I spoke at a conference today and had an interesting discussion with a woman who does not have a website.

She wondered if having a blog would replace her need for a site.

She might be on to something!

A blog is easier to create than a website. After all she doesn’t have a site now. Something was stopping her. Money. Technofear. Whatever.

Posting to a blog is as easy as writing an email.

As to relative benefits, if you want to have a spot where people can find you, learn about you and read your latest thoughts, then the blog does the same thing as a website.

You could add e-commerce via links as well. Same as a website.

You don’t even have to pay hosting fees since many blogs have free hosting (as this one does.)

Also, no domain registration fees. No renewals.

Furthermore, search engines optimize blogs faster and better than websites.

You know. She might be on to something here.

Renee Grant-Williams, voice coach to the country stars, offered these tips at the Master Class for Singers. I think they are equally applicable to speakers:

1. Breathe from below your belt. Yes, we’ve all heard about speaking from the diaphragm, but forgive me as I don’t have a medical degree. I don’t know where the diaphragm is. I know where my belt it. Thank you Renee! My voice is deeper and has a fuller timbre when I remember to use this simple technique.

2. The public expects you to be bigger than life. This might fly in the face of people who suggest speakers relate as peers to their audiences. I think both ideas are valid. I’d just like to think that when Tom Peters speaks, I want to walk away saying WOW instead of “he’s just like me.”

3. Smile. “I never have to teach people to frown,” she says. I LOVE that line!!!

4. Before you sing, think about WHO is singing the song, WHO she is singing to and WHAT is she feeling. Since most country music involves telling a story, this is phenomenal advice. As speakers, I think the parallel is apt, as we frequently tell stories to illustrate points. Renee’s format helps put us in place and time so we relive the story, not just re-tell the story.

You can learn more about Renee at http://www.myvoicecoach.com

Saturday’s NY Times reported that Wendy’s has been cleared of any wrongdoing in an apparent hoax involving a woman who claims she found a finger in her chili. The article pointed out this woman has a long history of making claims against businesses.

The story was buried on Page 8. The original story — and subsequent pictures — were front page news on many newspapers and TV stations.

As a result, Wendy’s has lost millions.

So where’s the fairness? Shouldn’t the discovery of the hoax be played up as prominently as the original charge, which was clearly false?

This isn’t the first time a newspaper has placed a correction or and update to a sensational story inside the paper when the original cause was printed on the front page. Many people who were accused of crimes on the front page were cleared of the charges on page 2 or worse.

This blog won’t change anyone’s editorial policy, I’m sure, but it is time that the media acknowledge a long-standing problem. Why are they turning a blind eye to a problem that affects their credibility, which is their most important asset?

While sitting in the audience at Renee Grant-Williams’ Master Class for Singers in Nashville, I learned a valuable tip about connecting with the audience.

The format was simple: 30 singers would go on stage, one after the other and sing a song. Many brought their families to root them on from the audience.

But two odd things happened.

1. As people were introduced, no one applauded!
2. As people sang, some people talked to their friends in the audience.

I found both incidents to be extremely rude. I found myself immediately disliking the people who were talking –and it affected my view of their performances. “She can sing,” I thought of the person who talked non-stop to her boy friend in the row behind me, “but I just don’t like her.”

Beyond that, I realized two important chipping points for speakers.

1. Support your fellow speakers! Applaud them. Cheer them on.

2. Don’t disrepect speakers by talking during their presentations. You just might just tick off the meeting planner or the person who has the authority to buy more services from you!

With 30 pretty good singers, but only a few spots open for stardom, judges and audiences can afford to be very picky.

Today’s chipping point: Even if you have talent, you can annoy people and they don’t want to do business with you again — no matter how good you are!

One of the first conferences I attended in my quest to learn from the rest of the world was a one-day conference for singers offered by Renee Grant-Williams, of www.myvoicecoach.com who has trained hundreds of country singers including the Dixie Chicks.

I figured that if she can teach them a thing or two, I might learn something as well.

Other posts in my blog contain Renee’s insightful ideas.

But I also learned from the performers, who were mostly older teens and younger 20′s, almost all women singer wannabees.

After the instructional portion of the conference ended, the singers could perform one song for talent scouts who gave them feedback via paper, privately. So the format was pretty simple. The singer is introduced, goes on stage, sings the song and sits down. No Randy, Paula and Simon to offer comments live. They got their feedback in the mail.

Sitting in the audience, I picked up a number of tips after seeing about 30 people strut their stuff.

1. Most of the people walked up on stage, stared at the audience and waited for their song to start.

I realized this was a big problem. There was no connection between the audience and the performer. They looked like deer staring at headlights. No, maybe that’s wrong. They weren’t scared. They just didn’t look like they cared about me and whether I liked them or the song. They were just up there to perform. I think I’ve seen more connection with the cashier at McDonalds.

The six people who really wowed the audience approached the stage differently. They owned the stage. They spoke to the audience immediately. You can tell they wanted to have a good time and for you to have a good time.

When the good ones performed, they used the whole stage. The average ones stood in one spot and barely moved their arms. The good ones had an extra feeling of energy.

The Idol judges are always saying they are looking for someone with “It.” After seeing 30 performers who could all sing pretty well, the six who stood out clearly had “It.”

As speakers or presenters, it is imperative to develop that “It” factor that creates bonds with the audience immediately.

See the next post on “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Stage.”

Today’s chipping point: What are you doing to connect with your audiences?

For me, this is the year of learning.

If there’s an interesting conference, I’ll be there. It is time to learn new things and realize that I don’t know it all. Of course, at one time, I did know it all, but the world kept on moving and I didn’t!

Here’s the twist. We’ve all gone to our industry conferences but after 15 years, it all sounds the same.

So, I’m going to conferences outside my area to see what I can learn from other industries!

You’ll see the findings of my scholarship in posts on my blog.

If you can’t go to conferences, then pick up magazines you’d never think of reading. On a recent plane trip, I picked up complimentary copies of Black Entrepreneur, Parents and the Economist. It is truly fascinating to see what is going on out there — and how it can be applied or adapted to your business.

Today’s chipping point: Read magazines in other fields, and attend conferences that are distantly related to your industry.

No much.

It is amazing that the PR industry is so resistant to change, especially
when it comes to technology that changes the way people communicate.

Case in point: Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, attended a big PR
convention in San Francisco this week and writes:

“Blogs are the hottest thing going. Yet the vast Majority of PR people here
have the deer-in-the-headlights look when you mention
blogs. Several I met are almost belligerent toward them. Others said
Their bosses already have said, “absoloutely no blogs.” Amazing.

I can’t say I’m surprised.

I faced the same reaction when I spoke at PRSA in the early 1990′s about
using email to communicate with reporters.

I faced the same reaction when I spoke to PRSA in the mid 1990′s about using
websites and ezines to communicate with reporters, employees and the
community.

In fact, I did a paper survey after the second talk and found that among 127
people who responded, just about everyone considered the Internet a bother.
In the words of one person, “It’s just another (expletive deleted) thing I
have to do.”

It is truly amazing that people who supposedly dedicate their lives to
communication resist tools that make it easier to communicate!

How do you pull your foot out of your mouth?

PR LEADER Shelle Rose Charvet offers expert NLP advice for Harvard President Lawrence Summers who has enraged academia over his views on women’s abilities to become scientists. That advice can help you to.

“Many people think that it’s game over once they have made a blunder. They also believe that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” But it’s not over until YOU decide it is! You get many chances to make a second, third, fourth and fifth impression,” she says. What’s her advice? Click on this link to find out.

Successtrategies

Imagine this love story.

Quirky looking son of a famous, wealthy family falls in love with a slightly older married woman who is in the same social circle but at a decidedly lower rung.

The couple begin a torrid love affair. But the boy must find a suitable woman to marry and does find a woman who is as charismatic and beautiful as he is boring and plain. She sets the world afire but they grow distant, divorce and then she dies in a terrible car accident.

Years pass. The son finds that the world has turned against him. His aging mother refuses to step aside and let him run the family business, leaving him to perform a host of meaningless chores and public relations ceremonies but yielding no real power. The world holds him responsible for the breakup of his marriage and the death of his first wife. People make snide comments behind his back. He is a laughingstock.

All this time he secretly continues his affair with the older woman who divorces her husband. One day, he realizes he can’t wait any longer and proclaims his love for the older woman and asks for her hand in marriage.

But trouble’s afoot — his mother doesn’t support the marriage. The church isn’t fond of divorced marriages. People whisper of a scandal that she’s an older woman.

When nothing more can go wrong, a world leader dies and the mother demands the son attend the funeral which forces the delay of their wedding by another day.

Here is a great story of love triumphing over all, of love over the years, of love between an older woman and a younger man, of a couple that has to overcome the forces of its society’s rules and norms.

If this is such a great story, why couldn’t Charles and Camilla make it work?

They needed a good PR person to spin the story and put it into bigger themes that people could relate to and agree with. Wouldn’t every older woman love this story? Wouldn’t every divorced person relate? Wouldn’t people who bowed to convention instead of their hearts be enthralled?

Of course they would.

And it wouldn’t hurt if Richard Gere and Julia Roberts were cast in starring roles.

Did Kathy McCabe have inside knowledge on the health condition of the Pope?

Nope.

She just read what everyone else was reading.

And she just happens to be the editor and publisher of “Dream of Italy: The Insider’s Guide to Undiscovered Italy.”

She guessed that if the Pope died, there just might be some interest in travel to Rome.

So she planned her PR/Marketing campaign. She launched

BLOG

and posted a news press release announcing her blog.

Then when the news broke, reporters contacted Kathy!

USA TODAY called her and included her comments — and her blog’s address!

Here’s the article

Here’s the chipping point for you: If you know an event will happen, prepare your media message and your campaign in advance.

For example, your town’s teachers might go on strike. What does this mean for parents, companies, day care centers, etc? Holidays will always occur — Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Graduation Day. How can you comment? Make the news your own!