Ju Ju Ju

To make online publications needs a lot of creativity, so it would be a shame to destroy all that with an inferior digital publishing software package. Once you’ve chosen to produce an online publication the key decision is to select your software supplier. Setting the format for your message is just a tiny part of what they do. Simplicity of operation is an essential part of the package to look for. After all, it doesn’t matter how brilliant the package is if you or your staff can’t do anything with it! Your electronic magazine should be important enough to you that you test out different providers.

In producing an online magazine you also need to maintain awareness of the menace posed by spammers and hackers. Are there steps placed to ensure security on your package? How about the content? What security steps are in place which prevents individuals from just copying and pasting the words?

The business scheme will need to be considered to properly your ezine. Whatever your marketing plan may look like, you’ll should think about these matters: maybe not for each publication but for the company overall. What use are you making of modern media? What have you thought of as regards handling advertisements? Thinking about search engines is also extremely important when considering marketing this electronic publication. How about combining free content and paid? What about the possibility of offering single copy and several subscription possibilities? Will you be monetizing the content at all? Will you be using teasers to market this digital publication? How accessible is the magazine? If it’ll be private you can investigate many hosting possibilities or is it public? You should host directly. What’ll you do about back-isues? Some workarounds need to be considered in advance i.e. ahead of actually having to go for them. What about their tech support? Is it only a list of FAQs? Do they feature a how-to guide? If the response time isn’t published ask about it. Is there an email address or phone number which is easy to access? Technical support might be the last consideration but it should be a deciding factor in your choice of provider.

Achievement comes due to educated choices in this regard. Without the correct vendor your publication will not prosper so well.

Examples and stories can bring your presentations alive. They can transform a dull, dry subject into something which is interesting and alive. When presenters give examples, it helps explain what they are saying in a way that the audience can understand. Examples make the material you deliver less ‘information’ or and more ‘entertainment’.

If you can give your examples in the form of stories, you will be using a format that everyone can understand. We were all brought up on stories and some of the greatest influencers in history gave their messages as stories - remember Aesop and his fables!

So, to make the most of the examples you could use you need to have a strategy to include them in all of your talks. There are several ways you can do this. For instance, for each of your main points try to think of at least one example that backs up what you are saying. You may not use each example, but you should have them in mind so you can introduce them if necessary. Keep a list of these examples handy, so that when you put your final presentation together you can choose the most interesting and relevant ones.

Make your examples include human beings, preferably real people. Examples that include people are much more powerful than abstract examples. If your examples include you in them, they will be much more attractive to the audience. Research shows us that audiences expect speakers to talk about their own experiences and find it immensely valuable.

Try to paint vivid pictures in the mind of your audience with your examples. If your audience can mentally see what you are describing they are much more likely to remember it. Psychologists have demonstrated that much of our thinking is visually-based. Hence, if you talk in word pictures you will make it easy for your audience to understand what you are saying.

Make your examples relevant to the audience. Find out in advance the kind of examples that are likely to interest them; do some audience research to help boost your examples.

Choose examples that are current. Do not use examples from the distant past as they have less impact than examples set in the present.

Always announce your examples with words like ‘here’s a story that shows what I mean’. Announcements like this will alert your audience to pay close attention.

Wherever possible make your examples light or humorous. Avoid being serious or stuffy with your examples. Tell your stories in the same way as you would in a social situation, such as a dinner party or in a bar. The more natural they sound, the greater their impact.

Always be on the lookout for new examples and stories that can back up your points. The more examples you have ‘in stock’ the more you will be able to choose one relevant to a particular audience.

Graham Jones runs The Presentation Business, http://www.presentationbiz.com

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

Don’t make me turn this career around and go home.

I’ve only started on this journey and already it feels as though I’m ten years old on a trip up the California coast. Impatient for the destination.

What is the destination?

Every writer has the same destination in mind: Fame. Wealth. Validation. Security. Importance.

A side trip to Hollywood/Nobel Peace Prize/New York agents’ office would be welcome too.

In a freelance career, you make many side trips.

Sometimes I feel as if this year’s Academy Award-nominated films (which depress me because I’m not nominated or even writer of a film that I could cheerfully say got snubbed) express the freelancer’s journey.

There’s “Million Dollar Baby,” which echoes what we hope a producer/publisher will say: “How about a million dollars, baby?” But in the story of a plucky female boxer (with Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood in her corner, yowza) who won’t give up and gets no respect (sort of like being published with PublishAmerica or iUniverse), we find a spark of determination.

There’s “Kinsey,” which wasn’t a best picture nom but perfectily expresses the writer’s obsessive drive as well as the tendency to drive all our loved ones insane.

“The Aviator”…ahhh. What freelance writer hasn’t locked themselves in a room with a big screen TV and not shaved for several days? And we all say, “Don’t tell me we can’t do it. Don’t tell me it can’t be done.”

“Ray”…we should all get on our knees and pray for a story like Ray Charles’ life. The music is fabulous too, which means you can listen to the soundtrack over and over while writing. Don’t be afraid to set your own freelance standards, your own style, and your own assignments.

“Sideways”…it’s the story of a writer who goes to the wine country and has a great affair with a beautiful person. That’s why we’re in this business.

“Finding Neverland.” Don’t forget to play and celebrate the power of the imagination.

While we’re at it, learning from these powerhouse emotional stories, let’s not forget to celebrate our fellow scribes’ success. After all, we’ll get there someday.

We may even be there right now.

To be continued…the journey that is. Not the article series. Too many freelance leads!

Movie reviewer/screenwriter Kristin Johnson composes personalized poems, speeches, toasts, vows, and family memories. Visit http://www.poemsforyou.com to order your personalized memories. She is also co-author of the Midwest Book Review “enthusiastically recommended” pick Christmas Cookies Are For Giving: Stories, Recipes and Tips for Making Heartwarming Gifts (ISBN: 0-9723473-9-9). A downloadablemedia kit is available at our Web site, http://www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com, or e-mail the publisher (info@tyrpublishing.com) to receive a printed media kit and sample copy of the book. More articles available at http://www.bakingchristmascookies.com