Ashley Solutions

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Presentations and seminars become all too familiar in the business world. Jim Speaker is there with the overhead projector and PowerPoint slides-each with four of five points.
Hours later the seminar is over. Seminars are informative but can be deadly.
Just give me the handout and I’ll read it at home!

It takes a dynamic presenter to step out from behind the lectern and shake up and motivate their audience.

Facts touch or mind, but it is the power that comes from stories that touch hearts.

Everybody loves a story. Stories give us insight life and human nature. They can make us laugh and they can make us cry. Story telling will go beyond the bullet points and will make a memorable impression on the heart that can change a life.

As a speaker, how can you use stories to give your presentation the impact that you desire:

• Tell inspirational stories to persuade, motivate or entertain. Use stories to illustrate the point you want to make. Try to find stories that are relevant to the audience. For example, for software engineers, tell a story about the young engineer who started a company in his garage and how Microsoft changed the world.

• Tell a story from your own experience. Make a habit of keeping a story journal and record your day’s experiences. You will have a rich supply of unique experiences to draw from to illustrate your point.

• Use gestures and acting techniques to bring your story to life. Don’t just tell your audience about a difficult client; get up and show them. Actions have a greater impact on the point you are making.

• Use description and dialogue. Take your audience into the story by using description and dialogue. Help them visualize and feel that they are part of the experience.

• Practice your story until it’s natural. Use the pacing and rhythm to communicate your message to your audience. Listen to a tape recording of yourself. Check how you have varied the tone of your voice and your speed to create the biggest impact in your story.

Remember it’s not about you; it’s about your audience. You have a great story and an important message to convey. By concentrating on your audience, you will become more confident and relaxed. This will result in your audience feeling comfortable and more receptive to your message.

Barbara White helps speakers develop dynamic
speaking skills
through workshops, training and coaching. For more articles on speaking skills
visit
www.livingbeyondbetter.com and

www.articlesbeyondbetter.com

Well, I thought I would be welcomed as a writer when I started writing articles into the writing community. Why? Well, because after working my butt off in business for myself starting at age 12 and finishing at age 40; I literally worked every single day and for 20-years I actually took no days off. But I loved what I was doing so it did not matter.

Nevertheless during this time period I inadvertently learned so much from so many diverse experiences and observations working at break neck speed that it seems only fitting and fair to the rest of humanity to give a little of that wisdom and knowledge back. Interestingly enough I visited many writers clubs of those up and coming and some authors of several books and could see it was not about the newcomer it was about them.

Obviously a retired, built from scratch entrepreneur, is not deterred when someone says they cannot do something. Actually that sends out challenge signals which entrepreneurs pick up on and will drive that ball out of the park. I got to a point that, I decided to stop listening to the so-called expert writers and professional protectionist writers and go after my writing anyway.

So I started by writing articles about books I had written previously while in business; E-book free-information on my company and foundation websites, as well as a co-authored industry book for the Franchising Sector; oh yes, I was a founder of a franchising company in my career in business. Next I started writing about other interests I had. Now I have 7000 articles online and have not run out of material yet.

Why do writers trash on the new guy? I see this in other industries as well due to competition factors; Rule Makers and Rule Breakers, scenarios, yet writing is about sharing information and insight, thus it would seem the more the better.

Not so, apparently many writers are weak and have low-self esteem and wish to tear down to build up. Okay, I suppose we can play it that way? But do you really know who you are up against? Dear detractors of amateur online article authors, beware there is a predator on the lose and he is pissed! So, consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

I just returned from training in Biodynamic Cranial Osteopathy with James Jealous, DO. His use of language is very precise, seeking to capture the life and divinity in the healing process through his words. His teaching has moved me to carefully consider the words I use and sparked this essay.

The need for inward time seem primary now as I synthesize the experiences of the last ten days. Integrate is perhaps a more precise word. It begins with being still, creating space and allowing time for the experiences to settle.

As I write these words, I am aware that I may not be using them precisely. Loose usage, vernacular blunts the divinity, the true meaning, the divine communication. So often, we take the life out of our words to appear objective or scientific. What’s left is flat, less nourishing, even toxic or dangerous. We’re refining our words the way we do flour! Let’s leave our words whole, unprocessed, unrefined. There can be such a thing as overspecificity, that looks so closely, so centrally, so concentrated that is misses the whole and the life. Can our words have a soft, peripheral focus that contains and represents the whole yet retains the meaning undiluted?

Our words are a representation, a symbol and often poor ones. A word can create a space for much to manifest. It can water a seed of transformation, of awakening, of healing. Isn’t that what we writers seek? Call it what you will but we want to induce a change. The words are only a catalyst. The hearts and minds of our readers must be receptive and in the right place for the change to occur.

Bethany Klug, DO specializes in holistic medicine at the Kansas City Holistic Centre. She is a member of Lieurance Group, a freelance writers cooperative and authors the monthly column “The Doctor Cooks” for the Kansas City Wellness Magazine. She would be delighted to write a column or series for you.

Content, content, content. You hear it all the time. Put up a web site and load it up with content. People love free things to read, search engines love it for the purpose of indexing your site and you will love it because of all the traffic it will eventually bring you. The most popular type of content is the article.

Pick just about any topic that you can think of, go to a search engine and look it up. You are bound to find thousands of articles on the subject unless you’re looking up something so obscure, like matchbox collecting, that very few people would even think of writing anything on it. But in the case of something like Internet marketing or more specifically, resale rights, there are articles coming from just about every direction. And one thing that most Internet marketers crave more than anything, especially those who are not having success, is knowledge. These articles give them the knowledge that they need.

The questions that need to be answered are, how do we get these articles and then how do we use them to sell our resale rights package?

Getting the articles isn’t that hard but depending on what route you take is either going to be time consuming or very expensive.

The time consuming option is to write the articles yourself. Most articles, to be effective, need to be at least 500 words long. You want to give your visitor a decent amount of information in the article itself so he feels that he has gotten something valuable from it. To write a 500 word article, depending on how knowledgeable you are about the subject and how fast you can type, can take anywhere from a half hour to 2 hours or more. You’re going to want to write about 10 of these right off the bat to have any kind of decent traffic come to your site. Then you’re going to want to write at least one every day to add to your site. Search engines are looking for sites with at least 100 articles to really give them a good ranking. Yes, this is a lot of work.

The expensive option is to buy these articles from a freelance writer or from a company that specializes in article writing. Most of these companies will probably have articles on just about every subject imaginable. The problem with going this route is unless you can find an up and coming writer who works cheap, you’re likely to pay as much as $25 to $50 per article. Ten articles alone can run you close to $500. To get to the 100 you would like to have for your site, well, you’re looking at a pretty penny.

But all this work and/or expense will pay off in the long run. Once your site starts moving up the search engine rankings you will begin to see visitor counts that reach thousands per day. The amount of money you make from sales will more than make up for what you spent on articles.

But how exactly do we use these articles to sell our resale rights program?

This can be done in one of two ways.

The first way is simply to make sure that the site where the articles are posted has links to your sales page and a sales pitch somewhere on the page. You want this to be clearly visible.

The second way is within the article itself. You can simply add a little pitch at the end to showcase your product or if you want to be really subtle, just put a link to your sales page at the end of the article in the section “about the author.” Of course, you can do a combination of both of these ways.

Article writing is one of the most popular selling tools on the Internet. Use them correctly and you will see sales go through the roof.

Learn more…

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Copyright 2006 – Ken Mathie. Editor PMCezine…
You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Writing is a lonely process, but as writers, we are not alone. There are thousands of us. And we are everywhere, pouring our hearts and souls into the pages of our manuscripts in the hopes of one day becoming published. As a group, we submit hundreds of manuscripts to agents and publishers every week. Our work could fill libraries. But of the hundreds of thousands of manuscripts submitted in the U.S. every year, only 100,000 get to see light of day as actual published books printed by traditional publishers. Of those, only a fraction become best sellers.

So where does that leave the rest of us? Where can we turn? What can we, the unpublished masses, do to make our voices heard?

Print-on-Demand Publishing: “Here There Be Monsters”

For many aspiring writers, an increasingly popular alternative to “traditional” publishing is self-publishing through a POD publisher. POD stands for print-on-demand (or publish-on-demand.) A POD publisher differs from a traditional publisher in that a POD publisher prints books as they are needed, whether that demand is for one, or for one hundred.

However, the very term, “print-on-demand,” evokes a mixed response, one similar to what you might get from the phrase “used car salesman.” Everyone has an opinion, and horror stories abound. But just like when you are looking for a car dealer, when you look for a POD publisher, you need to be careful and do your homework. Here are some questions you need to ask when looking for a company that offers POD services.

• How much will they charge others for your book? Let’s be brutally honest here. No one is going to pay top dollar for a paperback written by an unknown author. Yes, by “unknown author” I mean you and me. There are just too many other more important things in life to spend money on, like food, shelter, and clothing. If the self-publisher charges too much to your potential customers, you can forget about sales.
• Do they require that you pay for a minimum run? Some POD’s expect you to buy a certain number of your own book before they will publish your work. There’s nothing illegitimate about that; it’s just how some of them recoup their publishing costs. You just need to make sure you know what the requirements are before you agree to work with a POD publisher.
• Which way does the money flow? Let’s keep it simple, the money should flow in the direction of the author. In other words, you should be profiting from your work. True, your writing may be a labor of love, but love don’t pay the bills!
• Who gets to keep control over your work? Do you get final say on everything? Most things? Nothing? You need to ask.
• Do they require a contract? If the POD wants you to sign a contract in which you must give them certain rights regarding your work, be sure to read the fine print. The first book I ever self-published was locked into a seven-year contract with the publisher. BIG mistake.
• Are they honest about who they are? Not every POD publisher calls themself a POD publisher. Some POD’s try to hide what they are by insisting they are traditional publishers, or that they are “revolutionizing” the publishing industry by their cutting edge method. The traditional publishing industry is not given to revolution. If a POD will not be honest with you about what they are, they will probably not be honest, or fair, with you on anything else.

Don’t let these warnings discourage you from seeking out a POD. Instead, let them help you go into the POD world with your eyes open. There are legitimate POD’s out there. Let me save you a little time and heartache by recommeninding one I used to publish my latest novel Project Vectus. The POD is called Lulu and you can find it at http://www.lulu.com. Rather than go into any kind of sales pitch on their behalf, just go to their site with the questions above and decide for yourself how they measure up.

Glenn Haertlein is a teacher at a Christian school for children with special needs, and a freelance writer. To see his latest work, visit http://www.imglenn.net

When most people think of Article Marketing, what comes to mind is usually how to write the article rather then how to market it. But there is another way and I will show you in this article.

The latest rage seems to be Article marketing and with good reason. It’s by far the best free means of promoting your business and increasing your sales and opt in subscribers.

By submitting your articles to article directories, article announcement lists, and ezine publishers, you achieve several things.

First, you establish yourself as an expert in your field. Readers are more likely to listen to you if they feel you know what you are talking about.

Second, by attaching a resource box to your article, you are giving the reader a link to your website. If the reader is impressed with your knowledge, they will probable click on your link to see what it is that you are offering.

Third, you increase your search engine page rank by providing a non-reciprocal link to your website. Search engines seem to give extra weight to non-reciprocal links in their page rankings.

But many marketers are not comfortable writing their own articles. They just do not understand how to put their thoughts into words. Or worse yet, they do not have any thoughts merit printing.

That is why private label articles are in such high demand these days. There are several of these services available and more seem to be popping up every day.

Therein lies the problem. Depending on how these articles are used, the results can be good, bad, or downright unsightly.

The Bad: A everyday mistake made by marketers using private label articles is getting lazy. They merely copy and paste the article and submit it, as is, with no personalization.

At the very least, you should change the title. Most article directories require that your article be approved before they are posted. But do you actually think they read every article that comes in? Not likely.

They get dozens, even hundreds of submissions every day, so it’s unlikely that your article will really be read.

But most directory software will automatically search their database for duplicate titles. If the title of your article matches one in their database, yours will be rejected.

So do yourself a favor and at the very least, change the title. It might also be a good idea to change the wording in the first paragraph.

The unsightly: Many marketers load so many links in their article that it becomes one long ad. This will not only get you rejected, but ultimately banned if you do it frequently enough.

The Good: As stated previously, private label articles, when used correctly, can give the non-writer a big superiority over other marketers. They can increase your traffic, sales, and opt in subscribers. That is good.

A good article contains useful knowledge to the reader whether they buy your products or not. Present to them good content and you will increase the chances that they will click your link in the resource box.

Private label articles are a great tool, but do not get lazy!

Dean Morken is the Creator of Affiliate Marketing Info Center. Your on going informational guide to promoting your site. http://www.affiliate-marketing-info-center.com

You’ve spent months or maybe years writing your novel. You’ve presented it to your critique group, made revisions and had it professionally edited. After studying the market guide you’ve found publishers you feel may be interested. Now, you’re ready to package it up and send it off.

Here are some basic guidelines for submitting a professional looking complete manuscript:

The first page of your manuscript is the title page. On that page, in the upper left corner, type your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. In the upper right corner, type the approximate word count. All information in the upper corners should be single spaced. Halfway down the title page, type the title (centered) of your novel. Under the title, two spaces below, type the words “by”, under this, two spaces below type your name.

Beginning on page two, (the title page is page one) place your last name followed by a slash then the title of your work in the upper left corner; in the upper right corner place the page number of each remaining page. Halfway down the page type the chapter title and number. Again, both of these are centered. The remaining pages of your manuscript need to be double spaced. Each page should have at least a 1 to 1 inch margin.

After your manuscript is properly formatted write a cover letter which introduces you, the title of your work and politely asks the publisher to read your manuscript. Send your manuscript to a person. Make sure you have their correct title and above all make sure you spell his or her name correctly.

Before you print off your manuscript and cover letter check everything once again for spelling and grammar errors.

Print your manuscript off (only on one side of the paper) on good quality twenty to twenty two pound white paper, 8 x 11 inches.

Manuscripts longer than ten pages should be mailed in 5 x 7- inch mailing envelope. Enclose a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for a reply.

Follow these guidelines and you will present a professional looking writing package worthy of the time you spent on your novel.

Carol Boles has a master’s degree in Special Reading and an Educational Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She has more than ten years experience teaching K-12 reading in public schools. She now manages her own business and is a member of the Lieurance Group, a freelance writers cooperative. Find out more about her writing services at http://www.lieurancegroup.blogspot.com or email her at Cwrites-56@hotmail.com

From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters at www.managing-creativity.com/

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

and more…

Sample Movie Deconstructed: Shine (1996)

Grown David

FADE IN: Context: Meeting the Hero: Adult David speaking to himself in his way.

Loop: Meeting the Hero: David let into the bar and driven home.

Referencing the Antagonist: Daddy (Peter).

Young David

Hero’s Capabilities: David is going to play the piano.

Meeting the Antagonist: Peter says he will play Chopin.

Chosen by the Mentor: Rosen spots David’s talent.

Hero and Antagonist relationship: he’s my son.

Hero’s Ordinary World: David at home with family.

Antagonist’s Backstory: when I was a boy I had a violin.

Pushed to the First Threshold by the Mentor: Rosen arrives.

Call to Adventure: David could be very successful with the right music teacher.

Refusal: Herald pushed out of the house.

Elixir: Rachmaninov; the hardest piece in the world.

Foreshadow of the Journey: one day you will make me very proud; we are going to win.

Pushed to the First Threshold: David’s father takes him to see Rosen.

Threshold Guardian: Rosen won’t teach him Rachmaninov, but will teach what he thinks is right.

Grown David

Foreshadow of the Resolution / Hero’s Ordinary World: Sylvia takes grown David into his room.

Young David

Successfully Crossing the First Threshold: David wins the prize; offered a scholarship in America.

Hero’s Ordinary World: David at home again.

Resisting the Physical Separation: David’s Dad has no money to send him to America.

Foreshadow of Mentor’s Magical Gift: We’ll raise it through a Bar Mitzwah.

Mentor pushes the Physical Separation: Rosen tries to convince David’s mother.

Developing Characters and Relationships: if you want to go to America you have to be fit and strong like me.

Magical Gift: Raising the money at the Bar Mitzvah.

Developing the Antagonist: Peter at home, discussing ‘these people’ with his wife.

Foreshadow of the Physical Separation: looking at pictures of David’s achievements.

Hero’s Romantic Challenge: the girl in the library.

Meeting Mentor 2: Katharine.

Interdiction: Peter doesn’t allow David to go to America.

Developing the Antagonism: Peter beats David.

Mentor and Antagonist Confrontation; mentor Hawk and Antagonist Interdiction: at the synagogue; Rosen bangs on the door.

Hero and Antagonist confrontation: it is a terrible thing to hate your father.

Grown David

David looking at the letter to America.

Young David

Mentor’s Guidance: David plays for Katherine.

Punishment for Refusing the Journey: David loses the competition.

Mentor’s Guidance: David gets a scholarship for the Royal College of Music in London.

Interdiction: “…and you think you can do as you please…”; Peter beats up David; will never speak to him again if he goes.

Breaking the Interdiction: David leaves.

Goodbye to the Old World: Peter burns the pictures.

World of the Transformation: London; Royal College of Music.

Mentor spots a Hero: I see genius in him.

Meeting Mentor 3: Cecil Parkes.

Outer Cave / Mentor’s Guidance / Transformation 1: Cecil guides David.

Middle Cave / Transformation 2: Meeting Allies: David’s pals.

Link with the Old World / Developing Characters and Relationships: David sends tape recordings to Katherine.

Pulled into the Inner Cave: the competition; David wants to play the Rach 3.

Preparing for the Inner Cave: learning the Rach 3 under Cecil’s guidance.

Severing links with the Old World: Katherine dies.

Inner Cave Reward: With Cecil in the Mausoleum.

Inner Cave: David plays the Rach 3 to a standing ovation and falls.

Returning to the Old World: Daddy I’m home; Peter puts the phone down.

Grown David

World of the Sword: Susie comes to see David in the Institution.

Foreshadow of the Sword: David is drawn to the piano.

Resistance to the Sword: the nurse drags David away.

Pushed Forward: David sits at the piano.

Guardians of the Sword: Peter meets Beryl at the piano; Beryl takes David home; Beryl can’t handle David and he moves into his room.

Seizing the Sword: David at his own piano in his own room; learns to play again.

Loop: back at the bar.

David’s own piano is locked.

Seizing the Sword: David enters the bar and plays the piano to applause; David becomes a local star.

Near Death Experience : Peter turns up; “..goodnight Daddy..”

Meeting the Romantic Challenge: Gillian arrives.

Goddess’ Challenge: she’s due to be married to an investment advisor.

Atonement with the Father: pictures of Roger writing to Cecil; watching Roger in concert.

Apotheosis: Gillian leaves; David asks Gillian to marry her; ask the stars.

Ultimate Boon: Gillian asks the stars; the marriage; the celebration; in bed.

Crossing the Return Threshold: time to go…first concert in years.

Master of Two Worlds: David gets a rapturous round of applause at his concert; Rosen, family et al are there.

Freedom to Live: Daddy dies; he doesn’t feel anything.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://managing-creativity.com/

Mandy*, a bright, attractive professional woman, had a fear of speaking in front of groups. Recognizing that her feelings of vulnerability and self-consciousness were limiting her potential, she showed up for a presentation skills class filled with trepidation. In the class, the students spent the morning listening to the instructor explain the rules of public speaking. That afternoon, they gave their presentations to the group.

After nervously waiting through five other talks, Mandy took her place at the front of the room-her heart pounding and hands shaking. She plowed through her 10-minute presentation with her mind in an out-of-body blur. When she finished, Mandy obeyed the instructor’s direction to remain front-and-center to receive her feedback. Comments started with a few “That’s a good color on you” and “You had good eye contact” platitudes, but then the real critique began. She used way too many “ums.” She shifted her weight too much. Her hair was in her eyes. Her voice was too soft. Most of all, her excessive gestures simply had to be brought under control! Luckily, the instructor had a gesture-reduction plan. He playfully took a piece of rope from a cardboard box, used it to bind Mandy’s hands behind her back, and had her give the entire presentation over again.

Did this experience help Mandy overcome her feelings of vulnerability and self-consciousness? Of course not. She shuffled home feeling humiliated and victimized. Rather than compassionately working with Mandy as the vulnerable, dignified, gifted human being she is, the instructor treated her like a horse whose spirit and wild habits had to be broken with ropes. Literally.

Previous Training As A Source of Fear

In my 15 years of coaching public speaking, I’ve worked with hundreds of anxiety-ridden speakers. Surprisingly, they often referred to previous speaking training as a source of their fear. They’ve been badgered, nit-picked, and intimidated-all stemming from a well-intentioned belief that if you fix the mechanics, confidence will follow.

For many people, this approach is, at the very least, ineffective-and it can damage one’s sense of dignity. If you see the audience as the enemy, mastering the art of the upward-hand-sweep-with-the-dramatic-flourish will not make those faces any less threatening. Even worse, this mechanical approach can be devastating if you feel insecure to begin with, then walk away with an even longer list of deficiencies to correct.

Of course, there’s value in noticing distracting habits and getting them under control. If you’re already comfortable in the spotlight, great; go ahead and fine-tune the mechanics. But if you’re like Mandy and anxiety is your primary issue (and believe me, you’re not alone), a mechanical approach may do more harm than good.

What You Need from Training

So what do you need, if not the mechanics? Here are four things you’d be wise to demand from your training session:

1. Work on the cause of your discomfort, not merely the symptoms.

Most people say that one-on-one or in a small group, they’re comfortable with speaking; they only feel awkward when speaking to a large group. If that’s the case, there’s good news: You don’t have to work on your speaking; you have to work on getting comfortable being the center of attention. It may not seem like a significant shift but it is. Speakers tend to work only on what they’re putting out to the audience (content, appearance, visual aids, voice). Often, the real work is learning to let in what’s coming from audience members, namely their attention.

2. Demand a dignified, healthy process, not just a good outcome.

In Mandy’s case, even without ropes, she would probably gesture less the next time she spoke, but is that really success? Though the end result of her training was fewer gestures, the teacher cut a swath of emotional destruction on the way. Desired ends don’t justify humiliating means. Always demand to be treated with respect as you work to develop your speaking skills.

3. Insist on privacy regarding your video.

A common tool in presentation skills training is video, but your video is no one’s business but yours. I have seen accomplished, respected professionals shrink in horror as their video was shown to and critiqued by the entire class. All learning value was lost because they were too mortified by the public display to learn anything. Besides, it’s a waste of time. The class just saw you present the real thing. Why make them watch you twice? In my workshops, students go to the fun and funky “Learning Lounge” where they have a private video monitor with earphones, snacks, a comfortable chair, cozy quilts, and a soothing foot massager. The lighthearted atmosphere takes the sting out of self-awareness so students can concentrate on learning. Nothing good comes from public humiliation, so if you’re not comfortable with a public video viewing, stand up for your right to privacy.

4. Feel free to explore your gifts.

“Stay inside the lines.” Remember that one? You got a new box of crayons and wanted to go crazy with them, but a teacher or parent squashed your creativity by making you color inside pre-existing lines. The same happens in speaking. Max, a former student of mine, had always been told to follow the rules as a speaker, so he concentrated on his voice, his stance, his visual aids, etc. When given permission to forget the rules and speak from his heart, a delightful dry sense of humor emerged that made him much more likeable and, therefore, more persuasive. He incorporated this gift into a presentation that was already effective in the traditional sense, but now had a wonderful new dimension that would have been missed had he not played “outside the lines.”

Mechanics have their place, but you may need to go beyond nit-picking mechanics. You’re a unique human being with gifts, talents, stories, fears, dreams, and heart. Don’t settle for anything less than a dignified, compassionate approach.

Even horses deserve that.

* Name has been changed to protect privacy.

(c) 2002, Upside Down Speaking

About The Author

Melissa Lewis turns traditional thinking about public speaking upside down to give people more comfort, confidence, and charisma in front of groups. She does this through keynotes, workshops, coaching and innovative virtual learning programs. She is a former comic actress, a certified facilitator of SPEAKING CIRCLES, president-elect of the National Speakers Association Kansas City Chapter, and author of the soon-to-be-released book, Upside Down Speaking. For more information, call (913) 341-1241, email mailto:MelissaUDS@aol.com or visit http://www.upsidedownspeaking.com.