Speakers delight in presenting information to live audiences. Audience interaction encourages speakers to perform comfortably before various size groups. Small stage, large stage or living room setting is insignificant as long as the speaker can gauge the audience reaction and adjust accordingly.
Video attracts attention and personalizes your message. To the outsider, producing a video may seem even easier than speaking to a live audience. Not so to a professional speaker. We are people oriented.
Performing in front of a camera rather than a person presents an entirely new challenge. The connection with the audience must be perceived and imagined rather than experienced. One of the techniques I have found most valuable is placing myself mentally in the audience setting and speaking as if they were in front of me in a casual living room environment. Others place the picture of a loved one next to the camera and pretend they are speaking to them. Still others have the camera lens peer through the mouth or eye of the picture. If you are fortunate enough to have a live person managing the camera, great; I am happy for you. I do not have that luxury.
Remember the first time you stood in front of a live audience? If you resemble the typical person, the knees shook, the voice wavered and palms perspired. In Toastmasters, that first speech is called the “icebreaker.” Even though it is only three to five minutes, it may seem M U C H longer. Relax, video is easier. With a video you have retakes and edits. Now that is a huge plus for video over live performance.
Ok, now you are starting to relax. Yes, relaxing is highly advisable. Relax your shoulders, put a smile on your face, and relax your hands. Remember, you are speaking to a small group of people who really want to know what you have to say.
Personally, I prefer to stand and move within a small area when I record a video. Since the camera is stationary, I have a limited stage area to remain on camera. Others prefer to sit as if they were in an office, living room or seated at the kitchen table.
There are various backgrounds preferred. I have been told to select a plain white background to avoid distracting from the message. It is generally accepted that a solid color shirt or blouse is preferable to a wild print. White on white and you disappear into the background – never desirable for a speaker to be the “invisible man or woman.”
Cameras are so diverse that we could write several chapters on cameras. As your first venture into video, perhaps a simple Flip HD Ultra will be sufficient. It takes excellent quality video, is easy to use and inexpensive. You are not competing for the cinematography award at the academy awards; you are presenting a short message.
A tripod makes it much easier. Gorilla pod makes a short, flexible, very inexpensive tripod. Wrap it around a pole, stand it up on three legs, or fold it over a ledge, it bends. In addition it costs less than lunch for one at a nice restaurant.
Two to five minutes seems to be the generally accepted time frame. Turn the camera on, walk to your desired location, speak and walk back and turn the camera off. Easy. Right? Take a few takes if you feel more comfortable with choices.
With a Flip camera, you simply plug the camera into the usb port on your computer and download. Next download from the Flip software to your computer with one click of the mouse.
Open the location on your computer – mine is the month in which I recorded it. Click on the image, trim off the beginning and ending so all that shows is your message. You are trimming off the section where you were walking back and forth to the camera. Choose a title, usually the same title as the article you were recording. Save.
Click on the edited image, export to your video file and upload to YouTube. Use the keywords from your article and a brief description. You are done. Recording a video really was not traumatic after all.
If you would like a step by step sequence on the uploading, editing and publishing of the video, contact me. Leave your contact information and comments in the “contact Elaine” section of Elaine4Success.com.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Articles that Sizzle
Speakers enhance their credibility by establishing themselves as an authority on their chosen topic. One of the easiest and most cost effective ways to accomplish this feat is through writing value laden articles.
Delivering an effective, well organized speech requires preparation. An experienced speaker never stands in front of an audience and just starts talking. Lack of planning, preparation and practice mark an amateur, not a professional.
Writing an effective article requires the same level of planning and preparation or even more. Why more? As the keynote speaker, you have a captive audience. As an article author, you must attract that audience to you.
Step one requires a decision on the specific target audience you choose to attract. To attract a target audience of corporate executives, you would select a topic which would not only prove interesting to them but also enhance their performance. Select a title which catches their attention. Remember they receive hundreds of emails every day. Most corporate executives develop an extremely fast “delete” response for unimportant emails. Personally, I have perfected the “no thank you,” “delete,” response. If the subject line does not strike a curiosity response or the sender’s name is unfamiliar, I have the fastest delete click in the west. You thought Doc Holiday had a quick draw? It pales in comparison to the speed of my delete click.
Step one – select your target audience
Step two – select a topic which interests and enhances performance
Step three – craft a subject line which sizzles interest and immediate attention
Step four – compose a value laden message with just enough levity to keep them reading. No one continues reading dry textbook prose if they have a choice of something informative and fun.
One of the major keys to article writing rests in the keywords sprinkled throughout the article. Remember with a keynote speech, you have a captive audience. Article writing requires that you attract your target audience. In order to attract your ideal audience, think like they think. If you were a corporate executive searching for information on the internet, what words would you type into the search query?
Scratching your head for ideas? Go to www.google.com and type in a test word such as “effective.” The list of effective communication, effective leadership, effective meetings, effective teaching, effective time management, effective communication skills and effective listening appears. These are the most common searches beginning with the word effective. Select one of those areas and enter it in https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Perhaps you selected “effective leadership.” This will not only list related terms, but also indicate the local and global monthly search volume for each term. In addition, it will inform you of the advertiser competition for each term. Obviously the goal of high search volume and low competition is ideal.
Most articles range from 450 to 750 words. Positive, impactful and entertaining content keeps the reader coming back and searching for you.
Establish yourself as an authority by not only writing engaging articles but speaking about a subject which you have thoroughly researched or know from personal experience. Just as one of the cardinal rule of speaking is to speak about something you know this same principle applies in writing.
Once you have written a true “page turner” article, the next step is publishing it where others will have the opportunity to enjoy the content. We will talk about that in our next session. Come visit me at Elaine4Success.com. Leave your contact information.
I salute you at the beginning of your effective writing career.
Delivering an effective, well organized speech requires preparation. An experienced speaker never stands in front of an audience and just starts talking. Lack of planning, preparation and practice mark an amateur, not a professional.
Writing an effective article requires the same level of planning and preparation or even more. Why more? As the keynote speaker, you have a captive audience. As an article author, you must attract that audience to you.
Step one requires a decision on the specific target audience you choose to attract. To attract a target audience of corporate executives, you would select a topic which would not only prove interesting to them but also enhance their performance. Select a title which catches their attention. Remember they receive hundreds of emails every day. Most corporate executives develop an extremely fast “delete” response for unimportant emails. Personally, I have perfected the “no thank you,” “delete,” response. If the subject line does not strike a curiosity response or the sender’s name is unfamiliar, I have the fastest delete click in the west. You thought Doc Holiday had a quick draw? It pales in comparison to the speed of my delete click.
Step one – select your target audience
Step two – select a topic which interests and enhances performance
Step three – craft a subject line which sizzles interest and immediate attention
Step four – compose a value laden message with just enough levity to keep them reading. No one continues reading dry textbook prose if they have a choice of something informative and fun.
One of the major keys to article writing rests in the keywords sprinkled throughout the article. Remember with a keynote speech, you have a captive audience. Article writing requires that you attract your target audience. In order to attract your ideal audience, think like they think. If you were a corporate executive searching for information on the internet, what words would you type into the search query?
Scratching your head for ideas? Go to www.google.com and type in a test word such as “effective.” The list of effective communication, effective leadership, effective meetings, effective teaching, effective time management, effective communication skills and effective listening appears. These are the most common searches beginning with the word effective. Select one of those areas and enter it in https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
Perhaps you selected “effective leadership.” This will not only list related terms, but also indicate the local and global monthly search volume for each term. In addition, it will inform you of the advertiser competition for each term. Obviously the goal of high search volume and low competition is ideal.
Most articles range from 450 to 750 words. Positive, impactful and entertaining content keeps the reader coming back and searching for you.
Establish yourself as an authority by not only writing engaging articles but speaking about a subject which you have thoroughly researched or know from personal experience. Just as one of the cardinal rule of speaking is to speak about something you know this same principle applies in writing.
Once you have written a true “page turner” article, the next step is publishing it where others will have the opportunity to enjoy the content. We will talk about that in our next session. Come visit me at Elaine4Success.com. Leave your contact information.
I salute you at the beginning of your effective writing career.
Back of the Room Sales
As a professional speaker, I do more than speak. Marketing myself as a speaker insures that the opportunities to speak will become a reality. Even if it is “word of mouth” marketing, it is still marketing. Of course personal referrals are excellent and highly coveted, but even those can not occur until someone hears you speak.
Marketing methods have evolved over the years. Most veteran speakers are familiar with speaker’s bureaus, printed brochures and even printed and bound books to sell from the back of the room. In many cases, the speaker fee pales in comparison to the profit from the back of the room book sales.
Hard copy books are expensive and time consuming to produce. Obtaining the material, organizing the material, refining the information into a chapter format, and proofreading the manuscript all take hours. Selecting a publisher, submitting manuscripts and being accepted consume even more time. Actually printing the book takes even more time. Distribution also requires time, effort and expense.
Perhaps considering an e-book would be more time expedient and cost effective. Accumulating, organizing, refining and proofreading the material occurs whether you are composing a speech or writing a book. The difference factor with an e-book is the time difference from this point forward. Selecting a publisher, submitting manuscripts, waiting for acceptance, printing and delivery time are all eliminated. Furthermore, the distribution time and expense are eliminated with an e-book.
A bound hard cover book looks nicer on the coffee table or in the bookcase than an e-book. Content remains the same. An e-book can be read on the computer or printed out to carry with you. Hard cover books are very transportable as well.
Another advantage of an e-book is that they are easy to edit. Time sensitive information may become obsolete between the writing to the distribution of a hard cover book. E-books can be revised in the blink of an eye and redistributed online immediately with the click of a mouse.
Self publishing has gained popularity in recent years in order to eliminate some of the time and expense factors of hard cover publishing. Caution! Self publishing still involves cost of production and distribution. Even though it eliminates the expense of selecting a publisher, submitting manuscripts and waiting for acceptance, other costs are totally the responsibility of the author who self publishes. Another factor to consider with self publishing revolves around the promotion of the book. Depending on the terms of the publisher, the publisher may absorb some of the publishing, distribution and publicity costs. With self publishing, these costs all remain with the author.
Setting aside the publication issues, all books require content. In John C Maxwell’s first book “Think on These Things” he wrote very short chapters. Most of his chapters were two or three pages long. Someone asked him how he arrived at the delightful idea of writing short chapters. His reply was, “It was my first book. I didn’t think longer than three pages. In fact, some of the chapters were two pages too long.” I rarely disagree with John Maxwell; however, I found his book delightful and informative.
The lesson to take from short chapters is that most of these chapters were article length.
Most speakers and writers start by composing articles. Most Ezine articles range from 450 to 750 words. As an expert author and platinum author on EzineArticles.com, my published articles number well over 100 – certainly enough content for a book.
My next article publication will discuss article content, article composition and target audience.
For more information on publishing and article writing, contact me at www.Elaine4Success.com. Together we will launch your author status and enhance your back of the room sales from your speaking engagements. Regardless of whether you self publish or find a publisher, I strongly encourage you to publish a book
Marketing methods have evolved over the years. Most veteran speakers are familiar with speaker’s bureaus, printed brochures and even printed and bound books to sell from the back of the room. In many cases, the speaker fee pales in comparison to the profit from the back of the room book sales.
Hard copy books are expensive and time consuming to produce. Obtaining the material, organizing the material, refining the information into a chapter format, and proofreading the manuscript all take hours. Selecting a publisher, submitting manuscripts and being accepted consume even more time. Actually printing the book takes even more time. Distribution also requires time, effort and expense.
Perhaps considering an e-book would be more time expedient and cost effective. Accumulating, organizing, refining and proofreading the material occurs whether you are composing a speech or writing a book. The difference factor with an e-book is the time difference from this point forward. Selecting a publisher, submitting manuscripts, waiting for acceptance, printing and delivery time are all eliminated. Furthermore, the distribution time and expense are eliminated with an e-book.
A bound hard cover book looks nicer on the coffee table or in the bookcase than an e-book. Content remains the same. An e-book can be read on the computer or printed out to carry with you. Hard cover books are very transportable as well.
Another advantage of an e-book is that they are easy to edit. Time sensitive information may become obsolete between the writing to the distribution of a hard cover book. E-books can be revised in the blink of an eye and redistributed online immediately with the click of a mouse.
Self publishing has gained popularity in recent years in order to eliminate some of the time and expense factors of hard cover publishing. Caution! Self publishing still involves cost of production and distribution. Even though it eliminates the expense of selecting a publisher, submitting manuscripts and waiting for acceptance, other costs are totally the responsibility of the author who self publishes. Another factor to consider with self publishing revolves around the promotion of the book. Depending on the terms of the publisher, the publisher may absorb some of the publishing, distribution and publicity costs. With self publishing, these costs all remain with the author.
Setting aside the publication issues, all books require content. In John C Maxwell’s first book “Think on These Things” he wrote very short chapters. Most of his chapters were two or three pages long. Someone asked him how he arrived at the delightful idea of writing short chapters. His reply was, “It was my first book. I didn’t think longer than three pages. In fact, some of the chapters were two pages too long.” I rarely disagree with John Maxwell; however, I found his book delightful and informative.
The lesson to take from short chapters is that most of these chapters were article length.
Most speakers and writers start by composing articles. Most Ezine articles range from 450 to 750 words. As an expert author and platinum author on EzineArticles.com, my published articles number well over 100 – certainly enough content for a book.
My next article publication will discuss article content, article composition and target audience.
For more information on publishing and article writing, contact me at www.Elaine4Success.com. Together we will launch your author status and enhance your back of the room sales from your speaking engagements. Regardless of whether you self publish or find a publisher, I strongly encourage you to publish a book
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