Communication Expressway Ezine

Judy Vorfeld's Communication Expressway Issue 75

  June - July - August 2010 - Issue # 75



  INTRO


* Do you interact a lot with your customers and clients? How do you treat them? My guess is that you approach each one with respect. I like what Gerry McGovern said recently in a blog post, "Because remember: as soon as you say 'it's simple' then it's not. Because if it actually was simple, the customer could just do it."

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  ARTICLE - How To Wake Up Your Audience At Your Next Networking Session


By Sean D'Souza
http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/art-networking-session
===============================================

Have you ever pondered about this question when standing up at your networking session?

What causes your fellow networkers to listen to what you have to say? Do they sit up with rapt attention or do they simply keep eating their breakfast and sipping their rapidly cooling coffees?

The difference between them paying attention and continuing to be lost in their own dreamland totally depends on you. And how you understand the brain.

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And the brain works best in two direct situations.
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Situation 1: Change.
Situation 2: Problem.

On a normal day, you'd stand up and give your one-minute speech. But what if you decided to squat on the floor instead? What if you decided to tape your mouth instead? What if you decided to use a bunch of cue cards like the famous Bob Dylan video? Instantly you've got the audience's attention. It doesn't matter what they were doing when you stood up, the 'change' in the routine got their attention.

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So yeah, think about it for a second. How do you create change?
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Now you've got their attention, it's time to keep their attention. Anyone can get attention by doing something different. But you sure as heck can't keep their attention for too long if all you've got is a gimmick.

What does keep the attention going is reverting to the "problem'. If all you do is simply tell them about how your company does this and that, then the audience quickly reverts back to their coffee and breakfast. And because you're so keen on whatever it is you're saying, you don't notice that they've zoned off.

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But if you bring up a problem, you've created continuous attention.
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E.g. If you fix computers. And you talk about how a virus attacks the system; you'll get and keep their attention.
e.g. If you sell houses, and you talk about how to spot a crappy house from a mile off, you'll get and keep their attention.
e.g. If you sell time management, and you talk about the biggest reason why time management fails...then ditto.

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The point is not to be lazy.
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Laziness is when you simply stand up, and rattle off what you do, and what you do, and what you do. And blah, blah, blah. That's just boring. That 'what you do' commentary that you're so used to giving is just putting your audience to sleep. Instead see if you can bring in the two factors, namely 'change' and 'problems'. And then watch, as your audience's eyes grow wide.

Now you've got their attention.
And you're keeping their attention.
And that's what your networking 'one-minuter' should be all about.

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Waking up an audience is easy. Try it. It works.
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First put in a factor of change; then a factor of the problem. And then end with your company name and the referral you'd like to receive. And watch the difference in the response.

©2001-2009 Psychotactics Ltd. All rights reserved.
Wouldn't you love to stumble upon a secret library of small business ideas? Find simple, yet electrifying ideas, on copywriting, public speaking, marketing strategies, sales conversion, psychological tactics and branding. Head down to http://www.psychotactics.com today and judge for yourself

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  THE OFFICE CORNER


1. AN INTRODUCTION TO OPENTYPE SUBSTITUTION FEATURES: The Type1 format where 256 characters are assigned to keys on our keyboard, is becoming a thing of the past. We now design and produce OpenType fonts which can consist of thousands of characters — additional ligatures, various figure sets, small caps, stylistic alternates...referred to as glyphs.
http://ilovetypography.com/OpenType/opentype-features.html

2. EARN MORE WITH NICHE MARKETING: JODI KAPLAN EBOOK
http://kaplancopy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/niche-marketing-ebook.pdf

3. HOW MUCH SHOULD I CHARGE?
http://www.swan-net.com/members_only/reference/how-much.htm

4. MEET WAYS: Enter two geographic locations - cities, addresses, etc. - and enter a point of interest - coffee, restaurant, hotel, bar - and MeetWays finds the perfect middle point to meet. Extra cool because it provides global coverage.
http://www.meetways.com/

5. HOW TO DESIGN ADS
http://kaplancopy.com/blog/2010/08/03/how-to-design-ads/

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  GRAMMAR QUESTION OF THE MONTH
  Special List of Abbreviations courtesy of Professor Harold V. Cordry


ad hoc.....for the special purpose or end
ante.....before
ante meridiem.....before noon (a.m.)
post meridiem.....after noon (p.m.)
circa (ca.).....about; commonly used with dates
colloq.....colloquial
esp.....especially
et alia (et al.).....and others; and elsewhere
et cetera (etc.).....and so on; and others
exempli gratia (e.g.).....for example; such as
gen.....generally
ibidem (ibid.).....in the aforementioned place
idem.....the same as previously given
id est (i.e.).....that is
in situ.....in place or position; undisturbed
occ.....occasionally
opere citato (op. cit.).....in the work cited
quod vide; quae vide.....See in the article concerned
sic.....thus, so. (although it may seem wrong or unusual, it is reproduced accurately)
vice versa.....conversely; in reverse order from that stated
vide.....See
vide ante.....See before
vide infra.....See below
vide post.....See after
vide supra.....See above
videlicet (viz.).....That is to say; namely

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  TECH TIPS BY TERENCE KIERANS


Use Excel's AutoFill feature when entering data to save time.

1. Enter a sufficient number of cells so that Excel can calculate how you want to fill the remaining cells in the series. For example, enter Monday and Tuesday into two consecutive cells.
2. Select the two cells and then click and drag the fill handle at the bottom right-hand corner of the selection border to fill as many cells as you need.

To save even more time you can define your own re-usable series of values. Follow these steps if you are using a version of Excel earlier than 2007:
   1. Select "Tools/Options".
   2. Select the "Custom" Lists tab.
   3. Select "NEW LIST".
   4. In the "List Entries" portion of the dialog box type the items in your fill series, in the order they are to appear. For example, you might type a list of suburbs in alphabetic order. Press "Enter" at the end of each element.
   5. Click the "Add" button.
   6. Click OK.

Terence Kierans
Cyberspace Virtual Services
tkierans@virtualservices.com.au
http://www.virtualservices.com.au/
We keep your project on the boil, while you sleep

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  WRITING CORNER


1. GET PUBLISHED
http://www.squidoo.com/get-published

2. NO MORE FEAR: 10 foolproof secrets for beating writer's block by Becky Blanton
http://www.ossweb.com/FearJuly2010.pdf

3. TRYING TO PLEASE: Who is your marketing or your product or your effort trying to please? Does that critic or that buyer or that spouse or that girlfriend or that investor really matter as much as you think they do?
http://tinyurl.com/39td3kn

4. STUCK FOR A TOPIC? HERE'S HOW THE INTERNET HELPS
http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/art-internet-topic-help

5. WHY BOTHER WITH ARTICLE WRITING WHEN YOU CAN JUST SELL?
http://www.psychotactics.com/blog/article-writing-sells

6. ABOUT FREELANCE WRITING
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/

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  WORD OF THE MONTH: immanent


Main Entry:im.ma.nent
Pronunciation:-n*nt
Function:adjective
Etymology:Late Latin immanent-, immanens, present participle of imman*re to remain in place, from Latin in- + man*re to remain — more at MANSION
Date:1535

1 : INDWELLING, INHERENT *beauty is not something imposed but something immanent — Anthony Burgess*
2 : being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge — compare TRANSCENDENT
–im.ma.nent.ly adverb

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

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  RECOMMENDATIONS


1. HOW TO GET A GREAT LANDING PAGE BY JODI KAPLAN
http://cli.gs/bEa3H9

2. GAPING VOID BY HUGH MACLEOD. Sometimes hilarious. Sometimes not. Sometimes shocking. Sometimes sweet. Sometimes deeply profound. Incredible insight. Brilliant artist in every sense of the word. Here's one of my favorites:
http://www.gapingvoidgallery.com/product_info.php?products_id=1580
http://gapingvoid.com/

3. INDIVIDUAL ACTION: What do we do when our best judgment tells us to go outside of our authority or against an established rule or policy?
http://www.holacracy.org/blog/individual-action

4. Y.M.C.A. IS DOWNSIZING TO A SINGLE LETTER
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/12Y.html?_r=1

5. Dog Breed Selector Quiz
http://www.selectsmart.com/DOG/

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  JUDY'S CORNER


Has work been slow for those of you who are independent contractors? It has for me. Quiet. What a good time to catch up on chores, and to make sure that links are live. Not that I'm perfect in this area: I just know I should! I believe that we will all have a surge in business come September. Get ready!

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  JUDY'S PHOTO GALLERY


Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden Redigitized
as Abstract Art by Judy Vorfeld

Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden Redigitized
as Abstract Art by Judy Vorfeld

Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden Redigitized
as Abstract Art by Judy Vorfeld

Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden Redigitized
as Abstract Art by Judy Vorfeld

Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden Redigitized
as Abstract Art by Judy Vorfeld

Dale Chihuly Exhibit at Desert Botanical Garden Redigitized
as Abstract Art by Judy Vorfeld

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Judy's websites:

Digifeld
Office Support Services
Editing and Writing Services
Webgrammar
Judy's Personal Site

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http://www.ossweb.com/ezine-archive-index.html

Questions, comments, recommendations?
Contact Judy Vorfeld at judyvorfeld@ossweb.com

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