(Thanks Tom from SwiftKick for this heads up)

A quick heads up that Facebook is about to open up registration on Friday for a new feature that allows people to own unique usernames (e.g. facebook.com/swiftkick) but it’s on a first come first serve basis.

You can read more about it here > http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=90316352130

Businesses will also be able to do it for their Facebook Page and if you own a trademark on your name you can pre reserve it here > http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=username_rights

Who else wants to pick the brains of one of America’s top speakers and get ideas that can put $2,500-$25,000 of cash in your hands!

http://www.greatspeakingtips.net/coachingcall.html <—CLICK HERE

Join me Thursday, June 4th @ 8 PM EST/5 PM PST.
(That means this THURSDAY)

*Note: If you can’t make the call, don’t worry. An MP3 replay will be emailed to you shortly afterward. You won’t miss a thing.

It was a classic power struggle. The bout was legendary. One even Don King would have been proud to promote. I could see him behind the podium, waving the American flag, saying, “Only in America.”

I circled this date on my calendar many months ago. This was going to be one of the ‘big’ dates for this semester. Normally, on organization within a college brings me in. It’s no big deal (to me, at least). I do my thing, make some people laugh, make them thing, then we go home. But this was different. I was on the WVU website as one of the headlining speaker for their Week of Engagement. I briefly considered hiring a trainer and a hype man.

LET’S GET READY TO RRRRRRRUUUUUMMMBLE!

To put it mildly, the showdown didn’t live up to the hype. The room was set up for 300. As you can see from the picture, about 95 showed up. This is normally a great number, but when 2/3 of the room is empty, the energy isn’t the same.

From the beginning, everything I tried wasn’t working. I tried the special intro. I tried the opening joke. I tried call-and-response. They seemed like the really didn’t want to be there. If I could have somehow finished my talk in five minutes, I bet I would have gotten a standing ovation; not for me, for the fact that they were ready to GO!

But we made the most of it. I literally felt my emotional energy and enthusiasm seep out after a few failed attempts to jazz up the crowd. Have you ever been on a date with someone who obviously wasn’t right for you? Do you remember how painful it was to strike up a conversation about…anything? Anything! That’s how I felt. But I was on the hook for another 50 minutes of “life-changing information.”

I am going through the rough parts of learning IMPROV. It’s as much of a science as it is an art. Sometimes it works out really well, but I’m not sure why. I still have parts that suck badly, and I’m not sure why. That’s the toughest part. Getting this thing to work is like solving a CSI case. I wish I had my IMPROV coach with me so I could ask her what the heck I’m doing wrong. It could be audience selection, order of the games, my role in the games, or my inability to turn a boring scene into a winner. There is so much that goes into what looks like an improvised show. I’ll get it though.

The talk went okay.  The WVU staff was great. I was flat. The audience was flat. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get down when they didn’t respond the way I wanted them to. That’s a rookie mistake and I should have known better. There is always someone in the crowd who needs to hear your message. Someone who is absorbing every word you’re saying. Someone who actually is having their life changed because of your message. Quitting means you give up on that person. That ain’t cool.

But I did get some good punches in. Because I have a style that strategically drops lines in specific places in a specific order, no matter how badly things may seem in the heat of the moment, I will still leave people with content.  This lends itself to some great testimonials from the audience. They paid a lot more attention than I thought. They were quoting every part of my talk from the opening to closing. This proved that you can’t judge an audience based on how they look. People listen with their ears, not their mouths.

That said, I’m going to share with you a short formula for getting a winning testimonial versus one that won’t do anything for you in the future.

Here is my patented S3 Testimonial Formula…

A good testimonial is:
1. Short – This is key because testimonials are for selling you to other people who don’t know you. For this reason, if you get a blabbermouth, the listener will lose focus and the testimonial will lose its punch. Make sure they get to the point quickly.

2. Specific – I got one great review in which a lady said, “He was great. He exceeded my expectations. He gave me a lot of things to think about that I can apply to my personal and professional life.” I response was that that was great, but it was emotional, not specific. I needed her to give one phrase, concept or metaphor that helped her with a particular challenge she was having. This adds validity to her and credibility to my ability to create change in my audiences.

3. Story-form – Everything is more memorable when told in a story. Ancient cultures passed down their traditions orally through stories. This is for a reason. Only a story can paint a vivid picture and unlock people’s emotions. In testimonials, the best format is “This is how I was, this is what I learned, this is how I changed.” There are many different formats you can use, but this is the easiest one to teach people. Remember, you only have a few minutes before your audience leaves and turns their attention to the next item on their agendas. You don’t have time to hold a class on Testimonials 101.

So I lost this round, but I’m going back to the gym and will figure out the right combinations will score a knockout. One day, I’ll be champ. Smile.

Connection is key,

Jonathan
Your Connection Coach

PS…I read all my comments. I’d love to hear what you think of this. If you really liked it, subscribe to the blog and I’ll send you updates when I have new announcements, okay?

PPS…Big congrats to Kevin and Tom, also known as SwiftKick. They won Speaker of the Year again. They have won so many consecutive times, the last person to win speaker of the year was ME. Yup, it was that long ago. These guys rock and are always teaching me what it takes to run the tables on the college market. Much love fellas.

This was a tough one. I was informed of the tragedy only moments before I started speaking. Students didn’t know what to think or how to reconcile everything in their heads. Here’s a snippet of our dialogue…

I’M CURIOUS…WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Please leave a comment below.

For the first time ever, Jonathan Sprinkles reveals insider secrets for turning a 15 minute talk into $50,000-$100,000!

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the one year anniversary of my first blog post! Ironically, I was right here, in Blacksburg, Virginia when it all began. I was very fortunate to have been asked back to make the magic happen again this year. This was an honor…and a challenge at the same time.

Let me explain.

Last year, I spoke for the high schools and middle schools in Blacksburg and Christiansburg. This year, I have to speak to the same audiences…and two more schools! That’s six talks in two days. Let me give you a little perspective. They say a 45 minute talk is the equivalent of a one complete gym workout. Well, imagine doing three talks for hyper 12 to 18 year olds. Um, yeah.

It worked out though. Many of the kids remembered me from last year, which was cool. It was also a challenge because they remembered my freakin’ stories and my jokes. I had to reinvent myself on the spot a couple times. I started off telling one of my two signature opening stories at Blacksburg stories about a man and his buckets. All I got out of my mouth was, “Once upon a time, there was a man who had two buckets.” Instantly, I heard a groan murmuring in the auditorium as if to say, “Not this crap again. We already know how this story ends.” I said, “Wait, I already told y’all this story? Well forget that story. It was stupid anyhow. Once upon a time, there were three students…(my other signature story).” If they knew that story too, I would have had to say, “That’s all folks, take care!”

Fortunately, it worked. I stumbled through the story though, knowing I would have to blog about how stupid I looked in that moment. I kept checking in with them, listening for signs of their attention such as laughter at the appropriate time. I was concentrating on their reactions so much I almost forgot parts of the story. But whatever, it worked.

Christiansburg High School threw me a curveball. I walked in, hugged Mrs. Poindexter, the principal, walked toward the auditorium. She grabbed me and said, “Jonathan, you need to know something. We just lost a student last night.” Wow, I was stunned. I didn’t know what to say. She told me just so I would be prepared in case the students were having a tough time that morning. It was already a gloomy, dreary, rainy morning, now this was the icing on the cake.

Fortunately, I resisted the urge to completely change my message to accommodate the circumstances. In retrospect, that would have been a disaster because I would have been so unprepared. It would have been a miserable 60 minutes. Instead, I chose to briefly acknowledge the student’s death and spin it around from mourning her death to, “Let’s live in a way that will honor her life.” I thank God for that piece of wisdom at the last minute. This was one of the most draining talks I’ve ever done due to the intensity of the moment. I was toast afterward.

Mr. Carter, the assistant principal asked me if I wanted to go “sit in on a classroom” after my first talk of three that day. That’s usually a code for “I want you to do another talk for free to a specific group of students. ”Inside I said, “Dude, you saw me labor to get through that first talk. I can’t believe you have the nerve to ask me to do it again during my break!” For some reason, all of that was verbalized as, “Sure, let’s go.”

Am I ever glad I made that decision! The class he was referring to was a kindergarten class. I opened the door and was greeted by kids cutting shapes and learning The Bear Song. I was in heaven. I went to the table to see the action up close and felt something pulling on my leg. The cutest little redheaded boy bear hugged me around the knee. I bent down, talked to my new buddy and he said, “Can you come home with me?” I would have done it, too! We sat down and he taught me what a red, blue and purple Crayon looks like. He and his classmate with green stuff running down her nose also schooled me on how to color inside the lines. I knew I was doing something wrong, but I didn’t know what. Did I say I was in heaven? I started picking kids up and played airplane with them. Did I say I was in heaven?

We then sat in a circle (Indian-style of course), so the class could teach me The Bear Song. It was so fun. My redheaded best friend sat in my lap. When they told me it was time to go, I almost fell out, had a tantrum and screamed, “I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna!”. But I had to be a role model. So I just ignored them. Ha, ha, ha.

The second and third talks killed me that day. I was so tired I could barely talk. I finished at 2:30pm and was asleep by 3pm. I am grateful for the IMPROV comedy I’ve learned. It made all the difference in my longevity because I had long chunks of audience participation. Being more interactive with the audience is always a good thing, for them and for you. But mostly, for the meeting planner.

SPRINKLE OF WISDOM:

The main person you need to keep happy is your meeting planner. Period. The audience can love you, but they move on. If the meeting planner gets tired of hearing your message, subconsciously, he or she will have a “been there, done that” feeling in his or her mind. It would suck to hear the same speech three times that day, then three more times that day. I used different openings, stories and closings each time. The whole talk wasn’t different, but just different enough for her to give me the magic phrase, “Wow, every time, I learned something new.” Yeeeeaaaaaah!

Mind you, this is already my second year back at these schools and I am already working on next year. I have to do everything I can to keep ‘the powers that be’ happy so when it’s decision time, the infamous “Let’s mix things up” line doesn’t come up. It takes a heck of a presentation to make someone want to have the same person come back year after year. That’s who I want to be. I want next year’s calendar to be filled before this year is over. That’s what it really means to be THE MAN. If you want to be THE MAN/WOMAN, you’d better get busy crafting that calendar-filling talk.

Connection is key,

Jonathan

“Your Connection Coach”

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I’m curious to know what you think.
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My life is definitely changing. Correction–it has changed. Personal evolution is a funny thing. In most cases, when you have changed, you are the last one to find out.

I have always been relatively busy, but never like this. Not consistently. I have always realized that people sometimes look up to me, but now it has become evident that I am a full-fledged mentor.  A role model even.

Me? Yes dude…you!

I know I’ve said this before, but this still feels weird. It is becoming more familiar as I settle into this role, though it may take me some time before I fully ‘get it.’ I remember being a bright-eyed college freshman, clinging on every word speakers said at conferences. I remember hanging behind and talking to a few I truly idolized such as Steve Birdine and Dr. Lee Jones. These guys were intelligent, articulate, funny and were clearly some of the best I had ever seen at the time. They were larger than life itself.

Now I have become ‘that guy’ to some people. Wow. On one hand, I’m “only 31.” On the other hand, I have been studying and preparing for nine years. How much more time should I need? If it took me any longer I would be about to retire when I finally became ready. Sometimes its best to be thrown into the ring and let life be your tutor.

GETTING CAUGHT UP:
I got violently ill on the way back from DC. I don’t know if it was food poisoning or an airborne
virus. It was scary. I was alone in an Atlanta hotel room, unable to move, too sore to get up.
Certainly in no condition to speak. Fortunately, it was only a 24 hour bug. I hadn’t spoken
more than 7 words for the first time when I stood on stage Friday morning. I wasn’t sure if I
would make it through. I was clearly ‘off,’ but getting through the talk was victory enough.
Florida State was great. I learned a BIG lesson: the Power of Point of View.

I spoke to their student government and other key leaders. In doing my research, I learned of
some ethics concerns. I was going to go in there with guns blazin’, getting in their faces, putting
the fear of God in them. I was going to be like, “Y’all’s asses are going to be dirty politicians and
no good human beings if you don’t quit now!” Probably not the best approach.

The question I kept asking myself was who am I to them? I finally remembered that the only
way to produce change is to get people to want it for themselves. I shifted my focus from drill
sergeant to friend and coach. I was warm yet firm. I honored their intelligence and gave them
the pathway and reasons to make the right decisions when confronted with choices.
I felt very masterful. I smiled afterward, like a proud papa.

We had CONNECTED.

I had been just as vulnerable as I was commanding. Although the session was supposed to have
been three hours (on a Sunday no less), they stayed for an extra 45 minutes so we could talk
about more stuff. It was very good.

Perspective is a beautiful thing.

Points are powerful, but CONNECTION is key!

Jonathan
“Your Connection Coach”

PS…What did you think? Write your comment below.

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I’ve never been so afraid in my life. I am constantly finding myself debating about whether I should deposit my money or if I should liquidate everything and bury it in tin cans in my backyard. You know banks can’t be trusted anymore.
 
Every time I rent a car, I get nervous about trusting my life to a car made by one of our automakers. You know Detroit can’t be trusted anymore.
 
Neither can “juiced up” baseball players, cheating politicians or those darned greedy CEO’s. Every time I turn on the television or open a newspaper, I am feeling increasingly more nervous about our current state of affairs. You just can’t trust anyone these days, can you? Based on what I’m seeing and reading, the United States has taken a page from Sodom and Gomorrah. The end must be near!
 
Or maybe not. If you think back to this exact date in 2002, our economy was in similar peril. September 11th threw our entire economy into a tailspin. At the time, we freaked out, thinking we were headed toward another Great Depression. We made it.
 
If you watch more than three minutes of television these days, you will notice a complete 180 degree turn from the optimism that flowed from every channel. We are now hearing skepticism laced with cynicism. TV’s talking heads are back at it again, all casting warmed over messages of gloom and doom “Yes We Can” has given way to “Yes We Can’t!”
 
Trust me, we will make it. We will be just fine.
 
As a child, when other kids said negative things to me, I always took it to heart. I would sulk for hours until my father asked me what was wrong. “He called me a so-and-so,” I would sadly respond (I always was a softie, very sensitive to people’s opinions).
 
My dad was very good about giving me the perfect pep talk. “And what’s your point, son,” he would say. “Just because someone says something to you doesn’t make it true. I don’t know why he said it, but his reason doesn’t have to be your reality. Jon, consider the source!”
 
His words have been repeated in my mind thousands of times in the last few months. Consider the source. A friend who worked for a major television network once shared with me that television is entertainment and should be regarded as such. They aren’t interested in the facts, they focus on what is going to keep your attention. She said, “If it bleeds, it reads,” meaning, only the most sensational stories are going to make the final cut on air.
 
How often do you suppose you’ll read a headline that says, “Husband and wife get back together and raise happy children”? Never. That’s too boring. Instead, you’ll read, “Husband kills himself and entire family, comes back to life and sells the bodies on eBay.” Now that’s a headline!
 
Things are no different now than they were at any other time. The only difference is that we have created a self-perpetuating near-panic in our country. Someone started their vacation today. Someone is moving into their new home today. Someone is unwrapping their new iPhone today. It won’t be reported by your favorite news station, but it’s happening!
 
Consider the source. Everyone has an agenda, even me. This agenda will determine the spin people will put on a situation. Some seek to profit from your paranoia. Personally, I want to see you profit from the incredible opportunities that have developed now that investments of all varieties are “on sale.” I want you to get focused and become what the experts have predicted will be the next round of billionaires that will be produced during this season. This is why, as Warren Buffet once said (paraphrased), “When others are confident, I become nervous. When others are nervous, I become confident.”
 
Consider the source. Scared people will never make any money. When your colleagues and friends mention the economy today, quietly measure their degree of helplessness against their level of personal success. You will find, as I have, that those who speak the most negatively are usually the least successful. They are professional victims, always looking for an external reason that validates why they can’t “get theirs.” You will also find that those who are currently prospering despite our complex economy share a very different view of our situation. I spoke with my friend Mark last week, who is a successful hard money lender. I asked him what his thoughts are about the economy and he said, “I’m more excited than ever. The weaklings in the market have been gobbled up and now those of us who know what we’re doing have less competition to worry about. Game on!” Those who have built strong wings of preparation and discipline can fly through any weather.
 
Consider the source. Mike Murdock said, “What you hear most, you eventually believe.” Are you filling your day with conversations present problems or future possibilities? As my father told me, their reason doesn’t have to be your reality. The one commonality in all of this is…you. You are the source of your success or your excuse. You and only you have to make the conscious effort turn away from what ‘they’ are saying about how you should feel and focus your time on learning from experts, reading positive books, CD’s, scriptures and the like. To become successful, we all have to implement he US Army’s slogan, “adapt and overcome.” What are you doing to overcome your problems? What are not doing anymore to make sure your problems don’t overcome you?
 
You and only you will determine your position when our economy turns back around. When the train comes roaring back at full steam, you will either hop on it or get run over by it.
 
The choice is yours.
 
© Jonathan Sprinkles. All rights reserved.