Two Minute Tips

In today’s 2 Minute Tip, I’ll share with you one of my favorite productivity tips, while working in the office; Add a second or even third monitor to your computer workspace. If you happen to use two monitors now—add a third.  I’ve been using three monitors for a number of years…and it is a fantastic way to get more done efficiently and effectively. You can add a monitor for not a whole lot of cash, and the return on investment is excellent.

Check your current computer to see how and how many monitors you can use. Also, if you’d like to use an iPad as an external monitor, you can do that, too. Click here to learn about Duet.

Here’s To Your Success!

If you are like most speakers, performers or presenters you are also part entrepreneur and business manager. Learning to be effective on the business side of the show is vital to your long-term success. So in today’s 2 Minute Tip, I want to share with you one of my favorite and most useful pieces of office-management hardware.

It’s the ScanSnap scanner by Fujitsu. (This is NOT a paid endorsement.)  I’ve used this scanner for about five years. It has helped me become more efficient in paperwork.  It works seamlessly with Evernote, which is a huge plus.  The advantage over other scanners is that you can insert (up to fifty pages) in the paper shoot, push a button and it will scan, even both sides in a, well, snap! It’s fast, efficient, and works.

Here’s To Your Success!

In this two minute tip, we’ll take an idea from number-crunchers and see how, as a creative, we can use the power of a spreadsheet to make our speech, talk, sermon or performance more organized and efficient.  You can use a spreadsheet to organize just about anything.

If you are on a mac or windows Excel is the king. If you are on a Macintosh, Apple’s Numbers is a great and pretty easy to understand spreadsheet tool.  However, Google has free online spreadsheets that may be the answer for you. Easy to use (for the most part) and accessible from anywhere.

If you have a contact form on your website…you need this tip! Be sure to check out your form on a regular basis to make sure that it is functioning properly.  It should be: emailing you the information when someone fills it out; AND saving a copy of that information on your website, too.  If you can, have it also send an email to a different email address. That way you lessen the chance of a potential client slipping being ignored.

I use WP Forms on my site.  However, Ninja Forms is very cool, too.  These are both “plug-ins” for WordPress based sites. Check with your web designer to see what might work best for you.  AND check it at least once a month.

Here’s Mine at the moment:

Elocution? The secret is voice power.  It’s a noun and means the skill of clear and expressive speech, especially of distinct pronunciation and articulation.  So, as speakers, performers, entertainers, even preachers—those that communicate vocally—need to understand the importance of this.  But the first step to getting there is strong voice power. Not necessarily a strong commanding voice, but a powerful one.  That will only happen through proper breathing  So, in this two-minute tip, let’s look at the first step in proper breathing.  See links below for more proper breathing techniques.

Here’s To Your Stage!

Here are some links to breathing exercises and techniques.

http://erinrebeccaroberts.com/blog/2017/2/6/breathing-exercises-for-singing-and-acting

and

https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/a-simple-breath-control-exercise-for-actors-singers/

Burling Hull. He lived more than 100 years ago. He was quite the showman. Think P.T. Barnum, with attitude! He stood on some of the most famous stages in America. He was a contemporary of Houdini. In 1914 he wrote a booklet called, The Art of the Stage. It covered a variety of topics catering to the on-stage performer.  In this tip, I look at those four applause points and how we can use them effectively when on stage, today.

They are Securing Applause; Creating Applause; Pulling Applause and Interrupting Applause.

And there’s more to come from this sage of the stage, Burling Hull.

Here’s to your stage success!

In this episode we’ll approach the sticky topic of getting paid. There are a few things you can do, prior to your event, to help make sure that you aren’t chasing down your check after the event is over. This IS an important topic, and knowing how to handle it efficiently and professionally.  Let’s look at a couple of tips that can help achieve this.

Asking for and receiving a deposit for your upcoming speech, performance or event is not just a quick “money grab” ; it is an acceptable and expected part of scheduling a professional.  It confirms that the date is on your calendar and should give the host peace of mind about your role in the upcoming event. In this tip, we’ll take two minutes to look at this topic.

Here’s to your success!

In this episode, I’ll share with you a very simple action that will make the world of difference in your customer/client service. Everyone—part-time, full-time, or some-time, should use this technique to build satisfaction with your client base. Take 2 minutes…to become better!