What a gift

by Andrew Johnson

When Kathy and I started CRUISING FREE we offered a true “two for the price of one” deal, where both of us were speaking. We needed only one cabin,  meaning that the cruise companies had an extra revenue earning cabin to put on sale.

This was a sweet deal for them and it really got us established as able and popular CRUISE  SPEAKERS.

Now that we are both established we no longer both need to work. Did I say “work”? You must understand that cruising the SPEAKERSCRUISEFREE.COM  way we speak for less than an hour and usually only on sea days. So just 3 or 4 times a cruise is typical.

As I was saying – now that we are established we no longer both need to work. Typically now we travel on my “ticket”.

So Kathy’s gift to me is some of the research on my topics and to find new royalty free images for my PowerPoint presentations.

And my gift to Kathy is to prepare outstanding talks – and of course the free cruise that results.

What a gift!

If you are not already signed up to SPEAKERSCRUISEFREE.COM click HERE now!

Happy cruising – FREE.

Andrew

Bearing Gifts

By Andrew Johnson

It doesn’t need to be much – but it’s surprising what a small gesture can do.

When I first met DANIEL HALL of SPEAKERSCRUISEFREE.COM he told me that he always takes a small gift for the contacts on board.

Since then we have taken coasters, bookmarks, copies of one of my books etc. as a way of marking our arrival. At the welcome on board meeting I hand over some small gift to our contact and usually it becomes a talking point throughout the cruise. I’ve seen our coffee mug or fridge magnet prominently displayed in the cruise staff office.

And it gets remembered. I have occasionally sent a signed copy of one of my books to the Cruise Director and to the Captain. We’ve been invited to the bridge, to the Captain’s table for dinner, to exclusive cocktail parties (make sure you have your best dinner suit with you!). And on  one ship the Captain who we had met on an earlier cruise on another ship noticed my name and mentioned me in his welcome on board address, encouraging passengers to come to my talks, which he “always thoroughly enjoyed”.

It costs so little to make an impact.

Are you CRUISING  FREE  yet? If not click HERE  now to find out more.

Happy cruising FREE.

Andrew

Don’t believe everything you read!

Just a tip … as we all know in our hearts, not everything we read on Wikipedia is true. Yes! Yes! I know – it may sound like a calumny. But even with the founder’s very best effort not everything can be verified.

I only say this because I know that some speakers have been tempted to work word for word from a single source. Whatever your source, do check – unless you truly are the expert to whom everyone else would turn for the most reliable version.

Check a few different sources. Make sure it stacks up. There could be little more embarrassing than finding out that folks in the audience don’t just know more than you – but consider you a fraud.

I once saw a cruise speaker tie himself in knots following a question from one of the audience who clearly knew far more about the Counts of Barcelona than he did. Why pretend to be an expert if you are not. He could easily have chosen so many other Catalan topics where safe and reliable facts are easily available.

At SPEAKERS CRUISE FREE. COM we are part of a very strong network. Don’t let yourself down. Don’t let the team down. Just a little effort, well directed and you will be one of the best.

To join us all CRUISING FREE click HERE.

Happy cruising FREE,

 

 

Reap what you Sow

I am rather persistent I have to admit. And that determination has helped me so often in my business life – and as we CRUISE FREE with SPEAKERS CRUISE FREE.COM.

6 months ago I contacted one of the “6 star” cruise lines on the books of DANIEL HALL to request a May sailing. The coordinator there told me, very politely, that this departure was already allocated, but that he would contact me if there was another opportunity. That might have been code for an outright rejection.

Never one to give up I sent the contact one of our charming Christmas cards and thought no more about it. On Tuesday evening we were hosting a superb dinner party here and I popped into my office to check the diary. As I did so an email came in from the contact there offering me any of 3 amazing itineraries. And – get this – air, gratuities and on-board drinks are included! Plus discounts on other purchases on board.

We selected the one that we could make and I already have the contract and air travel details.

So naturally I thanked them for remembering me, to be told that with such an impressive presentation, DVD and follow up he knew he was onto a good thing!

The presentation is based on the DANIEL HALL model at SPEAKERS CRUISE FREE.COM. I just personalised it and followed through.

Thank you DANIEL!

If you are not already cruising for FREE then click HERE NOW!

Happy cruising --- FREE!!

Andrew

Ride Into Real Fast Book

You can be well on your way to getting your book published by the end of this rollercoaster ride if you use www.realfastbook.com.

Banana Boat

In one of my cruise ship presentations I tell audiences that many sailors consider it unlucky to have bananas aboard, but that would be surprising news to DelMonte and other producers who ship millions of pounds of bananas from Costa Rica each year.

Seeing the DelMonte banana plantation and processing plant was a bonus on our just completed Royal Caribbean cruise aboard Jewel of the Seas. We found out how fast these one-time producing trees grow, why the banana flower is cut off as the fruit begins to develop, how growers keep the top bunch of bananas from ripening before those lower are ready to pick, and most amazingly, how they know when to pick the green bananas so they'll be ready to eat just when they hit the grocery store shelves.

Years ago when I was involved with a significant ground tour of a small country in S.E. Asia, we picked green bananas and couldn't understand why they never ripened. Well, duh, we didn't know the exact number of days from initial growth to ripening. If we had carried the bananas long enough in our back packs, they would have turned yellow and attracted fruit flies.

If you're looking for topic ideas, you might consider researching the agricultural products of your destinations. An entire program could be developed from the Wiki page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana

Get in touch with Daniel Hall today to find out how Speakers Cruise Free.