Ron Sathoff's Speaker TipsWritten by Ron Sathoff
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There's an old story about a speaker who walked up to podium and said "SEX" in a loud voice. After a long pause, he continued, "Now that I have your attention, let's get on with annual budget report." While this approach will probably wake an audience up, it does nothing to get them ready for rest of speech. In fact, doing this kind of thing will probably turn important part of your talk into one big letdown.
Ron Sathoff, manager of http://InternetWriters.com, offers a full range of services to business and professional speakers, including speech writing and editing, personal coaching, and presentation development. You can reach him at ron@drnunley.com or 801-328-9006.
| | SOME TIME SAVERS #2Written by Dr. Donald E. Wetmore
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it" and "It gets done". 3. Manage Meetings A meeting is when two or more people get together to exchange common information. What could be simpler? Yet, it can one of biggest time wasters we must endure. Before a meeting ask, "Is it necessary?" and "Am I necessary?" If answers to either are "no", consider not having meeting or excusing yourself from attending. Then prepare a written agenda for meeting with times assigned for each item along with a starting time and ending time. Circulate written agenda among those who will be attending. There is no sense in holding a meeting by ambush. Let people know in advance what is to be discussed. 4. Handle Paper It's easy to get buried today in blizzard of paperwork around us. The average person receives around 150 communications each day via email, telephone, hard mail, memos, circulars, faxes, etc. A lot of time is wasted going through same pile of paper day after day and correcting mistakes when things slip through cracks. Try to handle paper once and be done with it. If it is something that can be done in a minute or two, do it and be done. If it is not best use of your time, delegate it. If it is going to take some time to complete, schedule ahead in your day calendar on day you think you might get to it and then put it away. 5. Run a Time Log If you want to manage it, you have to measure it. A Time Log is a simple yet powerful tool to create a photo album sort of overview of how your time is actually being spent during day. Simply make an ongoing record of your time as you spend it. Record activity, time spent on it, and then rating using A, B, C, and D as described in #1 above. Some examples of how your time might be spent: Made telephone calls, 35 minutes, A; Answered emails, 48 minutes, B; Attended staff meeting, 55 minutes, C. Run this for a few days to get a good picture of how your time is being spent. Then analyze information. Add up all A, B, C, and D time. Most discover a lot of their time is being spent on C and D items that have little or no value. Finally, take action steps to reduce C and D items to give you more time for really important things in your life.
Dr. Donald E. Wetmore, a full-time Professional Speaker, is one of the foremost experts on Time Management and the author of "Beat the Clock" and "Organizing Your Life". If you would like to receive a free copy of his humorous article, "You Just Might be a Workaholic", email your request now for "might" to: mailto:ctsem@msn.com
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