SpeakerNet News is comprised entirely of our readers' submissions, so we encourage and appreciate your tips. We say your "dues" are two tips per quarter, but we don't keep track. We hope you will remember.

When considering submitting a tip, think of your best practices --

• What makes you successful?
• What did you recently learn that helped your business or presentation?
• What modifications have you crafted to a common practice?

General Guidelines

• To submit an item for inclusion in SpeakerNet News, send it to editor@speakernetnews.com.
  
  
• We'll include items that we feel have an interest to a large number of our readers.
  
  
• We don't post ads/announcements for your commercial ventures, self-promotional items (e.g., new contracts, new books, articles printed), seminar/conference notices or RFPs, or NSA, Toastmasters or ASTD national or chapter announcements. You can, however, take out an ad if you want to notify your colleagues of these items.
  
  
• We will post upcoming (not past) items about appearances on national (not regional or local) TV or radio, but not Internet radio.
  
  
• Keep items brief, under 250 words when possible. Try to get right to the point. The less of the "story" the better. Think of Dragnet: "Just the facts" -- just the tip that would be useful to other readers.
  
  
• We'll (generally) include tips that most can use, requests for advice/information, and some personal announcements (e.g., health accidents of our readers, only with the affected person's permission). See "Announcements" below for more detail.
  
  
• We reserve the right to edit submissions.
  
  
• Because of the volume of emails and submissions, we don't acknowledge submissions whether they are accepted or not. If there is time and extensive edits, we may (or may not) run the changes by you. Whenever we make edits, they are to increase brevity and clarity and remove anything perceived as self-promotional. We strive to make you look good!
  
  
• We do not post your copyright or URL.
  
  
• We do not list designations (e.g., CSP, CPAE, CMC, Ph.D., J.D., M.A.) of those submitting tips.
  
  
• We won't post anything maligning another.
  
  
• We post items and requests only one time.
  
  
• Please spell check your submission.
  
  
• When making a decision to post a submission, we consider if the posting would be of interest to a large number of our readers. So please don't be offended if we choose not to post your submission. It's not personal!
  
  
• Our posts are in tip format, not stories of your success. Please review the three most recent issues to see the SNN style.
  
  
• We often "bank" items to place in future issues. It depends on how full an issue is, if similar items are in a specific issue, when you last had a posting. We tend to not post items from the same person in two successive issues.
  
  
• We take no responsibility for the accuracy of the postings. All contents of the postings are the responsibility of the posting party.
  
  
• Submission of an email or artwork affirms that you are able to and have given us non-exclusive permission to reprint the content of your message in all forms, electronic or otherwise, in all languages throughout the world.

Announcements

The "Announcement" section is for upcoming (not past) items about appearances on national (not regional or local) TV or radio, but not Internet radio. It is not for announcements about your new book, speech, or other media coverage. If you'd like your colleagues to know about the latter, please take out an ad.

We will also post announcements of the death of someone from our community, and illnesses/hospitalizations of those in the community. But the latter will only be posted with the permission of the person, as we find some people don't want others to know of their illness. Any posting of illness or death should include where cards should be sent.

Guidelines for Posting of Recommendations

We will post one time, for free, your recommendations of resources (e.g., books, graphic artists, cassette tape duplicators, other vendors). This does not mean we'll post a recommendation by you of your services. Please take out an ad to do this.

We try to be careful not to publish self-promotional items, yet we know our readers are promotionally savvy and might encourage others to send in testimonials for them (it's happened).

If we find you have surreptitiously posted a recommendation to your own product, service or Web page, you'll be banned from posting anything in the future.

We will post recommendations for products and services, whether solicited or not, only once per service/product per year.

Of course, you can always advertise resources and services in the weekly ezine. See the Advertising Guidelines.

Posting Requests for Info/Advice

We only post a request for similar information once per year. If your request is similar to another recently posted, we'll refer you to the person most recently requesting that info and ask you to contact them to see what they gleaned.

Please make your question as pithy as possible. Write in the first person, "I am seeking..." and list your full name and email address, not URL.

If we think the question has relevance to many people, we'll ask you to compile the responses (see "Compilation Guidelines"). This will save you responding to hundreds of people and will capture the information for others to learn from. It will be posted on the SNN Web site.

Requests for content (e.g., stories, interviews, or articles for Web site, ezines or books) are posted only in the form of an ad. See the Advertising Guidelines for rates and policies.

Compilation Guidelines

If we feel your request for information would be of interest to a number of our readers, we will ask you to collect the responses and send them back to us as a compilation to be put in our Compilations section.

• Please collect the responses into a Word document. Either copy and paste it into an email or attach it to an email. (Don't just forward each answer to us.)
  
  
• Put your original question at the top of the compilation.
  
  
• Edit out any extraneous comments (e.g., "Hi Fred. How are you?" or "Hope this helps.")
  
  
• If the response is merely a sales pitch for the person's service/product, don't include it.
  
  
• Include the name of the person who responded, but no need for other info on them (e.g., email address, phone, sig file, URL, name of first born, life history).
  
  
• No need to thank the respondents in the compilation; we think mass thank yous are meaningless. We're assuming your mother taught you the good manners to thank each respondent individually. :-)

Once your compilation is on our Web site, we'll post a tip from you in the next SpeakerNet News announcing its availability.

Of course, you can always advertise resources and services in the weekly ezine. See the Advertising Guidelines.