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It’s the Holiday Season – for Cocktails & Conversations

By on November 22, 2010 in Blog Coach, Brain Stew, Conversations with 0 Comments

271059142_dfa66c153a_m'Tis the season for holiday parties.

Laughter. Libations. Listening

These gatherings often provide a glimpse of the conversphere. A crowded room may have several small chats going on at once.

On the outside of the chatter, the whole sounds like noise. But upon engagement to any of the conversations, you will find out the topic of the talk. You may listen for a bit and join in, or possibly decide to move on. Noise on the outside, Signal upon engagement.

Once you find a good conversation to join, watch how you respond. I'm willing to bet it goes a bit like this:

  1. You listen for a bit.
  2. People begin to acknowledge you've joined in.
  3. You'll silently agree to something with a nod or raise an eyebrow at a point being made
  4. You'll engage with your voice.

It's rare anyone jumps into a circle of talk and takes over the conversation.  As a matter of practice, I will submit the most popular conversationalists are … the listeners.

This holiday season, drive safe and listen generously.

Photo on Flickr by MrGiles

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We Flock Around the Content and then We Talk About the Content

By on November 3, 2010 in Blog Coach, Conversations, Social Media with 1 Comment

Cool_conversation Content is King. Community is the Kingdom it serves (Design is Queen bringing it all together).

Around coffee lines and water coolers this morning, conversations are happening as usual. Many are centered around the elections and political scorecard last night.

A few days ago, the conversations may have been about the games over the weekend or a restaurant visited for the very first time. Or a recipe. A book we're reading. A sermon. A sale item just discovered. A destination point.

We flock around the content and then talk about the content.

And every business – every individual creates content. Even a business that provides services has content – it's their service (and boy, do we talk about it — good or bad)

Content is King, Community is the Kingdom it serves (Design is Queen bringing it all together).

It's been a rally cry of mine for over a decade.  And it's been so since "chalk on a rock," "smoke in a stack," and gladiators in the ring.

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Instrumental Conversations

By on October 20, 2010 in Brain Stew, Conversations with 0 Comments

Tim_Yates
I had the privilege of watching the worship team at Valley Church prepare for Sunday services last night.

Having experience in both theater productions and preparing Sunday services, I wasn't necessarily in a strange environment – however I noticed something I hadn't noticed before.

Conversations. Without words.

Not so much amongst the members of the team, but more so betweeen the members and their instruments — and later, the intstruments together as extensions of the members.

As musicians were getting instruments ready, there seemed to be an introductory chit-chat between musician and music piece. A combination of drum riffs, a few different chord combinations on a guitar, a "how ya doin?" series of keys on the piano. 

In a few minutes, each player became one with their piece – and then, they had a group discussion together, preparing for a bigger conversation on Sunday morning.

It kind of reminded me of a scene from August Rush – Dueling Guitars:

 

As an aside – if you're in the Central Iowa area early next week, make sure to check out Valley Church's The Great Pumpkin Party – always one of the fall highlights in the West Des Moines community.

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“Hello, Are You My Next Blog Post?”

By on October 8, 2010 in Blog Coach, Blogging, Conversations with 0 Comments

4660273668_10f0c9c71d_m A business owner was struggling for things to write about on his blog.

He understood the importance of frequency and page depth. He also got that quality was a key factor. He just didn't have his radar up – he wasn't listening to his day. And boy, did he have a busy day.

In the one-hour meeting we had, we were interrupted three times by phone calls. Let's listen in to one of them (i didn't remember all the widget names and metrics):

"Hi, this is Jerry… Yeh Frank, what's going on?  :::listening::: Really, again?  Did you try putting the thingamajig on a higher rotation?      

I see….  Un-huh…. Well, here's what I'd suggest – rotate the thingamjig at a rate of xyz per square foot. 

Yeah….we did that over at Acme Company a few weeks ago – worked like a charm.  No problem, Frank…let me know.  Yep, you bet. Call anytime"

He looked at me, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders: "I get these calls all day long."

"Do you get any of the same question in a month?" I asked.

"Heck, I've heard Frank's question twice this week! But with all these questions and calls – I have no time to be writing some great blog post."

Our solution was within the problem. We talked a bit about having him take notes and reflect on customer questions. We even set up a Google Voice drop for him to "call-in" his posts.

Know what Jerry's next blog post was?  "Is Your Thingamajig at the Proper Rotation?" Sound Familiar?

  • Listen to Your Day
  • Recognize Repeat Questions
  • Generalize the Writing to Fit All (and don't embarass Frank:-))
  • Send the posts out in a newsletter or to answer specific emails

Jerry is now posting 4-5 times a week easy…sometimes more.  Good stuff.

**The names here have been changed to generalize the situation. Do likewise.

Photo on Flickr by RambergMediaImages

 

 

 

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Tracking Influence and Conversations with eCairn

By on October 4, 2010 in Conversations, Cool Tools, Marketing with 0 Comments

Ecairn The team at eCairn has once again released its Top 150 Social Media Marketing sites and there's some great sites to learn from. 

The top folks are ones you might expect and some of my own favorites. But there are also a lot of sites I hadn't visited before – and we can learn a lot from what they have to say.

The list is worth a travel of your mouse (I'm middle-of-the-pack if you're lookin').

If you're around tomorrow, the eCairn team is also showing a demo of it's conversation tracking product during a FREE webinar on Tuesday, Oct. 5 (11:30a – 12:00p CT).  Here's a brief video peak at eCairn Conversation:

Some pretty cool features

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5 Tools You Must Carry – Capture Your Brilliance

By on September 22, 2010 in Blog Coach, Conversations, Cool Tools, Video with 0 Comments

2340456793_b4c992dfea How many times have you kicked yourself before or after a meeting or presentation for not capturing the conversation somehow? Notes. Video. Audio. Photos. Something. How many?

Okay, stop counting.  I know it's a lot.  I see it all the time.

Some of the most brilliant conversations we have are not planned (and therefore not captured). Sometimes, when they are planned – we let the medium kill our oomph (and we shouldn't).

Two habits:

  1. Start carrying these tools to capture the conversations
  2. Start turning the tools on to capture the conversations

These are small and easy to carry. And even if they don't capture greatness the first few times you use them, set them out and get ready to turn them on:

  • A flip-type video camera (FLIP is great. Kodak has a few great models too)
  • A digital audio recorder (Olympus is my preference – get something that you can upload via USB to your computer)
  • A digital camera
  • Pens or pencils
  • Paper — lots of paper (I prefer sketch pads as they can act as a portable whiteboard)

I know others simply turn on Audacity or use Evernote

Remember, first get used to carrying them. Then get in the habit of turning them on.

By doing so, you will be able to capture and Recycle, Reissue, and Repurpose your most brilliant content.

How do you capture these moments?

Photo on Flickr by jaxmac

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Storefronts as Conversation Stations – Make it Count

By on September 16, 2010 in Conversations, Marketing with 1 Comment

While talking with a rural shoe retailer a few days ago, I asked how many people walk in front of the store on an average day, including walk-ins. She had no idea. Never has paid attention to such a number. I asked how many walk-ins she gets in an average day. Not a clue.

It's a beautiful store inside and out. Set on a gorgeous town square kitty-corner from the courthouse. But like many small, rural stores – it's in trouble.

Talk So what did we do? We set up a Conversation Station (No,not a blog. Not yet anyway).

A few of her friends are going to set up outside and chit-chat to passersby (and get a count) for the next week or so. As part of our planl, we're going to:

  • Count the people that walk directly in front of the store
  • Count the people that walk across the street
  • As best we can, count the drive-bys
  • Observe what's different – when or why do folks stop at other window displays, or what makes folks walk-in those other stores

After a good sample, we can decide what, if anything, can be done with the signage, the window displays, and the opportunities for engagement. 

Part of the problem is, she's been trying a lot of different tactics and "things" to drum up business - but she has never kept score. Sure, she knows the bottom line, but nothing around and leading to that bottom line.

She's also fallen into the trap of staying behind the counter (and often, in the backroom waiting for the doorbell). The traffic outside has been just noise. Upon Engagement, We'll Find Signal.

With our counting experiment, we may find that having someone outside, or at least on the customer side of the counter, is all that's needed.

And maybe then we'll start a blog.  Maybe.

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Photo on Flickr by JustBeadiful

The NEW Social Learning – A Guide to Collaborative & Collective Intelligence

By on September 13, 2010 in Books, Conversations, Education with 0 Comments

The NEW Social Learning - Amazon link (affiliate) I’ve had the privilege of working with online learning communities for over a decade.

Starting in the mid-90s with the AOL Greenhouse’d Real Fans, onto AOL Community Program Manager (overseeing People Connection and several channel communities) and continuing with my work here at ConverStations, I’ve always tried to look for ways to help create communities of fans and of learners.

That’s why the title “The NEW Social Learning – A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media” had me a bit excited. At times, these types of books are theory sans practice.  This one is on the money! 

The NEW Social Learning (@newsociallearn) is a guide to creating your own “community of learners” by embracing and integrating social and mobile tools in the training and learning process.

Written by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, this book offers real examples and guidelines in how to implement engagement, listening skills, and most importantly, how to build collective intelligence from within and outside of your organization’s silo.

Some professions are ahead of the curve (marketing pros and educators come to mind), but there are many cubicle centers and manufacturing mobs, retailers and customer service sectors who are keeping their blinders on tight, doing training like it’s still 1989.

The NEW Social Learning can assist in a transformation that makes sense and creates a learning environment that makes meaning.

Whether the boardroom or the classroom, this book should be in your hands and under your yellow highlighter – and definitely part of your organizations training & development curriculum.

Here’s a video look at what some learning execs are talking about:

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In two words: Buy It (already available on Kindle!)

“Hello, Social Media Experts” A Video Tribute to the Meme

By on September 8, 2010 in Blog Coach, Conversations, Social Media with 0 Comments

And thanks to Bob Newhart (and belated Happy Birthday) for the idea (RSS viewers click through to see video):

Related Elsewhere:

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Coffee Tables are Conversation Stations. Libraries are Big Cubicles

By on September 8, 2010 in Brain Stew, Conversations with 0 Comments

Coffee Conversations Folks know I invest a lot of time at Panera Bread. Rather than pay rent on an office space, I've found for my work – Panera works better (and it's a few dollars less each month).

I often suggest to new "free agents" to find a public place – one that invites conversations – and visit there two or three times each week to work and network.

Even if you're new in town or you're not accustomed to starting conversations, by visiting the establishment a few days (try to find a consistent time frame), you'll become familiar with the regulars — and you may even make a business connection (or 12).

I'm not against Libraries – in fact, I love – love – love libraries.  I get my best work done in them. I work in peace and focus, and if I lose that focus, I "walk the stacks."  But it's a difficult place to make connection and conversation ("ssshhh")

Many libraries have Coffee Shops right there (so there ya go).  But get out of the house.  Be on display. Make yourself findable and available.  You'll find that your business improves and your work gets done.

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