Dear Conference/Meeting Planners and Directors of Centers
and Faculty Development:
Have you picked your speakers for your fall 2011–2015 events
or next decade yet? No? Then you need to get on the stick.
Have I got a speaker
for you! I just saw him in Calgary and San Diego and he will blow your beach
chair right out from under you.
With all of the financial cutbacks, you may be crunched for
funds to import super-star speakers, but you can consider those lower on the
food chain or not even on the food chain, but dangling on a hook like bait.
For example, I know this speaker personally (he sends me
birthday e-mails) who will work with you to cut expenses, plus he will pay your
mother’s social security in August if the President doesn’t.
This means he will
1. sleep in your garage (with a bucket of ice if you don’t have ac) instead of
a hotel, but not before washing your vehicle,
2. fly WITH Southwest’s free baggage,
3. hitch a ride from the airport to your garage,
4. walk to his home airport (25 mi) to save mileage and parking fees,
5. deliver his handout to faculty door-to-door,
6. eat just navel oranges & Fig Newtons,
7. drink tap water only, and
8. not tip anyone.
Those sacrifices can make a major dent in the expenses. He
will also slash honoraria under 5 digits to fit your budget. Should I
continue? Is this a dream come true?
Anyway, he speaks on 17 topics on humor and multimedia, Net
Generation, multigenerational classroom/workplace, stress reduction, student
assessment, faculty evaluation, and PowerPoint. Abstracts are available on his
Website (www.ronberk.com). His most
popular topics appear on his LinkedIn profile (www.linkedin.com/in/ronberk) and
2011 brochure.
Testimonials by buckets of clients, some of whom may be your
peers, and a few extraterrestrials are listed on the brochure and posted on
those sites FYI.
If you would like further information, please contact the
speaker, who is currently preparing his PowerPoint in a garage in Biloxi, which
is in Wyoming, while sucking key limes.
Have a wonderful decade and go pick up your beach chair!
An anonymous blogger
COPYRIGHT © 2011 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Over the past 1.5 years since joining LinkedIn, I have experimented with standard LinkedIn sources and a bunch of my own. Some work better than others for various types of connections. Once you accumulate 500 or more, LinkedIn will report 500+ next to Connections in the 1st profile box and on your Connections page.
TOP 15 OTHER SOURCES & STRATEGIES BEGINNING NOW!
1. Listserv contacts who share similar areas of interest with you
2. Professional inquiries about your publications and other activities from new colleagues and students
3. Consulting firm personnel who hired you
4. Contacts from your Website, blog, or other professional sites
5. Meeting planner or conference organizer who invites you to speak
6. HR director or center director who hires you to speak or train
7. Faculty, students, or others who attend workshops you conduct (DYNAMITE SOURCE! After all, they attended your workshop because they’re interested in your work.)
8. Professionals you meet at conferences (with new business cards)
9. Professionals on Facebook or other social media and people “following you”
10. LinkedIn professional group contacts in discussions (join a bunch of LinkedIn groups in higher education, professional associations and organizations, and relevant businesses)
11. LinkedIn connections at institutions where you have worked or gone to school (colleagues, students, classmates, clients, etc.)
12. Connections from your LinkedIn connections (scroll down their connections and click Connect on the right)
13. Members who are listed in your LinkedIn groups (to the right, click Invite to Connect)
14. On your LinkedIn Home (upper left on menu), go to People You May Know box on the right and click See More at bottom (scroll through list to find potential connectees—click Connect or Invite to Connect and invite them as a colleague)
15. Acquaintances on airplanes, trains, buses, skateboards, snowboards, and other transport equipment
What have I missed? What sources have you used to generate connections? Let me know your strategies?
What’s Next? What hit rate can you expect when you invite prospective connections? What’s the response rate in academia compared to business and industry? Stay tuned for my next blog.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
