When I asked about videoing my session, I was told they would like to video and get my consent to use the video. Since the content was pretty specific to this group, I had no problem with them handling it. I did make sure they agreed to provide me the raw footage.

In the session preceding mine, I noticed they had someone manning a video camera, and that she was following the speaker throughout the presentation. We each had a 45 minute breakout-style presentation, and in the adjacent room they were doing the same thing.

When I was setting up, a young lady came over to mike me up, and had me do a quick sound check. Since I hate wearing two microphones, I left my audio recorder and mike in my bag. Know where this is going?

About half way through the session, I noticed mike-girl pointing her phone at me from the side. I just figured she was grabbing a couple of stills. During one of the audience exercises she comes to me and says, “let me know when you’re going to start again. My battery is almost dead.”

“What’s that?”

“We ran out of space on the video camera, so I’m catching the rest of your session with this.” And she holds out her phone.

Awesome.

Lesson learned? Bringing your own stuff isn’t enough. Even when someone says they have it covered, go ahead and duplicate with your own audio/video.

It may not turn out to be a duplicate after all…

Connection
- must have a web presence
- freetoasthost is a must do
- only have a Facebook page if you’ll use it regularly

Community
- work with others to create an event
- promise to think of at least two events this year, and act on at least one
- stay in contact with your members regularly – “we miss you”

Consistency
- meetings in the same place, same time
- keeping website updated

Follow these three C’s to gain commitment in your club!

Arlen had three specific keys to showing appreciation:

1. Be Specific – everyone shouldn’t be “great”
2. Be Sincere – eye contact and pause. Second technique – Wave and leave. (Don’t use praise to lead into a criticism or request)
3. Be Special (or sticky) – thank you card, follow-up, or use the grapevine

On the flip side, don’t be afraid to accept appreciation. No need to say things like, “it wasn’t that much”.

Challenge: At least seven times a day show appreciation. Be specific, sincere and special!

Ryan told an awesome story about his journey toward becoming the World Champion of Public Speaking. Turns out there might be more to it than you thought.

Imagine spending hours every day of the week, week after week, from January into late August pursuing a singular, and difficult, goal. Add to that a broken leg halfway through, learning months in that one world class speech wont be enough (you need two) and one of the most supportive wives in American history (Avery Today).

“Don’t focus on excuses, focus on opportunities” – Chelsea Avery

Ryan’s speech was one that told us that having a specific goal, a supportive team and executing your plan with a lot of hard work can truly pay off.
H
Ryan’s Seven tips for success
1. Commit (to being excellent)
2. Create a plan
3. Create clarity
4. Find your Chelsea
5. Build your community
6. Give thanks
7. Give more (to yourself and others) and Stay Committed!

Interesting quote – “If you’re the smartest person in your group, you need a new group.” Les Brown

One think I like about Dan’s work, he turns studies about how decisions are made into stories that bothe educate and entertain. His studies sometimes make me feel like, “I knew that” even though I really didn’t. For intance, in one study he gave two groups of people designer (read: expensive) sunglasses. One group was told they were real (the truth) and the other group was told they were knock-offs. After wearing the sunglasses for a while in public settings, they were given some different tests.

One conclusion he reached was that people who cheat (i.e. wearing illegal knock-offs in this case) believe others around them are also more likely to cheat.

When I read this, I thought, “I knew that”. But really? It never occurred to me that someone wearing knock-off designer sunglasses (that were given to them!) would begin to behave like someone who felt like a cheater.

The book gives plenty of examples and reasonable science, presented in an interesting and – as I said before – entertaining way. All to help us understand why we cheat, how to spot it and ways to overcome it.

Rob’s Rating system (bolded, the rating is)
Buy now at full price (Yes, it’s available on the Nook)
Buy if you get a discount
Wait for the paperback
Wait for someone else to be done with the paperback
If you’ve read my review, you got the gist of it

Build your list
- in two days Darren made $23,000 launching a new product to his list
- Craig decided to launch 52speakingtips.com and his career has taken off in the last four years because of it

Speakers cycle of wealth
- sell products when you speak
- your products promote you
- you get more speaking opportunities
- you sell more product
- repeat

Your products are the next step for you to take
- your audience may view you as less professional
- Dan Kennedy says if you don’t sell product, you’re arrogant
– it means you think your speech is the end-all-be-all
– there’s no next step. Is that ever true?

This is what you want your audience to think:
“This is for me”
Be willing to narrow your market – you can’t strike oil digging

Know your Jesse
Keep two files
- what they want to avoid
- what they want to attain
Use their words to describe your product to them
Listen to your listeners

What gets recorded gets rewarded

Turn their pain into your promise

Think two, three or four products ahead
- there has to be a next step
- include references in those products, plus a discount

Your customers are your customers

What comes first, the product or the speech

How do you determine the order of the products?
-
Develop a slice of your subject
- don’t just be a speaking coach, be a keynote coach, or storytelling coach

Write 747 words every day – the more I write, the less I fly.

Repurpose, repackage, repeat

Mastering Back of the Room Sales – 14-15 months in the making

Lead generator – provide content that helps and leads to your paid product
- we’ve gone past the information world, we’re in the conceptual world
- don’t provide just information, provide concepts (ie 8 rules for …)

Fight for free – it’s tough to get people to accept your free product

52speakingtips.com – don’t ask, “how would you like to receive 52 emails from me?” – instead ask, “how would you like to be three times better as a speaker by this time next year?”

Pro/con of paid product
Harder to convert people
Immediate income

Purchase or subscribe –
Look across industries – 52speakingtips came from another 52 site in another industry
Originality is the most dangerous word in marketing

Build in one next step – not 2 or 3 at once.

A book is for credibility, a CD is for profitability

One of the fastest ways to gain exposure – joint venture with another expert

Choose a topic
Create chapter titles
Create section titles under chapters
Create bullet points under sections
Create supporting copy under bullet points

World Class Product Creation – new product Craig is working on

A couple of sites in the audience

Vitalitybyjenni.com
Expertonashoestring.com

www.craigvalentine.com

Learn more about EDGE here: EDGE

Leave your issues at the door
Sometimes we bring past audiences with us
Brian Tracy – “what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”
Don’t go to your family for inspiration, go to someone who has done it
Get the information from someone who’s done it before – don’t buy books from people who tell you about success, but have never done it themselves
David Brooks – “Let no one out prepare you”
What are you thinking before you go onstage?
Otis Williams Jr. – “Be so good the only question is who comes in second”

Go from “What will they think of me?” to “What will they leave with?”
Stop worrying about how you will look
Skill set without mindset will leave your audience upset
The audience wants you present, not perfect

Yes and…
Darren ran an exercise where we were paired up, and every reply had to start with “yes and” – this is a great exercise for keeping positive and keeping a scene moving

Izzy Gesell – Playing Along book – great book with ways to run improv exercises

We also did an exercise where we did a play by play with a video of a drive in Las Vegas.

Ever get put in a situation you were untrained for?

Be present, be in the moment for your audience.

www.darrenlacroix.com

Learn more about the EDGE here: EDGE

Why did you laugh?
Failure is funny if it isn’t happening to you

Never stop asking questions

Keep them Laughing
- share your failure, flaws, frustrations and firsts
- uncover (don’t add) humor to your speech – stories, characters and dialog
- FDR – failure, dialog and reactions ( the look before and after the line)

Keep them Reflecting
- you’re always too something to someone (too serious, too British, too young etc.)
- if you’re always too something to someone, be too good for it to matter
- get them to reflect
- get them to write down what they’re going to do with what you say
- discuss and debrief – turn to your neighbor

Keep them Moving
- run an exercise
– Craig had us pair up, and one person spoke for 90 seconds straight while the other was not allowed to say a word. Not as easy as it sounds. I learned that my life story only takes 64 seconds.
- discuss and debrief
-SOFTEN
- Smile (when appropriate)
- Open (behind a lectern is closed)
- Forward
- Territory (don’t favor one side of the audience)
- Eye contact
- Nod

Keep them Speaking
- encourage them to speak
- “if I say it, they can doubt me. If they say it, it’s true.”
- speak to one but look to all – “have you ever…” instead of “how many of you…”
- use the hallway test. Would you ask one person, “how many of you…?”
- bring someone up on stage
- repeat after me

Keep them Changing
- don’t change everything at once, make small changes – “change small and change often”
- too many speakers try to get across too much information in too little time
- when you squeeze information in, you squeeze your audience out
- keep the modes of learning changing throughout your presentations

Craig wrapped up reminding us not t get stuck on get set! Too many people get ready, they get set, but they never go.

“Don’t live your life on get set”

www.craigvalentine.com

Learn more about the EDGE:
EDGE

If you don’t know who Mike Rayburn is, you’re missing out!

Mike is in the National Speakers Association Hall-of-Fame, and for good reason. He’s both entertaining and profound, without coming off, well, like he’s profound.

Check him out here: Mike’s Videos

What if? Always ask, “but what if we could?”
Infinite possibilities
Reprogram your brain – stop looking for reasons you can’t

The best method for setting goals:
Write music that you cannot play
Thar means: Create a goal that doesn’t exist

It takes courage to think it
- this is nuts, but I’m gonna…

Three steps
Write it down
Commit to it
Take some kind of action on it right away, within 24 hours

Motivation
Reward and punishment – same method we use to train mice
How does that make you feel?

What separates us?
Sense of purpose

Are you driving with the brakes on?
How to take the brakes off

Become a virtuoso – the apex of your art form
- resolve to be the best
- make the choice to become excellent

You don’t have to choose mediocrity, it’s already there for the taking
- good becomes the enemy of great
- coasting can be okay for a time, but it’s always downhill

Exercise: what would it take for me to become the best _______?
- then answer the question
- identify those things that will make you the best
- take it as far as you can take it

It won’t take more than ten minutes
You already know the answers
It will change your life

Final thought:
If we are all different, then you have something that others lack

Great opening story about getting tickets to the US Open

Speakers never have bad days, we just have new material

Always see the best in person (PF)

What were the elements of success, and how can you use them to get a yes for your request?
- don’t assume failure just because you found an obstacle
- wherever you go, treat people like you want to be treated – “be nice”
- assume success and remain positive
- positive attitude
- you recognized the value of what you were receiving
- Just because things didn’t work out as planned doesn’t mean they can work out for the best

6 weapons of influence

Reciprocation –
Liking – the more we like people, the more we want to say yes
Authority –
Consistency –
Social proof - we look to what others do to guide our behavior
Scarcity- the less available he resource the more we want it

Law of reciprocity
Reciprocity is the almost universal belief that people should be paid back for what they do: that one good (or bad) turn deserves another

Ignore the Law of Reciprocity at your peril

- Influence Without Authority
Allen R Cohen and David L Bradford

Exercise – think of a situation where you had no authority, but you were able to successfully influence others you did not know. You did not use bribery, pressure, sex appeal or threats.

Common themes for success
- being nice
- being fun

Influence Without Authority Model

1 – assume all are potential allies
2 – clarify your goals – separate secondary goals from primary
3 – diagnose the world of the other person – goals, needs and concerns
4 – identify relevant currencies (theirs & yours) – what do we have to trade
– being nice is a currency
5 – dealing with relationships – people think differently
– four factors influence our perception
– event, meaning, emotion, and do
6 – influence through give & take (trade and exchange) –

Example of how perception can influence our actions
Event Flowers Flowers
Meaning He likes me He did something Wrong
Emotion Good Suspicion
Do Hug or kiss Throw(n)

It’s the meaning that determines the outcome

Case study (exercise)
Step 1: working individually, answer the questions based on a situation you are currently facing (2 minutes)
1. Who are your potential allies?
2. What are your specific goals/results?
3. What are their GNC? Goals, Needs, and Concerns
4. Currencies? Theirs? Yours?
5. Relationship status? (+, – or 0)
6. Approach? What have you done so far?

Step 2: Form Groups of 3 (Triads)
Take 1 minute each to share your situation
- Goals
- Currencies
- Approach

Step 3 : choose an influence situation brainstorm a trading approach

You don’t have to be in charge to get things done. Use your influence!