So You Think You Can Speak Contest

How would you like to speak at this year's National Speakers Association convention?  Imagine the exposure this could give to your business.

There will be a special session at the 2011 convention titled So You Think You Can Speak!, and one person will be crowned, NSA's Rising Star 2011.

The rules are simple: You must be a member of NSA for two years or less. You submit a video of three minutes or less, showcasing your best stuff to your Chapter President. Each Chapter will select their best contestant and submit one video to NSA headquarters. 

The winner will receive the title of winner of So You Think You Can Speak, recognition on the association website and Speaker magazine, a trophy and $1,000 credit towards future NSA events!  

 

Don't panic, the deadline has been extended until April 10th.  To enter, send your video clip to  tvguy@kenokel.com.

Meet Lynn Rose - Our March Presenter

March 26th, Lynn Rose will be speaking and coaching at The Florida Speaker's Association - www.florida-speakers.org - Anyone is welcome, come get the power of WOW, Speaking Fearlessly, Authentically and Powerfully. 

Lynn has trained Billion Dollar CEO's, Celebrities and Top Speakers in the Industry to those just starting out - all of whom have made life-changing quantum leaps in the power of their speaking and their impact.  Get to experience the power of this work firsthand for yourself with actual processes and coaching on the spot.

You DO NOT want to miss this! See you there! (you can learn more at: www.wowyouraudiences.com)

Homework for Saturday...

For those who are attending this Saturday's afternoon session with Dr. Ramirez (register here), you'll need to do some preparation ahead of time. During the session, he will teach you how to measure your return on investment from all of your social media activities.

The afternoon session will be very hands-on and interactive. All attendees will need to bring their elevator speech and speaker intro (100 word bio) with them (WRITTEN DOWN) as well as 5 specific targeted clients they are seeking in the first quarter of 2011 (also WRITTEN DOWN). The meeting room will need internet connect and those participating in the afternoon session will need to bring laptops and be able to log on to the internet

Objectives:

• Increase revenue
• Improve reputation-based marketing response
• Integrate network of on-line and in-person referral sources
• Increase introductions to qualified leads
• Reduce cost
• Improve response rate per dollar spent
• Optimize time focused on marketing and sales activities

Preview of January 22 meeting

Dr. Maurice Ramirez describes his presentations for our January 22 meeting:

The morning session will have a brief section on how to select the best (social media) platform for your business model, then concentrate on Facebook for the remaining 100 minutes as your members requested.

The afternoon session will be very hands-on and interactive. All attendees will need to bring their elevator speech and speaker intro (100 word bio) with them (WRITTEN DOWN) as well as 5 specific targeted clients they are seeking in the first quarter of 2011 (also WRITTEN DOWN). Those participating in the afternoon session will need to bring laptops and be able to log on to the internet.

I plan to have this program professionally video taped so please let your members know that their enthusiastic participation is most appreciated.

Happy Holidays,

Maurice

To register, go to www.florida-speakers.org

Note: The afternoon session is an optional presentation.

Speaker Boot Camp Preview #2

This is the event that will change your speaking career. Two days of intense learning. Information you can use right away.



To find out more and to register, go to www.florida-speakers.org

Natalia's Notes: Bruce Turkel

FSA General Notes
Our next meeting will be January 22
- Take our online poll to vote on which social media platform we’ll focus on for the morning session
- Afternoon session: how to measure your return on investment as a speaker in terms of social media

Speaker Bootcamp (February 26 & 27)
- Platform excellence – have your audience in the palm of your hand
- Selling from the back of the room
- Many more topics

Bruce Turkell Presentation (Building Your Brand)
Five Years Ago
- I’d had my business for 22 years in the business when we almost went out of business
- We were $45,000 debted for a "fast pay, slow pay, no pay" routine
- I wrote an article about what happened to us: "If you want to go into the professional ad agency, you need to get professional help. Not just psychiatric help but professional help from people who can help in your business (accountants, graphic designers, whatever you need). People who are experts/helpers in your business."
- I was asked to come speak for a group and Gordon McKenzie, the Creative Director of Hallmark Cards also spoke
- I found out just how much he was making (way more than me!)
- Speaking is a business - do your research!

Best way to learn to speak
- Get in front of a bunch of kids and speak (I went to colleges and universities) - be okay with the fact that it doesn't matter if they like you or not
- Watch speakers to learn how they do what they do
- Speaking: it's not about content, it's about playing a particular role: the charisma, the personality, the character
- Most important part: "Messaging: roles, issues" – it’s not about content
Example: Political debate: marketing battle
- "Hope and Change" for one side = consistent the whole time
- Kept selling different messages = not consistent the whole time
- "Pulling the plug on grandma" - healthcare blunder
First question: "What is your message? What is your issue? Tell me in three/five words. If you can, can you tell me in a way that I find compelling? If I hire you, will you bring value to my group and make my job easier?"

Assignment
- Write down 3-5 speakers you know are really good
- Write what know about them:
"We know they're really, really good"  almost irrelevant at this point
The trick is the first part of the sentence: "We know" (awareness)
“It's not what you know, it's who you know”  not true; it's who knows you! (That's where the success is.)

Getting the Message Out
- How do you get this message out so people know who you are?
- Branding
NOT just a logo, tagline, or catchphrase.
It is a way of telling people who you are before they see you.
It is a promise of a relationship.
Logos are important when they reinforce the message.
Ex: Starbucks - getting the free, unlabeled Starbucks vs. buying the $12 cup downstairs for the labeled cup

Three Components
*Issue (you) - who are you and what are you going to talk about that people care about?
*Brand (how people see you) - manifestation of that issue; what do I know comes with the decision if I hire this person?
*Distribution of message (blogging, PR) - how do you get the word out? Note: don't advertise; it is not the way to make money. Be "media agnostic" - stop worrying about the "distribution vehicle" and focus on getting the message out.

Issue
- How do you determine your issue?
- Use the Brand Positioning Pyramid
Bottom layer: Features
Next layer: POD (Point of Difference)
Next layer: Functional Benefits
Next layer: Emotional Benefits
Top layer: The extra, unidentifiable something
- As a speaker, YOU are the product, it is you - you win and you lose all by yourself
- You must create a persona, a product to sell - you must adapt that persona on the podium when you speak
Ex: Nexium
Features: gel, proto pump inhibitor (these can be pages of stuff)
POD: absolutely nothing; the same as all the other products on the market; the ONLY difference is that it is purple: "The Purple Pill" - religious color, uplifting, regale, and royal purple: "Ask your doctor for the purple pill."
Functional Benefits: stops your stomach from producing excess stomach acid (Most marketing stops here): here's what our product is, this is why it's different, this is what it does.
Emotional Benefits: I will feel better; I can eat whatever I want and feel better; I will be a better parent because I won't be in pain; I can travel when I couldn’t before (this is where the real money is)
Nexium is the most successful of all its competition.
Another example: Viagra ads.
Before: "Rinse, lather, repeat” was a great line
BEST LINE: "If you get a four hour erection..." for erectile dysfunction. Think about it: if a man is suffering from erectile dysfunction, that is being unable to maintain an erection, being told that one of the dangerous side effects may be an erection that lasts for hours, even though it is a “warning,” it is also a benefit.
- Very few companies "own colors"
Breast Cancer awareness with pink
Tiffany with powder blue (the only product you cannot buy in the store is the powder blue signature box)

Notes for when you fill out the Brand Positioning Pyramid for yourself
Be honest; include the bad stuff
Ask a friend to honestly tell you your benefits and help you fill out the pyramid
You do not have to share this with anyone BUT DO IT
Companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this
- Functional benefits: are easy; you MUST say these no matter what
- Emotional benefits: this is the key; you must make your audience feel better about themselves (not taking yourself so seriously); you cannot figure this out by yourself, you need people who will tell you the truth
Issue – all that stuff that you talk about; ends at the “functional benefit”
Brand – how you jump into the emotional benefits and become your message and issue

Speaker Types
- Two kinds of speakers: experts who are speakers; speakers who are experts at speaking
- Experts: real experts who have an actual background; "pseudo" experts who can talk about any subject they decide
- Experts who speak and who have real credentials - they are better because people know about you and believe you when you speak
- Speakers who are experts have a cap on how much money they can make - they are a dime a dozen
- If you talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk

Brand
- It is not a difficult procedure but it will take time and effort
- You may need to discard certain things in order to align your message and your brand (find a common thread)
- You must think of yourself as a product, not a person - you must be able to sell yourself to consumers – as a speaker, know that they are hiring you
- The key to building the brand is differentiation - you MUST differentiate yourself from the competition
Your competition is NOT the other person who speaks on the same thing you speak on
If you have no competition, then probably nobody else wants whatever it is you’re talking about

The Three As
- Automation: everything that CAN be automated/produced by a computer WILL be automated/produced by a computer
- Asia: anything that CAN be produced in the developing world for cheaper will be sent there. In this case, if a company can hire a new speaker who will do it for less money than you, THEY will get the job
- Abundance: there is too much of everything. There are things that we WANT but nothing that we NEED (true for speaking too) - Daniel Pink
The only way to get around this is to be Madonna/Lady Gaga – so unique that they cannot be automated, cheapened, or overproduced.
- We must separate ourselves from everyone else
- We must concentrate on the PROMISE, not the logo (which is the flag you put up)
- You are going to lose some people when you first make this internal shift because what you stand for may not be what other people are looking for (narrowing your focus will narrow your audience to those who are searching just for you)

Way to Build Your Brand
1) All About Them. Stop thinking about yourself! It's not about you, it's about your audience. ("I want to talk about you. What do YOU think about my hair?") How does your brand tell THEM how you are going to help them?
2) Hearts, then minds. Make an emotional connection with your consumer before you make an intellectual connection. Once I want you, I need all your credentials SO THAT OTHER PEOPLE CAN SELL YOU. (RTB - Reasons to Believe.)
3) Make it simple. We are so busy talking about all this complicated stuff: make it simple! Example: Volvo stands for safety. Volvo is a HUGE company that does a hundred other things, but when you say “Volvo,” the word that pops into your head is “safety.”
4) Make it quick.
5) Make it YOURS. What are you going to own that no one else in the business can own? What do you stand for? It does not need to be something you talk on either. Even if it's something you think is stupid. What you want is after you speak, for people to come up to you and already recognize you.
6) All five senses. We think marketing is about sight and sound but we make decisions with all of our senses. We are always first and last a sight person. How do you make it sensual? How do you make it something people taste? Smell? Get your audience involved. Use the senses to tickle emotion.
7) Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. When you figure it out, you say it over and over again. When you get sick of your message, people are just starting to get it. BUT you cannot be repetitive! You must update your message but there must be something to tie it all together. "I make my client's brands more valuable. We do not change what you do, we change your clients' perspective of what you do to pay you more money."

Distribution of Message
- How do you get the message out to people who need to hear it?
- You don't need a book, you need a BESTSELLING BOOK ($20-40K) - Books vs. Bestsellers
- "If you want to speak more, speak more ANYWHERE." Speak even for free because you WILL get more bookings from your audience
- Speaking is distribution - "Speaking begets speaking"
- Price integrity: however much you get paid for what you do

Two ways to do Distribution of Message
- Online (theoretically free): pay in time and effort
- PR (Public Relations)
- If you decide you want PR, research the newspaper reporters you are interested in, call them up, tell them who you are and say, "I am not selling anything and you don't need to write about me. I just want to take you to lunch and get to know you." Create relationships.

Online
- Blog, social media
- As a speaker, you MUST write because you think and organize what you talk about when you write
- Writing is a way to think quietly and come up with things that you feel strongly about
- When I started, I wrote purely business marketing blogs and I thought that was what people cared about
- I now write personal stories with a marketing bent

Blogging
1) Must come out on a regular basis (if not, people won't know when to expect it and you won't write it!) – the best is once a week.
2) If you can tie business, your personal life, and how it applies to your readers - THAT will have the highest return.
3) Be media agnostic: it's not about being a blog, Google, or anything else. It's ALL of it - I don't sell anything on mine but Randy Gage is always selling something on his. Forget about the medium – use what works for you and what you will update consistently and often.
Should I video chat, podcast, or blog? YES.
Trademarks are essentially worthless - your information has to update regularly. Don’t get stuck on “owning” something.

Reporters
- Build a relationship and tell them what you do and how it is important to their readers and how you can help them by giving the reporter information.
- Become a source for them. Get into the "Golden Rolodex."
- Trick: NEVER EVER LIE TO A REPORTER. There is a difference between being factual and being truthful. Let them see you are an unblemished source.
- PR: Don't call reporters on deadline, don't yell at them, don't take it personally, don't demand corrections.
- You may have a hard time finding them so check out Facebook and LinkedIn.
- Speak in sound bytes. Do the Pyramid exercise to figure out how to speak in sound bytes.
- Remember that you have no right to demand a story from reporters.

Required Reading
"I Can See You Naked" by Ron Hoff
"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

January Meeting Survey

For our January 22 meeting we'll be learning about social media from Dr. Maurice Ramirez. For the morning session, he will discuss one social media tool. The goal is to really focus in on how to use the platform to help your speaking business. We want to go beyond the basics.

Please pick the platform that interests you the most. While there will be a winning entry for the meeting, all of the responses will help us shape future programming.

FYI: We will likely have an optional afternoon session about how to measure you social media return on investment.

Click here to take the one question survey.