Archive for March, 2006
Sure fire ways to increase your chances of getting on the air.
1. Become familiar with the program. Listen (if you can) over a period of several days to get a feel for the tone of the show and determine how you would fit in as a guest.
2. Don’t call the producer or show host at random to schedule an interview. They are busy and view unsolicited telephone calls as annoyances.
3. Email them. Use a creative, yet accurate title in the Subject line of your email. Be brief and to the point with a link to a website for more information. Make it clear whom should be contacted for more information, and how. Do not call to follow up - see #2.
4. Provide complete information on the website. Do not try to tease and make them call you to get the whole story. They probably won’t.
5. Identify “show prep” services (www.fmprep.com, www.tomslake.com are two) Send THEM an email and link to your website. If they like what they see, they’ll get the word out to hundreds of radio people in one day, with their perceived recommendation!
6. Remember that RADIO IS ENTERTAINMENT. If you land an interview be prepared to entertain the audience in addition to informing them. Be over-friendly, over-excited, wildly outrageous, flirtatious, funny, morbid, SOMETHING that the audience won’t expect. And do it in a big way. You have to overdo in radio for the emotion to get across the airwaves. This is a big disappointment for a show host/producer, a guest who says they will be entertaining, and doesn’t deliver.
7. Become a frequent caller to your local radio show. Call in with jokes, funny stories, Christmas shopping ideas, road conditions, whatever. As long as you are witty and entertaining, the show’s host will probably keep putting you on the air. If you add something to his/her show, he/she will LOVE you for it and be more likely to let you plug your business on occasion.
8. Become an expert on something that many people want to know about. Ski conditions, gardening, fishing, hunting, soap operas, sunbathing, etc. Then call your local station on a regular basis (like every Wednesday morning) and give reports. You may become a regular character on the show! (You can do this on several stations and they don’t necessarily have to be local)
9. Call when you say you will. You ruin it for yourself and everyone else in the future if you are not reliable. It’s amazing how many guests make an appointment for interviews, get pre-interview promotion on the air, and then neglect to call and do the interview. It makes the radio station look bad and it makes interviewees in general look bad.
10. Offer them something to give to their listeners. Include this information on your website. Please make it something that will be exciting enough to give away on the air. A copy of your book about “Relationships” is probably not going to cut it. BUT a copy of your book about relationships AND a pair of heart -covered boxer shorts (or something else unusual) MAY.
11. Create an interview kit. This can be included on your website, emailed to the show’s host in advance or sent via mail service after the interview is booked. Include suggested questions, a bio of the interviewee, samples of the product, a list of interesting (and fun!) facts about the interviewee and/or the product, an easy-to-find telephone number or web address to be given to the audience for more information.
About The Author
Kimberly Henrie is a radio personality, voice talent and professional speaker. She lives with her family in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, USA. You can reach Kimberly through her Web site at www.kimberlyhenrie.net.
March 21st, 2006
As a speaker, one of the most fun, valuable and low-cost ways to stimulate your creativity is to attend a magic convention. There are probably a dozen good-sized national and regional conventions each year that would be worth checking out.
Here are some reasons to take a look at the art of magic:
1. Add magic to your presentations. But a word of caution. Forcing a magic trick into a presentation is as bad as squeezing in a joke that doesn’t fit, just to get a laugh. If you’re a speaker who delivers valuable content, add magic only if it enhances the program. Don’t add it solely because YOU love it. And most certainly don’t add it because you are trying to fill in for lack of substance in your content.
2. A great icebreaker. My personal preference is not to use magic to illustrate learning points while giving a speech, but to use it as a tool for warming up the audience and building rapport. I refer to magic as my Ed McMahon. Like Ed warmed up the audience for Johnny Carson before the show started, magic helps me to have fun with the audience and to build a relationship at the very start of my programs. Try adding a small touch of magic and see how it plays for you. Your experience as a speaker becoming a magician may be different from my experience as someone who was a magician before becoming a speaker. I’ve been a magician for 49 years and was raised in a family of magicians.
3. Magic is a bridge builder. Magic crosses language and cultural barriers. It’s a universal language. It’s a visual art that speaks it’s own language. It attracts attention, it’s remembered and it stimulates creative thinking. I attended an international magic convention in Japan thirty years ago. In spite of language differences, I watched magic grab the attention of the diverse audience.
4. Variety is spice. Like humor, juggling, singing, mime and dancing, magic offers another way to add variety to your programs.
5. Stimulate your creativity. At a magic convention, you’ll be exposed to different ways of thinking.
6. Stretch your humor skills. My experience, after attending magic conventions for several decades, is that magicians cross the line of good taste more often than a speaker should. Keep in mind that a magician’s role is probably closer to that of standup comic than it is to the role of the speaker. However, a lot of magician humor is very funny and creative. It may spark an idea that could be useful to your preparation and presentations.
7. Magic is a networking tool. Off the platform, you can use small magic tricks (referred to as closeup magic) to introduce yourself at mixers, on an airplane or other business and social settings. When done well, people will remember you. For example, there are ways to magically produce your business card. The result is that prospects will be more inclined to keep your card.
8. Bang for your buck. Although an alternative to conventions is to join a local magic club, in my opinion, the best value for your time and money is definitely the magic convention. You get magic overload crammed into three or four days. And magician conventions are inexpensive compared to most speaker conventions. One of the highlights of the magic convention is the Dealers Room (the exhibitors area of the convention). At a major national convention, you may have as many as 40 or 50 magic dealers setting up shop. You’ll want to spend a lot of time in the Dealers Room. It’s my favorite attraction at the conventions. If you have a convention in your hometown and can’t attend the whole thing, try to attend the Dealers Room. Sometimes they’re open to the public. Often they’re not open, but you can sometimes buy a one-day Dealers Room pass at the convention registration desk.
9. More convention highlights. In addition to the Dealers Room, other highlights of a magic convention are: Lectures on magic and performance psychology. Contests for both stage and closeup performers. A dealer show where the vendors show you their hot items. Usually the convention includes one major evening stage show each night. Normally 9am till midnight the schedule is packed with activity. And after midnight, you’ll find magicians in the lobby doing tricks until the early morning hours.
10. Big events. Two of the largest conventions are sponsored by the two main national (USA) magic associations, the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians. For their upcoming conventions: IBM, www.magician.org; and SAM, www.magicsam.com. A joint IBM/SAM convention is being planned for July 2008. The FISM Convention is the hot-ticket international event held every three years; visit www.fism.com.
11. Another alternative is to visit a local magic store. You’ll find it in the yellow pages under Magicians Supplies.
12. A top magician’s monthly is Magic Magazine. Highly recommended. Articles on performing psychology, tricks, convention announcements and reviews, and lots of great ads. www.MagicMagazine.com.
13. Two magic Ezines: www.magicroadshow.com and BJ@BJHickman.com.
14. Add power to your next speech. You are the magician!
Copyright 2006 by John Kinde. John Kinde is a humor specialist who has been in the training and speaking business for over 30 years specializing in teambuilding, customer service and stress management. Special reports available: Show Me The Funny — Tips for Adding Humor to Your Presentations and When They Don’t Laugh — What To Do When the Laughter Doesn’t Come. Humor Power Tips newsletter and articles are available at www.HumorPower.com
Article Source: www.EzineArticles.com
March 21st, 2006
One of the most discomfiting occurrences when you’re speaking in public is to have your voice tighten up and come out as a high-pitched squeak or just give up and go away. It’s so off-putting that it makes a person want to jettison the entire business of speaking in public. Perhaps the thought of being a mime becomes very attractive indeed.
This is probably the most frequent question from my students:
What can I do to prepare myself so that when I’m nervous I can still breathe?
First it’s helpful to be aware of how you breathe normally. To ascertain this, sit on a straight chair.
1. Put one hand on your upper chest and the other hand on your belly.
2. Take a normal breath, and make these observations: Which hand moved? Did your belly go out or in?
You’re doing well if both hands moved OUT, or if your belly moved OUT. What you want to avoid is having your belly suck in and your chest move out. That’s probably the most common style of breathing, and it is something you definitely want to change, for the sake of your body’s health as well as the strength of your voice.
Although breathing is a natural body function, breathing for proper singing or speaking requires training and strengthening the muscles of your diaphragm, back, and belly. The following exercise should be done daily:
1. Sit on a straight chair. Feet flat on the floor. Spine absolutely straight, but not tense.(Feel as though you have a cord running straight up from your tailbone to the top of your head, gently and effortlessly keeping you in that straight position.)
2. Put your hands on your belly, fingers spread and just touching in the center slightly below your navel.
3. Take a great big breath right into your belly.
4. Let your lower jaw drop a bit and say a quiet “HA” as you pull in your belly with your hands, slowly as you can comfortably.
Do this several times, always being aware of any tension that might occur. (Allow your tongue to lie inert on the bottom of your mouth, tip barely touching the teeth.)
Now repeat the first three steps of the exercise, but substitute 4Aand later 4B, for #4.
4A. With your hands, pull your belly in pretty fast, and let out the air with a loud “sssss” sound. Then do the same thing, but with only one hand, and with your thumb on one side and your fingers on the other side of your throat, feel to be sure there’s no tension during the “sssss”.
As your control develops you’ll be able to sustain your breath for longer and longer periods. Try this next one.
4B. When you feel ready, release the breath with a soft hum. Any note in the middle of your register. Avoid the lowest notes.
Simple as they are, these little exercises can make your entire life easier. They feed your physical and mental body with health-giving oxygen. You’ll find you’re more relaxed and positive in your everyday activities.
Carole McMichaels, Author: “Fearless Public Speaking: How to Get Rid of Your Stage Fright and Prepare and Deliver a Winning Presentation”, invites you to join her free newsletter on speaking in public. You may also get your free report, “7 Valuable Tips on Writing a Mind-Gripping Speech”.
www.getridofpublicspeakingfears.com
Article Source: www.EzineArticles.com
March 21st, 2006
You have a raging passion for your subject. Or you have a strong financial motive to speak on your subject. Or maybe you simply want everybody to like you!
Whatever your Cause, people must be able to understand your speech–your physical speech–before they are able to give you the response you’re working for.
Consonants and vowels are the building blocks of intelligible speech. It’s the breath that supports and carries these consonants and vowels to our listeners.If we focus on these three elements of speech–consonants, vowels, breath–we’ll have an excellent basis for clear, understandable presentations.
Here’re some pointers:
Consonants must be well-articulated and crisp. To achieve this, say each of the words below by itself, slowly. Use your tongue and lips to shape each consonant clearly. Exaggerate! Speak every syllable.
1.wash 2.washing 3.Washington 4.definitely (all 4 syllables) 5.accessible (ak sess i buhl) 6.Antarctic (ant ark tik) 7.residing (Make the “s” a definite “Z” sound.) 8.treatise 9.not 10.non-native
Now speak the sentence below, breaking it up into smaller segments, if you like, until you can say the entire sentence very clearly at a normal pace.
“The treatise on the Antarctic was definitely not accessible to the non-native speakers residing in Washington.”
You may notice that you run out of breath before you can get the whole sentence said. If not, congratulations! If so, mark a place or two where you can sneak a breath without interrupting the flow. Try this:
“The treatise on the Antarctic (breath) was definitely not accessible (breathe here only if you absolutely must) to the non-native speakers (breath) residing in Washington.”
Vowels should be given the true vowel sounds. We Americans are becoming increasingly lax in differentiating between the vowel sounds–so much so that “uh” has become the vowel of choice for A, E, I, O and U! I believe it’s a blend of pure laziness and a cultural deficit of actual listening to sounds. We’re so cruelly bombarded with noise of all sorts that we take refuge in turning off our active hearing.
Breath! Ah, the breath!–the fundament for all speaking. This is not the place to give you exercises to strengthen and lengthen your breath; that must go in other articles.
However, this will help:
Think of your breath as being released on a steady, constant stream. That stream continues steadily during the tiny silences between words, connecting one word to the following word. Think On-going and Easy.
Avoid giving an explosion of breath for a few words, then letting the breath drop before the next little explosion of breath. You lose a great deal of breath by breathing too frequently and too shallowly.
THINK: CONSONANTS. VOWELS. BREATH. THINK: MY BREATH IS ON-GOING AND EASY.
Carole McMichaels, Speaker, Coach, Author: “Fearless Public Speaking: How to Get Rid of Your Stage Fright and Prepare and Deliver a Winning Presentation”, invites you to join her free newsletter on speaking in public. You may also get your free report, “7 Valuable Tips on Writing a Mind-Gripping Speech”.
www.getridofpublicspeakingfears.com
Article Source:
www.ezinearticles.com/?expert=Carole_McMichaels
March 21st, 2006
Yes, it’s a living language–English is–but there still remain words whose correct pronunciation is less common than their mis-pronunciation! In addition to giving you the right pronunciation, I’ll throw in a simple rule or two so you can figure out others on your own and not be afraid of embarrassing yourself with Pronunciation Gaffes.
(As a therapist for thirty-some years, I hate to do this to you–use the “should” word, but I gotta do it here.)
A Rule: When you have two “c’s” together, the first C is pronounced like a K, the second like an S.ACCEDE should be ak-SEED
ACCELERATE should be ak-SELL-uhr-ate
ACCESSIBLE should be ak-SESS-i-buhl
ACCESSORY should be ak-SESS-or-ee
ECCENTRIC should be ek-SEN-trik
FLACCID should be FLAK-sid
Only when there are double S’s are they pronounced with only the S sound. i.e. as-SESS.
Middle Eastern countries are very much in the news these days. It’s nice to pronounce a person’s country correctly. In the case of IRAQ and IRAN the I’s are not pronounced “eye”, but a short i, as in BIT. If you want to get fancy, it sounds both pretty and authentic if you can flip the R.
The A’s are broad: Iraq is not “eye rack” It is “i-ROCK”; Iran is not “eye ran”. It is “i-RON”.
Here are a few of the words I’m hearing commonly mispronounced:
CANDIDATE is CAN-di-date (Pronounce both D’s)
ECHELON is ESH-e-lon
ETC. (etcetera) is eht-SEH-ter-a (No K sound)
NUCLEAR is NOO-klee-uhr (Think of new and clear.)
PATHOS is PAY-thohs (Not thahs.)
PLETHORA is PLETH-or-a
VULNERABLE is VUL-ner-a-buhl (Sound the first L.)
SCHISM is SIZ-em
I hope this little foray to the dictionary will give you the confidence to use these very nice words with the certainty that you’re pronouncing them correctly.
Carole McMichaels, Speaker, Coach, Author: “Fearless Public Speaking: How to Get Rid of Your Stage Fright and Prepare and Deliver a Winning Presentation”, invites you to join her free newsletter on speaking in public. You may also get your free report, “7 Valuable Tips on Writing a Mind-Gripping Speech”.
www.getridofpublicspeakingfears.com
Article Source: EzineArticles.com/
March 21st, 2006
