What to Say to the Event Organizer

In my new book, Tell Me Exactly What to Say,  one of the chapters is about how to introduce yourself to the person who organized the event you are attending.  The title of that person might be Executive Director or event chair.  It doesn't matter what the title is, it does matter that you realize how important that person can be to you.  Just think about it.  He or she knows everyone!  And if you have a connection, that could lead you to great new acquaintances.

One warning!  Don't brother that person when she is in the midst of craziness.  If she looks harried and stressed, you won't be remembered or worse, you will be remembered as the person who took her time when she didn't have any!

That chapter is on page 47 of the book.   Kristin Meyer, Executive Director for the Ohio-based, Maumee Chamber of Commerce, mentioned at a book ribbon-cutting, that she wished the 5 people who kept her from starting the "sit-down" portion of the lunch on time that day had read the chapter! 

What are your thoughts on this?

Table Sponsorships That Don't Work

I was at a chamber lunch where the sponsor of the lunch was a large law firm.  There were 17 attorneys from this firm at the lunch and when each one was introduced, they were all sitting at one of two tables.  I couldn't help but wonder what bang they were getting for their marketing buck by sitting with each other.

What would have happened if instead, the 17 attorneys sat at 17 different tables?  Do you think their ability to gain a positive return would have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled?

I can never understand the concept behind a company "paying for a table" at an event and then not even thinking about how to use that to their best advantage.

A couple thoughts beyond the one above are:

• They could invite an equal number of clients to sit at the table so a table of 10 would have 5 from the company and 5 outsiders.
• They could spread around to multiple tables, but each staff person can ask one client and one prospect to sit with them.  The client can tell the prospect how wonderful it is doing business with the company!
• The staff person again sits at a table and invites four to eight people, either clients or prospects or friends, who benefit from meeting each other.  Have all sit at the staff person's table.  The staff person gains ginormous bonus points!

I'm sure you can come up with more ideas.  Share them with us.

Who Makes You Think?

Yesterday, I met with Marc Hustek, a Realtor with Howard Hanna in Rocky River, Ohio.  He is on the executive committee of the Rocky River Chamber.  I am a new member of this chamber and so far I have been extremely impressed with everything about this organization.

Marc, explained it to me.  He said that they are committed to paying attention to the details so that no matter what event members attend they have a GREAT experience.  He shared how their annual golf outing is a well-oiled process starting immediately when the chamber member drives up to the club.  Everything is choreographed to have no waiting in line.  (Think about the golf outings you've been to.)  To make it continue to stay fresh, instead of the same old, same old games, last year one member who sells windows, donated a few.  Those windows became targets on a green for golfers to try to break.  Another member set up a camera behind the windows so they could catch them being broken.  Now is that cool or what?

While I don't set up golf outings, what I learned from Marc, was to look at everything that I am doing to see if there is another way to make it even better or more fun.  For me, Marc is a thought-leader and I think we all need to listen to such people to help us remain fresh.

Sweepstakes

Was at a morning networking meeting this week where Dionne Neubauer, the COO of the chamber delivered a talk about all the opportunities that the chamber provides to its members.

Also, my networking tip at this event was for people to write two things of interest about themselves on one business card and then to be willing to share one point of interest with someone they chat with after the meeting and also to find out about this person's interest.

So after the meeting I was at the back of the room chatting with my friend Lynne Calvelage. She is co-owner of my favorite coffee shop in Findlay, Coffee Amici. She commented, "I get it, there is lots of stuff for us as business people to do, but we have to take advantage of it. It doesn't just happen." Within seconds Jody Walters, sales person for the FindlayNOW magazine joined us. She said, "Guess what one of my interests is!" Lynne and I were amazed that she enters sweepstakes on a regular basis AND she wins."

The three of us looked at each other and said, "If you don't play, you don't get a chance to win!"

I guess you had to be there, but it really rung true at that moment.

Why Not What

Last week I was honored to present at the Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio (CCEO) Winter Conference in Columbus, OH. My friend, Dan Yahaus, Executive Director of the Bryan Area Chamber of Commerce, was the chair of the conference and last summer he had asked me if I would be willing to be the morning keynote presenter.

Talk about pressure. Dan had been in a session where we had talked about how the answer to "Why I do what I do" is a very important marketing piece. Now I love working with people in SMALL groups to help them to figure out the answer to that question, but I didn't know how it would translate to a presentation to a very LARGE group.

Well, from feedback that I received, it worked. Not everyone got the chance to talk with me one-to-one, but I demonstrated it in front of the group with just one person, Doug Johnson, the Executive Director of the Twinsburg Chamber of Commerce. If you want to hear his "why" statement, you should use this link at the chamber to get his email address. (Doug is on the left)

At lunch I was standing in line with Mike McNeil, owner of Hampton Publishing. (Mike is on the right.) Like most people I talk with on this subject, Mike wanted to tell me WHAT he does, rather that WHY he does it. As we stood there chatting, he told me that he really wants to provide the best of the best for his clients. I asked him, "Mike, when did you start to always want the best." He shared that he always had felt that way, in fact as a teenager, he wanted quality (expensive) clothes, because of the confidence and successful feeling they lent to him. He asked me, "Do you remember the Gant (brand name) shirts?" I certainly did! Mike had this major light bulb moment. He now knows that he wants to provide the best for his clients to give them the confidence and feeling of success, just like the Gant shirt did for him.

Neat, huh?

Why do you do what you do?

And You Went, Ate and Left?

It always amazes me how with a little encouragement, a room of very diversified people can help each other.

Last Friday, we had our first Educational Preview of the year for the Certified Networker course. The ultimate goal is to have people want more of what they're given in the two hour session, so they register for the course. Devious, aren't we?

A second, very important objective is to get the participants to connect with others in the room so they can help each other. Sometimes it works better than others. I don't think it has anything to do with the occupation of the people. I think it has to do with if I'm "on" that day in presenting and also with the attitude of the participants.

Last Friday was the best. Right from the start I could tell that this group had "a helping mindset." When we had a break, even though my direct instructions were, "To get with the person in this room you can help," they didn't hesitate. They immediately wanted to trade cards and schedule appointments with each other. It was fun to watch.

So my question is, "Why doesn't that happen with other networking groups?" I am particularly thinking of chamber events. It is my experience that people come to eat, try to sell themselves and then leave.

How can we change that mindset, so instead people arrive early to connect, find out what others need and then schedule appointments before leaving? Or is that like trying to turn an ocean freighter at sea?