How to Deal with Difficult People in Your Audience

How to Deal with Difficult People in Your Audience
When giving a presentation or speech, there is nothing more
distracting than an unresponsive audience, a restless
audience or an angry audience. But by remaining calm, you
can speak to these types of audiences and still get your
message across. Keep in mind that it's probably not you -
it may be the subject matter, the issues you're trying to
inform others about or it might be something unrelated like
uncomfortable seating or a bad meal.

Dealing with an Unresponsive Audience

If you notice the audience is not responding the way you
expected them to respond after telling a story or a joke,
the best way to handle the situation is to continue
speaking. Common reasons why audience members may be
unresponsive include the following:

1. The Speaker is speaking too fast and the audience is
missing vital pieces of the speech;

2. The audience has sat through more than one speech
already;

3. The topic is a serious one and the audience is trying to
understand it;

4.Speech is too long;

5.Many times, slowing the speech down can cause a response
in the audience.

If you notice that people in the first few rows are leaning
forward, you may need to speak louder or slow down the
speech so everyone will be able to hear you. If the
audience remains unresponsive, you should continue with
your speech and ask people in the audience you trust for
their opinion. Feedback is important if you want to improve
your public speaking skills.

Dealing with a Restless Audience

It is inevitable that during a presentation or speech,
people will show up late or leave early. Not only is this
disrespectful to the speaker, it's also disrespectful to
the audience. When giving a presentation to your audience,
ask the person organizing it before you begin if they
anticipate more people to show up. This will reduce the
stress of having to pause and resume the presentation after
they've found a place to sit. If you're interrupted during
a presentation, pause and take a deep breath. Resume the
presentation so those who arrived on time can benefit from
the entire speech.

Dealing with an Angry Audience

Depending on the topic of your speech, you may have to deal
with angry audience members who have a different opinion on
the topic than you do. While debate is necessary for the
formation of new ideas, you should try your best to get
through the speech before answering questions or engaging
in a debate. If this is not possible, you may have to alter
the format and turn your speech into a question and answer
session. While you may not have time to cover all of the
points within your speech, you may be able to turn a
potentially bad situation into an educational one for those
attending. For most public speakers, audience disturbances
like these are minimal. Unless you're running for public
office or you work in academia, you won't find much
hostility in the audiences you speak to.

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For more information on dealing with difficult people, and
carere management strategies, visit Claim That Job at
http://www.claimthatjob.com .

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 2

Coaching Skills Training: Coaching and Communication 2
In Part 1 we explored six communication styles:

Tells, Sells, Tests, Consults, Joins and Delegates

Let's now consider the relative advantages and
disadvantages of each.

Tells

Managers who use this style prefer to manage by command and
control and they are sometimes referred to as autocrats.
This style means that the manager can exercise great
control as he or she can be sure that work is being carried
out in accordance with their detailed instructions. This
style also has the benefit of ensuring a consistent
approach and is likely to absorb far less time. However,
people who work for managers like this often complain of
feeling put upon and unappreciated. They can feel
frustrated at not being given a chance to have their say
and can end up following instructions to the letter and
exercising little if any initiative. Also, from the
manager's point of view, this style does not really give
access to the creativity and experience within the team and
assumes that the manager has experienced all the problems
and knows all the answers.

Sells

Here the manager is still the one devising the plans and
making the decisions, but does consider the needs of the
team buy trying to sell the benefits of his or her
suggestions. Notice though that it is still his or her
suggestions, without much scope for team contributions.
Furthermore if the team do not initially buy the suggestion
it is likely that the manager will resort to Tell and
insist that the team do as they are asked whether they like
it or not.

Tests

Tests involves approaching the team with an idea and just
seeing what their reaction is. If the initial suggestion is
received with enthusiasm, this style of manager is likely
to relinquish control to a fair degree and allow the team
to undertake the work under his or her guidance.
Alternatively, if the initial suggestion is resisted it may
be that the manager decides to revisit certain decisions
and to see if a more positive way forward can be formulated.

Consults

When we consult, we may prefer to avoid making decisions
until after the team has had a chance to discuss matters.
This can be a problem in that decisions might be delayed
until everyone in the team has had a chance to have their
say, and it's far from certain that decisions made in this
way will be any better than if the manager made them on
their own. It has been said that a camel is only a horse
designed by a committee where everyone insisted on having
their bit included!

Joins

Managers that favour this style like to position themselves
as just one of the group whose opinions and ideas are no
more valid than anyone else's. This can create a dynamic
team atmosphere and leave people feeling highly valued. It
is likely that groups managed in this way will produce a
range of creative ideas and relieve the manager of much of
the burden of control. However, as with Consults, this
style soaks up a lot of time and may not be appropriate
when a speedy, emphatic decision is needed.

Delegates

At the other end of the spectrum then is the management
style of Delegates. This means that the manager explains
the requirements of a task and sets the rules and
deadlines, but then leaves the team or the individual to
achieve the desired results as they see fit. This quite
clearly emphasizes trust and faith in others but must not
be done without some thought. Managers need to know their
team well enough to be able to decide who should do what,
and they must never seek to delegate accountability. In
other words, if it goes wrong the manager carries the can -
its part of being a manager!

In a future article I'll examine how we can use a coaching
approach to work with these different communication styles.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. His popular
mini-guide "Coaching for an Easier Life" is available FREE
at http://www.mattsomers.com

How productivity contributes to global warming and debt.

How productivity contributes to global warming and debt.
There was an edge to my voice as I asked the question: "And
so why haven't you finished what you promised to do?"

I meant for it to come out nicer, more reasonable. But, it
didn't.

This is so often where we land, kerthunk, in business: are
you getting it done, or aren't you? In the western world,
we call this 'productivity' and we think it's a good thing.
Even if we complain about it, or hold spiritual values that
say otherwise, I find that my clients (and me... ) orient
around this question.

Are you getting it done? Are you being productive enough?
And did you realize that your desire for productivity is
contributing to global warming, debt, and business struggle?

The problem isn't productivity... it's capacity.

What is 'capacity'? Capacity is, simply put, the quantity
something can contain. How much water a glass holds (oh,
about a dram or two), how many people can fit around a
Passover table (24! What? Aunt Joan brought six cousins
with her? No problem!)...

How many things can you get done in a day, week, year?

The idea of abundance is very alluring- there's plenty!
There's plenty to go around, there's plenty for everyone,
there's no reason you can't do it/have it all.

Unfortunately, this runs smack into a very troubling
spiritual teaching.

The physical world is a limited place. There is an
unlimited amount of love, mercy, and peace available. There
is, however, a limited amount of fresh water, fossil fuels,
and arable land for growing food. There is an unlimited
amount of creativity and connection. There is, despite our
best efforts, a limited number of seats at the table (we'll
have to find an extra table for those six cousins...)

In the Sufi take on the creation story, Source is described
as 'veiling' itself, in order to create the physical world.
The physical, 3D, dirt and grass reality we live in is
distanced from Source, because otherwise we'd all be
dissolved into Oneness, with no individuality discernable
at all.

The things that are unlimited are the things that are less
'distant' from Source, and thus are without physical form:
love, compassion, mercy, creativity, etc...

Surrender to the fact that you have limited capacity. One
of the first groups I ever ran, before Heart of Business
even existed, was a six-week "Success" group. Every week,
people would write down their goals and tasks for the next
week. And every week we'd come back to find that everyone,
everyone, without fail was leaving about 50% unfinished.

The issue wasn't productivity: the issue was capacity. They
were all overestimating their capacity by about 100%- they
thought they could do twice as much as they actually could.

It's this inability to judge our capacity that leads to
debt: you spend more than you have. It also leads to global
warming, which is also a kind of debt, in that we are
spending more energy, from other sources, than we have in
ourselves.

It also leads to business struggle- trying to do more than
you really can, means you end up exhausted, cranky, and
feeling like a failure.

This was a profound insight for me, when I realized that
what was making my life so crowded, was also what was
maxing our credit cards at the time, and was also
contributing to the ravaging of the planet.

Just accepting one's true capacity is a big step towards
contributing to healing our families, our communities, and
the world. And yet, and yet...

Is that it? Give up on your ambitions and your goals? Play
small? Or is there way to deal with your capacity and still
grow your business?

Keys to Business Capacity • Get honest.

How many times in the last days, weeks, or months have you
said: "I meant to get it done... why isn't it done yet?"
That's a clue that you are way overestimating your capacity.

It's okay. Take a deep breath, be gentle with yourself, and
realize you haven't done anything wrong. You're caught up
in a culture that makes routine overestimating capacity and
living on credit.

Admit to yourself: "I'm way over capacity. It's literally
impossible to do all of this."

• Clear cut.

Clear cutting is a miserable thing to do to a forest, but
it's fine thing to do to with a to-do list.

This is the challenge: make a list of everything you are
trying to get done in the next week, and erase half. Yes, a
full half. Do it right now. Get a piece of paper, do a
brain dump of the 12-25 things on your plate.

Now, cross off half of them. I know it's rough, but it's
going to happen anyway. Better that you choose, rather than
you simply run out of time.

• Notice what's really important.

There are some things that are more urgent, and some things
that aren't. There are some items that help you feel alive
and well, and some that don't.

When you realize what your capacity really is, it becomes
easier to say "no" to things that just don't fit, and
easier to say "yes" to the things that are important in
your life.

There's tons of other things that go here: having the right
tools (like a larger computer monitor, or the right pruning
sheers in the garden), having an office that is set up
efficiently, getting regular exercise, etc.

That's all good stuff, but the foundation of it all, I've
discovered, is to really face the reality of your capacity.
As you settle into the truth of what's possible in this
finite world of ours, I bet you'll discover a lot more of
the limitless abundance of love and peace and compassion in
your heart.

And with more of that love, we'll have more time and
capacity to make this world a much more wonderful place.

----------------------------------------------------
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your
Business: How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your
Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line.
He has helped hundreds of small business owners around the
globe succeed in business without lousing their hearts. Get
three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com

Wanted--A Day Off!

Wanted--A Day Off!
So you want the day off. Let's take a look at what you are
asking for, again!

There are 365 days per year available for work. There are
52 weeks per year, in which you already have two days off
per week, leaving 261 days available for work. Since you
spend 16 hours each day away from work, you have used up
170 days. Leaving only 91 days available for you to put
your nose to the grindstone. You definitely spend 30
minutes each day on coffeebreaks, accounting for 23 days
each year, leaving only 68 days available. With a one hour
lunch period each day, you have used up another 46 days,
leaving only 22 days available for work. You normally
spend 2 days (only 2!!) per year on sick leave. This
leaves you only 20 days available for work. We are off for
5 holidays a year, so your available working time is down
to 15 days. We generously give you 14 vacation days per
year, which leaves only 1 day available for work. I'll be
damned if you're going to take that day off!

Did you work it out? Want to double-check it? Ok, do it
again.

So you want the day off. Let's take a look at what you are
asking for.

There are 365 days per year available for work. There are
52 weeks per year, in which you already have two days off
per week, leaving 261 days available for work. Since you
spend 16 hours each day away from work, you have used up
170 days. Leaving only 91 days available for you to put
your nose to the grindstone. You definitely spend 30
minutes each day on coffeebreaks, accounting for 23 days
each year, leaving only 68 days available. With a one hour
lunch period each day, you have used up another 46 days,
leaving only 22 days available for work. You normally
spend 2 days (only 2!!) per year on sick leave. This
leaves you only 20 days available for work. We are off for
5 holidays a year, so your available working time is down
to 15 days. We generously give you 14 vacation days per
year, which leaves only 1 day available for work. I'll be
damned if you're going to take that day off!

Can you tell that it was written in the year 10bc? I
remember where this 'Day Off' diddy came from.... the job
that I had then.....and, it was 34 years ago. If I did not
tell you how old it is, would you have put it together
that: ha! ha! 2, two sick days a YEAR, preposterious. How
good you have it today, 5 holidays per year? But, most of
all, how fascinating is the human brain, that I could file
through 34 years of information, and put this together
again! How would these statistics stack up with jobs today
and the real-time-off-of-work math?

I do realize, what it is that I am 'supposed' to be writing
about and why, however, I have always had a little
deviation about me, and just wanna do my thing for a bit.
Ann

----------------------------------------------------
Ann is married with children, pets, debts, and dishes in
the sink.
ANNanswers@gmail.com
http://affiliatecashsecrets.com/index/69141/1

How many of your mistakes can your business stand?

How many of your mistakes can your business stand?
For over 15 years now I have been a member of an
"entrepreneurs" category registered in the local
government. I'm the owner of two companies. In fact, one of
them has already been dissolved. Now I'm just sitting and
reading. I have a lot of time for chatting on the Web and
relating discussed matters to my own situation. What did I
do wrong while running the first company? I committed all
the mistakes I could. Indeed, I've learned something from
my mistakes. When I was running the second company, there
were fewer mistakes. But it doesn't mean that I did it
intentionally. No way, my dear reader!

I've managed to avoid committing a few blunders, because I
completely changed the line of business and the target
group. However, it doesn't mean that we won't have any
obstacles, competitors, or problems connected with our lack
of competence or our lack of knowledge.

You probably want to know what mistakes I made. These are
the crucial ones:

I was running after customers. Despite the fact that I was
learning how to attract them from experts I could hire at
the time, I had enough after some time. I couldn't look at
the phone, I didn't want to go to presentations. I was
disappointed with the result of my shifting from getting
involved to gaining profits. I didn't like it.
Unfortunately, I didn't even think that I was doing
something wrong. I thought I was hopeless and that it
wasn't for me. And such an approach, as you probably know,
disheartens completely.

I had neither a vision nor strategic or tactical goals. I
walked blindly, grasped any opportunity and felt more and
more exhausted. A rush of adrenaline became weaker after
each grasp of opportunity. Autohypnotical arousal of
motivation and enthusiasm gave poorer and poorer effects.

I didn't know what it meant to focus on a customer? In
principle, I tried to separate private problems from
customer problems. I've already written about the words
like 'I'm trying' or 'I will try'. That time I didn't know
that it was another nail in the coffin of my business.

I had NO knowledge about advertising, not to mention
copywriting skills. In the second company I only proved to
myself that advertisements in the press were useless. 100%
waste of money.

I had no idea what it meant to delegate obligations. You
can understand now that I slogged away like a horse but
constantly in the wrong place, in a place where I could do
nothing for the company's development. Primo: I didn't know
the right places. Secundo: I dealt with patching holes,
extinguishing fires, and I couldn't remember my name in the
evening. Even when the company was hiring employees, I was
bottling up my rage, because I was working like a horse to
pay them and they were slacking off instead. I didn't think
so about all the employees. Some of them did their job,
about which till this day I know nothing about and which
I'll never be able to do myself. I was thinking about those
who did the same job as me. It looked like I had been doing
everything myself and they were wrangling over who would
pick up the phone from a customer. This was my fault and
lack of knowledge. I was the boss!

I didn't have a web site that would help me earn money. It
doesn't mean that I didn't have a web page. I have had one
for over seven years, indeed. I had no idea about earning
money via the Internet and I didn't have the foggiest idea
that I could arrange my web page in a way that would bring
me profits. You're a witness of changes in my consciousness
and knowledge which I'm widening. You're a witness of the
progress I make in its implication. I'll tell you something
about the effects of it.

Now I'll tell you the most important thing, which I would
like you to pay attention to.

Stop learning from your own mistakes, stop learning from my
mistakes. It may turn out that before you and me figure out
that we're making mistakes, it can be too late for our
companies. We can start everything from scratch, if we are
able to get up together after a fall. I just want to ask
you: what for? To make it hurt even more next time?

You and me, we can't afford to waste valuable time. Life
can be arranged according to the great scenario. The best
you can imagine. It's enough to use the help of those who
know how to avoid mistakes and are able to teach you how to
do that effectively. Your task is just to want to take this
help, to pay for it and to apply the pieces of advice
scrupulously and systematically. Can you imagine that those
pieces of advice are simple, logical and understandable for
everyone? Do you want to know where the catch is, or
perhaps a few catches? They are in your conviction that it
can't be that easy! They are in your conception that
business is a very complex machine and you have to know a
lot to make it bring profits. I'm telling you now that you
don't have to know everything. There are some creatures
that we call Experts. You just need your own wisdom and
knowledge of how to use their help.

Only you can answer the question: how many of your mistakes
can your business stand?

----------------------------------------------------
This article was translated by mLingua Worldwide
Translations, Ltd. mLingua provides professional language
translations in all major Western and Asian languages,
software localization and web site translation services.
Please visit http://mlingua.pl

Do You Feel Like You're Running on a Hampster Wheel and You Don't Know How or Can't Get Off?

Do You Feel Like You're Running on a Hampster Wheel and You Don't Know How or Can't Get Off?
Why do we always insist on doing it all?

I can't tell you how many clients and other business owners
I see every month who continue to believe that THEY have to
DO IT ALL.

I learned this lesson a couple years ago. When I hired my
first assistant I thought I had to hire "an employee" so I
got the insurance, worker's comp, payroll service and put
an ad out.

I didn't even know what I could pay or for how many hours
mind you at this time, I just knew in order to get more
successful and get more business quicker - I needed someone
to help me do the things that were slowing me down.

So I found my first "employee", paid the payroll, taxes,
etc. It was all relatively easy.

Unfortunately that employee ran his course and I soon
needed someone with additional talents and skills. So I
(being the connector that I am) found that employee another
job with a client of mine and hired a different employee
for myself with added skills that I needed to get me to my
next step.

That second employee was so good in fact that she got hired
out from under me to work full time in a great job. I
wished her well because it was ideal for her but then I was
stuck again and back on the hamster wheel, doing it all
myself.

I was introduced to a temp agency who could have someone
come and work in my home or from their home if need be for
certain projects. I hired someone from the temp agency who
worked out very well. She had another small business of
her own and she did other work for other professionals as
well. She brought many ideas to the table for me and
challenged me to work more ON my business and let her work
IN it. She took on client projects and research projects
plus other things that I really didn't need to be doing. I
in turn was able to network more, follow up more and got a
lot more new clients and referrals after this.

After this temp gal ran her course I was so used to someone
working "virtually" for me, from her home or from mine
depending on the day or project that I wasn't sure I wanted
someone to come back into my home office space again. This
is when I learned about Virtual Assistants - what a
concept! They do my work from their home and it gets done
efficiently and successfully.

I now have 3 Virtual Assistants and looking to hire one
more. One who does all my bookkeeping, manages my shopping
cart sales and my QuickBooks, one who does all my data
entry for all the business cards I collect out networking
and they also do any mailers that need to go out to my
list. The third VA is my right hand gal - she does
everything I can think of. Anything that comes across my
desk that needs to be signed up for, looked into,
opportunities that need investigating plus she handles my
whole membership program (Marketing Mentor Program) - new
sign ups, cancellations, email blasts, website updates and
so much more! I couldn't think about doing this alone
anymore and I am no longer on the hamster wheel!!

I realize it's hard to figure out how and what to outsource
at first because you think you are the only one that can do
certain things.

Once you do this you will be able to step off that hamster
wheel more often than not and you will have so much more
free time to do the things that you LOVE TO DO, be with the
clients you LOVE working with, be able to develop new
products and services and figure out ways to leverage your
time and expertise to make you more M.O.N.E.Y. with less
effort and less time.

----------------------------------------------------
© Copyright 2008 K.Sawa Marketing
Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Relationship Marketing
Coach who's helped hundreds of small business owners take
dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next
level in business, revenues and life. She offers one-on-one
coaching, group coaching and do-it-yourself marketing
planning products. Go online now to get started with her
Free Report and Free Audio at
http://www.jumpstartyourmarketing.com !

How to Get the Most Out of Online Recruitment Sites

How to Get the Most Out of Online Recruitment Sites
Online employment and recruitment sites have a huge
challenge, that is finding the candidates they need for the
positions available without actually meeting any of the
candidates face-to-face. Many of these agencies have a
reputation to uphold with their clients who would be the
employers.

They cannot expect corporations to continue to recruit
through them if they send clients who are ill-prepared for
working. These agencies need to weed through dozens,
perhaps even hundreds of people to find the right match to
their client's needs. Many people tend to think of the
Internet as a casual opportunity. We sit back and surf the
net in our lounging clothes and it's easy to carry that
informality over into the real world but you need to
remember how important presentation is not only to the
employer but to the recruiting site as well.

Honesty is important when you are posting your experiences
and abilities. Just because they can't see you doesn't mean
you can get away with lying on your resume. It will come
out as you go for interviews and your dishonesty will not
only cost you possible employment but the recruiting agency
won't be willing to put their reputation on the line for
you anymore.

You would be putting yourself at a huge advantage over
other applicants if you make it a priority to show up on
time for interviews and dress professionally. Just because
it's an Internet job agency doesn't mean you can be as
casual as if you were at home. By projecting the best
possible appearance and mannerisms every time they send you
on an interview, you're not only making an impression on
the potential employer but you are also presenting the
online recruiting agency in a good light. They will be more
inclined to work harder with you to find the perfect job.

Know what you want before you sign up with an online
recruitment site. Be determined and resilient. They may
have to send you out to many different places and some may
not be a good fit for you. Remember that the recruiter is
there to help you but only if you help yourself. Utilize
strong sales skills every time you go out on an interview.
Basically you have to sell yourself to the interviewer and
you have to develop good confidence and sales presentation
to show them that you are the one they want.

----------------------------------------------------
For more information on recruitment and to get a free job
hunting report, visit Claim That Job at
http://www.claimthatjob.com .