You Want the Results More than the Alliance

Partnering for Profits; You Want What It Does

Let’s face it, few individuals wake up in the morning and think, “Wow, I want an alliance.” Rather, you want what the alliance will do for you. An alliance is nothing more than a conduit for delivering value. As you explore the possibilities in developing alliance relationships, keep your focus on benefit rather than process. The big companies are so focused on alliance process that they can easily forget about delivering value.

Personal Responsibility; Two Windows

I have written quite a lot lately about personal responsibility www.rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm. As a business leader you have double duty. First, you have to be responsible to effectively run your business—to see to it that your employees have a livelihood. And second, you have to be responsible to motivate your employees to be responsible themselves. As you develop a deeper partnering relationship with your employees, help them to see, and mirror, your personal responsibility through both windows. Help them to be responsible, and to hold you responsible.

Platform Charisma; Will the Real You Please Stand?

When you try to be someone else on the platform, you usually suck—unless of course you are a professional impersonator. Here’s the thing; you bring a unique set of skills, tools, and values to the platform—why not release them to deliver the highest value possible to your audience. Careful now, release the best you, and not the worst you. The worst you is the lazy you. The best you is the prepared, excited, and enthusiast you. Always reveal the best you.

Nobody's Going to Do It for You

Partnering for Profits: Personal Responsibility

Just recently I was chatting with a friend that is a partner at a professional services company. His firm has been hit particularly hard in this economy because of the firm’s dependence on the construction industry. He was telling me that his firm is in the “survival” mode. After a few questions, I told him that I disagreed, and that his firm was really in the “vacation” mode.

The reason for my assessment is because the partners merely cut the hours they would work in an effort to save money by reducing their income. And, they have had to lay off a number of employees. While there is much to discuss in this company’s situation, for you the leader of your organization, there is an important issue to consider.

When times are tough, does the leader of an organization throw up his or her hands and say there is no business, and just go on vacation? Hell no! The leader(s), especially in small to mid-sized companies must lead by example. Leaders must accept personal responsibility for letting their company fall into the tail spin by working more hours and perhaps for a period of time, receiving less (Fortune 500 CEOs seem to be exempted).

For any organizational leader, simply working less hours for less pay is criminal in my opinion. More on this next week…

You can read more about my perspective on the fine points of alliance development at:

http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint my articles is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Charisma

I recently asked some of my professional speaker buddies to give me their take on charisma and I think you’ll enjoy with what Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE had to say:

“There are three elements in every aspect of speaking success: Mindset, Skills and Systems. Charisma starts with Mindset. You must cultivate a respect for and admiration of your audience. Without this your speech will simply be a delivery of information. With it your emotions will reinforce your message positively.

The skills of charisma have to do with understanding and adapting to differences in groups and individuals. You've got to know your audience: the organization, the situation, the culture, and the individuals as much as practical.

Your systems need to include the efficient gathering of data about the group, your assignment and their goals. Have a great preprogram questionnaire to help you learn what you need to learn. Also, your personal system or habit pattern in preparation for each speech has a great deal to do with charisma. Be sure you get yourself into the attitude and mood to be the best you can be for them.”

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

A Word About Global Strategic Alliances

Partnering for Profits: New State of Alliance Study

The Association for Strategic Alliance Professionals just released its third “State of Alliance Management Study” and there are some interesting changes since the 2007 study was published. Co-marketing alliances down just a bit and research alliances are up a bit. In the 2007 study, American alliance success rate was around 50%, now the success rate is at 57%. Fifty-one percent of the companies now employ a full time alliance professional. Europe is investing a bit more in alliance management that is being done in the USA. Alliance success is a couple points higher in the USA over Europe. Unfortunately, international alliance success rate is only 49% but better then innovation alliance success rates, which are at about 40%.

You can read more about my perspective on the fine points of alliance development at:

http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint my articles is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Be Heard

The question of style verses substance is one that will always be around. If style is all you have, then you’d better be a humorist or Toastmaster competitor. If substance is all you have then your information had better be so important to the well being, or success, of the people attending your talk.

But, if you have both style and substance, you will always be heard. You will always communicate your message. And most likely, you will always sell your message.

An analogy to keep in your mind is of a beautiful red ruby (substance) presented in a well lighted and displayed environment (the style). Take that fabulous ruby and throw it into a bowl of cooked spinach; not too exciting. The ruby will possibly be overlooked. The same goes for your speech; display your ruby in such a way that it will not be missed—and you will be heard.

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:

The Los Angeles Bar Association recently took a very innovative approach in an effort to retain older members. With the dues renewal, the older members are offered an “opt-out” option of joining the newly formed group for older members. Interestingly enough, few opted out—they accepted the offer. What do they get? Specific programming and events geared to what is humorously called the dinosaur group. Way to go LABA, you are an innovative leader in Member retention.

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

Effective Strategic Alliances from the Pros

Partnering for Profits: Compare to Top Alliance Professionals

A recent study done by the American Management Association and Pearson in collaboration with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP) titled, “Today’s Alliance Professional...Tomorrow’s Strategic Leader” offers some very insightful information.

In examining strategic alliance professionals who identified themselves as “top experts in the field” the researchers wanted to see how those alliance professionals differed from ones who identified themselves as novices and moderately proficient. The “top experts” differed from their peers in several ways. The key findings were:

* “Top experts” are even more independent and sociable than most strategic alliance professionals.

* They are also higher in critical thinking and in leadership orientation.

* Finally, they possess a higher level of concern for others, which means that they have a strong empathic connection with people. When we look at the overall profile of top strategic alliance experts; areas where they differ from their peers as well as areas of similarity; a pattern emerges:

* Top experts appear to be very dynamic individuals who care about and connect with people; they positively influence and motivate others.

* They are constantly reaching out and networking with people.

* They are also very strategic and likely to find and create opportunities to use their critical thinking skills and independent and innovative style.

* On the other hand, they are likely to feel bogged down if required to devote energy to a lot of strict procedural demands and attention to details. They would suffer if forced to work within a bureaucratic environment.

You can read more about my perspective on the fine points of alliance development at:

http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint my articles is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: From Ed’s Bookshelf

This week I’d like to share with you the 12 rules for speaking success from James Anderson’s book (published 1989) titled, “Speaking to Groups, Eyeball to Eyeball.” Good ideas, all of them. One caution…have a script, but do not read your script.

1. Find your action objective.

2. Know your audience.

3. Build from the closing.

4. Hook your audience instantly.

5. Create a script.

6. Keep a sharp focus.

7. Use good delivery.

8. Add impact with visuals.

9. Sell them with persuasion.

10. Keep a positive attitude.

11. Be totally prepared.

12. Follow up your success.

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: Get the Membership Two-fer

How good is your membership recruitment brochure? This is a great time to take a look. In order to combine a member recruitment campaign along with a member retention campaign, you need to have a four-color pocket sized tri-fold brochure, you know, one that neatly fits in a #10 envelope. And the brochure had better address the benefits, rather than the features of membership. Features are what you get when you join, and the benefits are how those features make your life better—by helping you to get more customers, make more money, keep the best employees, and benefits like that.

The way you get a two-fer is to motivate your current members to call on prospective members. Have a class at your next conference going over all the benefits your association delivers—your members will need to attend to get “up to speed” on the benefits so they can talk about those benefits. And, what are you doing? You are reinforcing in the minds’ of your current members that they made a good decision in joining themselves…go for the two-fer!

If you need help with this, give me a call at 800-839-1520, I mean it.

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

Improving Supplier Relationships

Partnering for Profits: Supplier Relationships

Yes, this is a great time to squeeze your suppliers for an extra nickel. The economy sucks, everyone is scrambling, and you want to get more than your fair share—it’s just looking out for my company you might say.

Don’t do it!!!

You might not think so now, but your suppliers really are the lifeblood of your company. Without your suppliers, you’d have nothing to sell or service to offer. Sure it is natural to want to take advantage of a situation. But hear me loud and clear—stick it to your suppliers now, and when things get better, they’ll remember.

By partnering with your suppliers in both good times and bad, you will be making superior “Relationship Bank Deposits” in anticipation of future withdrawals. If you have not yet done it; have meetings with your key suppliers and ask for their recommendations for process and supply chain improvement, especially in this lousy economic time. I’m pretty sure they will have a few recommendations that you have not yet implemented.

You can read more about my perspective on the fine points of alliance development at:

http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint my articles is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Avoid Competing With Yourself

You have most likely seen it; the speaker has a nervous habit, or several. And these habits are completely distracting. In fact, you have a hard time concentrating on what the speaker is saying. Some things to consider that will help you avoid competing with yourself the next time you give a presentation:

Playing with your eyeglasses

Playing with change in your pocket

Continual nervously sipping water

Over using “you know” and “uhhh”

Reading your speech

Dis symmetry in clothing; one coat pocket in and one out, wearing your name badge, or over sized broach

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 with Your Speakers

I was just reading in the April issue of “Smart Meetings” yet another article on frugal meeting tips and found myself wondering why the author would suggest creating an adversary relationship with speakers. While the author did not say it in so many words, however the author’s recommendations said it loud and clear—limit the number of hotel nights and only give conference registration for one day. Over the last several months, I have been interviewing people that book speakers for my column in “Speaker Magazine” and a frequent criticism is that the speaker runs off after their speech.

You cannot have it both ways. If you want your attendees to have access to your speaker for more than a few minutes—you’ve got to make it work for your speaker. Providing an extra night at your conference hotel is a minimal investment compared to the value your attendees will receive. And registration for only one day—how miserly can you me? It basically costs the association nothing to give a full registration.

In your effort to cut costs, be careful not to cut off your nose to spite your face. If you really are under the budget microscope, then hire only one speaker for your entire conference—that will be the most cost effective approach possible. Your attendees will have more access to the speaker, and besides, you do want your speaker to be your partner in making your meeting successful, don’t you?

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

Increased Employee Productivity

Partnering for Profits: Relate Honestly to Employees

How do you, the executive, relate to employees in this tough economic time? First, employees are scared; even if they feel their job is somewhat safe, perhaps a spouse or close family member has recently experienced a lay off? We are all being assaulted several times a day with rotten news about the economy. What are you doing to help your employees overcome this continued negative influence? Perhaps more frequent and more honest information sharing would serve everyone?

Second, your integrity will be their motivator. Your employees want to believe that everything will work out all right. They want to believe in you, and your leadership team. Your integrity in keeping your words and actions consistent will play a huge role in keeping your employees motivated—especially now with cutbacks in pay, benefits, hours, etc. Paint an honest picture, your employees will thank you for it.

You can read more about my perspective on the fine points of alliance development at

http://www.Rigsbee.com/morearticles.htm (Permission to reprint my articles is also there.)

Executive Presentation Skills: Use Mind Pictures

One of the stories that I frequently tell from the platform is about the importance of having the needed skills before one tries to implement. It is a story about when I learned to ski. My goal is to create a picture in the minds of my audience members before I start to use my body as the visual. I start the story with, “I wish you could have been there; it was a sunny fall day in Yosemite National Park at the Badger Pass Ski area…” This conjures something in everyone’s mind. Make your presentations more powerful by frequently painting mind pictures for those in your audience.

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: Exchange Older Members for New?

(First, I’d like to connect back to last week’s cost cutting. If you need a speaker to perform several activities at your next convention, for a single price, please give me a call at 800-839-1520. Have I got a deal for you!)

Why are senior association members not renewing their membership? ASAE did a study in 1999 and found that 76% did not renew memberships because of value issues. Perhaps the question behind the question might be: Is it smart for your association to let go of their older members in exchange for younger ones? Does a continual membership turnstile really serve the association and its membership?

And another question might be: What would be the cost/benefit ratio analysis to adjust programs, benefits, and membership types to keep the older speakers? (Do they have enough relevant knowledge/skills to benefit the newer members?)

The above questions have never been more relevant. Yes, you want new blood in your association. And yes, you want to honor and value the experience, knowledge and wisdom of the more senior members. While many associations have created groups for younger members, most have not done so for the older members. Creating a special group for your older members will both deliver more specific value to the senior members and possibly add a small additional revenue stream into your coffers.

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

Alliance Best Practices

Partnering for Profits: Takeaways, Best Practices & Implications

At the recent Silicon Valley Chief Alliance Officer Roundtable hosted by Cisco at their facility in San Jose, CA on January 14, 2009; they discussed alliance takeaways, best practices & implications. There were seven key highlights of these trends and best practices.

(#4 of 7) Portfolio Evaluation Criteria Adapts as New Partner Models Emerge:

• Develop a working partner portfolio model that reflects long-term priorities, but incorporates risk management for near-term objectives.

• “One Size Fits All” partner criteria don’t work well.

• When re-evaluating partnerships, ask the tough questions and be honest.

• Innovate and invest in the partner model with your key partners during the downturn.

I believe that the important value to be received here is that of recognizing that alliance relationships might have to change in this current economic environment. You need to examine both your short-term and long-term alliance strategy. Be care though of putting too much focus in short term revenue generating alliances “to help you through” at the cost of keeping long-term alliances strong that will yield you greater profits when the economic recovery arrives.

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: How Powerful Is Your Close?

The members of your audience most likely will remember your opening if it is powerful and the same for your close. Ross Shafer shared his formula at the annual convention of the National Speakers Association: Open with “B” material, do your “C” material, then close with your “A” stuff. Not a bad formula, would you agree?

And, what about that close—consider the following:

1. Stop talking long before your audience is done listening.

2. Go out with a huge bang; story, video, or disappearing act.

3. Give your audience some action to take immediately, or upon returning to home or office.

4. Give the attendees something insightful, emotionally penetrating, or inspirational to remember.

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: Keep Your Exhibitors

On the cover of the March issue of M&C Magazine is Galen Poss, president of Hanley Wood Exhibitions. There is a very timely story about how he and others are dealing with large conference exhibitors that are pulling out of this year’s expos. Also, read about how Robin Preston at National School Boards Association kept a technology supplier engaged when they had planned on pulling out of this year’s meetings. By the way as an FYI, M&C will soon be offering web-only content, so it might be a good idea to bookmark their Web Site and visit frequently: http://www.mcmag.com/

My Question: are your exhibitors simply using the tight economy as an excuse to pull out when the real issue is most likely little perceived value in exhibiting? If so, how are you re-engineering your meetings to offer more value to suppliers, exhibitors, and sponsors?

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

Building Successful Alliances

Partnering for Profits: Deeper Relationships with Alliance Partners

A topic that I wrote about in my first book, “The Art of Partnering” back in the mid-1990s is that of going deeper (vertically) to build additional relationships beyond your immediate contacts. When you do this in our alliance partner organizations, you achieve two important alliance strengthening elements:

1. Business leaders get promoted, transferred, and fired. If this happens to your only contact at an alliance organization, chaos in the daily functioning of the alliance is sure to follow. However, if your relationships go both wide and deep in your partner organization, there is a good chance that you will already have a relationship with your new contact, be they transferred or promoted.

2. When problems in the alliance occur, and they will, it is having the deep organizational relationships that will hold things together. When partners are at war, anything one does is considered confrontational by the other. Conversely, when relationships are good, mistakes made by a partner organization are simply considered just that; honest mistakes and not cause for eliminating the alliance.

To keep your strategic alliances working like a well oiled machine, take the time and make the effort to build relationships both deep and wide in your partner organization.

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: Deep Personal Inner Exploration

Consider the idea of deep personal inner exploration of your core message, wisdom, and universal truths in preparation for your next presentation. My good friend, John Alston, CSP, CPAE, once told me to get rid of the “fat” around my universal truths. He told me that it is that “fat” that diffuses the power of my message.

As we endeavor, I believe, to develop content to share with others, too frequently we abandon what Mark Victor Hansen, CSP, told me is “Your Inner Knower.” Yes, we have to trust ourselves. In presenting our ideas to others there is a monumental need for you to access our inner core beliefs. This is necessary on order to muster up your passion to effectively to influence others. In contrast think about the monotone speaker reading his/her PowerPoint bullet points, one at a time—at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Compare in your mind the vision of the slow monotone speaker to that of a strong, committed and powerful speaker, like John Alston. In order to influence others you must dig deep into your soul to determine your real beliefs on any topic in order to share the subtleties of the topic through your window on the world.

Before every speech, consider spending the time necessary to quiet the static in your head, to explore your beliefs, and determine the core message (about any topic) that you want to share with your audience.

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: Go Deeper in Member Companies

As I mentioned above in the “Partnering for Profits” section, there are benefits for going deeper in building relationships in partner organizations. This applies also for trade associations and to some degree in professional societies.

By going deeper, encouraging conference attendance and membership of additional job levels, within your current member companies will serve your organization well. The cost to your organization will be appropriating the necessary resources to both develop additional levels of educational programming and appropriate conference activities.

The benefits to your organization are:

• Increased membership from additional employee levels

• Member retention as owners/CEOs will see additional value in their membership through providing cost effective training and other benefits for their employees

• Emotional ownership in your association from tomorrow’s leaders of your member companies.

• Increased convention/conference/expo attendance

• Increased interest from your supplier members to participate at higher levels driven by increased meeting attendance and ability to influence up and coming users/buyers of their products and services

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

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