I have moved to a new site that is actually attached to the Icon Presentations Website. Please join me at

http://www.icon-presentations.com/blog/

If you currently get an RSS feed for Sound ‘n Sight, you will need to cancel the old feed and sign up for a new feed at the above link to continue [...]]]> Hi everyone!

I have moved to a new site that is actually attached to the Icon Presentations Website. Please join me at

http://www.icon-presentations.com/blog/

If you currently get an RSS feed for Sound ‘n Sight, you will need to cancel the old feed and sign up for a new feed at the above link to continue getting my blog posts. I hope you will. I really appreciate your interest and support!!

-Jenise

2 – Top 10 reasons to bolt from a meeting

3 – Social media’s impact on business, decision-making by CEO’s, managers: 12 key findings 4 – 15 tips for making meetings more meaningful

5 – Get more #tradeshow leads with Twitter, LinkedIn [...]]]>

1 – Top 8 diet & exercise tips for conference travel

2 – Top 10 reasons to bolt from a meeting

3 – Social media’s impact on business, decision-making by CEO’s, managers: 12 key findings

4 – 15 tips for making meetings more meaningful

5 – Get more #tradeshow leads with Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook

6 – Teamwork is more than just a word

7 – Great industry networking tips! by @planetplanitbiz for @lizkingevents

8 – 5 ways to better meetings with social media by @mikemcallen

9 – 10 tips for success in writing business emails by @MichaelMcCurry

10 – 20 social media ratings you should be monitoring

11 – 4 #meetings contract clauses you need to know

3 – #EIR – How 2 find click-worthy links to tweet, quickly & easily

4 – How to fit branding into your busy life [...]]]>

1 – 3 steps to achieve marketing success in any venture by @MarketLikeAChik

2 – Social media’s impact on business, decision-making by CEO’s, managers: 12 key findings

3 – #EIR – How 2 find click-worthy links to tweet, quickly & easily

4 – How to fit branding into your busy life by @lizkingevents

5 – 2 main strategies for leveraging Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook for pre-show promotions

6 – Here’s what you should do to improve your blog today

7 – Real business case for incentive travel by @executiveoasis

8 – Are you talking to your fans or WITH them? by @lindsayfultz

9 – Mentors wanted: A guide to significance by @sanderssays

10 – What you stink at is good for business by @justinlocke

11 – Volcanic ash eruptions: Event planners, do you have a Plan B? By @planetplanitbiz

It’s not hard to identify the person you’d want to work with in the above video. Erin Brockovich knows her clients, their phone numbers, the details of their [...]]]> The following is a guest blog article by Lindsay Fultz. If you are interested in guest blogging for Sound n’ Sight, please read my guest blogging guidelines .

It’s not hard to identify the person you’d want to work with in the above video. Erin Brockovich knows her clients, their phone numbers, the details of their daily lives, their hopes and dreams. If any company knew me the way Erin Brockovich knows her clients, I would be a customer, new brand ambassador…a friend for life.

Whatever happened to Quality over Quantity?

I’ve noticed as of late, an alarming rate of Facebook fan pages popping up with only Twitter bits as updates and when you fan their pages they spam you with countless emails, webinars, seminars and live event invitations which are taking place clear across the country.

Whatever happened to actively listening and engaging your online community? Or creating a one of a kind customer service experience?

Facebook pages seem to be the new domain frontier. Facebook fan pages, come get ‘em while they’re hot! Lately I have been getting fan page request after request and the fan page postings are completely one sided Twitter stream posts with sales funnel links to 0 fan interaction.

Photo by Esteban Hadji

Twitter and Facebook are two totally different social networking sites with different demographics. If you are trying to make money off Facebook and you think these shortcuts won’t hurt, you need to re-evaluate your approach.

Attention Facebook spammers!

The “hide” button has become my new BFF. Yes, there actually is a “hide” button on Facebook. By not actively engaging your online community you are actually doing more harm than good to your business brand reputation because you are impersonal and annoying and people are “hiding” you.

If you are managing a Facebook page for your company, you must use it as a tool for interacting with your customers.That’s what it’s designed for. It may take a bit more time and effort to actively engage your social media community, rather than spam them, but there’s help out there.

Hootesuite, is one of several all in one social media dashboards available and is great for busy people managing multiple social networking accounts. Currently you can monitor Facebook profiles, fan pages, Twitter, Wordpress, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping and Myspace. (However PLEASE do not update all sites at once with the same information.)

If knowledge is what you are lacking then I suggest you consider actively listening to your community. You’ll be amazed by how much you will learn about the needs of the people in your own industry. Some of the listening tools you might consider are Twitter Search, Google Alerts and Social Mention. They all allow you to enter words or phrases that you would like to monitor.

People want to work with people they know and trust. The only way to get to know people in your online communities is by talking with them. Notice I did not say TO them. Engaging with people builds rapport, which leads to trust. Rapport + Trust = Referrals. This will not happen overnight and your engaging needs to be genuine. You are transparent online.

Facebook spammers: Would you approach someone on the street or knock on someone’s door and yell “BUY MY STUFF” in their face? Unless you like doors slamming in your face, I’m guessing not.

Call to action: In hopes of cutting down on Facebook spamming, let’s help them out. What are some ways you actively engage your online community?

Lindsay Fultz is the obsessive compulsive Manager of Sales and New Media Marketing at Grosh Scenic Rentals a scenic backdrop and drapery rental company located in Hollywood, CA . When she is not cracking the whip at Grosh, she also coaches Track and Field and Cross Country at a local high school and enjoys cooking vegan/vegetarian dishes while listening to Aerosmith.

But surfing the internet can be [...]]]> A wonderful way to help your friends and establish a strong, positive presence on Twitter is to tweet links to informative articles on the internet. Helping to educate your Twitter community is also an essential component of the #EIR (Engage, Inform & Retweet) plan for success on Twitter.

But surfing the internet can be so time consuming, I hear you say. Well here’s a way to bring the information you want right to you in a way that will:

* not clutter up your email inbox

* give you timely updates from all of your most trusted blogs & news sources

* allow you to see them all on one page that you can organize to your liking

It’s the magical and highly useful RSS feed and if you aren’t using it now, you aren’t making the best use of your news gathering time.

2 – #EIR – Actions speak louder than Twitter backgrounds

3 – Lead generation for event companies

4 – Are social events the new corporate?

5 – MPI President Bruce McMillan on hybrid live/virtual events, more

6 – 3 foolish things you’re doing badmouthing your competition [...]]]>
1 – Engage, inform & retweet! These #eventprofs are masters!!

2 – #EIR – Actions speak louder than Twitter backgrounds

3 – Lead generation for event companies

4 – Are social events the new corporate?

5 – MPI President Bruce McMillan on hybrid live/virtual events, more

6 – 3 foolish things you’re doing badmouthing your competition on the tradeshow floor

7 – How to fit branding into your busy life by the awesome @lizkingevents

8 – 26 Twitter tools to track tweets

9 – Sinister 6 body language habits: How many do your tradeshow staffers have?

10 – 6 tips to writing publicity friendly content by @MarketLikeAChik

11 – Why you need a meeting steward by @jeffhurt

All of us have our own methods and philosophy for choosing who we follow on Twitter.  I know many who will return any follow, as long as it’s not from a spammer.  I know people who only follow others who share their professional interests. Still others, on a continuous quest for more business, [...]]]>

All of us have our own methods and philosophy for choosing who we follow on Twitter.  I know many who will return any follow, as long as it’s not from a spammer.  I know people who only follow others who share their professional interests. Still others, on a continuous quest for more business, will only follow those who fit their customer profile.

There’s a lot to be said for widening your horizons and Twitter offers tremendous opportunities in this area. Remember that one of the greatest ways to promote your brand is by building a legion of brand ambassadors; friends who want to help promote you. Twitter is the ultimate tool for this. 

So don’t write off someone who tweets mostly about organic gardening just because you create software for big corporations. If treated well, she could turn out to be a great supporter who will go to bat for you with potential clients who would otherwise be inaccessible to you. You also just might be exposed to some information that will enrich your life.

I don’t, however, recommend following everyone who follows you, unless your main goal on Twitter is to have a big number next to the word “followers” on your profile.  If you are selective, and follow only those people who #EIR, engage, inform and retweet, you will have a targeted group of people who will help educate you, are much more likely to be converted into brand ambassadors and could even become good friends.

How can you tell if they #EIR? Well, it’s really not hard. First don’t judge a tweep by their background. Yes, it does help me to take you more seriously as a tweeter if you have something besides the standard Twitter background and bird avatar. A good profile and link to a website will definitely add to your credibility. And if you have a lot of followers and are listed frequently, that makes me think you aren’t just dabbling.

But the most important information when deciding whether or not to follow someone, is in the person’s tweets. To assess whether someone on Twitter has potential for becoming a brand ambassador, apply the #EIR test here.

Some examples:

The quoter - Tweets nothing but quotes – no engagement, some information, no retweets – NO

The informer – Tweets lots of links, no engagement, no retweets – NO

The chatterbox - Lots of conversing, not much retweeting, no informative links – NO

The spammer – Tweets lots of information about their product, no retweets, no links to outside sources – NO!

I look for a good mix of tweets that offer links to useful info; look like part of a conversation; include the “RT” for retweet; and recommendations including the hashtags “#FF” “#Follow or #EIR. Sometimes, when I’m in a hurry, I just look for those hashtags and the “RT”, because they immediately tell me that this person appreciates and promotes her friends on Twitter.

Take other things into consideration. If  you’re looking at the profile of someone who tweets mostly quotes that you find inspiring, but only occasionally has a conversation or retweets, you might consider following anyway, especially if they haven’t been on Twitter long. They may improve their Twitter habits as they become familiar with it.

I humbly offer this information as a guideline. Using this method has really helped me to gain a wonderful following of fascinating people who continue to teach me everyday on Twitter.  Some of them have become good friends and are wonderful about retweeting my blog posts and links, giving me lots of moral support and actively looking for ways to help me in my business.

One final note; don’t forget the Golden Rule.  I could have the greatest group of people who #EIR following me and it would do me absolutely no good unless I was engaging them in conversations, informing them of links that are useful to them and retweeting their tweets. Twitter is the perfect example of Instant Karma.

That’s my take.  What’s yours? I’d love to hear your experiences and tips on building a vibrant, beneficial Twitter following!

Sometimes the events in life just seem to mirror what’s going on inside you. I actually think this happens most of the time, but we usually fail to notice it. Anyway, it really got my attention yesterday when I was about to have a serious talk with my wonderful husband and the ground started to [...]]]>

Sometimes the events in life just seem to mirror what’s going on inside you. I actually think this happens most of the time, but we usually fail to notice it. Anyway, it really got my attention yesterday when I was about to have a serious talk with my wonderful husband and the ground started to move.

At first it was a little scary, but when we started to realize there wasn’t going to be any damage, it was a little like a roller coaster ride. The pool sloshed a lot, the wind chime I have hanging just inside my kitchen clanged and as the rocking went on for some time, the disorienting feeling started to become strangely pleasant.

When it was over I, of course, clung to the past and had to get back to the “serious” discussion I was sure needed to take place. Now, however, it doesn’t seem so important.

I’m at a stage in my life where, like a lot of people, I’m having to adjust to lots of rocking and ground shifting. With one child out of the house & the other entering his last year at high school, most of my role as a mom is over. A new phase in which my hubby and I have to relearn to get along alone with each other, has begun.

Changes in the economy have required me to take on new responsibilities at work, which means no time to spend acting and producing theater – - a great passion I’ve been able to indulge for more than a decade. However, while I miss my theater friends, my efforts in social media marketing have led me to a whole new set of friends on Twitter.

Add to all of this the shifting hormones of a woman at age 46, and you get a very volatile mixture that my husband can attest is no picnic!

I read a blog post recently by Steve Pavlina that described a lot of how I’ve been feeling: excited, motivated, bored, scared, frustrated, irritable, happy – the list goes on. The gist of the post was: hang in there, these feelings are normal and this is a typical phase that you have to go through as you grow and embrace any leadership role.

While I don’t see myself as a leader, I do feel a compulsion now to embrace ideas that are foreign to most of my old friends. There’s been a slow-down in the theater community here, but most of my friends are still plugging away, taking any opportunity they can to perform. While most have discovered Facebook, and I can keep up with their news that way, none are on Twitter, none have blogs, none do any marketing and none have anything to do with the events industry.

It feels like I’m starting a whole new life, really. Today I’m even getting a new dog – a rescue animal from the local shelter.I’ll be picking her up in a couple of hours from the vet where she was spayed today. She’ll be starting a new life just like me. Getting to know a new family, a new home and even a new name. We chose her because she was young and would be easier to socialize with our two little dogs, and because she seemed very calm and focused.

I wonder how she did yesterday when she was still at the shelter and the ground was rocking beneath her. I hope she was playful and curious about it. I hope I can be that way too. I realize that uncertainty can make me fall into some very counterproductive patterns. But uncertainty is often a prerequisite for new opportunities. If I can be playful and curious; if I can have fun and ride uncertainty like a roller coaster, I’m bound to learn some great things. And I’ll probably have fun while I do it.

Anyway, that’s what I’m going to attempt to do. I know a lot of you are experiencing big changes too. How are you dealing with uncertainty? What makes it easier for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please don’t be shy. Post a comment!

2 – Follow list or individuals. These are the thought leaders of #eventprofs

3 – We are the problem. We are selling conference snake oil

4 – 20 things you should share on social media

5 – How meetings are changing – post [...]]]>
1 – Events industry it’s time to step out from behind the curtain

2 – Follow list or individuals. These are the thought leaders of #eventprofs

3 – We are the problem. We are selling conference snake oil

4 – 20 things you should share on social media

5 – How meetings are changing – post recession

6 – 30 things you should not share on social media

7 – Space planning iPhone app for event planners

8 – One GIANT step for our @MsStallings YAY!!

9 – The power of information by @lizkingevents

10 – How to fit branding into your busy life

11 – 15 reasons why your small business isn’t getting leads from LinkedIn