Introduction

I remember the first time I heard my daughter say something that sounded just like me. She was babysitting and the little boy would not lie still to watch his video. Finally Katy told him, “If you don’t lie down quietly, I’m going to turn the video off!” She didn’t shout. She was simply firm and used a tone that sounded just like me. I was so proud.

The same feeling came over me when one of our authors told me about her experience speaking before her writers’ group. As a newly published author, she is one of the only one’s (or perhaps the only one) in the group to have a published book. They asked her to share her experience from idea to book. They wanted to know all about the publishing process. So, Mari told them. Boy, were they surprised! I was too! As Mari described everything she told them, I thought I was listening to a recording of me! I was so pleased she had not only listened to my words and advice but taken them to heart. Unfortunately, her book group was not quite as pleased.

What did Mari say to them that was so shocking? She told them flat out that the success of their book was totally dependent on them. Then she went on to describe all the steps she was taking to insure the success of the 2 books she has coming out this year. Mari has been working hard as the release of her first book approached. She finished her website and created a blog. She has a strong following on Twitter and Facebook. She is posting articles on Squidoo and has begun a monthly column in one of our online magazines. She is meeting with me regularly to make certain she stays on message. She told all this to her book group with a sense of pride and accomplishment and with a tone that it is nothing more than what is necessary to be a success. Then, the questions came.

“What do you mean you have to market your book? Doesn’t the publisher do that?”

“Why do you have to work so hard? Doesn’t the book sell itself?”

“Why do you have to focus on just one message? I thought I would just write what I want!”

Mari patiently answered their questions, sometimes over and over. When she spoke to me a few days later, she was stunned how clueless the members of her group seemed to be. “They seem to think all they have to do is write a book and poof, magic, it is a best seller!” Hmmm, welcome to my world!

For over 2 years now, I have been trying to convince authors that it is a brave new world in publishing, emphasis on BRAVE. Writing  always took stamina but in 2010, it is definitely NOT for the faint hearted. To succeed as an author needs to remember their ABC’s:

Attitude;

Business;

Creativity;

Dedication.

Think this sounds like too much work? I think there may be space in a writers’ group for you!

Participation

People should not just sit there during your presentation. They need something to do. Have hand-outs. Ask them questions. Let people take part in presentation. I always have hand-outs for the audience to use for notes when I am speaking. I want them to take their notes home and refer to them over and over. How are they supposed to apply the material to their lives if they have to rely on their memory alone? I also believe the more you engage the audience, the more memorable your presentation will be for them. They are already engaged by watching you and hearing you. If you give them something to do, you engage them even more. People process information by seeing, hearing and doing. So often, we only use seeing and hearing. Multiple the impact of your presentation by having them participate, even if they are only writing. This applies even if you are speaking to a large crowd. There were no handouts for the huge event the other day. People had to take their own notes. That’s great but I like to make certain they catch all my pertinent points. It would have been easy to post a link in their ad where attendees could download the handouts to bring to the event. This would not have cost the promoters a cent since the attendees would be using their own paper. If they didn’t want the handouts, they wouldn’t have to print them out. No wasted paper. Make it easier on yourself and get the audience involved in your presentation. This takes some of the strain off you.

I believe we should motivate our audience every time we take the platform. Take time to include these 4 ingredients in all of your presentations and you have the opportunity to change lives every time.

Opportunity

Give your audience the opportunity to change their lives. Give them a plan of action. Don’t just pump them up for today. Pump them up for the rest of their lives. Seem like a big challenge? You bet! Shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you land among the stars. You also want to give them the opportunity to get to know you. The more personal you make your presentation, the easier it becomes for the audience to relate to you and to your material. Walk among the audience when they take breaks. Eat lunch with them, not in the back and not at a speaker table. Always keep personal contact with your audience so you stay relevant. You can’t address their needs if you ever talk to them. Seem obvious? Sure, but you would be surprised how many speakers never associate with the members of their audience. Unless they are buying something. Buy the speaker’s book and they are happy to talk to you for the 2 minutes it takes them to sign it. Again, this is all right if you are a recognized name. However, for most of us, I say this is not good enough. Talk with the members of the audience. Let them get to know you one-on-one. This personal touch pays off in the long run.

Test of Time

As I said before, the problem with a pep talk is its lack of staying power. Another speech must be given to pump the listeners up before every game, program, event, etc.  A motivational presentation stands the test of time. The audience is able to apply your information to their lives and remember your material long after the presentation. While the promoters of the event above probably made a lot of money on the day of the event, I’m not certain how many long term or repeat customers they made. Of course, people will always show up to hear big named speakers like colin Powell, not for the information offered in their speech but just for the opportunity to say they heard them speak. Without the name power, you must impact your audience in such a way they remember your name long after the event. By offering them info that changes their lives, you have the opportunity to earn long term customers. You generate additional bookings from your presentations. Participants not only remember your name months after your presentation, they KNOW how powerful your material is. I can’t tell you have humbling it is when someone tells me how much a presentation I gave years ago still impacts their life. Motivate your audience and your material stands the test of time.

Substance

To motivate people, you must have something to say, something worth hearing. People are looking for answers to the problems facing them today. People are frightened and are willing to take the time and spend some money if you are able to give them answers, solutions to the problems facing them. I believe it is more effective if you have personally faced the problems you are addressing. It enables you to tell your audience that you know how they feel, what they are going through because you have been through it yourself. It’s great to be able to tell your audience that you are on the same journey as them but you are a bit farther down the road than they are. Then, reassure them that you are going to come back to meet them where they are in the journey and bring them up to the point where you are. You do this by sharing the things you learned on the journey. This makes it more personal and gives it meaning. When you put yourself into the presentation, it makes an emotional impact on your audience and the information lasts longer with them. Make a connection with your audience and your material will follow right along with you.

Going for Motivation not Pep

Earlier this week, a daylong event was held at the Honda Center in Anaheim. I had seen ads for the event throughout the preceding month. The line up of speakers was incredible: Colin Powell, Condolezza Rice, Michael Phelps and more. The price was even more incredible. Only $5 for the entire day. I wasn’t able to attend but I was interested to hear how the entire event went. I was happy to find a follow-up story on the front page of Friday’s paper. I was stunned to read the article. While I wasn’t surprise to learn the crowd for the event was huge, I was shocked to read the short-term results of the whole thing. First, I learned the promoters offered seminars between speakers. The seminars were offered for $49.95. Not too bad a price and the subjects were relevant since most dealt with personal finance. These seminars were well attended, not a big surprise. I was disappointed that the focus of the event was the seminars. These were the moneymakers for the promoters. The main speakers were just the enticement to get people in the door.

The problem was with the main speakers. While they motivated the crowd during the event, when individuals were interviewed for the article a few days later, people had to admit the uplifting affects had only lasted as long as the event. Those interviewed did not believe they had received any information that impacted their lives and could be used over the long term. People attended the event because they are discouraged with life right now and they hoped to gain information to turn things around. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
The good news is, I learned a lot about speakers, speaking and events as I read the article. The article reinforced some things I already believed and brought to light some things I had never considered. The first thing I thought as I read the article is the difference between a motivational presentation and a pep talk. A pep talk is what the coach give the team just before the big game. It helps pump them up to go out there and succeed. A pep talk assumes the audience already knows what they must do to succeed. It’s sole purpose is to energize the audience to use that knowledge effectively. While a pep talk is energizing, it’s effects do not last. Before the next game, it is necessary for the coach to pump everyone up again. And the game after that, and the game after that.

A motivational presentation offers the audience information they can apply to their lives, gives them a course of action and calls them to take action. The presentation has the motive of changing lives.  While a pep talk seems more impressive, the motivational presentation offers longer lasting results. The pep talk focuses on right now. The motivational presentation focuses on the future… and on the audience. I often feel the pep talk focuses too much on the speaker and not their information. It seems the whole attraction is simply the opportunity to hear a well-know individual. What they have to say may be inspiring but the good feeling is gone by the next morning.

All that being said, I realized it is necessary to S*T*O*P when you are preparing a presentation to insure you are offering motivation and not simply pep.

Teachers’ Devotions to Go is our newest book in the Devotions to Go series. In recognition of this event, Extreme Diva is giving away a fabulous gift set to one reader of our blog. Items are perfect for teachers.

Gift items include:

• Teachers’ Devotions to Go
• Celebrate Teachers Tote
• Teacher Notecards
• Teacher Sticky Notes

GIVEAWAY
Here’s your opportunity to win this gift set. To enter, leave a comment below sharing your best tip for the classroom. It can be a shortcut, activity, personal training tool, book, etc. At the end of your post, add your name and the school where you teach and the grade you teach.
You can earn optional, additional entries by:
- Becoming a fan of Devotions to Go. Leave a comment with your Facebook ID.
- Following me on Twitter (@jeanannduck ) and tweeting about this giveaway. Leave a comment with the URL of your tweet. You may tweet once a day. Please leave a separate comment for each tweet.
- Putting a link for The Daily Diva on your blog. Post a comment with your blog’s URL.
- Posting this giveaway on your blog with a link to this page. Leave a comment with a direct link to the post.
- Listing The Daily Diva as one of your Favorites on Technorati. Leave a comment with your Technorati user name.
- Posting  this giveaway on one of the sites listed below this post. Leave a comment with a link to the posting.
- Subscribing to The Daily Diva via email or RSS. Leave a comment for each subscription method.
One winner will be randomly selected from the qualified comments received by Monday, March 15, 2010, at 11:59 PM ET and notified Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Please leave an email address on one of your comments. Winners must respond within 72 hours or another winner will be drawn. U.S. residents only.

5 Professional Tips for Pub 5.0 Authors

Publisher guidelines are one of the most useful tools for beginning authors. Within those words are the secrets that may bring you closer to being published.

Yet too often, authors either briefly skim guidelines or ignore them completely. This would be a major professional error.

Publishers don’t create guidelines to make authors jump through hoops. They create them to ease the frustration on their part and yours. Guidelines tell you exactly what they want, how they want it, where to submit, to whom to submit and sometimes, why they don’t want certain things. You wouldn’t apply for a job without knowing what qualifications the employer was looking for, would you? No one would waste their time like that and yet authors do it daily when they submit a project that doesn’t fit the needs of a publisher.

You need to carefully study each set of guidelines for every publisher you want to work with. All guidelines aren’t created equal. Each publisher puts their specific desires in their guidelines including:

Their Needs: Publishers list exactly what their editorial needs are. These needs change so you should check back before sending in a project. If your project doesn’t meet their needs, don’t submit it. You may love the publisher, want to work with them more than anything and be convinced they’re going to love your project. Don’t bet on it. If you really love the publisher, study their guidelines and come up with a project that fits their needs.
Their Format: How do they want projects submitted? Do they want queries or completed projects? How do they want you to format the material? Remember, it is often the little things that annoy people the most. Attachments that can’t be opened are frustrating.

Their Staff: Publishers often list the different staff members responsible for the various subjects they handle. This enables authors to contact the correct person directly. Resist the urge to overload. Some authors believe “If it’s good to contact one editor, it’s even better to contact them all!” If an author is making a pest of themselves, word gets around. This tactic is about as unprofessional as it gets.

Their Rules: Publishers come right out and warn you not to do specific things such as submitting unrequested proposals, submitting completed and unrequested manuscripts and submitting queries when they prefer completed projects. Some publishers even have warnings against using packing peanuts in boxes with manuscripts because they make a mess on the floor. Read the guidelines carefully and watch for these rules and warnings.

Their Details: Magazines receive submissions regularly where it’s obvious the author has never looked at their publication. They’re blindly sending out submissions. This small detail may be the difference between being an unpublished author and one with paid writing credits.

It may seem publishers are being picky. How could they possibly reject a fabulous manuscript because of the packing peanuts all over our floor? Why delete an article whose author did not follow format procedures? It all goes back to the analogy of job applications. Every time you submit a project to a publisher, you’re applying for a job. Publishers have to believe you’re working hard to make a good first impression. When you fail to follow their guidelines, you not only make a bad first impression, you lead them to believe you are unable or unwilling to follow their procedures and that might be trouble down the road if they do business with you. That’s a headache they can easily avoid with one click of the delete button.

Take time to carefully read, and follow, the publisher’s guidelines. Mother was right. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Sarah James tells every bride she works with that planning a wedding is like having a part-time job. It’s fun but it’s also a lot of work! Brides’ Devotions to Go (978-0-9789831-4-7) is an upbeat devotional that brides rely on for girlfriend advice and a good laugh.

Every day, brides are given a spiritual boost and a break from endless decision making. Each devotion contains pertinent Scripture and sanity-saving advice told through stores from Sarah’s own wedding and from her experience in the wedding industry. Planning ideas and tips are included.

Brides’ Devotions to Go  $6.95

Congratulations to Cindi, winner of our Pink Ribbon Gift Set. Cindi’s comment:

Three of the eight friends in my stamping group are breast cancer survivors! They are various ages and have very different stories. They have combined the use of medical technology and an holistic approach during their cancer treatments. One incorporated acupuncture, drank a special hot tea and massage during her chemotherapy sessions. Faith was a big factors in all three friend’s diagnosis, treatment and remission. I would love to win this fabulous prize package and share the goodies with my three friends. Many thanks, Cindi

Cindi also shows us the importance of friendship during the fight against breast cancer.

All the stories sent in were incredible. Breast cancer touches every woman I know. Many of you told how faith played such an important role. Many of the women you talked about won their fight; many others fought the good fight but did not survive. Breast cancer is not just an October thing. It is a part of our lives every day of the year. Continue to fight the good fight!

Thank you to everyone that shared their stories.