By Angela DeFinis, DeFinis Communications

After working with a number of executives during the past few months, I’ve noticed some common pitfalls that diminish the quality of an executive’s presentation. These public speaking mistakes affect executives across the board, regardless of industry or profession.

Like everyone else who speaks to groups, executives must spend time preparing their message and practicing their delivery. However, many executives have formal speechwriters. Their content is often written for them and then passed around to other senior leaders in the company. As a result, the Marketing VP wants his spin included, the Engineering VP has certain requirements to be added, and the HR manager has a point of view that also needs to come through. The message goes through many rounds and edits until the final draft is perfected.

That’s a lot of time devoted to content creation. My only wish is that the executives would give the same amount of time and attention to actually practicing and rehearsing the delivery. Because they don’t, here are the common blunders that occur:

• Appearing unprepared to deliver the speech. You can have the most finely crafted message in the world, but if you’re not prepared to deliver it, your message can fail. The fact is that poor delivery can overshadow great content. Therefore, spend the same amount of time practicing your delivery as you do creating your content. And if you didn’t craft the content yourself, then find out how long others spent preparing it and practice at least an hour longer.
• Not focusing on the listeners’ needs. Many executives spend too much time talking about what’s important to them and don’t focus on the needs of the audience. This is the classic case of not knowing the audience. Unfortunately, audiences often interpret it as “this speaker doesn’t care about us.” Get clear on what’s important to your listeners and spend the majority of your time covering those topics. If there’s something you feel is important and that you need to say, then go ahead and say it. But don’t forget about or gloss over the audience’s needs.
• Foregoing conventional etiquette. Foul language, “good old boy” style, off color jokes, slang…these are things you should never use in your business presentations. If you’re speaking to a global audience, any of these things will be a turn off. And if even one audience member is offended by your language, style, or demeanor, then your credibility just went down a notch. When you follow conventional etiquette standards, you smooth the conversational pathway so you can reach understanding and build relationships. And isn’t that one of your main goals when presenting?
• Not using a “speaker’s tone.” Speaking in a “conversational” tone is fine for small group communication; however, when you’re giving a formal presentation, you need to use a more projected “speaker’s tone.” Remember that public speaking requires using the skills of the speaking trade. And one of those is maintaining an emphasis on vocal skills. Often, executives think that their personal style is enough and that they do not have to use professional speaking skills. But if you want to position yourself as the leading authority on any topic, you must use good vocal skills.

What’s the best way to overcome these mistakes? In a word: Practice! Yes, practice really does make perfect. By focusing on your delivery and approach as much as you focus on creating your speech, you’ll avoid these mistakes and give an executive level presentation that hits the mark, enhances your reputation and sets a high standard for presentation delivery throughout your company.

Big shout-out to Doug for nailing the details on how to use Twitter and other social media before, during and after a speaker makes a presentation at a meeting.

Twitter can reflect true value for any meeting, event, or education class as long as the meeting planner understands first what a hashtag represents, and second how to use it effectively.

This post has a very clear, step-by-step, guide explaining how meeting organizers can use a hashtag to spread the word about their upcoming conference and boost registration.

Doug also lists the many creative ways organizers can add value during and after the event. He suggests everything from using Twitter to alert people about program changes to posting links to attendees blogs and re-tweeting messages of interest.

Hopefully Doug’s post, and the guidance in Cliff Atkinson’s great book The Backchannel, will encourage more meeting planners, and professional speakers, to embrace the many ways social media can magnify the impact of a presentation beyond the walls of the auditorium.

My favorite new toy is Dragon Naturally Speaking, it puts the “speech” into the task of speechwriting.

Kudos to Colin for highlighting Dragon as one of five tools that help freelance speechwriters put the pedal to the metal and achieve peak productivity.

His other four tips are equally insightful, check them out.

How does someone prepare for a Toastmasters International Speech Contest?

In the second part of my podcast interview with Toastmasters District 57 winner Christine Robinson, we discuss the upcoming 2010 Toastmasters International Convention.

Very few women have ever won the World Championship, and Christine is only two speeches away from that possibility.

Every one of us at Christine’s home club, the Speakers Forum in Concord, CA, is doing all we can to help her prepare and practice a new speech for the final round of the contest.

To hear how she plans to prepare for the event, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:00 — 1.4MB)

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How are winning Toastmasters speeches created?

I asked Christine Robinson, whose speech The Empty Chair won the District 57 Spring Conference May 8, 2010, held at the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo California.

In this podcast interview, Christine discusses the original motivation for the theme of the speech and then shares the mechanics of writing and practicing the speech.

Her speech is rooted in the passion and conviction for the topic: “It had it’s own vitality…it is time, now more than ever, to fill our chairs, to be present for others.”

Tomorrow, I’ll share Part 2 of the interview, where Christine talks about the upcoming contest in Palm Desert.

To hear Part 1 of the interview, click on the podcast icon below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:59 — 1.4MB)

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Three years ago I mentioned the annual literature festival happening every May in the small Welsh border town of Hay-on-Wye.

This year’s event is currently in full swing and I’m following the proceedings on blogs, podcasts and Twitter. There’s a wonderfully charged intensity about the people who attend – relishing the excuse to rub shoulders with the famous, celebrate English eccentricity, and drink Pimms, as shown in these tweets:

@JillLawless My best celeb spot in three days at #hayfestival? Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet queuing for Alain de Botton talk.

@siwhitehouse Early points scored. Just seen a bloke with a cream linen jacket, chinos, a straw boater and a cravat. #Hay

@katheastman Seen Jon Snow & Ed Miliband so far wandering around at #hayfestival – spent 15 mins debating latter’s sex appeal. Damn this Pimms is good.

There’s dozens of talks, musical performances and impromptu events daily, each with a separate entrance fee. One lady reported she spent £500 on tickets.

My picks from the program were these 33 talks which I would have liked to have seen if I wasn’t 6,000 miles away. Oh well, they make a good annotated reading list for the year ahead.

Last week I curated a list of 230 tweets from the Social Media Plus Summit held May 25 in Philadelphia. I asked Erica V., who was at the event, to explain what role social media plays in her life and some of the takeaways from the day.

Manners, Content and Audience: getting Back to Basics at Social Media Plus, by Erica V.

Blogging

I like to tell people that I have my blogging habit to thank for the path my career has taken.

I began blogging in 2005, but it wasn’t until November, 2009 I began taking blogging and social media seriously as a means to transform myself into a social media maven that could find her own place in the corporate world.

I started Mommy’s Still Fabulous, a blog dedicated to discussing the ins and outs of motherhood, managing a full-time career, and having fun along the way. And I soon found myself in great company; there are a lot of us Mommy Bloggers out there, and we have a lot to say.

Because of my blog, I began to learn about and explore other sites and tools as a way to find new followers and develop new relationships.

Twitter

I began to tweet. I started a Facebook fan site specifically for my blog where I could RSS feed new posts as I wrote them. I joined Ning communities and hopped my way through Blog Frog.
I engaged with my audience. I spent time replying to their comments and visiting and commenting on their own blogs. I even installed a plug-in on my blog that would allow those who left comments to highlight their last post on their blogs.

I started to network, go to tweet ups and spend time at conferences like Bloggy Boot Camp. I found my tribe.

Today, I average about 200 post views a day and have a significant number of subscribers who read me through their RSS feeds and e-mail subscriptions through Google’s Feedburner. It’s not earth shattering, but I do credit all of this with where it got me today in my full-time position.

Before blogging, I was managing internal and consumer publications for a large healthcare organization. It’s because of blogging, and my involvement with social media, I was able to transform my job description into what it is today: Manager of Interactive Marketing.

Who says social media is a time-waster?

Social Media Plus

I recently attended great social media conference, Social Media Plus, and learned a lot about engaging customers, being authentic, building a brand, creating social media policies, and creating fabulous content for social media outlets.

I spent the day listening… and tweeting. I tweeted with #SMPlus and my followers who were not at the conference found a lot of value in the things I had to say and what I was learning.

One of the things I learned is that there are a lot of things I am doing right both personally, with my blog, and professionally with my career. I also came to the realization that I’ve known these ideas for a long time – about 33 years to be exact. Why? Because my Mom taught me them long before the phrase “social media” ever existed.

But she called them Manners.

Here are some takeaways from the day I found very helpful. I posted this on my personal blog as well, and got a lot of comments in reply. I guess we could all use a little reminder that it’s important to get back to basics.

1. Say Please and Thank you.

As someone who manages social media for her full-time job… as well for her blog, I can tell you one thing is for sure: If you want someone to do something for you, say please. Please re-tweet (RT), Please comment, Please link up, etc. The word “Please” goes a long way. Use it. Love it.
“Thank yous” require a little bit more work. When I get a new fan on one of my Facebook pages for work, I drop them a small message that tells them:
“Thank you for joining us on Facebook! I am a real person:) and I look forward to talking with you! Let me know if I can help you with anything!”

That’s it. Done.

I admit, I don’t always have time to do it, but it is a nice touch. Also, when people RT your Tweets, link to you in a blog post or tweet… say “Thanks.” It takes a minute, but goes a long way.

2. Think about what you say before you open your mouth.

Whether you blog or tweet for yourself, or for your brand, you are speaking on someone’s behalf.
Words will travel. Don’t tweet, update or blog about something you wouldn’t want your Mother to read. And, if you’re lucky like me, your Mom is your biggest fan. Don’t be stupid. Type with care.

3. Do the right thing.

Gossip, Bullying, Cat-fights… don’t engage in the drama. Stand by your product {yourself!} and your followers, friends and fans will respect you more. Show you have an opinion, but make sure it’s valid. Don’t jump on a negative bandwagon for the sake of sensationalism.

4. Listen.

A good rule of thumb is to give out more than you expect to get back. That means… don’t make it all about you all the time. Listen to your audience. Give them what they want. Treat them as you would want to be treated – that means listening when appropriate, commenting for encouragement and supporting others with re-tweets and sharing.

5. Share.

Find great content? Share it. Tell others. Make it viral. Approximately 51% of online users are generating original content. That’s a lot! There is good stuff out there. Build relationships with a new audience by sharing with others what you find interesting. They’ll thank you for it, and share the things you put out there that make you and your content unique.

Conversely, if you have great content, and think others will benefit from it, share it. You’d be surprised by how many people will appreciate you {and your expertise} on the subject.

So there you have it… 5 rules… 5 pieces of wisdom… 5 ways to mind your manners on the web.

Matt Upton’s employment career has taken him from selling cards and lawn care to flipping burgers, folding tacos, selling knives, air conditioners, home insulation, to overseeing housing developments, to leading a sales force in five western states for a food manufacturer, leading various for profit businesses as well as non-profit businesses. The common thread has always involved public speaking.

As a professional speaker, writer, wisdom coach, and trainer Matt has conducted over 3000 presentations both throughout the United States as well internationally. His background in small groups and large group setting presentations has positioned him as an authority the area of business, personal and relationship growth.

He brings to the audience participants his successes and failures with humor and professionalism allowing them to learn while enjoying their invested time.

Matt works through the theme On the Move … FORWARD. This has enabled individuals as well as businesses both small and large advance forward to the next level of success. His work takes him across the United States and internationally.

Pro-Track Profile

Matt is enrolled in the 2010 Pro-Track class sponsored by the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association.

He has experience speaking internationally in Bulgaria, to hear about his adventures there and his impressions of the Pro-Track program, click on the icon podcast below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:58 — 1.1MB)

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The Social Media Plus Web 2.0 Business Summit was held in Philadelphia May 25, 2010.

The one-day event promised to put attendees on the fast track to incorporating Social Media into their overall business strategy.

Attendees generated over 2,100 tweets under the hashtag #SMPlus. Twitter only maintains 10-14 days of content so this information will soon disappear. Thanks to Adam Hymans (@LeMulatreGentil) here’s the archive all of them. Like Adam, I was not able to attend the event. But it’s with deep gratitude to all the attendees who posted their messages that this content has been made available worldwide on Twitter. Thanks!

Building on an idea of finding of “top tweets” I experimented with at the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference earlier this month, I’ve curated a list of 230 tweets I found most content-rich and interesting; adding links where appropriate for easy reference; consolidating others; editorializing.

I aimed for brevity and so none of the twitter handles or attributions are listed below, so search Adam’s archive if you need sources.

Please share your experiences in the blog comments (or on Twitter!) about your follow-up to this event and how you’ve implemented the ideas you picked up at #SMPlus.

Enjoy.

1. Jason Falls presentation (voted #1 by many), “Conversational Marketing” http://bit.ly/agDqOI
2. Shashi Bellamkonda presentation “Social Media and Small Business” http://bit.ly/99JwRI
3. Phil Baumann presentation, “Healthcare Uses of Social Media” http://scr.bi/dATKKF
4. Valeria Maltoni presentation, “Why Social Media is Important for Brands” http://bit.ly/bKsL4e
5. Director of Social Media from GM brings a different take on social media. Big business is more structured but good ideas shared.
6. GM has weekly “Social Club” of all involved w/social media: Brands, Mktg, Comm, Cust Rel, Law.
7. The best person to own social media in your company is the person who wants to – they need to breathe it. Brilliant.
8. Social media ROO: Brand awareness Engage customers; create fans; provide customer service; crowd sourcing product features.
9. Anybody who is listening to their customers will win in social media.
10. Building Trust with Empowered Consumers: Individual engagement for healthy brand relationships http://ow.ly/1POxI
11. Why are students studying Mass Comm anymore? It is all personalized communications now.
12. Social media dashboard – http://www.unilyzer.com (free trial available). Dashboard looks pretty good.
13. Twitter has a “shut up” button, it’s called a 140 chars limitation.
14. Be the MC to build an audience – Master of Content, Master of Ceremonies, Master of Community.
15. Conversational marketing success occurs when our participation in the conversation is GENUINE.
16. Extremely important for SEO by taking the first step towards getting linkbacks. Link out to other bloggers!
17. Twitter = a great way to draft compelling marketing messages. “I wanted to write a shorter note but didn’t have the time.”
18. Fundamentals of SEO: Optimize your titles/content, tag, categorize your content, optimize digital assets like photos and video.
19. Look at http://www.knowem.com. The place to find lesser known social networks.
20. Have a blog? Look at http://www.wibiya.com. Great widget-esque toolbar.
21. Apparently Bozeman, MT thought it smart to require applicants to furnish FB passwords. What do you people drink in the Midwest?
22. Tweets from 10:25-10:35 (East Coast Time) get 15-20% more click-throughs.
23. @jasonfalls Stated Twitter Strategy: “Share good Shit!”
24. Mobility is about context – It’s real time, via location.
25. Bandwidth is the paper of the digital era. If you don’t have enough, get more bandwidth. No need to cut trees to get it.
26. If someone calls himself a social media guru but not a social media STRATEGY guru, then he’s neither.
27. Thought: why do we never hear case studies from gaming industry about recruiting?
28. The era of the destination sites is over. The attention is gravitating towards the edge – social networks
29. You haven’t made it as a blogger until you get a negative comment.
30. T-shirt says it all: Foursquare – I am the mayor of my pants.
31. Avoid pitching. Illustrate expertise not products. Share good content. Create a buyers channel. Offer help if interested.
32. Interject into the conversation. Monitor and search, interject when appropriate
33. One key theme at #smplus is leveraging employees as a social media asset.
34. Yes! Everyone needs 2 think they’re in customer service 4 your company.
35. Tap into your ee’s. Egaged ee’s are your best marketers, salesmen, and service reps – no matter the job title.
36. Sprint employees (termed “social ninja’s“) encouraged 2 engage in social media as company advocates but not company spokespeople.
37. Look at the social network usage of employees at the largest corporations – http://bit.ly/b2nkBU
38. There is untapped gold in your employee social graphs.
39. Everybody is a front line employee today.
40. Pimp your brand and what your company is doing and have employee advocates! Make sure your SM efforts are driven by real people.
41. Identify your evangelists and trust them to lead the charge.
42. Overshare with others, even if they are competitors.
43. Illustrate your expertise, not your catalog.
44. Avoid pitching. Don’t say click my junk all the time.
45. We’re going from contact-management to community management — from simple transactions to relationships.
46. Our intent can be plural. Contribute & market & learn & engage.
47. Not being perceived as an early adopter but an early achiever is a fine line 2 walk.
48. Build trust by being there when your customers have a question.
49. 112% increase of people accessing Facebook thru mobile in 3 months.
50. Advocate communication and training when it comes to setting up a company-wide social media initiative.
51. Tip: if you’re a brand, grab the Twitter handle early – people like to hijack names.
52. Companies should remember that we are serving – it’s the audience that we serve and not product roadmaps.
53. “We can glean trust from even quick little interactions” < The Art of Conversation.
54. I really like what @zappos is doing socially with http://twitter.zappos.com/ – The ultimate in corporate transparency and responsibility!
55. Social Media doesn’t kill productivity; unmotivated workers do.
56. http://www.stopblocking.org – tips to help stop blocking social media sites for employees. Stats on employee productivity.
57. Re: blocking social media at work: At some point, you will not imagine doing your work w/o social media. Exactly.
58. Top 4 reasons for blocking SM: productivity, loose lips, IT security, and bandwidth.
59. Access to social networks leads to an increase in productivity (by 9%)
60. 54% of orgs block access to social media. Can we say epic fail?
61. Love the common themes in sessions – trust, conversations, connections, authenticity.
62. Consumers want like minded people for recommendations and referrals. They don’t want conversations to become SPAM.
63. Every presenter so far has said exactly this, “find out where your target market is and where they are”.
64. No matter how bad the news is, it is better you tell it.
65. On Twitter: re: Customer Service: Easier to be mad at a logo, not a pic of a real person! Personalize your relationship.
66. We live in an area of the 140 character news cycle and if u don’t have it flooded, other people will with their news.
67. Good blog post: “Community Manager Goals and Responsibilities”http://tinyurl.com/288zpcv
68. “…no one cares about your company, we want your content. When u pitch u lose us!”
69. Social Media Rebellion Coming Against Marketers http://amplify.com/u/6dvv
70. Era of destination website is over. Still need sites, but traffic is dropping in favor of social sites.
71. Social media leads are 25% more likely to become sales opportunities (http://www.genius.com).
72. Leaderboard for #smplustweets @wthashtag http://wthashtag.com/smplus
73. Only 24% of people are creating original material – so by RT’ing this I join the 76% – cogito ergo sum.
74. Canadian Rev Agency video contest – http://bit.ly/cej7Ib
75. Social media is here to stay… And more and more, it will permeate everything we interact with.
76. Most orgs completely unprepared 4 what could happen online: e.g. Nestle & Greenpeace.
77. Nestle’s SM failure? Instead of embracing feedback, they picked a fight. Result – substantial negative feedback.
78. Social media will not be the destination – it will be everywhere you go.
79. People don’t want to have a relationship w/all brands. What they want is to have a company address their questions problems & issues.
80. People generally don’t want to have a relationship with the brand. Who wants a relationship with toilet paper?
81. A brand is a gut feeling about a product or service..
82. You can’t control brand message but you can control your brand relationships.
83. When you build value, are you thinking of intangible or tangible value? All value is perceived; make sure your brand has both.
84. People want to be taken care of when they have an issue, and want to be listened to when they have an idea.
85. Are we engaging our consumers with the right conversations? Need to talk about business practices w/consumers.
86. Find out where people are talking about your competitor and join the conversation to offer choices.
87. Word-of-mouth drives 70% of all commerce in US (McKinsey) – why doesn’t marketing $ reflect that?
88. Separate from the connections, Twitter makes you become a better writer because you have to be more concise.
89. Data shows more people go to social sites for product info rather than the brand’s home page.
90. Twitter is here/now and blogs are more legacy. So what about magpie or starring certain positive updates on your brand stream?
91. Word of mouth one of the strongest ways to get people to buy. So why don’t many leaders don’t get? Lack of control.
92. 95% don’t trust ads, 92% don’t trust what cos say, 91% don’t trust cos to act in consumer best interests.
93. Over 90% of people really don’t believe anything that comes from the mouth of a company. Especially BP!
94. Oil spill forced BP to create social strategy.
95. Unfortunately, many companies avoid SM (until a crisis pulls them in), rather than prepare and join-in.
96. 33% of social media users believe cos are interested in them. 93% say cos should be on social media.
97. People are dividing their attention based upon on what resonates with them.
98. The only company that needs a YouTube strategy is YouTube. For the rest of us it is a tactic.
99. Social media helps you get unstuck because there is a community to help you with what you need.
100. “Start with the free stuff first,” social monitoring tools – you bet!
101. Social media likened to a garage. Some stuff used every day, some stuff every once in a while, and all of it is a mess.
102. “Getting it Right: Social Network Recruiting”: http://ning.it/a95fXu
103. Check out these sites: http://hubspot.com http://twitanalyzer.com http://refollow.com
104. Wise words for job seekers: “Don’t go on Facebook drunk”.
105. Cool tip for job hunters. Target company employees on FB.
106. Using RSS to Job Hunt: http://ow.ly/1PABa
107. If you’re not posting blogs every day, find other ways (e.g. comments) to get your name and ideas out there.
108. Don’t get timid. Find out so you can correct it! -> when told, “you suck”, ask, “well how do I suck”.
109. Best place to start social media measurement is with a Brand Audit.
110. Measure: increase revenue, decrease cost, increase cust satisf’n. Arrange tracking. Unique URL, landing page, 800#. Set benchmarks.
111. Top 3 measures: visitors, network size, and quantity of commentary. What, no quality?
112. Data data data! What good is yapping on SM sites when you can’t tell what the results are or who you are reaching?
113. Adding a share button helps you figure out where your customers are talking.
114. Social Media is creating “compression” around customers not “convergence” across Marketing, PR, Services
115. @comcastcares can’t wait to see your new FB page with the service tab & other goodies.
116. How many people does @comcastcares employ? 10 people. 1 person monitors blogs (among other things).
117. If anyone else asks me about a silver bullet, get me a gun. SM takes good, hard work; no more and no less!
118. Turn messaging into conversation starters.
119. Embed bit.ly links into mktg campaigns to track SM response. Wonder if that works with Google urchin tags. Anyone?
120. Great insight into writing content that aligns with buyers decision journey – http://tinyurl.com/yfol4x7
121. If you market to a gear head you better be a gear head.
122. The key to social media is speed – opposite of PR.
123. One of the best reasons to be online is to be found.
124. Use IaaS to scale quickly and then scale down based on trends. Very cool concept. Company jumped from a few servers to 5000 in week.
125. You have 30 seconds to capture someone’s attention.
126. Using Gmail to find your customers on Facebook and Twitter!! AMAZING!
127. Marketing and how SM ties into it. 5 R’s: Relevance, Receptivity, Responsiveness, Recognition, Relate.
128. Oddly enough, my mom taught me a lot of social media policies… but she called them manners.
129. Use the “Mom rule” when posting content online — if you wouldn’t want your mom to see it you shouldn’t be posting it.
130. It’s an oversimplification to say that SM policy is just about being polite, that’s part of it. There’s more to it that for brands.
131. Don’t ask the lawyers “can we do this?” but “how can we do this?”
132. Seems most legal concerns really revolve around the fact Legal can’t install chips in our brains to jolt us when we think.
133. Compliance is always the goal with social media. Risks include control, bandwidth, cybersmearing, negative press, etc.
134. Largest age group using social media is 35-44 at 25%.
135. 65+ men and women – 3rd most visited web page is Facebook.
136. Women over 55 were the fastest growing demographic on Facebook last year; added 10 million profiles.
137. 35-44 age group is the largest age group that uses Social Networking.
138. 30 case social media case studies http://bit.ly/aHR7v4
139. You cannot start with tools. First (after people) define objectives & goals, then strategy/tactics.
140. Not one CEO in the Fortune 100 has a blog. Chickens!
141. No Fortune 100 CEO with social profile including Linkedin. They should – to be more authentic.
142. Advice to C-level Execs: Don’t Say anything stupid, be nice, don’t give away trade secrets.
143. C-suite: don’t fear going into social media – fear NOT going in.
144. Senior Management is blinded by the numbers. They want numbers, but they don’t know what to do with them.
145. C-suite, esp of publicly-traded companies, can B translucent but not transparent on social media.
146. Social Media needs buy-in from senior management to be successful.
147. If there is a theme to #smplus, it is definitely “look before you leap” – don’t get into SM until you have an aligned strategy.
148. “A good reputation is more valuable than money.” Isn’t that in the Bible somewhere?
149. People don’t buy what you make, they buy why you make it.
150. I don’t do presentations…I don’t do “Decks”…I have conversations.
151. Marketing is the ability to bring brands across an increasing # of media.
152. Marketing s/b responsible for Website, Blog and Social Media. Sales should have access to them.
153. What can Marketing do to engage sales in Social Media? Send them a lead that gets them a deal!
154. Why should sales participate in SM? If they could stand next to the fax machine and pull off orders they would. Dated, but yeah.
155. Sales 2.0 is about shift from hard selling to helping customers buy from us.
156. Let mkt people lead the conversation. They lead with the proper messaging. Allow sales to contribute to that discussion.
157. The key to aligning S & M is attacking the process. Getting two groups together: http://yfrog.com/6ghh1zj (grin)
158. Marketing 1.0 “spam cannons”; “what color is our company”; “sales can’t even be in same room”.
159. Favorite piece of knowledge: “Add value, don’t extract it.”
160. I like SM policies b/c they can help cos relax & focus on ways 2 help employees participate
161. After launching SM guidelines, set a date a year later to review and talk about successes/fails.
162. Policy as order makes me cringe in general, but it doesn’t have to. Our policy is 3 bullet points.
163. Nordstrom’s has a one rule corporate policy – use good judgment in everything you do. There is no rule #2.
164. Don’t assume employees know the social web risks, spell it out in your policy.
165. Tell people the real risks of using SM improperly. Use real-life examples (of which there are plenty).
166. Key takeaway, you have to set your employees up to succeed and to do that, you need to educate them!
167. Don’t ban – educate. Study by U. of Melbourne shows that people engaged in social media are more productive.
168. I hate social media policies. It’s the perpetuation of myth that employees need policy to communicate.
169. Only 29% Of Companies Have A Social Media Policy: http://bit.ly/b8hZzT
170. Not a policy to communicate it can dictate what is & is not acceptable to share, relevant in highly regulated industries.
171. Implement a social media policy that reflects the company’s values.
172. Education + guidelines/governance applied 2 asset audit (ID social/digital best practices) + social ideation = blueprint for success.
173. Engage, Contribute, add Value, Join conversation and turn it around really, really fast.
174. In the last few weeks, 1100 social media jobs posted on Monster.
175. Small biz – use your FB page to promote the community as well as the personal. Helps engage 2-way conversations.
176. Are many who believe SM is a realtime thought stream. Sad, but you do need to tell people how to properly communicate…
177. Be transparent and credible at all times.
178. See http://groundswell.com. They lump ppl in 6 categories but it comes down to 90 lurk, 7 contribute and 3 create out of 100.
179. I think the myth is that employers need to control all communication media.
180. Interesting thought – consider separate twitter acct for diff products.
181. New reality for marketers to create and nurture conversations.
182. Not all businesses are or belong on Yelp, not all businesses have easily accessible target audience or content that’s easy 2 share.
183. Banning SM in the workplace is a bad idea. Period. Employees are your brand… When your brand is unhappy… Duh.
184. Some still use Yellow Pages … to prop up broken furniture. Heh.
185. Advice to everyone – get a signup form on your Facebook page.
186. Everyone is in customer service. Conversations with people are the 3rd most trusted source for information.
187. 5 things to create your “Army of David’s” for social media in the work place: [1] Get Senior Mgmt in place [2] Have social media policy in place. [3] Get everyone involved- HR, PR, Corp communications. [4] Determine who will speak on your behalf [5] Have monitoring tools in place.
188. 9 ways brands are using social media effectively: [1] Create more utility: USPS Virtual Box Simulator; Sherwin Williams; iPhone app – iPee. [2] Be bigger than what you sell: Huggies crowdsourcing “mom inspired” ideas [3] Offer talkable surprises: Mr.Lucky’s Cafe at the Hard Rock Café – gamblers special $7.77 not on the menu [4] Answer latent but important questions: DTXTR to translate teen text speak to actual English [5] Recruit through real stories and people [6] Use SM to enhance what you’re doing now, take unique moments, make them special: UK bev. maker had guy w/camera stream annual mtg. [7] Put Use a calendar to create anticipation and map out the content you plan on sharing – helps to strategize [8] Identify your company voices: Flickr page with photos of the people behind the P&G social media account [9] Curate content along w/creating it.
189. Yahoo answers, if you’re not answering questions re: your brand, you’re missing out.
190. Blogging grew 68% in 2008.
191. Follow the UAT formula: be unique, authentic, talkable.
192. Everyone needs to think of themselves as customer service reps. You represent your company. Your people are your brand! So true!
193. 25% of small businesses use social media, which has doubled from last year.
194. Action plan – Join communities, comment on blogs, ans ?s, thank biz reviewers, and look for guest post opportunities.
195. Give more than you extract (from social media).
196. People use data and Internet on phone more than they make phone calls.
197. Setup Google Alerts to track your company and keywords.
198. How many friends you have on fb, etc, doesn’t matter – how many you can build a business relationship with does.
199. Strangers are shaping your brand.
200. Forrester says 16% of online Americans are mass influencers.
201. People are tribal by nature.
202. Create insider moments for your customers to share. IMO…So true.
203. In social media the internet is our database – Never thought of it that way.
204. Be real. Be nice. Tell the truth. Under promise. Over deliver.
205. Companies very active in social media see greater revenue growth, gross margin gross & net margin growth than those that do not.
206. Companies that respond quickly to Social Media comments can gain a follower for just responding! Has this happened to you? I agree!
207. Don’t know if Facebook will be here in 3 years, but we know there will be something else – be willing to shift with the movement.
208. Social Capital – Like the Aunt you love – we are predisposed because people have done nice things for you.
209. Most companies have centralized social media around PR, but that’s limiting and not useful anymore.
210. Personifying your brand can be done by providing content pieces to create a single voice using multiple sources.
211. If you want to be part of the community, you have to play by the community rules.
212. “Common thought == common user experience”. Company standards are important parts of successful SM.
213. Creating videos for corporate use? Brand a YouTube channel. Interesting tip.
214. If you need to search Flickr, try http://compfight.com. It’s been so useful for me. Search for “Creative Commons” licensed content.
215. Yes, but what do they actually sell? Financial client list might surprise you: http://ow.ly/i/1K3K
216. People. Objectives. Strategy. Technology. POST in this order. Not tech 1st.
217. One of the main goals in using social media in HR recruiting: build a pipeline of followers.
218. Unisys estimates they saved a million dollars in HR recruiting costs by using social media.
219. SM & HR: access to competitor’s talent, better tools to attract, easy to get followers, and easy for candidates to contact you.
220. Use http://www.flowtown.com/ to market yourself on the social networks where your customers are. Shape your message appropriately. Connects w @mailchimp.
221. SM can be faster and more frequented than search engines to find content.
222. Transparency matters; Authenticity is more important. Genuine intention trumps nuts & bolts processes.
223. Create blogs, FB, everything … create a social media presence with a purpose.
224. IT folks talking about harnessing rather than controlling online interaction. Refreshing.
225. Faberge Shampoo – Classic social media example, http://ow.ly/1PxX4
226. Social media is not one bucket – it’s lots and lots of different buckets – different for every company.
227. Sharing ‘insider moments’ with customers can be a powerful social media tool for a brand.
228. Virtual trust is real and powerful & being faceless doesn’t work & media is circular.
229. People need a face in order 2 have a connection & loyalty or they don’t want to tell others about your brand.
230. Your challenge on SM is not to suck. Hopefully, by the end of today, you now have the tools not to suck!

Meryl Streep opened her soul to the Barnard College graduating class last Monday. In a compelling commencement speech acknowledging the value of single-sex education, she celebrated both the power of a women’s perspective and the power of empathy to bring real change.

Ethos, Logos, Pathos

Her speech employed the classic Aristotelian elements of persuasive public speaking: ethos, logos and pathos.

She used ethos to establish her bone fides as an Academy Award winner and famous actress (albeit a person suffering a fame that separates her from “friends, from reality, from proportion”).

There was minimal logos in the speech. But she did include data from The Economist about women’s effects on economic growth and, tongue in cheek, on the research she’d conducted in high school on how to attract boys with peroxide hair and brand name clothes from the pages of Seventeen and Vogue – decades before the Devil wore Prada!

Above all, with wit and charm, Streep employed pathos to establish an emotional bond with the audience. She told emotionally appealing stories – of herself as a young girl swaddling her Betsy Wetsy doll; as an undergraduate, unkempt as the Velveteen Rabbit; as a new mother giving a very different commencement speech full of certainty and “earnest full-throated cheerleading”.

Adolescent pretense

Having proclaimed her fame and success, and built common cause with the women in the audience, she invited the graduates to explore the darker side of outward success in life, of what lies behind the inner door:

Cobwebs, black, the light bulbs burned out, the airless dank refrigerator of an insanely over-scheduled, unexamined life that usually just gets take-out.

She invited the audience to identify with her as a woman who had, like them, suffered the pretenses of adolescence, of acting a role to “pretend quite proficiently to be successful … as have many women here, I’m sure.”

For Streep, the pretense reached a zenith in high school. She deliberately set out to become the “generically pretty high school girl” with a child-like cute giggle, lowering her eyes at the right moment to appeal to boys, “at the same time being accepted by the girls, a very tricky negotiation.” So successful was her characterization she later used it in her portrait of Linda in The Deer Hunter, to the delight and fascination of President Clinton.

Celebrating Single-Sex Education

In contrast to her artificial role in high school, attending Vassar when it was still—as Barnard is today—a single-sex school, allowed Streep the room she needed to flourish.

“I didn’t have to pretend, I could be goofy, vehement, aggressive, and slovenly and open and tough and my friends let me.”

Empathy

Streep contrasts her 1978 role as Linda in The Deer Hunter with her 2006 role as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Clinton might have lusted after the submissive Linda but, claims Streep, it’s a measure of how far the world has come that men today tell her they can relate to Miranda – a woman who signifies the thankless position of the misunderstood leader. She finds it a cause for optimism that straight men today have the ability to empathize with a woman protagonist. Women are brought up to identify with male characters. However, it’s rare that men can identify with women characters.

The emotional expression of empathy for strong woman speaks to Streep of a generational shift in attitude:

Men are adapting…They are changing their deepest prejudices to regard as normal the things that their fathers would have found very, very difficult and their grandfathers would have abhorred and the door to this emotional shift is empathy.

Unique Perspective

This newfound emotional capacity for empathy is, for Streep, the transformative light by which consciousness changes. When light shines through the cracks, there is the possibility of a “completely different perspective”. This possibility is heralded by an age when women are awarded more medical and law degrees than men; when “around the world, poor women now own property who used to be property”; when the employment of women has contributed more to global GDP growth than new technology and the rise of India and China.

Streep challenges the graduating class to apply the unique perspective their single-sex education has given them in the world. They can “speed progress” solving the crucial global problems of human rights and gender inequality.

Off-hand delivery

Her self-depreciating speech was delivered in a deliberately off-hand way; speaking to her audience in the manner of shared dorm-room confidences; offering them a glimpse of her own uncertainty and doubt behind the façade of fame; free of conventional oratory in the way that only someone with a couple of Oscars could.

Here’s a video of Streep delivering her speech.