Sacramento, the capital city of California is growing and is on its way to become a sophisticated metropolitan city. With improved, new attractions, several museums, the commitment of the public and private sector to revitalize the region, high-class hotels and dining spots, the city is one to watch out for in the 21st century. Whether you are visiting California for a vacation or you are coming here for business, your stay in Sacramento will certainly be amidst culture, excitement and adventure. A plethora of great attractions, scenic waterways, world famous wineries and loads of culinary and physical treasures will make your stay in this city a memorable experience.

Due to the discovery of gold in 1848 near Sacramento, the famous gold rush of California brought many entrepreneurs and fortune seekers to this city. If you are coming here on a business trip then Sacramento is a place where you can be a part of performing arts, great restaurants, shopping areas and a well-preserved history that can make your business experience truly unique. You are sure to consider the place for your next trade show, convention or meeting. Some of the reasons responsible for the choice are:

. The Sacramento Convention Center has an affordable and flexible event and meeting space that is spread on 384,000 square feet. Cal Expo has an outdoor/indoor facility of 350 acres. There is a historic Memorial Auditorium, Arco arena and various full service hotels that make business in Sacramento a cinch apart from the outstanding facilities that this city offers.

. This city flaunts over 10,000 hotel rooms that offer excellent value, whether you are at two of the major convention center hotels like Sheraton Grand and Hyatt Regency or at the Point west Area or Cal Expo. Sacramento is considered to be perfect for groups who need 50-1500 room nights.

. The amenities that are offered by this city to its visitors are specially designed. An exciting nightlife, fine dining experience, sports and recreations options and unique shopping experience make this city as modern as it is historic.

. The Old Sacramento is spread on 28 acres and has the unique heritage of the Gold Rush era. This district is on the banks of the Sacramento River and is popular for Delta King Hotels, Embassy Suites, retail shops, various dining spots and the California State Railroad Museum, one of the premier attractions of the world.

. You can access any place in the United States from Sacramento. The International Airport is served by over a dozen airlines and daily flights that are more than 150 in number. The distance between the International Airport and downtown is just 15 minutes. This city is even located at the Interstate 80 and Interstate 5 junction and gives plenty of way to the drivers to get here.

. The winters are very mild and so are the summers, so you can have outdoor fun, before or during business meetings.

Since this city is located in the center of Northern California, there are a number of places that are designed to conduct business meetings and trade fairs.

The first of my three strategies is this: if you don’t feel calm, fake it. That’s right. If you cannot be genuinely cool, calm and confident pretend you are. I’m going to show you how to fake it, to act as if you’re calm and confident.

To see how a change in your thinking will affect your bodily reactions and symptoms of fear, think about your impending public presentation. Do you immediately feel that all-too-familiar stab of fear? We sometimes call them butterflies in the tummy. Tuning in to those feelings lets you experience with me how those feelings are only that: feelings. And you can also see clearly that it’s YOUR THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES which have produced the feelings – the butterflies, the dry mouth, the racing pulse, the quivery voice. Your memories of previous fear-filled events, have triggered symptoms of fear.

For our first way to greater confidence, please take these steps:

Deliberately open your mouth just a little bit, and consciously let your tongue go very limp.

Look at yourself in the mirror. It’s physically impossible for you to be tense and anxious while you’re opening your mouth just a little bit, and while you’re keeping your tongue limp and relaxed.

Now that I’ve got you relaxed, a little…talk to yourself in the mirror. It’s alright. There’s only you and me here and I won’t tell anyone. Keeping your tongue very limp and your mouth, chin and jaw areas very loose, say a few words. For instance, try saying “I’m feeling really terrified about that talk next Tuesday.”

Now, please go and get your speaking notes, the ones you’ve prepared for the talk. If you haven’t finished your preparation, postpone this exercise until you have an outline of your talk distilled to speaking notes which will be your special prompts or cues on the big day.

With those brief notes, stand in front of the mirror again. Keep your mouth nice and relaxed. Let’s forget about keeping your tongue too limp, just concentrate on looking at yourself in the mirror knowing that your face from the nose down, is relaxed.

With that very relaxed mouth, start giving your talk. Smile at the little joke you’ll tell your audience next week. Look suitably worried when you give that statistic about the spread of illiteracy or poverty. That’s the first strategy.

Maybe you want to say to me: “But Jeannette, I’ve only been pretending that I was feeling calm and confident about that next presentation. I’ve only been acting as if I was truly calm and confident for the sake of this exercise”. My response?

“Think about this, my sweetness. During the five minutes or so that you were doing that exercise, you WERE calm and relaxed. And you can feel that very same way in front of an audience”.

In my counselling and coaching, and in my e-kit Calming Words, I constantly remind people to be kind to themselves. To take little steps toward your confident self. Next step is to do that calm relaxed rehearsal again with an audience of a few family and friends. Tell them you’re doing an experiment.

If you don’t have time to get a little friendly audience together, remember I’m up there with you at your next presentation. Feel my calming presence next to you.

Just before you start your presentation, do this: open your mouth a little and remember that image of you standing relaxed in front of the mirrror. The mind is a marvellous thing. Just by triggering that memory of that relaxed state, will re-produce that feeling. Finish this sentence: if my memories of fear can produce feelings of fear, my memories of speaking in a confident and relaxed way can produce feelings of being _________and _______.

SECOND STRATEGY: LET’S GET PHYSICAL AND REALLY TENSE Some people respond better to physical ways to feel more relaxed. This is a tactic used by actors before going onstage. Stand at arm’s length away from a wall. Place both your palms flat on the wall at about shoulder height in front of you. Push against the wall with your palms – as if you were trying to push the wall down.

Notice that your abdominal area is totally engaged in that effort. It is those muscles in your solar plexus that are vital to keeping you centred and calm. While engaged in that physical effort your body cannot also produce the noradrenaline which is the precursor to those panicky feelings of fear.

Even in this short article, I do need you to understand that there is a physical relationship between:

The way you breathe,

How you stand and hold your abdominal muscles and

How you speak.

Doing exercises to strengthen your abdominal muscles and to become more aware of them, will be of great assistance to you in controlling nervousness.

Contracting those muscles reduces or stops the production of norepinephrine or noradrenaline – the panic hormone. In fact, one of your body’s major nerve-control centres lies behind what’s called The Vital Triangle, so controlling that area is good also for control of anger and pain.

THIRD STRATEGY – VISUALISE SUCCESS Another strategy to assuage your own nervousness is to make sure that you’re totally familiar with the venue at which you’ll speak. When you’re practising or rehearsing your presentation in front of the mirror, when you’re smiling and basking in the positive feelings from the audience, imagine that you’re there in that auditorium or theatre and on that stage. See the colour of the curtains. Or even their color! Visualise the placement of the chairs for your audience. Put as much detail as you can into your visualisation. Feel it.

That marvellous feeling of actually being there and feeling calm and confident.

My three strategies or public speaking tips were… just the tip of the iceberg. To your continued happiness and success.

Gossip in the Grain artist Ray LaMontagne is returning to the stage once again in support of his latest studio effort. Surrounded by dates throughout the country, singer /songwriter LaMontagne is returning in April for another trek, earning some yelps and hollers from folk fans from sea to shining sea. The man, from Nashua, New Hampshire, has a husky voice that leads comparisons to Van Morrison and Tim Buckley, with a younger appeal via an unshaven face and flannel. Gossip in the Grain is his third set with RCA and features the talents of legendary producer and multi-instrumentalist Ethan Johns on the ten tracks. The beats feel so effortless as a modern twist brings back memories of old school pop tunes with trumpet motifs and a throwback to The Big Chill. While the lyrics, written by LaMontagne, still represent the ever so familiar longing and loneliness of love, the upbeat style via jazz instruments and funky folk make their true meaning nearly absolute. Though you may want to pick up a banjo yourself and start jamming with these seemingly approachable men, just wait for StubHub’s version of the next best thing – Ray LaMontagne tickets to see this indie, Reebok-wearing fellow jam out live on stage.

The singer’s jaunt begins April 2 in Montclair, NJ and will continue throughout April (specific dates are listed below). The album, recorded in Box, England, reflects the new image that LaMontagne constantly seems in need of repairing (though most would agree is quite appeasable). His first effort with RCA appeared in 2006 (Trouble) and was followed up by 2007’s Till the Sun Turns Black. Each and every album, though equally focused on the impressive vocals of this perennial traveler (after his parents split, his mother marched Ray and his six siblings across the country looking for work), is an entirely new platform of which LaMontagne is exploring. Perhaps the most explosively impressive from his latest album are “You are the Best Thing” and “Meg White,” named for The White Stripes’ drummer. “It was time to open up a little bit more, not be quite so reserved in my choice of songs that I wanted to record,” LaMontagne admits on his site. The album is the first not completely developed by LaMontagne himself, who saw bassist Jennifer Condos and guitarist Eric Heywood help out, while Johns provided his expertise in several instruments. Leona Naess, who opened for LaMontagne last fall, provided the backup.

LaMontagne’s family was raised around the country and when he finally finished high school began working in a shoe factory in Maine. It was thanks to the single “Tree Top Flyer” by Stephen Stills that the folk artist decided to begin making music, and before long LaMontagne had recorded a ten-track demo that reached Jamie Ceretta at Chrysalis Music Publishing. As if by magic, the demo was quickly approved and LaMontagne began recording with Johns.

Get tickets soon for these shows, try http://www.stubhub.com/ray-lamontagne-tickets for sold out dates.

April 2009

2 – Montclair, NJ – Wellmont Theatre

3 – Pittsburgh, PA – Palace Theater

4 – Philadelphia, PA – Tower Theater

6 – Albany, NY – The Egg

7 – Northampton, MA – Calvin Theatre

8 – New Haven, CT – Schubert Theater

11 – Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium

12 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Center For The Performing Arts

14 – Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis

15 – Toronto, Ontario – Massey Hall

17 – Cleveland, OH – State Theatre

18 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre

19 – Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theatre

21 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theater

22 – St. Louis, MO – Pageant Theater

24 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

25 – Louisville, KY – Brown Theater

27 – Birmingham, AL – Alabama Theatre

28 – Jacksonville, FL – Florida Theatre

29 – Tampa, FL – Tampa Theatre

30 – Miami, FL – The Fillmore @ Jackie Gleason Theater