Crashing Preoccupation Barrier

Partnering for Profits: Finding Alliance Partners

Where do I find great alliance partners is the question I generally hear. The simple answer: anywhere and everywhere. The truth is—the quality of your partner(s) does play a major role in the value you will receive from an alliance. In my book, Developing Strategic Alliances I offer several recommendations:

• Your suppliers are a good place to start in your search for an alliance partner. They know your competitors and other local business people from a different window than you. You can learn about their buying habits, bill paying habits and other important information about them.

• Your customers are another great place to look. They have most likely done some business with the person or company that could be seeking. Again, they have a unique window through which they have viewed your potential alliance partner.

• Your professional or trade association is a fabulous environment to search if you want to build an alliance with competitors or suppliers. The executive director of the association is usually the person who is most a tune with the players in your industry.

• Newspapers and trade magazines offer current information as to the movers and shakers in many industries. They compare, they research and generally dig up interesting bits of information about business people. Also research Internet blogs, articles, and postings for aggressive companies.

• Local successful business people can be found at the chamber of commerce activities and mixers, civic service clubs, charitable organizations and even local seminars.

• Ask those that supply you with professional services; including, consultants, lawyers, and accountants.

You can read more about the fine points in my several alliance articles at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Crashing Preoccupation Barrier

In order for your presentation to be effective, you first have to first get your audience’s attention. Those folks sitting in the seats in front of you are thinking about their jobs, their friends, and their loved ones—and all the issues that surround them. They are preoccupied, and it is your job to crash through that barrier. Needless to say, it is best to do this at the beginning. Start with your introduction; make it short and it needs to sell you. Your introduction had better give your audience a reason or two that it would be in their best interest to listen to what you have to say.

Then your opening has to build on your introduction. Your opening is more than just what you say; it is also what you do. Check your non-verbal statements. What you wear, how you look, how you stand, your manner in approaching the platform following your introduction, all speaks clearly about you. What are these non-verbal statements saying about you?

While you are waiting to present, take the temperature of the room and determine if your meeting planner gave you the correct information about your audience. This “last chance” to adjust is crucial. I know—who wants to change at the last minute? Any quality presenter, professional or not, is willing to do last minute adjustments to better serve the audience.

The first words out of your mouth are being judged by those in your audience, it is simple human nature. Don’t fight it, go with it. Lean into your strength at the beginning. Truly attempt to “sell yourself” to your audience in the first minutes of a presentation. Your effort will make experience better for all that are in the room, including you.

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: 2009 Meeting Strength

Lately, I have been hearing from association executive directors about their fears and concerns regarding the strength (attendance) of their meetings in 2009. Yes, everyone involved in the meetings industry has huge concerns for the strength of meetings in 2009. What can you do to motivate more of your members to attend this year’s meeting and also bring along their senior staff?

Deliver more value is the answer. Most likely your members are currently having a difficult time. As an example, is a golf tournament the best use of your resources? Perhaps a better idea would be to have a consulting day? Enroll your speakers to attend the meeting for an extra day and deliver consulting sessions. There are a number of ways to administer this idea; sell the sessions, have a drawing for early registrants, or organize it so all attendees have access.

Be honest, is it networking or education that is the primary driver for your attendees? Lean into the primary attendance driver by adjusting the meeting format to better serve the real needs. If it is networking they want; rather than offering traditional lecture programs, shift to interactive programming. You may have to secure different speakers, and it will be worth the effort.

If it is education that is the primary attendance driver then select the speakers that are willing to help you build a pre-conference, conference, and post-conference educational event that is beyond anything your members have ever seen. Many speakers have eBooks, surveys, etc. that can be structured to deliver this higher-level education. Explore through new windows how you can deliver more value while still keeping costs manageable.

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com

Alliance Implementation Steps

Partnering for Profits: Alliance Crash Course

Perhaps, now more than ever, it’s time to give your organization a crash course in alliance management? As you already know, facing 2009 are some difficult economic realities. Goods and services demand has slowed or reversed; resulting, are many organizational failures. Increased competition and consolidation naturally follow. CEO edicts; “Do more with less” have become common place. Can organizations realize more value from their alliance relationships? I absolutely believe so.

Have your alliance relationships grown organically rather than by purpose? If so, perhaps your alliance managers could use a tune-up? Like most other business development and managerial activities, alliance skills are learned rather than inherent. Do your alliance managers have the ability to see the bigger organizational picture while managing an external relationship?

Below are my Seven Steps for Alliance Development, I like to call them the Alliance Alchemy; the formula for turning your alliance efforts to gold.

1. Monitor (Determine Reasons and Need)

2. Educate (Cultural, Operational and Strategic Differences)

3. Select Alliance Type (Structure)

4. Organize (Select Partner)

5. Agreement (Written is Best)

6. Implementation (Begin Activity)

7. Maintenance (Monitor Progress and Cooperation)

You can read more about the fine points in my several alliance articles at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint is there too.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Twittering in the Back

If you are presenting to an audience where there are a minimum of just a couple people under the age of 40 (perhaps 50?), I can assure you there is someone Twittering. What’s Twittering? Visit www.twitter.com/edrigsbee to see. Twitter is something like an instant blog Web Site where persons can post—from their cell phones using the text messaging function. Their friends that follow them receive a notice of the other person’s post. You may not realize it but there can very well be a number of people commenting to one another about your speech—real time, while you are speaking.

What’s a presenter to do? First acknowledge it. Say something early in your speech like, “For those of you Twittering in the back, say something nice about my speech.” This is being proactive. Let them know that you know. Also, if it is possible, leave the podium (the definition of podium is; riser or stage, not lectern) and walk toward the back of the room, you can keep them off guard and they might Twitter less. Of course this is assuming you have a wireless lavaliere microphone.

For years now presenters have been successfully dealing with those RUDE individuals that leave their cell phones on “ring” rather than “vibrate” in a belief that they (the offender) are more important than the entire audience—that it is okay to disturb others trying to glean some important bit of information. Today, presenters are also successfully enduring the second generation of “disturbance through technology.”

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: Getting to Yes

Just last week, I was hosting the Cigar PEG, Inc. Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. I called the hotel front desk (from California) to be sure my attendees could check in before I arrived as the rooms and expenses would be put on my card, which was already in their system. And what do you know; the clerk I spoke with at the front desk was all about why they could not check in without…

Why in the world does one want to create conflict before the guests arrive? The primary reason I believe is twofold; a lack of training and a lack of a desire to serve. Let’s now move the discussion of your staff interacting with your members. Is there any chance that any of your staff could be guilty of this?

At the hotel, there was of course a very easy solution that (the second) front desk person offered. Perhaps the same is true when one of your members has a challenge? But why did I have to go to a second person? See the above two-fold reason.

Let’s face it, 2009 could deliver your association a membership net loss. So why in the world would you allow your staff to do anything but deliver absolutely fabulous value to your members? When staff doesn’t care or is trained poorly, the E.D. needs to look in the mirror for fault.

Please do what you can to help your staff to abandon the “sorry, it’s our policy” and stay focused on the “yes, I’m sure we can help you.” Your members will thank you.

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com

Partners Expect More

Partnering for Profits: Webserts for 2009

Consider “websert” partnering with other (non-competing) companies that sell to the same customers as does your organization. A websert is a subtle third-party offer embedded in a transactional e-mail which offers marketers significant advantages over traditional box insert media. You may have noticed this kind of offer at/or from VistaPrint.com, 1-800-Flowers.com, or magazine subscription offers. This idea is cross-selling at its best. Effectively, this is post-purchase offers in transactional e-mails that offer companies a connection to third-party customers through inserted coupons or links. This method will drive additional revenues and (cost effectively) attract qualified customers.

More articles on how to build alliances at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm

Executive Presentation Skills: Guard the Prime Time

If you were to ask most speakers just before they took the podium, why they were there, the most frequent answers would be:

“I was invited to speak.”

“I don’t know why I was invited to speak.”

“I’ve got some things I want to get off my chest.”

“I was roped into it.”

“I don’t know how I get into messes like this.”

While there are many reasons to stand in front of an audience, always remember this; for you, it’s your prime time. You will be remembered by your words; powerful or not…persuasive, or not…caring, or not.

The next time you take to the podium (by the way, look up podium; not something you stand at, but rather on) consider others by recognizing this is your prime time. Guard it well.

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: Partner for Advocacy

Just announced (Jan. 12) in New Orleans at PCMA’s annual convention; meetings industry associations have banded together in an unprecedented industry-wide collaboration focused on stressing the value of the travel and meetings industry to Congress and the new presidential administration. “This is something, frankly, that needed to happen yesterday, so it’s happening today,” said Deborah Sexton, president and CEO of PCMA. The effort will involve an alphabet soup of travel industry associations, including CIC, PCMA, NBTA, MPI, ASAE, DMAI, SITE, ACTE and IAEE. The associations will be joined by third-party meetings giant Maritz Travel. “This is way beyond the incentive market,” said Christine Duffy, president and CEO of Maritz Travel. “We’ve had clients that have received bailout money that are canceling meetings because they don’t want to be next on the Jay Leno show.”

Two points; first perceptions are real in the minds of others. For 2009, run your association’s activities through the PC perception filter. Second, like the above mentioned meetings industry coalition, think about other (like minded) organizations your association partner with to have a stronger voice in the State Houses and in Washington, DC.

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com

Partnering for Profits: Your First Alliance

Your trade association or professional society, regardless of your perception of its effectiveness, is an important alliance for you to consider in 2009. There are two important points I’d like you to consider:

Point 1: Your membership; many trade associations do a great deal of advocacy work for the people involved in the industry they serve. Any you can get a lot of the value whether you belong to the association or not. STOP BEING A FREELOADER! Join the association. This year your industry’s association or society WILL lose membership; therefore revenue. If you want to continue receiving the benefits of their advocacy work, belly up to the bar and pay your share now.

Point 2: Your participation; is crucial for you to receive high-level value from your association or society. With that said, there are many traditional, and nontraditional, ways that you can participate. Some associations have NO IMAGINATION and only want members to play “within the lines,” making no waves. This is BS!!!

Regardless of how you select to participate, conventional or unconventional, look for opportunities to serve in a way that also serves you. Your trade association or professional society is one of the first reviews for 2009. Not a member, join. Dues paying member but not engaged, jump in.

More articles on alliance topics at http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm

Executive Presentation Skills: Let the Diamond Show Through

Last year (last week), I suggested that you make every speech an event. I mentioned, Lee Andree Davis, who I have frequently referred to as a “diamond in a garbage can.” What I mean by this analogy is that Lee had a heart of gold but wrapped it up in such a coarse package that few were able to see his diamond.

How this relates to every person that steps onto the platform, literally or figuratively, is in relation to authenticity—what many say is the number one element to a great speech. For 2009, will you take the risk of authenticity? It is easy to stand upon the platform and be “Speaker Guy or Gal,” however it is difficult to be vulnerable enough to let your authentic diamond show through. This year, more so than in any year past, I’m going to work on letting my diamond show through, perhaps you’d like to do the same?

Executive Public Speakers, Professional Speakers, and Emerging Professional Speakers; please visit http://www.SucceedInSpeaking.com for additional ideas, assistance, and resources.

Trade Association & Professional Society Executives: Lower Meeting Costs

In order to put on outstanding meetings for your members on a budget, first may I suggest minimizing the pageantry? Then focus on great food and great speakers—that’s what your attendees will remember. After that, challenge the sacred cows, i.e., is the golf tournament losing money? If so, CHANGE THAT, or any other sacred cow that is taking you down. Here is another sacred cow to look at; are the past presidents still getting an upgraded room or suite for the regular conference room rate? If so, STOP THAT! There is nothing wrong with extending a complementary registration to your board members; you’ve got to give them some perks—but look close at the perks you give.

Here is another; do you really need to haul your staff people to the convention? Think airfare, hotel, and meals. By the way, the staff rooms are not free—your members are paying for them in their room rate. Most likely, you can hire local “temp” workers to fulfill many (or most) of the activities that staffers conduct for a fraction of the cost, couldn’t you? For 2009, ask the hard questions and make the hard decisions.

Association Executives may access association growth articles and member recruitment campaign information at http://www.GrowingYourAssociation.com