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.
A 10 minute video tutorial on persuasive speaking, laughter, & yoga too…
After sifting through LiveYourTalk’s video archives, I edited one of my workshops into a shorter version. It’s based on a 4-prong approach to preparing persuasive presentations, plus tips for using more vocal flexibility and understanding the impact of silence.
DISCLAIMER to readers: Darth Vader was not harmed in this recording.
She just gave a great speech on the benefits and stress from having so many available choices.
She has resolve, success, and a great depth of reflection.
She’s got one heck of a sense of humor, is a Women Grow Business blogger — and she’s a clear winner too.
This ’she’ is Ann Bevans, a business owner and prize winner of this year’s case study competition for the Hot Mommas Project.
The Hot Mommas Project is an online mentorship library for women and girls, comprised of case studies accessible for free. People from across the globe submit case studies reflecting their life experience about entrepreneurship and different professional industries.
What challenges did they face?
What decisions or fears or obstacles helped to crystalize their success?
These questions are often framed and answered in the most personal and triumphant ways in these case studies.
Ann’s case study won top honors this year, revealing her sense of purpose for her business and resolve to look at specific choices.
In this video talk: Darth Vader talks shop.
And Ann shares more on what compelled her to write her case study. Her potent acceptance speech was a hot topic too, looking at the trials of choice in & beyond business — all this from the Hot Momma’s Awards Ceremony earlier this week.
A colleague recently shared her pre-game angst for giving a product demonstration. She felt less confident for this particular demo, especially when envisioning questions from attendees that could favor her competition vs her product.
Here are (3) tips that helped her increase her sense of ease, confidence, and control:
1. Set the tone and establish the dynamic early on.
She opened her remarks by overtly declaring her demo a full-on conversation zone; she distinctly invited curiosity about her work (and what they, the attendees, were looking for). Leading the tone in this way was a simple, empowering move. Cultivating this type of conversational environment head-on made my colleague feel like she was guiding the exchange (vs hiding nervously from potential questions).
2. Establish a clear, big-picture message and use that as a mental home base.
The nature of our products and services can be so carved out in our minds that a vivid, concise way to describe its meaning can get obscured. Before the demo, clearly define and articulate a key message that captures the value of your product. Linking mini stories to the key message can help make it all the more humanized, personal, and distinct.
As example: “My #1 interest is providing fantastic, fashionable footware that’s reasonably priced. Faculty at my alma mater are my best customers for this reason….”
3. Acknowledge competitor features, briefly, if prospects bring them up; but promptly re-direct attention to your product’s benefit.
It can be natural to defensively respond when people affirm competition in the face of your product. To diffuse your own anxiety and cultivate a sense of confidence, prepare ways beforehand to gracefully acknowledge competitor features should they come up i.e. “Yes Sallie’s Lime Cupcakes are tasty…” And practice how to immediately re-focus attention on your product’s distinction i.e. “I’ve found the bulk of my customers may try fruit cupcakes once or twice in the short term. But my customer community as a whole craves chocolate and vanilla. And we provide that in 85 creative recipes.”
I’m now craving a cupcake (vanilla, not lime) in the most urgent way(!)
Before signing off though, have you ever experienced anxiety before giving a product demo? What were ways you prepared when anticipating criticism from attendees?
It was a fantastic evening last night where I presented on favorite tips and mindsets for preparing persuasive speeches. This was my first time to present to a great membership forum here in Washington, DC — the Fabulous Women Biz Owners founded by Sarah Massey.
This was such a rejuvenating night — great, tenacious folks.
Here’s 13 minutes from my talk that includes:
a 4-prong approach to preparing persuasive presentations plus using vocal flexibility and understanding the impact of silence.
I co-hosted the workshop with the fantastic Jessica Solomon, founder of Spark Creativity. She led a segment on creating an authentic elevator pitch (or what she calls ‘cocktail line’) with some really reflective, thought provoking recommendations.
…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.
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.
Fascinating.
I’m blogging now from a Johns Hopkins University book talk on women leaders building their influence for “Women at the Top.” The author Selena Rezvani and the audience are engaging well with the current conversation centered on learning to negotiate.
How do you persuade in one on one discussions? How do you make the ask in sales, in salary requests? How do you negotiate an angry group or audience (…a question that just came to mind). Really enjoying this.
After hours of strong, resourceful, on-fire conversations – by the end of the day not even the sky could stop the momentum of ideas at this year’s WomenWhoTech Telesummit.
Image Orange Sky by Nick Humphries, Creative Commons.
Tips: taking on perfectionism, public speaking, and the pitch
Lightening talks launched #WWT this time i.e. four, 10 to 20 minute consecutive conversations. I was ecstatic to co-present the day’s opening discussion with Allyson: tools for public speaking in our Web 2.0 environment.
…with a debrief:
2 tips to transcend that public speech perfectionism
Does waiting for the perfect fund of knowledge derail your assertion to speak in public? Some ideas to assert this:
1. Engage your own stage 15 minutes weekly with social media tools. Start free-form talking to yourself into a smart phone’s audio device or casually interviewing peers via mobile audio platforms like Utterli or with accessible video cameras like the Flip. Podcast steadily. Keep this practice content published or unpublished, whichever.
The goal: Gain confidence in and awareness for your public conversation ability.
2. Commit to regular, impromptu Q&A with a trusted peer(s) regarding topics that compel you. Confront that feeling of “deer-headlights-don’t-know-answer.”
The goal: Strengthen flexibility in your impromptu engagement style. Develop the ability to own it publicly when an answer is unknown and continue to lead the audience dynamic despite this.
5 tips for pitching to speaker selection committees
1. Commit to submitting steadily to panel and conference speaker selection committees — even if they thank you with rejection emails. It’s the Olympic numbers game here…pitch, pitch, submit, submit.
2. Invite known industry leaders to join your panelist slates.
3. Know at the beginning of the year (well before conference season) the industry conferences / events at which you want to be a featured speaker. Then document submission due dates for speaker selection committees (engage and learn from past speakers at said events and past selection committees if possible).
4. Create and publish shareable clips of your public conversations. Whether presenting in live audiences or conversation in podcasting talks, capture that content – even if it’s casual/social – and submit to selection committees.
5. Request endorsements for your public speaking ability and publish on LinkedIn and main online hub. Former audience members – even mentors or colleagues – are open game to solicit and publish great reviews.
The goal: Execute a strategic approach to public speaking. Make your skill and champion topics visibly accessible for pitch decision makers.
2 tips on mental fortitude and public speech
Perfectionism isn’t the end game, but participation is.
At the heart of public speaking (and thus conversational leadership) is a willingness to give and receive attention – through content you give a distinct damn about.
There were added suggestions and recaps in the above cited event posts too.
