3/17/2023
Editors: Rebecca Morgan & Ken Braly
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From the Editors
SNN is 28 now!
Every year we publish SNN’s history, mostly for our new subscribers to know the history.
In Feb. 1996, we took over publishing SpeakerNet News from Wally Bock. The previous year, Wally began sending out a weekly Friday reminder of a Monday AOL chat for speakers (where we *typed* the chat!). He also posted information and requests of interest to fellow speakers. As a result of a contest Wally held, Shep Hyken came up with the name.
In the Fall of 1995, Wally’s computer hard drive died and he lost the list of the few hundred subscribers. He decided not to continue sending the weekly emails. So we (Ken and Rebecca) — independent of each other — asked if we could help revive it. He said we could take it over. For five years we did it with no compensation, just as a labor of love for our colleagues.
In lieu of charging a subscription fee, we came up with the two-tips-per-quarter-dues idea to ensure you’d have a steady stream of practical tips. We appreciate all those who’ve sent their “dues” regularly or even sporadically. It’s what makes this work. It enables us to cull and edit to ensure you receive well-vetted tips each week.
In the era of Facebook, it would be easy to think SNN is obsolete. However, we find most FB groups to be way too self-promotional, and filled with too much noise to get to useful tips and information. Our goal is always to bring you usable info each week without the clutter. Which is why our tips are edited for brevity so you can get to the good stuff quickly.
Even after publishing every week (recently every other week) for all these years, we still enjoy bringing you SNN, and getting to know our colleagues through it. We couldn’t have continued to offer this publication without you, our readers, who have been tremendously supportive of us through the years. You’ve sent in your tips, responded to readers’ questions, collected responses and sent back the compilations, bought and read our ads, attended our teleseminars/webinars, bought our ebooks/reports and purchased our recordings. You’ve sent us nice notes, books and goodies, and given us abundant hugs — virtual and real. We are appreciative!
We know that there are many more speakers, trainers and consultants who could benefit from receiving SpeakerNet News. If you know someone who isn’t a subscriber, send them to https://www.speakernetnews.com to read the last three issues and/or subscribe, and tell them why you think they would benefit from subscribing.
SNN Webcast Info
Intensive — Fine Tune Your Voice
to Sound Best in Your Presentations
As a presenter, you know your voice is critical to getting your message across. Speakers with weak or inauthentic voices are rarely successful. Audiences want confident presenters who telegraph their assuredness without going over the top.
Knowing something is an important tool is different from mastering its use. Just as with any fine instrument, you have to know how to care for it, use it for the best sound, and take care of it when something is wrong. When was the last time you thought about your voice? When did you last get some tips for making it even more effective?
These three recordings will give you new ideas on how to use and preserve your most important speaking instrument.
- “Raise Your Voice Value for Authenticity, Story, and Connection” (webcast) with Hilary Blair, MFA, CSP
- “Put Your Best Voice Forward: Secrets from a Voice-Over Artist to Up-Level Your Webcasts, Podcasts, Videos and Recorded Books” (webcast) with Grant Holmes
- “Use Professional Techniques to Make Your Audio Product a Sound Succe$$” with Toni Boyle
All SNN single-focused intensive packages are detailed here.
Miscellaneous Tips
Corporate training trends to keep an eye on — Vickie Sullivan
(Editors’ note — Vickie published this in 2022 but we think many of the trends are still relevant.)
For many of us, larger contracts that include corporate training are a big percentage of our revenue. So it’s worth looking at the findings in Training Magazine’s State of the Training Industry report.
While the report has a lot of data comparing what happened with corporate training in 2020 and 2021, I’m more interested in what’s ahead. Here are some key findings we need to consider:
Average 2021 training budgets show a big gap between large companies ($17.5 million) and midsize companies ($1.3 million). Small companies average $341,000. That rift will not close this year. Those in the latter two markets need to adjust their fee expectations accordingly.
The highest priority is to increase the effectiveness of training: learner usage, measuring impact, etc. Make sure to include this concern in your sales conversations.
The new money is moving to management/supervisory training, opening opportunities for those who work with the C-suite. High potentials are still front and center, though, at 25%. A close third is interpersonal skills at 23%. The money is there to change behavior and adapt the culture.
COVID didn’t kill classroom training. Most respondents (56%) plan to return to classroom training, but they will keep some remote learning. Only 8% said they will “return to classroom training as usual.”
While 62% outsource some instruction and facilitation, the level of outsourcing will be steady as 87% expect to stay the same. Small and midsized companies say they’ll do more inhouse training.
Check out these trends and proceed accordingly.
Explore credit unions for biz financial needs — Beth Terry
As we navigate the current financial madness, just a quick reminder to look into credit unions as one of your financial partners. Most (not all) credit unions have a vastly different business model from the banks that are making headlines. I’ve had great partnerships with them over the 40 years I’ve been in business. They are usually more accessible, more willing to extend credit, and very willing to support small businesses in their community.
My experience with my two CUs during the 2008 meltdown convinced me to stick with them and I’ve been shielded from a lot of the pain the big banks bring. With internet access, it’s actually more convenient than going with a monster bank.
Technology Tips
Apple users no-cost tech support — Rebecca Morgan
If you own Apple products, you have another option for support other than going into a store. If your issue isn’t hardware-related, the no-cost tech support from Apple’s website is spectacular. Once you’ve chosen the device and the related problem area, you can get a support call within seconds. The patient and knowledgable staff will share screen to help troubleshoot your issue, and most likely find a solution.
Topic of the Month (TOTM) — Your Input Wanted
Our TOTM is: “How are you using AI (artificial intelligence) to further your business goals?”
Send your brief, pithy responses *that are different from those previously mentioned* to editor@SpeakerNetNews.com. Please put “Topic of the Month” or “TOTM” in the subject line.
I used ChatGPT to create over 100 book titles for my next book and was amazed at the creative and catchy titles!
I also asked for my bio and found it to be about 20% inaccurate, including my birthday, educational background, and honors. However, the rest of my bio was accurate, well-composed and usable.
I have been typing in topics I speak, consult, and write about and am getting usable content and ideas I hadn’t thought of before.
This is an amazing tool!
I am using AI to handle my routine communications — all those little things we have to write that take time and aren’t that important. I asked ChatGPT: Write an invitation for an ASAE networking event to be held at “[two sentences describing the place].” I got back a delightful description that exactly captured the mood. It did need a little editing — it had used the same adjectives two or three times in a 500-word invite — but I replaced them with others and it was good to go. I also used it to write a restaurant review, a letter of appreciation to a colleague, and a thank-you note to respond to a client’s thank-you note. I should have used it to write this!
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