1. Advertise on company and community notice boards
2. Free announcements in local/community newspapers
3. Barter your services in exchange for free advertising
4. Word of mouth – tell all your friends
5. Business cards – never leave home without them
6. Be outrageous – do something so out of the ordinary that you get free publicity
7. Offer to write articles for local newspapers or magazines. Note that these are articles and not advertorials
8. Make contacts with complementary businesses to provide a stronger offering that helps you both
9. Be contactable make it easy for your customers to find you. Have a website, and respond to emails and phone calls
10. Follow through on your leads and customer queries

Tiger Woods

I was listening to an interview with Malcolm Gladwell recently on the Radiolab podcast in which he was speaking about the performance of Jamaican athletes when he was growing up. He made a comment that part of the reason for their performance is that they trained harder than anybody else.

When Darren la Croix won the 2001 World Championship of Public Speaking, he said that he did not want any of the other competitors to be more prepared than him – he wanted to out-prepare all of them, and he won.

When I was in school, I studied music as one of my matric subjects. In my final year, I would probably practice about 2-3 hours a day, and I was a far better pianist then than I am now. It was because I was putting in the time to prepare.

Tiger Woods is such a great golfer partly because he puts in approx 6 ½ hours training every single day, as well as about 2 ½ hours in the gym  . I have no doubt that if I put effort into golf every day for a few years, I would be a mighty fine golfer as well. Maybe not as good as Tiger Woods, but a lot better than I currently am.

According to Fortune Magazine,

“The evidence we have surveyed … does not support the [notion that] excelling is a consequence of possessing innate gifts…. that nobody is great without work…There’s no evidence of high-level performance without experience or practice.”

Ok, so the bottom line is that you can be excellent at just about anything that you choose, but you will need to put in the effort to get there.

How much effort are you prepared to put into your passion?

Please see the email below that I received from my friend Louise at Symphonia

Dear Craig

A few months ago we invited people who are passionate about South Africa to join the Network of Community Leaders for South Africa (see below for the message that was sent out in May).

Since this message many of us have attended the Dinokeng scenario sessions and have been called to make the Walk Together scenario a reality in South Africa (please see www.dinokengscenarios.co.za for more information).

I am delighted to let you know that we will be holding the first meeting for the Network of Community Leaders for South Africa (NCLSA) in Cape Town on 6th August.

Date: Thursday, 6th August 2009

Time: 14:00 – 16:30

Venue: Manenberg (a community who is setting a wonderful example in terms of community building)

Cost: No cost (the event is sponsored by Symphonia for South Africa, an organisation dedicated to strengthening the fabric of South African society)

The purpose of this meeting will be to establish a community of people who are passionate about South Africa. We are hoping to enrol all those who are playing (or want to play) a leadership role to address the challenges that we face in South Africa.

Our vision is that the NCLSA will serve to strengthen and support all those who are working towards a safe and prosperous South Africa for all.

We will:

• create opportunities for us to learn from others who have been successful at building communities / lead change in there area of practice
• create opportunities to network and find out about other people who are doing similar work
• support, strengthen and inspire each other to continue to do the work in strengthen the fabric of South African society

Some are arguing that we should call this the Network of Engaged Citizens for South Africa (NECSA) rather than a Network of Community Leaders for South Africa (NCLSA). We will talk about this differentiation at our meeting on 6th August. I hope that you will be able to join us for this conversation.

Please let Louise van Rhyn (louise@symphonia.net) know if you will be attending the meeting on 6th August.

Please forward this note to anybody else who may be interested in the activities of the Network of Community Leaders for South Africa.

We are particularly keen to have people from the following sectors:

• Grass roots community leaders
• People from organisations that support community leaders
• CSI managers and people from CSI departments
• Organisational Development practitioners
• Government officials (national, provincial, local)

Warm regards

Louise

As of two days ago, I am the District Governor for Toastmasters District 74, Southern Africa. Geographically, we are one of the largest districts in the world, covering 9 countries in Southern Africa. I am also the youngest District Governor in D74
ever, but I feel ready for the challenge.

I joined Toastmasters in 2000, with the aim of simply becoming a better public speaker, but it did not take very long to realise that Toastmasters is not just about public speaking. It is about learning to become an effective communicator and leader, and I have been on a remarkable journey
of growth. Through Toastmasters, I have

• Trained in South Africa
• Trained in Malawi
• Trained in Namibia
• Travelled three times to USA, each time carrying a flag of our District
• Spoken in the four largest cities in South Africa
• Opened conferences
• Emceed meetings, conferences and events

Holding the Zimbabwe and Zambian flags at the International Convention in Calgary, Canada

Now, please don't think that I am bragging, because I am not. I am showing
you this list to demonstrate that I have learned to do things that I would never
been able to do in the past, both through the acquired skills, and through self
confidence that I have developed.

Whenever Toastmasters has provided me with an opportunity, I have grabbed it,
which is why I have got so much out of it.

Our district theme this year is "Toastmasters – Growing People". And the more
that I am involved, the more I realise that the best way to grow is help others
to grow. By giving, you receive back tenfold. So, it is with great excitment, a
little nerviousness, and hugh anticipa……..tion that I look forward to the
next year!

In this message, presented to District at Toastmasters Club Officer Training, held on 20 June, 2009 I discuss how the young average in Africa (19), and the troubling economic times provide a huge opportunity for Toastmasters in Africa, and in particular in Southern Africa. It is a message of growth for our organisation.

Excuse the background – the training was in a ballet hall! I guess I have spoken in strange venues. Anyway, the main thing is to listen to the message, and not to watch the background.

Professor Vijay Mahajan (author of “Africa Rising”) will be in South Africa in June for the World Economic Forum and he has agreed to do 2 business briefings.

CAPE TOWN
Date: Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Time: 08:30 – 11:00
Registration: 07:30
Investment: R 950.00 + VAT
Early Bird: R 750.00 + VAT
Venue: Market Hall, GrandWest
 
JOHANNESBURG
Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Time: 08:30 – 11:00
Registration: 07:30
Investment: R 950.00 + VAT
Early Bird: R 750.00 + VAT
Venue: Vodadome, Vodaworld

Early Bird Special for bookings made and paid before 8 May 2009. 10% discount for teams of 10 or more.

To book, contact Johleen van Dyk on 021 913 3507 or email johleen@symphonia.net. I will be attending in Cape Town, and I hope to see you there.

Indian-born American professor Vijay Mahajan is author of Africa Rising. He holds the John P Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, US, and was previously Dean of the Indian School of Business. Mahajan’s ten books include The 86 Percent Solution (Wharton School Publishing), which received the 2007 Book of the Year Award from the American Marketing Association. He has received several lifetime achievement awards.

For more info, go to: www.africarisingbook.com

While this talk by David Rose is about pitching to Venture Capitalists, he also gives some great PowerPoint tips. I was very pleased to see that he agrees with many of my thoughts on PowerPoint. In particular, David presents his top five presentation tips:

1. Always use Presenter Mode
2. Always use a remote control
3. Handout are NOT your presentation
4. Don’t read your speech
5. Never, ever look at the screen

All of these tips are in my free e-book. The presentation is only about 15 minutes long, but well worth watching. I was a little bemused to see that he even uses one of same slides that I use – the one of Bill Gates presenting Windows Live in 2005. David does speak at about a million words per second, so you do need to listen carefully!

If you are going to pitch your idea to anybody, he provides a great speech outline. Here is a summarized outline, but watch the presentation for his insights.

• Company Logo / title
• Business Overview
• Management team
• Market
• Product
• Business Model
• Strategic Relationships
• Competition
• Barrier to Entry
• Financial Overview
• Use of Proceeds
• Capital and Valuation

You can watch other great speeches at www.ted.com

Enjoy, and keep talking!

I have had the privilege of attending two of Ben and Roz's presentations, and I have been blown away both times.

Well, I am very excited that my Friend's from Symphonia, Johleen and Louise are bringing him out again.

If at all you can attend, I strongly recommend that you do, it will be a life-changing experience (and for me to say that is a lot!).

In 2009, Benjamin Zander will deliver the opening keynote presentation at the World Economic Forum. Now you have the opportunity to experience this inspirational speaker and musician live in South Africa.

Book now! Don't miss this opportunity!
Ben and Roz have made a special commitment to return to South Africa in December. Don't miss this opportunity ? we don't know whether there will be another chance to experience this inspirational presentation live in South Africa.

COSTS PER PERSON

Early Bird (booked and paid before 15th Oct): R1,200 + VAT (save R300 per ticket!)

Tickets booked and paid after 15th Oct: R1,500 +VAT

NPOs and academic institutions: 50% discount

A 10% discount applies to group bookings for more than 10 people
PLEASE CONTACT

Johleen van Dyk
for a registration form
(johleen@symphonia.net)

Louise van Rhyn
to enquire about special pricing for large group bookings
(louise@symphonia.net)

Tags: Ben Zander Symphonia

I found a video of Ben Zander online at TED. You can view it below. TED has loads of great videos that you can download for free, including Al Gore, Malcolm Gladwell, Bono and Peter Gabriel. Topics are diverse and interesting.

I had the opportunity of seeing Ben Zander speaking last year, and it was a remarkable experience. He is a world-renowned conductor and an inspirational  speaker on Leadership and the ?Art of Possibility? (he co-authored the book ?Art of Possibility? with his partner Rozamund Zander).

Ben is speaking in Cape Town on 21 and 22nd August. The kind folks at Symphonia have offered a 25% discount to tickets for the Cape Town presentations, provided your tickets are purchased before 31 July - just mention my name for the discount. Both Lois and I have secured tickets, so we would love to see you there. I promise you, it will be worth every cent!

Ben has appeared five times as a keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

You can watch the video of Ben’s presentation at the TED conference earlier this year. This is a short 20 minute exposure to Ben’s presentation style. The 1,600 people in attendance responded with a standing ovation and called this presentation the most inspirational talk of the conference http://blog.ted.com/2008/06/benjamin_zander.php

You can download the full details of all the presentations as well as the 4 concerts in Cape Town from Symphonia’s website http://www.symphonia.net/thought_leaders.html

?Zander is a fairly frequent visitor to South Africa. Apart from an obvious affinity for the Rainbow Nation, he has also been “discovered” by corporates who bring him over to help articulate visions and share ideas on the New Age manager. Occasionally outsiders are invited. Should you happen upon the opportunity, grab it. After putting his ideas to the test, who knows how many shining eyes might soon greet you at the office??

Alec Hogg, Moneyweb website

Ben has the ability to ignite and inspire large groups of people in a 3 hour session ? he uses the power of music to galvanise people to action and a sense of possibility.

For more information about Benjamin Zander:

www.benjaminzander.com

COSTS PER PERSON (before 25% discount)

For bookings received after 1st June: R1,350 + VAT

A 10% discount applies to group bookings for more than 10 people
 
PLEASE CONTACT

Johleen van Dyk
for a registration form
(johleen@symphonia.net)

Louise van Rhyn
to enquire about special pricing for large group bookings
(louise@symphonia.net)