Here are my tips for using powerpoint in a effective way for your presentations:

• Keep your slides simple. There is no need to use different fonts and animations.
• Have only 4-5 points to a slide as a maximum.
• Use a plain white background with black text.
• Use only relevant images that evoke emotion, which allows you to land your points home.
• Use images that are clean and sleek on a white background.
• Use a font size that is a 32 pt or more.
• Test your slideshow thoroughly before your presentation at the venue to ensure the colours can be see and audio can be heard at the back of the room, and that everything works as you intended on the equipment there.

Here is the first of 4 Key Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before You Settle On a Niche For Your Speaking. 

Are other people interested in this topic?

First thing to determine is whether people are actually looking for information related to your topic, or buying products or services in this niche.  You will be surprised what people are interested in and focussed on.

So step one is to determine whether other people are as interested in the topic as you are.  How do you do this?  A few strategies you could try:

  a. Specialty Magazines: Visit one of the larger newsagents or bookshops in your area and have a look at the specialty magazines available.  Most magazines make their money from advertising revenue.  So if there is a magazine on your topic that has been around for a while, it is a fair bet people are looking for information on your topic- and are willing to pay!

  b. Google keyword tool: You can go to Google and search for their keyword tool and get some great information for free.  There you can see exactly how many people are using Google to search on a particular subject.

It’s at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Remember- if there are a lot of people as passionate as you are about you are about your topic, chances are you have a good niche on your hands.

For more information on how to select your niche, get your FREE copy of the Shift Presentation Profits Blueprint at www.ShiftSpeakerTraining.com/blueprint

Attention: Coaches, Consultants, Authors, Speakers, and Other Solo-preneurs

Register Now for this FREE Webinar Series where I will reveal how I started with absolutely no database, and grew a successful 7 figure speaking business in my first year

“The ABCs of Growing Your Business Through Speaking”

Join me on these webinars, where I will reveal the EXACT steps I took to create a lifestyle business from my passion and to skyrocket my income to multiple 7-figures in the first year. (And just in case you’re thinking “I couldn’t do that”- discover how many of my clients have done the same- and how you could too…)

In this FREE webinar series I will reveal:

• NEW and easy ways to use SPEAKING and the INFORMATION PRODUCTS to create a business that you LOVE!
• The ABCs of a successful speaking business. Each webinar will focus on a different aspect of your business success.
• How to create an ELEGANT BUSINESS MODEL as a back-end to your speaking so that you can STOP trading your time for money, and get your knowledge working for you.
• How to STOP selling one-to-one and START selling one to hundreds… or even thousands! (This leverage is your KEY to super-fast income growth despite the “tough times”.)
• BRAND NEW strategies and secrets that I’ve just uncovered to grow my business FASTER and attract wealth easier than ever before. (And believe me, your mindset is just as important as your marketing and sales.)

These calls are a sneak preview of my “Shift Presentation Profits” LIVE TRAININGS happening in both March in Melbourne, Australia and November in London, UK.

Take my word for it… you DON’T want to miss this FREE webinar series.

Click here to get registered immediately

FIRST CALL ON OCTOBER THE 22ND

Calls will be once a month, commencing on the 22nd of October, 2009.

You have no doubt heard you should find a niche for you business- but do you understand the difference between a “niche” and a “topic”?  They are wildly different yet so many people confuse them.

In this video, captured at this Saturday’s event I explain why it is so important to appreciate the difference and “niche down” in your speaking business.

Sorry about the quality of the vid- it was just a quick digital camera job at the back, but the content is great.

There are a few remaining tickets to Saturday’s  Presentation Secrets Event in London. Just go to www.ShiftPresentationSecrets.com.

Take time reflect on how far you’ve come in the last period of time – whether its 5, 10 or even 20 years.

It’s easy to get stuck in what you are doing and feel like things are moving too slowly for you.

Remember: It takes time for things to become different for you in business or your lifestyle. So take time now to reflect on how far you’ve come and celebrate the milestones you’ve achieved!

Does the thought of getting on stage in front of a group of people leave you in a cold sweat? Or do you feel as though you could quite possibly put a room of insomniacs to sleep? For some speaking is fine, but selling from stage is terrifying…. You’re not alone. Studies have shown that 1 in 4 people fear public speaking more than they fear death.

As Jerry Seinfeld once said,
“… this means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

What is at the root of this fear? The answer isn’t as complicated as you might think. In fact, you probably know it instinctively. Take a moment, have a quick think and write down the first thing that pops into your head. Don’t cheat and skip to the end! Go ahead … I’ll wait for you …

Now, keep that piece of paper close and we’ll see how you go!

As a speaker and as someone who trains others to speak, I often see beautiful, brainy, brilliant people who fear letting their light shine on stage. When I see these same people blossom into calm, confident, contagiously enthusiastic speakers, I see not only a change in their ability to present on stage, but almost as if by magic, I see their entire lives begin to shift from ‘good enough’ and ‘okay’ to ‘magical’ and ‘outstanding’.

Although you may not realise it, you’re not nearly as far away from being where you want to be as you think you are.  It’s a just a decision to follow your heart!  Just like my Mum overcoming her fears- not forever- but for enough time to ride that London Eye!

“Oh, that’s easy for you to say!” I hear you cry. “You’re a speaker – you make a living from being on stage! You don’t know what it’s like to be afraid of getting up in front of a group of people … “

I’ll let you in on a secret … when I was a kid I was so painfully shy that I wouldn’t even answer the home phone. Just ask my Mum! If the phone rang, I would make my sister answer it in case it was someone I knew …

Why was I so shy? Well, I had some limiting beliefs about myself that held me back. When I realised this and started to work on turning those beliefs around, my life began to gather momentum. All of a sudden, the things I wanted began to snap into place like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  Just like Mum had to let go of her beliefs about heights to experiece the views from the top of the Eye.

Looking at her up there half way between enjoyment and terror- but committed to DOING THE THING -  I learned the #1 secret that was holds people back from having everything they ever wanted …

Time to look again at that piece of paper … what’s the answer?

You’ve got it!

The only thing that has the power to hold you back from having everything you have ever wanted is you.

You are smart enough …

You are strong enough …

You are rich enough …

You are good looking enough …

You are enough.
 
The moment you choose to accept this, to let go of your limiting beliefs and to step out of your own way you can begin to build the life you have always wanted. Make that choice now and watch the life of your dreams unfold before you.  Just jump on the “London Eye of Life” and have a ride.  I guarantee you- I have never yet died from speaking!

And when you are again struck by the negative feelings or when the fear that you can’t do it threatens to overwhelm you, remember:
 
Without fear there is no courage.

Without doubt there is no certainty.

Without the possibility of failure you could not know the ecstasy of triumph.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

- Marianne Williamson

Let me know what you think! Leave a comment…

Love Jo

Create a great opt-in page to build your community using these great tips:

1. Have a nice bold headline at the top with a benefit driven statement
2. On the left, underneath the headline, a video of you discussing your free gift
3. On the right, an opt-in box so people can join your database and receive your free gift
4. A series of “blind” bullet points that describe your free gift without giving too much away
5. Another opt-in box at the bottom to capture people’s details

I recommend driving all your traffic to this page, give it out as your web site at speaking gigs and on teleseminars.

Cheers,

Joanna