Broken Intro

In BNI each week, one member gets to give a 8-10 minute presentation so the rest of the members get to know the featured member better.  It is one more brick in the strong BNI relationship wall.  In the past, it was the job of the Secretary/Treasurer to introduce this member before they began.  Nowadays many chapters allow the speaker to ask another member to make the intro. It is an honor to be asked. 

Many years ago (at least ten) I was at a BNI meeting when the presenting member asked someone from outside the chapter membership to give his intro.  Because of time efficiencies, the intro should normally only last about 1 minute at the most.  In this instance, it went on for at least five minutes, but it felt like an hour.  All of us were uncomfortable with this turn of events but at that point I would not have been able to say why.

Now I can!

There were really two issues.  Because the member asked someone (let's call her Connie) from outside the membership, he delivered a message that he didn't have a strong enough relationships with any members to perform this very important task.  Looking back now, I think I felt sort of kicked to the curb. The second issue was the the rules were broken.  BNI has a very structured format, (because it works!) and when Connie didn't bother to find out what those rules were (1 minute intro) she made all of us squirm a little. I think probably I was embarrassed for her and for our member.

What can we learn from this?  When asked to speak, find out who will be introducing you.  Try to spend a little time with that person to allow them to get to know you.  Additionally, ask what is expected for the intro or even take it a step farther and ask for a copy of one that has been successfully used in the past. The introduction can either be a springboard to a wonderful presentation or a ditch, that you spend way too much time trying to climb out of to get to a good starting point.  It's your choice!

Do you have any thoughts about this?

Know the Rules!

As we grow in our careers, many times we become known as experts in our field.  As a result we are asked to present at various meetings.  While we may be the expert in our work, sometimes we don't come across to our audience in that way.  Why?  For the very reason that we are not experts at presenting.

I was at a Chamber meeting last month when a couple rules were broken that took away from the speakers' credibility.

Rule #1, If you've forgotten your notes, don't announce it.  The audience doesn't know and if you are an expert, you should know what you're talking about anyway. So what if it's not exactly as you wanted it to be as long as you deliver the info.

Rule #2, This is one that drives me crazy.  DON'T LEAVE THE SPEAKER'S LECTERN EMPTY.  EVER!  Correct speaking etiquette calls for the emcee to introduce you, stay behind the lectern to welcome you to the stage.  Then at the end of your talk, please wait for that person to return to relieve you of your duties at the lectern.  Never, ever, should the audience be sitting there looking at space.  This rule is broken all the time.  You can watch for it now.

Are there any other miss-steps that you have seen speakers make?

Skuttle Butt

My friend, Scott McBride, Ray of Life Healing Center, attended a seminar that I co-presented with my friend, Jenn Wenzke, on Wednesday evening this past week. Of the 30 attendees, Scott was the only guy and he knew this going in. I call that brave!

But here's the reason why he wanted to attend. Many people who he respected had told him that he needed to meet Jenn. And while he could have asked for an introduction, what better way is there to get to get to know someone than to hear and watch them present?

After the presentation Scott was able to talk with Jenn and compare the areas that their careers might cross.

We can all take a lesson from Scott.

Who do you want to meet?
Are they presenting anytime soon?
Can you attend the event?

Obviously, if the answer if "no" you'll have to move to plan B, but if, "yes" then get your butt in the seat!

Secrets of Success

Many times I use the BNI member bio question of "The secret to your success is...?" as part of my introduction when I am about to give a talk ou t there in the real world. I have several answers to that question, but the one I use most often is 3-fold. It is:

1. Do the next thing
2. Make time for others
3. Fake it till I make it!

#2 is the one I want to focus on for this post.

Making time for others means that I don't get something else done. Having learned in my Bridges Out of Poverty (a whole 'nuther topic for another day) seminar that because I am part of the middle class, I am an achievement machine. That's how I measure my success personally. So that being said, I am at loggerheads with myself when I make time for others, because I don't get something else done. (I know, I know, meeting with someone can be getting something done.)

Getting something done for me is being able to check the "next thing" off my to-do list.

But here's what I have found out. (I'm a slow learner!) Many times, meeting with someone will either automatically get something else done or help me to get do it in the future. Let me give you a couple examples.
I met with old friend Mary Ann Mills. She and I know each other through Women's Council of Realtors of which I am an affiliate member. In the past year because of schedule conflicts I have not been very well connected with the group. Just a short meeting with Mary Ann helped me to understand that I can do some things that will help with this connection.

I met with Tina Roth, a BNI member who asked for my help in getting her ten minute presentation prepared. I teach this training for BNI but it's not on the schedule to be offered again very soon. That old voice inside my head was telling me all the stuff I should be doing to help put people into my upcoming courses, instead of meeting with Tina. But because of #2, I did. And at that meeting, Tina gave me her registration form to be in my course.

The path to my success is truly not very straight, but if I follow the three tenets that I use for my speech introductions, success meanders my way.

What's your key to success?

Romantically Inclined

Saturday I spoke to the Maumee Valley Romance Writer's Association. It all happened because I met Barbara Horvath (third from left in the picture) at the WEN (Women's Entrepreneurial Network) last fall. Self admittedly, she was "trolling" the crowd that day, for speakers for this group.

I took the bait!

What a fun group! They come from all walks of life; a bankruptcy attorney, an owner of a beauty salon, one who works in the newsroom of a local TV station and a stay-at-home mom were just a few that I got to talk to.

They are all in this together, most writing multiple books, some already published and others still hoping for that day. One is published both in the states and also in Great Briton. One has just received word that she is going to be published and is worried about how she now has to act when she goes to the national conference.

Some funny comments that I overhead at the lunch after the meeting.
One writer said that her husband read her book and said, "No way, I'm not doing that with you!" Her reply was that she wasn't planning on doing it with him!"

Another was from the really nice stay-at-home mom who has moved around the country so many times as a result of her husband's job. She said that she felt so bad about what she did to a heroine in one of her books. She said, "I still feel sorry for Terry because of how bad I was to her!"



(It made me wonder if she was just taking out her stress of moving on her fictional character.)

Another member was stressed over the fact that she needed to create a marketing plan for the newest book. Things like updating her website and creating a blog were all part of that plan. Her complaint was that stuff like that takes her away from writing.

Sound familiar?

It should, because all business people face the same challenges and doubts. And the romance writers are no different.

Yep, I'm Proud, Part II

This past week, I was involved with a Leadership Lunch sponsored by the Girl Scouts. It is to this lunch that we on the committee invite women who we consider to be leaders in the community. They take on all shapes, sizes and ages! Of course, they are a diverse group.

This lunch is a launching point for recruiting mentors for Camp CEO, a project where women leaders each mentor one female student in 10th, 11th or 12th grade for just one weekend. There is a financial commitment to participate, too.

Last year was our first year and we had a wonderful weekend with 16 women and 16 girls. We want to replicate or do better this year.

Having a powerful keynote speaker would be crucial to our success.

I convinced Theresa Emrick, one of the members of the committee, to be the main speaker. She has a story that is so perfect for this.

You see, she was a good (A's and B's) student in a small school, when in her senior year she was told by the guidance counselor (who was also the football coach) that her dreams of further education were going to be a waste. He told her that she wasn't smart enough to make the grade. He told her to just marry the football team captain and be done with it.

Theresa obviously didn't follow this professional's advice. She has a Masters degree. She is the Director of Admissions for Nortre Dame Academy, an all girls prep school here in Toledo. She is at this position because she doesn't ever want another young girl to hear such stupid advice.

With this powerful presentation, I have no fear that we will find the 20 women who want to make a difference.

Who in your youth motivated you to reach beyond your comfort zone? And was it done with positive or negative reinforcement?

Masters Evening, Part II

The Masters of Sales book is a compendium of short articles written by those who have something to say about sales and selling. At our celebration last week, three of the authors presented to the audience.

Now, I've been to a few events where the keynote presenter bored the heck out of me or gave me so much fluff, that the minute I walked out, I didn't remember any of it.

In my opinion, these talks were different.

Each of us (yes, I am included in this) gave three stories about our sales career where the incident taught us a lesson, as we told stories about how we were shy, stupid or boring, I saw heads shaking in the audience. I think that because we were "real" we allowed the guests to be there with us. I had several people come up to me later to tell me that they couldn't believe how much we were describing something they had done in their sales career.

Linda Macedonio, Executive Director of BNI, Rhode Island, SE Massachusetts and Maine; Deanna Tucci Schmitt, Executive Director of BNI Western Pennsylvania and I had planned for several weeks via conference calls what we were going to say. We tried to come up with a central theme, but just couldn't seem to do that. Magically, it happened that evening as Linda first talked about being shy, then Deanna talked about a stupid move on her part and then I bragged about how boring I was when I made presentations to prospects. So there we had it on the fly, shy, stupid and boring.

We had fun and I think our audience did too.

What story would you like to tell an audience about your career?

Purposeful Networking

Today I presented an educational session entitled Six Steps to Purposeful Networking to the Home Builders' Association of Washtenaw County (Michigan). I love giving this presentation because it is open-ended enough that there can be lots of audience participation.

Today was the ultimate. There were so many questions and comments from the participants about shaking hands, personal body space, sending out sales letters, asking questions and scheduling appointments. This crowd really wanted to learn.

I can't remember all the names today, but thanks to Leo, Ron, Janet, Karen, Nate, Dan, John, Les, Lora and Christine Hill who invited me AND Missy Lowler, who represents the Builder's Club, who referred me to Christine. Sometimes I'm glad to be done, but today I wished I'd had more time to spend with this great group. They gave as much or more to me than I think that I was able to give to them.

When was the last time you wanted to spend more time at something?

The Messenger Destroyed the Message

Okay, here's the complaint.

POWERPOINT

Again I was the victim, along with about 50 or 60 other people in the crowd.

The message was good.

The delivery ruined a good message.

The presenter, a government employee, used PowerPoint to back up his presentation. Or really, he read from his slides. Luckily, he only had a little over 10 minutes and had narrowed the number of views. If he'd had more time, I might have resorted to sucking my thumb.

Now tell me, even if you are going to be a bad user of PowerPoint, how many words should be in each bullet point?

Try fifty!

And it was legal verbiage. Isn't that nice. Not only did I have to squint to see the mini words on the screen, but when I finally engage my brain, it is convoluted legalese.

This man could have delivered a memorable talk, and could have even backed it up with PowerPoint, using it to backdrop images of his message.

PowerPoint. It makes most of the presenters of the world even worse than bad.

That's all for now folks.