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Back in the 80’s, public speaking and presentation training were skills that only a few were committed to invest resources to master.

Why?

Because, a professional, after learning the skills of presenting effectively, had to find an audience to speak to.

So, if you wanted to speak to groups you had to:

a) Promote your own event (that requires time and money to put people in a room)
b) Sell yourself to speak at OPE (other people’s events) or trade associations or
c) you already had a captive audience (you worked for a big corporation where you can speak to your coworkers or you were a lawyer speaking to a jury, etc)

Traditionally, people who searched for public speaking and presentation training in the past were:

• CEOs and business executives that had to present to their employees, customers, media, and coworkers
• Lawyers that had to present in from of the jury
• Media professionals that had to speak in front of the camera
• Seminar leaders and speakers who speak full time
• Trainers and teachers who communicate to students.
• Few professional salespeople that conducted group presentations

For the majority of small business owners and professionals in the service industry (financial planners, chiropractors, doctors, insurance professionals, veterinarians, consultants, etc) the idea of reaching out to current and new customers through group presentations was not very attractive.

Well, as you may be aware of, that is old news, because both the internet and the declining cost of new technology has changed the business landscape dramatically. The message here is simple:

If you breathe, you must use presentations to grow your business or to enhance your personal brand!

Here are the facts:

• You can create persuasive videos and presentations very fast once you understand the presentation structures
• Videos are a great way to leverage your time and to capture leads
• You do not need to invest a lot of resources to record videos
• By using social media site (facebook, twitter, youtube, viddler, etc), you can reach a lot of people really fast, specially if your videos are viral
• Most people prefer videos over written text (why people watch TV or go to movies so much)
• Great videos position you as an expert
• The only thing that is stopping your message to reach thousands (if not millions of people) is YOU
• Build your personal brand is one of the most important business strategies you can to focus on (ask best seller author and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk from Winelibrary.com)

What you MUST understand is that the technology (internet, video cameras, screen capture software, social media sites) are a “equalizer platform” so that everybody has the same opportunity to spread their message in the same way (and that is the wave of the future).

Now, of course it helps if you are famous, have brand-recognition or have a lot of resources to drive online traffic to your site, but the message here it that if you are committed to learn some simple skills, you can compete with the biggest names in your industry, and, in many cases, win the game.

For the most part, most of the videos that we see in social media are entertainment videos, yet, the shift to commercial and marketing-driven videos have started to catch on.

In the near feature, video presentations from small businesses and professional services will be like websites are today. If you are in business you MUST have one. If you have a great site you may gain extra business; if you do have a site, but it sucks, it will end up hurting you. Video presentations are like that. You see, by the end of this year, I believe that we will see a lot of professionals in the service industry and small business owners creating and recording videos because the technology is the same for everybody, but what will make the difference will be:

a) the content
b) the delivery

We encourage you to be ready for one the biggest shifts in marketing and sales this year. Just analyze and study the leaders in your industry. I guarantee they are already unleashing videos on the Internet. Now it is your turn!