Tamela Rich Author, Traveler, Tour Host

Writing Prompts * How will this story outcome affect your customers? * What advice do you have for clients who’ll be affected? * Are you engaged in the political process? To what end? Do you want specific input from clients? * What experience do you have with changing regulations that will inform how you’ll react to changes in this story? * Prove you’ve got the expertise to handle anything that comes down the political/regulatory pipeline by citing case studies of your work.

Writing Prompts * How does the current world currency situation affect your company and your clientele? * What changes do you recommend to your client’ holdings in light of today’s political-economic churn? * If you were involved with currency trading or international business at the time that the EU adopted the Euro, you might reflect on that time and bring forward lessons applicable today. * Do you or your company do business in China or Russia? These countries are advancing the idea of switching from the greenback. * How will decisions made by the G20 affect mortgages in the US?

Maybe you should break out the air freshener before the crowd arrives to keep from being associated with "stinky content."

Consider the occasional New Yorker cartoon. For $20 each, you can insert a witty and apropos cartoon into your deck and keep your group's attention. Plus that, you'll look urbane and well-read.

OK, you have a file of your customers' physical addresses and you want to enjoy the efficiencies and effectiveness of email marketing to them. How?

But it swerved into the ditch when it ran stories on a Hollywood actress, why Americans go to movies in a recession, and worldwide beach vacation spots.

More correctly put, I whispered my way through it. Laryngitis. It helped that people wanted to know about CAN-SPAM compliance -- audience members shushed each other so they could hear me croak away.

From time to time I'll show you how I get from first draft to finished product. This post shows how the finished product of a business-planning download ended up (after a verbose and rambling start).

Download my handy, one-page checklist for staying in compliance with the US federal law that governs all commercial email.

LESS is MORE. Did your newsletter subscribers sign up with the belief they'd be getting a monthly coupon and now you're pummeling them with daily exhortations to BUY NOW? You're probably shooting yourself in the foot.