Costa Papista, co-owner and president of the Dayton Bombers, gave the Ad Club an inside look at running a professional hockey team on January 13 at the Nutter Center, then demonstrated how it was supposed to work by hosting club members in a suite for a game against Trenton.

Papista and his co-owner Don McAdam bought the Bombers in July almost two years ago, both having had experience playing the game and being close to the Columbus Blue Jackets and the National Hockey League. The Bombers had had several owners since 1991 during their days in Hara Arena, but the team had survived for 15 years -- an accomplishment when 11 of the past 15 league champions no longer exist today!

The Nutter Center is a great facility for hockey, Papista said, and the location has helped them rebuild the franchise. The game is now more family-oriented with the elimination of senseless violence on the ice.

No more bench-clearing brawls. They say that in the Hara days there were more fights in the stands than on the rink.

The Bombers are one of 24 teams in the AA level East Coast Hockey League, all afiliated with the NHL. Management's job is player development.

They have 20 young men, ages 20-25, and they have only three years to advance to AAA Syracuse. If they don't make it by then, their pro hockey future is dim. They start at $12-15,000 a year in Dayton, move up to Syracuse ($45-60,000) and then on to the Blue Jackets for $450,000-plus.

They play 74 games in a 24 week span, traveling by special sleeper bus to Toledo and eastern teams and flying to California (not the East Coast anymore). Recruits are signed from amateur leagues in Canada, the college teams and occasional imports from overseas.

Aside from on-ice practice times, the team spends a lot of time promoting the game to area schools, community organizations and company connections. Ticket prices have been kept low intentionally -- $12 adult and $7 youth -- and all the promotion seems to be working. From an original season ticket base of 257, that base number is now over 1,200 with average attendance of over 3,000 and climbing.

Papista introduced Matt Gentile, who is in charge of marketing and developing corporate partnerships. Gentile noted that sports sponsorships are good for advertising. These partners share in signage and various promotions to leverage sales, along with ties to radio, television, special premiums and events held throughout the year. Latest event is a visit from NASCAR star Rusty Wallace who will meet the sponsors and sign autographs.

Bomber hockey games are broadcast on WONE, and research shows that the audience stays to the end of the show. Ads broadcast in sporting events have an 82% higher recall, Gentile said. Some games are now televised by Time Warner, giving sponsors additional exposure, and certain sponsors have purchased hospitality suites for entertaining before, during and after the game.

Gentile listed such sponsor benefits as helping to reach sales goals, competitive positioning, improved product perception and access to a captive audience at Nutter Center. Interested? Contact Gentile, and he'll tailor a hockey package to your company's needs.

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If you think website advertising is just a narrow box across the top of the screen, you need to talk to the people at Cox Ohio Publishing and see what the experts can do to a static page. Check out what they are doing on the websites for the various Cox-owned newspapers, and find out what remarkable things can be done when the pros take over.

That was the message coming from the 10 AM seminar at the November 3 Dayton Ad Club meeting as a quartet of Cox Ohio Publishing folks -- Jay King, Online Advertising Manager; Tommy Thompson, Online Account Executive; Jim Moser, Web Designer; and Cathy Wiley, Creative Manager for Sales Development -- told their story to a sold-out session. The key is the speed of broadband access, where the US lags behind Sweden, Japan and other countries.

King spoke of the other benefits: convergence that adapts all of the digital media features, engagement of the users with the concept of web pages, branding with a "streaming" of audio and video effects to bring in the viewers, and the popularity of online spending by the top ten advertisers, all with a high level of targeting and results tracking.

Thompson then showed how such elements as a radio spot, a TV spot, printed program pages and banners were combined to work for the Homearama Home Show. The Cox people have an online media kit that shows other examples and how a spot can be put together in three days when all the elements are assembled.

Moser and Wiley said more about production with helpful hints like: don't write a book, avoid flesh tones, keep the theme part of the drop down menu, use quick photo cuts, create an animated banner, keep logos in the upper half of a "tower" ad, scatter static logos throughout the video, give a direct access whenever an offer is mentioned in the banner, and always include the call for action. Questions work, too, said Moser...and there were lots of questions for the panel from the house.

After lunch, the focus again was on newspapers as Frank Deaner of the Ohio Newspaper Association talked about things that should be avoided in newspaper advertising, so many critical issues that the ONA has had to offer a legal hotline to keep advertisers out of trouble.

There was the lady who put all her soon-to-be ex-husband's possessions in an advertised garage sale while he was out of town, the sportsman who set up a pool for the NCAA basketball games and sold advertising shares for $35 each to skirt the lottery regulations, and the doctor who was targeted by an anti-abortion group with a nasty ad. All were turned down for just cause.

Then there was the woman who wanted to run a derogatory ad about her husband's company when he was in default on his child support payments, and the realtor who wanted to attack a former associate who left to go with a competitor. No to both. Can you show currency, bills, or stamps in your ad? OK if it's in black-and-white, less than three-fourths size and the plates are destroyed after use. Can you run an ad that criticizes a city council candidate for something said in a meeting?  Yes, if the public record exists.

Deaner noted some current concerns of the ONA: the usual bait-and-switch techniques, unsubstantiated claims, type size on disclaimers and new rules on predatory lending because of so many foreclosures. Attention is also being paid to advertisers using 900 phone numbers, ads that ask the reader to send cash and ads for gun sales which claim to be from a private collection to avoid federal regulations.

The ONA is the spokesman for newspapers, and Deaner said recent research of customer buying habits showed 70% bought from a newspaper ad (versus 11% from direct mail), 80% cited the newspaper as the source of shopping information and 75% of those who bought cars did so from a newspaper ad.

The seminar and luncheon were sponsored by

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"A weird name can make you better," began Sally Hogshead, author and creative guru and head honcho of Hogshead Media, in her talk to the October 5 meeting of the Dayton Ad Club. In her case, she said, it made branding easier with a distinctive name and a natural logo, and she thought enough of it to retain the name after she married a man named Johnson.

She started her career as an advertising copywriter, doing what she enjoyed, but feeling somewhat unfulfilled. It was a great job, but she didn't LOVE it, and she wanted a career worth loving. A problem pregnancy caused her to quit work for four months, and she used the time to read every book on careers she could find. When she couldn't find something with the desired blend of passion and unpredictability, she wrote her own book -- Radical Careering -- incorporating 100 self-discovered "truths"...and then she took her own advice.

Some sample truths: "Aspire to be the dumbest person in the room (otherwise you're not challenged to grow)...Being in a crap job isn't your fault; staying in a crap job is...You can be comfortable, or outstanding, but not both...Expressing your truest self is the ultimate competitive advantage...Prepare to get slammed occasionally...Make your memoirs worth reading...Waste no aspirations."

After dispensing these gems, Ms. Hogshead showed the fruits of her labors -- a restaurant ad for steak with the copy "Well done, medium, rare...or semi-conscious," another with a butcher knife in the place setting, copy that read "No vegetables -- fed to make a tasty T-bone". And one for Obsessively Shoes showing a casket open to reveal shod feet where the head should be. And for Winston Jewelry headed "You KNOW that's a Harry Winston chain," followed by copy reading "People will stare. Make it worth their while."

As for life's objectives, she noted a survey with 1,000 interviews which offered the choice of a fat paycheck or respect, and 87% chose respect.

People want to love what they do, so what changes do you have to make in your job to make that happen? If you work with people who always complain, if your company's values are out of synch with yours, if politics guides most employment decisions, go elsewhere. Don't look for an easier job, but seek one worth the effort.

With a $300,000 PR budget, she helped create a personal paradise -- a 15-ton island built in the Hudson River off New York City -- that garnered newspaper features and network TV time. For another client she bought dry cleaner bags with such copy as "You'll be back...Leave the plastic on next time...We owe half our business to marinara sauce."

Another ad showed a bland background with cut-out figures to create a variety of vacation scenes. And there was an ad for BMW motorcycles where the copy consisted of 800 different headlines. A personal favorite: Death comes calling, only to find that the intended victim was in Morocco or camping, back next week.

Her program was really three strands -- selected "truths" as guidelines for living, an analysis of career choices and highlights of a creative reel -- all woven into one presentation by someone who radiated energy and made the luncheon meeting an above-average pleasure.

The day began with a tag-team pitch for public broadcasting by Cleve Callison of WMUB Public Radio and Mary Fessler of ThinkTV at the 10 AM seminar. Both media depend on underwriters for their funding -- individuals, companies and "enhanced" messages that sound a bit like commercials but have no product or service comparisons, price information or call to action. Both reach a smaller market than their commercial counterparts, but the market they do reach is more upscale, influential, better educated and more ready to accept the company information received through the uncluttered atmosphere of their airtime.

Callison enjoys the support of National Public Radio. The perception is that fund drives are continuous, but they actually do only two 1-week drives a year. Miami University started WMUB in 1950, and they are one of six public radio stations in southern Ohio. The station serves the smallest population of the six, but they have the largest audience ratio, reaching 9% or 49,000 adults at least once a week.

What makes that audience so desirable is its profile -- business owners, company presidents, financial planners, and incomes in the $150-200,000 range, influential people who tend to distrust much of the advertising they hear on other stations. Messages on WMUB carry a high credibility factor. Programming is a mix of network and local talk shows, frequent news breaks and the popular Mama Jazz in the evenings.

Ms. Fessler spoke of the myth that public TV reaches only seniors and kids -- not a bad image when you realize that group controls 70% of the buying decisions -- but in reality they reach all age demographics.

Research shows that Channels 14 and 16 reach an audience that is 78% white, somewhat older and wealthier, often own their own businesses and are inclined to listen to "both sides of the story". A recent study showed that audience political preferences were 33% Republican, 31% Democratic and 29% Independent.

A former agency media buyer, Ms. Fessler realized that her commercial media buys were missing an important part of the total audience, so she joined ThinkTV in February to tell her story to others. The number of award-winning programs is growing every year, along with the audience size. Once ignored by national TV surveys, the stations are now covered by TV Week and other media. Underwriting messages can include video, but only 15 seconds of copy, no mention of pricing and watch the use of adjectives.

As all good seminars should, this one ended with an exchange of questions, answers and comments about the use of public broadcasting in its various forms.

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The Dayton Ad Club's first meeting of the 2005-06 club year began with a seminar about spreading "the word" and ended with a campaign whose theme was just the opposite -- "what happens here, stays here". Although the meeting was held at the Marriott, rather than the Mandalay, attendance was about 100 alert Ad Clubbers.

At 10 AM, Elizabeth Long, APR, Public Relations Director for the Dayton Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, showed seminar attendees how to prepare for emergencies at home and work in a simple five-step process -- make a plan, build a kit, get trained, volunteer and give blood. Each action step is explained in a 12-panel folder available from the Dayton Chapter's offices at 370 W. First St.

The first two steps are the easiest and most significant for individuals -- developing a response plan starts with discussing the various options, then assembling a kit with water, food, flashlight, first aid kit, medications, radio and other essentials to survival. Steps 3 through 5 involve commitment to corporate action with training in first aid techniques, volunteer service and giving blood on a regular basis.

Called "Together We Prepare," the campaign also included saturating the market with newspaper ads, radio spots, publicity and a press conference written and coordinated by Lara Strazdin of Penny/Ohlmann/Neiman and a board member of the local chapter. Promotion was expanded by the cooperation of various corporate sponsors like the Dayton Daily News, Clear Channel/Dayton, Fifth Third Bank, National City Bank and the Community Blood Center. There was positive feedback on the ads and many people registered for further participation.

The noon luncheon featured Randy Snow of R&R Partners, the ad agency responsible for the award-winning "Las Vegas: What Happens Here, Stays Here" campaign. For 27 years the agency had produced campaigns with showgirls, neon lights and strange-looking buildings for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, but the 2000 campaign was different, establishing an emotional connection between the visitors and the destination -- you can do what you want here, wear what you want, eat what you want, everything you can't do at home...and we won't tell on you.

The party starts when the plane takes off. The focus is on the adults having fun. Since the first spots ran in an election year, they featured a candidate who represented the Freedom Party and whose platform was party-hearty. Another spot used animation of the "naked" women on truck mudflaps, the first time naked women had appeared in commercials. The agency hired a documentary film producer who shot eight "reality" spots in four days, including a "Freedom From Beige" spot and one featuring Penn and Teller.

The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, cast a pall over the campaign. The word "freedom" had too much pain attached. As the agency looked at a new approach, the research among those visitors marooned in Las Vegas by the airport shutdowns showed Las Vegas meant Entertainment, so the next series featured Elvis impersonators and a Frank Sinatra take-off. The theme: "It's time for you. You can still get away."

The bell-ringer campaign, however, ran in 2003, using a line that tested well in focus groups -- "What Happens Here, Stays Here". You can do things in Las Vegas that you can't do at home. Because the city is known for its gambling, the agency's attempt to buy a spot in the Super Bowl was turned down, but they used the rejection to go on TV talk shows and ran the spot to show what the Super Bowl didn't allow. Snow showed a variety of spots, most of them humorous, but the real value was that the theme caught on, not just in their spots but as punchlines for comics, talk show hosts and other unlikely locations.

Spots that did run produced a 90% unaided recall. One of the best showed a group of bachelorettes in a limosine whose dialog was limited to laughter. Another showed a teenager rushing to clean up the house before his parents (who had been to Las Vegas) returned; neither wanted to comment on the state of things. As the audience waited in anticipation, Snow showed us some spots that didn't run -- men wearing fezs, wild tattoos and the maid who cleans the rooms every day regardless of the visitor's length of stay -- perhaps a bit insensitive.

Snow's talk ran a trifle long, but few left the hall before he was done.

Based on an Ad Club survey sent out the next day, both programs met all expectations and raised interest in the seminar and speaker combination scheduled for October 5, also at the Marriott.

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When you were born does make a difference, and the brightest marketing brains can figure out how best to sell you something if they know your age. That key is what keeps Chuck Underwood, president and founder and chief spokesman for The Generational Imperative in Cincinnati, speaker to the Dayton Advertising Club on November 4, 2004, and in demand as a presentor to the nation's biggest corporations, because he knows...

1) Your formative years mold your core values,

2) Your core values shape your attitudes, and

3) Your attitudes determine your choices.

Further, according to Underwood, there are five living generations currently with us, and they each have markedly different values.

Well, mostly living, because the GI Generationals were born 1901-1926, which makes the youngest of them age 78, grandparents mostly and interested in survival. Next comes the Silent Generation (1927-1945), aged 59 to 77, who weathered a depression and World War II and became the most brand-loyal group of product buyers in history. Grab them once, and they were yours for life.

The third great Generation -- the Boomers (1946-1964) -- became the main topic for the noontime meeting, and more on them later, but let us not overlook the Gen X (1965-1981) crowd or the Millenials (1982-present).

The 23-39 Gen X bunch is a traditional target demographic, but Underwood maintains they are much misunderstood with quite different core values.

As for the under-22 group, they are the most nurtured and child-involved bunch of all.

The Boomers were significant because 16 million horny soldiers came home from World War II to marry and breed over 70 million children. Dr. Benjamin Spock's book on baby and child care was second only to the Bible in book sales. Moms stayed at home, Dad was the provider and everybody knew right from wrong.

The second wave of Boomers endured various assaults on their culture -- the passionate '60s and its six revolutions: civil rights, feminism, the ecology, war protests, the sexual revolution spurred by Hugh Heffner and the drug scene with Dr. Timothy Leary -- all very strange to the first wave who were taught by idealism, went to work and disappeared from the headlines.

So the second wave graduated from High School in the mid-'70s, determined to live life to the fullest, career-driven with limitless possibilities, convinced that hard work would get them there. They were more sceptical, less optimistic, more motivated by money and less loyal in making purchases. In some ways they were the "ambushed generation," because they looked up to the Silents who let them down by yielding to corruption and down-sizing their companies. They tend to be workaholics and targets for stress.

Today's Gen Xers have reacted to the Boomers by worrying about Eldercare and Childcare problems. They are poor savers. One-third of them may face retirement with earnings below the poverty level, which means they will work longer and not really retire at all.

What we know about the Boomers is they they are not brand loyal and never will be. Where previous generations bought American, this group goes for Japanese and German automobiles. They have a disproportionate control of wealth, are free spenders and are influenced by advertising.

Underwood gave some examples of generational strategy. Disney is targeting its 100th year at the ex-Mouseketeers with words like "think young, be assertive, be #1". Morgan Stanley Investments says don't worry, we'll figure it all out. Taylor guitars discovered folks wanting to learn how to play one while on vacation. Boomers able to buy luxury class automobiles ignored Cadillac until they brought out their own "muscle car" with Led Zeppelin's music, and sales jumped 16%.

Successful marketers need to stay multi-generational, follow the money without alienating the 18-49 demographic. In a test with models of different ages, the older model was preferred as spokesperson by 10:1 as being someone who had "gotten it together". Even the Boston Pops has featured music for Boomers with cartoon songs and audience singalongs.

In summary, Underwood said, we need to understand those formative years and core values, remembering that each generation is unique. And as we create advertising for our special targets it is both economical and practical that we tailor the message to what we have learned about attitude and values.

To contact Chuck Underwood Directly:
Chuck Underwood
The Generational Imperative, Inc.
1343 Fleming Street
Cincinnati, OH  45206
Ph:  513-221-1973
chuck@genimperative.com
www.genimperative.com

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In a moment of pure fantasy, imagine for a moment that you hear the voice of God asking for you to produce the entire Bible in a 60-second radio spot. To keep "the client" happy, you'll have to include the history of the Jewish people, the four Gospels and all the Epistles, of course, and the only concession is that you can shorten some of the names -- like Nebuchadnezzar can be just plain "Neb".

That's the kind of nightmare Marc Cashman, noted commercial producer, created for the Dayton Advertising Club on the first Thursday evening in October at the Crowne Plaza. On a more practical level, Cashman employed a series of imaginary phone calls from "Mr. Gerbil, president of ASAP Advertising," to show how a client's unreasonable demands can make for a fun-filled evening.

How about a spot for the National Liver Council with a jingle that includes the words"make mine liver today" and "its just not for breakfast anymore". Or Lumber Inn is having a gigantic 3/4" screw sale "from a famous maker whose name we can't use" and "a free piece of wood with each purchase". Or a jingle for United Telephone where the name is spelled "U-n-i-t-u-d T-e-l-a-f-o-n-e" and the offer notes "action figures sold separately". And can you include directions to the store?

To balance the crazy client requests, Cashman ran a few of his actual creative commercials as possible examples for Mr. Gerbil to consider.

Like the spot for Leed's Furniture, where the next door neighbor calls to comment on the family's recent purchases as if she was looking in the window. It's bad enough when she identifies the new living room suite, but the family really panics when she talks about their bedroom set and the shower curtains.

Cashman also took off on advertisers who don't use radio to its full advantage, who write insipid, monotonous copy and count on shouting announcers for impact. His Ten Commandments of Radio include not stuffing in too much information, providing some production values ("even local spots can have national style"), running a good spot schedule, inform by entertaining and employing imagination to create a "theater of the mind".

He told this story: A copywriter dies and St. Peter gives him the option of spending eternity in heaven or hell. St. Peter first shows him hell -- faceless hacks slaving away on radio spots with devils laying on the whips and meetings every five minutes. He then shows him heaven, but it's the same faceless hacks and whips and meetings in five minutes. So what's the difference, asks the copywriter, and the answer is "Up here your work gets produced."

To show how effectively radio could be used as a medium, Cashman played a spot he did for the Adam Walsh Foundation on the reminiscences of an abused child which had won several national and international awards. He urged his audience to get involved with charitable causes and do more public service work.

Good comedians always "leave them laughing," so Cashman exited by playing a radio spot for a new chicken fast food place -- called "Chicken In A Chicken" -- where one chicken was stuffed into another. Don't try that in any other medium! Of course, radio was king on this night with meeting sponsorship from the Radio One people, and the audience happy to be entertained by such an accomplished producer as Marc Cashman.

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He is billed as "the con man's worst nightmare". He has written a number of books and magazine articles, done network radio shows, been featured on "60 Minutes" and Oprah and done "Hard Copy" and the Tonight Show, but Chuck Whitlock proved to Dayton Ad Club members gathered in the Time Warner Flight Deck at UD Arena on September 16 that he can run a skillful con as well as describe one.

A retired businessman, Whitlock was fascinated by how effective cons could be worked, even on bright people, so he partnered with an FBI agent to write his first book on the topic, talking to police, victims and doing prison interviews with "the perps". He discovered that many of the con men and women are sociopaths who don't care that their victims were old, sick and poor. The easier the target, the better.

The advent of the computer and Internet has expanded the arena for scams. Real-looking medical diplomas are available, along with a degree from seminary for fake preachers to back up a claim. All the schemer needs is a uniform, a badge and bit of patience.

One man so attired sat by a bank ATM machine, said the machine was down, then offered to do all the transactions mechanically for the visitors...during which he captured all the access information to empty their accounts including pin numbers. Another sophisticated con man used hidden cameras to record the sequence. In a stolen check scheme, the payee's name was removed with laundry bleach, hung out on the clothesline and a new name inserted when it was dry.

Prevention is the best cure, Whitlock says. We need to know how NOT to get scammed, despite all the skillful tricks. Because scams are usually non-violent, the penalties are less, and the perps can afford to be bold. Even if caught, they are often discharged early from full jails. Further, identification is more difficult with white collar crime.

As it turns out, Whitlock pulled his own scam on a business that he has just consulted with. When told by his contact that nobody could put one over on that company, he proceeded to remove all of their office computers during the bosses' lunch hour on the basis that she had authorized upgrades for the entire system. Her associates even brought their own computers out to his van for service! Needless to say, there were red faces after lunch.

Back on the legitimate trail, Whitlock recently wrote a book for which he contacted 2,000 police agencies for stories about their most heroic officers. He chose 25 officers for inclusion in the book -- called "Police Heroes" -- including several from the World Trade Center disaster. The book was marketed in an unusual way: Whitlock offered half his royalties to CNN for "free" spots, and they accepted the arrangement.

Preparing for his network TV performances, Whitlock has taped some episodes of cons being worked against unsuspecting victims, then exposing the scheme before its conclusion. That has resulted in his being assaulted by the perps more than once, but the resulting tapes were worth the damage, he says.

Whitlock appeared through the courtesy of the Better Business Bureau of Dayton/Miami Valley, sponsors of the meeting and presenters of ScamJam 2004, a free public appearance by Whitlock later that evening. 65 members and guests were present for the first meeting of the club's 2004-05 year.

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Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 1 was the darkest day in American promotion communication, according to Mel Helitzer, Ohio University professor, in a speech to the Dayton Advertising Club on April 1 at the Mandalay Banquet Center.

"One of the best games in Super Bowl history, won by a last second field goal, was overshadowed by Janet Jackson, who won the booby prize for a song now labeled 'Tit for Tat,' and by exploitive humor commercials featuring crotch eating dogs, exploding horse farts, sexual objectification of women's bodies, and a chimp sexually hitting on his owner's girl friend," claimed Helitzer.

Conservatives immediately went on the warpath demanding "decency on TV," he reported. They labeled the entertainment and advertising episodes "raunchy, offensive, inappropriate, shocking, alarming...salacious garbage and lowering the bar in a race to the bottom." While both CBS and MTV immediately apologized, Congress voted to raise fines for obscene material from $27,000 per incident to $500,000.

"The problem," Helitzer said, "is that the definition of obscenity is very subjective, and the promulgation of this new censorship will be one of our biggest First Amendment concerns." Fighting it will take years, he predicted, but in the meantime advertising is facing greater threats on more issue than at any other time in recent history. "That's also the opinion of the Association for National Advertising," he added.

Helitzer claimed that protecting humor is not funny. Although the Supreme Court has several times decreed that satire is protected free speech, humor in advertising is commercial speech and can be challenged by libel laws or the whim of censors at the FCC, Congress or TV stations.

It's important to protest, Helitzer stated, because humor in advertising is a powerful technique in persuasion and growing more popular every year. One-third of the Super Bowl commercials were humor -- or intended to be -- and according to a survey by USA Today the top five spots this year were all humorous, and the top three last year were also funny. In addition, he told the Ad Club members, a humor commercial award is a copywriter's fast track to lucrative employment offers.

Helitzer, a former Madison Avenue agency president and author of the best selling book "Comedy Writing Secrets," briefed the audience on effective humor techniques, including the use of anthropomorphic animals, children, cartoons, a fall guy, play-on-words, slapstick and the latest computerized technology.

"There are still not enough quality humor writers in the market to meet the demand," he claimed. "If you are skilled on how to write effective humor that does not overwhelm the brand, you can name your job and salary at any top agency in the country."

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Lead by example? Yes, even if it's a bad example. Rob Sherman, author and founder of the Sherman Leadership Group, began his talk to the Dayton Ad Club's January 22 luncheon meeting at the Mandalay by intentionally making at least a dozen common mistakes in public speaking, then used the audience's critique to point out the correct way to make a more powerful presentation.

Don't read your speech or slide copy, talk in a monotone, apologize, avoid eye contact, ignore or tap on the microphone, shuffle about or tell a bad joke...just for starters. And never end your talk with "Q&A" time, but do save a good point or a call to action to conclude.

Self-deprecating humor is an effective tool, but if you can't be funny you should at least smile. Another tip: give stuff away, because people will scramble for even the cheapest merchandise.

Sherman's interactive program -- "Speak Like A Leader: How To Make Presentations With Power And Influence" -- showed how to open and close an effective talk and motivate the audience along the way, using special techniques to make the message more memorable. The first 30 seconds (a startling statistic or an "in your face" statement) and the last three minutes (at least a summary of what you said) are the most important, according to the provided check list.

When planning your presentation, first write a "purpose" statement matched to what you know about the audience. If faced with an overabundance of facts, see if they all pass the "who cares?" test, and keep the audience involved by using "you-and-we" statements, rather than "I". After his talk, Sherman signed purchased copies of his book "Sherman's 21 Laws of Speaking". His program was sponsored by the Dayton Daily News.

And a seminar, too...

The fact-filled day began about 10 AM with a 90-minute seminar on "Why Direct Mail Needn't Be Scary," led by Amy Lovelace, an account executive with Sappi Fine Papers. Supported by a colorful how-to-do-it brochure with interleaved prompts, she covered all the steps in the planning and execution of a successful direct mail project from concept to distribution.

Direct mail has taken on new significance in the marketing mix with the advent of the "do not call" list, as over $80 billion in telemarketing expenditures in 2002 had to be redirected and computer Spamming is now likely to face federal regulations. Many companies allocate 2% of sales to the marketing budget, and 22% of that total is being spent on direct mail. Check your mail box: 44% of what you receive is sales-oriented and that percentage is growing every year.

In 2001, $47.4 billion was spent on direct media, generating $580 billion in revenue. It is measurable and action-oriented, because the media is geared to fast response -- like 25% in the first week, 50% within two weeks and 75% within a month. Although it has the highest cost-per-thousand of any delivery system, direct mail can be specifically targeted to reduce waste circulation and focused on individuals to deliver a low cost-per-response.

The challenges of printing special pieces and meeting postal regulations can disappear with the new, more powerful computer software and a cooperative postal authority. Quality mailing lists are available from a variety of sources, and pretesting sample mailings is always a good idea, she said. To create a winning direct mail package, you must learn about your target audience and ask what behavior you want from them, put together a knowledgeable team, reverse-engineer your package from finish to start, and let the offer lead the way.

Her presentation drew a record crowd of 60 and was sponsored by Patented Mailing with additional assistance from RIS Papers.

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