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Questions for a Monday
Posted by: | CommentsI woke up with these questions in my mind, so I thought I’d ask them of you, too. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about the answers, but nonetheless, it’s a good level-set for a Monday morning.
5 Questions to Ask Yourself on a Monday Morning
- What can you do this morning that you’ll be thankful for tonight?
- What can you do today that you’ll be thankful for on Friday?
- What can you do this week that you’ll be glad you did in mid-April?
- What can you do this month that you’ll be glad you did by the end of the year?
- What can you accomplish this year that will make you proud next year?
Happy Monday.
15 A-Ha Moments From Ignite Dallas
Posted by: | CommentsMany of you already know that I attended and spoke at the first ever Ignite Dallas event on March 3, 2010 at the Granada Theater. My expectations were high, but they were completely blown out of the water. My brief recap is actually posted over at LaunchDFW, the DFW Startup Community.
What I hope to capture with this post is just how moving and/or informative every single speaker managed to be. When you just throw 15 speakers on a stage and let them loose on any topic, you have no idea what you’re going to get. But this box of chocolates had nothing but the good stuff. Here are my quick takeaways from each speaker (in the order in which they spoke):
- Shyam Patel, The Next American Epidemic – Mind Obesity (@shyampatel): The subject matter was amazing, but Shyam’s delivery, pacing and obvious grasp on what he’s talking about was inspiring. A great speaker with a great message.
- Brett Duncan (aka me), Move the Box (@bdunc1): When I originally wrote about this topic more than two years ago, I knew it had legs. But I didn’t do anything with it until the Ignite opportunity came up. Also, I had no idea how hard it could be to put together a freakin’ five-minute presentation. Good Lord!
- Karl Sydow, Tobacco – the Most Interesting Drug in the World (@karlsydow): There was this one slide of Obama smoking in Karl’s presentation and his comment on role models that just cracked me up. Karl’s quirky and dry manner actually fit his presentation perfectly.
- Michael L. Perry – How Do We Collaborate Through Software? (@michaellperry): OK, Michael could be the smartest guy I’ve ever met. His presentation was way over my head, but you could tell it was important. And that he really knows his stuff. Plus, Michael and I had a great discussion about outsourcing before the event started.
- Stu Hill, The Birth of a Nickname (@stuhill): Who knew assigning a nickname could be so formulaic. Stu took us step by step how he got his nickname for a snowboarder to be used on ESPN. It was a very funny talk.
- Laura Vatalaro, Go Green Graphic Design (@lvgraphics): Laura showed five pretty innovative ways to make printing green. She even showed how to turn a cereal box into a business card, and I was one of the few who got one before the night was done. She made a strong case that printing doesn’t have to be as wasteful as we think it is.
- Sean Scogin, Increasing Emotional Investment in Social Media (@seanscogin): Sean proved the point that you can’t judge a presentation by its rehearsal. I got to see Sean run through his talk a couple times before the doors opened, and I have to admit, I thought it was a little dry. Ends up Sean was saving the good stuff for the real deal, cuz he was smokin’ on stage. Plus, he proved why every good presentation should include a picture of a cocker spaniel. Nice touch.
- Mike Orren, Stop Thinking and Say “Yes, and ….” (@mikeorren): This was one of my favorite talks of the night. Mike took his experiences from attending an improv class and turned it into a great paradigm shift we should all take in any forum. The idea is that we’re geared to say “No, but….” If we could just switch that mentality, it could change a lot.
- Travis Blythe, Touring the Country on My Harley – A How-to Guide (@blydawg): Way over the top, but in a good way. It felt right. I still chuckle when I think about how he made us think for a second that a hair dryer and curler were necessary tools for the road. I also thought his powerpoint design was smart – he had his contact info in front of us the entire presentation.
- Bethany Nelson, Complex Environments: This is not a Bar (@superawesomeBN): First, I have to say I really enjoyed talking to Bethany throughout the night. Very cool girl, and she was proud to be representin’ Denton. She hit the highlights of a project she did in turning a coffee shop into dance performance. Normally, this wouldn’t have been a topic I’d be interested in, but she shared it in a way that made me listen. One thing that stuck out to me was that she mentioned gathering data at the coffee shop and the using that to form the performance. Never have I heard of a dancer gathering data, so that was cool.
- Jasmin Brande, What Social Media and Ike Turner Have in Common (@brandpointe): Overall, this was probably my favorite talk of the night. First, you could tell Jasmin knows her stuff. Second, the analogy of using Ike and Tina Turner to represent social media and education was perfect. Third, Jasmin was wise in not using my corny line “What’s abuse got to do with it?,” which I pitched at her prior to her talk. Fourth, she really brought it home when she ended her talk (and I paraphrase) with “Social media will never be able to replace great teachers.” The crowd went crazy over that.
- John Lehmann, Changing the Way the World Looks at Information (@jplehmann): John is a really smart guy. One of the biggest a-ha moments I had of the night was when he said it’s most likely that I have consumed more information than all my previous generations combined. That’s crazy.
- Liz Broderick, The Importance of Killer Heels (@passingthemic): Of all the talks, Liz’s definitely had the most pre-show buzz. Between quotes in the Morning News and I saw someone filming her in her heels outside of the Granada, everyone knew about this talk. If you thought the talk was gonna be about fashion, though, you quickly learned you were way off. Liz weaved the idea of heels into job searches, climbing the corporate ladder and the power and influence of today’s woman.
- Salah Boukadoum, One Billion Dollars to End Poverty (@soaphope): Salah got screwed. The mic at the Granada was iffy all night, and it pretty much just crapped out when Salah got up to talk. But he did what pros do and just said “Screw it,” and gave his speech the old fashioned way, sans microphone. Salah took the principle of getting a lot of people (or in this case, businesses) to do a little, which results in big things. In this case, a billion dollars.
- Mike D. Merrill, For the Love of Bacon – America’s Cult Meme (@mikedmerrill): Could you wrap a night like this any better than with a passionate history of bacon? While this talk was chock-full of very useful information, the image that is stained in my mind is of the girl using bacon for her own frontal support. Not sure if that makes Mike the one with the sick mind or me.
I think it’s clear that the night was amazing. Attendance for future Ignite events are definitely in my future, with the next one being on June 2.
Also, I have to give HUGE props to the folks who organized this, starting with Chris Walters. The idea struck him about 4 weeks prior to the event, and he and his team (Mike Merrill, Joey Pomerenke, Danica Mathes, Cone Johnson, Andy Hickl and Chris Bond) pulled it off and then some. Thanks to you guys.
Also, big thanks to the sponsors:
Scott & Scott, Facebook, hck2, Greenlight, Dave Curlee Media, Granada Theater, Sprint, Campaign Monitor, Big (D)esign Conference, swingly, Content Solutions, Social Media Club of Dallas, CoHabitat, Yelp, Level Ten Interactive.
Were you there? What were your favorite moments?
Why I Follow Roland Gilbert, Mack Collier
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s this week’s shout-outs to those who bring me many pleasures via Twitter, the blogosphere and the like:
Why I follow Roland Gilbert (@christianjava): Roland throws out a great mix of “here’s what I’m doing” and great church communications ideas. Being a Dallas local, I’m especially interested, and can relate to, much of what he’s talking about (even when he gave almost play-by-play anaylsis of his recent jury duty escapades). Plus, he’s got a great blog that everyone needs to check out, and that I’ve mentioned before.
Why I follow Mack Collier (@MackCollier): Mack is a modern-day marketing idol in every way. His blog, Viral Garden, has long been considered one of the must-reads online. And his contributions to MarketingProfs are always worthy of the couple minutes it takes to read them. But simply observing his Twitter stream is a lesson in how to maximize the medium. He sparks conversations (esp. #blogchat, normally on Sunday nights) and he passes along pertinent info without overdoing it.
What Not to Learn (Extreme Ironing)
Posted by: | CommentsIf there’s a skill set or proficiency you want to pick up these days, you’re pretty much out of excuses as to not picking them up.
Regardless of what you want to learn, I guarantee you that today you can find. . . .
- Multiple websites and blogs dedicated to the topic.
- An association or trade show focused on the topic.
- Educational videos and pictures explaining the topic
- Several podcasts hosted by experts on the topic
- A webinar (live or recorded) sponsored by an authority
- Tons of eBooks dedicated to the topic.
- A plethora of newsletters regularly sent on the topic.
- Lots of books on the topic.
- Several forums impassioned by the topic.
And most of that stuff is free.
Today, the challenge isn’t learning something new. The challenge is deciding what NOT to learn so you can actually make room in your brain regarding what you DO want to learn.
Regulatory Affairs and Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsThe small print means nothing.
If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that no one reads the small print.
But when they do, they still don’t really care what it says. Because we have grown numb to the warnings that so many government agencies have made mandatory.
Think about it: when you see that a product contains an ingredient that the state of California deems as harmful or causes birth defects, don’t you normally just make fun of the granolas in California rather than think much of the warning?
When you hear a commercial on TV for a pharmaceutical, don’t you just laugh when they start rolling through all the possible side effects?
And yet, we as marketers often fight tooth and nail for certain claims, cussing the institution that ever said a supplement can’t treat a disease, or that an insecticide can be “botanical” but not “natural.”
Keep fighting, but don’t fret the ones you lose. Thanks to the over-saturation of governmental warnings on products today, nobody really thinks much higher of them than you do.
Brett’s note: This post is part of a series known as The Vault, which looks back periodically at some of the better moments of MarketingInProgress.com. This post was originally posted on September 24, 2007.
What They Hear
Posted by: | CommentsSeth Godin recently posted an excellent motif for speakers and presenters of any kind. In his post The Two Elements of a Great Presenter, he makes that case that respect and love fit the bill for a great speaker.
His points reminded me of the best advice I ever received about public speaking (and I can’t remember who in the world gave it to me, regrettably). Someone once told me that, when you speak, stop focusing on how you sound, and focus instead on what the audience hears.
Put another way, focus on how well your audience is receiving, or learning, the information you’re giving them.
Both nervous and annoying speakers have one thing in common: they are focused on themselves when they speak. Prepare ahead of time, be confident that you have something your audience wants, and needs, to know, and then do everything you can to make sure they walk away enlightened.
If you do, the you part of it all will take care of itself.
The Problem with the Stimulus Plan
Posted by: | CommentsNote: this is a little off-topic in terms of marketing, but I think still relevant.
The problem with Obama’s latest stimulus package is that it’s trying to do too much. In his post on WhiteHouse.gov, Obama explains that . . . .
“{Americans} want us to put together a recovery package that puts people back to work, that creates investments that assure our long-term energy independence, an effective health care system, an education system that works; they want our infrastructure rebuilt, and they want it done wisely, so that we’re not wasting taxpayer money.”
Actually, I think all we’re really concerned with right now is the getting people back to work part, and then getting our 401k’s back on track. Yeah, we’d like to do all of that other stuff about energy and education, but the situation right now calls for a focused solution that can ellicit healthy results now without damaging our future.
The rest can wait.
By the way, if the idea is to use this $800 billion to stimulate our economy and get people spending money, why doesn’t the government just send us all a Visa Gift Card. That way we can’t save or cash it; we have to spend it.
Evolving
Posted by: | CommentsA quick public service announcement regarding two upcoming changes to MarketingInProgress.com:
Direct Sales and Church Marketing: I’ve lately become even more fascinated with marketing in the direct sales/network marketing arena as well as for churches, and I’ll be writing about it often, but not exclusively. To figure out what works in terms of marketing when your evangelists are truly volunteers is intriguing, to say the least. This won’t dominate our conversation here on MiP, but don’t be surprised when it happens.
Facelift: I’ll be converting my theme very soon. I’m still not completely satisfied with the look and feel of the site, so I’m making yet another change. Standby, and let me know what you think once it’s live.
Constraining Yourself
Posted by: | CommentsMark has posted an excellent article on enhancing creativity by increasing your limitations. In essence, he explains that the blank page approach to creativity and innovation usually isn’t the most productive way to capitalize on our creative juices. Rather, limit yourself in certain areas and see what happens.
I completely agree with his belief, and think it’s imperative for marketers to excel in establishing the boundaries.
We too often celebrate freedom, particularly in management. But as the Eagles warned us in their song Desperado, “Freedom, well that’s just some people talking.” As marketers, we must learn how to successfully communicate the boundaries so that innovation reaches its peak.
Here are two examples:
- I’ve yet to meet a designer who doesn’t LOVE receiving an extremely detailed creative brief. Something that not only describes WHAT needs to be designed, but WHY you need it in the first place, WHO will be seeing the design, WHEN they’ll see it, WHERE the design will be, and myriad other details. Designers love clients that give clear boundaries and clear goals, and then get the heck out of the way.
- In product innovation, too many good ideas have never become great because marketers have just thrown a product against the proverbial wall to see what target markets will stick. The thinking is usually that the product’s greatness will be evident, and the right people will flock. This never works. You have limit who your product is for and how it will be used, among about 100 other limitations. Then, the product becomes great. Then, you’ve filtered it to a point that it’s tailor-made for the right people and the right situation.
The Vault: If It Ain’t Broke
Posted by: | CommentsBrett’s note: The Vault is a periodic opportunity to look back at some of the better moments of MarketingInProgress.com. This post was originally written on May 24, 2007.
If It Ain’t Broke . . .
. . . don’t fix it, right? We’ve all heard that one before, and sometimes it’s true. However, more times than not, it’s our favorite excuse for not doing something. Simply declare that it ain’t broke, and you can check it off your list of things to worry about and find something else to occupy your time.
What if you do know that something is broken? Undeniably broken? What do you do then?
If you know something is broken, then you’re obligated to attempt fixing it. Even if you’re unsure of your fix, you’ve still gotta try. Because if you’re convinced it’s broken, then doing nothing will amount to nothing . . . but failure. Trying to fix something, at the least, will only amount to the same thing, and will probably be better.
Of course, your idea on how to fix it might lead to failure, too, but you have to try. And you can’t be fooled into thinking there’s only one way to fix it, because 99% of the time, there are several ways to make it work.
So, what’s broken that you have a right to fix? Figure it out, and then convince yourself that you have a duty to fix it.
