Tag: internet
Improve Comedy for Speakers
Learn how to use fundamental ideas from Improvisational Comedy to be a better, more engaging, more confident, and more dymanic speaker.
Public speaking. For some, the mere thought of getting up in front of a group of people and presenting a speech is more terrifying than heights, snakes, or even death. Imagine how terrified those people would be if they were asked to get in front of an audience and speak with nothing prepared in advance ñ no script, no speech, no nothing.
Sound crazy? Well that is what Improvisational Comedians do every day. Improvisational (or ìImprovî) Comedy is a form of theater where a group of actors take the stage with nothing prepared in advance and use audience suggestions to create instant comedy. If you have ever seen the popular television show, ìWhose Line Is It Anyway?î then you have seen Improv Comedy.
The skills that allow an improviser to create instant comedy can immensely help any speaker to be more comfortable and powerful from the platform. Here are three reasons why, if you want to be a more effective speaker, you must learn how to be a great improviser:
1) Improv Comedy, at its core, is about self-expression. An Improviser has only himself on an empty stage. Every idea he puts forth comes from inside of him. The best improvisers realize this and trust their instincts and let their ideas flow out. Similarly, the best speakers realize that the audience is there to see them. Rather than hide behind other people’s ideas or style, they are 100% themselves as they speak. Many speakers make the mistake of taking acting classes to be more ìdramaticî as they speak. The result is a speaker that looks fake and wooden. Audiences don’t want ìdramatic;î they want natural. Practicing improv comedy techniques can help you be much more natural.
2) Improv Comedy is an interactive format. Improvisation may be the only art form where the audience is present at the time of creation. As a result, the audience’s needs, wants, and mood can be taken into account to direct the content. Great improvisers feed off of a crowd’s energy and build content the audience appreciates. The performer pays attention to the audience and makes subtle adjustments as she goes. Speakers would do well to adopt this approach. Most speakers prepare their speech in a vacuum and deliver it exactly as practiced. However, every audience is different. If a speaker pays attention to the audience as she is speaking, she can also make subtle adjustments to increase her effectiveness (adjusting pacing, energy, volume, etc) If you do this, not only will your speech be more powerful, but you will also develop that coveted ìrapport and connectionî with the audience.
3) Things will go wrong. A speaker who relies solely on what they’ve memorized will be easily thrown by the distractions that invariably happen. If time gets cut, or a cell phone rings, or a heckler demands attention, the speaker will have no response. To an improviser, distractions are just one more tool to use to make their point. A key improv attitude is to ìgo with the flow.î As a speaker, this attitude will allow you to be unflappable from the stage. You will be deemed a true professional, and audiences will admire your ability to handle interruptions.
These are just three simple ideas that are a powerful way in which improv comedy can make anyone a more powerful speaker. There are many more ways related to all aspects of speaking: content, delivery, storytelling, style, humor, etc, but these three are the perfect starting point.
If you have never done or used improv, then consider taking a class. Not only will you learn useful skills for speaking (and life), but it will be the most fun class you’ve ever taken!
Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
How To Communicate In His Love Language
Are you wondering how to communicate with that new man in your life? Or maybe you are just wondering about the next man in your life? New or old, it’s never too late to learn how to communicate in the language of love.
Maybe you’ve seen the tomboyish girl that somehow has men flocking around her. If you stopped turning green with envy for a moment, you’d notice why she was a man magnet. She just sort of fit herself into him, like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that he didn’t even know was missing.
Instead of rolling your eyes at that dazed and happy-in-love look he has on his face, why not look into how she did it? Learn these tips on how to communicate in a whole new way by getting to know his love language and speaking it fluently!
We all know that love is built on the solid foundation of communication. When we are in love we are on the same page as our lover. It’s a special level of communication that people in love have.
Some call it chemistry, but really, in order to even get to the chemistry stage you need to know his love language. For a clue as to what that might be, we need to understand how he relates to the world around him.
Everyone perceives their world with three senses – sight, sound and feelings. Psychologists have discovered that even though we use all three senses, one of these senses is always more pronounced. It doesn’t mean that it replaces the others, but if you pay attention, the more dominant one will reveal itself to you.
Asking questions is the easiest and fastest way to learn his language and since asking questions is the most common way to get to know someone or start a conversation, he’ll never suspect.
He’s just returned from a business trip. You ask about his trip. Pay attention to his answer:
1. If he’s visual he might say: the weather was terrible. I didn’t get to see the sun once!
2. An auditory guy will talk about sounds: we got the account, which was good. But the hotel I stayed at was too noisy.
3. He is a feeler if he answers something like: I have to admit; I’m not much into traveling alone. I get lonely when I visit new places.
Knowing a man’s love language is the key in how to communicate with him in a way that will make him feel that you are the missing piece to his puzzle. You’ll just fit. Of course, one question isn’t going to tell you. You’ll have to watch for a pattern to emerge.
Once you do find the prominent sense, you’ll want to speak his language. Talking with your visual man will be all about what you saw on the way over, while the auditory fellow will want to know about the new CD you just bought.
It doesn’t matter what your love language is. As long as you know how to communicate to him in his Love Language you’ll soon be the envy of all the other girls. That is, unless you tell them your secret.
Please fill in the The Complete Speaking Business Assessment for free assessment
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
Newbies Tips, Definitions, Download pages, and E-books
Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.
IS A….
COMPUTER: That thing thatís really clever but doesnít understand anything you tell it to do! It looks like a TV, but if you spend enough time in front of it, you will make money from it.
ISP: Internet Service Provider
SERVER: A computer that stores web page files and makes them available to the internet.
DNS: Domain Name Server, The address of the server, it looks like this ###.###.###.### or this, NS1.XXXXXXXX.COM (XXX = a word, and ### = a number)
DOMAIN:Is a unique set of characters used to identify a piece of cyberspace. These characters are called a ëDOMAIN NAMEí, NO TWO CAN BE THE SAME. They look like MMM.XXXXXX.com/net/web,etc..( MMM = www)
PARKED DOMAIN:A Domain name that has been registered but hasnít been HOSTED.
HOSTING: The service that provides a SERVER for a DOMAIN.
So we can see that a DOMAIN can be HOSTED on a SERVER and then files can be added to the ëDOMAINí and this will give you aÖ..
WEBSITE: All the files hosted on a server and are available on the internet using the unique ëDOMAIN NAMEí
WEBPAGE: Any ONE of the Files (pages) on a WEBSITE they each have an NAME that comes after the DOMAIN NAME. Like this; MMM.XXXX.com/NAME
URL: The address of any WEBPAGE
HTML: Is the base language from which web pages are made.
SOURCE CODE: Is HTML
Here are two of the most common questions from Newbies. One is technical the other is Marketing related.
How do I make my hyperlink open in a new window and why do I want that to happen?
HEREîS HOW in response to a question I received recently about creating a ëDownload pageí
It answers the above questions and gives some other valuable tips.
TIP #1
Hi, I clicked on your XXXXX link and found that it worked fine. However, it loaded the XXXXX page in the same window as yours, so I was taken away from your download page, very inconvenient for someone trying to download.
To fix it do this: Add ìtarget=_blankî into the code after the URL. Make sure you save your original page first and work on a copy, then when your copy is done upload it and test it, then save it as the original on your desk top, then upload the new original to your server. Done!
(In this example I use [ ] instead of V brackets, to make this publishable.)
Tip #2
Hereís a friendly way make prospects SAVE YOUR EBOOK full of your links on their computer.
If you don’t do this they might just look at the ebook in their browser and then close it. You will have lost them maybe for ever, but if you made them save it onto their hard drive; you will always get another chance, even if they remove themselves from your mailing list. The links are still in the E book on their computer, and who knows when they might open it again and go click!
HEREíS HOW: Just use this as a guide.
Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook. Then Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can easily find it. Make a note of the location that you’ve saved it to so you can easily access it again in the future.
NOTE: Add the “target=_blank” code to the “right click here” link, so that if they just left click and load to their browser at least your download page (with a link back to home) is still on their desk top!
WHY HAVE LINKS OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW?
Adding “target=_blank” to all links on a home page will keep the home page on the prospects desk top for as long as possible this will increase the chances of a sign up!
WARNING!!! DONíT use the code to open a new window on links back to your home page this will just annoy people.
Below, is a complete template for a typical download page. I have used ëí to indicate the hyperlinks. You should use ìtarget=_blankî on all links except the one that takes them home.
TEMPLATE
Step One: You will need XXsoftwareXX to read the E-book. If you do not have it installed on your computer, Please ëCLICK HEREí to get the software.
Step Two: “NAME OF THE EBOOK” ëRight Click Hereí and select ‘Save Target as’ or ‘Save Link as’ (Mozilla) option from the pop-up window to download the eBook.
Step Three: Save the eBook to a location on your hard drive where you can find it easily. Make a note of the location where you saved it, so that you can easily access it again in the future.
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
The 5 Ws Of Ebooks
Anyone browsing the Internet for information quickly encounters ebooks. Sometimes those electronic books are clearly identified by name and intent but other ebooks are so cleverly disguised that a reader may not even realize they are actually a book and not a web site or some other electronic document.
What exactly is an ebook? An ebook is simply an electronic book. Many ebooks today are found in pdf (or portable document format) but you can also find various word processing documents being used as ebooks as well as programs and text files that serve as ebooks. There are also some unique programs that create ebooks in a format specific to that program.
Ebooks (just like their print relatives) are documents containing words in a convenient package. Ebooks do also have the ability to secure or protect access, which means sometimes you can’t print an ebook or copy it while others can be copied and shared easily.
While many professional publishing companies now create electronic as well as traditional books, many ebooks are now created by individuals or small organizations. The readers who use ebooks are just as varied as those who create them. You can find electronic books in physical and electronic libraries and bookstores as well as throughout the Internet.
Ebooks are used to share information, teach, entertain, and sell or promote — just as are their print counterparts.
Ebooks have many advantages over print books. They are much more inexpensive to produce and can move from idea to finished product much more quickly as well. This also makes ebooks much easier and more cost-effective to keep updated. In addition, ebooks allow greater interactivity with the reader and the Internet.
However print books still retain the advantage in some areas. Some ebook formats are restricted in use to specific types of computer programs, web browsers or operating systems. Also, while computers and electronic devices are pervasive in much of the modern world there are still areas where a print book is more convenient or feasible.
For Internet marketers, ebooks can serve a variety of purposes. Ebooks can be created and packaged as commodities to sell, but for many Internet marketers, ebooks that are given away are a much more powerful tool. Creating useful ebooks that share free information that is attractive to a specific target audience can be a powerful viral marketing tool.
Creating an useful free ebook can help provide valuable advertising for any Internet marketer by establishing credibility and expert status which may well lead the reader to then visit the author’s web site and/or sign up for a newsletter. Some ebooks are created with a “soft sell” approach to achieve that goal while others use a “hard sell” approach and go for a sale within the book itself. If you create an ebook that includes valuable information that can be freely exchanged with others then it can, and will be circulated around the Internet and continuously work to promote its creator’s web site and products.
Ebooks can be a very valuable Internet marketing tool.
More info’s and free registrations (restricted to pros), please join our live seminar
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