyl binder, not only can you now match or color coordinate your binders, but you can also choose the label color and font type to use on the label, ensuring that our love for the organized life will reach a new level of mania. Move over lifestyle divas, the use of vinyl binders to hold everything from recipe cards to annual reports is not new, but being able to color coordinate and match them by size rivals even the likes of the most obsessive compulsive diva.

The business savvy user of the vinyl binder knows full well that a binder is only as good as its marketing potential, and what better way to market yourself than making sure your business card goes wherever you go, or better yet, has to be viewed when someone looks at the binder. Hence, possibly the best feature for a business person is the business card holder. Not only can you use them for meetings and pass out your cards, but if you’re giving a report to someone, you can conveniently tuck your business card into the pocket, and the reader just has to see it!

These three uses help to propagate our organization drive, but also helps to keep our vinyl binder world colorful as well.

This article published by the editorial staff of National Tollfree Directory. For more information about Plastic Comb Binding, Vinyl Binders and CD Binders, visit Advance Loose Leaf Systems at http://www.sellbinders.com. Please direct any feedback on this article to editorial@strbusinessmedia.com.

Honesty Sells! Who Knew?

A lie often feels better than the truth. That is particularly true when you run your own small-business and things aren’t going right. It’s just so much easier to make something up than to admit that you made a mistake.

Big corporations have big names to hide behind. When they lie to the world about their great service and wonderful products, people will still buy from them because they know the brand. It’s almost as if we think to ourselves, “they are too big to let me down”.

Oftentimes, big companies will project the image of being able to handle a lot more than they really can. They don’t really care what you think of them because, most times, you can’t live without them. So you buy their products.

Small businesses have no such luxury. People aren’t going to buy from us because of our size. They buy from us because we offer something unique. Sometimes that’s price, sometimes that’s service, sometimes it’s just knowing that you can speak to somebody in charge when something goes wrong.

Your clients want to know that they can rely on you. It’s the same reason that they buy from big brands. The difference is that you need to give them different reasons to feel that same trust.

Start being honest with your clients. Tell them the full story every time. Let them know what went wrong and then let them know exactly how you’re going to fix it. Don’t get too technical because they won’t understand but be honest with them.

Being honest will leave you with clients that are loyal to you, understanding of your problems and happy to refer you to their family and friends.

Why? Because they trust you!

Large companies will never have that trust. Sure, particular staff members will have those sort of relationships with clients but the business, as a whole, will never be known for it — like yours will!

Being straightforward and honest with your clients will help you build stronger relationships with them. Any salesperson will tell you that a good relationship sounds like money in the (piggy) bank!

Corporate-types often find themselves spending massive amounts of money buying ridiculous corporate gifts, going on silly golf days and buying expensive dinners all in the hope that their clients will like them more.

You don’t have to! Just be honest and genuine and your clients will be eating right out of your hands.

Take the initiative and be proactive in letting your clients know what’s going on.

For example, if you’re experiencing a major boom in business and having difficulty coping with the load — send out an e-mail to each and every client letting them know what’s going on and what you’re doing to fix the problem.

Imagine for a moment that you’ve just commissioned a company to design your web site. They’ve promised to have it up for you by the end of the week and now it’s Saturday.

Which would you prefer?…

To have an honest e-mail or telephone call from the CEO to let you know that one of his employees is sick and he’s finding someone to take over the project, or to be ignored all weekend and only hear from them again when your site is ready?

Most small businesses end up doing the latter. Remember that your clients are just like you and they need to know what’s going on!

I’ve found that this approach has resulted in my company having more happy clients and less unreasonable ones. It’s true — some clients will leave you, but those are the clients that were draining your company’s resources anyway!

The rules are different for small businesses. Start playing by them and you’ll quickly see better results.

Norio De Sousa offers free marketing tips at Marketing-Course.co.za.

The Many Uses of Loose Leaf Binders

Loose leaf binders are wonderful for holding all of your paperwork together in one place. They are great for students as well as businesses. Some people even use them as organizational tools to house their household paperwork. You can purchase them in all sizes, so getting the size that you need for a specific purpose is never a problem.

Loose leaf binders also come in a variety of colors. You can color code your paperwork easily, and make it even easier to get your hands on what you are looking for. If you have important papers for your business, as well as your home, you can use one color for home, and another for business. A student could use a different color for each class that required a binder as well.

Vinyl binders are excellent for keeping your paperwork safe and protected. Many of them are sturdy enough to hold up to the roughest treatment. This means that you will not be replacing them every time you turn around. Binders that are made from vinyl are wonderful for students, also. They are easy to personalize, as well as reference what is in the binder from the outside. This makes it easier to find the paperwork that you are looking for when separating home documents from business documents.

Any businessman knows how important a nice professional sales presentation folder is. When you are meeting an important client to discuss business, the sales presentation folder shows just how organized you are. This can leave a lasting impression on the prospective client.

Teachers find that loose leaf binders as well as vinyl binders are great for holding lesson plans, and homework that needs checking. They can also house essays and reports that are in need of grading, keeping them safe and organized until they are able to get to them. Using a binder to separate student records and alphabetizing them according to last name is also a great idea.

Business owners that have many clients find that vinyl binders are excellent for separating projects as well as clients. They are easy to store, and everything that you have in them can be easily accessed. The binders will also hold your sales presentation folders and can help you keep those organized as well.

Loose leaf binders as well as vinyl binders have many uses. They are great for organizing all of your paperwork as well as storing it for easy access at a later time. You will find that the many colors that they are available in make it even easier for you to separate things, and find the documents that you need in only a few seconds. Sales presentation folders make you look like the professional that you are, and help to keep your presentations wrinkle free.

With the pockets that can be inserted in the inside of the folders, you are able to organize your presentation in the most efficient order. This adds to your organizational demeanor.

For more information about Loose Leaf Binders, and Vinyl Binders, visit Advance Loose Leaf Systems at http://www.sellbinders.com.

Digital Signage: Getting Your Content Right Builds Credibility

I recently received an email from a friend that made me think about how important accuracy is when communicating on a digital sign and how difficult it can be to attain.

The email said in part:

“I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.”

I don’t know whether or not Cambridge University research actually found that as long as the first and last letters of a word are in the right place, the rest of the letters can be scrambled and the brain will figure it all out. What I do know is this phenomenon can make it extremely difficult to ensure you correctly spell words that appear on your digital sign.

Just ask copyeditors or proofreaders about the typos and misspellings they find every day in submitted manuscripts. They’re common -even when the most talented authors submit works. Now think about the fleeting nature of the messaging on a digital sign, the fact that it’s generated on a computer screen and not the printed page, and the hurry-up nature of creating such content and it’s easy to see that consistently producing accurate messaging can be difficult.

Certainly those who are creating digital signage messaging can rely on technology to help. Where would we be without the spell check function? However, anyone whoever spends much time wordsmithing knows spell checks are only so good. They often confuse words, are befuddled by homophones -what is the difference between “compliment” and “complement” or “I’ll,” “aisle” and “isle” anyway?- and don’t offer any help with many names, places or technical words and jargon.

True enough, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblins of little minds….” But he wasn’t talking about consistency in spelling, grammar and usage.

I’ll be the first to say I’ve made my share of mistakes over the years: using “wreckless” instead of “reckless,” “irregardless” in place of “regardless,” or just flat out overlooking jumbled spellings for the same reason that my friend’s email was readable. But that’s no reason to excuse such gaffes. When errors occur, I try to learn from them, avoid them in the future and move on. But moving on shouldn’t be mistaken for disregard for accuracy.

Accuracy in business communications is vital. What would be the consequences of a title company inaccurately referencing a plot of land or a bank inaccurately recording a Social Security Number?

It’s easy to see digital signage as an extension of television. After all, it uses the same sort of display, graphics and video as a television. But really, digital signage is just another business communications medium -one that makes a statement about the company in general and by extension the care with which management runs its organization.

Who could fault visitors to a corporation for wondering about that organization if the digital sign in the lobby welcoming them misspells their names? What would go through a driver’s head if the digital sign in a car dealer’s repair department said “We or committed to quality?”

After all, when it comes to business communication in general and digital signs in particular: “cnsincetsy in ugsae and aacrccuy in gmmraar are not the hglibobons of ltltie mdnis.”

David Little is a digital signage authority with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to expand their marketing messages with alternative media. Visit http://www.keywesttechnology.com and find how you can expand your marketing horizons. For further insight, download my free white paper Why Digital Signage Works.

YOU as a Public Speaker!

Preparing for a presentation with the use of visual aids can often overlook the obvious visual, You. That’s right! The speaker. Other forms of visual aids are just that, aids to help interpret your presentation. It is important that you are the main visual. Image is everything!

Focusing on the following areas will prepare you to be the main attraction.

Mental and Physical Preparation

Physical and mental preparation goes hand-in-hand. When you are nervous, your mind is usually racing, causing your words to jumble as they try to keep up with your thoughts. Physically slowing down your mind by relaxing your body helps eliminate this problem. Gather your thoughts through deep breathing and stretching to calm your nervousness. Mental imagery is a tool for a speaker to minimize or eliminate any negative thoughts or fears about speaking. Visualize that you are a dynamic and confident speaker who has valuable information to give.

Proper Attire

What is the first thing your audience will notice about you? Most likely it will be what you are wearing. Pay close attention to how your dress is representing you. Check with the event organizers to be sure that you won’t under or over dress. Do not wear anything that takes away from your presentation such as big jewelry, loud colors, or excessive makeup unless it is part of your presentation.

Body Language

1. Eye communication

The best way to use eye contact is to make eye contact! Do not overlook your audience when you are nervous. Find friendly faces and connect with the audience. This builds confidence in you as the audience senses your sincerity. You can use eye contact to seek feedback from your audience. Are they attentive and interested?

Too little eye contact is interpreted as being impolite and disinterested. Too much makes someone feel uncomfortable and victimized. Try to focus on connecting with your audience and eye contact will become comfortable.

2. Gestures

Gestures should be natural and represent what you are feeling and thinking at that moment. If you are excited, and grand gestures are natural for you, go for it! Your audience appreciates sincerity verses a rehearsed robotic gesture. Although different countries and cultures define gestures differently, there are general gestures which convey a certain message to the audience.

Negative or closed gestures:

- Hands on the hips can be perceived as judgmental and authoritative.

- Hands in pockets show that you are nervous or complacent.

- Hands clasped behind you (reverse fig leaf or regal position) infer that you are hiding something, may cause distrust. This may also show nervousness.

- Hands clasped in front (fig leaf) convey tension.

- Crossed-arms may portray you as defensive and unopened.

Positive or open gestures:

- “At ease stance” (feet about shoulder width apart with toes pointed forward).

- Gestures should be appropriate and flowing, not quickly and jerky.

- Vary your gestures so that you do not bore the audience.

- Palms open show that you are non-threatening.

- Appear natural by matching your words, thoughts, and feelings to your gesture.

3. Posture and Movement

- Proximity and orientation.

- The social norm in North America is about one-and-one-half feet to four feet between two people. Standing too close to someone can cause them to feel uncomfortable and infringed on. Standing too far can cause them to feel disconnected and disinterested.

- Stances/movement - a neutral stance is usually best. Feet slightly shoulder width apart and toes forward. Movement is dependent on your situation. Pacing is distracting however, showing a visual by moving back and forth may be warranted.

- Head nodding can be perceived positively showing your audience that you are interested in them. It can also be perceived negatively if you are shaking your head in a disapproving or demeaning manner.

4. Facial expressions

Be extremely aware of your facial expressions. Do your facial expressions convey a different meaning than what you are thinking or feeling? Or, are they conveying exactly what you are thinking or feeling (i.e. tiredness, boredom)? Always remember to smile at the audience. A good time to do this is when people are first coming into your session. Greet them with a smile. This helps relax you and helps the audience warm up to you before your formal presentation. It is easier to give a presentation in front of a relaxed and inviting crowd rather than a cold and judgmental one.

Remember, you may have the most dynamic presentation slide show with the latest technology, however, all that hard work will be discarded if you do not prepare yourself and the main visual. Make your next presentation a high-impact one with a lasting impression of YOU.

Dr. John E. Neyman, Jr. has been speaking everyweek for the last 21 years. He is writing a book called Designing Speeches. mailto:John@LeadersExcel.com http://LeadersExcel.com

Are Your Headlines Missing These Precise Psychological Triggers?

Are you avoiding learning about headlines because you’re not a copywriter? Better not, because no matter whether you make a PowerPoint Presentation, sales call, or write an email, you’re going to need this information. The last thing you need is a headline that will go glug glug and take your marketing strategy down with it.

Ok, now that I’ve got your attention, belt up as we roller coaster our way into the science of how to recognise the power behind the headline. Find out for yourself the precise psychological reasons why headlines entice us so.

How We’re Going to Play the Headline Game
Let me play tour guide. First, I’ll give you three sets of headlines that really work. I’ll identify the trigger in the headline. Then I’ll tell you the psychological reasons WHY they work. Right after that you take over and implement these headlines in your marketing strategy. Comprende? Si? Let’s go.

Psychological Trigger No. 1
Question-Based vs. Statement-Based Headlines
Do you make these mistakes in English?
Do you know where you fail in your marketing strategy?
Is Internet marketing driving you crazy?

Ladies and Gentlemen…Presenting the question-based headline! A headline that beats the living daylights out of a straightforward statement-based headline. When tested, a question like Do you know where you fail in your marketing strategy? gets far more attention than This is where you’re failing in your marketing strategy. Which one would get your attention more: Don’t struggle to pay your bills or Are you struggling to pay your bills?

So why does the brain go wakawaka when faced with a question - based headline? The reason is simple. Questions irritate the brain causing your grey cells to do a neurological dance. The very sight of a question mark forces your brain to want to know more.

Do you have a statement in your headline? You do, huh. Well swap it around for a question and then move to psychological trigger No. 2.

Psychological Trigger No. 2
Problem-Based vs. Solution-Based Headlines
Struggling to get ahead in your small business?
Is your computer’s lack of speed driving you crazy?
Is your marketing strategy missing a vital link?

Now that you know the power of questions, these are double whammy headlines! They not only get your brain whizzing like a wind-up toy, but they also bring to the fore a pain in your brain. If your brain is doing mental aerobics right now, it’s because these headlines are causing you some real grief and you are the precise target audience.

You identify with these problems and are keen to solve them. The brain is fixated with solving problems. It’s a basic survival instinct kicking in. For thousands of years, the brain has been moonlighting.

While its primary function is to make sure the rest of your body parts do what they’re supposed to, its side job is to keep you alive. Therefore it actively goes in search of potential problems you may have, and when it sees one in the headline, it says, “That’s for me!” and goes straight for the problem-based headline.

Yet look at most of the advertising around you. It’s all solution based. You see it, then you don’t. Recycle your solution-based headline into a nice problem-based power pack.

Done it? Ok, let’s go screaming in to psychological trigger No. 3.

Psychological Trigger No. 3
Curious vs. Non-Curious Headlines
Notice the headline for this article? It has the word these in it. These implies there are certain psychological triggers. Now how the heck will you know which ones they are if you don’t start reading this article? Sure you might be the living guru of marketing headlines, but even you can’t be one hundred percent sure.

You’ll take a peek, you think. A small peek. And you do, except it’s a very slippery slide once you get on, my friend.

A skillful communicator knows that he or she must get the curiosity factor to move bag and baggage into your headline. It’s the key to literally sucking in an audience. Then it’s really up to the quality of the content, flow and your ability to keep your audience mesmerised.

Headlines with curiosity work because the brain is intensely curious. Tell a person not to look behind the door, and they want to look. Tell them they cannot have something and they want to know why. Analysis is all part of Mr. Brain’s job.

Every question needs to be answered, otherwise it pounds in your head like a jackhammer with questions that incessantly go Why? Why? Why? (Read the Power of Why) When you create a curiosity factor, you are literally switching on every single light in your customer’s brain.

Headlines with a HOW TO in them are typical curiosity-based headlines. They imply a problem that you might have and need to solve. And to prove my point, look at the next line and see how your eye goes wham, right into it!

How to Construct Headlines Without Making a Complete
Mess of Things
Let me show you how I’d go about it. For instance, I wrote a lot of potential headlines for this article. These were the final four:

1) Psychological Reasons Why These Headlines Work Like Magic
2) Which Precise Psychological Reasons Cause These Headlines To Work Like Magic?
3) Is Your Marketing Strategy Missing These Precise Psychological Triggers?
4) Are Your Headlines Missing These Precise Psychological Triggers?

Let’s Get These Guys on a Couch, Shall We?
1) Psychological Reasons Why These Headlines Work Like Magic
This headline had only one of the features above. It had a curiosity factor. However, it lacked a question and it certainly scored a big zero on the problem factor. Needless to say, it soon backspaced itself into oblivion.

2) Which Precise Psychological Reasons Cause These Headlines To Work Like Magic?
Ooh, this one was pretty powerful. It had the question. It was packed with curiosity, but it kind of fell flat faced on the problem audit. Goodbye, Monsieur Headline.

3) Is Your Marketing Strategy Missing These Precise Psychological Factors?
This one scored on all points. Curiosity, problems and question sat merrily together, expecting me to be as pleased as punch. I was, till I noticed one little discrepancy. It was appealing to the wrong target audience.

This headline would attract people who were interested in marketing strategy not headlines. They would come in, find themselves in the wrong room, drink a glass of wine and sneak out. I needed people to stay for the party. I needed people who were interested in headlines. People like you. Inevitably, I had to refine it just a little bit. And here’s what I came up with.

4) Are Your Headlines Missing These Precise Psychological Triggers?
I personally believe this one was the most powerful of the lot. If it were a guy, I’d let him marry my daughter (if I had one) and give him my blessings. This headline not only encapsulated all the triggers above, but it was precisely positioned. It went for a niche audience and got their full attention.

What’s Abraham Lincoln Got To Do With Headlines?
Abe apparently said, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Your headline is what you need to spend most of your time sharpening.

You see, people are always in their own world, thinking about their own problems. If you don’t snap them out of their reverie, you don’t have the slightest chance of getting them to buy in to whatever it is you’re selling.

There’s Also Another Dimension to this Sharpening Gig
You can’t be totally satisfied with the headline merely if it fits these three parameters. That is the science, not the art. The art is getting inside the brain of your customers. You’ll find that a slightly different headline will bring in as much as twenty to two thousand times better returns without any change in content.

The only way you can know which one works better is to test headlines. Testing isn’t as hard as you think. Put it in an email and send it to a dozen friends and colleagues. You’ll soon get a pattern and probably some valuable feedback. Take it. It will help you carve a headline that will really get your customer’s attention.

Do You Need All Three Psychological Triggers Working at Once?
No you don’t. A headline can work perfectly well with one or two of the above psychological triggers.

In life, three may be a crowd, but in headlines, it’s the more the merrier. Use the power of headlines in your marketing strategy, your PowerPoint presentations, sales calls, emails, newsletters, and even articles like these.

Better headlines mean better bottom lines. Simple logic, eh?

Have you seen a customer back away at the very last minute? Psychotactics help you overcome that frustration by looking inside the brain of your customer. Go to http://www.psychotactics.com today and find out for yourself.

Presentation Skills Training and Coaching Tips

Good presentation skills are within everyone’s reach. For many people, if not most, presenting can be a daunting and unpleasant experience. It needn’t be so, and here we’ll give you some simple tips to help you hone more effective presentation skills development.

Presentations are an effective way to communicate to large numbers of people at the same time. However, it is not just about communicating information, but more importantly, to have advanced presentation skills you should be able to create interest and excitement in your subject and trust and enthusiasm in you.

Let’s have a look at some of the essentials

Preparation

Practise

Practise on a colleague or friend. Think about who your audience is and what you want them to get out of an effective presentation. Think about content and style. If you video yourself get someone else to evaluate your performance; you will find it very difficult to be objective about yourself. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

Reconnoitre

Go into the presentation room before the event; practise any moves you may have to make, e.g. getting up from your chair to the podium. Errors in the first 20 seconds can be very disorientating.

Avoid ‘Blue peter syndrome’

Try not to over prepare. Don’t rehearse the whole thing right through too often. Your time is better spent going over your opening beginning and your finish. Pick a few choice bits to learn by heart.

Technical support

Test the equipment before the presentation; get familiar with it before you start. PowerPoint and OHPs often seem as though they’re out to get you, so make sure you’re in charge not them.

Visual aids

Use visuals to give a big picture quickly, graphics, pictures, cartoons bar charts etc; you can then use words to elaborate. Slides with words on are of limited value. If you seem to have a lot you may find you are showing your audience your speaker notes!

Presentation style

Be yourself

Use any personal gestures or vocal inflections to your advantage. It’s very hard to change the way you express yourself. More effective presentations are ones where you actual put the energy into the presentation (this is a message you will hear again). Similarly, do not try to be anyone else or copy another presenter’s style.

Wave

Be more expressive rather than less. These days ‘good communicators’ are more and more frequently seen on TV and held up as models. You giving a presentation is not TV. This is you communicating live. Gestures help understanding and convey your enthusiasm for the topic.

Dealing with presentation nervousness

Be nervous

A certain amount of nervousness is vital for a good presentation. You need the extra energy to communicate: What you feel when you stand up in front of people is the urge to either run away or fight. If you endeavour to stifle those feelings you will be inhibited, restricted, artificial and wooden. The added adrenaline will keep your faculties sharp and ready to engage with your audience.

Breathe

Extra adrenaline, however, can result in shallow upper chest breathing and tension. Taking a slow, deep breath, breathing fully out and then in again, will relax you. Strangely having something to pick up and put down tends to release your breathing.

Get something else to do

It may seem an odd idea, but our bodies seem to feel better when they have some sort of displacement activity to occupy them. It’s the reason people hold pens and fiddle with things. A limited amount of this sort of activity will not be too obtrusive and can make you feel a lot more secure.

Hold on to something

When you start you are at your most insecure. Avoid all the well-meant advice about what you are and are not allowed to do. Until you feel settled do anything you can find to make yourself feel secure. This includes holding on to a lectern. Even just standing next to something solid will make you feel less wobbly.

Go slow

The breathing tip above will help you to slow down your presentation. Go more slowly than you think necessary to avoid gabbling. Your audience need the time to assimilate and interpret what you are saying. It’s a fact that when adrenaline is flowing your sense of time is distorted and what seems OK to you may look like fast forward to your audience.

Working your audience

Converse

Have a conversation with your audience. They may not actually say anything, but make them feel consulted, questioned, challenged, argued with; then they will stay awake and attentive. Your job as a presenter is to stimulate and communicate with your audience into wanting to get the information you have, not just to present that information at them.

Interact

Engage with your present audience, not the one you have prepared for. Look for reactions to your ideas and respond to their signals. If the light bulbs are not going on find another way to say it. Monitor their reactions; it’s the only way you’ll know how you’re doing and what you should do next. If you don’t interact you might as well send a video recording of your presentation. It’s why you came.

Show conviction

Give an expressive presentation and an enthusiastic presentation and your audience will respond, which is what you want. At the very bottom line disagreement is preferable to being ignored. Use your excitement, pace yourself to give an exciting presentation, use something you know you feel strongly about to build up to an important point or as a springboard to another idea.

Get some perspective

The odds are that someone in the audience will not like you or may disagree with you. There will probably be someone else out there for whom you can do no wrong. As a rule of thumb, the majority of most audiences want to like you and what you have to say - they want you to be good. They didn’t come hoping to be bored or irritated by your presentation.

Structuring effective presentations

Use metaphors

Metaphors and analogies are vital to communication. ‘It’s like climbing a greasy pole’, for example, conveys far more than just literal meaning. It conveys image and feeling and enables others to empathise through similar experiences of their own. And remember the light bulbs - if they’re not lighting up try a different metaphor.

Examples

Giving an example always helps your listeners to see more clearly what you mean. It’s quicker and more colourful.

The point

Stick to the point using three or four basic ideas. For any detail that you cannot communicate in 20 minutes, try another medium such as handouts or brochures.

Finale

End as if you have done well. Do this even if you feel like you’ve done badly. First, you’re probably the worst judge of how you’ve done, and second, if you finish well you’ll certainly fool some of the people into thinking it was all pretty good. And anyway a good finish will get you some applause - and you deserve it!

Developing as a presenter

Trust yourself

If you do not think you are up to a particular presentation either get help (do training courses and rehearsals), or get someone else to do it (there’s no shame in recognising your limits). However, most people have better presentation skills that they think they do. Recognise what you have. If you doubt your ability to think on your feet, for example, then defer questions till after the presentation. Similarly, do not use a joke as an ice breaker if you are not good at telling them.

Success is the best presentation training

Don’t over reach yourself. Several short presentations that you feel went well will do you far more good than one big one that makes you sick with nerves and leaves you feeling inadequate.

Feedback

Encourage those around you to tell you the things you did well. Very few of us make progress by being told what was wrong with our presentation. When we’re up in front of an audience we all have very fragile egos.

Follow these essential tips and your presentation skills development will blossom.

Jo Ellen and Robin run Impact Factory a training company who provide Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, Communications Training, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching for Individuals.

Money Talks: How to Build Your Visibility Through Public Speaking

“I started off speaking because I had always heard that it was a good way to build your reputation. In the beginning I would speak to anyone who would invite me. In a way that was good, because it gave me the chance to hone my speaking skills, which weren’t that great in the beginning. Toastmasters and a personal coach help me gain the confidence I needed.

After a while I started to develop a reputation as someone who could deliver an interesting talk and the offers started to multiply. This was somewhat of a mixed blessing. While I enjoyed the audience attention, I began to realize that there were precious few people in the audience who could potentially become clients.

Eventually I realized that I started to focus on trade associations that served my targeted group of clients. These groups were a much more productive use of my time. Speaking to these audiences both enhanced my reputation as an expert in my field and also led directly to some new accounts.” Michael Schonefield, Electronics Distribution.

A key component for building your reputation for expertise is public speaking.It’s important not only for building your success in rainmaking, but also for gaining visibility with the senior management in your company. One of the most effective ways to build your organizational visibility is through making presentations, so you’ve got to learn the basics.

Where can you go to learn? Lots of places. Your company may have an internal presentation skills program that they offer. If they do make sure you sign up to take the class. There are also a lot of outside resources available. Perhaps the best known is Toastmasters, and it is excellent. You learn how to structure a speech and present it before an extremely supportive group of audience members. Aside from toastmasters, there are a number of training companies, mine included, that offer this type of training.

When you’re starting your speaking career, it doesn’t make a great amount of difference who’s in the audience. The general rule is to speak to any group that will have you. In the beginning you just want to get experience. Public speaking is like many other things in life, it’s frightening the first few time you do it, but after a little bit of experience you wonder what the big concern was.

As you develop your reputation for being able to give an interesting speech, you’ll find that it’s pretty easy to get speaking opportunities. At this stage in your speaking career you’ll want to be selective about where you spend your time. I recently spoke to a local civic group and think I lowered the average age in the room down to about 70. It’s not that they weren’t a wonderful group of people, but they were all retired. Unfortunately, I can’t market my services to the retirement set, although a few of them did promise to pass my information along to their grandkids. Maybe I’m being short sighted, but I still don’t think it was the best use of my time.

Although there are no hard and fast rules to this, after you’ve gotten comfortable with your speaking skills, you’ll want to make sure that you ask whoever is requesting your speaking services the following questions.
1-How many people will be there?
2-What’s their background?
3-What’s their motivation for attending?

I find that the answers to these questions are extremely helpful in determining how beneficial the speaking assignment is likely to be.

Mark Satterfield is the author of How To Overcome Marketing Inertia and Get More New Clients in as Little as 7 Weeks. Find out more by clicking here http://www.gentlerainmarketing.com/report_6weeks.html

Seminars - The Real Deal

Seminars provide the opportunity to learn from the best. Those who put on a seminar are there for a reason, they are very good at what they do. They offer their expertise willingly to anyone wishing to listen to it, for a price of course.

Let’s look at four solid reasons why seminars pack the most punch for your learning dollar.

1. You will learn more in a day than you will in a month. Seminars are designed to give you the maximum amount of information into a predetermined period of time. Seminars can range from a couple of hours to a full week retreat.

2. As mentioned before, you get to learn from the best. You get to sit in the same room with an expert and listen to them share their wisdom and knowledge. It’s a shame that many people cannot see the opportunity in this. An expert knows what information to provide to achieve maximum results in the least amount of time.

3. You are right there in the room with no outside distractions. No phones, no television, no kids yelling. We learn best from direct experiences. What better way is there to absorb information quickly than being a part of the action? Why do people go to the movies? Maybe it’s because they want to watch the movie in a room without any outside distractions. A movie theater provides them the environment to focus and absorb what is being presented to them.

4. Seminars provide tools of the trade. It may be a workbook or a physical product like a software CD. It may be included in the cost of the seminar or it may be offered for sale after the conclusion. Many people underestimate the value of these tools. These products were designed to help you continue and re-enforce what you have learned from the seminar. Why spend the money to attend if you are not planning to put the information learned to good use? If the seminar provided value to you it should be a sure bet that the book, workbook, audio or video series should also have value.

Take the time to attend at least one seminar this year. Whether you are looking to improve your life, make more money, plan for your retirement or even learning how to tie fishing flies. Someone is out there willing to help you achieve your goals with the tools in hand to get you there as quickly as possible.

Mr James started MyBusinessTipsOnline to provide business advice, etc and write articles about his industry-full article here

Convey A Better Image with Engraved Business Cards

Engraved business cards appear luxurious and elegant. If you want to convey a sense of your company being head and shoulders above the competition, look into buying some engraved business cards. These cards will surely show your prospective clients that you care about everything-even the smallest details. Compared to your standard glossy card, these engraved business cards will do a great job in setting your business apart from the others. Not many businesses will go the extra expese, so when you do, you know the image you will be projecting will be tops. In today’s “cut throat” businesws world, every extra edge you can gain will be that much more to the bottom line.

There are advantages and disadvantages to engraved business cards. One advantage of engraved business cards is the look and the feel. These cards, simply put, look and feel like ones that would come from a profitable firm. The paper is very high stock, and the engraved look really stands out in a group of other cards. You have the option of choosing which parts of the card you want engraved, and which parts you want to leave alone. Often companies will only engrave the company name in order to make it stand out. Though it is not common, some companies do engrave the entire card.

The main disadvantage is the price of these engraved cards. Due to the fact that it takes a special process to produce engraved business cards, the price will be driven up quite a bit. You need to decide how important conveying a good business image is. Especially if you are a small firm, this could be the “make or break” part of a business deal.

Though it is not necessary to buy engraved business cards, it may be worth your time and money to try some out. Buy a few to start and see what kind of response you get. You may be surprised to find out that these cards will garner a higher response rate at whatever yo are promoting. Engraved business cards definitely stand out in a sea of cards. Contact your regular printer for a price quote; if they do not offer this service, there are plenty of companies who will be able to accommodate your needs. It never hurts to try out a new technique that could improve business. Everyone, large and small businesses could use that extra advantage. I’m not sure if they do engraved cards, but one of the best online business card printers is Vistaprints.

Keith Londrie II is a well known author. For more information on Business cards, please visit Business Card Information for a wealth of information.

How To Master Public Speaking (Part One)

In this article, the first in a series of related articles on public speaking, we are going to discuss the nuts and bolts of speech, in order to better understand how to hone and harness them in our efforts and attempts at becoming masters of public speaking.

The fact is that, paying close attention to all vocal elements: Enabling Breathing, Harnessing your vocal physical utilities, Vocal routines and care, are essential factors at play in the mastering of the fundamentals of public speaking. Even if you feel confident in your own ability, prowess and competence, there is always room for improvement so getting back to basics is always a good first step. If you strengthen your fundamental skills, you will have that much stronger base to work from, laying a secure and strong foundation for the more advanced aspects of public speaking.

If you pay close attention to relaxing, posture and a variety of breathing techniques and exercises, you will benefit tremendously from the conditioning and before you know it, it will become second nature almost overnight.

Posture is everything and as you prepare for your daily regimen and routines, vocal exercises, prepare yourself by taking the following steps:

1. Standing relaxed, easily and naturally
2. With good body posture and standing tall and upright
3. Your chest area will be engaged in breathing and your shoulders lowered (not anxiously raised!)
4. Hold your chin relaxed and level
5. Stand with one foot slightly forward (left of right that is up to you, whichever you feel most comfortable) to stabilize and balance yourself.
6. Place your heels at a 45-degree angle and keep your knees straight Place the full weight of your body on your toes
7. Place your arms at your side
8. Breathe in and out deeply, gradually and naturally.
9.
Try and practise this as a set-up routine as regularly as possible. In doing this, not only will it help you with the discipline and establishing good public speaking habits, it will breed familiarity and comfort in these routines and they will soon become as natural to you as

How To Prepare For Public Speaking With Brainstorming

You may not have much time left to prepare for your public speaking. So what are the things you will for your public speech? Here are some pointers that you can use:

1. Brainstorming
2. Short-term goals
3. Long-term goals
4. Evaluation
5. Reflection

Start with brainstorming. If you are in the process of writing your speech you will need to brainstorm the topic. For the next 10 minutes I want you to write as fast as you can, what you want for this speech. Once you are finished you will read aloud the notes you wrote down. As you write however, do not concern yourself with precision rather write down every thought that comes from your mind on the speech topic.

Now that you have written down every thing in your head, continue by evaluating your list of thoughts. As you speak aloud you may notice missing components that could enhance your speech. If you note these elements, accordingly write them down. Next, you will look for commonalities in the subject, i.e. look at the information and bring it together so that you compose working sentences that targets your long-term goal. The long-term goal is finishing the speech, while the short-term goal is putting the speech together.

Now we can look closer at the long-term goal. What is your goal? Obviously it is to become a public speaking star. Therefore, what do you need to reach this goal? How much effort are you willing to put into achieving this goal? How hard can you work to accomplish this goal?

Now you come to the point where you can reflect on your written thoughts, while considering the criteria of the goal. What parts of the thoughts did you write down that reflects on your long-term goal? What did you consider to bring this speech together?

Here comes the time that you must put those reflections in perspective. Underline, or mark the key words on your brainstorming paper. Noting these important keywords can help you to pull the speech together. Are these keywords the point? What other parts of the thoughts could you use to make the key points come together? Remember, the point of your speech is driving a point home, while pulling a speech together so that it flows chronologically and logically. As you finish the speech you want to make sure accuracy is available, as well as make sure the speech lacks grammar and spelling issues.

Now what? Well, if you haven not come up with ideals that will put your speech together you will need to follow these steps again until you come up with a working speech. If you are confused in some areas, be sure to research to find information that will back your topic. For example, if you write in the speech that brainstorming, evaluating and reflecting, as well as goals bring success, yet you have doubts. Find information that will support these claims so that you can give for instances in your speech. For instances are reference quotes that recite, which means that the audience is aware you are supporting your information through research completed and facts verified. You have backup!

While commonly people are aware that brainstorming, evaluating and reflecting are grounded facts, some areas of your speech may not have grounded facts. Please, get the facts and speak them loud and clear as you give your speech. In other words, always tell the truth while giving a speech. The truth is that some people will do whatever it takes a person to the top regardless of the facts. No, do not do that, the truth will set you free.

Joshua Poon has been practising public speaking and has joined a local toast master club. He also writes articles on public speaking. So come and visit his website for Public Speaking Matters