I'm home from the Marketing Profs B2B Forum in Boston.  I have to say, I love the Marketing Profs conferences.  After speaking, writing and teaching for them since 2006, the team feels a bit like virtual family to me.They keep it real, bring in fresh, smart speakers, focus on providing real value targeted to their audience.  The value the broad array of attendees get is real and tangible.  They treat their speakers well and keep things relaxed.  So, kudos for a job well done, guys.

I met so many great folks there and was happy spending time with friends Ann Handley Mack Collier, Christina "CK" Kerley, CB Whittemore, and new friends Laurie Kingsman from Ritchie Brothers Auctions, Kate Putnam from Package Machinery Company,  Micheal Brenner from SAP,  Sam Fiorella and Brandi McCallum from Sensei Marketing, Mika Lofton, Katie Clark, Bob Knorpp  and many others.  I'm so fried right now I can't possibly list everyone.  So I will probably edit and add more people to this post later!

Gotta say, though -- one of the big highlights of the conference for me was meeting Nancy Duarte, author of "Slideology and her new book "Resonate."  Nancy is a brilliant communicator, an inspiring author and a darned nice person.  I cannot say enough about her but sufficed to say, I'm enough of a fangirl - to stick my feet in my mouth in front of her when trying to be witty. (Fortunately, she's very gracious, too.)  I bought her new book -- and I took time to read a bunch of it on the way home. It's smart and inspiring -- and ANYONE that wants to be a better communicator should read it.



The Workshop I ran at the B2B Forum was full of smart, motivated people and I was honored they attended.  Again, we did a real-time session reviewing the digital media footprints of 2 brands, distilling down some ideas for fostering a better experience within and across those digital and social properties.  We spent about 30 minutes on each brand.

I want to thank Ritchie Brothers Auctions (Global leader in Auctioneering with $3.3 BILLION in revenue) and Package Machinery Company (Machinery Leader for Consumer Packaged Goods Industry) for putting themselves in the hot seat.  The feedback from everyone was very positive and I earnestly do hope I provided the brands and the session attendees with some valuable insights.  Here are the slides:

Note: the wireframes that were provided weren't design recommendations but a visual "AFTER" idea to get the brands thinking about what could be -- what treatments might change on a few screens.

While it was a smaller crowd, I had a 35% rate of request for services from this session.  So the ROI of this gig was terrific.

Got thoughts, insights? Did you attend?  Would love your comments!

I'm currently attending and speaking at the Marketing Profs B2B Digital Forum in Boston.  It's great to hook up with some old friends and colleagues and meet other friends face-to-face that I haven't had the pleasure of meeting with yet.   The session I'm doing is a Digital Media Makeover Session - a 75 minute live workshop looking at the comprehensive web, blog, Facebook, twitter, linked in, Wiki (and more) presences of two very different brands. It should be fun and we have a lot to cover.

So far, I sat in two great sessions.  The first, Enterprise Social Media with David Thomas and Mike Barlow raised some great issues individuals in B2B enterprise face when trying to embrace, execute and coordinate social media-driven activities.  I loved Christina Kerley's session on Mobile.  CK is a fount of knowledge and a fireball of energy that lights up a room.  I'm sitting here next to Paul Gillin (Doh!) and realized that my session runs concurrently with his and several other great ones!  Do you think it'd be terrible to hang up a sign outside the door that says "FREE BEER?"  I mean, no pressure or anything.

For the swarthy, motivated folks that show up, I'll be reviewing the digital media footprints of two brands in real time during my session.  The goal is to provide some customer-centric feedback that will help guide them as they take their presence to the next level, from streamlining specific paths to increase conversions and results or improving execution within digital properties like the Web, Blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  The good news is, for those that made the hard choice to see someone else over me -- any conference attendees that miss our session can re-stream it on the Marketing Profs site here.  ;-)

I've got a follow up post in the hopper to my "Trust" piece - but have been waylaid with client work the last two weeks PLUS getting ready to migrate my site... so I haven't had a minute to write!  Here's a quick update.

Next week, I ship off to Madison, Wisconsin and then Chicago, IL where I'll be doing some one-on-one therapy and moderating a panel at the Marketing Profs Digital Mixer.  I'm excited to talk relationship building on Twitter with Ann Handley - one of my all around favorite people, author and Chief Content Officer of Marketing Profs. John Bernier, all around nice guy and head of Best Buy's Twelpforce will also be there - and I'm stoked to meet him in person...along with Monique Trulson, all around ebusiness whiz from Hello Direct who is now with Brady People ID.   There's a lot to look forward to, as Marketing Profs draws terrific speakers and creates a wonderful format for deep interaction -- and fun.  I'm also stoked to visit with other friends, including Beth Harte, Mack Collier, Jay Baer, Paul Chaney, Becky Carroll, Amber Naslund, the rest of Marketing Profs crew (especially Shelley Ryan) and others!  If you're near Chicago and it's convenient, check out the information about the Digital Mixer here.... and I hope to see you there, too!

As follow-up to my post, in which I slammed a recent webinar presenter's efficacy of presentation ... Here's my own checklist of best practices for delivering a good web-based presentation:

Planning Your Pitch

Develop a clear picture of audience needs, desires, problems

Structure "the story" & plan out flow: Intro, Body, Close

Keep it simple: limit to a number of key points (e.g. 3-5)

Use only helpful visuals to reinforce concepts

Strive to meet your audience needs - not self-promote

Clearly develop the "next step" recommendation

Meet with meeting partner to discuss flow, ideas & needs
      (if applicable)

Before Your Web Presentation

Master material: Don't read a script -have a conversation!

Practice: tape yourself/ watch & listen or get feedback from others

Do a tech dry run; know how to use meeting tool(s)

Do a content dry run to verify timing & pace

Provide your bio to the moderator and discuss introduction

Silence cell phones, pagers and computer IM/Audio
        Include barking dogs, mewing cats, screaming children as necessary!

During Your Web Presentation

Welcome your audience with enthusiasm

Introduce yourself and briefly outline key presentation objectives

Use a brief web survey to get to know audience

Share survey results with audience to build community

Tailor your pitch (e.g. examples) midstream toward audience

Provide real life examples that demonstrate cause & effect

Periodically reference slide visuals/numbers to help audience follow

Speak at a clear, even, and reasonably slow pace: R-tik-U-Late.

Exhibit passion, conviction and inflection

Smile while you are talking - it actually comes across.

Do make sure you breathe - it loosens you up and unkinks things!

Use pauses to reinforce points or build transitions

Avoid "gap filling" with words or phrases like "ummm" or "anyway..."

Closing Your Web Presentation

Summarize key points and underscore recommended action

Thank the audience and moderator for their time

Provide a list of helpful resources

Open the floor for questions

If you don't have an answer to a question, offer to get one

Provide appropriate contact information

After Your Pitch

Consider sending incentive or thank you to your audience (e.g. link to slides, a free book or white paper) to reinforce the bond you develop with your audience

Make sure you're tapped in to post-presentation feedback survey feedback!

Obtain any previously agreed upon audience leads & conduct follow-up

Refine and tweak your presentation (content, style, points) to address feedback

In conclusion, using online meetings can be a highly engaging and effective way to use time and close distance gaps for remote teams. Today, there's a really low barrier to entry for anyone, and applications like WebEx and GotoMeeting (which both offer pay-per-use options) make it easy and cost-effective to run high quality online discussions.

Following these basic, common sense rules can help anyone develop and deliver a more successful web-based presentation. Feel free to post your own tips, comments, ideas, links or questions by adding comments below.