Many speakers, consultants, and small business owners alike feel confident with communicating their message orally. They can spout their message in an elevator speech with the accuracy of a scientist. But when it comes to putting it on paper, some grown men & women end up crying like a baby.

Through speaking and writing, I have discovered 9 myths that often block others from writing their best book now. I promise. It’s not hard once you know exactly what to do. Successful writers set up a system of writing. Destroy these myths and setup your system of writing with nine easy solutions.

Myth 1 It’s too hard.

Too many of us for too long have hid behind the words, “It’s too hard.” Now is the time to take charge of our fears and conquer them. First things first, to overcome procrastination -the fear of failure- is to act now. Most times the bottom line of procrastination is fear of failure.

Solution: Act now. Select step one of an easy writing program and begin today. Or choose to sign-up for an easy 7 lesson ecourse “Jumpstart Writing Your Best Book Now. ” Send any email to iscribe@writetowin.org Action will destroy fear. Each successful step of your system will deal a death blow to fear.

Myth 2 I have to get away from everything to write a successful book.

No you don’t. I know several novelist and non-fiction book writers who had to write during a long commute to get their best book written and out to the world. They accomplished it because they systematically worked on their book until it was done.

Solution: Avoid marathon writing. In the midst of your busy life, designate your time to write (work on your book) with a goal to completion. (Reasonable time to completion)

Myth 3 I can’t keep up with where I am after interruptions of life.

It is a common challenge to find your place after being interrupted with family, work and daily life. After all that’s why many think you must get away to get it done effectively. Yet, there’s hope for those who can’t get away or choose not to. Successful writers all over the world use the tracking approach. They succeed because they commit to doing a little each day.

Solution: Set yourself up for success use the tracking approach. There are 2 methods you could use for your tracking. Time is the method where you commit to a writing a certain amount of time each day. With the cumulative factor involved your commitment doesn’t have to be that much.

For example, to accomplish my book writing goals I commit to writing one hour a day in my most productive time. For me it is right after my meditation and reading time. With this method don’t be overly concerned about how much you write, just keep the time commitment.

The other method is focused on output. Commit to writing a certain number of words or pages a day, perhaps 750-1,000 words or approximately three and a half pages double-spaced text. The key factor is to stick to it until completion. Winner’s Note: You may ask how do I get started after interruptions or even in my daily allotted slot so that I don’t spend a lot of time re-locating where I stopped?

Start your daily writing session by re-reading the last words you wrote the day before. This will get you back in the flow. The continued cycle of review will create a momentum that will keep you going to completion. Another piece of advice is to create a support system that will help isolate you from telephone calls and interruptions during your daily Tracking Session.

Myth 4 I have to complete each chapter in order.

It’s called linear writing when you complete each chapter in order. You don’t have to write each chapter one after the other. If you happen to get stuck on chapter two, you could be stuck a very long time. I think this type of thinking comes from grade school where we are ritually taught to do everything in order.

If you have been thinking that way stop right now, no need to raise your hand. You have my permission to work on whatever chapter moves you or you feel passion bubbling for at the moment. Feeling stuck on a chapter, try another. There you have it now go with the flow.

Solution: Don’t become chained to writing in order. Jump around and fill in the blanks. Review your chapters and whatever subject or topic you most drawn to, begin there.

Writing a book is a journey. Most journeys go so much smoother with a map or in our case a writing plan. Taking the simple steps above will get you started fast and keep you going to completion. Start today then complete and release your significant message in a book to the world.

If you’ve been getting caught up in all this talk of RSS versus email, its time to stop wondering.

Marketing Sherpa just posted a new report that stirred up the old RSS vs Email debate again. http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2988

The report starts out by stating, “It chills our blood when we hear email marketers and publishers blithely state, “I’m thinking about switching over to RSS entirely!” Oh no. Please don’t. RSS is worthy of testing, but it’s not an email replacement and it never will be.”

A report in Jupitermedia titled “E-Mail Marketing: Alive and Well” notes, “RSS won’t be immediately effective as an alternative to e-mail marketing. (But) for some companies (primarily publishers who cater to a technical audience), it’s sensible to press forward with RSS now as a supplement to e-mail marketing.” http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/research:concept/1103/id=96103/

A lot of people think this debate has been going on for long enough. RSS is NOT a replacement for email. It does not (and may never) rival the marketing reach and immediacy of an email message.

Those who’ve been mourning the death of email marketing don’t seem to “get” the fact that RSS hasn’t reached the tipping point yet. More people read email than RSS feeds – many more.

I believe that a smart publisher or marketer must use both – Email and RSS. Its not an either/or question.

I know for a fact that my blogs get read more when I send out an email with a “blog post roundup.” I personally prefer email and tend to read those blogs more frequently that use email notification.

But the news is not all good for email marketing. According to DoubleClick, 64.7% of all legitimate email being sent (based on their own customers’ stats) is never opened. Email delivery is cited as the #1 email marketing headache.

The good news is that email marketing has a terrific Return on Investment (ROI) bringing in $15.50 per dollar spent on a campaign according a report in Email Sherpa. http://www.emailsherpa.com/emailblog.cfm?ID=360

That $15.50 per email-marketing dollar spent is roughly 17% more than in direct-mail campaigns and 73% more than telemarketing campaigns.

eMarketer reports that email is still a powerful marketing tool if used well in a new report, “Email Marketing: How to Improve ROI.” http://www.emarketer.com/article.aspx?1003369

Some points it notes:
71 percent of US online advertisers used email marketing in 2004, while 77 percent using paid search.
Despite spam and email overload 45 percent see email as a good way for companies to stay in touch with customers.
Customer retention and increased loyalty is the main objective for email marketing among 63 percent of surveyed marketers
62 percent also see email as a way to acquire new customers.
Email volume in the US is expected to rise from over 2 trillion message this year to nearly 2.7 trillion by 2007.

Even though both email spam and email delivery are on the rise, end-users are getting used to spam and it’s bothering them less than it used to.

The Marketing Sherpa report also notes that 91% of US Internet users use email on a regular basis, while roughly 4% use RSS feeds on any sort of basis at all.

It suggests that publishers do test RSS, but recommends that they not treat RSS as “shovelware for email content” because it is a new medium.

Other disadvantages it notes for RSS publishers is the challenge of metrics.

“No deliverability, open rates, hard vs soft bounces. No a/b tests, no usability tests, no offer tests, no recency/frequency tests, and multivariable testing…”

“The kind of data that marketers and publishers rely on to make business, content, and marketing decisions for email campaigns is almost entirely lacking for RSS at this time,” says the report.

So if you’re wondering what you should publish – a blog or an email newsletter – I suggest you do both.

Or at least publish a blog with email notification built in. Remember, your list is still your most valuable asset online.

Keep either Email or RSS out of your marketing toolbox and you’re losing out on a significant portion of your audience.

RSS has other advantages that email does not have – like being able to syndicate your content across the web. It can be a very useful tool for building link popularity – if you do it right.

As a marketer you do need to start brushing up on your knowledge of RSS and a good place to start is here. http://ebizwhiz-publishing.com/rss-blogging.htm

About the Author

Priya Shah is the CEO of eBrand360. She writes the Marketing Slave blog and publishes an internet marketing newsletter.

This article may be reprinted as long as the resource box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

Despite the fact that the World Wide Web has created a huge growing market for writers, freelance writing jobs are still not easy to come by. Or are they?

How do you explain the fact that many leading online writers have more freelance writing jobs than they can possibly handle. And all the clients are more than willing to pay the price that they have asked for?

You are about to discover the magic formula most of these writers use to land many more jobs than they can possibly handle. They then have to go through the pleasurable process of selecting which particular freelance writing jobs they want to do (obviously the ones that they will enjoy doing most).

It is really very simple. All you need to do is start by setting up a page advertising your online freelance writing services. Write about it in an attractive manner that will attract freelance writing jobs for you. Include the price or fee you wish to charge per article or freelance writing job.

Once you have finished doing this, the next step is to simply get as many other sites and blogs to link to this page in your blog or site, as possible. This is much simpler to achieve than you think. In a moment I will give you a simple technique on how to do this, but first I would like to emphasize a very important point.

It is absolutely critical that you consistently continue to build up the number of links pointing to your site for a s long a period as you can. The nature of links is such that at times some of your busiest will suddenly run dry. Thus the only way to maintain a constant flow of high traffic through your links is to keep on accumulating them consistently all the time.

Christopher Kyalo is a successful online writer and entrepreneur. Read the rest of this article at his freelance writing jobs blog.

“One in two people between the ages of 55 and 75 will need long term care in a nursing facility or at home, with the assistance of a nurse or other health services provider.

“Some will break their hips and others may develop Alzheimer’s, but still, the statistic is one in two.

“How many of you have a long-term care health plan in place that enables you to choose to be treated in your own home or in a facility of your choice?

“How many of you can afford the hundreds of dollars a day, six thousand dollars per month and more, year after year without selling most if not all of your assets or becoming a burden to your families?”

Before you get swept up in responding to these devices let me say that I’ve just exposed you to TWO great ways of opening a speech: (1) The Startling Statistic and (2) The Direct Question.

For time management purposes, I blended them, but you could use either one to grab your audience’s attention. And that word definitely applies to the purpose of using a special technique to begin your talk.

You want to develop what is termed, “A Grabber.”

Ideally, this will snap people out of the doldrums and focus their attention right away.

Moreover, especially if you’re in a commercial setting, and your purpose is to sell, these tools help you to establish a need and its significance, right off the bat.

Most well prepared speaker will have statistics and questions somewhere in their talks, but somewhere isn’t good enough. They need to be strategically placed.

For example, the other evening I was assessing the skills of a group of financial services marketers that use the platform to sell senior citizens–you guessed it–Long Term Health Care.

But instead of placing the devices rightly, they erred by burying them in the body of the talk.

Still, that statistic that one in two will need this care is attention-getting.

Why wait until you’re a half-hour into the chat to mention it?

Journalists call this habit of inserting the juiciest morsel too late, “Burying the lead,” and watchful editors catch this flaw over and again.

By insisting that you have a strategic grabber, you’ll avoid this tendency, make the most of your research and subject, and be much more persuasive and successful with audiences!

Former New York governor, Alfred E. Smith is quoted as saying “If you can make people laugh, you can make them think, and make them like and believe you.”

The BBC says a regular Web user has the attention span of a goldfish. Nine seconds. Are you still reading? Congratulations. You’re a biped. But now what?

Growing evidence shows that… I don’t need to cite scientific studies. We all know that people like to laugh. But did you know that humor in your company’s Web content can actually strengthen your brand identity, improve customer relations and even help make the sale? Being funny has clear benefits, among them the Four R’s:

• Reason
• Relaxation
• Rapport
• Retention

Reason

There’s enough writing on the Web that if you read 24 hours a day for the rest of your life, you won’t even scratch the surface. People with limited time–like your customers–are very selective in what they’ll take the time to read. Mostly, they just scan a page. Therefore, you must give them a compelling reason to slow down and savor every word.

Relaxation

Do you like to shop while the salesman breathes down your neck? People have enough stress without you adding to it with a high-pressure sales speech. While you want a sense of urgency, you’re more likely to win a person over with a more laid-back approach. And one way to make them relax is to give them a smile.

Rapport

Humor builds rapport with your customers. The Web is a one-to-one communication. When a customer has an “Aha” moment, that second when she “gets it,” a connection is made. Humor open lines of communication on a personal, genuine level.

Retention

People remember what makes them laugh, because it’s a good memory.

Many executives shy away from humor for fear of offending someone, or demeaning their brand. But look at that most famous measure of advertising effectiveness, the Super Bowl ad. Most of them are built to make us laugh. Humor is a great marketing tactic. It plays an important part in daily life. Why not use it to grow your business?

[From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters and sitcoms at www.clickok.co.uk and our isolation and identification of more than 188 stages of the Hero's Journey that you need to know about...]

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

and more…

Sample Stages: Alien (1979)

• Context using text and visuals [we learn about the Nostromo].

• Ordinary World: the crew wake up; calm before the storm.

• Introducing characters, motivations, status, relationships [Ripley et al wake up and eat].

• Herald: Ash tells Dallas that Mother wants to see him.

• Call to Adventure [Mother tells Dallas they're on a detour].

• Hero’s capabilities [Ripley knows it's not the right system].

• Refusal of the Call [Dallas tells the crew that they're on a detour; they don't like it; Hawks and Doves polarized].

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

You maybe know how crucial uploading your company’s online video is. For an organisation’s marketing manager, online video is a worthy means that can help to capture your customers’ attention & double the overall number of visits to your site. Short format video commercials are extremely effective in attaining the target customers’ relatively short attention. Furthermore, if codes are built-in and online video sharing is promoted, Internet videos can be a good way to get one-way incoming links and thus positively affect your businesses position on the search engines. Visit the Vidify website for cost-effective video production and distribution solutions.

In reality, promotional videos have turned out to be an excellent source for business or self promotion. The following are a couple tips to circulating your own Internet video clips.

Firstly, you can post your short format videos on your own company web site; however this would entail you to make your own video hosting arrangements. Ask your online hosting solutions provider if video downloading or video streaming services are supported.

Video downloading is where your visitors need to download your Internet video clip to their laptops hard drive. They need to download the promotional video to their own computers before they can play it using their computer’s video player or a downloadable video player software. There are lots of video downloading service companies that cost nothing. There’s also a progressive downloading mechanism where your web visitors can play the promotional videos whilst downloading them.

Whereas video streaming on the other hand absolutely does away with the demand to download the Web video clips and permits immediate playback so it presents the most convenience to your viewers. Naturally, getting a video hosting merchant that supports video streaming can cost you a pretty penny.

Finally, the more fashionable way to distribute online videos is posting your sites to video distribution websites that possess their own video hosting platform. These web sites cost you nothing to join & will from time to time give you money post video material. What’s more, also have a huge market base and grasp; for example, YouTube gets about ten million users every month.

Every week, there are another several webmasters jumping on the
bandwagon and opening their own article directory. These article
directories are each developed on different software platforms.
There are several article directory platforms available now, and
others are in the pipeline.

THE ECONOMIC ENGINE OF ARTICLE DIRECTORIES

These days, most article directories exist to offer advertising
space to others. Some utilize Google Adsense at:
http://adsense.google.com/ . Some are utilizing the newest
competitor in this field, Yahoo’s Publisher Network (YPN) at:
http://publisher.yahoo.com/ . Others are using any of a number of
competing ad networks including the 7Search program which is
actually hosted at: http://www.pay-per-search.com/ . Another
contextual ad network is Chitika at: http://www.chitika.com/ .

A few article directories are using their sites to deliver
advertising for their own products and services.

For each of these sites, the content is hoped to bring traffic to
the website via the search engines. And, the website owners hope
that the web surfers will arrive to read the articles, and then
click their links or purchase their wares.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ARTICLE DIRECTORIES

For years, posting reprint articles on your website has been a
good, solid method of getting targeted traffic to your website.

There are directories that serve the publishing community by only
listing articles that have been pre-approved by their authors to
be available for reprint by ezine publishers and other
webmasters.

A few examples of the bigger reprint article directories include:

http://www.EzineArticles.com/
http://www.GoArticles.com/
http://www.ArticleCity.com/
http://www.Articles4Reprint.com/
http://www.Articles411.com/
http://www.IdeaMarketers.com/

These are only a few examples of the article directories, where
you as the writer can go to place your articles, and the ezine
publisher and the webmaster can go to find content they can use
in their ezines or websites.

There are other free reprint article directories who present
articles for reprint to publishers and webmasters, but these
directories are a by-product of a paid article distribution
services. Those reprint article directories can be found at:

http://www.Isnare.com/
http://www.SubmitYourArticle.com/
http://www.EzineTrendz.com/articles.htm
http://Content.thePhantomWriters.com/

The third type of article directories are niche content websites.
Most of these directories do not have the permission to re-offer
articles for reprint. Even if they do, this is not their focus.

Their focus is on helping their visitors answer questions
pertinent to their specific needs. They provide content to their
visitors on their pre-defined and specific niche topic.

A few examples of this type of website include:

http://www.Publish101.com/ – Business, Health & Self-Improvement
http://www.HillsOrient.com/ – Online Marketing
http://www.CapeHostPro.com/ – Business and Computing
http://www.InvisibleMBA.com/ – Education
http://www.HardwareHell.com/ – Computer Support
http://www.AllThingsFrugal.com/ – Saving Money

WHERE MOST NEW ARTICLE DIRECTORIES GO WRONG

Where most new article directories go wrong is the same place
most new webmasters go wrong.

Hey, even I was guilty of this when I first came to the internet.
I did not know what exactly I wanted to do online. I just knew
that I wanted to make money online.

So, what did I do?

I did the same thing most new webmasters do. I tried to be
“everything to everyone”!

Then one day, I decided to start an ezine. That actually worked
out well for me. I ran the WindstormComputing.com ezine for a
couple of years, until I just ran out of time to keep it going. I
let the ezine fall into disuse, while I focused my time and
efforts on making money.

The ezine itself was not the platform for making an income, but
it did help to launch me into a real money making venture. The
ezine gave me the confidence to begin writing articles, which
helped me to create my own specific niche on the internet.

CAN ANY WEBMASTER HOPE TO BE EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE?

There is no one website on the internet that can be “everything
to everyone”.

Some have tried to be “everything to everyone” (Yahoo.com,
MSN.com), but no internet user spends all of their time on one
site, not even on Yahoo or MSN. They still occasionally use the
Yahoo or MSN search to find another website to visit. They still
occasionally use Yahoo and MSN’s competitors to find other
websites to visit.

If Yahoo and MSN cannot be everything to everyone, why would you
think that you can? They have millions to spend on advertising to
help them to become the “destination” website of the internet,
and still they cannot pull it off.

THE NICHE RULES THE INTERNET

Large or small in stature, the most successful websites on the
internet focus on a niche.

Think about the following niche websites and their focus:

http://www.Cnet.com – Computers and Technology
http://www.Travelocity.com/ – Travel
http://www.Ebay.com/ – Online Auctions
http://www.Overstock.com/ – Product Closeouts

Websites and article directories that take the decision to focus
their presence on a “niche” will always outperform the website
and article directory that tries to be “everything to everyone”.

DECIDING ON THE NICHE

It is hard sometimes to pick your niche.

Honestly, you should try to pick a niche that is consistent with
what you enjoy.

There is no point in creating a website that you will not enjoy
managing. If you pick a topic that bores you, your website will
soon bore you, and you will slowly begin to let it fall to
neglect.

I know a lady who has built a successful internet business around
her love for kitty cat knick-knacks. She buys and sells more
kitty cat knick-knacks than you might imagine. She runs her
business almost exclusively through Ebay.

For her, there is a thrill every day when she begins her day. She
is able to buy the kitty cat goodies she wants, but she buys them
in bulk and then sells off all but the one she keeps for her own
collection. The most exciting part of her day is when the UPS man
knocks on her front door.

Some niches will generate a better income than others.

It is not enough to pick a topic that you will enjoy. You will
also need to make a determination as to whether your chosen niche
has the capacity to generate a nice income for you.

If you are trying to determine the financial incentives for
contextual advertising, this 7search tool will give you some idea
as to what pays well on their network:
http://7search.com/scripts/searchterms/top_paying.asp?n=500

If your chosen niche looks promising in the financial arena, what
is the level of competition in your niche?

THE NICHE INSIDE OF THE NICHE

Every day, new sites pop up addressing the internet marketing
niche. To put this in perspective, check out Google with the
search terms “internet marketing”:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=%22internet+marketing%22

With more than 21 million sites containing the words “internet
marketing”, one can assume, rightly so, that this is a market
with tons of competition.

That is why the most successful internet marketing companies
focus their niche to an even tighter definition, such as: “search
engine optimization” or “natural links seo”.

SUCCESS IN YOUR CHOSEN NICHE

When you find a niche that is being served by fewer competitors,
it is much easier to become the best in your niche.

Check out the competition in your chosen niche, before taking the
leap. In most of the smaller niches, it is far too easy to become
the very best resource in your category.

Number one search results become easier to accomplish because you
have fewer competitors.

Top search rankings are also easier to accomplish, because the
search engines like Google prefer to point their users to tightly
niched websites that carries the information their users are
requesting. The tighter your focus, the more Google will like
your website for your keyword phrases.

CHOOSE YOUR NICHE TO OPTIMIZE YOUR SUCCESS

If you are ready to take the leap into your first website or
article directory, don’t make the mistake of failing to properly
define yourself.

I know that you want to grow quickly. But, if you choose to take
in all content on all topics, you will only hurt your long-term
prospects.

Accepting content on all topics may help your website might
grow faster, but it will also minimize your ability to attract
targeted traffic. Always remember that true success will be found
in the niche.

Copyright Bill Platt – All Rights Reserved. Reprints allowed with article and resource box unedited. If you post this article on a website, you must set the links up as hyperlinks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Bill Platt is the owner of http://www.LinksAndTraffic.com

• When you are tired of the struggle of the link building process,
  it might be time to consider our “Links And Traffic” services.

• When you are ready to employ more Natural Linking Strategies in
  increasing your link popularity, “Links And Traffic” can help.

• When you are ready for your links to actually generate
  click-through traffic, we are here.

This is not a link rental
system or a reciprocal linking scam. We Guarantee our results.

You have heard about how much traffic, prospects, publicity and profits article writing can produce. At the same time, the thought of writing an article leaves you frozen.

Here are 7 simple tips to get you started on your very first article.

Tip 1 – Identify a specific niche within your area of expertise.

With whom do you work? Who is your ideal client? This is an important step because if you are not clear on who is in your niche, you can’t be clear on to whom you are writing and marketing.

Tip 2 – Identify a specific pain or problem your niche experiences.

What keeps people in your niche up at night? What do they worry about? What problem would they most like solved?

Tip 3 – Make a list of 7 tips you could offer your ideal client to help them with their problem.

Simply write down 7 suggestions, tips, tools, or solutions that speak to the specific pain.

Tip 4 – Pick one of these tips and add a few more lines of information.

Explain your tip, give an example, tell a story. Think of it as adding some meat to the bone of your tip.

Tip 5 – Do this same thing for each of your six other tips.

Just go down your list of tips and add some more information for each of your tips.

Tip 6 – Write an introduction to your 7 tips.

You want to write your introduction in a way that demonstrates to the reader that you get it about their pain and problem.

Tip 7 – Write a conclusion to your 7 tips.

Wrap it up. Make a clear statement about the benefits of using your 7 tips.

There you have it – your first article.

Bonus tip – You can do this over and over again for more prospects, publicity and profits.

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscribe to our monthly Article Writing & Marketing Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

One of the old saws of public speaking says that you should ‘Tell em what you’re gonna tell ‘em. Tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em what you told ‘em.’ When you want to make a point during your presentation, you can use a similar formula. You tell ‘em the point, illustrate the point, then tell ‘em the point again. This formula, however, can seem boring and redundant if you don’t spice it up a little. One way to do it is to use humor. Here’s the formula:

1. Make your point.

2. Illustrate your point (in our example below we’re using a humorous two-liner, but you could use props, humorous props, funny stories, serious stories, case studies, etc.)

3. Restate your point.

Here’s an example where your point is ‘The Importance of Communication.’

1. First make your point by saying, Accurate and clear communication is an important part of our everyday lives.

2. Then illustrate your point. In this case use a humorous two-liner. It’s like the student pilot who was asked over the radio to state his altitude and location. He said, ‘I’m five feet nine and I’m in the left seat.’

3. Then restate your point in a slightly different manner by saying, You can see how what we may think is clear communication could be interpreted incorrectly especially when people are under pressure.

When you use humor in a public setting . . . especially when you are speaking to a business audience, or any audience who is not specifically there for humor, make the humor reinforce your point and you will get a much better response.

Copyright © 1998 – 2005 Advanced Public Speaking Institute

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book “Wake ‘em Up Business Presentations” and “Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing.” It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his clients’ needs. http://www.antion.com

Advanced Public Speaking Institute
3105 Sergin Ct.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
(757) 431-1366
Fax (757) 431-2050
Contact: cmckinney@public-speaking.org
http://www.GreatPublicSpeaking.com

Visit our Blog at http://www.GreatPublicSpeaking.BlogSpot.com