Writing Inrochester

Want to increase your online sales? Make sure your offer is one they can’t pass up!

Any offer you make through your Internet copywriting needs to be worth the readers’ time. Time is valuable and there is no bigger waste of time - for you as the creator or for your reader - than a worthless offer.

A number of years ago, a newspaper advertising sales rep went to her boss, disgusted that her client would not buy the ad schedule she pitched. It turned out that the last time the client ran an ad - five years before - “I didn’t get a single result from my coupon” that he ran way back then. The coupon was for a free coffee refill… something that was already common practice at the restaurant. Honestly, who would bother?

“Go back and tell that man we’ll run his ad for free if he will live up to the offer we create,” was the ad manager’s response. From there, he proceeded to tell the young sales rep to tell the client that the coupon would read “Bring this in for $1.00 in cash.” So, she did.

The client naturally refused because he knew he would have too many takers. What he finally admitted to himself is that his advertising did not work because his offer was lousy. Keep this business owner’s woes in mind as you plan to create your own irresistible offers with your Internet copywriting.

Make the offer one that is worth the time it takes to respond. A “Free 60 day trial″ is a pretty good offer for an online program. What kind of offers can your business make?

The key to getting readers to respond to your offers is to make them irresistible. Can you afford to knock several dollars off the fee for your product or service? Or maybe you can make a strong guarantee, making your product or service almost risk free. Transferring the risk from the customer to you will help remove resistance to your offer.

Whatever it is you decide to offer, honor the offer at all costs. Keep your word and potential customers will quickly fall into place as current customers spread the word.

If you have never done any Internet copywriting before, don’t worry about it. No one knows your product or service as well as you do. Because of your passion for the product or service you are selling, you know it better than even a professional copywriter. Let that passion lead your Internet copywriting as you work to create the perfect offer that your potential customers just cannot refuse!

If you need some help creating an irresistible offer for your Internet copywriting, ask yourself, “What would make me buy?” Think about your answer. Is it do-able? If so, let that be your irresistible offer.

You can always make it available for a limited time (another good way to get people to act quickly) in case you decide the offer is too good to be very profitable.

Add a sense of urgency to your offer to get people to act immediately. If they put it off, they are likely to forget about it and you end up losing the sale. Adding a sense of urgency can be done by limiting the quantity or time of the offer or both. For example, the special offer is good only for the next 100 people who order, or the offer expires in 48 hours. You can even use both to heighten the sense of urgency.

In summary, make your offer irresistible. Make it worth the effort to the customer to place the order. Transfer the risk from the customer to you and add a sense of urgency. Then be sure to live up to what you have written in you copy. If you do these thing, you’ll see your sales skyrocket!

Copyright 2005

George Dodge is owner of CompellingWebCopy.com CompellingWebCopy.com where you will discover 757 explosive CompellingWebCopy.com Web copywriting techniques guaranteed to skyrocket your sales and stuff more cash in your pocket - even if you haven’t written a thing since high school!

Last Sunday night I had a moment of queasy disdain, and almost sent all three chapters of my current novel into oblivion. In my black mood, I hated the book’s central idea, hated the characters, hated the setting, and thought that euthanasing the project would be a kindness.

Then I had an attack of sanity, wrote a few more pages, and decided that since I’d started the novel — I was well past my weasel date, my nominated cut-off point of 10,000 words, I might as well complete it. Only 100,000 words to go.

What inspired me to keep going? A sticky note I keep on my computer monitor: “DDT – Do, Don’t Think”.

If you′re stuck, wondering whether you′re doing the right thing, or wondering whether to start a new business or a new project, DDT can help. Here’s how to use the process:

=> One: Write your intention for the project

It’s vital to put your intention in writing. So write it down: “I intend to write a book about —”; “I intend to start my own business doing —”; “I intend to take a trip to—”.

You may be tempted to skip this step. Don’t. Writing your intention is the first and most important step to making your new project a reality. You don’t need to write the intention anywhere special, in fact you don’t even need to keep the piece of paper you write it on. Just write it.

=> Two: Nominate a completion date

By when? Nominate a date by which your book will be written, your business will be doing business, or the day you′ll leave on your trip.

You can change the date at any time, but you must nominate a date right now.

=> Three: Nominate a weasel date

A weasel date gives you an out. You can opt out of the project on the weasel date. However, if the weasel date passes, you must complete the project. For a book, your weasel date could be when you’ve written 10,000 words. If you’re starting a new business, the weasel date can be when you’ve had business cards printed, or a month from today. If you’re taking a trip, the weasel date could be the day you make the plane reservations.

Write down your weasel date.

=> Four: Image the project

Close your eyes, and imagine. Imagine your project a reality. You can image your book’s cover, or interacting with a client in your new business, or arriving at your trip’s destination.

Make the images as real as you can. Use all your senses. Page through the book. Listen to what your client is telling you. Look around you at your destination.

Now create a symbol. Just close your eyes, and allow a symbol of your completed project to come to you. This symbol may be related to your project in a way you can understand, or not. You may picture a glass jar, or a kite, or a flower. The symbol doesn’t matter, just accept whatever comes. Write down the symbol. Then draw it. Date and keep the note on which you wrote and drew your symbol.

When you’re working on your project and want to give up, remember your symbol. Recalling your symbol will inspire you.

I’ve no idea how or why this works. The symbol comes from your right brain, your unconscious mind. It’s powerful, so don’t try to choose an appropriate symbol, go with whatever symbol appears to you.

If symbols intrigue you, try this wonderful exercise from Jean Houston:

jeanhouston.org/brain.html

Susan Wenger’s page on Image Streaming is also useful when you get stuck on a project:

members.tripod.com/ericsommer/i❍.htm

=> Five: One baby step at a time

Work on your new project each day.

If it’s a long project, like writing a book, or setting up a business, you WILL have bad days. Remember DDT — Do, Don’t Think. Simply work on the project, get through that swamp in any way you can.

You’ll be amazed that often a day which started out as problematic, ends up being one of your most productive and useful days ever.

=> Six: Listen to your resistance

Your resistance is always important. Listen to it.

Take a sheet of paper. Write “I don’t want to do XX because—”, and keep writing for five minutes. You will be amazed at what comes out.

Usually just seeing your doubts objectified on paper eliminates them. For example, one of my copywriting students was hesitant to go full-time. She had ten steady clients, was working weekends and 16-hour days, but was reluctant to freelance full-time.

When she wrote out her resistance, she found that unconsciously, she was thinking that there was no way back, once she quit her job. While writing, she remembered that she had already been offered full-time work by one of her freelance clients — of course there was a way back, she could get another full-time job anytime she wanted to.

Our unconscious blocks are blocks because we don’t explore them: we take our fear as meaningful, and don’t ask ourselves what’s behind the resistance. Ask. You may be surprised that there’s nothing meaningful in your resistance at all.

Whenever you’re stuck, remember DDT — Do, Don’t Think. You can navigate your way through the swamps, forests and “here be dragons” areas of life. Keep going.

Wouldn’t you like to clone yourself as a writer, or have someone do your writing tasks for you? Contact Angela Booth at angelabooth.com angelabooth.com now because Angela expertly ghost-writes articles, proposals, marketing communications, Web copy, and books. Yes, you’re the author of the words Angela writes for you. Angela is fast, reliable and professional, and works with individuals and small businesses as well as large companies.

Unless you are an experienced graphic artist, the key words to remember in page layout design are keep it simple! It is easy to go overboard with multiple fonts, italics, shading, borders, and other devices aimed at making your document look attractive.

The printed page serves only one purpose, to get a message across effectively. Complicated presentation detracts from that purpose by drawing attention to the medium rather than the message.

Serif type-face, with tails on the top and bottom of each letter, may look old-fashioned but is easier and faster to read than san serif type face, such as Ariel. Italics should only be used to add emphasis, it is slower to read than normal upright type. Beware of the bold – much of this slows the reading and shouts too much at the reader.

Use only one or two fonts for the text in any document, but make judicious use of the bold and italic versions. You can use a second type face, e.g. a sans-serif type face, for headings.

Ragged right hand margins may not look as attractive as justified right hand margins, but the text is easier to read. Only very sophisticated and expensive typesetting equipment is capable of justifying right hand margins without decreasing text readability.

Keep these points in mind when designing your documents, and your audience will find them easy to read.

This article was written by Phil Dean of irmtraining.com.au IRM Training and forms part of IRM’s

Don’t be put off by age. People may sneer. People may joke. But the fact remains that old folk are just as good at writing humdingers as the young upstarts. Some would say better. Why? Because us wrinklies have more experience, more insight into life and more memories to draw from than the younger element. And not as much angst.

Also, older folk have more empathy with people going through both the highs and the lows of living in todays hectic world because, more likely than not, they′ve been there, done that and know precisely where to buy the T-shirt. They understand what makes things tick on a deeper level, and have probably arrived at a philosophical appraisal of where life is coming from and where it’s going which can add depth and breadth to their writing.

I was heartened to read in May’s issue of Writers′ Forum about Mary Cavanagh who has published her first book at the age of 60! Brilliant! Go girl! You’ve got plenty of time for another 10 at least!

Mary took a writing course which she says made her much more thoughtful and focussed, and knuckled down to writing “The Crowded Bed” which was subsequently published by Transita. Yes, it can be done.

If you feel that you’re knocking on a bit and are loosing hope for your writing career, think again. Snap out of it and get to work. Draw on that fighting-against-all-odds British spirit which we over-60s appear to be the sole custodians of these days.

Someone reading this is the next Ian Fleming, or even the next J K Rowling. Is it YOU?

Mervyn Love is the webmaster of writersreign.co.uk writersreign.co.uk a web site providing the writer with help, encouragement, resources, links, competitions and more. Sign up for the excellent free WritersReign Article Writing Course here: writersreign.co.uk/Writing_Courses.html writersreign.co.uk

You might protest and cry out, “It’s not fair!” But people will and do judge you by your writing and your spelling.

So, it is very important that you learn to spell correctly. It is both, a demonstration of your intelligence and education. Therefore, you should be prepared to spell correctly on your homework, reports, quizzes, tests and even job applications.

In studies, it was shown that good spellers had better organizational habits than those who were poor spellers. So, good spelling doesn’t seem to be an ability as much as it is a skill. And, since skills are not inherited like abilities, you can do something about your spelling.

How to Spell Better

Strategy #1 Use a Dictionary

The best thing you can do to improve your spelling is use a dictionary. You will rarely spell words wrong if you will consult a dictionary whenever you are in doubt. Know when you don’t know how to spell a word and look it up. Yes, it will take time but it takes time to do anything right.

Strategy #2 Learn the Rules

Learn a few spelling rules such as:

Write an i before e except after c, or when sounded like a, as in neighbor and weigh. orThe spelling of a word is never changed when a prefix is added. These rules aren′t perfect but they give you a tool to work with. Also learn exceptions to the rules.

Strategy #3 Work on Your Pronunciation

Listen and pay close attention to how words are pronounced. Although English is the least phonetic language, about eighty-five percent of the words are spelled the way they sound. Start listening to yourself and you will improve your spelling and speaking at the same time.

Strategy #4 Train Your Memory

Many times spelling errors become imprinted in your memory because of the continued writing or typing of the incorrect spelling. Correct this by writing the proper spelling ten times whenever you discover that you’ve written it incorrectly. Re-train your motor memory.

Successful athletes train in a similar way. The athlete will practice a certain skill over and over again in order to create muscle memory. Eventually, the skill becomes reactive and automatic and the athlete no longer has to think about it. It just happens.

Strategy #5 Proofread Your Work

Many spelling errors occur due to the lack of proofreading. It’s much easier to notice a misspelled word when re-reading your document. That’s because we are use to seeing words spelled correctly in magazines, newspapers and books. When you find a misspelling look it up, verify it and correct it.

Just like starting a new workout, improving your spelling will be difficult at first. But, what skill worth having isn’t difficult to improve?

Test Your Spelling

Directions: Pick out the words that are incorrectly spelled.

calanderatheleticsestasybachlor conceivehomly lablingsiege vitiman

If you would like to know the answers go to

If you are an author or avid reader of fantasy and/or science fiction - or if you enjoy role-playing within either of those genres - then you already understand the powerful allure of entering into a Secondary World. You’ve experienced the joys of immersing yourself in your imagination, of exploring the freedoms and consequences of existence in an alternate place where the root assumptions differ from what we hold to be true in our world.

Fantasy can open the mind to possibilities seldom gleaned amidst our daily grind in “reality”. It provides feelings of excitement and release that are difficult to explain to the uninitiated.

I will assume, since you′ve read this far, that you′re already besotted with the creative impulse. But maybe you despair of ever giving the right form to your ideas - or believe that you′ll never even conceive of any ideas that are uniquely your own. So how do you move from your initial desire to its realization as a fully-developed creation? Well, your first clues as to the road to take lie with what you most love. What themes in the stories you read, what eras of history, what cultural or personal issues really attract you? If you harbor strong feelings about any aspects of the human drama then it’s likely that you have something to say about them.

Isolate those ideas. They will be your starting point, the seed ice-crystals around which you can form your own unique snowflake of a world.

When first I longed to write a fantasy novel, I had but two ideas. I wanted to follow a young lad’s mystic initiation, a journey that would take him out of his homeland and thrust him into unknown terrain - both physical and spiritual. So the adventure would challenge not only his resources of body and character, but also his very beliefs about the nature of reality. This was theme number one. My second theme: the setting my character moved through should be strongly evocative of the American West circa early 1800’s - frontier times. Since the “Wild West” is the romantic era of American history - and this is my country, for better or ill - I wanted to pay homage to the great American Myth. Also, I knew I could steer clear of many fantasy clichés by avoiding a medieval, pre-industrial milieu. There would be no dragons, unicorns, enchanted swords, or flying broomsticks; and an unusual conception of magic would be required.

Perhaps you can see now how quickly additional ideas will tend to group around your core themes. Good. Now it’s time to provide some structure, boundaries around this budding world to fence out the incongruous and allow the suitable elements to grow and flourish. I would suggest at this stage that you draw a physical map of your imagined environment. The scope of this map will depend upon your ambition. If you’re running a role-playing game for beginner-level characters, then a plot of land the size of Rhode Island might do fine. But if you intend to write an epic fantasy novel then you might require something the size of Europe or even larger. Carefully consider your goals and then set your parameters accordingly. I opted to sketch a peninsula about the size of New England, connected to a larger continent by a mostly-frozen Land Bridge.

Once you’ve sketched your outline then fill in the topography: mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, jungles…whatever is appropriate for your central concepts. Natural details only, for now and if you want your physical topography to follow a different order than it does in our world then provide a reason for that. Fantasy worlds are free to dispense with the rules of “reality”, but they must be self-consistent. After all, boundaries are what define a thing. Chess would bore us all if every piece could be moved in whatever fashion we fancied. Challenges - and, therefore, excitement- arises out of limitation. And fiction thrives on conflict.

Once you have your map completed make a dozen or more photocopies of it. On these copies you can plot your setting’s chronology: how peoples and places evolved to your story’s present day. Again, the extent of your history depends upon your ambition. Do you wish to outline three long ages of mortal and Faerie existence like Tolkien did with Middle-Earth? Or would the significant events of three human generations suffice?

I conceived my own setting to be a “New World” and decided that, at the onset of the novel, it would have been settled for about five hundred years. So with ten maps, each encompassing fifty years, I outlined all the events that influenced the general character of the land and its cultures. This was easier to visualize on paper. You can see your nomads migrating down through the northern mountain passes and discovering prairie lands that will become their hunting grounds. Then they skirmish with forest dwellers over rights to the river. Forts are built on both territories. These evolve into towns and eventually into cities. One city is invaded and its inhabitants are slain down to the last woman and child. So in your story’s present day your characters may stumble upon some ruins that are dripping with history.

As you trace developments with these chronological maps your guidelines will be those central themes with which you began. Since I started with two ideas I therefore had two primary concerns as I constructed my timeline. First, since my protagonist would be undergoing spiritual initiation he would need to have guides and mentors. The mystical discipline that he would follow had to evolve. So I was absorbed not only with events like migrations, settlements, wars and alliances but also with speculating about how peoples’ beliefs develop over time. Secondly, I had to arrive at an era reminiscent of frontier times - i.e., with the development of such cultural staples as early firearms, steamboats, locomotives, and civilized townsfolk existing alongside nomadic hunters and tribesmen.

These two considerations were my grounding focuses as I filled map after map. Along the way, many subsidiary ideas attached themselves to the primary ones. I would weed out those that didn′t fit into my setting and promote those that did.

Once you′ve reached your world’s present day, you know who the major players are and where they came from. Your history will have built-in consistency because you constructed it from the ground up. Now it’s time to flesh out this environment!

First, though, you must understand that an invented world is never completed the best we can do is to stop at an interesting place. So how far do you want to go in lavishing this imagined place with detail? This will depend upon your intended use for the material you’ll end up with. If you’re pursuing this creation as a hobby then there’s no need to ever finish. Add to your heart’s content; elaborate upon your people’s languages, traditions, political and economic factors, social orders and religions. But if you intend to write about this world, or have the people in your role-playing campaign travel through it, then you need to intuit when you’ve developed your milieu fully enough to give it the breath of realism. I personally find that finishing touches are much easier than preliminary sketches, though. By now you have certain advantages that will lend a sense of ease to approaching the remainder of the work. You understand the distinctive character of your own land, and all else will follow.

During this final stage, many of us want to research our subjects to insure that our work has credibility. If you are an author, however, I would offer some advice that runs counter to what you’re bound to read or hear elsewhere: postpone that research until you’ve written a first draft of your story. Draw upon what you know, or what you can imagine. There’s a simple reason why I suggest doing this. Having completed your first draft, you’ll know exactly what you need to study for your particular story and won’t feel overwhelmed, believing that you need a historian’s all-encompassing knowledge of the time period you’re working in. I am not a scholar of early American history. I merely scavenged what particular details I knew I would need in order to make my story real. Spare yourself countless hours of library and internet searches. Write your story first; you may be amazed to discover how much you already know about your subjects.

There is a rare satisfaction that comes with the realization of an imagined Secondary World. We have provided a place for our escapist fantasies - and deepest philosophical speculations - to live and breathe. At times it may seem like a mad pursuit; certainly there may be friends and significant others who don′t understand it. Let me assure you that we′re in impressive company though. J.R.R Tolkien devoted his entire adult life to the creation of Middle-Earth. Stephen R. Donaldson had “Covenant” dominating his mind for the better part of ten years - and recently returned to the saga after a twenty-five year hiatus. Similar things can be said of Frank Herbert and his “Dune″ saga. The extent to which these authors were enamored with the creative process is evinced by the depth and breadth - and believability - of their invented worlds.

I wish you a happy birthing!

Seth Mullins is the author of “Song of an Untamed Land”, a novel of speculative fantasy in lawless frontier territory. Visit Seth at authorsden.com/sethtmullins authorsden.com/sethtmullins.

Presentation skills are one of those assets that any employer would really like to have in an ideal employee.

Essentially, it’s the ability to get your point across to other people.

As a recruiter, I have to help prepare people for interviews where they are essentially presenting themselves in front of one or more interviewers. Once they get the job, they might have to regularly present in front of larger groups which only increases the stress and trepidation of presenting.

If you have trouble with presenting or feel that your presentation skills are an area of weakness, here are some tips to help you improve:

1. Practice certainly makes perfect. You won’t get better by thinking about it. You really need to practice speaking in front of other people whether it’s at work or in social settings. Look for any opportunity - work or social – to speak and gain confidence.

2. Look for opportunities to present topics that you like and feel comfortable discussing. Try to find opportunities outside work to present where you might feel less pressure to perform but will still allow you to practice in front of an audience.

3. Join a Toastmasters club or other organization that will help you improve your presentation skills and will give you the opportunity to speak publicly in front of other people trying to improve their skills and are in the same position you are.

4. Consider signing up for presentation skills training. Not only will you get to learn from someone who knows what they are doing, they will be able to focus on the areas you need help with most.

5. Think of your main strengths and try to incorporate them into your presentations. When appropriate, injecting your sense of humor and personality into presentations can help to build a rapport with your audience while making you more comfortable too. Essentially, try to be yourself when presenting and let your real personality come out.

6. Try not to place undue pressure on yourself before a big presentation. Prepare well in advance and avoid last minute changes that increase your stress. If you have properly prepared and know your topic well, convince yourself that this isn’t a big deal and that you have nothing to be scared of.

The more opportunities you have to apply your presentation skills, the quicker you’ll be able to improve them. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to being a skilled speak is nervousness. The more confident you are, the more comfortable you will be in front of an audience and the less likely you’ll be to have to read off of prepared notes.

Practice does make perfect but in cases where you still feel your skills are not improving fast enough, consider training with a professional.

Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur and professional recruiter. Carl has helped many job searchers find their dream career and would like to help clear up some of the job search myths that exist while helping people avoid common mistakes that cost them jobs.

Visit Carl’s website to separate yourself from other job searchers: find-your-dream-career.com find-your-dream-career.com

Ezine editors/Webmasters: Please feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your website. Please don’t change any of the content and please ensure that you include the above bio that shows my website URL. If you would like me to address any specific career topics in future articles, please let me know.

Now that you know the secrets to writing great articles, it’s time to power up the article writing ladder of success. Web articles will definitely will help build your reputation as an expert, but it takes time and patience. Following are some ways to track your progress and get the most article bang for your buck.

Work on mass article distribution by genre. In your effort toward building an expert reputation, you should be saturating your niche market with articles. By doing this, you′ll get more visibility than the article dabbler who writes one or two articles and then drops out of sight. Write a list of article topics you′d like to cover, and then outline the guts of each article one at a time. This way, you can better mentally prepare for the onslaught of articles you plan on releasing to your faithful internet audience of readers.

Hire a ghostwriter to ensure that your articles are targeted and flawless. It’s worth paying a little extra for a quality presentation, and by working with a professional writer you′ll be able to take the strain off yourself so that you can concentrate on other, more critical aspects of your business. Tell the writer what your long-term business goals are and how you think articles can leverage your expertise and pull in sales. She′ll then go about strategizing your “Guerilla Article Marketing Campaign.” Yes, it’s incredibly important to strategize!

Submit to multiple article distribution sites. Although my article site of choice is Ezinearticles.com, there are millions of websites out there who are hot for fresh content and who can help you work your way into the minds of the world’s consumers. Sign up for membership accounts with Goarticles.com, Ideamarketers.com, and Marketing-Seek.com. Do some research into which websites in your specialized field who might also be on the lookout for great articles. The more visibility you get, the more hits to your website. The more loyal fans of your writing, the more paying customers.

Use Google and Yahoo to gauge your steady climb. One of the biggest article marketing motivators is tracking your progress on the search engines. If you’re doing it right, including keywords in your article titles and content, and offering valuable information to your readers, that means folks are picking up your stuff. A single article can potentially get picked up 100 times or more. Think of how many places your website link will be seen if you submit 100 articles! To see article-marketing in action, submit four or five articles to Ezinearticles.com and then wait a month or two. Then do a Google search on the topic of the articles you wrote, and do another search on your name. Guess what comes up? All the websites where your articles are featured. Holy hell! That is some cool stuff.

Work the article marketing circuit. Make your presence known within the article realms by actively participating in author networks. My article marketing website of choice is ezinearticles.com Ezinearticles.com because they capture this feeling of “Hey, we’re one big article-writing family!” Their site is the home for tons of authors who are more than happy to swap information and share their valuable insights with you. Participate in the Blog, comment on other authors’ articles; in short, get out there and get noticed! By building side relationships through your writing expertise, you’re planting the seeds for future projects with other smart marketers on the web!

Okay then. Have you had just about enough Article Marketing for the day? I know I have! Stay tuned to Wordfeeder.com for more copywriting and marketing ideas to help grow your business.

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Liked this article? Have more of the same emailed to your inbox each month. Sign up for the wordfeeder.com/kickstart-signup-priority-1.htm” target=”_new Copywriting and Marketing Ezine from Dina at Wordfeeder.com and learn to write search engine friendly web copy and market your web based business for free.

A promising public speaker often encounters risk before he or she learns how to get it right, as in almost anything we do in life that we strive to be good at. After all, you encountered risk when you learned to walk, and ride a bike. If you are going to master the art of public speaking, you are going to be required to apply some effort in the initial stages, and run the risk associated with learning anything. Following are some key ways in which you can become more proficient public speaker.

• Be determined in your pursuit to be an outstanding public speaker. Show excellence through your experiences, study, and how you tailor your material to match your audience.

• Be patient in your goal to succeed. Persistence is a must, if you are going to overcome the obstacles on the way to excellence. There is no such thing as overnight success in public speaking. Attend training about effective speaking; or ask someone who has mastered the art of public speaking.

• Develop an oozing passion for your topic. Your audience will not care to listen to you if you demonstrate anything less than passion about your public speaking topic. Jot down the topics that you love. Then, choose two or three that you can expound into top-notch, crowd-pulling presentations.

• Be sincere and sensitive towards your audience. Share some of your unfavorable experiences involving your topic, if applicable. This way your audience perceives you as a real person and they can relate to you and your subject.

• Relate to your audience promptly, and grab their attention. Avoid offensive remarks or jokes. State a funny story that is applicable to your subject if applicable; cite a quotation or an anecdote to keep their attention. Remember that you only have half a minute to connect with your audience. Use it wisely.

• Prepare adequately. Research your topic completely and then some. Do not throw away old materials that you have used, because you mat need them for new presentations. Organize your material logically and use supporting metaphors or analogies to solidify the message you wish to convey.

• Reinforce your key points with stories that people relate to. Learning to be a proficient storyteller is part of the process of learning to be an excellent public speaker.

• Communicate in ways that will help people learn. In a recent study, 80% of people learn by visual stimulation and only 20% actually learn by listening to the lecture. So do not underestimate the use of visual props and visual aids. Find other ways or tools that can help you achieve 100% of your audience’s attention.

• Practice. Memorizing your speech is not enough by any means. Try to practice in front of a mirror or better still, use the vast and cheap tecnology available to anyone these days and video yourself. Ask your friends to review your speech in person, or on video, and take note of their feedback.

• Possess a genuine appreciation in what you do. Remember that not all people have the chance and the courage to speak in front of a large crowd. It is a privilege that is coupled with your responsibility to entertain, educate and persuade your audience. Public speaking is an art that requires a tremendous amount of skill.

Apply the above effective public speaking habits to your development and you′ll see immediate improvements in your ability to speak in public.

Discover how you, too, can become a confident and powerful public speaker, faster and more easily than you ever thought possible.

Visit my website at mindpowerselfhelp.com/publicspeaking mindpowerselfhelp.com/publicspeaking to get started right away.

When I first started my speaking career I had to fight constantly against the urge to tell my audience everything I knew on the subject at hand within the one hour assigned to me. After the contract had been signed and the topic defined the conflict began. What content should I include? Which stories should I tell? What humorous anecdotes should I select? My answer to these questions was always, “ Why not tell them everything you know?”

When I prepared a speech I had so much good resource material that I was easily seduced into giving the audience the whole works in one sitting. My rationale usually centered around the fact that I might only have one opportunity to share my accumulated wisdom with these people so I wanted to give them the whole package while I had the chance. This kind of thinking can get a speaker into difficulty on a few fronts:

1.If you share too much material in a limited period of time you run the risk of appearing disorganized and rushed. What you want is to come across as relaxed, focussed, knowledgeable and entertaining.

2. Imparting more content than is reasonable or desirable results in your attention being scattered thus giving the impression that content is more important than creating an intimate connection with your audience. In my opinion a good speaker is one who relates well to the people being addressed. When you are concentrating on quantity of material rather than on quality and intimacy you are heading in the wrong direction.

I don’t want to give the impression that it isn’t important to have a thorough and comprehensive understanding of your speech content. It is. But you also need to be able to effectively measure the dosage of content to the time available and the audience’s ability to absorb the material you present.

Here are a few tips that I have found helpful in overcoming with my inclination to saturate my audiences.

Keep in mind that most people can only absorb five or six points in a speech. This seems to be all our human attention span can handle at one sitting. If this is true, it’s pointless to feed them 30 or 40 points at a time.

* When you have the topic defined and clearly articulated, prepare a catchy introduction. This can involve a personal experience, relevant quotation or a humorous quip. It is important that your introduction grab the attention of your audience and make them want to hear more from you.

* Now identify and list your six main points. I like to write them in point form as I just need them to jog my memory. I have no intention of reading them to the audience.

* It’s now time to go to my story and humor files to select a few items to help get my key points across. Stories are important in public speaking as people seem to be able to recall stories more readily than they can general information. For this reason I sprinkle my presentations with liberal doses of story and humor.

* When you have finished listing your main points and connecting the stories and humor to each one, write a reminder to recap your material for your audience before concluding your presentation. The old rule in public speaking that says “Tell your audience and then tell your audience what you just told them.” is still a rule worth following. Make certain that the recap is very brief. You don’t want to give the presentation over again.

* Now conclude your speech with a couple of lines from a poem, share a quote or a quip or just offer a few words of encouragement or affirmation. I also like to thank my audience, tell them how much I enjoyed being with them. and say that I look forward to meeting some of them after my talk.

I find that when I discipline myself to follow this outline I am more inclined to stay on topic, avoid becoming scattered and I am more present and connected to my audience. It also gives me the feeling of having given a power packed, well organized presentation that will be easily remembered long after I leave the building.

Mike Moore is an international speaker on the role of humor in human relations.

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