Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Ten Speech Tips for Writing Powerful and Persuasive Presentation

Have you ever had to give a speech?

Do you remember that feeling? A knot in the stomach, sweaty palms and a panic attack!

Not a very pleasant experience. And yet, I'm sure your speech was a success because 90 per cent of a typical audience want the speaker to succeed.

Ten Speech Tips for Writing Powerful and Persuasive Presentation

Yet according to The Book of Lists, speaking in public is one of our greatest fears.

Much of this anxiety is due to a lack of confidence in writing and preparing a speech rather than in the delivery.

Giving a presentation can be a great way to build your business, influence public opinion or kick-start your career.

It is an excellent way to stand out from the crowd and make a real difference in people's lives.

What are the secrets of writing a powerful and persuasive speech for any occasion?

Here are 10 tips for turning a good speech into a great one!

1. Have a plan and set some objectives & outcomes.

There is nothing worse than not knowing what you want to achieve. Do you want to educate the audience, inform, inspire, motivate or touch their emotions? Always work out what you want to achieve before beginning the speech process.

2. Have a formal structure - beginning, middle and end.

Audiences love structure and the best speeches stick to this tried and true rule. As they say: "tell them what you're going to say, tell them and then tell them again".

3. Avoid having too much content.

Hands up those that are guilty of this sin. I know I am. I have lost count the number of technical presentations given by CEO's, managers, scientists, engineers, geologists and other professionals who have just put too much content into their presentations. Far too much for an audience to absorb - remember even the best audiences face information overload after 20 minutes.
How do you overcome the content crisis? See Tip # 8.

4. Define who your audience is and use the most appropriate communication
channels to reach them.

Analyse how your audience likes to take in information - do they like to be visually stimulated or do they enjoy just sitting back and listening. Or do they like to get involved, to touch and feel in a kinaesthetic way. Work out the best mix of visual, audio and kinaesthetic and use this in your speechwriting.

5. Research your speech using a range of sources.

Be a keen observer of the trends your audience is likely to be interested in and keep a file of interesting articles and information. If you are time poor- a few quick questions when meeting an audience just prior to a speech, such as "what are the issues facing your business/industry/association at the moment?" can really help target your presentation and build rapport.

6. Use personal stories, examples and metaphors to make intangible concepts
tangible.

In many cases you are trying to sell ideas and concepts in a speech. These are intangible and often difficult for the audience to grasp. Personal stories, examples and metaphors make the invisible visible.

7. Have a strong opening and closing.

People remember the opening - first impressions count! The closing is important as it should reinforce the key message you want the audience to go away with in their head after they have heard the presentation. Ending with a 'call to action' can be a powerful way to get your audience to act on your message.

8. Add value and extra detail through a handout.

Here's a tip: if you want to provide detail - put it in a handout! You can get far more content across in the written form than in a speech. Always refer to this in your presentation but hand it out after your speech so the audience is not distracted reading through it while you talk. There is nothing more soul destroying for a presenter to see the audience leafing through written notes rather than looking at you!

9. Use short words and plain English.

The short words are always the best words. Avoid jargon. Use active words instead of passive. This has far more impact in the minds of your listeners.

10. Evaluate and review on a regular basis.

There's nothing more powerful than to hear back a speech you've written. If you are writing a speech for someone else always try and hear the speech or at least get some feedback. Recording and listening back to a presentation is the fastest way to improve your skills.

Ten Speech Tips for Writing Powerful and Persuasive Presentation
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Thomas Murrell MBA CSP is an international business speaker, consultant and award-winning broadcaster. Media Motivators is his regular electronic magazine read by 7,000 professionals in 15 different countries. You can subscribe by visiting http://www.8mmedia.com. Thomas can be contacted directly at +6189388 6888 and is available to speak to your conference, seminar or event. Visit Tom's blog at http://www.8mmedia.blogspot.com

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Top Ten Tips for Writing a Professional Overview or Biography

A professional biography or overview, showcasing your background, experience and expertise, is a necessity for every business owner. This often overlooked marketing tool is an excellent way to introduce you and your business to potential clients and possible strategic business partners. Potentially, it might open up opportunities for speaking engagements, radio or television interviews, or a feature print article. While any information about you and your business is helpful, information that is presented in a professional, well-polished manner can make all the difference in how others perceive you. Consider these important points as you craft your own professional biography.

1. One page wonder.

Your professional biography should be a few paragraphs and kept to one page or less. One page is perfect for copying on the reverse side of a handout or flyer. Several paragraphs, left justified make it easier to read and skim.

Top Ten Tips for Writing a Professional Overview or Biography

2. First, second, or third person?

Always write your biography in the third person. That is, refer to yourself by your name or she/he as appropriate. It sounds more professional as it appears that a third party wrote the text. For example, "Alexandra has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and Time magazines."

3. Business in brief.

Not only do readers want to know what you do, but also they want to know who you work with - because they might want to work with you! A professional biography should include a sentence or two about your business niche (or niches) as well as the types of clients you serve. A modified version of your 30-second elevator pitch might be perfect.

4. And the winner is....

Make sure that you include a list of awards that you have received. Readers are interested in knowing about your talents and the organizations that recognize you for them.

5. Organizations.

Include names of the organizations, clubs, or associations to which you belong. A reader's interest might be highlighted at seeing that you belong to the same alumni association or professional business group. Again, these connections might possibly lead to some interesting and exciting business opportunities.

6. Certifications and designations.

Include any professional certifications or designations you hold. Make sure you write out their names in full, rather than use abbreviations. Not everyone might know that CMA stands for Certified Management Accountant. And, perhaps, in a different discipline, it might represent something else - like a Certified Materials Analyst. If you no longer hold a particular designation, but it has played a major role in who you are and what you do, don't hesitate to make a reference to it. For example, "Ann is a former Certified Data Processor and spent the last decade as an adjunct faculty member teaching higher mathematics at the University of Colorado, Boulder." Don't include abbreviations of college degrees, like MBAs as it looks unprofessional. The only exception to this would be for a Ph.D. designation.

7. Published?

Have you written any articles, books, e-courses or e-books? Self-published or not, your works add to your level of professionalism and credibility. Showcase them in your biography and you might earn additional royalties in terms of new clients or other opportunities.

8. Did I mention the media?

Have you been a guest on talk radio or television? Were you or your business featured or even mentioned in a newspaper article? If so, readers want to know. Again, these types of "mentions" add to your credibility and presence.

9. Call me any time.

People who want to know about you will read your biography for just that reason. And, if its compelling, rich, and includes the information they're interested, in, they'll want to contact you. Include complete contact information like your title (if any), name, address, telephone, fax, email, and website address. Make it easy to find this information by including it in the last paragraph of your professional overview.

10. Write, rewrite, and do it again.

After you have written your biography, edit, edit, and edit again. You may need to do a dozen or so revisions before you get it just right. Eliminate extra words, use descriptive words, keep the sentences short but varied in length, and write in the third person. Ask some friends to provide input as well. Make sure to revise your biography regularly to keep it up-to-date and refreshed.

Copyright 2004 by Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff.

Top Ten Tips for Writing a Professional Overview or Biography
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Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff is a business consultant, writer, speaker, Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and producer/host of Michigan Entrepreneur Television. Drawing on over 15 years of corporate experience, she coaches executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs on business and lifestyle issues and has been featured in print, radio and television. Her websites include http://www.virtualleverage.com, http://www.tarakachaturoff.com, and http://www.michiganentrepreneurtv.com

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Writing an Awesome Restaurant Resume

As a restaurant management recruiter I am constantly bombarded with resumes all day, every day, on weekends and holidays. It is amazing how many great managers out there can run a profitable restaurant operation inside and out, but they have no idea what to write when it comes time to shop for their next opportunity.

In the restaurant industry it isn't about where you went to school, what degree you have or what you like to do on your days off. Plain and simple is the best strategy for getting an interview in this field. You have to understand that the hiring managers who review your resume see more resumes than I do any given day. We are talking in the mid hundreds depending on how they have their needs and job hiring goals presented to the public. Many times a resume is passed over because it isn't user friendly or it is out of order chronologically. The worst thing I ever saw was a resume that stopped over 2 years ago with no explanation. Go ahead and file that one in the round outbox on the floor.

Before we get started let me tell you if you are not using Microsoft Word you will probably never get another job. Compatibility is the key here and whether you like it or not Word is the king of word processing software. Please don't try to reinvent the wheel using Word Perfect or something else obscure in the marketplace. When someone gets a file that can't be opened with their existing software they take the path of least resistance and delete it. They don't try and contact you via email and you just lost a potential career opportunity. So step one is always use Word or you will regret it later.

Writing an Awesome Restaurant Resume

The first thing a resume should have is your name centered in 14-point bold Arial font. Arial is easy on the eyes and it doesn't distort like some other fonts. Under that you want to put your address and phone numbers a smaller 10-point Arial. You do not need an email address on there and remember just because you have a cute or clever email address that your friends think is cool doesn't mean anyone else will. And for your sake please change the messages on your phones to something clear and precise and welcome in the job arena. This is not the time to express yourself!

The second thing you need is an objective statement, which looks great in 12-point Arial. I would suggest keeping the text size and font the same for the rest of the résumé. This objective description should be clear and driven. Don't ramble on for three sentences and think anyone will care, because they won't. For example, a nice statement about how you want to contribute to the bottom line profitability of a team using your past experiences often works well. Throw in some upward growth potential and you're on the right track.

Next is the most important part and that is experience. Starting from the present and going back is the only way to go. All you need here is the name of the company, your title and the dates (from past when to present when). Don't worry about exact dates, but do include months and the years obviously.

After that you will need to briefly bullet statements regarding actions while in that position. These should be one-sentence statements that are clear to the reader. Don't tell them you are a great manager because that is vague. Instead tell me why I should hire you. For instance, did you increase sales over a two-year period or did you increase sales by 12% over a two-year period using local store marketing and targeting repeat guest counts? Do you see the difference? One statement keeps you reading and one is clouded in vagueness. Take this and run with it on all other details such as labor, food and controllable costs. Any training and development of team members is also a very good example that you are part of a team and you care about their success. Because of this you will also be successful and it will help you delegate lesser jobs onto key hourly team members.

If you follow these guidelines you will probably have about 6 to 8 bulleted statements that should get you noticed. Repeat these steps for all your previous positions as well until you have described your last 5-8 years depending on the timeframe of your career. No one cares about what you did 15 years ago in this field. They want to see the most recent performance and some career progression.

As far as references go I would consider them a waste of space. No one is going to ever list a reference from a bad experience and hiring managers know this. If you have a great looking resume that flows and is widely acceptable you will be getting far more calls from interested parties than those others who don't invest their time upfront.

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GreatMgrs.com is a restaurant management recruiting firm specializing in the placement of managers in all capacities of the restaurant industry. From quick serve to casual and all the way up to senior level area supervisors or district managers, we can find the right candidate for any situation or job order. We also help the right management candidates find great and new opportunities that are not advertised to the public. We eliminate many unnecessary steps in the hiring process and get the candidate in front of the hiring manager more quickly than using the conventional wait and see tactics. The best part is it is FREE for the candidates! Email your resume to raymond@greatmgrs.com or Fax to 866.862.3547. Client companies feel free to email at the same address because we would love to be a part of your team and find you the next great leader!

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Friday, November 16, 2012

Writing an RFP (Request for Proposal)

A while back, a potential client provided me with some general details of the writing work he wanted me to do for his company. Then he asked me to send him a proposal.

Proposal?! I panicked as I tried to confirm with him what he meant by that since I had never done one before, at least not as a freelancer.

I must've not really wanted to pursue this opportunity since I didn't bother to do research or follow up with the company after submitting a contract instead of a proposal. A little time passed, I came across an article on writing RFPs (Request for Proposal). Ding! The light bulb went on. This guy verbally gave me his RFP and wanted a written response.

Writing an RFP (Request for Proposal)

When a company needs a project to be completed by a contractor or outside source, they write a RFP. This is a formal document describing the project, how the contract companies should respond, how the proposals will be reviewed, and contact information. Often, the company documents the submission guidelines to make it easier for them to compare responses. There are no specific standards or guidelines for creating the RFP, but government agencies usually strict standards they follow when conducting the proposal process.

Outside companies read the RFP and write a proposal (a bid) explaining how they can best provide and meet those needs. When writing the proposal, the company should closely follow the guidelines established in the RFP to avoid being removed from consideration for the potential project.

A typical proposal contains:

Executive summary - summary of the entire proposal Statement of need - why project is necessary Project description - How project will be implemented and evaluated Organization information Project schedule Budget Conclusion

My situation was an informal version of all this. The client gave me a high level overview of what I might do for him. If I knew then what I know now, I would've written up a description of the client's needs and how I would complete the work in meeting those needs.

Small businesses would likely do a proposal in between the one I got and the complex government required ones. Most small businesses will be prompted to write a proposal when approaching a client. The client may ask you to submit a proposal outlining what you can do for them. In this case, write a proposal including the elements of a typical proposal and keep it short and to the point especially if the client is not a large company.

There are examples of RFPs and responses peppered throughout the Web, but which one you can learn from depends on the type of work involved. A proposal can be two pages or as big as a book. Rely on your favorite search engine and do the research to create an unbeatable proposal.

Writing an RFP (Request for Proposal)
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Meryl K. Evans, Content Maven, is Editor-in-Chief of eNewsletter Journal and The Remediator Security Digest. She's a slave to a MarketingProfs weekly column and a Web design reference guide at InformIT. She is the author of the popular e-report, How to Start a Business Blog and Build Traffic. Visit her site at http://www.meryl.net/blog/ for free newsletters, articles, and tips.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Writing Essays Well - Introductions, Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

Introductions

In order for the first paragraph of an essay to actually be a proper introduction (in other words, for it to fulfill the requirements of a proper introduction), it must do two things. These two things are:

1) Include a thesis statement.
2) Provide a preview or essay plan for the essay.

Writing Essays Well - Introductions, Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

So what do these two things mean?

1) A thesis statement is the sentence (or sometimes sentences) that tells the reader what the position of the author is. When you are given an essay question, the thesis statement is your clear and concise answer to the question. For example, if an essay question was 'What were the causes of the Holocaust in World War II?' then your thesis statement would be something like 'There were many complicated and inter-related causes for the Holocaust, including the economy of Germany, the ideology of the fascists, and Hitler's personal racism.'

A 'thesis' is an 'argument', so the thesis statement indicates what the argument of the essay is, or what argument (or point of view) the author of the essay will be putting across to readers.

2) An introduction must introduce all the main points that the essay will discuss. Argumentative essays must provide evidence in order to back up or support the thesis statement. This means you have to provide proof to back up your answer to the essay question. So if your essay is on the causes of the Holocaust, and your essay is going to discuss six main causes (two paragraphs on each), then your introduction must list (or introduce) each of these six main causes. So an essay map or preview is just a list of topics that your essay will discuss. Usually this list is linked to your thesis statement, or comes straight after it.

Topic Sentences

When writing an essay, you must use 'topic sentences'. These are sentences that go at the beginning of each paragraph in which you are about to discuss a new topic. So in the example we have been looking at of the Holocaust essay, I mentioned that the essay will discuss six reasons for the Holocaust and each reason will have two paragraphs. So that means that every second paragraph would use a 'topic sentence' since it would be moving on to discuss another reason for the Holocaust. Here are some examples of topic sentences for the example essay:

'The most significant cause for the Holocaust is the economic state of Germany.'
'Another reason why the Holocaust occurred is due to Hitler's personal views.'

These sentences let the reader know what the paragraph will discuss (what the next point to be discussed in the essay is) and also relate the paragraph back to the introduction. This gives the essay a nice flow, and shows that it has been well organised.

So, you can tell what the topic of the first body paragraph is by reading the topic sentence, which is the first sentence in the paragraph.

Concluding Sentences

A concluding sentence goes at the end of a paragraph or topic, and sums up for the readers what has just been discussed and relates it back to the question.

So if you had used the topic sentence 'The most significant cause for the Holocaust is the economic state of Germany' and then written a paragraph or several paragraphs discussing this topic, a concluding sentence could be: 'Thus it can be seen that the economic state of Germany was the most important cause for the Holocaust.'

Topic sentences and concluding sentences go before and after your paragraphs like a sandwich, leading the reader through your essay.

Writing Essays Well - Introductions, Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences
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Dr. Lisa Lines
Director and Head Editor
Elite Editing & Tutoring

Web: http://www.eliteediting.com.au
Blog: http://eliteediting.blogspot.com

Our professional, academic editors will edit your essay, assignment, thesis or dissertation to help you improve your grades. We provide an online service to high school and university students all over the world.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Writing as Therapy

It would be wrong to underestimate the power of writing as a point of therapy. Most writers are aware of the therapeutic nature of writing, but most may be less than willing to admit such writing therapy may be personally beneficial.

Sometimes the writing that is most helpful us on a personal and emotional level is writing that we do not wish to be published. It is highly personal, but can helps us understand something about ourselves.

Leslie Ridgeway and Dale Griffith have seen firsthand the benefits of using writing as a therapy among the women inmates at York Correctional Institute in Connecticut.

Writing as Therapy

These two individuals worked with the women at YCI. They encouraged the inmates to write their inmost thoughts without the threat of condemnation. They discovered there was a sense of healing that took place when these women admitted their hurts in writing.

According to their 2002 report entitled, "Struggles: Writing as healing" Ridgeway and Griffith admit, "Many women had reached the limit of their coping skills... educational staff worried about the women's mental and physical health and discussed ways to help them cope. A safe port in the emotional storm was needed."

The 'Struggles' program centered around using words to capture their recollections on violence in their lives.

One inmate wrote, "As children we're taught to respect and obey our parents. Usually I covered with my hands up protecting my face and head. A reaction that I'm sure is a defense mechanism of survival. I didn't harm my mother, but my physically defensive behavior of pushing her away from me shocked her back into reality. The beatings finally stopped and I was left with the question as to why I hadn't reacted to her actions years earlier."

While we seek to identify with the pain the author feels, we also gain a sense for the liberation she feels in finally saying in print what had been bottled up inside for so long.

One unnamed woman who was part of the inmate writing exercise reported, "Seeing our violent experiences in writing is more personal and real - especially when we read them aloud. When I hear myself aloud, I'm relating my experience to someone else, and the emotional feelings, which have often been repressed, hit me."

As a focused writer it might be assistive to you to take regular time to write something that is simply theraputic. None of us came from perfect situations in life. By writing about your past you may discover a sense of personal freedom and increased freedom to pursue your writing career with less baggage.

Writing as Therapy
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Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of FaithWriters and many other web projects. FaithWriters has grown to become one of the largest online destinations for Christian writers and Christian authors. FaithWriters is a great place for writing jobs.

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