I had the good fortune of opening PodCamp Nashville today with a session entitled, Naked Productivity. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. Here is how I described the session on the PodCamp Nashville site.

A roundtable discussion for all attendees to show and tell their best productivity tips, apps, techniques, hacks, and tools.

We all get overwhelmed staying on task each day. I should be doing three other things as I write this description. Naked Productivity will be an easy way for all attendees to contribute to the session.

This isn’t a canned presentation. It’s an opportunity for all of us to share the best ways we stay productive. Attendees will come away with a head full of new ideas to improving the way we focus on the daily To Do’s and life hacks.

The purpose of the session was for all of us to learn from one another. The session was a huge success thanks to the amazing people who attended. As I mentioned afterward, it would have sucked if I had an empty room, or worse, a dead crowd. If you were present thank you for being there.

42 Productivity Tips and Apps from PodCamp Nashville

I encouraged friends on Twitter to also chime in with their favorite productivity apps and tips using the hashtag #PCN13Naked. You can see all of the tweets at the end of this post.

The following is a list of items mentioned during the presentation. Here are 42 productivity tips and apps to help you gain control of your life:

1. Create a work week and a physical environment where your kids understand that you are working.
2. To Do Lists: Writing a physical list and the satisfaction of striking items off of it.
3. Write your list the night before.
4. Break each item down into smaller chunks.
5. Clear – Realmac Software
6. Asana for project management
7. Trello for project management, because it has a better overall dashboard
8. Evernote
9. Sabina Nawaz’s This Space Intentionally Left White
10. Use driving time to drive in silence and record audio notes to yourself.
11. Reqall is a To Do list app that you can phone. Transcriptions come from your messages.
12. Soundcloud. You can record and leave yourself private messages.
13. Bernie Goldbach’s battle with attention crash.
14. Use a $5.00 glass screen window on your office wall as a whiteboard.
15. Use colors to indicate what’s what. Green = money. Red = urgent.
16. Use your bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker
17. Producteeve ties into your email. You can email yourself to do list items.
18. Wunderlist for lists
19. Alfred app will interface with other applications and pass data from them.
20. Fantastical – you can speak your calendar events and it will add them. It syncs with iOS calendar as well
21. Boomerang for Gmail to push old messages back to the top of your inbox later.
22. ActionMethod for creative thinkers.
23. Michael Hyatt’s “My Ideal Day” spreadsheet
24. Use a week long spreadsheet with numbers of tasks to do each. Keep a tally.
25. Pinterest: download daily tasks sheet.
26. Drink lots of water!
27. Howler countdown timer (Mac)
28. Use iPhone timer
29. Pomodorro Technique (mentioned in three sessions during PodCamp)
30. Chronos time tracking app. http://www.getchronos.com/
31. Sunrise app works with Google Calendar and hooks you into Facebook and G+
32. Paper calendars work too!
33. iCal with multiple calendars. 1 calendar dedicated to different tasks. Use the calendars to log your work to track and search later.
34. Freshbooks for invoicing
35. Track your time you do for each job using Office Time software.
36. Billings Touch app for invoicing and tracking your work
37. Don’t forget about your life goals.
38. What good tools (Apollo) are one-in-all solution?
39. RescueTime tracks time spend on your computer by what software or social networking you are using.
40. Zapier plugs into service APIs. It’s like Alfred.
41. Follow up with people you meet. Record audio notes from your meetings.
42. CardMunch app for scanning cards with LinkedIn.

Be sure to leave a comment with your favorite productivity tips and apps please.
Thanks again to the volunteers, organizers, sponsors, and attendees or PodCamp Nashville. Today was a HUGE success!

Tweets about “#pcn13naked”

Photo by Emily Sandford.

LinkedIn recently introduced it’s latest service and app, LinkedIn Contacts (iOS). I have been using it this evening and I’m really impressed. If you have received an invite to try it follow the next steps to begin.

Step 1. Install and log in to the app. It’s only available for iPhone at this time, but an Android version is coming.

Step 2. Take a tour of LinkedIn Contacts while it imports your connections.

Step 3. Add sources like your phone address book, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, etc.

I found five ways you can use LinkedIn Contacts to improve your networking efforts.

1. Check the To Do section for notifications. These are contacts who have recently changed jobs. Use the app as a way to quickly send a note to congratulate your connection on his or her new gig. It will also let you know who is having a birthday!

2. Are you stranded in a city over night? Or do you have some down time visiting a new town? Use Locations to find connections you have there. Reach out and set up a coffee or lunch.

3. Check the Newly Added section to see your most recent connections. Have you followed up with them since connecting?

4. Use the Recent Conversation part of the app to see who you have connected with recently. Are you due to follow up?

5. Write a private note about a contact. This is perfect after meeting with them in person. Note how you can help them and personal information you learned from your meeting. You can also add how you met in a separate private note, this includes who introduced you.

Have you tried LinkedIn Contacts yet? What do you think?

wI had the great pleasure of being interviewed recently on Erik Fisher’s podcast, Beyond The To Do List. We spoke at length about professional networking and the importance of building your network before you need it. In addition to talking about networking and my upcoming book, New Business Networking, we chatted about PodCamp Nashville.

PodCamp Nashville is a free “unconference” for anyone to attend. The full day will feature hundreds (likely between 500 – 800) people who will gather to meet, network, present, and attend sessions. The sessions will range from podcast to blogging, social media marketing to search engine optimization, and content creation. It’s going to be an incredibly rewarding day for those who participate.

I encourage you to tune in to Erik’s interview with me to learn more about what’s in store and why you should be in Nashville on May 4th.

Here is a list of some of the presentations I am most excited for:

BECOMING THE AUTHORITY ON GOOGLE - Chris Turner

BUILDING YOUR DIGITAL BRAND WITHOUT DEMOLISHING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE – Erik Fisher

HOW TO WRITE AND PUBLISH A BOOK IN 90 DAYS OR LESS (THEN SELL THE **** OUT OF IT) – David Hooper

HOW TO QUIT YOUR JOB, BE YOUR OWN BOSS & NEVER LOOK BACK – Laurel Staples

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CAN’T BLAME TECHNOLOGY OR LACK OF DESIGNERS? – Nicholas Holland

3 SEO EXPERTS SHARE THEIR TOP DIGITAL MARKETING TIPS – Anna Hamil

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY – DON’T IT? – Kerry Woo

AVOID THE WORK ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE – Jennifer Way

IS A HANGOUT RIGHT FOR YOU AND WILL GOOGLE+ TAKE OVER THE WORLD? - Shane Bailey

COOL KIDS DO CONTENT STRATEGY! – Todd O’Neill

HOW OLD SCHOOL CAN BEAT THE NEW TRENDS – Marc Wolfe

HOW TO GET MORE BITES AT THE APPLE OF GOOGLE GOODNESS – Pamela Coyle

THE SINGULARITY: WHY THE COMING ROBOT TAKEOVER MATTERS NOW! – Micah Redding

NEUROSCIENCE IN MARKETING & HUMAN RESOURCES – Dave Barger

I will be hosting an open discussion on productivity called NAKED PRODUCTIVITY. I’LL SHOW YOU MINE IF YOU SHOW ME YOURS. If you are going to be at PodCamp Nashville, I hope to see you there.

On a warm summer day in 2012, I sat with my friend Chris in Republic, a bustling Asian-fusion restaurant in Manhattan’s Union Square. He and I had previously worked at the same large company, although did not cross paths often. Chris was now looking for work, and I was able to connect him with several people in my network.

As we finished up, the waitress brought the bill and I reached for it, but he got to it first. “You’re out of work,” I exclaimed, “Let me get this.” Chris refused. “I’ve got it. You helped me out a lot today with strong leads. Besides. It’s on the lunch fund.”

As I gave him a confused look, he went on to explain. “I know how important networking is during a job search, so when my wife and I sat down to tighten our budget after getting laid off, that was an area we didn’t want to cut back on. Therefore, we allocated a certain amount each week that would be specifically used to take people to lunch for networking purposes.”

As someone that helps others negotiate their salary and navigate this new economy, it was refreshing to finally hear someone that gets it. As you can guess, Chris wasn’t job searching for long. However, that can’t be said for thousands of others who ignore 4 stunning statistics.

1) The job search: Up to 80% of jobs are found through networking

While the numbers vary from study to study, one report from ABC News showed that up to 80% of jobs are found through networking. Despite these overwhelming odds, it’s amazing to me how many people spend their time doing exactly the opposite during their job search. On college campuses across the nation, I constantly hear of students working countless hours on their resumes, sending them out shotgun style.

When I present to these graduating seniors, I tell them “the good news is, what this means is that for every day you spend scouring Monster.com, you should spend 4 days partying.”

Tip: Along with Chris’ lunch fund, he set up a networking schedule. Mondays are for meeting with a friend, Tuesday are for old co-workers, Wednesdays are for Meetup groups, Thursdays are for industry groups, etc.

2) The interview: 75% of recruiters are required to do online research of candidates…

…and 70% report that they have rejected candidates because of the information they found. This New York Times article says that Social Media History Becomes a New Job Hurdle, while Mashable cites a study showing as high as 90% of recruiters look at social networks of a candidate.

Many job-seekers are finally aware that they should be locking down their privacy settings on Facebook, and even the college seniors have been taught to delete the keg stand photos. However, what if there’s a photo or article floating around that is not flattering? While it’s not always easy to remove something bad, it’s fast, easy, and inexpensive to create your own web presence and boost your rankings. Seriously, it takes about 15 minutes and costs a whopping $1 per month.

Time and again, I ask job seekers… “What happens when someone Googles you?” Here are the most common results:

• Facebook or LinkedIn come up. OK, while this isn’t a bad thing, it’s fairly generic.
• My name is popular… nothing comes up. Once again, while not a bad thing, it’s not a positive experience either.
• Something bad comes up. This is not helping them with their job search.

I could count on one hand the number of people that told me, “Well, I know that recruiter will Google me, so I built a quick personal website to highlight my skills and enforce my brand.”

Tip: While this Guardian article tells you WHY everyone should register a domain name, I am so passionate about this topic that I made a site that shows people HOW to register a domain name.

3) Negotiating an offer: Only 7% of women negotiate their starting salary…

…while 57% of men negotiate theirs. While research varies and that percentage might be low across all female job-seekers, this particular number came from a negotiation study of Carnegie Mellon MBAs, and has been quoted by Sheryl Sandberg in her TED talk. The truth is, far too many people – men and women – fail to negotiate their salaries when receiving a job offer. One reason I’ve found is simple; no one teaches you how.

• Your family rarely teaches you negotiation skills.
• Most colleges career centers don’t teach negotiation.
• Money is often a taboo subject among friends, so it’s unlikely they will share details.
• Your supervisor certainly isn’t going to help you with tips on making more money.

The good news is, it’s a topic that can be taught. The first step is getting in a salary negotiation mindset. A LinkedIn survey has shown that 39% of US job seekers are anxious when it comes to negotiation. I say, don’t be anxious, be excited.

Knowing your worth and making a counter-offer is not only accepted, it’s expected. Think about the last time you were on a used car lot. The salesman came up and told you the price of that rusty 1999 Toyota Camry with 135,000 miles. Did you just accept his first number and hand over a pile of cash? No! You dug into your research, knew the value of the product, and made a counter-offer. The same can be done with a job offer.

Tip: When pressed for salary during an initial interview, use my “right back at ya” method, deflecting the question and turning it back on the interviewer. Example:
HR: “So, what were you looking for in terms of salary?”
You: “Well, I’ve done my research and have a good idea of my value on the market, but I found that it varied based on several factors… what kind of range were you thinking?”

4) Getting a raise: Apple has sold 100,000,000 iPads

Wait, what does Apple announcing 100 million iPad sales in October 2012, or the fact that they sold 3 million iPads in 3 days have to do with getting a raise? Stick with me here:

1) When asking for a raise, a lot of people simply TELL their boss what they have done. That’s fine. But top performers that get raises aren’t like everyone else. They’re memorable. They get it. They care about things like presentation and design.
2) So someone that is memorable doesn’t talk about accomplishments, they SHOW their accomplishments. They engage their audience. They tell compelling stories. They illustrate with words, photos, videos, images, charts, and statistics WHY they deserve a raise and HOW they contribute to the bottom line.
3) A great way to tell a compelling story is through a portfolio. Once the realm of only designers and photographers, I feel that just about any employee can put together a portfolio of accomplishments that will impress a boss.
4) Most of our lives have gone digital… our photos, our videos, our music, our movies… why have so few people adopted a digital portfolio?
5) With more than 100 million iPads and other tablets on the market, why not be memorable and put together a killer presentation to impress your boss and get that raise that you deserve.

In fact, in the New York Times, Tony Wagner, a Harvard education specialist felt that it should start even sooner, saying “All students should have digital portfolios to show evidence of mastery of skills like critical thinking and communication.”

Tip: From the first day on the job, start collecting and saving data points such as key wins, budget savings, sales records, etc that you can use in a portfolio and then as ammunition during your review. I had fun creating templates – What would George Washington’s digital portfolio look like? – to get people started.

Summary

Getting the job you want at the pay you want is difficult enough… use stats to your advantage and you’ll not only have a lunch fund, but also a new car fund, a beach house fund, a retirement fund, a yacht fund….

Guest Post by Jim Hopkinson, author of “Salary Tutor: Learn the Salary Negotiation Secrets No One Ever Taught You.” Jim has recently launched two fantastic online courses. Use coupon code DaveSentMe60 to receive 60% off How to Negotiate Salary: Negotiating a Raise or Promotion (expires April 30). Be sure to check out his free course How to Negotiate Salary: The Negotiation Mindset — 500 students signed up in 3 weeks.