That hilarious 80 second video is just one part of Social Media Week’s story!
It’s a worldwide festival where at least 12 cities across the globe are hosting events online (and offline too), looking at this question:
How have societies, cultures, and economies become more integrated & empowered through a global network of communication?
Want to learn more?
No matter where you are in the universe – if you have web access at your fingertips, you can engage with conversations and festivities by following #SMW12.
Look out! This is the inaugural year for DC as a host city. The dynamic team at iStrategyLabs is leading the way. And I’m excited to be an advisory board member too.
And are you in DC, ready for fun this week on Feb 15th?!
Please join Women Grow Business editorTinu Abayomi-Paul and good ole Live Your Talk this Wednesday, Feb 15, as we go offline to get social and have some fun in honor of the week.
How to RSVP for a soiree!
We’re celebrating women’s leadership in DC business and co-hosting a happy hour soiree.
and co-host Tinu Abayomi-Paul, longtime entrepreneur, founder of AskTinu, also doing strong work at the top ranked blog community of Women Grow Business hosted by Network Solutions.
…with congrats and appreciation to Bonnie Shaw over a iStrategyLabs who has been a leading DC voice for the festival (and a great steward for the advisory board here).
Look forward to seeing you along with these vibrant business minds!
And no matter where you are this week, enjoy – and please remember there’s a place for you in these worldwide events.
…an on-the-go photo from tonight’s workshop led by CompassPoint CEO Nicolette Pizzitola. Topic: process to set service and product pricing.
Great crowd and questions with super research & formula ideas from Nicolette. Meeting up at these Fabulous Women Business Owners events is regularly a useful, fun time.
It was the first time the #wgBiz hashtag trended in the DC region!
“It” is last week’s #wgBiz twitter chat where for one hour many from the Women Grow Business community talked shop on public speaking tips — all at warp twitter chat speed (full transcript here). Thanks to #wgBiz editor Shonali Burke for the fantastic chance to be a guest and guide the chat.
Energy from all the chatters could fuel Chicago for a week!
And below is a handful of questions and ideas that helped drive the discussion (with the full transcript per above link providing a strong road map to the entire conversation too).
Question 1:
What are the top 3 challenges presenters face when preparing for presentations/speaking engagements?
Answer 1: A few things come to mind — misunderstanding the audience; avoiding that nervous speech energy; pursuing perfectionism; and over emphasizing slides (vs really crafting a story for the speech narrative).
Question 2:
What are some favorite ways to help prepare for presentations?
Answer 2: Really hone in on knowing your audience and then construct a clear, brief, purposeful key message that addresses the audience’s need. There’s a favorite way that mobilizes this process: imagine you had just 60 seconds to impart value to an audience. What would that 60 seconds look like? Would you relate immediately with energized, precise content — or spend 45 seconds thanking the audience and expressing how glad you were to be there? Hint: Convey gratitude through valuable content and authentic, natural delivery. A list of thank yous inspires an audience’s brain to disengage.
Quick footnote:
Storyboard on a whiteboard answers to this question: what’s one story that exemplfies your key message and leads into key points?
Question 3:
What really influences a persuasive delivery, especially for women?
Answer 3: Speaking with vocal strength/versatility and good posture increases persuasiveness a lot, especially for female speakers.
Question 4 – from a chat participant: Where do I put my hands while speaking? What are ways to control gestures overall while on stage?
Answer 4: The most authentic suggestion to this I find is to step back briefly and consider your one-on-one conversation style. As example: when explaining a point of emphasis when the audience is just one or a few, how would you naturally underscore the point? Would you naturally clasp hands together? or would you actually use silent pauses to frame the specific point and draw more attention to the statement? Or would your voice slow and deepen, excluding hand gestures completely?
Footnote:
Even though the energy exchange is much more aggressive and accelerated when speaking to a group, re-connecting with natural conversational gestures can be more natural than ‘forcing’ a particular gesture or approach to emphasize key points. Let gesturing unfold along with the story’s build in the speech.
One huge factor brought up in the chat was relating to audiences authentically and with sincerity. Many folks shared great wisdom about audiences and how they can quickly detect an insincere speaker.
Bottom line: If presenters don’t convey authenticity or sense of care, then why should an audience care or be convinced?
Question for you:
What experiences or favorite tips do you have that have shaped your public speaking strength?
Thanks for a fantastic time and brainstorm at last week’s!
And reminder to save the date:
The next @wgbiz chat: Dec. 13, 12-1 pm ET with featured guest and Chief Troublemaker Joanna Pineda with Matrix Group International.
Quote of the night (so far):
“If it is inside you to run, then run.”
-said by Speaker Pelosi’s husband to her years ago when she was considering public office.
From somewhere deep in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left dot on stage per above iPhone photo) is ripping the crowd up ie she’s hilarious. At Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit 2010, Nora Ephron (right dot on above stage pic…) is now conducting a casual yet revealing interview on a huge stage.
What is striking is the Speaker’s voice, natural storytelling, and pace:
She punctuates her remarks lyrically with pauses and vocal strength as she grows more serious — and suggests to the hundreds of women in the audience: “Keep your home strong so it may continue to give you strength.”
She surrounds Nora’s questions with great stories ranging from getting her daughter’s permission to run for office (hilarious…) – to hearing her male colleagues discuss child birth (more good comedy…).
What she’s saying now about absorbing severe public criticism:
“I view attacks made on me like this: it requires a suit of armor, it is not for the faint of heart. I have to throw and take punches. And if I wasn’t being attacked then I would consider myself as unproductive.”
What a thrilling night.
I’m about to enjoy hearing House Speaker Pelosi speak about the impact of women-owned businesses and leadership on the economy.
It’s gorgeous here at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel near the Capital. I haven’t been here in years.
Highly anticipating the Speaker’s address.
UPDATE:
Actually I was in error. Speaker Pelosi didn’t speak to the economy per se. She rather shared stories about her entrance to and career in the House. Engaging, commanding conversationalist, she is.
It was fantastic meeting New Orleans resident Sloane Berrent last night about a huge fundraising effort she helped organize that’s benefitting the Gulf Coast.
Her energy and determination are contagious. We met during my blogging experience this week with the CitizenEffect Gulf Mission.
On Thursday, July 1st
The “Gulf Coast Benefit” is set to take place with music venues across the country hosting performances with the sole purpose to help the Gulf. People can attend these music events and donate onsite or can contribute in many other ways using social media.
In this video (2.5 minutes), we talk about many things — her inspiration, the community building used with social tech, and her respect for New Orleans and preserving the Gulf in light of the oil spill disaster.
And to learn more about tomorrow’s big music event helping the Gulf Coast
…feel free visiting Gulf Coast Benefit.
What a blast it was meeting recently with great folks and conversation at Social Media Club’s breakfast hosted in DC. It was great presenting there on an addictive topic: DC’s regional community. What area events bring together people offline and/or through social media? …when, why, and how? These questions were explored (and then some!) by the fun, interactive crowd and the other presenters: TECH Cocktail’s founder Frank Gruber and SMC’s Education Connection guru Yong Lee (and I shared on DC Media Makers and the blogger community Women Grow Business).
Social media love and diversity
It was early a.m. but despite that, a robust crowd was ready to engage! The breakfast attracted many parts of the social media lovin’ community — small business owners, freelancers, educators, content creators, marketers, and more. The diversity stood out and I learned a lot.
Community and social tech
The breakfast underscored a key point: DC provides so many ways to get involved with and learn from different parts of the area (in and beyond digital technology). A snapshot of those discussed:
DC Media Makers or #DCMM on Twitter (next event/media mashup: April 28th) – a volunteer group of those who want to learn, create, and talk about digital technology. The goal is to just have fun while sharing digital projects — whether its videoblogging, filmmaking, podcasting, blogging, screencasting, or other ways to create stories and community through digital media.
TECH Cocktail or @Techcocktail on Twitter (next event: May 5th) – a dynamic networking event series that features local startups. These events can really pack a room! It’s fantastic and gives selected startups the chance to introduce their business to many plus meet tons of tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and potential funders.
Digital Capital Week or @DCWeek on Twitter (next event: June 11th – June 20th) – a huge, inclusive festival celebrating “technology, innovation, and all things digital in Washington, DC.” A ton of events accessible to the public will take place those 10 days. No matter your experience with technology — if you’re curious, enthusiastic (or both) there’s a place for you to have fun. Folks can collaborate on digital projects, host happy hours or panelist events, donate computers to schools or organizations in need and more…
Social Media Club’s Education Connection or #SMCedu on Twitter (next event: June 16th) – a dedicated, growing community sharing great resources about the field and asking strong questions, like: How are teachers and students improving education through social media? How can social tech change the future of education itself?
Women Grow Business or @wgBiz on Twitter (next event to be posted on the blog) – a diverse, resourceful, and flat out fun troupe of volunteer bloggers dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs and those in small biz succeed (RMC’s Mayra is a steady fan and blogger there too!).
Want more on the breakfast and Social Media Club in general?
Thanks big time to Andi Narvaez and Rachel Rule for making the breakfast possible. There’s content galore about the event, including complete video coverage per the archived web stream with more fun video interviews by Ananda Leeke (and you’re welcome to follow SMC’s breakfast Twitter feed for ongoing chats aka #SMBdc). P.S. The Club’s blog regularly updates with social media news and events.
I’m more and more fascinated with online engagement and how it impacts (or inhibits?) the development of offline engagement in public speech scenarios. It’s an ongoing observation on my part. And my friend Joanna Pineda recently blogged on an issue central to the online engagement piece:
Some context
FourSquare is a location-based social network that allows subscribers to check-in from their current location using their mobile phones and provides tips and recommendations. Amplify asks “users to share news and information they find thought provoking and conversation-worthy,” not anything and everything about their lives, status and locations. Buzz is the latest offering from Google that lets you share updates, links, photos and videos.
Now that I’m signed up for all of these services, I’m asking myself these questions:
Which social networks should I be on personally and professionally?
Most of the social networks let me share out updates from one network to another; should I share out my tweets or does that defeat the reason to be on multiple networks?
Am I reaching a different audience on each network or will I be talking with the same group of social network-obsessed friends and colleagues?
Just how many networks is practical for me to keep updated without losing my mind?
To try and get some perspective on these questions, I turned to my friend Jill Foster, social network guru, video blogger, and co-founder of DC Media Makers. Jill has over 5,000 followers on Twitter, nearly 600 Facebook friends and she’s prolific on what seems like every major social network. Here’s what she has to say about being active on at least a half dozen platforms.
Jill responded via email, per below:
There are online networks where my content may overlap but that’s intentional and less frequent.
Twitter: It’s my central hub of online conversation plus a place to observe other users’ content – and share content I produce. Twitter frankly goes beyond a business platform for me. Twitter is a liberal arts engagement pool (with a water cooler chat mentality mixed in) that never stops.
Twitter Search: If I want to virtually attend a conference – I follow that conference’s hashtag or the feeds for those able to attend in person. Also, to observe and engage on core topics of interest with people, I keep certain Twitter feeds active, e.g., women entrepreneurs, public figures, public speaking, social media.
Amplify: It’s not a water cool chat mentality when I use Amplify. It’s an excellent platform and opportunity for sharing deeper perspective. I forward links to these conversations (which include entire clipped excerpts) to Twitter or, if content is more on the personal development front, to Facebook as well.
Posterous: I enjoy Posterous for sharing mobile content – audio, video, and pics – which forwards to Twitter, where I can respond and engage.
Facebook: I use Facebook for more personal engagement, although my professional drive/views may be shared there.
LinkedIn: It has a fantastic array of subject-centric, professional groups. I am starting to use LinkedIn to join groups and be part of discussions. It’s less a place to share regularly or engage through content (vs. Amplify or Twitter).
So there you have it. A social media maven’s primer on the major social networking platforms and how to use them. As for me, I’m slowly getting hooked on FourSquare and I’m trying to find time to post on Amplify.
How about you? How many and which networks are you on? How do you distinguish between them? How much time do you spend updating each day? And which one is your favorite?
