It has been quite a while since I posted to this series, and I would imagine some of you have forgotten about it. To be honest, I have been waiting for something good to write about, but I decided to write anyway. Last we heard our “hero” was considering crossing the river to the dark side of town, where the “Get Rich Quick” gangs hang out, in an attempt to jump-start his venture…

Oh, I knew there were sharks in the water, but I swam over anyway. What an exciting, enlightening, multiple meeting, back slapping, fortune dangling… complete waste of time, money and resources.

Even though my partner Carmine reached out to them first, he quickly dismissed them as all being full of shit, but not me. I apparently had an unconscious need to move backwards. The GRQ guys all seem very similar… to begin with they are very nice guys, who all think they are smarter than you, or anybody else for that matter. The fact that they cannot build anything sustainable, which, in the scam business I can imagine is hard to do, actually illustrates just how oblivious they are. A smart person with a good sustainable idea, will not be able to maintain a GRQ guy’s focus if a slime ball with a sneaky idea shows up.

Interestingly, some of them actually have a conscience, have convinced themselves they are doing good, even speak of a higher moral ground their “life guru” instilled in them… oh wait a minute, we can make a couple of more dollars by screwing a new “partner”, no brainer.  Maybe a feigned conscience is a sociopathic coping skill. The mission statement seems to be “We want to help as many people pay us too much money for useless information as fast as we can before the word gets out”. Ironically the GRQ guys have great references and testimonials! I guess for every 10 people who get taken and know it, there is at least one who wants to rationalize his being taken… easier than admitting you paid what? for what? to your friends who used to think you were smart.

Okay, this is starting to sound like someone who is bitter because he was unable to swim with the sharks and keep up… probably, but that chunk bitten out of my ass will heal. The Sharks swim on, they have to, we all know if a shark stops swimming he dies. I need to stop writing now as I have a compulsive desire to go wash my hands.

Next Post: Persevere or Pivot?

previous post in series: Competition at every Turn

Let’s face it, there’s a lot of stuff out there that while cool, never goes anywhere. Cool, usually means someone looks at your stuff, says “cool” and never comes back or uses it. I don’t find that particularly cool.

I think that a lot of these “cool” things failed to meet the minimum requirements of viability. Also known as MVP or “Minimum Viable Product”. Don’t get me wrong, cool is on the list, but it’s down the page a bit. At the top of the list is “What problem am I solving?”

I realize that this is Biz 101, but it seems to have been either forgotten or ignored a lot lately as there are an awful lot of things out there that do not solve any problems. I had a colleague point out that video games are doing quite well without solving any problems. But I actually think they do solve problems: filling idle time, boosting egos, stress relief, etc. I didn’t say you had to solve world hunger to be successful. There are a lot of unimportant problems to be solved.

We originally decided the problem we would be able to solve with our webinar idea would be “qualifying prospects”. We were convinced that there were a lot of businesses out there that were actually generating too many unqualified leads from their marketing efforts. Sure, that may sound like a good problem to have, until you find yourself on the phone all day wasting time with people who cannot buy your stuff. Clearly, the bigger market, is the one that does not have enough leads, but we did not feel that webinars could help that group as much.

So, if you take our idea that webinars could be used to qualify a large volume of generic leads, you have to then think about how this would work in order to develop the minimum requirements.

So let’s see, it would have to start with a promotional effort to generate these leads… no problem, we were going to target those who already had successful efforts that were driving traffic. So our first step would be where are they driving them. Most were probably driving them to either a website, landing page or 800 number.  So minimum requirement #2, we had to provide a landing page. A page that would not only describe the webinar, but also help sell it, and provide for some kind of registration and saving to database for later. Then what? Well, from our research we learned that a lot of people simply forget they signed up for a webinar, so we needed to provide some reminders, probably several. So an auto-responder goes on the minimum requirements list as #3. Prior to the beginning of the webinar people will be clicking the link in their reminder email that has to take them somewhere. So a login page is minimum requirement #4. Once the webinar starts, we have to have the code in place to present it, minimum requirement #5. A webinar platform is not going to get very far if attendees don’t have a way to communicate with the presenter, so some kind of chat mechanism is requirement #6. And, since the competing platforms all provide for polling, that is no longer a feature, but minimum requirement #7. Most of the competing platforms also provided for some live audio from attendees, but we noticed nobody actually uses that feature, probably due to the chaos, so we omitted that one from our list.

So that’s about it. Those are the minimum requirements to be an also-ran. Meeting these requirements would put us an a similar functionality level with the major players, but they are all well established with big marketing efforts behind them. So how does one stand a chance of success against such formidable competition? Features, and at least one Killer Feature.

Next post in series: One Killer Feature

Previous post in series: Product Development

In my career, I have started over 30 businesses… yeah I know, short attention span. In some of these I had partners, in others I went solo.

Maybe it’s just me, but looking back, I usually made more money when I had a partner, of course I have been involved with partners where I didn’t make money also, so it’s no sure thing. I felt this webinar platform idea was going to be huge, so I decided right at the outset that I did not want to carry the full load alone.

A while back, I was contacted in my capacity as a SCORE Volunteer counselor to do some speaking through Scores’ speakers bureau. Carmine Denisco was looking for speakers to add some related content to workshops he was doing on video. Carmine and I really hit it off and we developed a good relationship that was in place at the time the webinar idea came about. In fact, I think we both saw it at about the same time. So we decided to move forward with it on a 50/50 basis.

Carmine is a stand-up guy, and we can finish each other’s sentences, but I did not really need a partner for this idea. I was perfectly capable of developing this on my own, but I wanted a partner. I think too many people try to keep everything to themselves, to reap 100% of the reward. I have found that is not only lonely, but also you end up with something that is based solely your opinions, including any biases or perceptions that you may have. Without someone to say “That’s Stupid” every now and then, you will probably develop something no one will want. Another issue, particularly in the internet space is time, if you don’t get to market fast enough, someone else will, so how fast can you work by yourself?

A partner needs to bring more to the table than just pointing out your moronic maneuvers, and I have always found it a good idea to divvy up the responsibilities early on. Understand that effort will never be equal. I have seen many viable businesses explode because a partner felt he was carrying too much of the load. Its gonna happen, there will be inequities in the work load distribution, sometimes these will shift back and forth, and in some cases they will always stay tilted in one direction. That’s life. If it gets too out of hand then maybe there needs be a discussion of the financial distributions, but it is usually a disaster in the making to start comparing skills brought or hours or minutes spent. Who knows, maybe that one time your partner said “that’s stupid” led to the ultimate success of the venture.

Next post in series: Product Development

Previous post in series: Inspiration

Take our Facebook Ads module for example.

First we add to what we already know by scouring the web collecting every single method, tip, example, training product, video, pitfall, success and shortcut we can find, running down every rabbit hole and dead-end for weeks. I have personally watched hours of video miss-information, some even suggesting techniques that will not only fail, but probably get you kicked off of Facebook entirely. Then, my partners and I go through all of the collected information with our entrepreneur’s hats on (yes, we are all actually entrepreneurs first). We cull out the out-of-date and just plain bad information to distill the best information for business success.

We develop and add our own implementation strategy layers (lot’s of arguments here til we reach consensus). Then we test every strategy and step to make sure they work as intended and absolutely better than anything else out there.

Once the data passes these tests to every partners’ satisfaction, we assemble it into a step-by-step comprehensive plan that anyone can understand and lay it all down in a professional video track.

The result of these hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and tears? About an hour of video we believe to be the world’s best training on Facebook Ads for Business.

BTW, that’s ONE module, we have over 30 in our training system.

So for the guy who asked me how our training is different from him just watching YouTube videos on the topics, now you know.

Oh sure, I could probably just ask Phil to sit down and detail it out for me, but frankly if I pulled that string on Phil it would lead to hours of listening to him detail every single aspect of these techniques. Someday maybe, but right now I am way to busy to block out two days. Besides, I’m a smart guy and I think I can figure it out just from the titles.

Let’s see… “Guerrilla Marketing”. Well we all know what Marketing is, and we know Guerrillas are generally people who create a lot of havoc with little or no financial backing. So to me, Guerrilla Marketing is the idea of creating a lot of buzz and attention for yourself or your business with little or no money. Simple enough… conceptually anyway.

“Attraction Marketing”… hmmm. Well Phil is a handsome fellow, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what it’s about. Again, we all know what marketing is, but how does “Attraction” plug into it. A quick jump over to Dictionary.com defines “Attraction” as:

1. the act, power, or property of attracting.
2. attractive quality; magnetic charm; fascination; allurement; enticement.
3. a person or thing that draws, attracts, allures, or entices.
4. a characteristic or quality that provides pleasure; attractive feature.
5. Physics . the electric or magnetic force that acts between oppositely charged bodies, tending to draw them together.

I see the word “Magnetic” used a couple of times, and that concept is pretty easy to grasp, so applied to marketing that would lead me to the thought that “Attraction Marketing” is the idea of presenting yourself or your business in such a way that instead of pursuing business, business pursues you. Again, Simple enough… conceptually anyway.

Phillip is obviously very experienced with these techniques, if you have not met Phil, this is his picture on the left.

But how can the rest of us apply these techniques to our situations? How can we become “Attractive Gorillas” like Phil?

In the old days this would have been tough. I mean there was no free or low-cost marketing, and how could you hope to get the word out about yourself enough to attract? Direct Mail, TV, Radio or magazine ads? Hard to do that without looking like the pursuer.

Fortunately for both these techniques, technology has caught up with their premise. Social Media in particular. Social Media could not have been designed any better for Guerrilla or Attraction Marketing if that had been the intention. Think about it. You can market yourself or your company to everyone on the planet for absolutely nothing. You can also develop a persona through your Social Media activities, that will indeed drive people to want to connect with you, like a magnet.

So, you are welcome to go buy all the books on Guerrilla and Attraction Marketing as I am sure there are many facets that I have not covered here, particularly since I just made all this up. But whatever you do, take advantage of Social Media while it is still the “thing”. Because eventually, even Social Media will become just another marketing channel flooded with all your competition and your opportunity to grab some market share will have passed.

Stay tuned for future posts where I will again “Put Phil Over”.

This is certainly not unique to me, I’m not that special. In your business travels and networking, I am sure you have had a lot of similar offers. We quickly jump on those opportunities that come directly from our prospects. But when someone who is not a direct prospect to buy our stuff asks about doing lunch, I am sure I am not the only one saying “Great Idea, let’s circle back on that”… and then not ever circling back. Time is certainly a factor, we all have to make the best use of it, but I often have the time. I think in business we have a tendency to laser focus on the best opportunity, at the expense of all the peripheral opportunities.

I was reminded of that Jim Carrey movie from a few years back called the Yes Man. For reasons I don’t remember he was compelled to say Yes to everything. It was of course a comedy, but it was clever and actually got me thinking at the time about “What would happen”. So I have decided to give my best effort to become a Yes Man. Who knows what could happen if I actually “Circle Back” on that lunch offer. My guess is that the offeror will say something like “Great Idea, let’s circle back on that”. I’ll keep you posted.

I typically start my presentations or speaking engagements by asking who in the room has a social profile of any kind. At the beginning of the year, maybe 10% raised their hands; by the end of the year it was more like 90%. So it is time for those of us in Social Media to finally, and thankfully, shift gears. I am already re-working my January presentations to focus on the Hows; How you use the tools to grow your business.

I am striking the phrase “So what is Facebook?” from my vocabulary. I am also planning to pull back significantly on my use of the phrase “Why should you be on Facebook?” and introducing the phrase “How do I capitalize on Facebook?”. If you somehow missed the news, you can only blame yourself as there were at least a million events last year on the subject of what and why… and that was just in my hometown.

Maybe I’m naive, but I’m sick of the economic doldrums, and I refuse to participate anymore. Apparently, so is everyone else I talk to. 2010 was not a bad year… but it could have been so much better. My plan is to move into 2011 convinced that it will be a kick-ass year, hopefully for everybody, but definitely for those in my space. So if you see me out-and-about, and you feel the urge to tell me that 2011 will be no better than 2010… don’t… or I just might punch you in the nose.

It is one thing to know what is good for us, and to truly believe that we aspire to these things as a “future” goal, but when faced with the immediate choice, most of us do the opposite. And so it is with Social Media for your business <-clumsy segue.

I have yet to meet a business owner who does not agree that their business needs to embrace social media to survive: “Oh yes… I’m definitely going to do that”. But most fail to act and simply continue doing what they have been doing. Just like the majority of the population, the majority of businesses are obese slobs lumbering on to an early death.

We know at our core that the health food nuts, vegans and fitness junkies will outlive us all. Business owners who are on a steady diet of Social Media will outlive their competition, and we know that as well. So why don’t more of them act on the health of their enterprises?

Oh, they know alright, as of this writing I just sold out an event titled “Social Media Business Strategies”. Fifty people signed up in less than four days. They too will be like many people I see at my events; busy taking copious notes, nodding like dashboard dogs, asking insightful questions, and generally “fired up” to get involved. However, which I know is rare for a speaker, I keep track. I make a habit of checking up on my attendees a month or so after my events. Out of some warped need for validation I desperately hope to see someone who has actually taken steps. But just as the salesperson at LA Fitness knows, most people who take the gym tour, will never come back. No matter how convincing they appeared in their plan to actually get in shape.

Fortunately, a small percentage do commit to implementing Social Media into their business plan. It is for these people who I resist the temptation to run my slides upside down just to see if anyone notices. Just as it is no secret that exercise is good for you, the value of Social Media is denied by few, but avoided by most.

So would you like an Apple or a Doughnut?

I am sure most of you know Phillip, at least if you are in the Social Media space. If not, you have been living under a rock. Phillip’s training sessions always sell out and his Social Media Dojo program is amazing. He’s pretty intense in his presentations, but I can tell you he is holding back. In person, this dude is like a pack of lit firecrackers balancing on top of a spinning top. I chatted with Phillip for about two hours about his ideas for the future and kept having to remind myself to close my mouth.

Phillip is putting together something big. I can’t really talk in details yet, but you will freak when you see his vision realized. I am humbled, shocked and very appreciative that he has asked me to be a part of it. Now I have to prepare myself for the g-forces I am going to experience just trying to hang on to his coat-tail.

Stay tuned…

Everybody is doing a “Top Ten” list nowadays, it is a proven popular format, so I decided I would do a “Bottom Ten”. Seemed like a good angle so I did a search on it and found that I am way too late; seems there are already a bunch of posts on “What not to do”. But I had already mentally committed myself and it was too late, or I was too lazy, to come up with a better idea. I read all of those other posts and stole the best titles, added my own spin and a few that I did not see. Then to make my post stand out from the others I did something revolutionary: Eleven instead of Ten. (I tried to file a trademark for Eleven, but was turned down). This post is directed towards business people and probably will not apply if you are say… a rock band. By the way, at one point or another, I have been guilty of most of these, but as my grandfather used to say “Do as I Say, Not as I Do”.

So here are my 11 sure-fire tips for Social Media Failure in no particular order:

A lot of people come up to me after a talk and say, “Wow, that was great Steve, you are truly a Social Media guru and very handsome” (I am paraphrasing here) “I’m going to run back to my office and create a bunch of accounts and profiles and make a bunch of money”

Good luck; if that was all that was necessary, I would be rich already. You really have to look at Social Media like a toolbox. If your goal is to hammer in a nail, a wrench is not going to do you much good. Figure out what your true goal is, and “make a bunch of money” is not a definitive enough goal to give your plan any guidance. You need to back up a few steps.

In order to “make a bunch of money”, what would need to happen? More clients, charge higher fees, less competition? Great, now back up another step. For example, to charge higher fees what would need to happen? Be considered a better quality resource, an authority, in demand? Now we are getting closer. Let’s zero in on being considered an authority or expert as a possible way to charge higher fees. Now we have a Social Media goal and we can go to the toolbox and select the tools that provide the best chance of achieving our goal, in this case maybe LinkedIn should be a priority over facebook or Twitter.

Once you start any Social Media profile, you are going to be eager to get some kind of following. Let’s face it what is the point of sending out a tweet if there is no one on the other end to receive it. I am guilty. When I first got started with Twitter I started following a few people who I knew. Those were the days when I actually read tweets. It was interesting seeing what people I knew were talking about.

Then I decided one day that I needed to drastically increase my followers so I could push my messages out to a larger audience. It’s not hard, just start following people, many follow you back. When you get to a couple of thousand Twitter will pipe up and try to keep your ratio of followers to following somewhat even, so you stop following those people who never followed you back, and follow more new ones. And so this goes and eventually you have a bunch of followers… and this is worth what? I mean who are these people? I made similar mistakes on facebook and LinkedIn and now I get so many updates from strangers across all the platforms that I hardly look at them any more. Don’t try to send me a direct message in twitter if you need me to respond as all that is ever there are automated marketing messages. For me, the two-way interactivity of Web 2.0, has turned back into the old one-way push of Web 1.0, and its my own fault.

Introducing yourself with spam

“Hey Steve, thanks for accepting my friend request, I really like you a lot so here is a special link to my MLM Downline, Affiliate Marketing, Web Hosting, Crappy House for Sale, etc.”

Really!! Have you no shame… or sense.

I frequently have people tell me “Social Media is a waste of time, I keep sending out my pitches and nobody’s biting”. I will usually ask them how they respond to similar messages that they get from others and then stand back and watch the light bulb go on. It is just as easy to “un-friend” as it is to “friend”, remember that.

Begging for a job

Times are tough. A lot of people are out of a job. Unfortunately as a society we have a tendency to avoid people who are having a hard time. Pretending to check a phone message when the panhandler walks up to our car window for example. Letting the world know that you are down on your luck with a title like “Currently looking for work” will not get you a job. I would even go so far as to say it will move you even further from a job.

Instead, put on a happy Social face. Use a title like “Independent Consultant”, “Social Media Strategist” or “Professional Speaker”; sure we all still know you’re available, but it somehow seems less pathetic. No one ever hires anyone they pity. Get out in the social space and start socializing, pretend like you are a person people would actually like. Then reach out privately to inquire about opportunities to feed your family.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Privacy is a generational thing… my generation unfortunately. Social Media is Public Sociality (I might have made up that word). Boomers and up have a problem with this conceptually. Common themes include using fake names or company names and not providing any profile information or photos. Here’s a hint: nobody cares. In fact, I would say these people are actually hurting themselves more than if they did not participate at all. If I get a tweet from @acmecorp I assume that this must be a robot, unless your personal name is “Mr. Acme C Orp”, in which case Social Media is going to be a challenge for you. If you have not provided any profile information, you must be hiding something. If you have not uploaded a photo, you must be ugly.

If you are going to jump into this pool, you are going to have to be prepared to take some clothes off like everybody else.

Inconsistent Branding

In my mind, the only thing worse than not customizing your profiles on the various platforms and just using the generic themes provided, is using a different theme on each one. You are aware that there are a couple of other people on social media? Standing out is a bigger challenge than it ever was before. You spent the money and effort to create a website with a look and feel that conveys your brand… carry that through, to the extent that you can, into the social media masses. Aside from outrageous antics or extremely good content, it may be your only hope of getting noticed.

Duplicate posts

Automation is great. When things are setup properly your Twitter can feed your facebook updates…and your LinkedIn updates, and a bunch of other updates and they can all feed back to each other… in a potentially endless loop.

Resist the urge to connect everything too quickly until you understand how they talk to each other. Few things are more annoying than suddenly getting the same update from five different places dumped into my news feed. I speak from experience here. I still have something re-tweeting my updates that I cannot for the life of me remember where it is to turn it off. If this does happen to you, do not compound the situation by sending out an apology update… that to will probably get duplicated 10 times.

Inappropriate updates

Number one rule of tweeting? Don’t tweet when you’re drunk. Seems obvious enough, but a lot of sober people seem to say dumb stuff too. If you frequently find yourself regretting an update you made, maybe you should consider some sort of time-delay.

One of the primary things that social media lacks is the ability to see your smirk as you hit the enter key. Trying to be witty, sarcastic, profound, self-deprecating often falls flat and instead comes off as arrogant, narcissistic or just plain stupid. Of course if you are arrogant, narcissistic and stupid… knock yourself out, but beware, you may come off witty, sarcastic, profound or self-deprecating. I have also found that it is impossible to look at a tweet or update prior to sending, through the eyes of the receiver. I mean it came out of your brain, so no matter how many times you turn it over, it is going to feel right…right? Best advice, when in doubt, skip it. Like the saying says “Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to tweet and remove all doubt”.

Not engaging

I know of a bunch of people who have a lot of followers and give them nothing in return. Pro Athletes or celebrities for example. Seems like a wasted opportunity to get somewhere to me, but then again these people are already somewhere. I am going to take a leap and assume that no Pro Athletes or celebrities are reading this.

Most of you reading this will not comment at the bottom. Why… I don’t know. Maybe you cannot afford to take the eight seconds required to write something or the one second it would take to hit the like or re-tweet button. All I know is that I, like everyone else, crave feedback. If I do get a comment, not only will I bounce around my office in glee for half an hour, but I will seek you out and buy you a new car*. Engagement is not only free, but it accrues value to the engager. If you re-tweet anything I ever tweet, you can bet I will start following you.

Alas, Social Media is a reflection of our “what’s in it for me” society. We go to parties and ignore the people we don’t know. We attempt to build followings without following others. We lament that no one comments or re-tweets our morsels of wisdom, while we are reading some fascinating post only to click off without commenting or re-tweeting. I we do comment, it is usually along the lines of “Great post, check out this link for my better one.”

Remember Karma? I understand that you can’t pay the rent with Good Karma, but you can’t buy Good Karma either. Engage with others and they will engage with you… or maybe they won’t.

*I’m not going to buy you a car

Not filtering your feeds

A lot of people are automating their social presence these days. Generating their content by pulling feeds of other content since we all know that “Content is King” and most of us are too lazy to produce it. I too had some minor automation going on to offset my laziness. I learned about Yahoo Pipes, a tool that will let you take information from a feed, reformat it any way you want and produce a new feed. For example, you could take the search results from search.twitter.com for #publicspeaking, reformat it and have that feed to you twitter account so it looks like you are re-tweeting things you find interesting. Until you look at your timeline one day and realize you have re-tweeted:

“Anybody who hires a public speaker is a jackass #publicspeaking”

Quitting too soon

Social Media is not a quick fix. Shiny objects are indeed cool. I myself am fascinated by new things, wait a minute… what is that?…

We promoted this annual event exclusively via social media and it sold out 2 weeks before the event date. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it was free. Small business owners and entrepreneurs descended upon the Marriott Westshore for what we hoped would be a good use of their time. Fortunately, it looks like we pulled it off. I was the emcee and after getting everybody situated, I introduced Paul Brooks a fellow Score volunteer who gave a very nice talk on getting your business “unstuck”. This was followed by my moderating a panel of Score volunteers with audience submitted questions. Talk about being put on the spot! Bill Wright, Yanina Rosario, Linda Philips and Kit Werremeyer almost seemed like they had rehearsed their impromptu answers. What I thought might be a disaster, turned out perfectly.

After the panel discussion we all took a coffee break and split the main room into two workshop rooms. While a third of the attendees went on the get their counseling sessions, Kit and I each gave presentations to the other two-thirds and then we repeated them. Kit’s presentation was on Business Planning and mine was on Social media. I have some video of it here. The video is mostly of me… but hey it’s my blog.

Anyway, we sent out a Post Event Email Survey, and even though we are still getting responses, I wanted to share some of the feedback received so far:

In response to the question “What is your overall level of satisfaction with this event?” 100% of attendees said “Very satisfied”, our top answer.

While Kit received great feedback for his presentation, again since it is my blog, I will share with you the comments submitted about my presentation on Social Media Marketing (Kit needs to start his own blog):

“Wow. This is what I came for and all I can say is, Wow. I knew I was going to have to become involved in social media, but this opened my eyes to the subject in a way I had not considered at all. I am not even close to digesting all of it yet and I considered myself a pretty savvy internet user going in. Not to mention that Steve is one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard and was SO informative on this subject. I’d gladly sit through this presentation again!”

“Very interesting, first time I have really had an understanding of what social media is and how it works.”

“Steve’s presentation was exceptionally helpful and clarified many questions that I had about the various social media sites. Knowledgeable and entertaining all rolled into one! He is a master public speaker – born to entertain!”

“He was amazing”

“Perfect for what I was looking for. A great insight as to where to start. Steve also put in perspective a few somewhat “myths”. Great presentation.”

“I am interested in taking the 3 hour presentation he is offering next week.”

“Learned many things I want to implement.”

“Excellent and very interesting”

Before my head gets too big, we did have one negative issue mentioned by a few people: “It was too cold!”.

On behalf of the three local chapters of Score, I want to thank everyone for a great event, we all look forward to doing it again soon.

Steve will be presenting Social Media for Event Planners

Click here for info and to register

Most of you know I am a SCORE volunteer counselor, I seem to be the one who can’t say no. I am Chairman of the IT Committee as well as a member of several others, and now I really bit off a chunk. SCORE National has asked me to lead a team of 40 nationwide volunteers to thrash the new iSCORE web portal through its development. By thrash, I mean thoroughly test. It was determined that this is only really a 10 person undertaking, but when you consider that the testers are volunteers, you have to multiply by 4. This is a really big deal for SCORE. When you consider that they have close to 400 chapters and 12,000 volunteers, that’s a lot of cats to herd. Right now SCORE’s system is really antiquated, and each chapter has it’s own website. iSCORE will be a massive undertaking; not only will the main www.score.org site be completely re-vamped, but all of the chapter sites will be absorbed into this main portal. SCORE also serves two masters…we have clients seeking counseling and workshops who need to be able to navigate the portal, as well as 12,000 volunteers who need to access the system backend to log their activities and counseling sessions and manage workshops. By the way, neither of these two groups are particularly tech savvy, so I think testing is going to be a focal point of the project. I’ll keep you posted as we progress.

Also related to SCORE, I will be emceeing, Panel moderating and presenting at our biggest event to date. The SCORE/American Express Speed Counseling event in Tampa on September 14th. We are expecting 150 small business owners to take advantage of this free event. You can get more info on our calendar page at www.tampascore.org.

Lastly, I am working out the details for my own big event which is Internet Marketing for CEO’s. This will be an all day seminar event that will travel around the state starting in Tampa. I can tell you, social media research is a real challenge these days, just when you think you got it, it all changes again. I plan to do this event once a month and I will guarantee you that by the third one, my material will be out of date and I will have to redo it all. But what an exciting topic.

That’s all for now, other than a shameless plug: If you hear of anyone needing a speaker or emcee for an event, please give them my name.

Steve

I was driving along today and for some reason a past experience popped into my head that I thought I would share. As a public speaker, I attend a lot of other speaker’s events. I am basically just there to steal any good ideas they may have so I can later present them as my own. I also study their techniques and styles and know well that the most important quality a speaker can have is confidence. We all know about the fear of public speaking, and even those that do it for a living have varying degrees of confidence. We also have our quirks; I for example am the epitome of confidence, unless I have an equipment malfunction, at which point I will get all flapped up and run around in circles like a boob.

There is a fine line between confidence and hubris. Actually, that line may not be that fine. Confidence inspires everyone; hubris, on the other hand annoys most people. The past experience that I remembered was long before I ever got involved in Public Speaking. I was involved in commercial shopping center development for many years. While I never got huge, I was involved with over 70 regional shopping centers and malls across the U.S. over about a ten year period. The trade group for that industry is the International Council of Shopping Centers, which was a big group at the time, I assume much smaller now. ICSC had their annual convention in Las Vegas every year and usually about 35,000 people would attend, so it was a pretty big group. The attendees included a who’s who of the industry and of course the many vendors who support the industry. One year, when things were going good, the keynote address at the main luncheon was given by a pioneer in the field and CEO of the largest mall owner at the time. He gets up to the podium, scans the full house crowd and says “I could shoot off a shotgun from here and not hit anybody important“. I am sure he intended it to be funny; I looked around a saw a few people awkwardly chuckling. I looked at this man who I had envied, respected and was looking forward to hearing and thought “What an A-hole”. Thirteen words out of his mouth, changed my opinion of him forever.

At another annual event for the Society for Environmental Graphic Design held every year at the time at Cranbrook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, I witnessed a similar situation. SEGD is a trade group for graphic designers, which were integral in making shopping centers visually exciting. They had asked the Co-Founder of one of the most respected firms in the field to speak for their keynote luncheon address. Many of the younger attendees were eagerly awaiting what wisdom he might impart. After making everyone wait for too long, he comes sauntering in from stage left eating a piece of fried chicken. He continued eating while everybody was starting to look at each other confused. When he finally finished he tossed the chicken bone over his shoulder on the floor and proceeded to tell everyone that they could never be as good as he was and that they might as well just leave the business. Well, I always knew this dude was a vain S.O.B. so my opinions were simply confirmed, but I could almost hear the rest of the crowd murmur under their breath “What an A-Hole”.

On another occasion I was attending a local Real Estate Investors Meet-up group for the first time just to check it out. This particular meetup was held at a Village Inn so I was already doubting the potential value and like a lot of meetups, they were going to have a speaker. I am sitting in the back room with a bunch of other people, mostly slum lord wannabees, and I’m looking around to figure out if the speaker had arrived. The host suddenly introduced the speaker who stood up from the middle of the crowd of SLWs. Here’s this old disheveled guy, looking like he just stepped out of the half-off sale at the Salvation Army. He’s gonna talk to us about “paper”, as in property notes. He waddles up the the head of the table and says “You’re All Stupid”, a classic attention getter. He then proceeds to tell us how he makes “millions” owning paper.

Common Millionaire's Car

Now at least the other two examples were people who were actually successful; not that that gives anyone the “right” to be a jerk. Of course this guy was selling his “Getting Rich Owning Paper” program (normally $999, but just for us… $99 if we sign-up tonight). I was stuck for the whole windbag pitch as I was trapped between to large people and did not get to finally leave until about the same time he did. At least he waved goodbye to me as he drove off in his 1976 Ford Granada. A-Hole.

So my point, if I have one, is: Confidence=Good, Hubris=Bad. Once someone determines that you are an A-Hole, you seldom get a chance to change their opinion… even if you could.

BTW, I wrote this entire post on my Blackberry and it took a very long time, I don’t recommend it.

I would really appreciate your comments below, don’t be shy.

Steve

Plan Describe your audience and define the purpose of your talk.

Prepare Establish a positive mindset and prepare the structure and timing of your presentation.

Practice Review your content, rehearse and get feedback on your presentation, and build enthusiasm and confidence to present.

Present Own your subject and build rapport with the audience to hold their attention and project the value of your message.

Plan

• Describe your audience as it relates to the topic—their knowledge and experience, their needs, wants, and goals. Ask yourself, “What does my audience know about this topic?”
• Define the purpose of your presentation as it relates to the outcome you seek. Is your intention to inform? Persuade? Motivate? Teach? When you clarify your purpose, you will more easily hit your target.
• Plan the content of your presentation around your purpose and your audience’s interest and level of understanding. Use words and phrases common to your audience, and focus on your purpose.

Prepare

• Establish a positive mindset by valuing your message. Ask yourself, “Why is this message important to me?”
• Structure your presentation by centering it on a message with key points that you can back up with evidence.
• Prepare an attention-getting opening. Use a question, make a startling statement, or relate a relevant incident to elicit the audience’s interest. The opening makes up 5 to 10 percent of your presentation.
• Determine the key ideas of your message and back them up with evidence such as statistics, testimonials, demonstrations, and analogies. Make sure that the key ideas all support a coherent message. Remember that an audience can only remember 4 to 6 different points, so choose your key ideas carefully. This should make up 80 to 85 percent of your presentation.
• Prepare a memorable close that supports your purpose and creates a lasting impression. You can close by summarizing or restating the message or by throwing down a challenge to your audience. A close that relates back to your opening can also be effective. Whatever you choose for your close, be sure you tell your audience what action you want them to perform. The close should make up 5 to10 percent of your presentation.

Practice

Practice your presentation in front of a small audience or a colleague, and ask for feedback on the content and style of your presentation. Things to consider:

• Is your message clear?
• Does your evidence support your key points?
• Are your graphics and illustrations clear, appealing, and relevant to the topic?
• Are you talking in terms of your audience’s interest?
• Is your close memorable?
• Did you achieve your intended results?
• Consider videotaping yourself rehearsing, and then review the videotape for distracting mannerisms and other signs of nervousness. Remember that the best cure for nervousness is confidence, and that confidence comes with practice.
• If possible, rehearse multiple times, trying out new ideas and new techniques for delivering the material. Choose the techniques that you are most comfortable with.
• Rehearse the timing of your presentation to be sure that it falls within your time limits. Be sure to allow time for questions, if it’s appropriate.

Present

• Assume the attitude of a professional in delivering presentations. A PRO views presenting as a Privilege, a Responsibility, and an Opportunity.
• Make a positive first impression. If possible, establish eye contact with your audience. Be yourself and relax.
• When speaking, be natural. Speak in a heightened conversational tone. Slow down and emphasize important points, and pause before and after key points to set them apart.
• Be sincere and build rapport with your audience. Involve them in the presentation. Ask your audience questions to be sure that they’re following you. If appropriate, get feedback from them after the presentation, and use this feedback to make your next presentation even better.

Question-and-answer sessions Question-and-answer sessions present a unique set of challenges, but they also offer the opportunity for you to clarify your message and reinforce your key points. Questions also get resistance out in the open and allow you to deal with it. Here are some tips for handling questions during a presentation:

• Plan for questions and answers by writing down questions you expect from the audience.
• State in advance whether you will take questions during the presentation or at the end. If you are taking questions during the presentation, be sure not to get sidetracked. If a question takes you off track or is of interest to only a few members of your audience, deal with it at the end instead.
• At the beginning of your question period, state how much time you have for questions, and then ask for the first question. If no one has any questions, suggest one yourself. You could also consider planting someone in the audience to ask the first question.
• Repeat questions so that everyone can hear them. Rephrase the question if necessary. If you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s best to be honest. Try to find some way to follow up with the person asking the question to get an answer to them.
• End the question period by restating your summary, close, or the action you want your audience to take.

Educating a potential client about “what can be” is certainly not new, but the process to get there is not only a lot simpler, but also way more effective today. I want to talk a little bit about Webinars. Webinars are also not new, most of us have probably been on at least a few if not many. It seems that about 99% of them are produced by governmental agencies who have really embraced the concept and flooded the world with mind-numbing Webinars, but the private sector is catching up.

Webinars can be very effective, but can just as easily stink. Just like a live seminar can put you to sleep, a poorly executed Webinar can have the same result. The difference is, in a live seminar, a bored attendee is less apt to leave, a bored Webinar attendee just slinks off without notice. With few differences the trick to a good Webinar is the same as a live seminar: engaging and relevant content, delivered enthusiastically to a targeted audience.

Now I am aware that many people suffer from stage fright; according to a Gallup poll the only thing scarier than speaking in public is snakes! I think death was third. I believe that this is a reason that many companies, especially small ones, avoid live presentations of any kind, but maybe if you read on you will reconsider Webinars.

I want to focus on Webinars as I truly feel like the surface has only been scratched of the power of this vehicle. First, the software has come a long way since this started. I personally use gotowebinar, but most packages seem to offer similar features. I will get into those in a bit, but lets talk about a few advantages of Webinars over live seminars. Obviously cost and logistics is a no-brainer. When you think about renting a room and providing refreshments etc, versus your attendees sitting at their own desks its an easy choice. When inviting people to a live seminar you are also limited by how far someone is willing to travel to hear about your topic. This may not be as much of an issue if you only do business locally… I’ll get to some more reasons later. But if your business is not geographically constrained, Webinars can reach a global audience as easily as a local one.

So what is the best format for a Webinar? In my opinion, the most effective solution is to have a host and an expert, or better yet, an expert panel. The host’s job is to professionally  manage the program. Usually this will start out with a brief personal introduction, followed by some program instructions to the attendees like what options are available on their screen and how to use them, what the agenda will be, how questions will be addressed, a brief “setup” of the topic and an enthusiastic introduction of the speakers (experts) that will be featured.

Regardless of whether it is a live seminar or a Webinar, being a panelist or interviewee is considered to be the “expert” position. The difference in a Webinar is you don’t have the audience looking at you sitting there on the panel in front of them pre-judging you because you take too many sips of water. And don’t forget, you are sitting at your computer as well, right in your own office, wearing… well… whatever you want. When you take out the anxiety of being looked at for an hour, you will sound more comfortable, because you are.

So, let’s agree that the goal of either a live seminar or Webinar is to make you look like an expert, because given the choice and the means most people would prefer to deal with an expert for whatever it is they are in need of. So aside from some nervous tick or really odd outfit, where does someone who has established themselves as an expert throughout a presentation often loose all credibility? The Q & A. Let’s give Webinars a big leg up here. In a live seminar, when it comes time for the Q&A, you obviously have no idea what’s coming. We have all witnessed that jerk who wants to make himself look smarter than you; he stands up and scans the room clearing his throat…then asks you specifically if you can answer his obscure question that nobody else cares about. Of course we all know he already has the answer to this, but now its hanging out there threatening to make you look like a boob as all eyes land on you. Gotta hate it when that happens. But, not a problem in a Webinar with a host. The audience submits questions via a chat window where the host can see them as well as the panel but not the rest of the attendees. The host conveniently asks you, and you respond to, only those questions that reinforce your expertise. And who is aware that you avoided an awkward question from an idiot? Only the idiot who asked it. Webinars can be setup where questions are asked by the attendees live… but why would anyone do that. The key is “controlling the conversation”, and Webinars, if run properly, do that better than anything else.

Recently a client told me that they really did not want to have any sort of a sales pitch in their presentation, they felt it would diminish the presentation. Their plan was to follow up a few days later via email to ask for the business from their attendees. I disagree with this approach and here’s why. Attendees are expecting a pitch, every seminar or Webinar for business has one, that in itself is not a bad thing. What nobody wants is for your pitch to begin as soon as you open your mouth and continue until the end. Also, the person making the pitch for business, or “call to action”, cannot be an expert. In most people’s minds, experts and salespeople are two different people. If you have successfully established yourself as an expert, you will lose that perception the second you go into “sales mode”. Have someone else, like a host, make the pitch once at the end of the program to keep your hands clean. In a Webinar the host can put up a “special link” for an exclusive offer for attendees only. You would be surprised how many conversions can be created this way, riding the momentum of a good presentation. After a few days… well. How many times have you run into someone you don’t see often and say “let’s get together soon”. You may mean it when you say it, but then things happen and you never get around to it. So, I want to clarify my opening of this post regarding educating. Educating is the method, business conversion is the goal. Educating is a goal of schools and some non-profits. Any workshop for business must at the end of the day generate sales for the sponsor, or what is the point.

My next post will go into promoting your workshop, seminar or Webinar. Because without enough attendees, again, what is the point.