Speaker- March 2011

THE ART AND BUSINESS OF SPEAKING

MA R C H 2011

Targeting Hispanic Audiences

Repackage and Repurpose to

Page 30

Boost Revenues!

Increase Your

Leverage 12 Questions to Ask The

:

Benefits of a

Style Sheet

Every business needs one!

Leverage Tom Rath explains how to

from your

Tom Rath, Gallup Global Practice Leader, speaker and best-selling author

CORE

T h e O f f i c i a l M a g a z i n e o f t h e N at i o n a l S p e a k e r s Asso c i at i o n • w w w. n s a s p e a k e r . o r g

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THE ART AND BUSINESS OF SPEAKING

MA R C H 2011

12

Leverage from Your Core

Know your weaknesses and develop your strengths.

By Jake Poinier

F E AT U R E S

16

Kill Two Stones with One Bird How to turn every experience into an advantage.

By Scott Ginsberg

Tom Rath, Global Practice Leader at Gallup

Things Come 20 Good in Many Packages

Your Style?

24 What’s A style sheet defines the look of your business, from fonts and colors to shapes and words.

By Wendy Kinney

Communicate value and get real leverage to grow your business by repackaging and repurposing your content.

By Ford Saeks

CO LU M N S 6 Reality Check Putting a fine point on the speaking industry

8 Welcome to My World A snapshot into the lives of people who hire speakers

10 It’s Your Business Advice for enterprising speakers

D EPARTMEN TS 28 Relevant Resources Time-saving tools and technologies

30 Beyond Borders Exploring cultures, countries and comfort zones

32 What Would You Do? Casting a reality check on real-world conundrums

34 Turning Point

4 News from Headquarters

A career-changing moment or experience

36 Advertising Index 37 Calendar of Events

38 Humor Me Finding the funny in a speaker’s life Departments

National Speakers Association is a member of the Society of National Association Publications (SNAP). Speaker magazine has been honored with a bronze award in the prestigious 2009 SNAP Excel Awards in the Magazines: General Excellence Category for best writing, content, graphic design and overall packaging.

March 2011 | SPEAKER | 3

news from headquarters

National Speakers Association Officers Kristin Arnold, MBA, CPF, CMC, CSP, President Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, President-Elect Ronald P. Culberson, MSW, CSP, Vice President Marjorie Brody, PCC, CMC, CSP, CPAE, Secretary Scott Halford, CSP, Treasurer Phillip Van Hooser, CSP, CPAE, Immediate Past President Stacy Tetschner, CAE, Executive Vice President/CEO

Reported by Stacy Tetschner, CAE NSA Executive Vice President/CEO

CSP/CPAE Summit

Founder Cavett Robert, CSP, CPAE

Find answers on taking your brand and your business to the next level at the 2011 CSP/ CPAE Summit. Collaborate, network and brainstorm with the most successful CSPs and CPAEs in NSA, while learning best practices and new ideas to grow your business in this economy. Join us in Dallas, April 1-3. Participation is limited to 65 attendees, and you must be a CSP or a CPAE to attend. Register now at www.MyNSA.org.

Board of Directors Kristin Arnold, MBA, CPF, CMC, CSP Marjorie Brody, PCC, CMC, CSP, CPAE Kirstin Carey, CSP Ronald P. Culberson, MSW, CSP Ed Gerety, CSP Scott Halford, CSP Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE Ron Karr, CSP Linda Keith, CPA, CSP Scott McKain, CSP, CPAE John B. Molidor, PhD Ruby Newell-Legner, CSP Ed Robinson, CSP Ford Saeks Laura Stack, MBA, CSP Brian Tracy, CPAE Francine Ward, JD Liz Weber, CMC, MBA Phillip Van Hooser, CSP, CPAE

NSA All-PEG Pass – Only $100

Are you interested in joining multiple Professional Expert Groups (PEGs)? Buy an annual PEG Pass for only $100, and you will have access to teleseminars and Webinars for all 13 PEGS. You also will receive all PEG e-newsletters. Register now at (480) 968-2552

Annual Member Handbook – Online!

If you’re wondering about all things NSA, go to www.MyNSA.org and click on Member Services and then Annual Member Handbook.

In Memoriam John Reddish, 64, of Chadds Ford, Pa., died Dec. 8 after a short battle with cancer. He was cochair of the NSA Ethics Committee. Reddish had diverse interests, from being a business consultant, to helping run a steeplechase, acting in a mystery, and membership on the

board of a famous puppet theater.

He was active in his community, and was director of the Chester County Economic Development Council.

Jim Dillahunty, PhD, of San Diego, passed away Jan. 1. He was past president of NSA San Diego.

Dillahunty had over 25 years of experience as a highly successful CEO, entrepreneur, sales trainer and public speaker. He also was involved in academic research in organizational leadership to audiences around the world in keynotes, workshops, training, teleconferences and consulting.

This Month on V o i c e s o f E x p e r i e n c e ®

NSA’s monthly audio magazine

Welcome: Bill Cates, CSP, CPAE Managing Your Salespeople: Zemira Jones

Leading-Edge Tech Tips: Terry Brock, CSP, CPAE, with Dan Burrus, CSP, CPAE Feature Interview: Paul Homoly, DDS, CSP Selling to Large Corporations: Jill Konrath How the Best Get Better: Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE 4 | SPEAKER | March 2011

NSA Convention Update: Randy Gage and Theo Androus Work-Life Balance: Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC Million-Dollar Idea: Steve Gilliland, CSP President’s Message: Kristin Arnold, MBA, CPF, CMC, CSP, with Mary LoVerde, CPAE

NSA Foundation This Foundation serves NSA members and the public through: • Financial help for NSA members and their families • Grants to NSA members who need help with their dues or meeting registration fees • Scholarships for students and professors • Oversight and funding for speaking-related research • Grants to help charitable organizations communicate through technology Founder and Chairman Emeritus Nido R. Qubein, CSP, CPAE Chair Stephen Tweed, CSP Immediate Past Chair Randy Pennington, CSP, CPAE NSA Foundation Board of Trustees Kristin Arnold, MBA, CPF, CMC, Ron Karr, CSP CSP, President John B. Molidor, PhD Francis Bologna, CPA Terry Paulson, PhD, CSP, CPAE Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP Sam Silverstein, CSP Ronald P. Culberson, MSW, CSP Laura Stack, MBA, CSP Jane Jenkins Herlong, CSP Phillip Van Hooser, CSP, CPAE Don Hutson, CSP, CPAE Al Walker, CSP, CPAE Speaker Editorial Advisory Board Pamela Jett, CSP, Chair Mary LoVerde, CPAE Don Cooper Mandi Stanley, CSP Kelli Vrla, CSP June Cline, CSP Janelle Barlow, CSP

Editor in Chief Design Barbara Parus switchstudio.com barbara@nsaspeaker.org Editorial Office and Subscriptions National Speakers Association 1500 S. Priest Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281 Tel: (480) 968-2552 Fax: (480) 968-0911 www.NSASpeaker.org Advertising Sales Steve Camac Tel: (718) 710-4929 Email: Steve@NSASpeaker.org Speaker (ISSN 1934-9076) (USPS 012-886). Volume 5, Number 6.

Published monthly except February and August by the National Speakers Association, 1500 S. Priest Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281.

Periodicals postage paid at Tempe, Arizona, and at additional mailing offices. Contents Copyright 2009 National Speakers Association, all rights reserved. Subscription rate for NSA members is $35 of $425 annual dues allocated to Speaker; non-member sub­scription rate is $49 for 10 issues. Add $10 for Canadian or international postage.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Speaker, National Speakers Association, 1500 S. Priest Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281.

realit y check Putting a fine point on the speaking industry

Back by Popular Demand

Y

ou have a brand, and it used to bring you business. But to quote a 1960’s pop song, “That was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone.” If you have found yourself wondering what to do next, the 2011 CSP/CPAE Summit is the place to find your answers!

You and 64 other CSPs and CPAEs will convene to learn and share ideas that answer three pressing questions for every speaking professional: • How do I show my relevance?

• How do I communicate my uniqueness in a world where the market is expecting something different and everyone is saying the same thing?

• How do I deliver my brand in a way that leverages and acknowledges the realities of today’s marketplace?

Brainstorm with the “Fortune 500” The weekend is designed with a few islands information interspersed in a sea of hands-on work and networking sessions with your colleagues. CSPs and CPAEs are the Fortune 500 of our profession, and we’re planning an education and networking experience that is worthy of your status and success.

This event is not a conference; it is a summit where attendees will be expected to bring their questions, share ideas with

others, and take responsibility for their learning in a relaxed environment that includes loads of small group work and networking opportunities with its own advisory board of directors.

What Are Customers Saying?

Don Reynolds, economist for Raymond James and Associates, will give an update on what the economy is doing and how it affects our profession. Gail Davis, president of the International Association of Speaker Bureaus (IASB), and David du Bois, CEO of the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, will join other professionals in an interactive panel to discuss what they are seeing and hearing from our customers.

DON’T MISS The CSP/CPAE Summit April 1-3, 2011 The Joule, Dallas, Texas www.csp-cpaesummit.org

your client’s needs. Social media and publishing experts also will be on hand to provide updates on the latest trends to help you develop a new brand plan.

Delivering Your Brand Today

Your Own Advisory Board

Dick Mitchell, branding and creative principal from the Richards Group (www.therichardsgroup.com), a national award-winning branding agency, will share lessons learned from heading up Click Here, the Richards Group’s interactive marketing and website affiliate. He will challenge attendees to rethink their brand to become solutions for their clients. Paula Julian, PhD, former senior vice president of Rapp Collins Worldwide, a leading branding and market research firm, will explain how to gather the intelligence you need to understand

We’re creating an experience that will help you unlock the door to your future success. This is a unique opportunity to share ideas and learn from your own advisory board. The weekend combines intensive work with priceless networking opportunities. And it all takes place at The Joule (www.thejoule.com), one of the hippest boutique hotels in downtown Dallas.

Participation is limited to 65 CSPs and CPAEs, so register today at www. csp-cpaesummit.org to be a part of the best and brightest in our profession!

How to Earn Your CSP To qualify, you must be an NSA member for three consecutive years at the time of application and provide five years of information on your speaking business. For an online application, visit www.MyNSA.org.

6 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Randy Pennington, CSP, CPAE, Summit Chair Sarah Michel, CSP, Summit Co-Chair

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welcome to my world A snapshot into the lives of people who hire speakers

Healthy Advice for Speakers

A

fter meeting at the International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB) in 2006, Jo Cavender and Karen Kendig formed Speakers On Healthcare, the largest healthcare bureau in the United States. They have enjoyed long-lasting relationships with clients and speakers by focusing on one industry and drilling deep.

Here, Colette Carlson, MA, delves into Cavender’s 25-plus years of experience.

Colette Carlson, MA: Do you think speakers should create a niche, or be generalists?

Jo Cavender: Going deep allows you to become the expert and go-to person whether you’re a speaker or a bureau.

What is a fair travel allowance?

Take a solid booking year, including expenses that represent East and West Coast travel, and divide it by the total number of clients. Also take into account increasing travel costs and that sometimes it’s more expensive to fly locally or into a small, remote airport.

Describe an ideal speaker.

The speaker views the speaker-bureau partnership as a team, and refers to it as “we.” Following an engagement, in particular, the speaker should remember to include the bureau in conversations with the client.

How do speakers annoy you?

Given your involvement with the IASB, what is a pressing issue or concern?

Trust is critical. It develops in face-to-face meetings where clients and colleagues can connect, so meetings will continue to be important and necessary. Yet cutting costs and maximizing meeting ROI is huge, especially since meeting planners are seeing more supervisory review of their work. If you review speakers’ websites and promo materials, too often features, rather than benefits, tell the story. Both speakers and bureaus must be able to articulate the value derived.

How can speakers help sell ROI? All-inclusive fees, including travel expenses, eliminate surprises for planners and judgments. Obviously, you’ll break down expenses for the bureau, as it would receive only the commission on the actual speaking fee.

8 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Speakers should not call or send emails inquiring if we’ve closed a booking. As soon as I have an answer, the speaker is the first person I call. It’s also annoying when a client tells me that a speaker recommended someone for next year’s event but failed to add that “our bureau partner works well with that speaker.” This echoes what I said about partnership.

How do you find speakers you want to work with?

First, I check out speakers who are sharing the platform with our speaker. If I see someone I’m not familiar with, I’ll follow up with the planner and ask for feedback or a recommendation. If it’s positive, I’ll reach out. When a speaker makes a personal introduction, I take it seriously because he or she is putting their reputation on the line.

How do you feel about receiving cold calls from speakers?

It’s most effective if they wait until they have a hook, such as a recent article published in a nursing magazine.

Do you have any final advice for speakers?

Stay with your topic, fine tune it, be the best at it, and we’re going to hear about you. Don’t be so concerned about building relationships with bureaus, but build your business and we’ll take notice when we see that happening.

In 2005, Jo Cavender co-founded Speakers On Healthcare to

What about speakers who view bureaus as order takers?

It may look like order taking when the client already knows who they want, and they’re calling to check availability. However, the reason they called the bureau is due to the rapport and relationship developed to date.

respond to requests from organizations for speakers on specific healthcare topics. She is past president of the International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB). Visit www. speakersonhealthcare.com.

Colette Carlson, MA, is a funny Human Behavior Expert who

Are printed materials and DVDs necessary?

motivates thousands worldwide

Clients love to view everything on the Internet in our global 24/7 environment.

Your Truth! Learn more at www.

revealing the power of Speaking SpeakYourTruth.com.

Jimm RobeRts / oRlando

It’s your business Advice for enterprising speakers

Pay Someone Else to Do It

I

earned my MBA from the University of Colorado in 1991 at 21 years old, and started my speaking business a year later.

Out of financial necessity, I was the Jill-of-all-trades and did everything myself. “My MBA taught me all of this, didn’t it?” I rationalized.

Even after I could afford to get some help, I kept doing it all. After almost burning out at the ripe old age of 27, I realized that even the Productivity Pro couldn’t maintain that pace long term.

As I discovered, interdependence is an important productivity concept.

We’re wise to rely on other people to do tasks we don’t have the time, desire, talent, or circumstances to do ourselves. Outsource to others and wisely part with some of your hard-earned money. Surround yourself with a team of contracted experts who can get the job done in less time and reduce your time commitments.

Distinguish between what only you can do and what others are capable of doing for you. Hire out a $25-an-hour task someone else is capable of performing, so you can work on a $250-an-hour task that no one else can do. You must spend your time in higher-value ways that will grow your business: talking with your customers, researching, writing, and practicing your programs.

10 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Consider hiring out: Lifekeeping. I used to think, “I don’t need anyone to clean my house for me. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.” But then I starting tracking how much time I spent cleaning! When you compare it to the cost of hiring it out, you’ll quickly hire out your yard work and laundry, too.

Computer work. When there’s a computer issue, I don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call my IT guru, who has been working with computers for most of his adult life. I’m sure you could probably learn to troubleshoot errors, write HTML, create WordPress sites and more, but it’s not worth your time and frustration to figure it out.

Finances. If you have a semicomplicated life with the business, investments, children, and rental properties, it’s a no-brainer to hire an accountant. It’s simply not worth the time to do your own taxes. Ditto for a financial adviser and a bookkeeper.

Ours picks up the receipts, invoices and statements twice a month, reconciles all of the accounts, pays the employees, and files all tax payments.

Marketing. When my latest book, SUPERCOMPETENT, launched in August 2010, Marianne Nowicki of NoWicki Production created the book video trailer; Judy O’Beirn of

Hasmark Services coordinated my online book campaign; Champion Media handled the television media; and Lance Gibb designed www.SuperCompetentBook.com. Shell out the money required to create a first-class product that reflects the fees to which you strive.

Errands. Many time-consuming tasks offer a low payback: grocery shopping, store returns, dry cleaning, prescriptions, bank, post office, and office supplies. By the time you’ve completed these errands, you’ve eaten up your precious weekend! Instead, hire a college student or retiree to be your personal assistant.

Today, I only wish I would have secured help sooner. Just because you can do certain tasks, such as design your website or file your taxes, doesn’t mean you should. Push tasks to the lowest common denominator. Your time is better spent elsewhere. Let the experts practice their expertise; you practice yours. Your partners will become a critical part of your team, and you will be interdependent on each other.

Laura Stack is the 2011-2012 president of NSA. She’s the founder of The Productivity Pro®, Inc., a management consulting firm dedicated to helping individuals, teams and leaders create Maximum Results in Minimum Time®.

By Jake

Poin ier

e g a r

e v le from your core

It’s important to know your weaknesses— but it’s essential to develop your strengths.

12 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Tom Rath, Global Practice Leader at Gallup, is a leading business thinker whose bestselling books include How Full Is Your Bucket?, StrengthsFinder 2.0, and most recently, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. He recently sat down with Speaker magazine to share his thoughts on how professional speakers can learn from decades’ worth of data cultivated by one of the world’s leading research organizations.

Speaker: First things first, how does the concept of “leverage” fit into the research you’ve done over the years?

Tom Rath: “Leverage” is a good term for a lot of what we do at Gallup. One of our biggest findings over the past decade and longer is that people really have an ability to be more of who they already are. And in turn, they struggle when they try to be something they’re not. Anyone who’s a thought leader, speaker or expert can expand on their core and natural talents.

What are some of the ways you strategically leverage your research in books and speeches?

TR: I’m conscious about learning as much as I can about the group beforehand — specifically, about expectations and what I can expect as far as longterm followup. My strength is clearly not in being a rah-rah motivational speaker who’s going to get everyone physically energized, but I’m always clear with the event organizers that the goal is for people to be challenged to do their jobs differently because of what they hear. If the time I spend with the group helps them become better managers and leaders, and challenges their thinking, that’s how I’d define success in that context.

Whenever I get a request to speak, I specifically ask the organizers what they expect from a behavior or leadership standpoint three, six or 12 months later. If that’s not on the radar of the people hosting the event, I turn down more opportunities than I accept. It would be so easy to walk into an event, give a talk, and

feel good as I walk out the door. But if you look at the influence you’re having more broadly, whether it’s to help them be more engaged at work or lead better lives, you get a lot more effective plan in place if you ask that question upfront. When an organizer can point to specific things they’re rolling out, and I can see how my team or I can be part of making ongoing measurable improvement in outcomes, then I'm 10 times more interested than a one-hour event that doesn’t have much impact a month later.

If you ask that question upfront, you can envision how you can play a more important role on an ongoing basis, which is also a good way to prioritize your time. The people who organize events also appreciate you’re asking that question. It’s easy when someone asks you to speak when you’re the one being interviewed, but I’m just as interested in interviewing them.

With such a wealth of research at your disposal, how do you identify audience hot buttons and choose what you present?

TR: I’m a little more introverted to start out with, just in terms of my own personality. One way I work around that is to ask a lot of questions and be disciplined about listening to the thought-out responses. That includes people in my organization, as well as our clients. Every night, Gallup asks thousands of people their thoughts and opinions about their workplaces, wellbeing and government, and we do it in 150 countries. What guides our research is finding out the common

March 2011 SPEAKER | 13

human needs. People need more measurement to be able to manage things in their lives or within an organization.

Do your ideas come from your personal experiences, research data, or a combination of both?

TR: I may be the one who does a lot of the early methodology, documenting and writing up findings, but any given research project involves a minimum of 100 people—from editing to in-person interviews to running data sets.

Candidly, the best part of my job on a day-to-day basis is the people I work

with—thought leaders and minds here at Gallup, employees and senior scientists from the outside that we get to work with—not just the ideas and the metrics.

Even when it comes to gathering stories for the books, we have a lot of interviewers who find the best anecdotes across all of our client projects. It’s hard to identify anything that I could claim I’d done in isolation.

Part of leverage is figuring out what is the one area out of hundreds of thousands where you feel confident that you have more passion, knowledge and expertise.

14 | SPEAKER | March 2011

How do you keep current on the latest trends, and how do you differentiate what you view as trends versus fads?

TR: I read everything I can get my hands on. I’ll spend two or three hours a day perusing scientific journals and newsletters to stay current on topics in the business world and academic community.

In terms of spotting trends, honestly, that’s fairly simple for us because we’re looking for whatever we can see that explains the most variance in our data.

In our consulting business, almost all of our efforts are focused on helping a client or organization grow and have the most impact. If you ask why we zoomed in on wellbeing, we were just trying to find the broadest metric that explained the largest amount of human behavior collectively.

What are some of the ways you can see and measure the impact of your work?

TR: We have a session here in Washington, DC, in which we gather the top several hundred managers from some of the most successful workplaces in the world. You’re hearing the voices of the very high end of world-class management. One guy, for example, talked about the way he’s always viewed developing people as an end in itself and never sees employees as a means to an end. That was an important takeaway for me, because it encapsulated the mindset of some of the best managers we’ve studied.

If an organization with hundreds of thousands of employees can gain an extra tenth of a point in employee engagement, that can translate into several millions per unit in additional operating profits. We can quantify for a company that, at an emotional as well as a financial level, an investment for 10 years in employee engagement will help people have better relationships, be better parents, and have better physical

born with that. But if you tried to coach someone like me or some of the people on my team into that element, it would ruin their confidence and positioning.

health. It starts to redefine the relationship between the employer and employee, and helps them make a much stronger contribution to the communities they live in.

Self-awareness is a recurring theme in your message. What do you see as the biggest obstacle that keeps people from realizing who they are and what they’re good at?

TR: One of the biggest obstacles may be simply spending time fixated on how many obstacles there could be. I know that sounds circular. But it’s easy to get preoccupied with tips about what to do and what not to do to be the ultimate well-rounded speaker, and it’s common to lose track of what you’re good at and what you’re passionate about. Personally, I know I made mistakes early on.

Part of leverage is figuring out what is the one area out of hundreds of thousands where you feel confident that you have more passion, knowledge and expertise. There are some people who should spend more time being the classic energetic motivational speaker they’re

What are some practical steps speakers can take to encourage that type of understanding in themselves and in their audiences?

TR: It’s a very important piece to ensure that you continue measuring what’s important in your career and life, if for no other reason than it’s the only way to hold yourself accountable. The workplace research finding is this: If you don’t have mechanisms in place to tell you how you’re doing every time you’re speaking to an audience or trying to sell something to a client, there’s really no way for you to manage and improve it. It could be as simple as having a few outside people who can give you an honest critique.

For their audiences, one thing speakers can do is to challenge people to step back and think about what core strengths they need to double down on or reinvest in. And they should ask questions of the people that they’re closest to, to see what they think. It’s always interesting to me when someone goes through a StrengthsFinder assessment and says that a theme or talent doesn’t quite fit— but if you have them ask their spouse or a friend, that person will put their finger right on it. Sometimes the people observing you might have a unique window on the things you’re missing.

What role did your grandfather Donald Clifton (the recognized grandfather of positive psychology) play in how you approach your life and work?

TR: There’s no one who had a bigger influence in my work and life, and on the things that I derive meaning from on a day-to-day basis. The years that I spent working with Don before he passed away were some of the most

meaningful in my entire career. He challenged me to stretch my imagination, saying not just “Can we have a thousand people learn about their strengths in a given year?” but “Can we get it to a million?” Well, we recently had a million people take the assessment in a single calendar year.

He also stressed managing around blind spots and weaknesses, so it was fun to talk about some of the things at the bottom of my own StrengthsFinder. For example, there’s an item called harmony, when you’re always trying to keep the peace, or empathy, which my wife can tell you I don’t have enough of. There are things that I don’t do that well, and I knew early on in my career that I need friends and partners who work on cohesion and relationships at a level I don’t naturally get to.

Don cited one specific case (the study of 1,000 POWs from a North Korean camp conducted by Dr. William Mayer) as the catalyst for his work. Was there a similar seminal moment for you?

TR: There is on a daily basis. It’s something I picked up when I was younger, and Don was an influence. I wake up every morning and get a report on how many people we’re reaching in different countries and areas, and that’s what keeps me going.

When I step back and think about it, if you are able to spend as much time as possible in your areas of natural talent, and in a topic that you have confidence and competence in, and you’re passionate, there’s really no substitute for those things as far as being effective.

Contributing writer Jake Poinier conducts an annual survey of the freelance industry . . . but he’s a long way from having a million respondents. He blogs regularly at DearDrFreelance.com.

March 2011 SPEAKER | 15

Kill with 12 Questions to Convert Every Experience into an Advantage B y S c o t t G i n sb e r g

16 | SPEAKER | March 2011

You don’t need an idea—you need an “I did.”

That’s how you close the execution gap. That’s how you convert thoughts into things. And that’s how you convert experiences into moneymaking wisdom. s much, leverage must become an essential component to your entrepreneurship lexicon.

Leverage is “increasing the rate of return from an investment.”

But leverage isn’t a word or a strategy or something you do to make money.

Leverage is a lifestyle, a way of thinking, and an approach to doing business. Take it from a guy with no background, no job experience and no credentials—who turned a simple idea like wearing a nametag every day into a successful enterprise. Twelve books later, if that’s not leverage, I don’t know what is.

The following series of leverage questions will help you kill two stones with one bird.

If everything you’ve done up until now is just the beginning, what’s next? Past is prologue. Past brought you here. Past made you who you are. When you start to align your thinking with this truth, a new world of possibilities opens up.

Your challenge is to extend gratitude for—and embrace the value of—everything you’ve already accomplished. At the same time, don’t overvalue prior successes. Arrogance will bite you in the ass. As John Mayer explained during a 2009 interview with Esquire, “To evolve, you have to dismantle. And that means accepting the idea that nothing you created in the past matters anymore other than it brought you here. You pick up your new marching orders and get to work.” Will you view the past as a crutch or a fulcrum?

What will you do differently next time?

Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement. That’s exactly what this question is all about: Honoring

March 2011 SPEAKER | 17

your current performance, yet challenging yourself to envision an enhanced future. In my first five years as a professional speaker, I employed this philosophy as a post-speech ritual. After my presentation, I’d take 15 minutes to write a streamof-consciousness list, including every thought, every feeling and every evaluation of my performance. What worked? What didn’t work? What killed? What bombed? Then, when I was done, I’d make a note at the bottom of the document that read, “In my next speech, what I plan to do differently is ____________.” This simple ritual grew into a profitable practice for continuous performance improvement as a speaker. How could you apply the same reflection process to your job performance?

What’s next? My readers and audience members frequently ask which one of my books is my favorite. After eight years, the answer is always the same: “My next one.” I challenge you to embrace that same attitude of “What’s next?” in your work., first on a micro level in terms of productivity, and then on a macro level in terms of projectivity. Ask yourself this question throughout your creative process to ensure consistent execution. What is your legacy for taking action?

Does this new thing …? Does this new thing allow you to command higher fees than before? Does this new thing allow you to learn new skills?

Does this thing enable you to leverage more than in the past? Does this new thing expose you an important future opportunity? Does this new thing increase (not just sustain) an existing relationship? Does this new thing lead to future work with the same organization? Does this new thing lead you

18 | SPEAKER | March 2011

into a new industry? Does it represent an organization you would hate to lose? Does this new thing represent long-term business potential? Does it serve as a reference or example for other clients?

other people left off, you see their idea through a new set of eyes. And sometimes that’s all it takes to leverage garbage into gold. Some people look into a wastebasket and see trash; other people see treasure.

How can I make this idea last forever?

Anchor your expertise in that which is timeless. Democratize and genericize your thoughts so they outlast you.

Always be on the lookout for ways to increase the shelf life of your material. Ask questions like, “In five years, will this idea still be irrelevant?” “Is this a fad, a trend or an evergreen?” and “What is a bigger, more stable theory of the universe that I can attach this idea to?” Remember: If you’re not current, you’re not credible. Remember to run your expertise through the wringer of time. Stabilize your content.

How does this fit into your theory of the universe? Your expertise is a filter. The challenge is to bring ideas from one field of knowledge into another field of knowledge. You have to observe your encounters objectively by asking, “What’s the key idea here, regardless of the context?”

Other variations of this question are: “What does this have to do with me?”

“How does this have to do with my expertise?” “How is this a symbol or example of my expertise?” “How could I use this as an example in my work?” Make connections between seemingly unconnected things.

How can the basic concept be applied to different areas? If you have an idea, product or service that works in one discipline, discover how you can transfer the basic principle to another. For example, if you set up a statewide Web directory, think about the other states. What if they copied your same model? Could you license your templates to the other 49 states and make money while you sleep? If it worked in one venue, it might work in another.

What else can be made from this?

The key to leverage is to look at something you’ve created and then play with its potential. It’s called “Movement Value.” For example, if you’ve been posting on your blog every day for a year, could you combine those writings into a book?

Or, if you have collected a stack of pictures from various customers over the years, why not create a “Meet Our Clients” slide show and post it online? Accumulation is equity.

How can you reuse, resurrect or reposition something people threw away or quit on? Many sculptors, artists, musicians, inventors and innovators have built impressive careers by reusing trash, litter, recycled materials and other forms of discarded content in their work. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to go trudging through a landfill. But, when you pick up where

What else does this audience need to know about me? On your products, you should cross-sell your website.

Throughout your website, you should cross-sell your workshops. In your workshops, you should cross-sell your teleconferences. During your teleconferences, you should cross-sell your ezine. In your ezine, you should crosssell your products. See the pattern?

Anchor your expertise in that which is timeless.

Democratize and genericize your thoughts so they outlast you. Always be on the lookout for ways to increase the shelf life of your material.

That’s the epitome of cross-selling, and it works because you already have a captive audience. And they’ve given you permission to market to them.

So, the hope is that they will hopefully investigate your other services further, providing they like your stuff.

NOTE: Be careful not to overdo it!

Don’t make 20 percent of one service a commercial for another service.

Just casually let people know what else you do. Everything you do should reference something else you do.

What type of list could you immediately make your idea into? Lists are easy and fun to write. Lists are efficient ways to transfer value. Lists force you to clarify your thoughts.

Lists give people who don’t like to organize a great way to organize. Lists make it easy to expand and stretch

your main idea.

Listing is the simplest, quickest and most efficient way to capture your ideas before they fly out of your head. Listing stimulates creativity. Ideas connect with one another, crystallize and produce insights you never would have discovered by writing a five-paragraph essay.

Listing subconsciously creates patterns, groups and “piles” of material that seem to come together on their own. After all, the human brain is a self-organizing machine. Start making a list, and order will come later.

publish it and leverage it in every marketing medium. Examples include, “4,000 hours of training!” “2 million copies sold!” and “Worked with 347 of the Fortune 500!” I use the number of days I’ve been wearing a nametag (4,000). Actions that validate your commitment are priceless.

Ideas are overrated. If you want to make a name for yourself—and build a bank account—ask yourself these leverage questions to kill two stones with one bird.

Scott Ginsberg, aka “The

What’s your Noticeable Number? If you want to be more remarkable, memorable, credible and revisitable, ask yourself: “What’s the most remarkable/unique thing about my business?” “How could I quantify that in a remarkable way? Then, record it,

Nametag Guy,” is the author of 12 books, including Ideas Are Free, Execution is Priceless. Big companies rent his brain to learn how to delete average. He lives in St. Louis where he can usually be found doing yoga.

March 2011 SPEAKER | 19

e communicat et value and g e real leverag ur to grow yo business

20 | SPEAKER | March 2011

By Sa For ek d s

On the other hand, those who focused on packaging their content in a variety of methods through multiple distribution channels thrived.

If you’ve heard me present at NSA or other conferences, then you know that my primary question is “How do I add value and make a profit?” I focus on positioning my expertise as a valuable resource, and package the content in multiple methods and formats.

The key is identifying and offering content in the method in which my prospects want to consume it. That ranges from free to fee, from physical to digital products and services, and everything in between. They are available with several options, packages and bundles, and all targeted to solve

T

he traditional model of booking a speech and earning all of your income from speaking is dead … and it has been for a while.

Sure, you can earn money—even big money— from keynotes, workshops and training events, but if that’s all you do, you’ll always be chasing the next booking. The last couple of years were really tough for speakers with that business model.

a specific need or move the prospect through the sales funnel.

How do your prospects and clients want to consume your content? This isn’t necessarily an absolute method, but an assortment based on your prospects’ needs. For example, I help organizations improve their online marketing results, so they want to consume the content in my products through online video, audio and Web experiences. Sometimes that includes desktop software video recordings or tutorials.

Don’t over think this—just look for new ways to expand your digital footprint by sharing your expertise.

Everyone can benefit by adding more keyword-rich content to their website, blogs and social media websites.

Repackage and Repurpose

Get leverage by repackaging and repurposing your content. Start by taking an inventory of your main areas of expertise, target markets, revenue streams and the main industries you serve.

An easy way to accomplish this is to create a mind map so you can keep the creative capture process fluid. This shouldn’t take too long and it will be a valuable asset in your repurposing.

March 2011 SPEAKER | 21

Boost Your Blog If you have a blog, check your topic categories and see if you need to add, delete or consolidate any topics. Check your blog traffic and analytics. See if you’re getting any comments on your posts.

That will help you measure your impact and remark-ability.

Conduct a Full Review

Look through the last few years of clients to find new opportunities. Review your website. Most likely, there will be several sections and pages that may need to be updated to be congruent with your level and service offerings. Once you have a snapshot of your main topics, expertise and revenue model, then you can review your social media footprint.

Create Your Video Empire

There’s a lot of hype about social media, so you should look for ways to share your insights and use your expertise in different formats, such as video, to build relationships and generate leads for your business.

YouTube and other video-sharing sites offer fantastic opportunities for you to 22 | SPEAKER | March 2011

share your expertise and presentation ability to your target market.

Consider taking some of your blog postings and turning them into video posts.

Take content from your books or other products and create a short video on the subject. People will forgive poor video, but not poor audio. If you’re using a Flip© camera, then make sure you’re within three feet for clear audio or get a video camera with an external mic input and use a mic so you have a clear and audible recording.

As a thought leader, expert, speaker, trainer or consultant, you should post samples of your speaking events, as well as topic-related video segments. This should be easy for you. Make a list of the main questions that audiences and consulting clients ask you. Turn their questions on the subject and then create the answer on Video. This formula translates to new blog posts (with and without video), guest articles and guest blog posts, too. Keep it value-based and benefit-oriented, not blatant self promotions that people will tune out.

We helped Randy Gage create a series of short videos and branded them around “Prosperity TV.” (Go to www.

Youtube.com/RandyGage.) Now, before you send me emails about the audio quality of Randy’s videos, keep in mind we bought him a great camera and mic system, but he prefers the simplicity of the Flip Camera.

Make a plan this week to create at least two to five video segments using your existing written content and converting it video segments. Consider your introduction (intro) and closing (outro) with a specific action step at the end of your videos. It might be to call you, visit your site, download something, rate or subscribe. Keep the videos short, but long enough to make your key point. If you have multiple points, then separate them into different video segments. Then, post them on YouTube, Facebook Video and other video-sharing websites.

Let It Slide!

There are several websites that allow you to upload different formats of content. One, in particular, is www.

SlideShare.net. SlideShare lets you share PowerPoint® presentations, documents and even video. You can repurpose your content from PowerPoint, or create new PowerPoint content that you design specifically for SlideShare. You might be gasping at the thought of PowerPoint from all of the horror stories of “death by PowerPoint,” but this article is about repurposing and repackaging your content.

If you created a series of slides for a short presentation with the right content to educate and entertain your target prospects, they would be introduced to you and the benefits you offer. This builds trust and drives traffic to your brand and website. It also gives you another listing on search engine results pages. So, do this only if you want more business.

I’m not suggesting that you upload all of your presentations for your competitors to plagiarize. You should think about the medium and then open your mind to the idea of presenting certain

If you have the same articles on your website as you have on sites like ezinearticles.com, magazine websites, or media outlets, Google gives credit to the site that it deems is the author, and that’s weighted by which website has the most content and other algorithms. You can search Google for “duplicate content policies” and read all about it. There are huge benefits in sharing your content on other websites and through traditional and online media sources, but make sure it’s as targeted as possible.

To repurpose my articles for different industries, I change the headline, customize it to another industry, and change the structure so the content and flow are at least 30 percent different.

Repackage your content and increase your revenues. This concept covers several areas, from updating outdated content to creating new content to repackaging it into different formats or new markets. We touched on this earlier, so to expand on the topic, review your product titles and I’m all for repurposing content, but target markets. some strategies may backfire when it As you look forward into 2011 and comes to Google rankings. If you’re beyond, think about how you could writing and posting your articles on customize your existing products into your website, don’t submit them to be new products by changing the title and posted on other websites or other blogs, adding a few new segments. Here’s an too. Keep the content and articles on example from one of my consulting your site as unique as possible so that clients, who will remain anonymous for Google recognizes you as the confidentiality. She hired me to help author and authority of her increase non-speaking revenues that content. and residual income. Speaking drove her consulting and product sales, and she wanted to There’s a lot of hype about social leverage an upcoming media, so you should look for ways speaking event.

The meeting planner to share your insights and use your allowed her to sell prodexpertise in different formats, such ucts tactfully, and not as video, to build relationships and pitch from the platform. She didn’t have generate leads for your business.” any product other than a book for $20. After a short brainstorming session, content via that medium to invoke a specific result. It can be a very effective lead generator and it builds social proof. As with YouTube videos, consider including a specific action step and then measure the results.

While we’re on this idea, you should consider the syndication of your content throughout different social media websites. For example, in LinkedIn, you can have content from your Wordpress™ blog and SlideShare syndicated automatically. Similarly, you can have your blog posts and YouTube video content show up in Facebook.

If you’re using an email management program, such as Constant Contact or Aweber, there are features that allow you to send out automatic notifications to your lists when you post a new blog.

The question to ask: How can I share my content with as many people as possible in my industry or target market?

Beware of Content Duplication

we created a new product targeted to the needs of that particular audience and it was priced over $1,000.

At first, the speaker said that no one in the audience would buy a product for that much money. But I say, let the marketplace decide! Sure you have to plan, test and know your market, but as long as you can deliver value and price it based on value, people will find the money to purchase. Again, it’s a value for value proposition, not a question of price.

The event was only two weeks away and there was no time to master and produce the product, so we used the sample-selling method. We created a special one-sheet promotion with a product mock-up and benefit-oriented sales copy with a specific action step and a special offer if the product was ordered at the event. The flyers were included in the back of the speaker’s handout and didn’t interfere with the keynote presentation.

Although there were only 400 attendees, she sold more than 90 units.

Not bad for a couple of hours of work!

Yes, we had to produce it, but it was her content packaged into 12 new video segments and a study guide. If you collected credit card charges for over $90,000, couldn’t you master a few video segments and create a new product to sell to future prospects?

So what are you waiting for? Put down this magazine and start making your plan for repackaging and repurposing your content to generate more sales from your speaking, training, products and consulting services.

Ford Saeks is president of Prime Concepts Group Inc., a business growth communications firm that specializes in helping businesses attract a constant flow of customers and increase profits. Subscribe and read to his blog at www.PrimeConcepts.com/blog March 2011 SPEAKER | 23

24 | SPEAKER | March 2011

What’s your]

[frutiger]

B y W end y K i nne y

[raleigh]

You’ve probably heard the term “style sheet.” It’s a set of rules for a business the way a dictionary is a set of rules for words.

When a graphic designer completes a logo, the final deliverable is a style sheet that specifies how the logo and colors can be used. Every publication has a style sheet. Style sheets provide many benefits: They help us delegate. They make us look professional. They make life easier.

Consistency Shows Credibility My style sheet defines the boundaries for my logo. It specifies what can be reversed and what cannot, and the ratio of height to width (regardless of the size). This guarantees that my business will always look professional.

The style sheet also enables me to have the following conversation comfortably: “My style sheet has a 1:3 ratio for my logo, and it looks like it got squeezed into the program.”

logo font is sacred to the logo, and only my printer uses the logo font.

I use fonts called Frutiger and Raleigh, which are not common. I had to buy them. One is serif and one is sans serif.

My style sheet dictates that headlines on my collateral will be in the sans serif font (18 pt.). Subheads will be in san serif (14 pt.), and body copy will be in the serif font (12 pt. or less). I also have a script font to be used only for quotations in breakout boxes.

Use Fonts to Differentiate

Be Memorable with Color

My business uses three fonts, which were recommended by my graphic designer.

These are different than the fonts used in my logo. According to my style sheet, the

My logo is a money green color, and is officially referred to as PMS 3415. What else is in this shade of green? The ink in my pen, my paper clips, my file folders, March 2011 | SPEAKER | 25

]

and my envelopes. This commitment to my style sheet gives me a marketing hedge called a Referral Activator. For example, if I’ve done a program for you and you get an email from someone using a green font, you’ll think of me automatically. I received a message this morning from someone I haven’t worked with in several years: “Hi, Wendy. I’ve been thinking of you.”

Glenda doesn’t know why she’s been thinking of me, but I do. My style sheet attracts repeat business.

Get in Shape My message is referrals. My shape is the triangle. If it’s a triangle, it’s for me.

I found green triangle paper clips at a museum, and my style sheet authorizes me to purchase them.

My style sheet also states that when I use the triangle as a gesture, it begins to the viewer’s left (my right), and it goes across, then down and then up. It’s easy for me to finger draw a triangle and talk at the same time—no thinking required.

Make Words Proprietary Property My style sheet contains these words: • GateOpener: Always two capital words, no space in between them.

• Referral Activator: Always capitalized, never lower case.

• Referral Trigger: Always capitalized, never lower case.

• Referral: Not capitalized in general use.

Every person in the office proofreads every product before it goes to print.

If someone asks about a word that isn’t about the style sheet, whether it’s an office person or a designer, it gets added to the style sheet. The style sheet is everyone’s responsibility.

Files: The Name Game I send files to busy people. I want them to be able to find and identify my documents easily, because being easy to work with is a benefit for me. I have devised the following system for naming files: 26 | SPEAKER | March 2011

My Name, space-hyphen-space, Item Type, space-hyphen-space, Program Name, space-hyphen-space, Event Date.

Here are some examples: • Wendy Kinney – AV Requirements – It’s Raining Referrals – 13 April 2011.doc • Wendy Kinney – Content Sheet – It’s Raining Referrals – 13 April 2011.doc • Wendy Kinney – Contract – It’s Raining Referrals – 13 April 2011.doc • Wendy Kinney – Headshot, left facing – It’s Raining Referrals – 13 April 2011.doc • Wendy Kinney – Room Layout – It’s Raining Referrals – 13 April 2011.doc • Wendy Kinney – Program Bio – It’s Raining Referrals – 13 April 2011.doc

event recaps. The style sheet underscores my value to my clients.

Start a Style Sheet • Open a document, name it, and save it with your business collateral items.

• Next, insert a table with two columns and 10 rows.

• Type areas in the left column, as shown below: Logo Fonts Colors Shapes

Photo Fix

Words

You might be thinking, “I don’t email files. My website has everything my clients need. They just download it when they want it.” Been there—done that. I’ve tasted the frustration of not being able to find a downloaded file because the name doesn’t tell me what it is. Result? I have to open everything, or download it again.

I should direct the frustration at myself because I should have renamed it and filed it where I could find it. I’m still peeved at the person who renamed her headshot IMG_34219.

Nothing is uploaded to my website or Facebook until it is named according to my style sheet rules. My headshots, for example, start with my name, spacehyphen-space, and a description: • Wendy Kinney – left facing.jpg • Wendy Kinney – left facing, eyes right – Red.jpg (shown) • Wendy Kinney – arms open.jpg • Wendy Kinney – big toothy grin.jpg

File names Headshots

Now, split the right cells to add details, for example: Serif: Raleigh Body copy, 12 pt. or smaller San Serif: Fruitger Titles: 18 pt., subheads 14 pt.

Cursive: Pristina Breakout boxes only. Never italic

Create your style sheet now. It will be used and changed as often as you create a new product, confirm a new project, or plan another dimension. And it will be used to your be benefit each time.

Wendy Kinney starting prepping for business as a child by practicing on her grandfather’s adding machine, filling out discarded checks, and daydreaming about running an office. Today, referral

Candid photos are not about me; they’re about the client, the event, or the other person. So, I name my candid photos accordingly: Smith and Howard – 2010 Awards Banquet – Richard Smith. The pictures are easily identified and will be used in newsletters and

marketing is her niche. Contact her at (404) 784-0699 or visit www.

ReadySetGoMakeMoney.com.

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relevant resources

2Blog About It

Time-saving tools and technologies

What's a Widget?

Do you give a HootSuite about Wordles, Widgets or SWIX? Social media is evolving so fast that it’s difficult for even the experts to remain upto-date. Stay ahead of the learning curve by keeping this list of handy resources at your fingertips.

1Brand Management Tools Klout measures influence across the social Web. Klout allows users to track the impact of their opinions, links and recommendations. Do you have Klout?

TweetDeck, the most popular Twitter application, is an Adobe AIR desktop application for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Foursquare and MySpace.

It interfaces with the Twitter API to allow users to send and receive tweets, view profiles and divide the people they follow into groups. An iPad version was released in May 2010, and a beta version for Android was released in August 2010.

HootSuite is a social media dashboard that enables users to monitor keywords, manage multiple Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping.fm and WordPress accounts.

3Gadgets & Widgets Google Gadgets are miniature objects that live on Web pages and offer cool and dynamic content, such as a to-do list, a calculator, Wikipedia, translation tool, news, blogs, games, etc. Choose the type of gadget you’d like to create and customize it. Update your gadget anytime from your iGoogle homepage at www.google.com/ig.

Widgets are simple, fun and useful applications that can be embedded on a webpage, blog or social media page. Widgets allow you to create customized content with no coding knowledge. If you can type text and choose colors or images, you can make a personalized widget in less than five minutes. http://widgets.opera. com/widgetize/:

28 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Bloglines.com is one of the largest news and RSS feed aggregators in the world, with over 2 million users who can subscribe, create, manage and share news feeds, blogs and rich content from across the Web.There is no software to download and install and it’s completely free.

BlogTalkRadio.com: You can host your own show at this leading online radio show or pitch yourself or your book.

Technorati.com: Register your blog here.

4Check Your Stats Bit.ly is a URL shortener service that is popular on Twitter. It provides tools to view statistics related to users who click on generated links. The company behind bit.ly launched a similar service for online videos to determine what videos are the most popular on the Web. Friendorfollow.com. Who’s following you back on Twitter? Who are you not following back?

Who are your mutual friends? Find out! Just enter and submit your Twitter username.

Google Analytics lets you measure your advertising ROI and track your Flash, video, and social networking sites and applications.

SWIX is a social media analytics application that monitors all of your social media properties (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and 20-plus others). SWIX gathers visitor and usage data on your sites daily, graphs it over time, and puts everything in one convenient place so you always have the latest engagement stats right at your fingertips.

Tweetrush is an Ireland startup that provides the latest stats updates about Twitter usage. Users can view total tweets of the last week along with an hourly average. The simple service is powered by an analytics engine called “Rush House,” with an aim of providing estimated tweets updates.

5Content Management Tools Delicious, formerly de.lic.ious, stores your bookmarks online, which allows you to access the same bookmarks from any computer and add bookmarks from anywhere, too. On delicious, you can use tags to organize and remember your bookmarks, which is a more flexible system than folders.

DIGG.com is a community of Web users who submit and share favorite websites. Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best.

Flickr.com is a widely used online photo management and sharing application where users can share and show off their favorite photos and videos securely and privately.

Reddit is a social news website for what’s new and popular online. Reddit learns what users like as they vote on existing links or submit their own.

Other users may then vote the posted links “up” or “down” with the most successful links gaining prominence by reaching the front page. Users also can comment on the posted links and reply to other commentators, consequently forming an online community.

Twellow.com is the “Yellow Pages” of Twitter users and lets them add their Twitter profile to the vertically categorized directory, along with basic personal information, their website and number of followers (all taken from a Twitter account). All Twellow users get their own personal profile page, with a link to their website.

Wordle is a Web toy for generating “word clouds” from text you upload. The clouds give greater weight to words that appear more often in the text. The beauty of Wordle is that there is no signup or login, and the whole process can be completed in as little as a minute depending on the complexity.

Mary LoVerde, CPAE, is the president of Life Balance, Inc., and the author of three best-selling books. She specializes in helping her audiences find creative ways to blend work and family life. LoVerde has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, 20/20 and the Oprah Winfrey Show. For more information, visit www.maryloverde.com.

March 2011 | SPEAKER | 29

Beyond Borders Exploring cultures, countries and comfort zones

Targeting Hispanic Audiences

F

ifty million Hispanics reside in the United States today, and among them are doctors, CEOs, politicians and business owners. The United States has the second-largest Hispanic markett in the world, trailing only Mexico. It is comprised of subcultures from over 20 countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Spain, with the majority (63 percent) of Mexican heritage.

Why not expand your speaking business to the millions of Hispanics who are thirsty for knowledge to improve their lives, and the thousands of U.S. companies that want to integrate themselves into this community?

(Walmart, for example, employs 171,000 Hispanics in the United States alone.)

To sell to this mushrooming demographic group, you must understand your specific Hispanic audience. It is not merely a matter of using Latin music to accompany your presentation. The culture, beliefs, opinions and consumer behavior patterns of U.S. Hispanics are not identical, due to differences in their native countries’ geography, indigenous ancestry and colonial origins. For example, a word used commonly in Puerto Rico could be offensive in Guatemala.

Family First Family is a top priority in the Hispanic lifestyle, so speakers should make sure their presentations uphold family values.

An ad campaign for a well-known airline failed when it focused on getting away from family members. Why? Because Hispanics want to be with their family.

30 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Close interpersonal relationships, both within and outside the family, are important. Hispanics greet each other with hugs and kisses, and pulling back may be misinterpreted as a lack of interest of even disrespect. So, smile and be extra friendly!

Start Connecting Professional speakers need to learn all they can about their target Hispanic audience, including customs and religious beliefs. Start with local grassroots groups and business associations. On a national level, check out: • National Council of La Raza (www. nclr.org) • U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (www.ushcc.com) • National Hispanic Business Group (www.nhbg.org) • National Hispanic Corporate Council (www.nhcchq.org) • Latino Professional Network (www. lpnonline.com) • National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (www.naleo.org)

One of the best ways to connect with these groups and their members is to submit a well-researched, culturally relevant article for their trade publications and websites.

Your success rate with corporate clients will depend on your networking ability. Ideally, you should present yourself as the expert on your topic.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) created the “Hispanic Public Relations and Marketing Strategies Tour” to help its members learn about Hispanic and multicultural public relations strategies. For speakers, this is another source of information on what’s trending among Hispanics.

Social media and the Internet draw millions of Hispanics daily. A recent study by AOL shows that 77 percent of Hispanics use the Internet, and English-language sites are more trustworthy than those in Spanish. In fact, because the Hispanic population residing in the United States is second- and third-generation, most are fluent in English. So, that’s a plus for you, as you will not have to get your materials translated. If you are going to translate your materials, be sure the translation is tailored for your specific Hispanic audience.

Frances Rios is a professional speaker and consultant with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Loyola University.

Her experience includes many years as a top executive and spokesperson for Fortune 500 companies in the United States and Puerto Rico. Visit http://francesrios.com.

CO “This powerful, practical book is loaded with vital ideas and insights that help you become an outstanding speaker and presenter on any subject.

Having given 5,000 talks, I am delighted to see how much I still have to learn.”

MI

NG

SO

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• BRIAN TRACY, speaker, writer, business advisor

PAID TO

SPEAK Best Practices for Building a Successful Speaking Business

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what would you do?

Casting a reality check on real-world conundrums

One Is the Loneliest Number This happened to me with a local company.

I told the client that I was keeping the deposit and they owed me the balance; but since it was local, I would reschedule the program the following month. The client was extremely grateful, and I’m a hero in their eyes. If I had flown to the event, I might have offered to come back on a future date for half the fee.

A client booked a seminar (as an open

—Laura Stack, MBA, CSP Highlands Ranch, Colo.

enrollment class) at their facility. You arrived at the appointed day and time to discover that no one has shown up. The

I would stick to the payment terms, but I would offer to conduct a seminar on another date at no charge. To help secure attendees, I would offer to work with the event planner on marketing strategies to draw participants.

For a preferred or long standing client, I would consider deferring payment until my services are actually rendered.

—Sara Canaday Austin, Texas

client paid 50 percent of your fee up front

—Marty Grunder Miamisburg, Ohio

with the balance due the day of the event.

Now what?

1. I would ask the organizers: ‘This is a tough situation. What are your thoughts?’

2. I would give a presentation to the people in the room, even if it’s only three people who organized the meeting.

3. I would keep the deposit and expect the other 50 percent per the contract. I might offer a discount on a future engagement as a show of good will.

4. I would see if I could round up any people in the lobby. This might turn into a serendipitous opportunity to serve more people. And that can result in new leads.

—Tom Marcoux San Francisco, Calif.

What Would You Do? is a regular column that presents a real-life dilemma faced by professional speakers. NSA members are encouraged to submit a dilemma for possible discussion in this column.

Please submit dilemmas to ethics@nsaspeaker.org. NSA reserves the right to edit submissions for length and style. All dilemmas will be anonymously attributed. Opinions expressed are those of the individual respondents, not NSA.

32 | SPEAKER | March 2011

One of my largest clients recently had a seminar out of town and only one person out of 55 showed up.

Obviously, someone didn’t do his or her job.

I cut the client some slack and gave a small credit to use on a future booking. I think it all boils down to the relationship.

We need to be business people, but we’re also in this for the long run. Nice people win.

The only things a speaker has to sell are time and expertise. If someone books you and doesn’t promote the event, that is not your responsibility. You can’t recreate the time you lost. An unexpected crisis like 9/11 would be grounds for sharing the burden, but a sudden client crisis would not.

—Jim Tudor Falls Creek, Pa.

How you make your client feel is much more important than a fee. Do the right thing. It will pay off big in the long run.

—Mark Sanborn, CSP, CPAE Highlands Ranch, Colo.

It’s happened to me. It isn’t my fault no one shows. I showed up.

I expect full fee. With a good client, I did offer a discount if they wanted to rebook.

—Liz Ashe, MEd Bangor, Maine

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Turning Point A career-changing moment or experience

The Two-Minute Epiphany

M

y turning point?

The day I was asked to be on the closing panel of a conference held

over the holidays.

Pulitzer Prize winners, astronauts, Fortune 100 CEOs and Nobel physicists were on the panel and in the audience, so I was excited about this opportunity.

The challenge? I had two minutes max to share an intriguing epiphany with the group.

The night before the panel, I skipped the New Years’ celebration to work on my remarks. My son Andrew came back to our hotel room after midnight and found me still up.

“Whazzup, Mom?” “Well, I’ve got something to say, but I know it’s not special.”

“Do what you always tell me to do when my brain’s fried. Get up early in the morning and the ideas will come when you’re fresh.”

“Good advice, Andrew. Thanks.”

I set the alarm for 6 a.m. and went to bed.

The next morning, I went in search of some caffeine to kick-start my creativity. I turned around after getting my coffee and bumped into a petite powerhouse with big red glasses. I smiled at her and said, “Happy New Year.”

She looked at me, eyes bright, and said, “Start to finish.”

I was instantly intrigued. “How did you come up with that great phrase?”

She said, “Want to set for a spell and I’ll tell you?”

I had a decision to make. Was I supposed to go back to my room and work 34 | SPEAKER | March 2011

Our conversation not only yielded a fascinating story for my closing remarks and was the start of a rewarding friendship, it dramatically changed the way I communicate and crystallized the following epiphany: People don’t want more information—they want epiphanies.

And they don’t get epiphanies from ideas. They get them from vividly told, real-life examples that cause the lights to go on and the band to play.

As a result of my encounter with Betty, I developed a Disruptive Communication Manifesto called the 70–10–10–10 Rule® that I use in all of my written and spoken communications. It is an evolutionary way to soctratically engage people so they relate what we’re saying to their circumstances and choose to do something differently; not because they have to, but because they want to.

Thanks to Betty, I now avoid “neckup rhetoric” by introducing every point (yes, on the stage and on the page) with a relevant example that segues into an Aha, Ask and Act. It’s a way to capture and keep attention . . . from start to finish.

Sam Horn, The Intrigue Expert and author of POP!,

on my two-minute epiphany or was Dr. Betty Siegel my two minutes?

Suffice it to say, I went with Betty (literally and figuratively).

Betty, President Emeritus of Kennesaw State University, is, quite simply, the best storyteller I’ve ever known. She doesn’t tell; she shows. She illustrates each idea with a vividly told, real-life example so we see what she’s saying.

has been featured on NPR, MSNBC, BusinessWeek.com, and in Investors Business Daily and The New York Times. Her speaking clients include Cisco, Intel and NASA, and her consulting clients include the former presidents of ASAE, NSA, ASTD, ICF and the Disney Institute. For a copy of the 70-10-10-10 Rule®, contact Sam@SamHorn.com.

The NSA Foundation Can Assist Your Favorite Charity The Art Berg Grant - $2,000 NSA members make the world a better place through charitable involvement. If you’re an active volunteer, your charitable organization could benefit from a grant to support a technology- or communications-related project.

The late Art Berg, CSP, CPAE, was passionate about technology’s ability to facilitate communication. The Art Berg Fund was established to support the innovative use of technology to benefit 501(c)(3) not-for-profit groups.

Application deadline: April 1, 2011

WA NT ED :

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Scholarship Grant - $5,000 Do you know a student who has a burning desire to become a professional speaker? He or she may be eligible for an NSA Foundation scholarship.

The Foundation awards four scholarships annually to full-time college junior, senior and graduate students at an accredited university.

Application deadline: June 1, 2011

For more information on NSA Foundation grants and scholarships visit www.NSAFoundation.org or call Mandy Schulze at (480) 264-4297.

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Tweet Much?

Connect with NSA on Twitter for up-to-theminute information on upcoming events, NSA news, educational articles, inspirational quotes and more!

Join one or more of NSA’s 13 Professional Expert Groups (PEGs) for access to teleseminars, Webinars, handouts and more.

Learn secrets for success from fellow members in the following areas: • Business Coaching • Consultants • diversity • e-PeG (neW!) • educators

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36 | SPEAKER | March 2011

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All editions of Speaker magazine are available in digital format at www.nsaspeaker.org.

So, what are you waiting for? Pass It On!

Thank you for helping NSA expand its reach.

Questions? Please contact our offices at (480)968-2552 or email information@nsaspeaker.org March 2011 | SPEAKER | 37

Humor Me Finding the funny in a speaker’s life

The Man Hug

T

he emcee asked if I would stick around after my program to help with the awards ceremony, so I obliged. You may ask why I agreed to stay and shake the hands of recipients I don’t know, but the reasons are simple: I always give of myself to the client, and I had not yet been paid.

So, while I was presenting the plaques, a robust gentleman came forward to receive his award. But, before I continue my story, the following information is critical for setting the stage: I did not see him carrying a small cup of coffee in his left hand.

I glanced away when he placed his cup on an elevated table behind me.

As I turned back to him, it appeared that he wanted to hug.

Now, the key thing with a man-hug is that both man-huggers must be on the same page. But we weren’t on the same page. We weren’t even in the same book.

In mid-handshake, I thought I had to

“We were like two drunken overweight ballerinas performing a routine beyond our capabilities, and neither of us wanted to be in this dance.” convert to a hug, so I leaned towards him completely off balance thinking I could steady myself by leaning on him. He wasn’t planning on hugging me, so he also was caught off balance.

We were like two drunken overweight ballerinas performing a routine beyond our capabilities, and neither of us wanted 38 | SPEAKER | March 2011

to be in this dance. I believe it was Plato who said, “Nothing ever good or graceful has come from reluctant huggers.” (I could be wrong on that quote.)

Anyway, we didn’t have the grace or athleticism to pull this off. Our feet got tangled up, and we stumbled, tripped and hit the deck like a WWF takedown.

Ka-boom!

This man didn’t want me hug me, and he certainly didn’t want me to lie on top of him with my head buried in his chest. My arms were pinned under his beefy frame, and I couldn’t get up. From virtually any vantage point in the room, it appeared that I was very comfortable cuddling with my new friend.

When I tried to get up, the only thing I could move was my behind, so it was sticking up in the air. (Pause and reflect on this image.) At this point, I sensed my new friend was not at all

pleased with the situation, probably because he yelled, “What the hell are you doing.”

(I’ve always been good at picking up clues.)

The good news: Once we both stood up and the audience knew we were okay, they burst into room-shaking laughter.

And you know me … I’ll do anything for a laugh. The bad news: We shared a hug, a laugh, and a roll on the floor, and I haven’t heard from that guy since our close encounter. No flowers, no phone call, nothing.

Mark Mayfield, CSP, CPAE, speaks about very serious things in a very funny way.

Known as the Corporate Comedian, he offers solid business wisdom in a brilliant comedic style.

Visit www.markmayfield.com.

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