Business Thoughts

Five lessons for putting on a great conference #WABCON

2009-10-20T07:52:40Z

So roughly five years ago my business partner and I formed a Software Development company named Wasatch Dev. At the time we started looking into the normal Business opportunities for a startup. We ventured to many organizations to find which one would work best to help us grow. We ended on the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce. Unfortunately, we found out all to late what many people before us had found. It didn’t really give us an opportunity to grow as a business.

The PoCoc had one event we found rather interesting: a program called Chamber University. The idea: to give any business the opportunity to train other business owners in a technique or trick to help them grow their business. This was perfect! It was the program we were looking to help us grow. We went to a couple of the events and were greatly disappointed. These weren’t trainings, but glorified sales pitches to business owners. “I would love to teach you about simple accounting skills, but their rather complex so you should have me do your books.” What a joke.

Being that I love education, I brought up the idea to my business partner about doing a Chamber University that was pure education. Our rates were a little too high for the small business owner, but if we could get them to be more successful they would be able to afford us. So we started brainstorming through ideas that would could teach small business owners. And we came up with about 100 different ideas. We could have been doing Chamber Universities for many years. We needed another thought.

Enter WABCON. A day long business education event that trained business owners, no sales pitches. But who would come and see two relatively unknown computer geeks talk about technology all day? We needed something else. A lot of small business clients we worked with would ask us questions about marketing, finance and business management so we decided to find the greatest minds in those areas and see if they would help us present for the day. And low and behold they loved the idea and wanted to be a part.

Lesson #1: Find an idea and stick with it unapologetically

We wanted to create the ultimate business education conference focused in four key business areas: marketing, finance, technology and business management. There were often times were people came to us and asked if they could present on a new book they just wrote or about a new product they wanted to sell. We would tell them if that we do not sell anything @ WABCON. WABCON was about pure business education. We have lost a number of presenters, but we have maintained a level of integrity with our clients that is important. We make sure that our clients know when they hear WABCON that they hear education.

It is important to be passionate about your idea. Now you can get too focused on the idea that you might miss some of the picture, but that’s where getting people to help comes into the picture. The trick is to compromise where it does not alter the original focus. Back of room sales, a new program this year, does not interfere with the pure education presentation, but it can entice certain key note presenters. Altering the program around the idea does not mean that you are altering the idea. It could, but the trick is to have your vision defined so you know where the boundaries can be pushed. Enhance your idea … don’t alter it.

Lesson #2: Find key people who share your vision and ask for help

We made sure that when we partnered with companies and people that they shared the same vision as we had. I know that the business decision maker needs to know about changes in the business environment. Having those people who understand that same idea is equally as important. Not only will they drive your message to their spheres of influence, but they will also help you keep on track when you begin to wax and wane. Making sure you have people around you who support your same ideas and want to see them succeed helps grow the brand and make it more of a reality.

When we first started WABCON it was Bryce and myself, with a few others helping spread the word. The second year we started planning the conference about 8 months prior with a few other people. Now we have a phone meeting every two weeks to plan events throughout the year. And each monthly event we have is a unique experience for the business decision maker. We have a rotating volunteer staff that helps on the phone calls to create the best education events possible for our clients. We want to see them grow! Success breeds success!

Lesson #3: Broadcast the word as much as possible

Stephen Sondheim once wrote, “A vision is just a vision if it’s only in your head.” This is true of products and services just as it is with events. Our first year we were involved with the PoCoC and did a lot of information through them. Granted they had a great person working with them who ended up getting a job in Texas. Once we lost connection with the PoCoC representative we stopped attending their functions. This dried up an aspect of the business community we were drawing new clientele. When we stopped our numbers started to dwindle. Sure we had a pool of people we were pulling from who would bring in contacts, but it wasn’t enough to make our conference grow where we wanted to be.

Enter in Kristin who started helping us spread the word in local networking groups.She joined the Orem chapter of BNI (Business Networking International) and starting attending the American Fork Chamber of Commerce (a phenomenal Chamber to belong). With the help of Kristin we were able to bring our numbers higher and get more clients. The key? Broadcasting the word. Bryce and I were so busy keeping Wasatch Dev alive that trying to get to all the networking opportunities was extremely difficult. But with Kristin helping out it made it easier and more effective.

Lesson #4: Get INCREDIBILE presenters who you TRUST

I have been charged with playing favorites when it comes to the presenters and instructors we have at WABCON. And to be honest, I am guilty of this accusation. But in my defense it is because I trust these presenters with the integrity of WABCON. There have been many people who have wanted to present, but after a little time with them, hearing their presentation ideas, and learning what other people have to say about them … I decline. It is important to me that our clients learn something from the presenters they can implement in their business and see results, than to have someone just speak and present in front of an audience. And the presenters we have are amazing people who I greatly trust with my clients. I do my research and make sure that others know what they are getting into.

I have been to many conferences where a key note presentation did nothing but ramble about the latest party they attended, or just talked about the latest gadget they acquired and gave no information pertinent to the business owner. Sometimes the presenter doesn’t understand the audience and speaks too technically or sophisticated for the attendee. We make sure that each of our presenters understand a couple key points: 1) Experiential is more meaningful than Lecture; 2) Teach to the Head (intellect), the Hand (implementation) and the Heart (excitement); and 3) Make sure that the participant walks away with something they can implement immediately. When you have a pool of presenters that you trust to get that message to your clients how often do you accept a source who does not care about those ideas?

Lesson #5: The Attendees are the most important people

The people who come to WABCON are the most important people in the world. To see them get excited about our events and come prepared to get education and learn tricks that they can use in their businesses is important. I love hearing stories from people about the exciting things that happen because of our events. And knowing that we are a part of those activities is greatly rewarding.

Many people ask what we get out of the conference. “You must be making a lot of money?” The truth is we don’t. We put on WABCON to give back to the community. We do it to help business grow and succeed. We do it for the fun of putting on a conference that helps people. Some day we are going to break the 250 attendee threshold that we have set for our conference. That would be great, however, I know if we ever get to that number then it will become increasingly more difficult to sit with everyone and see how they are doing. I love working together on the goals of the attendees. I love helping them get to the next level. I love engaging in those conversations. It’s because of the attendees that I hold fast to the integrity of this conference.

If you are in the Orem UT area around October 22nd, 2009 and want to see a great conference event. Please come and visit us. You can read all about our conference @ http://www.Wabcon.com and register for the event. And if I don’t know you, please come introduce yourself. I would love to see what I can do to help your business grow. And possibly, just possibly, show you how important you truly are to us.

The Budding Roses of Business Growth

2009-08-05T11:19:00Z

In hopes of trying to get a little sleep in the evening I’ve been listening to a lot of different songs on my computer. I’ve almost burned my entire CD collection, which has been great to have in a portable organized fashion that doesn’t require me to scroll with my thumb. In listening to my eclectic collection I stumbled upon an old favorite of mine … the Shaw Brothers.

For those of you who don’t know the Shaw Brothers, they are a folk duo from New Hampshire that pretty much sum up the feeling of NH days in a simple musical style. The folk music is very Irish sounding and will by no means awe and inspire you if you are listening to them for the first time, but I was dragged to many a Shaw Brother concert growing up and found a closet love for them. They have a couple of songs that are traditionally sound: New Hampshire Naturally (NH’s state song), The Ballad of the Concord Coach and Seven Daffodils to name a couple.

The song that hit me pretty hard this evening though was “Take Some Time to Smell the Roses.” A simple phrase that is mentioned over in over with great platitudes from people. But this sentiment got me thinking about some of the clients that I work with in my Social Interneting strategy sessions. Most importantly about the breakthroughs that certain clients have had over the last couple of weeks.

One of the important aspects that I talk about with business owners is the importance of self reflection. We turn the mirror on each other and take a moment to answer 5 simple questions: What makes you special?; What are you Passionate about?; How do you communicate?; What are your strengths?; and finally what are your weaknesses? These appear to be simple questions that any person could take about 5 minutes to answer, but I spend a couple hours with a client to really focus on these ideas. Most people don’t analyze themselves with great depth and because of that struggle to position themselves in the world: virtual and physical.

Usually after working with a client in these arenas an idea will open up that makes the business owner smile and realize that there are areas they should be focusing. I have yet to have a client leave a strategy session where we work through these concepts leaving unsatisfied with the new direction they should be heading. The reason why the approach works is the simplicity of questions and where they can lead. The other trick behind it is taking the time to actually work through the answers. And it’s amazing what roses of realization occur when you take the time.

What are the roses? Some are ideas of who they want to become. Some are understandings of what they want to be doing. Some are just realizations of where they want to focus their lives. What we create is a simple blossom that needs to be tended and cultivated into something amazing. Most of the business owners I meet take very little “time to smell the roses” because of the busy schedule they live. When we work together we focus on themselves in a safe focused environment so that we can find the sprouting buds that have been hidden for so long.

So if I can give a little advice to business owners beginning and established. If you are finding the situations that currently exist a little challenging and burdensome, take some time to smell the roses. Look at yourself and what you are doing and ask a simple question, “Am I working smarter or just harder?” Find an exercise to focus a little attention to yourself and discover what is amazing about you. Then turn that into something that increases your business. You’ll be amazed at what an exercise like that can produce.

Oh … and if you find yourself having a little trouble … don’t hesitate to drop me a line. :)

“Take some time to smell the roses” lyrics

Take some time to smell the roses
before the summer time slips away

I was born on a farm in west Virginia
My daddy worked hard for a living all of his days
there was a whole lot of work to be done
but we always took time to have fun
And I remember what my daddy used to say

Take some time to smell the roses
As you hurry on your way
Take some time to smell the roses
before the summer time slips away

I left home one day to seek my fortune
When I think of the things I've seen and the places I've been
Oh I've been up and I've been down
but through the toughest times I've found
you can always rise and face the world again

If you just take sometime to smell the roses
as you hurry on your way
take some time to smell the roses
before the summer time slips away

Well I'm a married man with a young son of my own now
And I'm as proud of him as any daddy can be
But if I could give him some advice
That would last him all his life
I know for sure just what those words would be

I'd tell him take some time to smell the roses
As you hurry on your way
take some time to smell the roses
before the summer time slips away

The #SMCSLC February Panel of Love … and fame

2009-02-20T07:00:33Z

So after a LOOOOONG day at work I was excited to see the alarm on my phone go off. "90 minutes to SMCSLC" was the alert. 5:00 already? That meant I only had 15 minutes to finish my coding and jump in the car. @DeanGirls was waiting for me to pick her up and ride up to Salt Lake City for the Social Media Club event and last time I was late … well …. Let's just say I can't be late again.

So we were talking about what was going to happen that evening. A Meet and Greet. Door prizes. And then a panel discussion. What were we going to discuss? Who knew? It didn't really matter because the last event was pretty cool (see Last Night at the Social Media Club …) so we were excited to see what was going to happen. I've been doing a lot of Consulting with local business owners so seeing other people's viewpoints is always exciting and educational. People grow by being willing to listen and understand various viewpoints.

So we drove and talked for the hour it took to get there. The location changed to the Neutron Interactive facilities in Downtown SLC so finding it for a non-local always takes a few more moments. So we found the place and parked. There were a bunch of people walking into the same building and heading up the elevator to the event so I hoped we didn't miss it … And you couldn't. Not just because @paco_belle and @jyl_MomIF were waiting for everyone at the door, but because IT WAS PACKED WITH PEOPLE!! This was great because a bigger crowd meant more people to meet with and connect.

But I was really hungry, so I mainlined to the drink table to get some water ignoring everyone around me. My apologies to all the people I was rude, but … I really needed something in the tummy. Afterwards I saw @ThomAllen looking at the big Twitter screen and I thought that I would say hello. @ThomAllen has been working REALLY hard on setting up the second PodCampSLC and I wanted to make sure things were going well. I also thought that I would offer help since I also put on a semi-big conference in the fall (WABCON) that Thom has presented at. Just as we were starting to converse the announcement came that the panel was about to start.

So first there were door prizes given out to a number of people. Some pretty cool ones to: Ski Passes to Park City, an eBay gift card, Tickets to Hoogle Zoo and various other items. Then the panel was introduced and given time to talk about themselves. Here are the people and a quick précis about what they said.

@apowerpoint – Anthony Power – A very diverse technological man with a degree in Psychology, Anthony talked about TRUST and what that means to the conversation in Social Media. He stayed very focused on marketing throughout the meeting and had some great insights and points. For a snippet of insight: http://apowerpoint.blogspot.com/2009/02/explaining-social-media-and-marketing.html
@todaysmama – Rachael Herrscher – A very insightful woman who spoke about mothers and how influential that demographic is becoming in the world of Social Media. She urged us to be mindful of this growing group and utilize that understanding in how we create campaigns and strategies for Social Media.
@jesse – Jesse Stay – A hugely popular Social Media connector and author who spoke about creating the "Real Connection" instead of just the virtual connection. He shared a story about a business startup that he was tweeting about that took the time to send him a thank you card and attention about his needs and desires for using their product. It showed that there are real people behind some of the these virtual personas that we sometimes fail to connect with.
@sarabanut – Sara Brueck Nichols – A strong mannered woman who spoke with great passion about not abusing the connections you have with people. She spoke about non-profits and how by providing information about what services you are provided how powerful that is in the minds of the people you are asking for donations. She also mentioned the power of twitter in the world of @Tweetsgiving and how there are other means of connecting with people who don't know who you are and what your organization is about.
@comcastcares – Frank Eliason – A surprise panel presenter who arrived a little late. Comcast Cares Frank has become a celebrity in the Tweeterverse with all that he has done for support with Comcast. He didn't have time to talk about himself, but shared some wonderful insights about being personable, connecting and dealing with people who are haters.

So the panel took about a half an hour to give their introductions which left a half an hour to ask questions.

How do you make a conservative executive take notice of Social Media?
- Get started using the technology and then show them how it's used
- Show how being connected can improve product quality and customer satisfaction
- Build excitement as people see what is happening
So is "Less is More" truly effective when it comes to getting your information out to the public?
- Yes. Engage the people who are like minded and you find successful in the future
- Don't focus on just making money, focus on the relationships
How do you differ from the "company" brand to the "personal" brand when you become a bit of a celebrity?
- It's better have advocates for the company than just the company
- Recommend looking at the "Zappos" model how to interact in Social Media
- Branding employee is also Branding himself
- Train employees to use the Social Media effectively and make the presence known
What are the psychological trends that make people want to share their lives?
- A tough question because that if it get's answered the experts would like to know
Do you fear of spoofing that might ruin your credibility/integrity?
- Having proof that you are who you say you are is important
- Link your social sites to your web-sites to prove that it's you
How does one manage the amount of people when you get above a certain number of connections?
- Twitter is about the information stream, utilizing applications will help manage the information

I wish I could remember all of the comments made during the evening. Unfortunately my memory isn't that strong but you can find out all the information by watching the UStream video that's online. It shows most of the Panel conversation so everyone can participate in what went on during the evening. On the whole … it was a great event with some very excellent insights.

But it wouldn't be a post without a couple critiques. Here we go:

Problem		Resolution
The "Meet and Greet" portion was a little unruly for first time people to feel super welcome in the group. You could tell the people who knew each other because they congregated and stayed close together. This makes new people not meet as many as they could.		Organize the "Meet and Greet" in a networking situation where people could meet others easily. Possibly a "Greeter" who could shuffle people to a "local celebrity" they could be introduced to and meet. Or possibly a "quick introduction card" that could be handed out that could gather information about Name, Twitter, Facebook, etc account.
Panel introductions and moments were TOO long.		It's great to have people talk about who they are and what they do, but without time restraints some people will start talking about things that lose relevance and pertinence. Plus it gives more time for questions that are what people were interested in hearing.
Panel answers were too long.		Same problems with the introductions above. Towards the end of the evening the moderator started putting pressure on the answers time, and great information was shared. More questions could have been answered with more insightful information if there were tighter time constraints.
Panel discussion topic was too broad		Having a panel of experts is impressive, but centralizing what the topic of the panel is about would allow the attendees to come prepared with questions and discussions. When the topic is so broad you can get some good insights, but some people will start to lose focus
The end was too noisy		You could tell that by the end of the evening people were ready to finish. The noise in the back of the room became overwhelming compared to the comments on the panel. It was distracting and undermined the "expertise" that the panel established.

But even with my insignificant critiques the evening went very well. Congratulations to SMC SLC on a wonderful evening. Keep us all updated on what's goin' on next. We're all listening.

Last Night at the Social Media Club “Out-Of-The-Box” Social

2009-01-16T22:53:23Z

The dust settled across the room. Anticipation was in the air as the visage of "Chris," founder of Social Media Club, spoke from beyond the wall. The crowd anxiously waited to hear what this Orwellian person was going to say. The room was filled to capacity … twice, a pleasant surprise since no one really understood what the first meeting of the Salt Lake chapter was going to bring. @ThomAllen said it best during a Facebook chat: "not sure what to expect but I'm game for something new :)"

We were late, @deangirls and I, so we were part of the "standing room only". As I perused the crowed, straining to make my 5'6 ½" (yes the ½ inch is important) body taller to see people I recognized, it became apparent that this was the place where influential people in the Utah Social Media community were that night. Peering out of the corner of my eye I noticed the magnificent @RickGalan in his authoritative style @ replying me on his phone to glance over and say hello. I did … briefly, probably too briefly. I mean what do you say to a person that you stumble upon and follow on Twitter? Especially a person of influence? "Um … I follow you on Twitter." Was all that came from my mouth. Simple, straight and to the point. Friendly? No. But then again sometimes it's easier to be smooth talking in 140 characters than in person.

So Chris, the main SMC dude, finished up his little presentation. He was cool enough to have as a welcome/keynote, but I was anxious to find more people to follow, to get some information and actually put some of the thoughts and ideas we were to learn into action. The room dispersed and the whole motley crew moved downstairs. All of a sudden faces that I followed were alive and in person: @CarySnowden, @travelgirl521, to name just a few. And to see the herd move to the basement of "The Summit Group" was a little like watching the old R.C. Willey Memorial Day commercial: people rushing to get to the new thing. There was excitement in the air about what was next … but what was next?

After a few "Hellos" to those people we knew (the extraordinary @ThomAllen, mad shout out!). A person, I'm assuming a leader of the SMC, stood up and mentioned that we would break into 7 different groups to talk about Social Media: Newbies, Marketing, Development, HR, Non-Profit and two others that slipped my mind. I was stumped about where I was going. I could jump in Marketing, but it seemed that there were a lot of people in the marketing group. I didn't think that I would be of much help there. @DeanGirls was going to the Newbie class, so I figured I should do something different then her. I could jump into Development, but I wanted a different perspective then what I'm around every day (my company, Wasatch Development Studios, is a software consulting house). So I decided that I would jump into the Non-Profit for two (2) reasons: 1) I do a lot of work with various non-profit organizations so I thought I could help, and 2) It was all women (To be a geek in a sea of estrogen is a very powerful feeling, even if all of them were out of my league … and married).

The group's process went like this: 1) Read a scenario and 2) discuss different Social Media techniques to resolve the scenario. Our process went like this: 1) introduce ourselves and our organizations, 2) read the scenario, and 3) forget the scenario and ask what each person in the group was currently doing in the social media world. Which I think worked really well, because our scenario was pretty much, "You have a non-profit. How do you raise funds using Social Media?" It was much better our way because we could help the non-profits by giving useful ideas specific to what their needs were. And we had all sorts of entities there from Dancers, Mentors, Moms who wanted to find support organizations, and much, much more. (For those I forgot please message me and let me know!! http://www.twitter.com/dellojoio). Almost all the groups were on 'Da Book in various forms: Groups and/or Pages. So we had a brief discussion about the pros and cons of each. We then mentioned some of the applications that can benefit a page (such as My Blogs and Causes applications). I also piped in and mentioned that with the pages our organizations could create pay-per-click ads to target people during the "tax season" to remind them of the tax benefits of donating: "Need some additional tax relief? Remember the Children!!!!" – Link to your non-profit for donations.

We discussed for a short time and then came the "Okay people let's wrap up!" segment of the evening. Every group had a "spokesperson" that would deliberate the large ensemble about what the Social Media splinter cell discussed. Our moderator asked if I would be the spokesperson. I said "Sure." I wasn't really going anywhere and I like to hear myself talk … even when others don't. So the spokespeople talked about their scenarios. We all listened to see if there was anything that could impact our lives. For me, I was pretty aware of the technologies out there, but there were a lot of people who thought, "Oh …. That's a good idea. I need to remember that," which is what the whole evening was about: sharing information. Then it got to our turn.

So I need to take a quick aside. The whole evening I was tweeting (twittering? Posting? Updating? Texting the Bird?) away little things that I thought were interesting. As is the Twitter.com convention, I included the hash #smcslc in all of the tweets. While the evening wore on the group hosting the party had a TV monitor with http://search.twitter.com on and was refreshing the search so the new "Tweets" were put up on the big screen. Seeing this, and being the ego-maniac that I am, I saw my tweets and want to make sure I was always on the screen. So I continued to tweet away so that I wasn't being pushed off of the screen. The reason why I bring it up? I tweeted: "I'm gonna be the spokesperson for our group about non-profit. I hope i get refreshed on the bi g screen #smcslc". And just as I got up to speak … they refreshed the screen. I know at least one person got the joke.

So I spoke. We then concluded the meeting with a rousing version of Kum-Bye-Yah, Hugging your neighbor, and the obligatory sacrificing of a portable egg timer. Okay, so maybe we didn't do any of those things, but we did leave with a "thanks for coming" and a "mark next month" as well as "Get some pizza!" I stayed chatting for a while with this lovely woman (@mentors) from the non-profit circle, who's name I don't remember (all you white people look the same to me J ). We talked about views on social marketing and how it can help their organization. Some of her questions were very simple ideas and others where more complicated which got me to thinking about the meeting. Was it a good meeting? A worthwhile meeting? Or just a chance to meet people I only see virtually?

Here are my insights, take them for what they're worth:

Pros	Cons	Con Resolution
It's always great to see people in real life that you only know in a virtual world	Without structured time to meet everyone you never have a chance to meet as many people as you would like.	Possibly create a structured networking portion where you could meet and (more importantly) connect with those people
Seeing Chris the main SMC dude was really cool. It's great to have leadership be a part of the satellites	I got bored listening to his resume rather than his insights. A keynote speaker is great as long as they deliver "Meat" and not Fluff	If you are planning keynotes, bind their hands to a short presentation with guidelines. Enforce the information so people walk away with great insights.
Breaking into smaller focused groups to discuss is a great way to generate ideas and thoughts	There was no structure in the "group dynamic" so I didn't know if we were to introduce ourselves or start right into the discussion. I feel the introductions were important to who we were and our perspectives, but it took away from our time to be able to properly discuss the issue.	Possibly structure the group's time so that both items can be accomplished. Each person get's 20 seconds to introduce themselves, who they are and what they do. Then give the allotted time to the issue.
Tons of ideas flowing. Tons of good information. Tons of good people.	No way to capitalize on all of the discussions.	Possibly publish the list of attendees so we know who all was there. Promote Tweeting of thoughts and insights so people can garnish the information afterwards with the Hash search (#smcslc)
A great event that brought people together	I missed the focus of the group. Are we a networking group? Are we a problem solving group? Are we an information promoting group? Or are we just a bunch of people who like to get together?	If there is a focus possibly promote it better during the meeting so people can stay alert of what the reason for being there is. If there is no focus … possibly find a focus.

The whole evening was really fun. And as @DeanGirls and I drove back to Provo we talked about the evening and how it went. Both of us thought that it was a good time and that it would be something that was great to return to. In this day and age we need as much help as we can get to be better at what it is we're doing. Organizations like this allow the best of breed to come and educate the non-experts to a higher level. Let's keep it going and moving forward. Plus if I actually lose a little weight I might impress the "ladies of the non-profit." (New Years goal #1208). See you all next time!!