Happy Christmas!

It’s that time of the year when unless we bring ourselves back to the present, it’s easy to get swept away in the busy-ness and the planning of the perfect holiday season.  Remember – this is a perfect opportunity to be present to what’s occurring in your life- and grateful.  So as you’re standing in the supermarket queue, or rushing down to get that last gift- just remember- to be present in the joy of the last minute rush!

Take a moment to watch my special seasonal message just for you. . .

Have a beautiful Christmas and New Year and I’ll see you in 2012!

Joanna

xx

Today’s post is particularly juicy for anyone looking to succeed in business. Because the secret to success is TIME.

So take an hour of your time to listen to my webinar and in it you’ll discover:

* How to avoid the time stealers that will kill your dreams
* My time management secrets that will give you up to 4 hours of extra productivity every week
* The #1 secret to momentum after events

Where do you learn how to be the most productive you can be, without killing yourself or sacrificing your values and personal life?

Find out here:

Let me know what you thought in the comments section and share any time tips you might have too!

As we enter a new dawn of multimedia, it’s more important than ever to use video in your marketing. Let the power of your message go viral. As speakers, a video should (in theory!) be easy for you.

So, let’s look at how to make your videos look slick and professional. Our resident video expert Daniel Coffey has stepped in here to provide a few top video tips:

Practice to be a Pro

You don’t have to spend hours and hours going over what you are going to say again and again, but it is worth practicing what you plan to say a few times.

Treat your video like you would treat a presentation to your audience from stage. You wouldn’t just jump on stage without an idea of what to say would you?

• Make up a story in your head to keep you on track with your message’s key points
• Don’t tie yourself to a script, follow some bullet points instead but keep the flow natural
• Think about the purpose behind your video. Is it to get an opt-in? To introduce yourself? To sell a product or service? Always be clear on your outcomes before you speak otherwise the video message will be vague.

Present like a Pro

Many people freeze up when talking to a camera – after all it’s not a real human being right? The problem is that when you think of the camera like that you end up talking in a very stilted way and you come across as unconnected.

Instead – do my Speaker’s Focus Process, and imagine an audience of your biggest fans are there right in front of you…

Then do your presentation to your audience and speak to them through the camera… trust me – it works wonders.

Think carefully about your choice of outfit, as your look reflects your brand. If you are selling business to business then dress accordingly, ask yourself  “would I present on stage to my clients wearing this outfit?”.

And whilst we are on the subject of presentation remember what your choice of background says about you, an untidy office does not give out the best message to your prospective clients!

Consider your Editor

Sometimes it is possible to get your message perfect in one take, but what if you coughed at the wrong time, or the dog barked or countless other things that can happen to ruin that perfect take? There are going to be times when you will want to edit together different clips from different takes – here’s how to make sure your editing is super easy.

• If you’re not using a green screen, keep your background stable and the same for every take to make sure the background doesn’t jump when you cut it together.
• Try to film with the least amount of background noise.
• If you’re filming outside, use overhead light, not late or early morning.
• Don’t face straight into the sun (you’ll squint) or have the sun directly behind you (your face will be in shadow)

Consider the Mood

What is the mood and energy of your message? Music is a great way of livening up the video, particularly at the beginning and end and is an extremely powerful way of turning a standard “monologue video” into something that draws people in and makes them want to watch. Fade in and fade out with music and your video is suddenly 100 times more dynamic. There are some caveats to music usage though.

• Use copyright free music
• Get the volume mix right – too loud and you can’t be heard, too quiet and the music won’t work.
• Use copyright free music!
• Think about the mood the music creates and match it to your message
• Use copyright free music!!

Promote like a Pro

Once you have filmed your video and edited it you want people to watch it. So sign up to youtube for your very own account and upload your video(s) there. Place a graphic at the bottom of your video with your website link on it where the client can find more information about you.

• Use relevant keywords on youtube to help your video to be found
• Post your video on your Twitter account
• Post your video on your Facebook account

So there are my top video tips. Has anyone else got any tips to add to this? I’d love to hear from you!

The reason I chose this particular Behind the Scenes tip this week is because I was having a chat with one of our speaker trainers, Heather Yelland, and she commented on how effortless it seemed to fill our room for our 1-day “Presentation Secrets” event.

I started to answer her . . . but because ‘how do I put bums on seats?’ is a question I get asked ALL the time, I thought I would film this little tip so you can fill your events effortlessly and easily.

This week’s BTS tip comes from our CEO, Jo Harrison.

This week’s BTS tip comes from our Tech Guru, Vanessa Rothwell.

• Use bit.ly to shorten your links when you are pasting links on blog posts, newsletters, emails, facebook, twitter and more.
• Setting up your own free account allows you to track statistics of your links
• Customise your link to be “friendlier”

To access Bit.Ly go to http://bit.ly

• There is a secret to understanding the elements of running an event room
• Most people think the only important thing is content
• There is so much more
• Far more important than content is the participant experience
• There are three key elements to running a successful room
  1. The Speaker and content
  2. The space – the seminar room – you NEED an event manager
  3. The audio visual element – music, soundscape, slides, visual impact – you NEED a great AV Team
• It is worth investing in the AV team to get a great experience

AV Company Contact Details

UK
Ignite AV – Sanjeev Desour
http://www.igniteav.com

Australia
The AV Guys – Chris Lorez
http://www.theavguys.com.au