Monday, April 02, 2007

Unexpected Motivator

My friend, Deanna Tucci Schmitt, Executive Director of BNI of Western PA, and I host a podcast presentation on the last Thursday of the month at 5 PM EDT on Talkshoe.com with the topic being something to do with networking. The first one in February was called Networking on the Chin, because of the content, but then because it is such a weird name, we decided to keep it as the series name.

With Talkshoe.com we can invite guests to listen and participate in the podcast. It is also recorded while we are talking so that it can be downloaded for listening later.

Last week both of us were faced with our scheduled podcast without time to prepare. Should we just not do it? I said that we should go ahead and that I would be the person asking questions of Deanna, the expert. The topic was, Why Should I Network."

When doing a talkcast, I can see from my screen if there are other people participating. In fact, if I could learn to multi-task, I could react to the questions each person types. But of course, I'm not that good yet and managed to mistakely mute one of the typers last Thursday.

After the recording was complete, Deanna and I stayed on the line talking over a few logistical issues with being able to link episodes together. We didn't think anyone else was one the line. Because we didn't feel like this second episode was all that good, we were talking about going back and linking all future episodes to the first one. At that point, the listener that I had muted (so that he could not type any additional comments) entered the verbal conversation. Travis thanked us for a great talkcast. He said that he could tell that it was scripted. (Please don't tell him the truth!) and that he really got a lot out of the podcast.

Wow! What a boost. We chatted with him for several minutes. Found out that he is starting a business to be a financial coach. Little does he know that his input gives us the fuel to move forward and produce more of these networking podcasts, which we look at as a way to continue our branding as networking experts.

Thank you Travis for taking the initiative and the time to help us feel successful!

When did some like Travis move you forward?

1 comment:

Sandy of Sandy's Stuff for Women said...

My "Travis" was a woman named June.

In the fall of '05, I put on a fashion show for a local woman's organization. It went well and I gained new customers as a result.

Last fall, I was asked to do another show for the same group. Planning did not go well and I was forced to cancel the show the night before. I vowed to never do another fashion show.

A couple of months ago, June entered my store and told me how much she enjoyed the 2005 show. She asked me what really happened that caused last year's show to be cancelled. The group had been told that I just didn't show up!

Believing that the truth will rarely if ever hurt you, I shared the failure-to-plan details. She was going to go back to the group and tell them what really happened. And then she made me promise to do the show again this year.

Thank you, June - I just did a fashion show less than two weeks ago and it was great!