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The Art Of Speaking: Winning The Mental Game Of Presenting

How many of your speeches could be considered artistic? Do your audiences view you as a master speaker? What would you have to do to boost your speaking to the next level?

Highly experienced speakers not only know their subject, they know themselves, their audiences and their craft. They know how to write, stage and organize winning presentations that engage the audience at all levels.

To kick your speaking up a notch, take any of these 13 tips on as a project and watch your investment in yourself as a speaker grow.

13 Strategies For Making Your Speeches Masterful

1. Go beyond telling your audience about your subject. Be passionate and become engaged with your subject.

2. Demonstrate your credibility and your right to be on the platform by recounting your experiences as an expert and how you solved problems and helped people and organizations.

3. Masterfully customize your material for each audience so they know absolutely that you are there for them.

4. Refine your voice control and turn your throat into a musical instrument your audiences love to listen to at length.

5. Speak from your heart and touch the hearts of your audience. Take risks by being vulnerable, imperfect and your audience will see you as a real human being, as one of them, not just as “the speaker”.

6. Speak the truth and your audience will respond. Avoid any inconsistencies or incongruencies between your “real life” and your “platform life”.

7. Tell more stories and give fewer statistics. Reduce the PowerPoint and get more personal and people will respond eagerly.

8. Connect with your audience, one person at a time. Begin the personal touch before you take the stage by “being with” people in the audience, not “talking at” them.

9. Have fun as you speak and so will your audience. To get in the fun mode, stop focusing on yourself, and instead be audience-centered.

10. Respect your audiences and they will respect you. Never insult or disrespect anyone in your audiences. Show your regard for everyone.

11. Stop writing your speeches and start living them. Find your best material from your travels, your work, your friends, your family and the real world around you.

12. Create multi-media presentations to engage people the way they are used to — with modern media. Coordinate your talk points with particular moments in the media show and you will WOW people.

13. Create and deliver your talk from the A-V-K matrix. This means your talk should be approximately 25% auditory, with 45% visual and 30% kinesthetic. You want to speak to everyone’s learning styles in the audience.

Now you have a better idea how master speakers make it look so easy. The hard work is in the preparation and in the crafting of the message. Enjoy your journey in the speaking world and you will reap the many benefits of this exciting calling.

For a comprehensive overview of your abilities as a speaker you need an assessment instrument that identifies your complete strengths and weaknesses. For a free, easy-to-take 65-item presentation assessment tool you can score right on the spot, visit http://www.mentalgamecoach.com/Assessments/PresentationSkillsAssessment.html. You can use this as a guide in creating your own presentation coaching program, or as the basis for a coaching program you undertake with Bill Cole, MS, MA.

Copyright © 2006 Bill Cole, MS, MA. All rights reserved.

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Top 5 Toys Presented at the Australian Toy Fair for 2013

We recently spent 4 days at the 2013 Australian Toy Fair, an opportunity for local Australian and international toy manufacturers to present their new toys for 2013 to the Australian retail industry. Unfortunately not open to the public, the Australian Toy Fair is where major toy launches are announced by multinationals such as LEGO, Mattel and Hasbro and where young, innovative toy companies can showcase their latest ranges.

When compiling this list of out Top 5 Toys for 2013,we looked for excellent play value, which we define as toys that can be played with again and again rather than tossed aside after the first or second outing. We also sought out toys that have educational value and assist in various stages of development at a price point which would be affordable for the majority of parents.

After much deliberation, as there were hundreds of toys to choose from our Top 5 list includes:

1. Aqua Dragons

Aqua Dragons are a slightly different take on the more traditional Sea Monkeys, however with the ever popular Sea Monkeys no longer on the market the Aqua Dragons are a sure hit with children from the ago of 3 years.

Aqua Dragons are simply sea dragons which are present in the oceans and look a little like a fish crossed with a piece of seaweed. They hatch from eggs and are easy to look after so as a first pet are ideal for young children who will love watching them grow. Aqua Dragons come with their own small aquariums.

Aqua Dragons will fascinate children as they grow as well as teaching responsibility. Aqua Dragons are due for release in Australia in June 2013.

2. Eurotrike Ultima Canopy Plus Trike

New for 2013 the Eurotrike Ultima Canopy Plus improves on the older designs making the trike suitable for children from 10 months of age until at least 5 years through the many innovative design changes incorporated into this latest model.

This trike allows parents to purchase for their baby from 10 months of age, with a three point harness, a laid back seat, parental steering and brake control a baby remains super safe. As the child grows up, the trike converts to a toddler trike then later into a young child trike quickly and easily.

We loved this Eurotrike for the enormous play value and broad age range.

3. Combat Creatures – Attacknid

The Combat Creatures Attacknid has been called the Greatest Toy in the Universe by many, and whilst we see enormous play potential in this robot, the price point of around $150 will make it inaccessible to many Australian families. The Attacknid won Boys Toy of the Year at the Australian Toy Fair.

We had an opportunity to play with the Attacknid whilst at the Toy Fair and the robot is a highly entertaining and very intuitive toy that combines remote control and robot technology with shooting discs. One of the more fun aspects of the Attacknid is the fact that it’s armour flies off if hit by a disc, which makes having two of them and engaging in battles so much more fun.

This toy won our vote, despite it’s price point, as it’s a great toy for older children that require co-ordination and can be quite interactive if played in a group.

4. Lil Fairy Doors

Lil Fairy Doors are the brain child of an enterprising Australian mum who wanted to offer high quality fairy products around which children could build their own fairy worlds and enjoy the make believe.

Lil Fairy Doors are not only gorgeous but come supplied with fairy dust and special notes which the fairies can leave for their young charges. The play value of these is excellent with the doors attaching to walls, cupboards or any flat household surface with accessories such as fairy footprints, fairy toadstools and fairy grass. The products engage the child’s imagination and foster their creativity and we love them for the uniqueness.

5. My Studio Girl Sew Your Own

The My Studio Girl range is developed in Australia and focuses on developing dexterity and creativity through the Sew Your Own range. The range is terrific value, and teaches the lost art of sewing whilst ensuring that children still produce a quality product at the end which increases their confidence.

The clever kids safe needle that comes in each kit makes the projects simple and reduces the need for parent assistance. The range is well designed with smaller kits for beginners and larger kits with more complex sewing tasks for more experienced children.

Amazing play value for an Aussie home grown product range.

I hope you enjoyed our Top 5 Toys for 2013, there are many more toys with excellent play value on the market and as always buying toys that work well with your children’s interests whilst at the same time broadening their horizons will result in a terrific toy purchase.

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Working With a Short Sale Negotiator? Top 10 Tips to Ensure Success!

With the ever growing short sale market in today’s real estate community, it is important to have an incredible short sale negotiator that is part of your team. This person will assist you in handling all of the day to day communications with the lender, the mounds of paperwork, provide constant status updates and will allow you to focus your time on income producing activities. While partnering with a SS negotiator, the type of relationship you forge with the negotiator is so important. We’ve found one important dynamic of a successful transaction is that the SS negotiator and Agent’s relationship should be built on trust. The negotiator and real estate agent must trust that each other is going to do exactly what they say they are going to do- it’s a two way street.

As a short sale administrative company, we suggest the Real Estate Agent permits their entrusted negotiator the ability to “quarterback” the transaction. The negotiator is normally the one that’s in contact with every single person during the entire transaction (lenders, sellers, Title, Escrow, Buyer’s Agent, Buyers lender, and HOA company… just to name a few). Yes, this is a lot to handle, but a good negotiator can easily perform these duties.

Here are 10 tips to ensure a successful relationship:

1) Allow the negotiator to have direct contact with the sellers – This will expedite the request for documentation and also will allow status updates directly.

2) Allow the negotiator to coordinate the HUD-1 with the Escrow Company.

3) Allow the negotiator to work directly with the buyer’s agent.

4) If the agent does receive a call from the lender, immediately refer the call to the negotiator. This will eliminate incorrect information being transmitted to the lender. In the end, it will help the short sale run smoother.

5) Respond to all document requests within the allotted timeline provided by both the lender and the negotiator. Again, this will only help the transaction.

6) Always remember that your short sale negotiator is on YOUR team. Short sales can be frustrating at times, but the negotiator is your teammate and will ensure that you and your seller’s interests are of the utmost importance.

7) Trust that the negotiator will escalate the file when it is needed. Being specialists in the field, they understand lender timelines well and know when a file needs to be pushed a bit harder.

8) Ensure that all documents are complete, and have all signatures before submitting them to the negotiator.

9) Be patient with the lenders requests for documentation. Short sales require a lot of paperwork. There are times when the lender states that they didn’t receive documentation, the information was not legible, or they recently updated their forms and now they need the new version – most of these are out of the negotiator’s control and the only thing to do is quickly adapt and fulfill the lenders requests.

10) Always keep communication open. If you are frustrated or worried about something, voice it. This way the negotiator and you can build that trustful relationship. The last thing anyone wants is to have a stressful transaction. Clear lines of communication will further assist a great working relationship.

Being a successful short sale negotiation firm, we understand the frustrations behind short sales. We also know the importance of great communication and positive relationships. These factors are often the reasons behind successful transactions.

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