January 27 is National Speak Up and Succeed Day!

(PRWEB) January 15, 2004

“Doors open to those who can stand and deliver a solid presentation”, say authors Cyndi Maxey and Jill Bremer in their new book, It’s Your Move: Dealing Yourself the Best Cards in Life and Work. (Financial Times Prentice Hall, ISBN: 0-13-142481-5, $22.95, October 2003) So take their advice and seek out opportunities to showcase your ideas. Whether you’re job-hunting, looking to move up or want to build your current business, the ability to speak well will help you achieve your goals.

If you’re employed, search out opportunities for internal presentations. Department meetings, product rollouts, client presentations, after-hours events, and lunchtime programs offer the chance to be showcased as an expert. Often, your new employee orientation organizers are looking for representatives from almost any area to talk.

If you’re looking for work, speaking in public can increase your visibility and professional network. It’s also a great way to build a customer base for an already-established business. Many groups and associations need speakers on a regular basis, including Chambers of Commerce, small business networks, church groups, professional associations, and service organizations. Call the program chair and find out more about the group’s members and needs.

Here are three tips for composing an effective presentation:

1.    Talk about what you know. Make a list of topics you have a passion for, have lots of examples for, or give others advice about all of the time.

2.    Develop 3-8 key points about that easy topic.

3.    Package your topic in a unique way. Share your inside information - “Five Things I Never Learned in Business School”, the steps of a process – “Six Steps of Creative Flower Arranging”, or create an acronym – “Be S.M.A.R.T., A New Self-Defense Technique

In It’s Your Move: Dealing Yourself the Best Cards in Life and Work, Cyndi Maxey and Jill Bremer provide dramatic and inspiring personal examples and winning strategies for life, career, and conversation. They effectively stress the point that if you want to be a successful individual, you truly hold all the cards.

Amy Lindgren, columnist for the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, writes: “Maxey and Bremer are two of the most optimistic, yet practical, authors I’ve had the pleasure to read in the field of career development. From the first paragraph of the introduction, they had me hooked.” Author Bob Nelson, Ph.D, notes that the book is “both reflective and practical, it serves as the best friend you always wanted that forced you to look in the mirror when you most needed to see the truth.”

Make a positive move in your professional life and speak up on National Speak Up and Succeed Day!

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