As most of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota celebrates the Minnesota Vikings victory last night; I am in my hotel room preparing to speak on the second day of a travel conference to a group of travel agents at the St. Paul River Centre.
To so many, a conference means endless hours of travel, crammed airplanes, confusing rental cars and GPS directions, sessions on things we already know and, let’s not forget, chicken and rice and/or beef tips and asparagus.
However, a conference should mean learning new things, meeting new people and opening many more doors to success. Here are a few things you can do to take advantage of the conference experience and continue to build a stage for success in anything you do:
Utilize social media and all it has to offer. Prior to leaving for your conference, join Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Get familiar with all three. And find out if the conference has a Twitter hashtag associated with this particular event. Learn what that means and how it works. You don’t want to miss any chance to network in business. You’ll also appear forward thinking instead of totally out of touch.
Take plenty of business cards. This is not the time to leave them at home or back in your hotel room. And remember, don’t force that card on people but have it available if a connection is made with someone and both of you would like to keep in touch to share information. Have that card readily available so you’re not digging in the “goodie bag,” through your purse or in your pockets. Nice, neat business cards – nothing bent and crammed into a pocket. *If you can have something a little different as a business card, all the better. I use a guitar pick – definitely gets attention. Peter Shankman uses a poker chip. Houston clothing designer Bob Stover uses a card with pop-out collar stays.
Traveling to the conference? Take that time to pick up a magazine or newspaper at the newsstand while waiting for your flight or train – but pick up a periodical on something you know nothing about or could care less about. For me that would be NASCAR. No offense guys, but I just don’t get the whole car sport thing. However, NASCAR does brand better than any business, anywhere, hands down. I picked up some great marketing ideas from a NASCAR publication. Reading something you don’t know anything about opens up your mind in new ways and will make you more open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
Sign up for at least one session that is totally out of your field, which has nothing to do with your expertise. You just may find a new expertise to add to your resume. Never stop learning. Never stop trying new things. This is the place to do it. You are here, you have the time and the experts are here with the information.
Sit with strangers at lunch. Don’t gravitate to the people you already know. This is not high school, this is an excellent opportunity to meet and network with others in your field of business and form new relationships. And, by the way, relationships are EVERYTHING.
This is not the time to be shy. During sessions, in the hall, at lunch, at the cocktail party. Again, relationships are everything. You are here to learn AND to network. As someone once told me, “you’ll never get a date sitting on the couch at home.” Or in your hotel room watchingFriends reruns.
Do your homework and find out as much as you can about the conference before and during the event. Look over the event website before you go and read everything in the conference giveaway bag when you get there. Most of it you probably already know and really don’t need, but you won’t know that until you look at all of it. Familiarize yourself with who is at the conference, the facilitators and speakers, and all the sessions. Something just may catch your eye. The worst thing you can do is wait to read it all when you get back on the plane and realize you missed a great opportunity to see a speaker or attend a session.
Last but not least, don’t forget the follow-up. Take those cards you have gathered and send a brief note saying “it was nice to meet you” and “hope we can work together in the future” or, even better, “let me know if there is anything I can do for you in the future.” Emails, a Facebook post, a tweet on Twitter, a message on LinkedIn – all are good ways to follow-up. The best way though? A handwritten note. That will make the biggest impression.
Despite the travel hassles and the same food across the country at the lunch and/or dinner, a conference is still one of the best ways to keep up with your industry, network with like-minded individuals and form relationships and, open your mind to new ideas and new ways of doing things. You are away from home and loved ones. Make it worth the sacrifice and make that stage for success even more secure!
So.I’m driving along and the news bulletin is “man shoots other man in arm in movie for talking.”It came out of my mouth before I could even stop the sound.A loud “YES!”I think I might have even done a fist pump.Now just because I live in Texas doesn’t mean I have a gun, know how to shoot one or even approve of them.However, I absolutely hate it when people talk in a movie or loudly on their cell phone or are just plain rude anywhere. Just drives me crazy. Here I am cheering wildly in my car for something that is obviously so wrong and illegal but it did get me to thinking - what situations have I and my fellow decent human beings found ourselves in where we have actually let the tiny little voice behind our big smart business brains say, “I’m gonna kill’em!”
It seems I am not alone…..
As a professional speaker, I set ground rules in my programs so people respect everyone in the audience and don't use their cell phones or do "hip checks" on the blackberry or Twitter. I however was an audience member for a speech where a guy's cell phone rang.He got up and paced the back of the room talking loudly on his cell phone as if the 40 other audience members where not there. The speaker didn't do anything, he just kept on speaking.Patti Wood
My cubicle was directly across from the most annoying girl ever. She talked on the phone constantly and loudly enough for our entire group to hear. From family drama to her drunken escapades, we heard it all. The absolute worst was when she was on the phone telling someone about her yeast infection. The young guy that sat behind her said he knew about her than he knew about his own wife.Shannon in Charlotte, NC
I was in a superhero/comic book movie, X-Men 3 I think.There was a couple near by.The wife constantly asked what was going on, the husband constantly told her, being sure to include the entire back story for each character because the movie didn’t show it or got it wrong. I loudly shushed them in a crowded theater and people clapped.Abel Goddard
I work in the field of competitive analysis and I had a stroke of synchronicity in that one of the competitors I was tracking was sitting behind me in an airplane flight home after I attended a trade show in an unrelated industry. These guys had loud voices and were broadcasting how great their company was and some of their strategic plans. They were pretty obnoxious and full of ego. I couldn’t believe anyone would hold such a conversation publicly. People forget where they are in the spirit of the conversation and blurt out stuff that they have no business sharing with anyone.Ellen Naylor
Most notably, while riding the 6 train home from work, two professional men (suits, tie clips, brief cases, etc) get on the train and continue with the following exchange.Man 1: It's not like I demanded a bl****b from her or anything, but if she's going to imply that she'd give me one, obviously I'd take her up on that.Man 2: I mean, she's your assistant and not your client, so it's not that bad. I wish my assistant were that helpful.Jackie Brook
Several months ago, on a train ride home on the Long Island Rail Road, after a long day in New York City, I, and scores of my weary fellow commuters in a packed car, were subjected to the gratingly irritating voice of a loud mouthed young woman who conducted a long phone interview, in a loud voice, for a job she was applying for.After 15-20 minutes of it, as the muttering increased in frequency and intensity around her, we were all offered some karmic revenge. Because when this rude buffoon launched into a recitation outlining her “great sales skills,” all of us suffering commuters chimed in, IN VERY LOUD COMMENTS, things like “No you don’t” and “Notsomuch” and “No sales skills at all” and so on.She finally shut up.I felt happy.Denise Pace
I was on a small jet that was grounded because of bad weather. It was very close quarters so it was easy to eavesdrop whether I wanted to or not. A guy two rows behind me was on his phone and I heard him say, "No, I didn't get to see my daughter on this trip." Apparently, the person he was talking to asked why and he said, "Because of the restraining order." The young man seated next to me rolled his eyes and whispered, "Should he be saying that/" My thoughts exactly.Barbara Winter
Early in my career I had a job interview with the head of account service at a small ad agency. He took me out to lunch for a talk, and talk he did. He was not only an incessant yakker; he had the obnoxious habit of talking with his mouth full. He'd bite his sandwich, and continue talking. It was like watching a load of laundry getting dried at the Laundromat. The sandwich would toss about his mouth, his chatter causing the teeth to chomp and chew until the sandwich bite was transformed into a gross cud. Then he'd raise a finger to indicate "one moment, please" and swallow. He would take a quick drink, load another sandwich bite into his pie hole, and begin talking some more. I nodded approval like a bobble head to whatever it was he was talking about. It was hard to pay attention to what he said with the disgusting floor show going on in his mouth. After a few bites, he had some mayo on the side of his mouth. I didn't feel it my place to tell him about this, so he went through the entire lunch conversation trying not to stare at his mayo souvenir. Finally, when we got up to leave, he wiped his mouth clean. I was offered the job, took it, and had the pleasure of watching him eat and talk with a full mouth many more times. He never did choke, however, which was too bad since I didn't know the Heimlich maneuver back then.Patrick Scullin
Last but not least, my story.I was packed on to a Southwest flight, the dreaded middle seat, when the gentleman (and I use that term loosely) next to me began to sweat profusely and yell into the phone.“They think I embezzled how much money from the company?”“Well, it wasn’t THAT much.”
Seems we all have a story of a talker somewhere; in a movie, over a meal, on a train or plane, all over this country.And there doesn’t seem to be a cure in sight.Perhaps you could post these facts and we can start to spread the word:
I can hear everything you are saying on your cell phone
I can hear you talking in the movies no matter how quiet you think you are
I can hear you sing even though you have on your ear buds
I can see the food in your mouth when you eat and talk at the same time
I can record or video you and have it up on a website in seconds
It is rude to text or talk on your cell phone when someone is talking to you
I can see your butt when you wear a thong bathing suit
OK?Good.Pass this on.Let’s get this solved and we can move on to customer service. BTW, there’s a great sale at Jim Pruett’s Guns & Ammo this week.
*Thanks to the followers of Peter Shankman on HARO.All the stories you sent were amazing.I am sorry I didn’t have room for all of them!
There are currently a bazillion blogs and articles on what any business or entrepreneur can be doing right now to weather the economic crisis and job lay-offs. Rean them all you want, but if you don’t get back to your bascis first, it will all be for naught.
Here is a list of the five most important business resolutions you should make, and stick to, for 2009:
I will work harder. Make sure you are following your passion, what it is you really want to do. With the economic crisis, lay offs, etc. now is as good a time as any to follow a dream. When you work a passion, success is inevitable on some level or another.
I will work smarter. Read everything you can get your hands on. Know your industry, the world around you, pop culture, religion, politics, your community. The more you read and learn, the more opportunities you’ll find.
I will get organized. Have a plan; be on time, do some research before meeting with people. Successful people are not unorganized. End of point.
I will form relationships. Relationships are everything. Join industry groups and participate. Volunteer. Find out what it is people need and want and lend a hand, make an introduction, send a client, connect the dots. It will come back to you ten-fold.
I will say thank you. Somewhere along the line, if you are networking properly, someone will “lend a hand, make an introduction, send a client, connect the dots” for you. Follow up with the most powerful tool you have – a hand written thank you note. I promise it will make you stand out in the crowd and leave a lasting impression. A good one.
So, stick with these five basic resolutions. Print the list and put it somewhere you’ll see it each and every day. Make it your screen saver. Put it in your “To Do” list on your mobile phone. These may seem like very simplistic no-brainers, but they are very powerful if used each and every day.
Last weekend I moderated an author event at the Texas Book Festival. The author I presented, Travis Nichols, is also a musician and said something that caught my attention. A simple phrase that went un-noticed until I brought it up at the end as some of his best advice of the session.
He simply said “after we tipped the sound guy and left the venue…” Something that most bands don’t think about. And something that most people still don’t think about.
Showing appreciation for a job well done never goes out of style. This is the time of year most companies are thinking of corporate gifts for clients and maybe a gift or bonus for employees. (And what about your vendors that take care of your orders all year?)
My question is why do it just during the holidays? Why not reward a job well done all year or say thank you or at least write a note?
A tip to the guy that made you sound good goes a long way. Just think what it would do for your business.
In any career, a little effort goes a long way. And too little effort can leave a lasting, bad impression on your customers.
Yesterday I had the unfortunate task of visiting my father in the hospital. Memorial Hermann Southwest in Houston Texas to be specific, but something tells me what I found is more the norm than the exception.
There was not a restaurant to be found anywhere around the hospital so I was reduced to taking my mother to the hospital cafeteria for lunch. How bad could it be? It’s a hospital. A hospital with a Heart and Vascular Center. (*Note: This is the same hospital that had a sign up for months in their teaching wing that said “Center for Learnig.”)
I was stunned at the choices. Fried chicken, greasy pizza and an oriental noodle dish with chicken. Oh and the chicken was not available. Only salty shrimp and spicy beef, which apparently made sense to their nutrition department for a dish called Oriental Chicken with Noodles. That wouldn’t have been so bad until they glopped a huge ladle of syrupy, sugary brown sauce on top. And the sheer number of overweight doctors, nurses and hospital personnel coming in and out should have been a testament to what not to eat and where not to eat it.
Come on folks. Let’s wake up and take stock of what we are doing in every industry. Mortgage companies are in trouble because of greed, people are going bankrupt because they are living beyond their means and hospitals are cutting corners with artery-clogging cheap food. We truly need to get back to doing the right thing in every industry as well as putting forth the effort to give customers a quality product backed by quality performance and reputation.
A little effort goes a long way. Just imagine what would happen if you put a lot of effort into something. You could rule the world. Or at least your industry.
Dayna Steele is a speaker, entrepreneur and the author of Rock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars. She can be reached at dayna@daynasteele.com or through her website at www.daynasteele.com.
One of the magic keys to any successful career is knowledge. Knowledge about your industry is a given. I mean general knowledge. An idea of what is happening in the world.
No matter who you are or what you do, you have to keep up with what is going on around you in the world if you want to be successful. That means not only keeping up with world affairs, politics and finance but also know what's going on in pop culture, who's on the cover of People Magazine and why. Watch the news, read a newspaper, skim the headlines, pick up a magazine…or two or three. Opportunities will grow right before your very eyes.
With that said, I asked executives, managers and instructors from across the country what knowledge means to their organization:
"Our company strives to keep its people up to date on late breaking information on space industry, politics, and finance to feed their needs and desires to be active citizens. The payback is a highly articulate set of highly successful employees who have great impact on the local community, on the company, and on their industry." Frank Hughes, VP, Tietronix Software
“I think it goes without saying that in advertising staying connected is really key. Now, not only do we have to keep up with creative and pop culture trends, we also have to keep up with the ever-changing world of social media. I try to stay connected as possible during the workday, without getting distracted from the tasks at hand “For me, it's www.nytimes.com and AOL news at all times.” Marc Pascucci, Account Executive, The Ad Store, New York
“I include a five-minute update: ‘This Day in Business History’ during every class period in my undergraduate business classes at the McCoy College of Business Administration at Texas State University. I believe it's very important for students to have this broader perspective on business as they apply the concepts they are learning to their own contemporary experiences.” Donald J. Minnick, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Department of Management, McCoy College of Business Administration, Texas State University
“Being aware of the conditions shaping our personal and professional environment becomes more of an imperative than an option in any business.” Steve Young, Senior Director of Consulting, Dial Global Radio Networks
Now, take a political campaign for instance. Over the weekend, the GOP unleashed Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on pop culture phenomenon Saturday Night Live. Just a few years ago, a presidential candidate or vice presidential candidate would never have considered being on Saturday Night Live. It wasn’t, well, very presidential. Now we live in a world, specifically a country, where the lead story on any given night isn't world affairs but Brittney Spears’ breakdown or Madonna’s divorce.
Whether you prefer elephants or donkeys, Sarah Palin's participation in and appearance on Saturday Night Live was a brilliant move - on behalf of a political campaign and a comedy show. Both had numbers that went up - McCain's polls and SNL's ratings - after the appearance. Again, I'm not supporting a political campaign. I am supporting knowing what is going on in the world around you and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise.
TechEvents’ Larry Heimendinger sums it up best, “Knowledge is always powerful. Its power is most obvious when you unexpectedly get to use it.”
Dayna Steele is a speaker, entrepreneur and the author ofRock to the Top: What I Learned about Success from the World’s Greatest Rock Stars. She can be reached at dayna@daynasteele.com or through her website at www.daynasteele.com.
Interviewers and entrepreneurs often ask me the same question. What’s the most common trait between successful rock stars and successful entrepreneurs? I know they all wish I had a silver bullet, a magic fix and some enlightening words of wisdom. But I don’t. It’s simply hard work. That’s it. Hard work, a good work ethic. It’s not waiting for someone else to take care of things.
As the rest of the world moves on with life, those of us on the Gulf Coast are still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Ike. The size of the storm and the path of destruction are unlike no other in recent history. Yes. Ike was bigger and more devastating than Rita or Katrina. However, we’re off the front page and are no longer the lead story, if any story at all.
Why? Again, the answer is hard work.
Within hours, people were out on the roads pulling debris out of the streets so traffic could again move through the community. No one waited for the government or FEMA to move the branches. We moved the branches. We moved the debris. As trucks came through and started the clean up process, we swept and tried to make our piles neat as they got smaller and eventually disappeared all together.
There are others still cleaning their property. Complete strangers, we stop and, without asking, get out of the car and start helping with their clean up.
Seabrook schools started up two weeks ago. Galveston schools opened last week. Some houses are livable, some aren’t, some people are camping in their driveways while they work hard to clean up and make the house livable again.
Grocery stores and restaurants are open; some at minimum operating levels, but the work ethic is there. They are open.
It shouldn’t take a major disaster to teach work ethic but it does help to make the point. You can wait for someone else to move the branch and blame the delay on someone else and wait to get income generating work done. Or…
As most of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota celebrates the Minnesota Vikings victory last night; I am in my hotel room preparing to speak on the second day of a travel conference to a group of travel agents at the St. Paul River Centre.
