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The written word and verbal communication each have their own unique styles. Moreover, each has its own time and place. When we write, we stay within strict guidelines of grammar and syntax. A written correspondence often conveys a serious or urgent message, or is reserved for special occasions such as wedding invitations and thank-you notes. When we speak, we are more informal and imprecise. Grammatical rules are not always obeyed and tone, mood and urgency are relayed in the inflections of our voice or in our body language.

Let’s look at the following for an example of this difference.

The written word: “Kindly remit the requested amount forthwith.”
Oral style: “Please pay your bill right away.”

These not-so-subtle differences are the reason why it is better to prepare your speech from outlines rather than attempt to deliver carefully worded, fully written out speeches. A written speech will often sound stilted and too rehearsed while a speech given from an outline will be far more conversational in tone. This will help you to build a rapport with your audience and to infuse your speech with humor, anecdotes and other details that require the timing and intimacy of real conversation. An outline will help you to stay on course, to cover all of the important points you wish to make, and to keep track of statistics and other vital details. Your speech will still be accurate, but by using an outline instead of a prepared manuscript you will entertain your audience, not bore them.

Typically, oral sentences are shorter than written sentences; we use fewer words when we speak than when we write. In fact, more than half of our speaking vocabulary is made up of only 50 simple words. The oral style is also more personal. People are referred to more often, and words such as “I,” “me,” and “you” are used frequently. When we write, we have a tendency to take ourselves out of the message being relayed. Even if the purpose is to persuade or argue, it is at times considered more impartial, and therefore more credible, to speak from the point of view of the third person. This is not the case when we speak. In public speaking we want to appear as though we are having a one-on-one exchange with our audience members, even when we are speaking to a room full of people. It is more acceptable to come from a personal, more passionate perspective when we speak. We make it personal because that is what our audience will understand; we need it to become personal to them as well.

Public speaking is the art of perfecting the oral style, using the subtle nuances of conversation and pairing them with research and persuasive details. Being a strong writer is vital to career success in nearly every field and is an important talent to nurture. But being able to recognize when the written word is needed and when a less formal, conversational oral style is needed will make you an outstanding presenter as well as a powerful writer.

Amy Dunn Williams is a freelance writer and public relations professional. She holds a M.S. in communications from Ithaca College as well as a B.A. in English from Le Moyne College. Amy resides in Ithaca, New York with her husband.

This article was produced for Toastmasters Public Speaking, copyright 2005.

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Prostrateology is the theological term for the doctrine of prayer. Prayer is the oldest form of worship and is universal to all types of religions and believers. Even atheists rely on prayer in some form or another to make it from day to day. Man has always marveled at how things happen in life and how to change those things that have not yet happened. The answer for the Christian has always been prayer to God, Jehovah, in the name of His son Jesus.

Without Prayer, You Have Nothing

Nothing happens outside of prayer. It may not have been your prayer, but somebody else’s prayer that has brought you to where you are today. Prayer is the prerequisite of possibility. There is no possibility where there is no prayer. Many lives have been changed as a result of an answered prayer. One can only imagine the billions of lives that have been changed as a result of someone’s prayer. Imagine, if you will, how many prayers are offered up every second, every minute, and every hour of every day. That’s a lot of prayers and a lot of impacted lives.

When God Says No

Each answered prayer affects so many things, people, and situations. For each prayer answered in the positive, some prayer must have been answered in the negative. Some things we won’t get from God because someone else prayed for that very same thing. And God could only do one thing or the other. For instance, we might ask ourselves how God chooses one minister to become a pastor of a church, when all the candidates were qualified. All candidates prayed, and others prayed for those candidates as well. Yet only one is chosen. One prayer was answered, but the outcome affected all involved. How then do we effectively pray?

Timing Is Everything

First, you have to pray. Thinking about something does not make it a prayer. The story of Samson in the Bible (Judges 13-16) gives an illustration of what prayer is. All through Samson’s life he never mentioned God or even prayed to God. Surely Samson knew it was God giving him strength, wisdom, and favor to do the things he did, but he never called on God. His life seemed to be going great; he never seemed to need anything. It seems, however, there was a search going on in Samson’s spirit. All the while, God had deliverance for him, but Samson never asked for it until his life was almost over, at a young age. When Samson finally did pray, God immediately answered his prayer. Timing is everything. Samson’s prayer was too late to change the course of his life, yet just in time to avenge his death.

The Importance of Honesty In Prayer

Samson’s prayer at the end of his life affected not only his future, but the future of others as well. At the time of his death, his people were in danger, his enemies were present to mock him, but his people were out of harm’s way. It was the right time for Samson to die – his people were safely away and his enemies were present to die with him. His simple prayer at the end of his life defeated more enemies in death than he ever did in life. Samson knew his death would be the result of his answered prayer and accepted it and prayed his prayer anyway. Honesty in prayer is important because prayer really changes things. When you pray, you must make an honest assessment in regards to the effects of an answered prayer. Many of our prayers are not answered because the ultimate effect would be contradictory to what we really want. Sometimes we may ask for a new job or a promotion, but we are not really willing to take on the additional responsibilities the position requires. Some of us would have no job if God had given us the job we thought we wanted! Just because something looks or sounds good, doesn’t make it good for us. The idea of some blessings are attractive, yet so dangerous. Honesty in prayer launches us into the best results when the prayer is answered. Great thought has to be come before prayer, just as John the Baptist came before Jesus, to make a way for the Messiah. Think about it. Then pray.

Prayer Should be Coupled With Faith

Most of all our prayer must be coupled with faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of the things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Without faith there is no possibility in prayer. Prayer without faith is just empty conversation, and wasted time, breath, and effort. The Bible teaches us that all things are possible. Christians love to quote that verse, but often fail to complete the statement. The point of the possibility is for those who would only believe (Mark 9:23). Circumstances and situations can usher in doubt, and doubt can accompany itself with our prayer. But prayer refuses to travel any place with doubt as its passenger. As powerful as prayer is, it is no match for doubt. Doubt renders the most elegant, thought out and sincere prayer impotent. Doubt always brings fear along with it. Fear always deactivates possibility.

How do we know when we have caused there to be no possibilities in prayer? Look closely and examine your prayers. Root out the fear in your life. You will find fear dressed up as laziness, or fear dressed up as procrastination, or as excuses, and the list goes on. How prepared are you for an answered prayer? Here are some factors to consider: Have you considered who can benefit from your prayer other than you? Is your prayer in the will of God? Does your prayer have sacrifice attached to it? And, finally – Do you believe in the possibilities in prayer?

Minister Anthony Bullock is a Contributing Writer to Urban Christianz Ministries, which can be found at http://www.urbanchristianz.com. Visit Urban Christianz Ministries to find articles and practical advice about spirituality, God, relationships and other contemporary Christian issues.

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The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon – understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

The Hero’s Journey is also a study of repeating patterns in successful stories and screenplays. It is compelling that screenwriters have a higher probability of producing quality work when they mirror the recurring patterns found in successful screenplays.

Screenwriting: Creating Character

Most screenplays reveal character in [more or less] the same way.

a) The Hero’s Status. In The Deer Hunter (1978), the men in the steel mill shake hands with Michael, seek his attention and follow him. He has high status. In The Gladiator (2000), Maximus walks through the field and his men follow him with their eyes. He has high status. In Spiderman (2002), Peter Parker has low status: no one will let him sit next to them on the bus. In Forrest Gump (1994), Forrest has low status: no one will let him sit next to them on the bus.

b) The Hero’s capabilities. In The Deer Hunter (1978), Michael is the survivor and good at everything: he passes the speeding truck from the inside lane and always wins at pool. In The Gladiator (2000), Maximus is excellent in battle and thoroughly believable as a gladiator post his transformation.

c) The Hero’ True Nature: In Gladiator (2000), Maximus touches the tall wheat grass and is considerate towards his men. In Midnight Cowboy (1969), Joe Buck turns the light in the bus back on again after he is asked to by the old lady sitting next to him.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

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All writers should use a plan whether written or reflected. This includes the initial idea, the content or main points, and the conclusion whether it is an article, a short story, a chapter, or a complete novel.

Let us look at the article. This starts with main idea that is engendered in the title. Then the content is considered: the main points that will make up the article. All that is left to do now is to fill in the details of each line of reasoning. Leave it for a few days before editing, revising, and rewriting. The article is done.

Similarly, the short story starts with the intent and then the character who has a desire or want that is stymied by some obstacle. As the character attempts to overcome the obstacle, more complications occur until defeat seems the only possibility, but defeat is turned into success or disaster, success if the short story is a comedy and disaster if it is a tragedy.

The chapter of a novel follows a similar plan, but it is not as complete as the short story, since the tale or narrative must go on. The chapter is like one event in the short story with its aspiration, its impediment, its complication, and its achievement or downfall.

Even the novel follows a similar development. Novels can emphasize plot or character but in either case, the protagonist meets an antagonist that can be another human, an belief, or nature that encumber and frustrated him or her. The effort to overcome increases the difficulty rather than alleviate it, resulting in further complexity until a solution is found or the protagonist is overwhelmed.

Basically, all writing follows a similar scheme. Thus, only the details are different for each composition, be it an article, a short story, a chapter, or a novel.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several historical novels that are available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.

His website is http://www.telusplanet.net/public/go1c
His blogsite is http://go1c.blogspot.com

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This article applies to both Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server, using Office 2003.

For earlier versions of Microsoft Office please refer to Microsoft’s article “Good,Better, Best” at
http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/7/b/07be58b3-7791-4316-8795-30f8d43cd7ef/
good_better_best.doc

Integrating Outlook Contacts and Tasks with SharePoint:

Outlook 2003 has a one way synchronisation with SharePoint.
You can do a once only upload of your Contacts or Tasks to a specific list, but after that, you can only edit these via Internet Explorer and not via Outlook.

Outlook synchronisation with SharePoint only applies to the default set of columns in a newly created ‘Contacts List’. For example, the field ‘Children’ is not included as a default column in a SharePoint ‘Contacts List’ but it exists by default in Outlook. However, if you were to add this column to a SharePoint ‘Contacts List’ and click on ‘Link to Outlook’, any data in this column is NOT imported into Outlook.

As a workaround to this, the SharePoint ‘Contacts List’ can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet, saved as a .csv and then imported into Outlook. To use the example from above, using the ‘Children’ field in SharePoint would correctly import into Outlook via this method.

Without the use of VBA code, it is not possible to import user-defined contact fields in Outlook and have Outlook create these fields on the fly. At best, you can only map user-defined contact fields to existing default Outlook contact fields. Again, you can only do this via a contact list import from excel or a .csv etc.

A simpler and more practical way to have a list of Contacts or Tasks in SharePoint is to use the Excel 2003 Integration with SharePoint. This is able to synchronise both ways and allows you to update entries in Excel, rather than having to click around in Internet Explorer to get to a SharePoint List.

Integrating Outlook Messages with SharePoint:

Saving messages into Windows SharePoint Services or SharePoint Portal Server can be done from the save as menu item in Outlook 2003. This allows you to save messages in Document Library. The saving method is fine if there is only one document library you want to save this to. The way to find this isn’t very intuitive. You have to type the URL of the site and then browse to the document library.
There are a few other items to consider if you want to share your messages this way.

The searching in SharePoint is only enabled to search a few types of files.
These are:

• Text, Html , Archived HTML, ASPX and XML Files
• Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio and Publisher Files
• PDF Files will need the iFilter from Adobe.

** Microsoft Outlook produces .msg Files which contain the attachment as well as the body of the message. To search a .msg file, one needs an iFilter for the SQL Server Full Text Search Engine.
Also, the search only applies to documents added or changed after the iFilter
is applied. The search also looks in the metadata including the values in document
library columns. If you type in ‘Automating Legal Systems’, you’ll return all documents with
the word “Automating’ in them, plus any with the word “Legal” etc.
SharePoint Portal Server provides more detailed indexing of content so you can use document properties or column names in your search criteria, allowing more targeting searching.

Noel Williams is the Managing Director of a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner called MacroView Business Technology who specialises in solutions that make good use of Microsoft Office and SharePoint.

MacroView can help you with:

a) a Document Management framework which integrates Microsoft Office with SharePoint, including Outlook messages

b) Integration and Automation of Microsoft Office with SharePoint and

c) Customisation and Training on Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server.

http://www.macroview.com.au

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Owning the best fishing items is an awfully important thing to consider when your are considering your forthcoming fishing journey. You must permit yourself the right gear to get into the “frame of mind” and get the optimal benefits of fishing. Buying the finest items will aid you in a number of ways. As you may be familiar with, the more fishing equipment you buy the easier fishing will be. One of the main things you should ask is, do you have all that you need before you head out on your fishing excursion? To be successful you would be clever to ensure that your fishing trip starts with loading up the correct fishing tools. There are several types of fishing items and it predominantly depends on sort of location that you will be fishing at, what kind of fish you are hunting for & the breed of fishing that you crave.

There are many different brands & styles of fishing reels that have a range of prices. If you are hoping to take part in professional fishing you would be advised to guarantee that your fishing items is rated for that sort of purpose. Commercial fishing calls for lots more stronger fishing equipment. Since commercial fishing tools demands 2 to three times the use they fatigue much more rapidly. This definitely makes it much more shrewd to pay the extra cash up front. There are an array of manufactured goods so that you can make a selection based on requirements as well as what you can actually afford. Find great offers on golf dvds online today.

The particular type of fishing rod is also another indispensable part of the tackle that you will need. You may perhaps need to assess what manufacture of rod that you will need for your fishing outing. Just as there are a mixture of reels there is a range of fishing rods as well. It is advised to base your judgement on the kind of fish that you are planning to catch.

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Hydraulic log splitters are a necessary for the skilled commercial wood professional as well as the individual involved in weekend home projects. wood splitters come in several varieties. Deciding on the one that’s right for your project or job can make a big difference in the long run.

If all you are doing is splitting some lumber to be used for firewood, a common single blade wood splitting axe will work just fine. The hand held simple wood splitting axe uses a sharp blade and has a wedge shaped head which forces the log to split. A 15-25 inch piece of firewood can usually be split with one or two strong splitting axe blows. For those healthy individuals who like to include a good workout with a productive job, the basic ax is perfect for you.

Those who use a electric log splitter on the jobsite or at home on a regular basis generally invest in a hydraulic wood splitter. One of your first decisions is between a horizontal or vertical loading hydraulic log splitter. Either are dependent on how you are using the splitter. hydraulic wood splitters, depending on where they are used, come with gasoline or diesel powered engines. Another option for those who have access to a power supply is to use an electric electric log splitter.

How does it work? A wood splitter, although powerful, is mechanically easy to understand. The log is directed through the blade with the use of a piston, thus breaking the log.

The best manual wood splitter is one that can get the job done fast and without mechanical complications. Although it can be a costly investment, the hours of manual labor saved make a electric log splitter well worth the cost. When using a manual wood splitter, safety procedures are extremely important to guard the operator from injury.

Others should stay away from the immediate area of the log splitter to prevent injury. Protective eyewear should always be worn to avoid injury from flying particles of wood. Loose fitting clothing and jewelry are a safety hazard and should not be worn.

Those who work on large home projects or with wood on a regular basis, it is a smart choice to add a wood splitter to your equipment list. From chopping firewood to making furniture, a hydraulic log splitter can be used for numerous projects. A hydraulic wood splitter can be found wherever lumber and logging equipment is sold.

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Chamonix town sits at the base of the awe inspiring Mt Blanc, only 1hr by ski transfer from Geneva airport, in the French Alps and is often regarded as the mixed climbing and snowboarding epi centre of France. Chamonix town has been known for a long time as a true domain for extreme activities in summer and winter seasons. The town was home to the first Winter games back in the early 1920s – furthermore it’s also a region of exceptional beauty offering a lot of different things to the snowboarder and sightseer.

However unlike a lot of new snowboarding towns Chamonix town is not a purpose built snowboarding town and has been largely preserved from the concrete monstrosities which scars a lot of the Alps. Chamonix Mont Blanc is fortunate to have not only an internationally renowned ski domain moreover a classic and lively town centre.

It is big enough to guarantee that there’s plenty for the vacationer to do. However you choose to enjoy your vacation theres something to please the whole group. From an impressive swimming and sports complex, spas, paragliding and local market; and a plethora of shops, terraced caf©s and clubs, Chamonix Mount Blanc offers a mix of skiing, atmosphere and going out, which only a handful skiing domains can match. So book that ski vacation now.

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What information can be used immediately by the audience and what is to follow?

Can you tell the audience in 30 seconds or less what you do and also give them three things that they can use immediately? The chances are that you probably cannot. If you do not have a practiced and enthusiastic response to how valuable your topic is, then you are likely not going to win over the audience. Not only do you need to think it is valuable but the audience also has to buy into it. You will need to do some market research even if it is only asking questions to your intended audience.

You need to know ahead of time that what you are speaking on is of value to them and that they will be able to walk away from you speech and feel that they got value. So what is the best way to find out how valuable your topic is at this point in time? There are three easy steps that you can take to make sure you are addressing your audience. First you must choose a topic with which you feel comfortable (it may be several). Second, pass the topic titles by friends and local businesses to see if they are interested in the topics and which ones they would put on the top of the list. You should also make sure that they tell you which ones they would be interested in attending. Lastly, put out an email to your circle of influence and have them rate your topics and give suggestions. Once you have completed these steps, you are on the road to presenting something the audience will like.

If you do your impromptu research before spending money on advertising the event, you will get a better idea of what the market will bear. If you ignore the market survey and go on your own, you risk having few attendees and wasting your own time and effort. The audience needs to have something tangible for their effort in listening to what you have to say.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com

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