The Lucky Cabin

These days, as a considerable number of firms & CEOs are looking towards web video websites as a tremendous place to upload content to grab the interest of their clients, it is necessary to identify the basic benefits of using online video promotion channels.

Here are a number of basic things you should be familiar with previous to you beginning to post videos on online video websites.

At all times try to use professional videos that presents value added material to your consumers - A great deal of business people erroneously presume you can simply put any type of advertisement on a video site, but nothing could be any further from reality. Each & every video must provide some useful content to the desired market, if not then at least topic of conversation. For online video publishing strategies that meets your companies requirements, take a look at the Vidify website now.

Conduct some brand of market research on the video websites before circulating your very first video - it is an exceptional suggestion to assign some considerable amount of time putting your market’s essential keywords into Yahoo, in an attempt to discover what related promotional videos are currently out there. Next make sure you have scribbled down the profile names of the most important companies in your sector. Possibly down the line you can participate in a joint venture or even have some kind of collaboration with these people.

Understand that each and every video portal has a society built into it - Therefore you are suggested to value the other members and it’s suggested that you write positive comments to your rivals’ videos. Essentially you need to be a member of the community, offering opinion, ideas etc. And only then should you think of yourself as being a marketer & begin to broadcast your very own videos & merchandise.

Commit yourself to producing several corporate videos - You must have a clear strategy for making & circulating several professional videos. Or else, your company’s page on the video sites will give the sense of being empty if it only has one single video to look at. Therefore, assign extra time planning the manufacturing of a series of short videos, rather than only one considerably long video.

Online video marketing is one of the most effective and fastest manners of promoting your firm at this point in time.

You probably know how favourable sharing your businesses video commercial is. For a company’s CEO, Web video is a helpful tool that can help to capture your potential audiences’ attention & significantly boost the overall amount of visits to your businesses site. Internet video clips are enormously effective in attaining the target customers’ relatively short attention. Moreover, if codes are included and video sharing is endorsed, short format videos can be a marvellous way to get one-way links & thereby positively affect your businesses rankings on the search engines.

In reality, short format promotional videos have become an excellent tool for business or self-advertising. The following are some tips to distributing your own video commercials.

Firstly, you can post your professional videos on your own website; but this would involve you to find your own video hosting arrangements. Ask your online hosting solutions provider if video downloading or video streaming functions are supported.

Video downloading is where your business visitors have to download your online video clip to their laptops hard drive. They need to store the video commercial to their own computers before they can play it using their computer’s video player or a downloadable video player device. There are a lot of video downloading service suppliers that cost very little. There’s also a progressive downloading mechanism where your visitors can play the short format videos whilst downloading them. Maximise the full potential of the web with strategic internet video marketing from Vidify.

While video streaming on the other hand totally does away with the requirement to download the video commercials and lets immediate playback so it gives the most convenience to your web visitors. Naturally, getting a video hosting contractor that supports video streaming can cost you a pretty penny.

Finally, the more trendy way to circulate online videos is posting your sites to video distribution sites that possess their very own video hosting infrastructure. These web sites cost you nothing to join & will on occasions pay you to upload video material. They also have a large audience base & reach; for example, YouTube receives around thirteen million users each and every month.

Over the past decade it has become easier and easier to be an outstanding speaker because as a result of PowerPoint the standards of speaking in business have declined to the point where the average presentation is mediocre at best but often boring drivel.

Computer generated slides, there is no way to describe them as graphics, have destroyed speaking skills. The combination of too little time and the apparent ease of producing a PowerPoint presentation means that most speeches have become narrated slide shows with the screen centre stage and the presenter off to the side.

Whenever anyone is asked to “Do a Presentation” out comes the laptop, often the day before the speech, and slide after slide is filled with “bullets” or the odd “quote” or scanned image in 10 point type. These are the speaker’s notes or in many cases the actual script because they read it out to the audience.

Five minutes before the end the presenter realises that 60 slides in 30 minutes was over ambitious and so tabs hurriedly though the 40 surplus slides to the closing slide. This unprofessional exercise was totally pointless because the audience was already comatose anyway.

At the end of the speech a colleague will then approach the presenter and ask for a copy of the presentation which they import into their laptop making a few additions and subtractions and the virus spreads. Of course half way through their presentation at least one slide will appear that is totally meaningless leaving the presenter at a complete loss for words.

Is this being cynical? Oh how I wish it was. However it is great news for you. Follow a few simple rules and even if you are still wedded to PowerPoint you can at least become a competent speaker. Be warned though. Even top professional speakers have wrecked an otherwise great speech when they were persuaded to “get modern” and use PowerPoint.

10 Steps to Avoid Ruining a Great Speech with PowerPoint.

1. Make time to write the speech before you create your PowerPoint presentation. If you don’t have time to write a good speech, you are wasting your time speaking.

2. What is the purpose of the speech? Decide what your message is. One message - the audience can’t remember more than that. If they only remember one thing you said, what is it?

3. Make no more than three points to support your message and use stories and interesting facts to illustrate them.

4. Decide on your call to action which should be linked to the key message. If the audience only do one thing as a result of the speech, what is it?

5. Look at your speech and decide where a PowerPoint slide will help. If it won’t help don’t use one. Use as few slides as possible and think of slides as graphics. Text is not graphics; your notes should be on the lectern not the screen.

6. Learn how to make the most of PowerPoint. Make your presentations look professional but remember it is “Audio Visual Support” for the main event - Your Speech.

7. If possible, position the projector and screen off to one side. You are the Star - the slides are the side show.

8. Remember these two essential PowerPoint Tips.

a) Press the “B” key and the screen goes “Black.” Press any key and the last slide re-appears. When you have finished with a slide “Black” the screen till you need the next slide.
b) Enter the “Number” of a slide then “Enter” - to jump to that slide. If you run out of time jump to your closing slide and a finish.

9. If it’s complex or technical create useful handout notes or diagrams as well as the slide. You can use the PowerPoint slide to talk through the handout. But remember you are creating audio visual tools to help you communicate your speech.

10. Practice, practice, practice. Run though the presentation and make sure it works with your speech and in time. If a slide seems redundant it probably is. Cut rather than add. You do not need a slide for everything you say - you need a slide only to help communicate what you say.

Copyright 2005 Richelle (Rikki) Arundel, UK

About the Author:

Founder and First President of the Professional Speakers Association, RikkiArundel is an International Keynote Speaker, Trainer and Writer and an expert in sales and marketing communications with an impressive track record. She is also proudly and openly transgender which has given her a unique understanding of the differences in the way men and women communicate in business.

Get your free copy of How to Get Customers Queuing up to Buy at http://www.SpeakingandMarketingTips.com

A survey of America revealed that people are more frightened of speaking in public than of dying!

How incredible is that? To be more frightened of talking to a few people than of having your life ended.

It’s particularly surprising when you realise just how easily you can overcome your fear of public speaking. Using a program such as Unlimited Confidence can teach you tools to overcome this fear and be able to speak out when you need to.

When you talk about public speaking, people instantly think of standing on a stage in front of a huge audience presenting a lecture. However, public speaking is much more than just that. It could giving a speech at a wedding, doing a presentation at work, speaking out in a meeting, or for a club or society you belong to.

Being able to speak in public will help you to feel better about yourself and can help you get ahead in your career too. If you think about it, as you get higher up the ladder in your career, so you find you have to talk to more people and present; so this level of confidence becomes even more important.

This fear manifests physically before having to speak. It starts off as an anxiety, and then becomes a dry mouth, trembling muscles, rapid breathing, and a need to run to the bathroom. In worst cases it can involve sheer panic and the desire to run away.

So how can you get rid of this fear and feel more comfortable with speaking in front of people?

Firstly, you can practise. The more you do something the more confidence and comfortable you become doing it. You can join a group such as Toastmasters International which allows you to develop your communication and leadership skills. You can also volunteer to speak in front of any group of people too.

The Unlimited Confidence course teaches you some valuable tools to help you become more confident not only speaking in public, but in any situation. You will learn how to

* Instantly boost your confidence in seconds without anyone knowing what you are doing

* Learn how to use body language to convey confidence

* Discover how you can attach confidence to absolutely anything

* And many more practical and effective techniques

You will also learn in this course how to use mental rehearsal to program yourself for more confidence, and this can be applied very easily to public speaking. You probably currently run a mental movie of you falling on your face and embarrassing yourself when you speak in front of a group. If instead of running that movie you saw yourself speaking really well, the audience enjoying it and you get applauded at the end, what do you think would happen?

Of course, I am sure you could think of a number of different areas of your life you could apply this technique to, couldn’t you?

Speaking in front of people is actually extremely easy with just a few small changes to the way you think - and you never know, you might even enjoy it!

Jason E. Johns is a personal success coach specializing in helping you become more confident and raise your self esteem through an innovative and compassionate approach. Discover how you can become full of confidence at his self confidence website, http://www.UnlimitedConfidence.com

Based on the feedback that I have been getting from visitors
to my writinghelp-central.com Web site, letter writing is
definitely the area where most people are looking for help
or guidance when it comes to day-to-day writing.

Over 55% of the visitors to my site are seeking some sort of
letter writing information or assistance. The following
lists the Top Ten letters that people request information
on, in order of popularity:

* recommendation letter

* resignation letter

* thank you letter

* reference letter

* business letter

* complaint letter

* cover letter

* sales letter

* introduction letter

* apology letter

The 7 Strategies

Here are a few practical letter-writing tips and strategies
to help you when writing that next letter:

1. Keep It Short And To The Point

Letters involving business (personal or corporate) should be
concise, factual, and focused. Try to never exceed one page
or you will be at risk of losing your reader. A typical
letter page will hold 350 to 450 words. If you can’t get
your point across with that many words you probably haven’t
done enough preparatory work. If necessary, call the
recipient on the phone to clarify any fuzzy points and then
use the letter just to summarize the overall situation.

2. Make It Clear, Concise, And Logical

Before sitting down to write, make a brief point-form
outline of the matters you need to cover in the letter.
Organize those points into a logical progression that you
can use as your guide as you write the letter. The logical
blocks of the letter should be: 1. introduction/purpose,
background/explanation, summary/conclusion, action required
statement. Use this outline process to organize your
approach and your thoughts, and to eliminate any unnecessary
repetition or redundancy.

3. Focus On The Recipient’s Needs

While writing the letter, focus on the information
requirements of your audience, the intended addressee. If
you can, in your “mind’s eye”, imagine the intended
recipient seated across a desk or boardroom table from you
while you are explaining the subject of the letter. What
essential information does that person need to know through
this communication? What will be their expectations when
they open the letter? Have you addressed all these issues?

4. Use Simple And Appropriate Language

Your letter should use simple straightforward language, for
clarity and precision. Use short sentences and don’t let
paragraphs exceed three or four sentences. As much as
possible, use language and terminology familiar to the
intended recipient. Do not use technical terms and acronyms
without explaining them, unless you are certain that the
addressee is familiar with them.

5. Use Short Sentences And Paragraphs

Keep your sentences as short as possible, and break the text
up into brief paragraphs. Ideally, a paragraph should not
exceed two to three sentences. This will make the letter
more easily readable, which will entice the recipient to
read it sooner, rather than later.

6. Review And Revise It

Do a first draft, and then carefully review and revise it.
Put yourself in the place of the addressee. Imagine yourself
receiving the letter. How would you react to it? Would it
answer all of your questions? Does it deal with all of the
key issues? Are the language and tone appropriate? Sometimes
reading it out loud to one’s self can help. When you
actually “hear” the words it is easy to tell if it “sounds”
right or not.

7. Double Check Spelling And Grammar

A letter is a direct reflection of the person sending it,
and by extension, the organization that person works for.
When the final content of the letter is settled, make sure
that you run it through a spelling and grammar checker. To
send a letter with obvious spelling and grammatical errors
is sloppy and unprofessional. In such cases, the recipient
can’t really be blamed for seeing this as an indication as
to how you (and/or your organization) probably do most other
things.

The foregoing basic letter writing strategies and tips are
mostly common sense. Nevertheless, you would be amazed how
often these very basic “rules of thumb” are not employed
when people write letters.

© 2005 by Shaun Fawcett

Shaun Fawcett, is webmaster of the popular writing help site
WritingHelp-Central.com. He is also the author of several
best selling “writing toolkit” eBooks. All of his eBooks and
his internationally acclaimed f-r-e-e course, “Tips and Tricks
For Writing Success” are available at his writing tools site:
http://www.writinghelptools.com

What can be more infuriating to a potential purchaser of a
non-fiction book than chapter headings which give no clue as to
their contents? After all, if someone is looking in the
non-fiction section of a book store, it implies they want facts,
not a fancy and “clever” table of contents! Here are 4 sure-fire
ways to make your text grab the reader’s attention:

1. Make sure the text on the front and back covers is
compelling. It should state plainly and simply what the book is
about. For example: “Buy this book, and learn how to master the
craft of teaching in 15 lessons”.

2. Why should anyone buy the book from YOU? Don’t waste limited
space on the back cover telling the potential reader about your
3 cats - unless it’s a book about cats, of course! Write
something like: “The author has been a practising teacher for 13
years, and writes regularly for the Teaching Times.”

3. Organise the table of contents so that the chapters fall into
easily-identifiable sections. For example: “Section 1: Before
you face your first class; Section 2: The first year” and so on

4. Make sure that the chapter headings actually MEAN something.
You may think it’s great to have chapters like “All that
glitters” and “Every cloud has a silver lining”, but I’ have
news for you: nobody else is impressed! When people are browsing
they want to know right away what they will get for their money
if they buy the book. They don’t have time to look at each
chapter to find out what it’s about. The chapter headings should
tell them everything they need to know. For example, have
chapters like: “Chapter 3: Maintaining order in your classroom;
Chapter 4: Where to find excellent resources for your lessons”,
and so on.

You have just a few seconds to impress a potential buyer. Don’t
waste them!