Ideas for improving networking at conferences:

• People should get the attendee list beforehand. This would be even cooler if we could help people set up networking sessions. The Technical Leadership Exchange conference had some meeting places set up beforehand, but the 4,000+ attendee list was a bit overwhelming. If the attendee list could be mashed up against your contact list and some kind of social recommendation system, then it might be more manageable. Calendar, too?

Main tent, second time: (~200 people)

• The value of keeping it fresh
• Adding humor: illustrating generational change through VCR joke. "It used to be that you could tell if you were on the wrong side of the generation gap if your VCR said 12:00. Now, it's if you know what a VCR is."
• Relaxing and connecting with the audience
• Video
• Slides: images are very flexible. I didn't change my slides, I just changed my content and delivery.
• People liked my presenter remote because it provided good feedback when advancing slides, it had intuitive controls, it had fantastic range, and it had a slim, dark profile.

Web 2.0 tools, third and fourth times: (~15 + 10)

• I took responsibility for follow-up
• I used the talk as an opportunity to collect data
• I changed it from a list of ten things to a multiple-choice quiz to help people think about how they were currently doing things
• I could really use two easels next time
• Maybe I might have a webcam watching the audience, to aid with counting and improvement?

Main tent, first time: (~ 200)

• Not having text means being able to drop in even better statistics and references on the fly
• Speaker notes are terrific
• River metaphor frequently cited afterwards
• Good joke about half-empty, half-full room

Web 2.0 tools, first and second times: (~ 30 + 15)

• Back to back sessions are hard
• People liked my energy
• Second session was a bit tougher than the first - people may be tired, too
• Need time in between sessions to mingle and recharge
• Still good, though!

Sowing Seeds: A Technology Evangelist's Guide to Grassroots Adoption (~20)

• Remote presentation early in the morning - doubly-tough!
• Liked the webcam part - Sametime Unyte has added this, but it's not available for IBM early adopter accounts yet
• I need to work on this. Who am I being that people's eyes are not lighting up?

Ideation:

• My notebook of business ideas turned out to be useful
• Random sources of ideas: phone book, StumbleUpon, HalfBakery, good questions
• One of my strengths that I should build on

Miscellaneous:

• Bernie Michalik told me about two funny IBM ads: "Websphere isn't for dummies" and "Should've called IBM Global Services here." I can't find the originals, though. =(
• Between my own presentations and some client-related work, I didn't get to attend many presentations. I'm glad I got to see Jean-Francois Barsoum's presentation, though. He was funny! Particularly clever things I want to steal: roadrunner running across the screen, and a good illustration of the impact of government policies: the Haiti/Dominican Republic border showing the effects of deforestation. I may also find an excuse to use a fake Powerpoint end screen. Also, during the Open Space thing, he used his cellphone to record people summarizing the points, and he played it back during the wrap-up. Terrific idea - showed diversity of input while getting the points across. He recorded a video and put it up on YouTube, actually.
• Ruth McLenaghan recommended the book "I Can See You Naked".
• Met a number of recent hires (same cohort), like Nancy Gabor and Sameer Gupta).
• Promised to follow up with people through e-mail, will need to get some kind of mailing thing going
• Difference between culture (how things get done around here) and climate (how we feel)
• 5y half ValuesJam gone, good way to illustrate
• Interest in rotational assignments
• Utilization versus skill development
• Blue Consulting?
• Interest in employee engagement, future leadership development

I spent some time working on the Wicked Cool Emacs today. Spam filtering - not something I'd set up before. I'm writing it because I promised to write it, but I can't shake off the feeling that this part would be better done by someone who's passionate about Emacs and spam filtering. I have Google handle my spam filtering for me, so I haven't needed to do anything more sophisticated. Still, not everyone's going to have the same set-up, so it would be good to document that too.

I'm tempted to jump to a different chapter and start working on that, just to make working on the book fun again.

Although we have a terrific centralized corporate directory at IBM, I've found it very useful to also have a simple professional profile with a short biography, my contact information, and links to the other services I use on the intranet and on the Internet. Having one site that brings all of these things together makes it easier for me to help people get to know who I am, what I'm passionate about, and where they can find out more about me. I include this URL in my e-mail signature and in my presentations so that people can find me easily.

I use Wordpress as a content management system so that I can quickly add links and pages without editing HTML. On my internal site, I use the Blueprint theme for Wordpress. It's clean and easy to read, and it fits with Big Blue's color scheme. The front page explains who I am, what I do, and what my team does. It also links to places where people can check out my bookmarks, download my latest presentations, and so on.

To set up something like it:

1. Download and install Wordpress.
2. Download and unpack the Blueprint theme to your wp-content/themes/ directory.
3. Choose the Blueprint theme from the Wordpress administration interface.
4. Create a page called "About". Fill it in with details about yourself.
5. Set the About page as your site's front page in the Settings - Reading menu.
6. Create links to your profiles on other services and other related websites.

Technorati Tags: wordpress

The key thing I learned while preparing the presentation is that people can get by without paying special attention to social networking, but some effort can help people really transform their lives into extraordinary ones. I talked about the intersection of passion, knowledge and skills, and opportunities. If you learn more about what you're passionate about, you'll find or create or attract opportunities to learn more about and practice those passions or to use your knowledge and skills. The more you learn, the more you'll be able to appreciate your passions, and the more opportunities will be open to you. It's a beautiful cycle that makes things get better and better.

I also gave a number of quick tips on how to be more effective at social networking using events, conversations, notebooks, business cards, personal sites, blogs, articles, presentations, and other tools and opportunities. All these things can help you learn, reach out, and share what you're learning.

The key thing I learned while giving this presentation was that although people could quickly identify passions outside work, job-related passions didn't come to mind. I believe that it's possible to love your work. My dad taught me this. I know that even if there are difficult days and boring days and lost days, if there's that underlying passion, all those days will be worthwhile.

I'm glad to say that my work allows me to exercise some of my passions. So, what am I passionate about?

I'm passionate about helping people connect. I believe that interesting things happen when we bring different kinds of people together, and that's why I love how blogging and other forms of social media allow people to bump into people outside their teams. I not only get to help people connect and collaborate, I even get to help companies figure out how to help their people do so.

I'm passionate about helping new hires connect with the rest of the organization and vice versa. I believe that a good social network can not only help new hires learn what they need to learn but also get opportunities to discover and make the most of their passions. I want to help new hire networks challenge and catalyze people's growth in addition to providing basic social support. I want to help new hires get connected and share what they learn. Because I've been helping people connect using these new tools, new hire networks approach me to find out how I can help them. =)

I'm passionate about helping people share what they're learning. I believe that teaching as you learn helps you learn more effectively. I want to help people share the tidbits that they're learning and passing those tidbits along to others who are learning too. I not only get to lead by example, I also get to coach others.

I'm passionate about spreading enthusiasm, energy, and passion. I believe that people can be happy at work and in life. I want to learn from people who are happy and successful, I want to be an example to others, and I want to help others along the way. I not only get to share my passions with my coworkers and with other people outside the organization, I also get to encourage others when they need that extra burst of energy.

I'm passionate about communication skills, presentations, public speaking, and storytelling. I believe that presentations should be more than just bullet points and that communication should be more than just talking at people. I want to share what people are learning, inspire people to action, and help them inspire other people in turn. I not only get to learn more about communication skills and practice them by frequently giving presentations, I also get to share what I'm learning and influence the way other people communicate.

What are you passionate about? What knowledge or skills do you want to develop, and what opportunities would help you be even more effective?

Technorati Tags: passion

Last January, a colleague asked me for a high-resolution head-shot that would be included (along with something I said) in one of their annual reports. I no longer had the high-resolution version of the profile picture I was using at the time. Besides, I'd taken that picture myself in 2005 using a point-and-shoot camera and my desk lamp (you can see the ceiling of my dorm room at Graduate House!), and it was definitely time for a change. But where was I going to find a low-cost photographer on a Friday evening?

Right next to me, apparently. I asked W- to take my picture. It was a good opportunity to try the 50mm lens he got me for Christmas. We'd both read plenty of photography books, so we knew that we needed a plain white wall near a window with good light. The only suitable one was the wall directly across the bathroom, so W- set up the tripod across the threshold and I quickly put on some foundation and tucked my hair into a bun.

The window light was coming from my right, and the shadows were a little too dark. I tried turning this way and that, but I couldn't turn too far towards the light because my face would then be at the wrong angle. The tripod was stuck in the doorway and we couldn't move it further. Hmm…

Fortunately, reading books on photography and blogs like Strobist gave us the confidence to try a little lighting. W- had splurged on an external flash unit, though, and we put that to good use. J- got conscripted into holding the large white sheet of paper that was our reflector, and we bounced the light off that in order to fill in the shadows. W- also fiddled with the manual-focus lens until he felt that things were reasonably in focus. (Apparently, it's hard to get the eyes sharp when the subject's giggling too much because of the art direction and the assistant's antics.)

Naturally, J- wanted her picture taken too. (I remember some particularly good zombie-J pictures from this session.)

I was still breaking out in lots of pimples at the time, so I edited the most promising picture in Gimp in order to tone down the distracting bits. I didn't think I could do anything about my teeth (short of braces–tried them, couldn't stand them), so I left those alone. Anyway, I ended up with a profile picture that made me happy and taught all of us a little more about playing with light.

My picture's nowhere near as awesome as my mom's, but that's because my dad's a professional photographer. I'd love to practice taking portraits of friends, and once we either have that yard sale or put all the extra stuff away, maybe I can have people over again… =)

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Do you want to get more people you know to read your blog, connect to you on social networks, and interact with you online? Do you want to build stronger, deeper relationships with your online contacts, maybe even interacting offline? Here are some quick tips on how you can use your online network to strengthen your offline one and the other way around.

To go from offline contacts to online contacts, build value:

1. If you want people you know to connect with you online, make sure people can find you. Create a personal website that has your bio, some contact information, and links to more information on the Net. Put your website address on your business card and in your e-mail signature, and mention it when appropriate.

2. To get people to visit your website or read your blog, give them something they'll find immediately useful. For example, if the coworker encounters a problem that you've solved before and blogged about, give your coworker the URL of that blog post and he or she will almost certainly check it out. If you've given your elevator pitch to people and they're convinced that you're the person who can solve their problem, they'll check out your website too. Make it easy for people to find the information they'll find immediately useful.

3. To get people to keep coming back, provide continuing value. If you follow the advice in step 2, you'll end up accumulating a lot of useful information that can show people that you're worth subscribing to. Make it easy for people to browse through your website and figure out if they want to subscribe to you or connect with you. If you want to connect with people on social networks, don't think of it as a one-time connection, but treat it as an opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship.

To go from online contacts to offline contacts, build trust:

1. Teach people about your competencies. This is probably the easiest one to start with. Sharing tips and experiences shows people what you're good at, and they can start to trust you in those areas.

2. Show people your character. If you go beyond just giving facts and start telling stories, you can form more of a personal bond with people. This helps them trust you as a person, because they get to know your character.

3. Be yourself. It's a lot easier to go from online contacts to offline contacts if people know your real name. A picture and a biography helps, too. =)

Hmm, will think about this more. There's something in here that might be useful… =)

I just got back from a presentation I gave to the Concordia University Alumni Association on blogging your way out of a job into a career. My voice is a little hoarse and my feet are slowly getting reacquainted with the ground. No, seriously–I must remember not to wear those heels to presentations. But I really enjoyed sharing those stories and tips, and I'm glad that people found the presentation not only informative but also entertaining.

What did I do well?

The combination of blogging, social networking, writing, and self-development in a single talk made this one really pop with passion. I love sharing my experiences and tips on social media because I can't wait to see what other people will do with it, and if there's anything I can do to help them get over that rut, that's awesome! This passion and all the practice I've had talking about these topics made it really easy to get up there and focus on making a connection.

I used the rule of three all over the place: passion, skills, and network; "I don't know what to do, I don't have the time, I don't know who'll read it;" remember, reflect, reach out; start a blog, share regularly, reach out. This fractal structure helped me prepare the presentation (not too long, not too short), remember what I was going to say, and show some semblance of order in the presentation.

I put in some effort and a few dollars into visually fixing up this presentation with stock illustrations from stockxpert.com. Most of my presentations have been plain text (white on a black background, usually), but I felt like giving graphics a try. The coordinated graphics I use helped make my presentation feel more fun for me. Practice will help me get better and better at communicating visually as well as verbally…

I rehearsed the entire talk while reading my speaker notes, recording it as an MP3. I looped over this recording during my commute today. This helped keep the topics in my mind. I also printed out a few pages of slide handouts (9 slides per page) to visually anchor my talk as I rehearsed it mentally. During the actual presentation, this practice helped me remember the key points I wanted to make for each slide. Giving myself permission to say things differently helped me not only avoid anxiety (which would have made it even harder to remember what I wanted to say!) but also work within that flexible framework to match the interest of the audience.

I built interactivity into the talk, with two networking breaks and a number of shows of hands. One of the things I love about speaking to a small audience is the challenge and experience of listening while I'm talking. I'm not always good at this. My own enthusiasm sometimes makes it hard for me to slow down! But the physical experience of listening to people's eyes, people's postures, people's smiles, feeling that itch in my hands and in my bones as I find myself attuned to their energy… Wow.

What can I do better next time? (Yes, see, I really do this!)

The key thing that will make this even better would be to make sure someone else is in charge of recording. You know, someone who'll remember to bring fresh batteries instead of dead ones, someone who'll remember to actually start the voice recorder, someone who'll get all of that sorted out. When I'm out there, I'm just too caught up in the moment, in the opportunity to connect with people,

I could use some more planning. I'm glad that people felt comfortable asking me questions throughout the presentation. I completely forgot about defining what a blog is in the first place, silly me, and other things like that which I inevitably discover right after the projector's turned off. Such is life. Next time, I'll try listening to my recording with my newbie hat firmly on.

And I should probably bring along a fishbowl and collect people's business cards or e-mail addresses so that I can make it easier to keep in touch after the talk! =)

It was towards the end of the DemoCamp pub night, past the bar's closing time. I headed over to say hi to Kaleem Khan, whom I hadn't talked with that evening. He was talking to a woman I didn't recognize, so I introduced myself and asked whether she had been to DemoCamp before. She introduced herself as Alex and said that this was her first DemoCamp and that her friend had told her about it. Kaleem joked that clearly nobody had told Alex that it would be a conference full of geeks. Alex laughed and said that she works with scientists, so geeks were extroverts in comparison. When she mentioned scientists, I perked up and told her that there was someone she really needed to met. I headed across the room and found Jamie McQuay chatting with a few other people. At the first break in the conversation, I kidnapped Jamie and steered him across the room to where Alex was sitting. I mentioned that Jamie was helping organize a SciBarCamp (an unconference for scientist-types), and I told Jamie about how the topic of scientists had come up. Jamie and Alex started chatting, and the next time I checked in on them, I heard Alex invite Jamie to get in touch with her to see if her organization might be interested in sponsoring SciBarCamp. How cool was that?

That's a terrific example of the kind of connections I love making. By keeping my ears open, I can come across all these opportunities to connect the dots. If I know what people are interested in or are looking for, then I can connect them with the peolpe, ideas, or tools they need in order to make things happen.

DemoCamp has been a consistently fantastic place for me to make those connections. Why? I think it's because of these reasons:

People who go to DemoCamp are interesting. They're independent consultants, startup founders, and even the occasional big-company anomaly like me. They've all got something interesting about them, and they make it easy to find out what that interesting thing is.

The demos and Ignite presentations are a terrific way to get the conversation started. High-energy, eye-opening demos put everyone in an optimistic and open mood, and do away with all the small talk about the weather. My favorite opener is, "So, which of the demos and Ignite presentations did you like the most?" From there, I can find out more about why people found them interesting and what else they're into. Plus, I can carry their compliments back to the speakers for extra karma points!

I know or know of enough people to get network effects. I've reached the tipping point. I get economies of scale. When I meet new people, I can usually think of people they should get to know. If I don't know someone, I know the other connectors can help me find that person - and then I'll know them too. I'm on hugging terms with many DemoCamp regulars, and I feel warm and fuzzy about people there because I've gotten to know and admire them through their blog entries, presentations, comments, and e-mail.

How can I connect even better at DemoCamp?

• Follow up: I need to ensure I have nothing scheduled for the evening after DemoCamp, or at the very least, I should have a quick e-mail ping ready to go as soon as I get home. BBDB was the best way for me to do that because I could keep notes on people and tie that into e-mail, so I might switch back to doing my mail in Gnus, even though Gmail has been really good to me!
• Give out business cards: This is mainly to increase the chance of follow up. I usually take the responsibility of e-mailing people, but it's better if they also have something physical that reminds them of our conversation. I used to print my own double-sided business cards, but my current printer can't handle the fine-cut business card templates. This is definitely worth getting a better printer. (Preferably one that can also do index cards.)
• Do another presentation: Hands-down, the best way to network at these events. People still remember the DemoCamp10 presentation I gave on Livin' la Vida Emacs. I'd love to prepare an Ignite presentation on networking at DemoCamp, and turn that into something that we can share on the DemoCamp signup page so that newbies can make the most of the experience.

How about you? Been to DemoCamp? What do you think?

Technorati Tags: barcamptoronto, democamp, democamp17, democamptoronto, networking

1. Who are you?
2. What are your interests?
3. What are your goals?
4. What’s a typical day in your life?
5. How did you get started?
6. Share a recent challenge or success story!
7. Share a tip!

COMING SOON: The presentation and recording from the event
Check this page on March 7 (Friday) for more news, or leave a comment below so that I can e-mail you when new tips are up!

Connect with other people who attended this talk by leaving a comment! Put in your name, your e-mail address, and the address of your blog (ex: http://example.blogspot.com). Tell us what you thought about the presentation, and what you’d like to learn more about. Your e-mail address will not be shared or sold with anyone, and your name will be automatically linked to your blog. Check out other people’s comments and blogs to find out more. Good luck and have fun!

Check it out!

• Blog about your research. This is the single best thing you can do to get the word out and to find people who are interested in this kind of thing. I can't begin to describe how helpful people were. And if you end up falling in with the way the company does social networking (like I did!), people will help you find a great job too!
• Build relationships. Again, the internal blog's a terrific place to do that, particularly for this area of research. Invest time in scanning the blogs and commenting on things you find interesting.
• Don't worry about disappearing off the dashboard. Plenty of people use feed readers and subscribe to specific people or tags, so once you get on their radars, you'll stay there.
• Use a feed reader that lets you create keyword searches. That way, you never miss discussions that you are interested in. Feedreader, Omea, and FeedDemon all have this feature.
• Get to know people. I recommended a whole bunch of people who are interested in social computing. =)
• Read these books: Crossing the Chasm, The Diffusion of Innovations, The Tipping Point, and Influencer.
• Check the blogs for news about interesting tools. Our internal early adopter program is good, but the internal blogs catches the coolest hacks from all over.
• … and other tips! =)

I tried to squeeze as much as I could in half an hour, but I'm sure I'll think of other tips! I loved just passing on everything I could think of. It was the best way to give back to all the people who helped me with my research, and I was happy to have stumbled across someone else who could learn from what I did. Besides, it was the Right Thing to Do.

Thank you, blogs, for this opportunity to help!

I shared the Lifehack article because it described many things I work towards, and because I thought other people might like to read it. Looks like that paid off!

Take today, for example. I was working on a wiki guide to social media on a client site when I heard a cheery voice introduce himself and say that he found me on a social network. A few minutes later, I was deep in conversation with someone I'd never met or even talked to before. He had noticed that my client contact had added me on LinkedIn, and that I was from IBM. Intrigued, he checked out my profile and read my blog. He was baffled by the Emacs posts, but he noticed my passion for social computing, and that was something that he was very interested in. We talked about knowledge management, technology adoption, influencing behavior, the different initiatives going on at the company. I recommended two books:

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al SwitzlerRead more about this book…

The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative by Stephen DenningRead more about this book…

… and I'm definitely looking forward to more conversations.

Wouldn't it be amazing if people in his company—and in other companies—could meet and talk to other people as easily as he found and talked to me? Wouldn't it be great if people could skip past all the small talk and build rapport by talking about the things people are passionate about?

It started on December 7, when we were heading into the elevator at the end of the day. Making small talk, one of the clients asked me, "How long have you been with IBM?" "Two months," I answered. I thought I saw a look of surprise flash across his face. I remembered belatedly that companies don't generally like being sent fresh trainees with no experience. I hurried to say that I had just finished my master's degree and that my research focused on expertise location using social media in a large organization, which was a good fit for what the clients wanted to do. I had scarcely explained myself when the elevator door opened and we had to go on our separate ways.

The client team knew my teammate from years of working together, and had originally intended to get only her services for this engagement. She had convinced them to take on an additional resource, a junior consultant with some more exposure to social media and networking–me. Still thinking of my gaffe in the elevator and feeling very junior indeed, it was with more than a little doubt that I walked to the client office the next Monday, December 10. During the commute, I thought about how I could establish my credibility and help the clients feel that they were getting value. Perhaps I could prepare a short narrative bio or send them a copy of my resume. It didn't help the bulk of my project work wouldn't be visible for a while. I didn't want the clients to feel shortchanged.

I think it's fair to say that in the past, that negative impression might have stuck with them. Had I given them an impressive resume, they would probably have been even more cautious, having seen overstated accomplishments before. At least I had a personal recommendation from someone they trusted. I was there because my teammate vouched for me. But clients are not in the business of training or education, and most clients would prefer getting the most experienced person available.

But I shouldn't have worried. When I walked into the boardroom with the other members of the client team, the client I chatted with in the elevator casually mentioned that he had checked out my blog over the weekend. He thought that my Flickr photos were cool. He remarked that he felt he knew me more than he knew some of the other members on the team, at least on a personal basis. Another client noted that he does better business with people he likes, and that getting to know people is important.

It was the perfect segue into my story about social computing. In the minutes before the start of our working session, I shared with them how that kind of quick, deep connection is one of the things I find so amazing about social computing, and how I am passionate about helping companies help people connect in that and other ways. With that shared context, I found it so much easier to relate to the clients, and it seems they found it easier to connect with me, too. And now that I've also checked out some of their blogs and profiles, we've discovered that we have quite a few things in common. I care more about their success now that I know who they are, and I hope that they feel more comfortable working with me.

I'm looking forward to having more of these moments in the future. =)

Accidents

Any person you meet outside a common context is an Accident.

Acquaintances

People that you run into because of who you are and what you do are Acquaintances. They have something in common with you.

Associates

People you come in contact with on some regular bases for some period of time are Associates.

Actors

People with whom you exchange valuable information, resources, or leads are Actors.

Advocates

People who promote you and whom you promote are Advocates.

Allies

People who are experts on you, your business, your career, your needs, your aspirations, and your vision are allies.

Three months of data should give me an idea of who I've talked to recently. I searched my address book for all the people I had contacted on or later than 2007.07.01 - 245 people. I quickly tagged them with the categories. Using a quick Emacs Lisp snippet (see end of this message), I summarized the results:

The categories are a bit fuzzy in this age of blogs and Facebook, and I expect to adjust as I get to know people more (or less). Now that I've categorized my contacts, I can plan to meet people more often or to send out particular stories/blog entries.

Here are the book's recommendations for deepening connections:

• If you want more Associates, make strategic decisions about which organizations to join based on your career, business, and life goals
• If you want to move from Associate to Actor, listen generously so that you can give ideas, resources, and referrals
• If you want to move from Actor to Advocate, show your Character and Competence in everything you do and say.
• If you want to be a strong Ally, respect confidentiality, tell the truth with caring, and support your Ally's success in life and business.

What does your network look like?

Resources:

• Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-how for Business And Career Success, Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon
• Emacs code I used to generate the table while looking at my filtered BBDB records:

(kill-new
 (mapconcat
  (lambda (s)
    (concat s " | "
            (number-to-string
             (apply '+
                    (mapcar
                     (lambda (r)
                       (if (member s (split-string (bbdb-record-getprop (car r) 'mail-alias)
                                                   ", "))
                           1
                         0))
                     bbdb-records)))))
  '("accident" "acquaintance" "associate" "actor" "advocate" "ally")
  "\n"))
;; The world belongs to people who can hack it. ;)

Random Emacs symbol: mouse-secondary-overlay - Variable: An overlay which records the current secondary selection.

I'm thinking of adjusting a liiiittle bit more towards longer, deeper contact instead of just finding reasons to follow up with people, but it's hard to have good conversation over the din of other busy conversations and loud music.

The five minutes I spent putting together a printed nametag and the seven pesos I spent for a business-card-sized pin-and-clip reusable nametag definitely paid off, though. More than five people asked me about it, and it launched some pretty good conversations. I was the only person wearing a nametag at the event!

I asked the coauthor of Wikinomics if he'd found some best practices for starting communities, but no go...

Good conversation with Dave Forde, Tom Purves, and the rest of the people I occasionally bump into in the Toronto technology scene. A couple of new people I really want to keep track of, and maybe even a few possible friends out of the deal. Not bad, not bad at all... =)

Take-away lessons: always, always, always carry a nametag with you. =) Oh, and position yourself near the front, and be animated. People will remember you and introduce themselves, which saves you the trouble of standing around trying to break into conversations. =)

On Technorati: networking

Random Emacs symbol: ibuffer-read-only-char - Variable: The character to display for read-only buffers.

I went back to Second Cup for coffee with Emmanuel Lopez and Rob Schaumer at 3:00 PM. Kevin McIntosh introduced me to Emmanuel Lopez because of Emmanuel's upcoming series called "Movies that Motivate". Instinct told me to invite Rob Schaumer (Purpose Realized), whom I had met at the Mesh planning party last November 15 and again at the DemoCamp afterparty. And what a conversation we had! Two hours just flew past, and we all had great fun.

Emmanuel Lopez has been a motivational speaker for the past three years. "Motivational speaker" is too bland a word to describe him—hence the moniker, "Motivatorman". The movie series this January at the Royal Ontario Museum looks really interesting. With feel-good and thought-provoking movies such as Groundhog Day, As Good As It Gets, and Pleasantville, he'll help so many people face their challenges and develop themselves. And the events aren't just movies, too. He'll start each event with 30 minutes for a motivational speech and discussion, and wraps it up with more discussion and reflection. Sounds like good stuff!

I'm *really* excited about his second project, too: a series of workshops on self-development for hubs/connectors. With the tagline "network - interact - share", it definitely sounds like my kind of thing—heck, it's something I wish I could've organized! <laugh> It's a pity that the first event is in January; I'll only be able to make it to the next one. AHA! I know, I can suggest homework...

What a delight! I'm looking forward to inviting the people I know to those events (even in absentia!), which will help me get to know their non-work sides too.

And I had *no* idea that Rob Schaumer had a talent for marketing, but I'm glad I discovered it in the course of conversation! He suggested all sorts of useful little tweaks for Emmanuel's marketing campaign.

He has such a fascinating life history. Self-educated in an Orthodox Jewish community where most people are expected to complete university degrees, he really wants to reach out and motivate other people. He related how motivational speakers tend to break into the profession in three ways:

• earn a university degree in it (they have degrees in motivational speaking?)
• work for someone already doing it
• prove your worth

Rob decided not to go for university, and ended up building a company for the heck of it—just to see if he could. (Wow!) The motivational companies he talked to wouldn't consider someone without a university degree, so by process of elimination.... I've no doubt that he'll find his niche and fill it really well!

Rob's got such awesome experiences. One of his stories fits in perfectly with Emmanuel's focus on movies. He was playing squash, but he was pretty tired and out of form. He told us how he intentionally visualized the scene in Superman Returns where Superman flies into space to recharge, and that just filled him with energy. Every time his energy flagged, he'd go back to that scene. Because of that, he played a pretty good game!

We swapped many more tips that I'm looking forward to writing about over time, but I just wanted to help you get to know some of the fantastic people I met today. Isn't life awesome?

Random Emacs symbol: term-down - Function: Move down DOWN screen lines vertically.

On Technorati: motivation, networking

We finally had the opportunity to catch up today, and I'm glad we did. He had read my blog (and even some of my homework assignments!), so he knew of my passion for evangelism and my enthusiasm for sales. (Awww!)

And boy, did he have a lot to teach! He's the kind of salesperson I'd like to be. Many people both inside and outside sales think of sales as a nasty, cut-throat business. Kevin Magee proves that not only do nice guys finish first, but that it's really the only sustainable way to go.

Kevin told me about the benefits of having the kind of face that everyone thinks they've seen somewhere. "Have we met?" is one of his favorite techniques for getting people to talk about their backgrounds and interests. Looking back, I realized that he must've deftly pulled that on me too! Wow.

Kevin also shared some of the ways he taught other salespeople to handle cold calls. He said that for the first 10,000 calls, it's truly, truly horrible. After that, it's just horrible.

You know how many people start their call with, "Have I called you at a good time?" Kevin shared that "Have I called you at a bad time?" is much more effective. There's never a good time to receive a telemarketing cold call, after all, but in general, people will be generous and say that it isn't a bad time.

Then Kevin told me how he taught sales people to ask for 60 seconds, just 60 seconds to find out if this is the right conversation they should be having. They would then time themselves, stop at 60 seconds—preferably in the middle of a sentence—and ask for permission to continue. By so clearly respecting the other person's time—and piquing the other person's interest!—they might be able to get permission to continue for 5 minutes. And then maybe a meeting in person. Asking *permission* draws people further in because you respect their time and allow them to control the conversation.

Even with the 60-second technique, though, cold-calling is tough tough tough tough. You can warm up the call by connecting with people in the organization. Kevin found that recruiters are *great* for doing that, which is why he's happy to help them however they can. See, recruiters are in the business of connecting with people, and they form special bonds with the people they place. When Kevin wants to crack open an account, he'll ask his recruiter friends if they've placed anyone there—almost always yes—and then he's in with an introduction!

So for an hour and a half, this experienced, wonderful salesperson shared all sorts of sales tips that I would probably have had to spend years learning. I've read lots of books on networking and sales, but it's different hearing from people who are actually doing it and doing well.

I'd love to help him grow, too. Kevin told me that reading my reflections on this blog had prompted him to think about how he was doing things and how he could improve. For a 23-year-old, I've learned a fair bit, and that's because of kaizen - the Japanese principle of constant improvement. I love experimenting, reflecting on the results, sharing my thoughts, and working on the next step. Sharing what I'm learning about life has led to so many more insights from other people. Wow!

So, how can I act on his advice?

His "Have we met?" trick will be very handy for me. I meet so many people at the local tech get-togethers. That's one way to make that connection and to naturally tell people about these events if they haven't heard of them yet.

I can look for ways to be more useful to the recruiters in my network. I would love to introduce them to teachers who are interested in helping their students find cool work, for example. I can keep an eye out for students and professionals looking for work at the events I go to. Still, I'm not adding much value that way, but at least referrals are handy, and if I vouch for the recruiter, that's at least a little bit. If I get to know people better, then I can add more value.

And the things I want to do for my career? I think there's a big market for it, bigger than I'd realized... I can do so much to help people connect!

I'm looking forward to getting to know Kevin Magee better in February. What a way to start my day!

Random Emacs symbol: set-fringe-mode - Function: Set `fringe-mode' to VALUE and put the new value into effect.

On Technorati: networking, sales

Good magicians never reveal their tricks, but I like talking about the crazy Emacs wizardry that goes on behind the scenes. Let me lift the curtain:

(concat
 "Hello, " (or (bbdb-record-getprop record 'nick) (bbdb-record-name record)) "!

I've actually managed to write my 2006 life update / holiday
letter somewhat in time, and will be mailing them out soon. I'd
love to find out how your year has been and what you're planning
to do next year, and I'd be happy to keep you up to date too!

"

(cond
 ((= (length (bbdb-record-addresses record)) 1)
  (concat "Is this address the best one to reach you at?\n\n"
          (sacha/bbdb-address-string (car (bbdb-record-addresses record)))))
 ((> (length (bbdb-record-addresses record)) 1)
  (concat "Which of these addresses is the best one to reach you at?\n\n"
          (mapconcat 'sacha/bbdb-address-string (bbdb-record-addresses record) "\n")))
 (t "I don't seem to have a mailing address for you, though. I'd
like to be able to snail-mail you postcards or holiday updates.
I promise not to use your address for anything evil! =) What's the best
way to send something to you?"))

(if (bbdb-record-getprop record 'birthdate)
    ""
  "\n\nBy the way, when is your birthday?")
"\n\nHope to hear from you soon!

Sacha Chua

p.s. No kittens were harmed in the writing of this message.")

That's the source for my form letter - a Lisp expression, allowing me to use the full power of Emacs. I used that as the input to the following function:

(defun sacha/gnus-send-message-to-all (subject &optional text)
  "Compose message to everyone, with notes.
SUBJECT is a string.
TEXT is a string or an arbitrary Lisp expression starting with (."
  (interactive
   (list (read-string "Subject: ")
         (read-string "Body: ")))
  (let ((records bbdb-records))
    (while records
      (when (bbdb-record-net (caar records))
        (bbdb-send-mail (caar records) subject)
        (goto-char (point-min))
        (re-search-forward "--text " nil t)
        (forward-line 1)
        (let ((record (caar records)))
          (when text
            (insert (if (= (aref text 0) ?\() (eval (read text)) text))))
        (when (bbdb-record-notes (caar records))
          (save-excursion
            (insert "\n--- NOTES ---\n"
                    (bbdb-record-notes (caar records))
                    "\n--- END NOTES ---\n"))))
      (setq records (cdr records)))))

The function composed a message for each of the records currently displayed. I edited the messages by hand, combining messages where appropriate, and sent them off.

What else can I do with this? Because this function accepts arbitrary Lisp expressions, it would be really easy to include a random holiday-related greeting or poem. If I had a database of significant events, I can include a random factoid about the recipient's birthday. If I had a local database of people's names, I could send one-off messages including the meaning of their names.

Yes, it's pretty crazy, but that's what you get when you have a geek who cares about connecting with people. I've stolen all the cool features from the contact relationship management systems I know about, and I keep trying out more ideas. It's a pity that the base system I'm working on can be quite intimidating. If I found the time to learn enough, say, Microsoft Outlook programming to implement a similar system, I think I'd have quite a market.

Even with my idiosyncratic setup, though, it's fun pushing the envelope. =) There are a lot of other things I'd like to add, and I don't think I'll ever stop coming up with new ideas. In terms of personal contact relationship management, I've got one of the most advanced systems I know—which just means I need to get to know more people, so that I can find other inspirations!

On Technorati: networking, emacs, pimpmyemacs

Random Emacs symbol: previous-buffer - Command: Switch to the previous buffer in cyclic order.

1. See relationships as valuable assets.
2. Develop a game plan.
3. Create ownership for relationships
4. Transform contacts into connections.
5. Move into the win-win zone.
6. Get to know your stakeholders as people.
7. Build bonds of trust with all stakeholders.
8. Banish relationship killers.
9. When something breaks, fix it fast.
10. Get rolling and maintain momentum.
11. Maximize the long-term value of relationships.
12. Keep the wins coming, stakeholder by stakeholder.

The appendix is pure gold. It's a list of typical wins for the different stakeholders in company relationships. Keep it in mind when you're dealing with people, and look for ways to help them win!

On Technorati: book, networking

Random Emacs symbol: auto-coding-regexp-alist - Variable: Alist of patterns vs corresponding coding systems.

(MUST find a better way to blog about books...)