Hosting Your Very OWN Biznik Event, Part 4
You can sign up for membership on Biznik and post a profile online, and you can lurk at the bottom of the membership directory hoping that new work simply drops in your lap. But if you want to be proactive about building your business and become a member of this community, then you need to participate - get out there and meet other Bizniks fact to face, learn about them, share your wealth of resources, find people to collaborate and partner with, and hire each other.
Hosting a Biznik event is perhaps one of the most participatory things you can do inside Biznik. If helping to create a community of like-minded indie business owners that you’ll want to hire, be hired by, refer to friends and hang out with isn’t enough - there are also benefits to you, the host, like
- Drawing attention to yourself and distinguish yourself from others.
Your photo will appear next to the event title on the homepage and on the events calendar.
- Showing off your expertise and personality.
Whether you’re ‘teaching’ a class, leading a discussion, or organizing a happy hour social, you’ve got an opportunity to be the belle of your own party.
- Giving something of value - which motivates others to give in return.
This whole Biznik thing is taking off in Seattle. We’ve got over 800 members here and as many as 50 show up for happy hour events.
Giannina Silverman commented on a
blog post that Dan gushed in right after this week’s phenomenal happy hour event in Seattle.
“I literally feel that if I miss an event, that I’m taking a big gamble and missing the opportunity meet someone brilliant. Biznik events have SUCH an amazing energy, I think I’m addicted!
If only you could bottle it and sell it!”
The thing is, we have bottled it. We built a web site and the online tools for gathering the Bizniks together in your area and getting them all to meet face to face at an event. As far as selling it goes, the price can’t be beat. It’s FREE to join, list a profile and start participating. And it’s FREE to host a non-fee event in your area like a happy hour or a discussion. And if you want to make a little money for yourself from a Biznik event, we only ask that you be a supporting member at $10/month (a new requirement launching Oct. 1), and that you share 1/3 of the proceeds with Biznik.
I hear from a lot of folks that they’d like to host an event by they have some questions. I attempted to answer those questions in this blog series: ‘Hosting Your Very OWN Biznik Event’. PART 1 answered the question: What exactly is a Biznik event?. PART 2 talked about exactly what kind of event YOU can host, and PART 3 goes over the web form and gives tips on choosing a date, a venue, a time and a title.
This post will address, What to include in your description, What to charge, How to select the number of attendees, Cancelled RSVPs and wait list, Pre-event communication, and Post event follow-up.
PART 4
So you know that Biznik events are put on by members who have something to share with the community. You know what qualifies and what doesn’t. You know WHY you’d want to host one and what exactly YOU’LL get out of it. You understand the 95/5 rule. And you’ve thought about all the different things you have to offer that could somehow be worked into an event. And you’ve looked at the tools and see how easy it is to add an event online. Now.
What should be included in a description.
Who are you?
Introduce yourself and be sure to establish your credability. If you have 8 years of experience at Microsoft or an Ivy League graduate degree, mention that. If you’ve only been self employed for 2 years, what did you do before that?
Who’s the event for?
Do you have a particular audience in mind? Who is that. Would your event be of interest to all Bizniks, be sure to state that.
What are you offering?
This is a great time to state your intention. If you’re new to giving presentations, the best thing you can do for yourself is to state an intention. It’ll make it much easier for you to stay on track during your talk and will guide what kind of support materials or handouts you’ll want to bring with you.
If you’re not ready to make a presentation, but would like to lead a discussion on a topic of interest - state that too. “My intention is to pull together a group of Bizniks I haven’t had a chance to meet yet and talk about this great book I just read called The Rise of the Creative Class. Come join me!”
How is your material useful?
If you’re teaching a class or presenting some material, then state what attendees can expect to get from the event. Give them an idea of what they will walk away with. But be flexible and be honest. If your event veers from your topic and at the end of the evening you find that you may not have met the expectation you stated, be open about that and consider inviting attendees to contact you after class and meet you for coffee to get some unanswered questions answered.
What else makes the event useful?
If nothing else, plug Biznik. Educational Biznik events and the smaller discussion gatherings are a great way to meet new people and establish more intimate connections than the widely attended and noisy Happy Hour socials.
Solicit feedback from members who cannot attend / invite a wait list.
Until we can build a tool that will make it easier for members to bookmark events that interst them even if they can’t attend or add their name to a wait list, consider adding the following line to your description field:
.If you are interested in this event, but can not attend due to a scheduling conflict, or if the event is already sold out, please drop me an email. This will help me decide whether or not there is enough interest for me to offer the event again in the future.
What to charge.
Membership in Biznik is free and we have no required dues. But Biznik is a business with operating expenses and one of our sources of income is through events. Biznik takes 1/3 of the gross fees collected. If you believe Biznik is providing a valuable service and wish to help support us, then please consider the event fee as a fundraiser not only for yourself and the event expenses, but also for Biznik.
The only thing we ask from members wishing to make some money from a fee-based event is that they be a supporting member of Biznik. Supporting Membership costs $10/month or $100/year.
Thus far we believe that Happy Hour social events in public venues and some discussion events like ‘book club’ events should be free. The social happy hour event is often someone’s first taste of Biznik, RSVPs are not required, and members are encouraged to invite others they’d like to introduce to the Biznik community.
Educational events are different. We’re a business networking group and with few exception, one of the reasons we’re here is to grow our businesses and make money. Part of the Biznik Manifesto reads: “We believe that money is a good thing.” That being said there is a fine line between participating through gifting the community with your knowledge and expertise and chalking up an event as a marketing expense, and giving away your valuable time and service for free. When choosing a price for your event consider the following:
- Ask those RSVPing to make a commitment. If your event has a limited number of spots available, then by asking a minimal fee of $5-$10, you’re asking for that person to make a commitment. Until the summer of 2006 all Biznik events were free. When we began charging $5 for some of the events that might otherwise be free (like Radical Self-Promotion: How to Host a Biznik Event that Delivers Value, Builds Community, and Grows Your Business, we found that the no-show rate went from 40% down to 10%.
- Respect for the host’s time and materials. As we’ve talked about earlier, Biznik events are marketing opportunities for the host. We’re all in business here and our time is worth money. You’ll want to weigh the value you’re receiving from marketing to the people who attend your event against the value of information you’re offering your attendees, and factor in the value of your participation in the community by sharing your expertise and knowledge with others.
- Strategy. We live in a capitalist economy afterall. If your events have drawn large crowds or sold out quickly, then you might want to consider raising the cost of a future event. On the flip side, if your target audience is those in their first year of busieness with a limited income (like a class entitled, ‘How to Get a Business License’), then you may want to make the event affordable to those who would receive the most benefit.
Likewise, consider your position in the community. Are you a new member? Have you been to many events and met many other Bizniks yet? Face recognition goes far in this crowd. If you’re new to Biznik and have not made a name for yourself in the larger community, you might need to lower your price in order to attract a larger audience. After a couple successful events, members will start talking about you to other members. Dominic Canterbury is a great example. Last spring he and Chris Haddad hosted a free event called, “The Top Ten Marketing Mistakes.” They had room for 20 people and the event filled almost instantly. Within a few months, they were charging $20 for the event. This summer Dominic hosted a four-part marketing seminar for $200 and seven people attended.
Selecting the number of attendees.
If you require RSVPs for your event (and you don’t have to for a social happy hour event) then you must list the maximum number of attendees. We recommend over selling your event to accommodate for a 10% no show rate. That means that if your venue can accomodate 10 people, list the maximum number of RSVPs at 11, and if it can accommodate 30, then make the number 33. This will ensure that if your event is a sell-out, you’ll be able to fill all the seats.
Biznik requires that all events have at least 3 people in attendance. If the date of your event approaches and only one or two people have RSVP’d, we may contact you about rescheduling or changing something like the lowering the fee.
Communication before the event.
An email reminding attendees of the event is automatically sent to all on the RSVP list at 4am on the day of the event.
Hosts may use the tool to send a bulk email to everyone who RSVP’d to their event. You may want to welcome them a couple days before the event, or request submissions of samples (like an example of their business branding), or remind them to bring something like a blank notebook.
Cancelled RSVPs and a wait list
A credit card is required for RSVPs to fee-based events. Credit cards are charged 24 hours before the event. Biznik does not issue refunds. A member may cancel their RSVP online at any time before the event begins, but members must cancel within 24 hours if they wish to avoid being charged for the event.
I know that many people email or call the host when they need to cancel their reservation. While a nice courtesy on their part, only the person logged into the member’s account can cancel a reservation. You cannot cancel an RSVP for them. Please direct them to the event’s page and ask them to cancel their reservation themselves.
If you successfully anticipated the popularity of your event, your event will sell out. Consider collecting a wait list of names of people who were unable to get a reservation, then contact them if a spot becomes available. (We are building a tool that will automate all of this and ease the burden of the host, but in the meantime…)
Follow-up after the event
Biznik events are marketing opportunities for the host, so come prepared with marketing materials (business cards, brochures, handouts) in addition to follow-up materials. If you’d like to offer all event attendees a free 1-hour consultation or $20 off your service, consider printing up little cards or coupons that people can take home to remind them of you and your services later.
A comments tool has been included on every event page. Comments may be left both before and after an event, and by RSVP’d members only. Check back to your page after your event to take part in the discussion. Many hosts will post their support and presentation materials here too.
We’re looking forward to seeing more events outside of Seattle.
If you live in an area where there are a handful of other Bizniks, invite them all to a happy hour. If there’s only one or two other Bizniks in your town, why not see if they’ll meet you for coffee and you can talk about other people you know who you could be inviting to join Biznik and discuss what kind of event you’d all be interested in.
Glennette Clark hosted a happy hour social in Washington DC and 9 Bizniks showed up. She’s hosting another next month.
Dan and I are here to help with the process. Please drop one of us a line if you’d like to start a dialog.
business networking event indie business
0 Comments Can Podcasting Put a Fire Under Your Business?
Howdy and hi from Ontario, California. I’m here with fellow Bizniks Stephen McCandless and Scott Bourne to press flesh and trade soundbites with the biggest and best (and smallest and sassiest) in the world of Podcasting.
And I’m sure many of you are wondering why the hell I’m giving up two full days of my time for this, days I could be spending back up in Seattle, paying attention to my business, serving customers and pulling down cash.
And my answer is pretty simple: Learning more about podcasting is serving my business. Podcasting is one of the most powerful tools you’ve got to talk to your customers. It’s an honest-to-goodness revolutionary way to promote your business. It levels the broadcasting landscape more than any tool since the good old Mr. Microphone. And–and here’s the important part–it’s damned easy and pretty cheap to do.
On October 10th, Scott Bourne is hosting a Biznik event called Podcasting Perfection.
And if you’re at all interested in jumping into this new media and starting honest-to-goodness conversations with your customers, rush over to the events page and sign up now.
Because if you don’t, you’ll end up kicking yourself.
Scott is one of the hidden giants of the podcasting world. He produces dozens of podcasts every month, is responsible for 15 of the top 100 tech podcasts on iTunes and is helping companies big and absolutely huge to take advantage of this new medium. He’s a busy guy. A smart guy. And a guy who gets paid massive piles of cash to talk about just a fraction of what he’s almost giving away on the 10th.
On the way here I was talking to Stephen and said “Money can’t buy you success, it can only buy you opportunity.”
And Scott’s giving you one hell of an opportunity for just a tiny amount of money.
c
More Tracking Ideas
Dan gave some great advice yesterday about tracking what people are saying about you.
And I want to pile on with an extension of that tip.
It’s important to know what people are saying about you and your company, your products, your blog and podcast. But it gets old going out and doing active Internet searches on your name all the time. Going to Technorati is a great start. But there’s a second step you can take.
Enter PubSub. PubSub is a matching service that instantly notifies you when new content is created that matches your subscription. Using a proprietary Matching Engine, PubSub is able to read millions of data sources on your behalf and notify you instantly whenever a match is made. In other words, it is a passive search engine that searches into the future. It’s a free web-based service that you can use to create an RSS stream that you subscribe to. That stream can be any future search you want performed. For instance, you might set up a PubSub search on any or all of the following criteria:
1) Your name
2) Your blog name
3) Your podcast name
4) Your product name
5) Your company name
6) Your competitor’s name
You get the idea. That way you always have the ability to respond quickly to inaccurate or damaging information and to capitalize on positive information.
blogging blogs business competition podcast researchUse Technorati to track what your customers are saying about you
Here’s a quick easy tip - you can keep track of what people are saying about your business by visiting Technorati.com and searching the blogosphere for your business name. You’ll get a nice graphic that shows how many times your business was mentioned, and even better - a list of the links themselves that you can visit to read what people are saying. And I hope your customers are saying things like this (which I stumbled upon this morning during a Technorati search):
Biznik blogs buzz customers TechnoratiI had the recent pleasure to experience a new kind of business networking group. Fun, creative, happy people reaching out to connect with other fun, creative, happy people. What a concept. No one is in your face about how great they are. No one is pushing their business on you. Just a relaxed, informal setting where you get to meet and learn about people like you — authentic and self-aware.
1 CommentIs Biznik Bad for your health?
I love being a Biznik. It’s one of the things I’m proudest of in my life. It’s right up there with being over six foot, being able to spell “squirrel” (lost on that one in the third grade spelling bee) and having the disconcerting ability to stare anyone right in the eye and say “I love you” like I mean it. Cuz I do.
But last week, being a Biznik hurt me.
I was at Dan and Lara’s place for our monthly board meeting and found myself just overcome with overwhelming Biznikian love. I mean there’s so much great stuff happening in Biznik. We’ve got a full and plump events calendar, a thrumming and thriving blog, an increasingly wry and useful podcast, a forum so hot that a topic actually had to be shut down (It was like watching an episode of cops watching Dan and Lara lay the smackdown), almost 1500 just-plain-awesome members, hosting,, neato pictures, folks picking up the ball in other cities, and stuff on the horizon so incredibly cool that it’s actually killing me not to tell you about them.
So there I was at the board meeting, standing outside talking to Christopher Braxtan and Dominic Canterbury, and it was just too much. I couldn’t help myself. I had to express the shear joy that Biznik had brought into my life.
So I launched myself at Dominic, wrapped him in an inescapable bear hug (I’ve got at least 20 pounds on the guy) and tumbled us hard into a wall crushing one of my fingers and causing it to swell up to the size of a nicely cooked summer sausage.
I would have blogged about it then but, uhh, it’s hard to type with a finger the size of a summer sausage. In fact it’s even hard to type now. But I figured this public service announcement was too important to let go any later.
So be careful, Bizniks. We love you. We hope you love us. But let’s channel that love into all the great resources Biznik puts out in front of you; and into building your businesses into towering machines of cash-sucking, world-bettering magnitude. Not into spastic and ill-advised examples of roughhousing.
Your fingers will thank you.
Your combined brilliance is getting to be quite spectacular, Biznik
Since we launched Biznik in late October of last year, every person who decided to attend a Biznik event was sort of taking a gamble: Is it worth my time to go check this new thing out? They say it doesn’t suck, but is that just some marketing pap? But now it’s starting to feel like we’ve crossed some sort of invisible threshold, where people are really getting it, and don’t need any convincing.
Last night at the happy hour at Liberty, I kept meeting people that I wanted to spend the rest of the evening talking to. The combined brilliance of everyone in the room at these events is really getting to be quite spectacular. It feels to me like there’s some kind of critical mass that everyone’s bringing with them that’s collectively bringing us all up a notch.
There certainly is a lot MORE events on the menu now. Today there are 9 upcoming events in the calendar, and many more in the pipeline. Including a second event in Washington, DC, and one in Everett, WA.
So thank you to everyone who’s taken the gamble, attended an event, invested some time in building their social capital. And even more thanks to those of you who are stepping up to host events all over the place. It’s a safe bet that you’re going to meet fantastic, smart, interesting business people at Biznik events. AND you’re going to have fun, too. The gamble now is: What opportunities will I miss if I DON’T attend? Who might I be having lunch with today if I HAD been there?
Biznik business networking Seattle social capitalYou can now leave comments on any Biznik event, both before and after
Thanks to a suggestion from Cameron Woodworth in this discussion in BizTalk, I’ve added a new feature at the bottom of every event page - any logged-in member can now leave comments about any event. This is already encouraging a lot more conversation about events. Here’s some suggestions for ways you might use it:
1. If it’s an event you’d like to attend but the date or time of the event won’t work for you, you can let the host know. If enough people “vote” to change the date this way, it’s possible that the host might actually change it for you!
2. If you have to cancel, you can drop a note to the host here, if you like.
3. You can make suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered at the event, and share other feedback for the host.
4. You can discuss the event (for example, the book you’ll be reading if it’s a Book Club event).
I’m sure you can think of plenty more things to talk about using this feature. One final note: I’m experimenting by putting the most-recent comment at the top of the list, instead of the bottom. Let me know how that works for everyone.
The Real Cost Principle
I had a great professor in my freshman year of college who taught my business class. One of the best lectures he ever gave was about opportunity costs. I’ve used that lesson during my career over and over to make decisions. The information I took away from that class paid for my college education many times over.
Now that I am “seasoned,” I have put my own spin on it. I call it the “real cost” principle.
Let’s say you only have $300. You need a new washer and a new dryer. Each costs $300 so you can only pick one. Which one will you choose? Well it doesn’t really matter for the purposes of my little discussion, but let’s say you select the washer. What did it cost?
Now wait a minute before you give your answer. What did the washer really cost? Did it cost $300? Nope. It cost you the dryer. The real cost principle dictates that whenever you pick something, the thing you gave up to get it measures its real cost. The $300 is just money. That’s just a means of exchange. The loss of the dryer is the real cost of the washer.
What’s this all have to do with independent business? Each of us who has opened our own business has had to make lots of choices. Each of those choices has a real cost.
Whether you’re picking an office, a computer system, a web developer, an employee or a client. The real cost, the opportunity cost, will be that which you give up in order to get that which you choose.
The lesson is simple. When you opt to sell yourself cheap, or just make do with a so-so employee, you run the risk of missing the chance to work with a top-notch client and a superstar employee. Don’t concentrate on how much money you’ll make or spend when you decide what to do next. Concentrate on all the other things you’ll give up when you say yes.
business marketing salesCool new feature: See who’s online right now
Ever feel like you’re the only person browsing through the Biznik website? As it turns out, you’re probably not alone. As I was building this tool to show who’s currently online this afternoon, I was surprised to see how many members were actually online at the same time I was. After all, it’s a Saturday. And a sunny Saturday at that! Damn, people, how about we stop what we’re doing right now and go outside while there’s still some sunlight, shall we? How many days like this before we have to get cozy under our blanket of clouds for the Seattle winter?
Anyway, let me know what you think of this tool, and enjoy!
Biznik business networking currently online Seattle social networking toolsWho’s giving (and getting) the most from Biznik business networking?
“Biznik is pretty cool. But does it actually work?” That’s a question I’ve been asked a lot lately, and it’s becoming clear to me that we need to do a better job of tooting our own horn. Because Biznik certainly does work. One clearly measurable way to answer that question is to show how many members are getting referrals through the group. I’ve created a couple of new member pages that will allow you to keep tabs on this, which rank members by who is getting - and giving - the most business referrals. Check it out - it’s pretty interesting.
The results show that some members are getting a LOT of referrals through Biznik. The current top referral recipient, Beth Cosker, has received 9 referrals over the past 3 months - that’s an average of one referral every 10 days! And others are giving even more: top giver Lara Feltin gave 22 referrals over the same period, and Annie Jacobsen gave 12. It’s great to see so much business flowing between Biznik members.
In addition to this report, I ran some numbers and here’s what I discovered. Over the past 12 months, 486 referrals were accepted by Biznik members. That’s an average of 1.3 referrals per day. And the rate at which referrals are being passed between members is increasing - 50 referrals were accepted over the past 30 days - a rate of 1.6 per day.
Referrals are only one way to measure of the success of a business networking group. And not the best one, in my view. More valuable is the opportunity to establish relationships with people you have affinity for, find collaboration partners, and people to learn from. That may not pay off immediately in the form of referrals. The most valuable thing about membership in this business community is the opportunity to increase your social capitol. And we haven’t figured out how to put a number on that. Yet.
Biznik business networking referralsKeep an Ear Out
I just finished recording an interview with Biznik financial advisor Justin Harris for the Biznik podcast. We won’t be putting this episode out until a week from Monday, but mark your calendars, Bizniks, this is one worth listening to.
Photos from Biznik Happy Hour in Washington, DC
Last night Glennette Clark hosted the first-ever Biznik event on the East Coast, in Washington, DC. The event was attended by nine members, and I want to say “Thank you Glennette!” for hosting this event and kicking things off for Biznik outside of Seattle. She’s uploaded some images from the event to her flickr page.
Biznik business networking photos washington dcHosting your very OWN Biznik event, Part 3
This is the third installment in a multi-part blog spelling out the ins and outs of hosting your very OWN Biznik event.
This series comes of the tail of a great event hosted by Joe Shirley, Dominic Canterbury, co-founder, Dan McComb and myself called ‘How to Host a Biznik Event’ earlier this month.
Hosting Your Very OWN Biznik Event, Part 1 answered the question: What exactly is a Biznik event?. Part 2 talked about exactly What kind of event YOU can host.
This post will go through the web form and comment on How to choose a date, a venue, a time and a title.
I’ll leave the lengthy, What to include in your description for part 4; and discuss What to charge, What materials to bring, and What pre-event communication and post event follow-up should you have in later posts.
PART 3
So now you know that Biznik events are put on by members who have something to share with the community.
You know what qualifies and what doesn’t.
You know WHY you’d want to host one and what exactly YOU’LL get out of it.
You understand the 95/5 rule.
And you’ve thought about all the different things you have to offer that could somehow be worked into an event.
It’s time to look at the tools.
First, a recap of the four types of Biznik events:
If you’re ready to host an event, you’ll need to visit the Events page and click on ‘Create an Event’. You’ll be given a form and will need to provide the following:
Choosing a date.
First, consider the culture of your community. In Seattle people prefer to hang with friends on Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights. Sunday nights folks stay home and get ready for the week. Saturday & Sunday days are often reserved for home & family time. That leaves Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday evenings for business networking. You’re welcome to host an event at any time, just keep these generalities in mind.
That may not be the case in your neck of the woods. We recently learned from a UK Biznik that in London, most people take off work early on Fridays and spend time with their work chums. If you’re an indie, you might not have a group of chums to hang with and therefore might be very interested in attending a Biznik event on a Friday evening.
Second, consider other scheduled Biznik events being hosted in your area. If three or four events are scheduled the same week you’re looking at, you might unknowingly force people to choose another event over yours. Consider waiting a week.
Choosing a venue.
First, consider the location of your target audience. If you live/work 45 minutes out of the city and are hosting an event that would appeal to a large group of people who live/work inside the city, you may draw less participants than if you made the commute into where the majority of the people are.
Next, consider the atmosphere, the venue’s regular clientele if applicable, and other events that venue might host. If possible, check out the place at the time and on the day of the week you’re considering, to see if it fits.
Dan and I once found a great space close to where we live. It had a large board table and parking and was free. What we failed to cess out ahead of time was that the African import store next door taught drumming classes at 7pm on Tuesday nights.
You’ll want a place that is easy to find, has low ambient noise, and has a layout that is conducive to your type of event - whether that’s a lecture style workshop, a small round-table type discussion, or an open and casual social networking.
Types of venue’s used so far have included cocktail lounges, coffee shops, community centers, and the board rooms of members who work for or rent office space from larger companies. With rare exception, Biznik events may not be held in private residences.
We have been surprised by the following free options: rooms in community centers and libraries, meeting spaces in the back of some coffee shops, courtyards and little nooks at some cocktail lounges.
If you’re planning to host more than 8 people in a public venue, we recommend calling the manager ahead of time and letting them know that you are coming. Some lounges we’ve called have asked for a credit card upfront or insisted on only one tab. We have chosen not to use these places. Not only are we bringing business to them and advertising their place in the events calendar, but we are showing them the courtesy of letting them know ahead of time that we would like to come. It seems unreasonable to us that they would then ask us to jump through hoops.
If you need help finding a venue, would like suggestions of where to look, or have an idea for a place you’d like to bounce off of us - shoot either Dan or I, Lara a message or a call. (We are compiling a list of free and low cost venues used in the past and will publish that on the events page.)
Choosing a time.
Though many of us are self employed, most people work regular hours and might now finish with clients or projects until 6 or so. Traffic in Seattle is getting worse and so we generally recommend starting educational events at 7. Happy Hours are more casual and we’ll put a 6:30 time on those, inviting people to drop by at any time.
With the exception of the social Happy Hours that are often attended by over 40 people and will stretch beyond midnight, an evening Biznik event should last about 2-2.5 hours. If you list your start time at 7pm and provide a 15 minute buffer for light conversation and excess traffic, you could finish up with introductions by 7:30 and finish your presentation by 9:30. Question/answer periods can go longer and some people will linger talking with one another, but most people will want to get out of there before 10.
Choosing a catchy title.
Think of something descriptive and catchy - don’t get too wordy. As the list of events grows, people will spend more time scanning through the titles lightly and you’ll need to hook your audience. Scroll down the Events page and scan the list of archived events to get ideas for titles used in the past.
That’s enough for today. This is the end of Part 3.
Since Biznik’s birth less than a year ago 30 members have hosted events - with the exception of Glennette Clark’s Happy Hour occurring tonight in Washington DC, and David Amann’s Happy Hour in San Francisco last April, those members are all in the Seattle area.
I want to hear from you about your experience hosting an event and find out from Bizniks outside Seattle what would entice you to host an event in YOUR town.
Check back for the lengthy, What to include in your description and a discussion on what to charge, what materials to bring, what pre-event communication should you have, and post event follow up in the next couple posts of the Hosting your very OWN Biznik event.
business networking event indie businessSharing Personal Beliefs in Business
Poly Potivistic blogger Elizabeth Scarlett opened up a can of chatty snakes in Biz Talk last week when she asked:
How do you feel about sharing who *you* are through your business, with your clients?
By this, I mean religion, sexual preference, hobbies, family, tastes, etc.
Do you feel that sharing about yourself helps your clients to become more familiar with you as a person and friend? Or do you think that business is business and personal information should be kept separate?
Kisses,
Ms. Scarlett
Now certainly I could rant on here with my own opinions on the topic (hint: It has something to do with being who you are and not being afraid to offend someone) but I think you’d be better off popping into the forum and sounding off on your own.
Bizniks are talking. Why aren’t you?
Get Real–Be Human in Person and in Your Writing
Like many of us Bizniks, I’m having many conversations with people who don’t know me well. If you pay attention in this kind of situation, you learn a lot about how you’re perceived by others. Something I’ve heard from several people lately is, “wow, you’re really real.” This statement is usually delivered with some degree of surprise, because, I assume, I’m promoting my business while being my natural self.
Can a person successfully represent a business and still be “real”?
I would argue that, not only can you do it, it’s essential to true success. You should see how people relax the longer they talk with me. Shoulders lower, speech gets more natural, and there’s a lot more genuine laughter when they realize that there’s no need for pretense. I’m ok with showing my true character, and my behavior gives them permission to do the same.
The same idea should apply when you are writing for your customers. Anything you write, especially if you’re trying to woo new clients, had better be real. When you are the customer, are you going to trust the business that talks about “synergy,” and “optimizing solutions”? What does that even mean?! No, you’re probably going to trust the business that is talking to you, in the authentic way that people actually talk. A business that sounds like it contains real people, that has the courage to openly display their meaning, is one that inspires trust in its potential customers.
In my experience, people are relieved to work with someone who isn’t pretending to be something other than human. Being human means being a little messy. It means not always saying the perfect, polite, appropriate thing. I know that seems scary; we don’t want to lose customers by writing something that could be taken the wrong way. But by being yourself, you attract customers with whom you actually enjoy working. And enjoying your work, to me, is a huge sign of success.
Biznik business networking indie business publishing self promotion writingBiznik Podcast Episode 5 - How to Be LazySmart without really trying.
In this week’s exciting episode of the Biznik podcast, Glennette Clark and I chat about life, love, marketing, networking and the best darned restaurant in all of DC. Got an idea for the podcast? Ready to jump into the narrowcasting fray? Email us at podcast@biznik.com
Are nude images appropriate for profile mugshots?
If you don’t check out BizTalk regularly, you might’ve missed a great discussion about mixing personal and professional. The title of the discussion is, “Sharing personal beliefs in business…?” and 22 comments were weighed in.
Half-way through the discussion, Elizabeth Scarlett changed the mugshot on her profile and replaced a representational photo of herself with a sample of one of her nude paintings. (She’s since changed it back, so you’ll have to visit her web site to see her work now.) At the same time, she stated,
“I’m a visual person. If there is a not a good picture of the person, I’m less likely to be interested in hiring them. They don’t have to be attractive, but I’ve always felt that I can get a good feeling about someone based on the picture they choose to share with prospective customers.”
This opinion is shared by many. I can’t tell you how often people have told me how appreciative they are of identifiable photos on Biznik profiles, because it’s also made it 100 times easier to pick that person out at an event where they wanted to meet them.
I’d like to pose this question to a greater audience:
What is the purpose of the Biznik profile mugshot?
(We’re not setting new policy here, just interested in hearing people’s thoughts.)
1) An identifiable photo of the member
For the purpose Elizabeth stated above?
2) A representation of who you are/an expression of yourself.
Like Elizabeth’s nude painting; Andrew Friedman’s choice to display the Liberty Bar logo; or Bryan Lhuillier, who uploaded a cute picture of a dog wearing an apple suit?
Or 3) a place holder that increases your ranking in the directory? (Biznik profiles without mugshots rank at the bottom of the membership directory regardless of how active you are on the site and at events.)
I have to wonder why some mugshots are pictures of the person 30 feet from the camera on a ski slope with their face obstructed by a hat and goggles.
If you’d like to weigh your .02 in, please comment on this blog!
business networking indie businessRedpennies.com is a great example of a simple, pretty, customized business blog
Penny Eachus launched a business blog for her Red Pennies Jewelry and Design business this week at redpennies.com. It’s such a fantastic example of a simple yet beautiful indie business blog that I want to single it out for some praise. The blog is hosted on WordPress by us here at Biznik, and, as we do for all of our customers who request it, we installed WordPress for her at no additional charge. But the standard install, while very powerful, looks pretty boring. So most of our blog hosting customers play around with themes until they find one that suits them. But Penny did something that I think is brilliant in it’s simplicity - she stuck with the default WordPress theme, and simply hired a graphic designer to create a snappy header, which is the exact same size as the previous boring graphic. Then, all she had to do was substitute the new graphic for the old, and ta da! A super looking business blog is born. Great job Penny!
Learn more about Biznik’s blog hosting.
Biznik blog customization hosting wordpressCheck out Erin Hilleary’s striking artwork this evening in Belltown
Seattle artist Erin Hilleary joined Biznik yesterday, and it just happens that today, she’s having an art opening in Belltown that I’d like to plug. I’ve know Erin for several years, and her work is striking. She’s been hard at work on a project with The Kolo: Women’s Cross Cultural Collaboration, whose mission is to promote gender justice and halt gender violence. The work she’s showing this evening was inspired by the trauma that many women experienced in Bosnia. From Erina:
art Biznik bosnia business networking SeattleI am having another opening Friday the 15th of September and would like for you all to attend. It is happening at the new Form/Space Atelier at 1907 Second Avenue in Belltown off of Stewart St. It begins at 7 and ends at 11ish. My art will be showing along with the work of Paul Pauper. Most of the work that is up are illustrations for a book that I have been working on for the last four years, which will hopefully be published in December. It should be a fun event—art, drinks, snacks and people.
Work samples and information about the book is located at kolocollaboration.org.
I look forward to seeing you there!
“Know what I mean Vern?”
Remember Ernest P. Worrell? if not, I’ll give you a hint…
“Know what I mean Vern?”
Actor Jim Varney brought Ernest to life, but it was the Nashville advertising agency Garden & Cherry that created and syndicated the character and licensed “Ernest” for use in TV commercials and print advertising. Mr. Varney tragically died at 51 in 2000 as a result of cancer, and Jerry Carden and John Cherry sold their ad agency in 1997.
But back in the 80s, all of them were white hot.
I was a struggling media producer back then and I had the good fortune to meet with Mr. Cherry at a convention. I realized this guy was a millionaire and at time I think I was a thousandaire. So I decided to pay attention. And Mr. Cherry said something to me that changed my life.
We spent some time sharing what we did. I was running a small ad agency I created. He was running a larger ad agency he’d created. And our day-to-day job description was very similar.
So I asked him point blank: “What am I doing wrong? How is it we’re at such different places?”
He said, “Scott there’s no difference between what you and I do other than the number of zeros that occupy our paycheck.”
It was one of those “Ah Grasshopper” moments that really stuck with me. I realized I was doing all the right things, I just wasn’t getting paid for them. And who’s fault was that? Mine! I needed an attitude adjustment. I needed to value my work the way Mr. Cherry valued Ernest.
Maybe there’s a lesson there for you too? If you’re doing the same thing “the big guys” are doing, shouldn’t you get paid like they do?
business marketing sales small business value