Two Minute Tips

Have you ever seen a photo of a speaker in a conference booklet or program, then observed the same speaker at the conference in person...and the resemblance is, well, not even close? And you realize that this person hasn't updated their promotional photos since 2012? Or worse, since 1912! Well, professional speakers/performers are sometimes the worse about keeping their promotional pictures up-to-date. Don't be that person. If you are full-time, part-time or just some-time—in the era of digital photography, having an up to date photo is easier than ever. My tip: have new photos taken at least every two years. And, if you always use the same photographer...try a different one next time; Try one that is a bit younger...or older than you. You might be really pleased with the result! Here's To Your Success!     Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You

  A Billing Tip As a speaker, performer, presenter and you may be responsible for your billing management. It is indeed important to get paid...and on time! But you may need to improve your technique in this arena. As creative types, many of us struggle with the business side of the show. But, those two words, "show business" the bigger one is business! So, to quote the King, Elvis, sometimes you gotta TCB. (take care of business). Many online tools can help you manage your accounts receivables; That is income that is or will be owed to you for your services. Unless you have a bookkeeper, I'll suggest staying away from Quickbooks. As your more likely to do more harm than good. Freshbooks is an online billing platform that I recommend. Although I use Quickbooks in one my businesses, in another, a smaller company I use Freshbooks—it is just invoicing. It is professional and straightforward. Here's To Your Success!       Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are l

  I went to a graduation event the other day. It was in a nice room, with what looked like great stage lighting. But, I wasn't sure...because they never turned them on! The result? It was hard to see the graduates clearly on the stage. If you are on a proper stage or platform, and there is specific lighting for that space, stage lighting, be sure you use it! The audience needs to see you. If you can feel the heat of the lights on your face, that's good! However, with the advent of LED lighting, you may not find yourself standing- to quote singer Billy Joel, "in the white-hot, spotlight"....but be sure you are in the light! Check the stage beforehand, see where the lights began and end on the platform. During your speech, sermon, or performance be sure you stay in the light when all possible. Do some quick online reading on stage lighting, and what are the best colors for your presentation. If you are using the full stage for your presentation, you'll want to take some time to create a lighting plot for your

  Once you've begun your talk, speech, or performance, be sure you intentionally make eye to eye contact with some folks. Acknowledging them. Then, be sure to look throughout the audience, even to the back of the room. If you are in a room with proper lighting, you won't be able to "see" people beyond the second or third rows. That's okay. Look beyond those lights and pretend that you see them. As you speak, move your head, as you look at your audience. Be sure to move about the stage or platform. But, not too much! Practice walking to a spot, delivering a few lines, or performing one piece. Your body stays put, but your head is moving and acknowledging the entire audience. If you are behind the podium, move out front for a few moments or even a few minutes. And don't forget while you are making eye contact to smile! If you know your speech, lines, or sermon well, you'll be able to engage your audience, instead of worrying about what you are going to say. Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and re

Walk On Music If you are a performer, you may already understand how powerful music can be to your entrance on stage. Even professional baseball players have realized this...as a player's favorite music piece is often played as he goes up to bat. If you've never used walk-on music when entering the stage or platform, give it a try. If you have a large stage space to cover before you get to the spot where you'll be speaking or performing from—this will help cover the silence, also known as "dead air" between applause and you being in position, too. Pick music that reflects your persona and sets the mood for your talk. This might be exciting, or soft. It's up to you. Also, you'll only need about 10-20 seconds, so some simple editing might be required. You can do this yourself in a music editing software like Garage Band. Or jump on fiver.com and have someone do it for you. Then, you can email the piece to the sound engineer for the event. I'd also have it on a flash drive that you carry with you to the event.

  Be Vulnerable The stage can be a scary place. Research has shown that public speaking is the number one fear of many people. Number five is death. So, to quote Jerry Seinfeld, "You'd rather be in the coffin than speaking at the funeral." So, for those of us who put ourselves on stage on a regular basis, taking the next step of being vulnerable to our audience can be intimidating, too. But, it is a way to go deeper with your audience—and create that cathartic moment. When you share a bit of your heart with your audience, in your performance or speech, you are opening yourself, and your audience, in turn, will trust you—and be more attentive to what you are saying. So, as you are crafting your speech, talk or performance be sure to be a bit vulnerable on stage with your words. And you'll experience a much deeper connection with your audience. Here's To Your Success! Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most

  You've probably seen it happen, at a conference, church service, or even a live show; There's nothing more awkward to a performer, speaker OR to the audience, than when the presenter's mic goes out.  And, if you are on stage for your part-time or full-time profession, it will happen to you at some point. This is a simple onstage tip that will save your bacon at some point. No matter what kind of mic you use, you always need to have a "back up".  If you are wearing a lapel or an over the ear mic, simply ask for handheld on a stand to be placed within an easy reach. If you are using a handheld, then just ask for another, and again, have it close by. I'd also recommend that you have in your arrival/set-up/rider information that you'll need that additional mic. That helps everyone. Here's To Your Success!     Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself.

  It seems silly at first—but if part of being "onstage" for you is wearing dress clothes, then you need to know this tip.  Collar stays are those little arrow-looking things that help hold your collar down.  Those plastic ones that come with dress shirts are meant to be replaced. Below are some links to some better solutions than those plastic ones. My favorite collar stays are by Fashion Anchor—they are little disposable sticky dots. You can learn more and order some here. You can also order metal and brass collar stays. Just search Amazon for "Collar Stays" and you'll have more choices than you could ever imagine! Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Here's To Your Success! Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do,

One of the best ways to build a good reputation in life is to keep your word. Fulfill your promises. This same timeless ideal also holds truthful in your on-stage career.  In this week's tip, we'll look at respecting the client that hired you, and the audience that is watching/listening to you. It's vital insight in building a trusting relationship in your industry. Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Here's To Your On-Stage Success! Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scotthumston.com and follow me on Twitter or Instagram @scotthumston and my hashtag is #sharewonder

If you've ever seen any using an iPad while they are speaking, you may have noticed the brightness of the screen being reflected in their glasses, or on their face.  From the audience point of view, it is distracting—and it's not necessary.  Here's a way to "invert" the colors so that won't happen to you. Follow These Four Easy Steps to invert the colors on your iPad while you speak. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad. Tap on General. Tap on Accessibility. Turn On the option for Invert Colors — it's under the Vision section at the top. That's it! Hope this helps you..become better! Here's To Your Success!     Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I

  Thanks for listening! This is a follow up from the last episode...it's a great app and tip for being more efficient and effective while on the road. If you travel and carry a laptop with you, this is a great tip about using the flatscreen in the hotel to work smarter.  If you carry an iPad with you, too, you can use an app called, Duet—which converts it into a second monitor. Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Here's to your success!   Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scotthumston.com and follow me on Twitter or Instagram @scotthumston and my hashtag is #sharewonder

  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!     Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on

2 Minute Tips - Scanning for Happiness   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!     Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yo

  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. Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Here's to your success! Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scotthumston.com and follow me on Twitter or Instagra

  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: Web Contact FormName *FirstLastOrganizationEmail *Tell me how I might serve you? *NameSubmit Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free,

  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!   Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scotthumston.com and

no·men·cla·ture ˈnōmənˌklāCHər/ noun the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline. the body or system of names in a particular field. plural noun: nomenclatures In this week's tip, let's look at the layout of the stage. If you'll be on stage, at some point you should be familiar with these terms.  No doubt if you been around theatre at all, you've heard them used. But sometimes, folks that don't have much experience with them, don't quite understand them.  So, below is an easy chart to help you remember these basic stage directions. Thanks to http://asn.jesandco.org/resources/S104B4BD for the above image. Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Here's to your Success! Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyrig

  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! Scott Humston Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scot

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. Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Here's To Your Success! Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scotthumston.com and follow me on Twitter or Instagram @scotthumston and my hashtag is #sharewonder  

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! Thanks so much for listening! Please subscribe and review on iTunes. Also, you are looking for ways to get more bookings, you should most definitely check out The Quick Course On Booking Yourself. You can get the first lesson, free, here. Two Minute Tips are recorded by me, Scott Humston, and are copyright ©2018 by NDE, Inc. For more information on what I do, check out scotthumston.com and follow me on Twitter or Instagram @scotthumston and my hashtag is #sharewonder