My Three Tips to Help You Give Better Presentations

Practice — and technology — makes perfect!

Having the right tools to give great presentations is one huge key to success in the small biz and entrepreneurship world. Getting the right slide deck and presenting it effectively in front of key players in your industry can make a huge difference for your brand AND your business. But not everyone is a natural at giving presentations, and that’s okay — I’ve got some great tips to make it easy!

By applying all three tips below, hopefully you can make the whole process seamless.

1. Practice public speaking.

If you’re having trouble with the actual part where you stand up and give the presentation, that’s okay—a lot of people are uncomfortable with public speaking, even when it’s just in small groups or one-on-one with strangers. But there are tried-and-true methods to get better at it, some of which I’ve covered in a previous article.

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Digital Cafe: Meeting and Pitching Face-To-Face at Conferences

Networking online, through social media channels, email, and LinkedIn, is something everyone I know does pretty well. After all, you can take all the time you like to compose your pitches and online networking comes without the stress and anxiety that often accompanies face-to-face interaction. But by no means should online networking be the only kind you do! There are certain things that can only get done when meeting and pitching someone in person.

In this episode of the Digital Cafe, I offer my best 6 tips for pitching at events and conferences. For even more in-depth tips, you should read this post on AT&T’s Networking Exchange about Human Networking. Read More

Making Your Business Connections Count – Master the Art of Human Networking

Networking online, through social media channels, email, and LinkedIn, is something everyone I know does pretty well. After all, you can take all the time you like to compose your pitches and online networking comes without the stress and anxiety that often accompanies face-to-face interaction. But by no means should online networking be the only kind you do! There are certain things that can only get done when meeting and pitching someone in person.

I’m at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference this week in Austin, Texas, and it occurred to me that while I’ve gotten tons of amazing opportunities through my own networking, including television and radio appearances, this isn’t a subject that’s necessarily taught at business school. Many of you, I’m sure, are constantly attending conferences, events, and speaking engagements but if you struggle with getting up the nerve and pitching your idea then I’m going to try and help you by giving up my best tips. Here are the steps I would take before, during, and after an event to ensure I make the absolute most out of my face-to-face networking.

1. Know your subject

Before heading to an event or conference, get a copy of the program or print one out. Make sure you really study the entire program—you should know ahead of time what all of the panels are about and who all of the speakers are.

2. Make a hit list

With your knowledge of every nook and cranny of the program, you should be able to make a “hit list.” A hit list is your personalized list of everyone who will be speaking or attending the conference that you want to get in front of. Do you have an idea you’d like to run by them? An opportunity to present to them? Whatever it is, come up with more names than you’ll ever be able to meet (after all, some opportunities may pass for reasons outside of your control) and then prioritize them. This means making hard decisions and deciding on a #1, a #2, all the way down.

Read the rest of this post on AT&T’s Networking Exchange Blog

Evernote Hello Offers a Quick Way to Remember People

Evernote touts itself as the “remember everything” service that lets you store all kinds of information and access it anywhere. Now you could do what I do when I am working a room at a networking event and snap pictures of business cards using one app, and then have that app export the cards to Evernote. Or, you can try out Evernote Hello for iPhone that lets you build a quick profile of people you meet so you can remember more about a person other than just how cool you think their business card looks.

In short, EN Hello helps you remember people you meet by adding an image or two of the person, contact information like phone #, email & Twitter handle, and a location where you met, or pull contact info from a meeting scheduled on your calendar. All this information is stored in Evernote and you can choose to send your contact information when you meet someone. Keep reading to find out how to use this great new service. Read More

Sonar App for iPhone Now Displays LinkedIn Connections When You Check-in

The Sonar app is a great way to find out how you are connected to other people where you are located. By checking in to a location using Sonar (pulls location information from Foursquare) you see not only who has also checked in, but how you are connected. Initially, Sonar used Twitter and Foursquare connections. Now the app has turned on LinkedIn as a method for fishing out your relationship to those around you.

Actually, you don’t even have to check-in to see who is at a location and if there are any connections. Upon opening, the app shows you nearby locations (you can also search if  your location is not on the list), and the number of people currently checked in. Read More

LinkedIn Apps get Refreshed, Introduces HTML5 Mobile Website

With the updated LinkedIn mobile apps for iPhone and Android, users can network with like-minded individuals faster while other mobile device users can stay in the know via the new mobile-friendly HTML5 site.

The re-designed mobile apps have broken LinkedIn down into four areas. You can access you network updates and activity; browse your profile and view recent activity; check your inbox and send new messages; and check out your groups to join the conversation and view potential connections. The layout for each area is very easy to navigate and is attractive overall – A much better improvement from the older version. Of course, you will still want to access LinkedIn via a full computer browser to get the most out of the professional networking site, but I can definitely see users wanting to use the mobile app more especially if they have a heavy presence on the site as a result of the update. Read More

Hashable App for iPhone and Android: Throw Away your Business Cards?

If you’re a heavy Twitter user and own an iPhone or Android device, chances are you meet enough people in the same boat that you could simply use the Hashable app to connect with people, trade contact information, and grow your network without having to hand out business cards like a robot.

After you’ve done your chit-chat/elevator pitch at an event, immediately following up via Twitter (“Hey, it was to good to meet up with @[Twitter handle] tonight at blankety-blank event”) a is the popular way to go. Sometimes finding a Twitter name, following them and/or sending out a tweet in the middle of a conversation can produce 50/50 results via your Twitter client of choice. Hashable looks to smooth out that process by letting you set up your profile ahead of time and trading information in just a couple of clicks. Hashable also includes several pre-defined hashtags (hence the name) that you can choose from to quickly send out a “guess who I just met” Tweet without all the fuss.

Once you’ve made the connection and added their contact information to your iOS or Android device, Hashable can help you grow your network by seeing who your friends are connecting with – There may also be a potential match there for you as well. If you feel that there’sa person in your network you think someone else should meet, you can “Send Intro Tweet” by picking the people you want to introduce, and adding a quick message. Bam! A Tweet will go out and @mention both parties. All this is done in the Hashable app without all the clutter or steps you would have to navigate through to handle the same task via your Twitter mobile client.

There is much more functionality in Hashable that I haven’t touched on, including a leader-board to see who is making the most connections, so you will have to download Hashable for the iPhone or Android and toss those business cards!

If you just love your business cards to death, you can add a QR Code to your business cards and make them interactive…but that’s another post for another day.

Tonya R. Taylor’s Report Answers Why Small Biz Owners Need to “Get Twitter”

I attended a local business networking event last night, and was amazed at the number of business owners who are NOT on Twitter.

After doing the typical networking “elevator pitch dance”, when I got around to asking people for their Twitter handle, there were various reasons as to why they didn’t use Twitter. Most of the time, folks really didn’t see how Twitter could help their business. So most of my time spent at the event was schooling folks on how I use Twitter for my business.

So while researching a small biz topic to write about (I’m a last minute type of guy) I decided to give you are quick breakdown of Tony R. Taylor’s FREE report “I Don’t Get Twitter” – 5 Answers To Getting Greater Results Using Twitter For Your Business.

In the report, Tonya explains how people typically view Twitter, goes over how people who are not on Twitter reach out to their audience, and of course, why small biz owners should be on Twitter.

The real “meat and potatoes” of the report is Tonya’s breakdown of how small biz owners can get the most out of Twitter by answering the top 5 questions of small biz owners interested in learning more about Twitter. Without giving TOO much of it away, here are her top 5 questions small biz owners have about Twitter:

#1 – What’s the biggest mistake Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter make?

#2 – Where should Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter focus most of their initial effort?

#3 – What have businesses done specifically that has been very successful?

#4 – Give Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter 5 quick ways to use Twitter for business.

#5 – What’s the easiest thing Small Business Owners who don’t get Twitter can do right now to see results?

Tonya’s report goes in depth to answering the above questions (in a short, sweet, and to the point way) to give any small biz owner looking to: Rub elbows with other industry professionals; reach a larger market; create better relationships with customers/clients; AND MAKE MONEY (notice how I put that last) via Twitter. She also gives the fact, figures, and statistics about small biz owners who do successfully use Twitter and dishes out information about her Twitter Quick-Start Academy for professionals looking for even more information, and results, out of Twitter.

For more information about Tonya R. Taylor, her company Rising Star Ideas, and to get her FREE report “I Don’t Get Twitter!” – 5 Answers To Getting Greater Results Using Twitter For Your Business, follow @risingstarideas on Twitter

*Notice how I am forcing you to go on Twitter in order to get more information about Twitter*