Many of you showed overwhelming support when I traveled to Haiti in November. My time was amazing and the work is really just beginning. We are now sending a teaching team to begin the work of providing a handful of girls, who were orphaned after the earthquake, with pathways out of nothingness. This will be an ongoing effort over the next several years as the younger girls become older. Please understand these girls have nothing and no one to help them through this. Imagine girls from 5 years old to 22 years old with no one except us. I have to be there… I just know I have to. So… I’m part of a teaching /mentoring / give these girls a momma, team and I need to be able to afford to make this happen.

I’m not comfortable asking for money so I’m asking for something different. You’re receiving this email because you are already one of my champions. If I can fill my upcoming classes I can go back to Pignon in February.

What I need from you is promotion. Please get on the phone and tell your friends about the upcoming classes. Send the email along and sing my praises. Do whatever you can to get that one person off the mark and to take the class. If both classes filled at 10 participants, I can afford to go.

Thank you for support and your confidence. Onlee

You may be thinking, “Wait a minute! Aren’t you the communications pro, the one teaching people about presenting, attending events, and the one I meet for coffee?”  I am! I am that person… and I feel this makes me a reasonable candidate to suggest that we finally throw, “I’m Networking!” out the window. 

For the record, I truly enjoy meeting people. I love laughing and joking -hearing stories and telling stories. In short, I love the whole thing of making friends. What I don’t like is walking into a social situation where people are more worried about collecting cards and working the room then actually meeting someone. I hear the same reaction from clients whom will freely admit they hate networking because of the pressure, the fakeness, and the hype.

I think what creates this feeling of dread with networking is the same culprit that creates our feeling of dread toward public speaking. Like public speaking, when we engage in the act of networking we feel pressure to become someone smarter, smoother, and bigger than we are. We feel tremendous pressure to impress so we try too hard and overshoot. Often the very act of ‘trying’ leaves us feeling a little fake and superficial.  Then we look around and notice others doing exactly the same thing - quick conversations, eyes not making real eye contact but darting over people, overzealous handshakes and very little real interaction.  We begin to feel disconnected, stressful, and unreal. 

Not that many years ago large face-to-face networking events was THE WAY to touch many people at one time. In fact the widely taught strategy to effective networking was to move through the room with the goal to replace all your business cards with the business cards of others.  Today over four hundred million people are on Facebook alone, not to mention all the other forms of social media. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you want to touch many people at one time social media is the medium, not face-to-face events. Social media in all its forms allow you to promote, promote, promote…your business, my business, any business or any thing for that matter. The internet allows us to have at our finger tips resources and information within seconds.    

 The good news:

This shift in social media turns networking on its ear. It freed us… it released us from the burden and the fear of attending events to “network” and places the focus on attending events to build friendships rather than to promote brands or make the pitch. Even better news…the communication skills we use to make friends are the skills we take with us to events and conferences.  It’s sometimes hard to believe and even harder to accept but the vast majority of us has the necessary skills inside us already – the skill of making friends. So take some pressure off your next conference or social event and consider some of the following ideas:

Go to events to meet one person, not a crowd. Go prepared to smile and relax.  If you’re uncomfortable walking into a place by yourself take a good friend - someone you really enjoy – your ‘event buddy.’   Then go with the sole purpose that together you’ll befriend someone who either looks interesting or looks like they could use a friend.

Attend events because you want to and you’re interested.  Volunteer your time and help others because you feel moved. Be involved in activities that reflect your values and you’re automatically surrounded by people who share some common goals.

 Don’t feel any pressure to talk about your service or businesses when you first  meet someone instead concentrate on striking up something real.  You’ll know when to talk about your business because that person will ask; “What do you do?”  Then be gracefully short about your response, and get back to the business of   building relationships. When you become genuinely interested in others people will sense this and will become more interested in you. Honestly, free yourself of the sales pitch because events are neither the time nor the place.

Focus your energy on talking about what others do and introducing people.  This will get you out of the frantic I need your business so here’s my elevator pitch – which feels so fake!  I mean think about it, how many people would say they didn’t need more business?  Exactly… we’re all in the same boat so let’s just chill and enjoy the journey and friends make the journey worth while.

Building friendships is just plain good business. We all prefer to do business with people whom we know, like, and trust.  When a client becomes a friend both parties are motivated to promote and do business with one another.  Through social media we have a free stage to promote one another and that my friend is the power of the network in action.  A network is the natural outcome of interconnected people and strongest when it’s based on friendships.  I say ditch the pitch and the networking – throw them right out the window and go out there and be real and meet some other real people.

             Are You Tired of Thinking…

       “I wish I would have said something!”

           LET’S CHANGE THAT

          With Onlee Bowden

Sign up today for new classes -

Level 1. Beginning Class

level one is designed to take you off your personal mark and move you forward in a compelling, life altering way. 

Time:  3-5 p.m.

Dates:  Feb 15, 22, & Mar. 1, 8, 15

You must complete Level 1 , before  signing up for level 2 or 3.

Level 2. Intermediate/Refresher  

This a great class for clients who would like to brush-up on the basics and gain more experience.

Time: 9-11 a.m.

Dates:  Feb 17, 24, Mar 3, 10

Level 3. Advanced 

This class propels you into the real world of speaking and is available only to clients who have completed level 1 & 2 or with permission. 

Time: 3-5

Dates:  Feb 16, 23, Mar 2, 9, 16

Investment:  Each class offers 10 hours of training in a semi-private, no more than 10 participants, studio setting.   $510.00 per class. 

Payment plans can be arranged if needed. 

In Your Own Words

Grab your cell and make the call today!

231 590-1499

We can train to create a knowledge base that makes our bankers strong business advisors, but we felt that to truly have an impact, we needed to provide our staff with the tools to confidently communicate everyday with our clients, our prospects and each other.  I became aware of Onlee’s program as a result of a strong recommendation from one of our Board members.  Spending time with her, I knew that her approach to speaking in public was exactly what we needed. 

We had our entire staff complete the Level I program.  I watched as members of our staff who were extremely uncomfortable speaking in front of a group (even though that group was their peers), matured over the 5 weeks we worked together.  The culmination of this class was a presentation by each covering why someone should bank with The Bank of Northern Michigan.  The confidence that they all displayed served as testimony to the effectiveness of Onlee’s program.  I see the key elements displayed every day by various staff members in all sorts of situations.

As a management team, we made the decision to follow Level I for all our staff members with Level II, targeting our Commercial Relationship Managers, Client Service staff and key Mortgage folks as well. I firmly believe that the confidence our staff continues to build in their day-to-day communication style will set us on the course I envision.  That confidence will help build a level of credibility for our Bank that will in fact, set us apart in this crowded banking market.  Thanks Onlee!

Public speaking has an unfair rep as a life-sucking experience that leaves you wishing you were the one in the casket instead of the one delivering the eulogy. (Okay, not my joke, Jerry Seinfeld’s.) 

The thing is, public speaking is sadly misunderstood and overly mystified leaving most of us just praying we don’t have to bump into it.  We think we have to be BIGGER and BETTER than ourselves to stand up and talk, and this is simply not true!

Conventional thinking and teaching of public speaking often misses the most important mark and that is, we already have the skills inside us and we really don’t need to become some fake feeling other person. 

Public Speaking pulls from our most used and most effective CORE communication skills;  organization, thinking on our feet, letting go of distracting thoughts, and paying genuine attention to who you’re speaking to is what we do every single day.

This is a possible thing to make happen in your life and when you’re stronger at your core, your just plain stronger over all.  Give it a try… write down a half dozen skills that you use every day that builds understanding and enhances your relationships.  These are your core skills.  Now ask yourself, “How can I begin to utilize these skills in situations that I feel less confident?” 

Hey… It’s a start! 

I wanted to send a quick note to thank you! After struggling with certain anxieties and other impediments to delivering a solid presentation, I just had my first “post class” success!

Using your methods for preparation and framework for presentations that you taught to me in your class, I just made my first presentation at a work event and it was terrific! With my outline in hand, I delivered a heartfelt, succinct and impactful presentation and was rewarded with many positive comments and feedback. I”m so grateful for what I’ve been able to accomplish with just your beginners class, I’ll be asking for the opportunity to participate in your intermediate class too!
Thank you so much!
Brian Bourdages, Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy

For the past several years, I have been searching for a public speaking class that would teach me how to calm my nerves and show me how to structure a speech in an environment where I wasn’t negatively critiqued or graded.  Just when I didn’t think such a class existed, I stumbled upon yours and I’m so glad that I did.  I now have the tools to put a consise speech together and remain calm while delivering it. I can’t thank you enough!  I’m looking forward to taking your intermediate class so that I can become even more confident.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Kenny ]]> http://www.onleebowden.com/graduates/kathleen-kenny-shares-her-experience/feed/ 0 http://www.onleebowden.com/news/the-responsibility-of-freedom/ http://www.onleebowden.com/news/the-responsibility-of-freedom/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:08:24 +0000 Onlee Bowden http://www.onleebowden.com/?p=856 Sometimes, it’s very hard to accept that our freedoms are here for everyone who lives in this country as a citizen. My emotions get the best of me and I want to shout, No! Don’t let the KKK demonstrate on public land, or don’t let an Islamic center be built next to ground zero! I believe that along with great freedom comes great responsibility and tolerance. Yet tolerance, for those who are insensitive to the hurt inflicted on the innocent by the actions of others, is the hardest for me to give.  Freedom of speech is no different; we all have the freedom to speak our minds, yet we also have a responsibility to “do no harm.”

Lew Coulter

Executive Director

Grand Traverse Conservation District

1450 Cass Road

Traverse City, MI 49684

P:  231.941.0960

F:  231.941.0837

email:  lewcoulter@gtcd.org

www.NatureisCalling.org