SPEAKER SERVICES Issue 15-January 2000 For best reading print this newsletter out and read it at your leisure. CONTENTS: 1. A Word from the Publisher 2. New Speakers 3. Tips and Advice 4. Meeting Planner Tips Article: 5. A Philosophy of Speaking, Mark Sanborn ________________________________ A Word from the Publisher...Susan Levin I'm excited about the year 2000. It feels like Speaker Services is busting out all over! I have an incredible series of seminars planned in the Los Angeles area from Speak From the Heart, Laptop Presentations for the Slightly Phobic to a two day Marketing Intensive: The Business of Speaking. Take a look at the schedule and descriptions at our website: http://speakerservices.com. A monthly Speakers' Council group has been created and will meet the second Monday of each month. This group has been requested by speakers so they can meet other speakers and exchange ideas and marketing tips. I have limited the group to twenty and the response has been fabulous. At this writing there are a few spaces left for January 10. The video demo showcase is scheduled for February 20th. I have 2 slots open and we do need an audience so if you'd like to participate please check with me re the location. On February 18th we have a Mixer planned for speakers and related services hosted by Speaker Services and Red Productions Audio in the Los Angeles area. Everyone is invited it is a great opportunity to meet and mingle among folks of like mind, please call me for the details and reservations. Now I'm going to blow my horn. Here's what folks said about Speaker Services in '99: "The service and info you provide are exceptional. You have help me tremendously in my endeavor to become a platform personality. " Minnie Jones "I was amazed. I had so many calls from retirement facilities, parent groups, as well as businesses...Thank you for an incredible service." Jenenne Macklin "Thanks for the consult, and your smarts. I enjoyed the session, more than got my money's worth, and look forward to new possibilities made available through your speaker services." Ron Kenner "Your tapes were absolutely great! They were very informative. I have listened to them almost 3 times now during my morning commute. I can always glean some new information from them each time I listen. By the way - the storytelling tapes were superb!" Darla Jones "A concise, information packed seminar. It set my brain abuzz and stoked my fire!" Max More "I have been earning fees as a speaker for over 9 years and I learned a lot from Susan." John Klymshyn "Jack Barnard knows how to bring out the essence of communicating and touch people's hearts and minds." Jason Klassi "Jack has a way of tapping the speaker within each of us. He gives permission, tools and inspiration to the soul." Michelle Morris "Jack Barnard is a master at bringing out the best in his students... his being is life changing. " Len Lipton My goals for 2000 are to continue to offer great services and to do more private speaker consultations. Blessings to you and many thanks for all your support. Wishing you and your families all the best in the new century. Susan Levin Speaker Services 310-822-4922 __________________________________ NEW SPEAKERS AND ENTERTAINERS at http://speakerservices.com (new listings will be posted by 1/1/00) Deborah E. Banker, M.D.: Doctor develops innovative self-help program for natural eyesight improvement and anti-aging techniques and instructions Ardis Bazyn: Image and communication expert draws on personal as well as professional experience to inspire audiences William H. (Bill) Dworin: Retired LAPD cop offers parents weapons to combat child sexual abuse James W. Gottfurcht, Ph.D.: Money psychologist reveals secrets of creating financial success and empowerment Ira Heffler and Jerry Schneider: Preserve family history through "video biographies made simple" Scott Hunter, MCC: Organizational coach-trainer has proven track record of creating extraordinary business teams Vickie Intriago : Financial advisor demystifies investment options Steve Miller, CLU, CFP: Certified planner specializes in financial and investment strategies for seniors Erika Olvera Walton, Ph.D.: Change management specialist reveals strategies for business survival and success SoleNova: Wellness group offers wide range of healing and stress reduction treatments Hal Wexler, D.C: Chiropractor specializes in alternative healthcare approaches to aging and longevity Greta Pope: Entertainer-Multitalented singer offers musical moods for every occasion ______________________________ TIPS AND ADVICE Looking for an innovative graphic designer for your book, audio, j-cards or CD covers? Susan Levin recommends (susan@speakerservices.com) Dotti Albertine does all of my magazine, workbook and audio covers. My sales have increased dramatically with her masterful, creative, quality designs. Contact Dotti at 310/450-0018 or dotdesign@earthlink.net _____________ Audio production company takes project from concept to cassette - Susan Levin recommends (susan@speakerservices.com) Sandy and Leslie Chew, owners of RED Productions Audio in Los Angeles, provide audio production services from motivational speakers' tapes, seminar recordings to books on tape. I found their advice to be very helpful and professional. They worked with me to fit my budget needs and their service was packed full of value. Give them a call or email: 310/577-3737, redpro1@msn.com _____________ Following tips are from SpeakerNet News (speakernetnews.com) Making positive first phone impressions while saving time -- George Walther (GeoWalther@aol.com) Use a brief voicemail message to create positive impressions before you speak with a client. Suppose a bureau asks you to call a prospective client; in other words, it's not a "cold call" and it is somebody with whom you expect to develop a relationship. When you're making the initial contact, ask the client's operator to put you directly into voicemail. In an upbeat voicemail message, introduce yourself, explain what you'd like to cover in your first real-time conversation, list what you'd like the contact to do before you talk (email or fax meeting agenda and theme, confirm objectives for your session, get the venue details, etc.) and set a presumptive appointment: "Dave, I will phone at 2:30 Wednesday after reviewing the items you're faxing me. If that conflicts with your schedule, please have your assistant call to schedule an alternate phone appointment and we'll talk then." Result: Before you talk, the client knows you're organized and punctual, and that you have a high regard for his time and your own. You're both focused on the business at hand when you do converse. If you do call at 2:30 and don't reach the contact, make sure your message includes the time, so he knows you're the kind of person who follows through, and then set another presumptive appointment. _____________ Keep your promotional material from getting destroyed -- Art Berg (artberg@artberg.com) Try mailing yourself a copy of your press kit and video and see what it looks like when it arrives via snail mail. The first time I did this, it came back looking "destroyed." I had been using a bubble pack envelope. Now I ship my promotional material in a mailer box. It always arrives looking fresh and undamaged. It also looks better and therefore maintains the image I am shooting for. I was surprised to discover that using a box to mail my materials in was actually less expensive than using a padded envelope. I purchase my 13x10x2 boxes from Tharco, sales-slc@tharco.com, 800/453-9130, http://www.tharco.com. It is item # GB1 and costs between .48 and .62 each, depending on quantity. I affix a color mailing label on the outside to personalize it. _____________ WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST LESSON LEARNED THIS YEAR? Bill Mavin (bill@restaurantdoctor.com) It is easy to get lulled into thinking of the speaking business in terms of number of bookings and keynote fee. This year I came to realize that these are just a part of the mix . . . and a minor part at that. It is far more important to develop streams of income that do not require my presence on the platform -- bulk sale of products, subscription tape series and the like. Without these pieces, you do not have a true business, only a source of temporary income that is useless to anyone else and which can end in an instant. _____________ David "The Nac" Naccari (TheNac@aol.com) A big lesson that I've learned in 1999 is to talk to meeting planners. Line up three or four that you feel comfortable with, take them to lunch, or schedule a meeting, and ask their opinion on a number of topics related to making you a more bookable speaker. Find out what they want in terms of the content of your speech, your information package, and your marketing. Ask for "no holds barred" feedback and sit back and listen, and take notes. You will learn a lot! _____________ Anita Sirianni (thesalescoach@anitasirianni.com) The biggest lesson I learned this year I've heard before, and needed to learn through experience: "We are not in the speaking, training, consulting business ... we are in the sales and marketing business!" The best presentations are a great foundation to build on, but unless consistent attention is directed to the blocking and tackling of this game (prospecting and marketing) we will ultimately lose the game! _____________ Julie Denny (JuliaDenny@aol.com) I've learned that when people say they don't pay their speakers, there's a lot of wiggle room. Not a new lesson for many, but an important one for me. I went from no compensation beyond expenses in initial conversation to $2,000 plus expenses. What a lesson. ___________________________________ MEETING PLANNER TIPS MeetingPlannerTips.com Online tip, Larry Chase... Deliberation Hotel RFP Service http://www.arraydev.com/travel This service from Array is all about making life easier for a travel coordinator or meeting planner. Using this free service, a meeting planner can electronically submit requests for proposal (RFPs) to multiple hotels simultaneously. The 14-page web-based form offers the choice of several criteria to include in the RFP. Among the criteria are location, size and age of hotel, availability, rates, proximity to airports and restaurants, hotel facilities and services, guest room amenities, complimentary hotel features, security and fire safety, oversold policies and methods of reservations. Once completed, the form is sent to as many hotel chains as are selected by the user from the list provided. Currently the service lists more than 100 hotel chains from around the world. Additionally, users can request that ARRAY deliver the RFP to hotels not listed at the site. ______________________________ Laurie Meyer with her "offline" meeting planner tip HOW DO YOU CONDUCT A GOOD PANEL DISCUSSION? There is both an art and a method to creating good panel discussions: (a) The moderator makes or breaks the program. The role of the moderator is to pace the discussion, keep things lively, get everyone to talk and allow no one to dominate. (b) Choose your moderator carefully. For a corporation, you should pick someone outside of the corporation who has a good reputation, a strong people sense and the ability to nicely cut people off. (c) If possible, observe your potential moderator in action. Does he or she facilitate the discussion smoothly? Are all voices being heard? Is the discussion provocative and interesting? (d) Next, choose your panelists, or approve those selected by the moderator. Aim for a selection of panelists that encompasses different points of view, gender, age, race and experience. Always plan to include a neutral party without a vested interest in the discussion. (e) Once the panel is chosen, insist that the moderator prepare a format and a list of questions for the discussion. Make sure that both are distributed to the chosen panelists well in advance of the event. (f) The moderator should ask panelists in advance to circle those questions that they feel most comfortable answering. This creates an outline of who is going to address which issue. Quick Tip: Plan controversy, plant provocative questions in advance within the audience and be sure to adhere to a strict time limit for introductions. ______________________________ A PHILOSOPHY OF SPEAKING by Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE http://www.speaking.com Most speakers know what they speak about and how they do it. How many of us know why? According to Barna Research, only 1 of 4 Americans has a life philosophy. It logically follows that no more than that have a vocational philosophy. Philosophy, by definition, seeks to answer the question, "How should we live?" To arrive at that answer also requires a consideration of the question why? as well. In my opinion, the why is usually more important than either the what or the how. What's more, the why almost always determines the success of the topic and technique. The Need For A Philosophy Probably nothing is more important to serving an audience and long-term success in the speaking profession than a working philosophy of speaking. Whether evolved over time, or determined from the beginning, this philosophy provides a speaker with both purpose and strategy will pragmatically lead us to understanding how we should communicate with our audiences. 1. My own philosophy is based on these premises: 2. The everyday experience of life for an individual or organization is one of pain; that is, pain is normative. 3. Everyday experience offers the opportunity for unlimited joy despite the pain. 4. My opportunity is to help audiences understand the pain, deal with it, experience the joy or, the best option, attempt to do all three . For me, these principles address the importance of creating and fulfilling audience expectations. No matter what the audience, there are at least two expectations we can assume to be basic the majority of the time: first, the expectation that the listener will feel good (or better) about themselves and their situation and secondly, that they have some new information or tools which will help them live or do business more successfully. The above philosophy addresses both expectations. Admitting, Understanding & Responding To Pain I first heard David Yoho, Sr. speak while I was still a student at The Ohio State University. A powerful speaker, Dave perplexed me when he said "Everybody hurts." I thought that was a dismal view for a motivational speaker to hold. Life experience since has convinced me of that truth. No matter how successful we are or aren't, life is painful. Personal tragedy is a daily occurrence for many in our audiences, even if not for ourselves. If we aren't experiencing pain presently, we realize that we have and will again. A quick survey of American business will prove the same is true about organizational pain: foundation-shaking changes, layoffs at every level, diminishing resources and uncertainty are "business as usual." Even those companies that are currently successful realize (or should) that the distance from super-star to dinosaur is a short distance indeed. I recently watched as the CEO of a large corporation spoke to his distributors about the problems and mistakes the organization had made in the recent past. His optimism for the future thinly veiled his anguish. Not all people or organizations that hurt admit it. Denial is common and dysfunction is a symptom of unresolved pain. Many, myself included, have tried to deal with the pain by ignoring it or anesthetizing it with activity. Both are costly and ineffective strategies. For many reasons, we are unwilling to deal with the reality of pain. There seems to be a social stigma that says people/organizations that hurt aren't as good as those who don't. In reality, they are usually the healthiest if they can hurt and move through the pain instead of becoming mired in it. An outsider can help by making it o.k. to admit pain. Beyond an unwillingness to admit pain, there is a problem understanding why we are in pain. Sometimes we know we hurt we're even willing to admit it we just don't know why. An objective and trained outsider can help explain our pain to us (therapist, clergy, speaker or consultant). Understanding becomes our first step in coping. At the next level, we need to know what is the appropriate response given the context of the pain. We need coping, survival or "thrival" strategies. As speakers, we have not only our own life experience to draw from, but the cumulative experience of many clients and audiences. Drawing on the Maslow metaphor, we can offer clients more "tools for their toolkit." The Opportunity Of Joy Finally, we can demonstrate the opportunity for joy despite the pain. If there must be an absence of pain for joy to exist, the condition of the average person and organization is hopeless. When an individual or organization becomes fixated on their pain, all other awareness diminishes. Their capacity to enjoy anything other than the pain is limited. Sometimes all we need to do it increase the scope of their vision. We can also offer encouragement and strategies for experiencing joy. (I hope you recognize the parallel of joy as personal experience to joy as organizational experience: increased market share, profitability and so on). Even when I work with audiences enjoying high levels of success, there is always the recognition that difficulty could be just around the corner (And if there isn't that recognition, I try to create it). Just as the rational organization can hope for joy despite pain, the rational organization should plan for potential downturn or failure in times of victory. It is our responsibility as speakers and consultants to help them utilize this eternal tension of pain/joy to their advantage. The Needed Skills So what skills does my philosophy require? There are many, but here are several of the most important. My colleague Jim Cathcart has wisely pointed out that, in the practice of speaking just as in the practice of medicine, "Treatment without diagnosis is malpractice." The first skill set is analysis: what are the major change drivers in this industry/school district/community /etc.? Why are these things happening? Where does this organization want to go? What are the people in the audience worried about? (This last question is incredibly helpful.) Analysis doesn't have to be sterile; one of the favorite aspects of my work is doing what my clients don't have time to do think about their business and industry. By bringing a broad perspective to the party and having time to investigate and gestate, I am often able to see and point out what the client has missed. A critical skill is empathy. This skill points to "the ability to be sincere, human and vulnerable." Lacking empathy, we can be none of these things. Maybe you think empathy is an emotion only, but it can be developed as a skill. It is easy to disassociate from an audience if you don't happen to be experiencing the same kind of pain as they are. Empathy doesn't require that you hurt the same way the audience hurts; it requires that you understand and appreciate how they feel. If you can't demonstrate empathy in your presentation, you won't be able to accomplish very much. Because our audiences are diverse, flexibility in communication is a critical skill. What makes speaking such a science to me is the diversity of communication techniques required. I regularly find myself in a situation that requires nuances and techniques I've never needed to use before. Audiences comes in such unusual ages, beliefs, backgrounds and emotional states. Adaptability is essential. (Whenever you're tempted to say that you didn't have a "good audience", try another perspective: maybe you haven't developed the skill set necessary for that type of audience.) Finally, consider the skill of persuasion . Your prescriptions won't be effective without per suasion. You must be able to convince an audience not only to consider your suggestions, but to implement them. This is one reason why empathy it is crucial is a cornerstone of persuasion. Too often we become pre-occupied with impressing audience members than influencing them. Impressing someone changes what they think about you and your message. Influencing someone changes what they do because of you and your message. A Philosophy Equal to the Privilege Not only does professional speaking give us the opportunity to make money; it gives us a chance to make meaning as well. In an age when doing either is increasingly difficult, being able to do both truly is a privilege. May your philosophy of speaking enable you to serve you audiences and fully enjoy the privilege. Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE is the author of Teambuilt: Making Teamwork Work, Sanborn On Success , sixteen videos and four audio training programs. In 1993 he was selected by ECI/Westcott as one of the top business motivation experts in the country for it's "Masters On Motivation" Business Television Series. Mark has earned the Certified Speaking Professional designation and been awarded the Council of Peers Award of Excellence from the National Speakers Association. He also serves on the National Board of Directors. __________________________ SPONSOR THIS NEWSLETTER! 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Customized training , Online Bookstore Audio Tapes Grow Your Business Through Speaking Soul of Speaking, Jack Barnard Storytelling, Jack Barnard Mesmerize Your Audience, Jack Barnard Market Yourself as a Speaker , Susan Levin Books: Market Yourself as A Speakers Resource and Study Guide, Susan Levin We Get Our Cue From You: The Communion Approach to Public Speaking, Jack Barnard ************************ Speaker Services Susan Levin 4023 Meier Street La, CA 90066 310-822-4922 FAX: 310-822-9025 Toll free- 877-773-2800 e-mail: susan@speakerservices.com website: http://speakerservices.com