Best Selling Author Dan Pink Shares the Truth About Motivation

Now this is what I'm talking about...

I can't WAIT to attend this event. Thank you Biznik for taking it to the next level.

For anyone "thinking" about attending... Think about taking your business seriously.

Learning the essence of what motivates you personally eliminates procrastination.

PS Posting the TED video was a fantastic idea, I love TED tv.

Now I'm excited... Kammie

I share your excitement Kammie. I will be there. As entrepreneurs we are our business.

I always want to take or be taken to the next level!

I know this event will be key to most of our fellow 'biznikers' with a PASSION for PURPOSE!

Dan Pink? I'm there. "A Whole New Mind" is one of my favorite books ever, and I enjoyed my Biznik Live interview with Dan in the beginning of this year.

Special treat. A rare opportunity ... big fan.

Dan Pink is a fantastic speaker and author. I wouldn't miss this for the world. Highly recommend. Thanks for bringing him in, Biznik and sponsors.

You guys are really raising the bar on Biznik events. It's worth a trip.

This sounds fascinating and would love to join you but Tues. is my busy day at work. :-( Have a great event!!

cannot wait! inspiration needed, and this came in just in time. Thank you Lara & biznik!

A Whole New Mind is also one of my favorite all time books. It helped inspire me to finish my book which just came out this past week. " Becoming A Creative Entrepenuer" is the title. I am very excited about anything Dan Pink discovers. Thank you Biznik for this opportunity.

I heart Dan Pink!!! Saw him here in Seattle at a similar event when he released "A Whole New Mind"...he's fab!! Can't wait! And I'm gonna a teeny bit of credit for him coming as I suggested it to Dan McComb 3 yrs ago... :P

Dang, such a hard call whether I can make it or not. I'm coming to Seattle wed night to meet with a small group and David Allen (of Getting Things Done), so coming to Seattle the day before is looking trickier...grrr....I love living in PT, but in can make these kinds of opps challenging. We'll see....

I just discovered that you can now download this book on iTunes - it was released on Dec. 29.

I'm surprised that no one [else] has mentioned "Free Agent Nation" (http://www.amazon.com/Free-Agent-Nation-Working-Yourself/dp/0446678791), another inspiring and informative book by Dan Pink ... and one that I would suspect that every Biznik can relate to. FWIW, I think that Biznik effectively addresses many of the challenges that Pink enumerates with respect to free agency, and so this seems like the perfect audience for him.

I was on a telecall with Dan Pink today and I am so psyched for next week. If you are curious about what makes you motivated or inspired - you will love this book - and Dan is always a strong, smart, helpful presenter.

And the company we will all keep (audience) ain't too shabby either!! See you all there!!

I can't wait for this event! If you see me there, please come introduce yourself. I will be by myself and I have never attended a Biznik event. This one's right up my alley!

Wow, thanks so much Laura- very appreciated. :-)

Wow- way to make my entrance into the Biznik scene- spell the hosts name wrong! Sorry Lara! Just found you on Twitter! I'm at @seattlewinegal

Hi Lara, What's the time lay out of the evening? Primary question, when will Dan's talk begin. Thanks. Amy

Hi Lara, any chance you're going to bump the #s up last minute? I just found out I can get to Seattle (yes, I'm on waiting list, but missed my one chance so far). Cheers, Leif

Woohoo, made it on a drop-out...am going to haul bootie from PT around 3ish :)

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

This was great, everybody. I love Biznik and the people who've created and sustain it!

Until next time!

Jennifer

Life Design Publishing

http://AuthorizeU.com

p.s. I'd love to hear what you thought of the event, what questions you would have asked, etc. Post 'em here or add me to your network.

What a great event! Dan was really interesting; I can't wait to read his book.

Thanks Team Biznik, Kim, and Hotel 1000! Mr. Pink was pretty good, too. :)

That was fun hey? Let's do it again soon!

Dan and Lara,

Another truly amazing event. I thank you.

Very classy Biznik...Can't believe that (with ProVIP) I got free wine, amazing Hors d'œuvres, a beautiful venue, fun networking with 135 people, a top-notch speaker & a free autographed book -for $25!

Thanks for continuing to offer great events and being committed to supporting entrepreneurs and making our work as fun as possible :)

Ditto what Leif said. Quite an elegant event for the cost. The speaker was really, really good, too. Thanks, Biznik!

Yes, It was elegant, interesting and I had great conversations with people before and after the interview. A great time and a a great value! Keep em coming!

Hey all. A good event, but next time, more Warren and less audience participation please. Warren has a gift for keeping the conversation quick and lively and funny and provocative. He brings out the best in his guests. This event morphed into something a bit too much like a radio call-in show for my taste.

That said, I loved the venue and the people and the groove. I'll be at the next one too!

This was a wonderful event, very classy, informative, and fun -- all for an excellent price. Thank you Biznik :-).

As is the case at every Biznik event, the networking was great. The food and wine at Hotel 1000 was also wonderful. The place was nice, but the unavailability of wireless Internet access (req'd a passcode for Hotel 1000 and Hotel 1000 Meeting access points) in a place that was being promoted as one of the most technologically advanced hotels was a bit disappointing.

I saw Dan Pink give an outstanding 20-minute talk on "A Whole New Mind" at PopTech 2007. I didn't think the conversational format worked well last night. I've never seen Warren Etheridge before, but I felt that some of the facilitation or elicitation was more toward the Stephen Colbert end of the interviewer spectrum than, say, the Terry Gross end of the spectrum. Warren seems like an engaging and entertaining person, but I was at the talk to hear Dan Pink, not Warren, and I was more interested in his new book than I was in, say, his speechwriting for Al Gore. I believe that a 20 minute lecture-style talk, followed by 40 minutes of Q&A would have served my needs better than the 40 minutes of conversational-style interview followed by 20 minutes of Q&A.

For me, the mark of a good book talk is whether I can write a blog post about the book based solely on the talk, e.g., the post I wrote about Dan Gilbert's book [talk], Stumbling on Happiness, in 2006: http://gumption.typepad.com/blog/2006/06/stumbling_on_ha.html

I don't feel I will be prepared to write anything about Dan Pink's book until I've read the book ... which I'm looking forward to doing.

Dan Pink and Warren Etheredge were outstanding!!! This was my 3rd Kim Ricketts biznik-sponsored gig in a row. I cannot wait for the next one! Sign me up forever. Your fan for life, Jeffry W. Myers

I have to agree with Joe. Laura you did an outstanding job of set up with the hotel staff and the room set up. The sound system was excellent. Areas for improvement from my standpoint: The interviewer could have been better prepaired with a list (he could have it in his hand) of ten quick questions to start off with. The humor was a great touch but don't over do it. Have an extra 2 mikes to give to people in the audience who ask questions. At least have the interviewer repeat the question. If a person is rambling on, cut them off and ask "What is your question" ala Larry King. I would like to hear more about the book than what it is like in the White House. The host has to take control and not let the audience take over as happened a few times. Just an idea, but I would have someone designated from biznik to be greeter and make sure people that are coming alone are introduced to one other person. This was a great event and I will attend many more. With love and respect, Jack

What a lovely introduction to Biznik! A great first event. I hope to meet many more of you at the next one. THANKS!

Dear Joe,

Thanks for sharing your insights re. the event. While I am sorry you felt a little disappointed by the format, more accurately, my approach, let me at least explain my philosophy. Everyone in attendance was getting a copy of the book. Presumably, everyone, including you, will READ the book. If you want to know what's in it, crack the spine. My goal is to afford the audience an opportunity to learn something they couldn't possibly because the content is NOT in the book. That's the reason I skip most author readings... because I am getting no more insight than I would by staying at home and perusing the tome in my armchair. My hope is that audience members can leave each event having learned more about the writer than the writing, having gotten a little glimpse of the personality behind the creative mind. Once again, I am sorry if this did not work for you, Joe, but I'd urge you to consider that perhaps blog posts should be based on more than an overheard synopsis and rather your evaluation of the actual work.

Take luck, Warren

Warren,

I loved your wit and candor and I think you set an incredibly comfortable tone with your humor and engaging style. ...maybe too comfortable for some. I believe you put Dan at ease and we were able to see more than what we would get just from his books or a speech. My first event and I'm looking forward to more. Exceptional job Lara, Kim and Biznik as well and thank you Hotel 1000 and Erath Wineries!

Cheers!

Thanks Lara - great event and venue, and I agree with Leif on the extreme value (at least for VIP members - unbelievable!) I really enjoyed hearing Dan and his ideas.

Yes, the audience participation was a bit overwhelming at moments, but also part of the fun. There are probably great clips of Dan "lecturing" to be found online, but Warren and the biznik crowd helped us create something fun, unique and spontaneous. Yes, the moderation should keep the focus on the speaker, and yes, we want to hear what Dan has to say about his book, but we're not the chamber of commerce or a library club, and that's part of the fun.

Marvelous event and very well organized. I had watched Dan Pink's lecture on TED.com and I will be reading his book, so I'm glad I didn't get a rehash of his book. Instead, Warren did a fabulous job getting Dan to open up about things we won't necessarily get from the book. Yes, the crowd got a bit lively, but that's what I like about Biznik and Seattle. Warren got you to think .... and to speak up. Isn't that what Lara invited him to do?

I suggest limiting the amount of free wine that is available in the future.

I knew I could attend one of three events with Dan Pink in Seattle on Monday or Tuesday - and I chose the Biznik event. Why? For the reasons mentioned above. Dan has a great lecture about the book on www.ted.com as others have indicated. I knew in my inner core that Dan speaking to a big room of entrepreneurs would be so much more interesting and the questions would pertain to me more than a Chamber group.

The connections were fabulous too - I almost enjoyed the pre-networking more - but that was only because of the great and excited folks there.

My comment to people in general is one I have learned from improv - (see our BizProv event upcoming in Bellingham) - to work to make others look good. I cherish that lesson and work to remind myself of it in public and social situations.

Lara - thanks for all you and Dan and the Biznik team do. Keep 'em coming. Keep us challenged and slightly uncomfortable - that's a sure sign of growth.

Hi Lara, Thank you for a great evening. I have been expressing to friends that the one challenge in working for myself is that I miss the synergy of working with others. This was articulated perfectly by Dan and restated by you (Lara) above. I left the event in a great mood and with my mind clicking over ideas and that's a great take-away.

I had read Dan's book prior to the talk and I think what most people may not realize is that he covered a lot of the book in the time he spoke with some additional anectodal stories. I will admit his talk was a bit of preaching to the choir for me as we abolished incentive pay and put our sales team on salary years ago.

I found his talk engaging and nformative and the banter between he and Warren was fun. I even enjoyed the moments that erupted spontaneously with the audience.

Warren and Lara - Thanks for the excellent programs!

Photos from the event may also be viewed at: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/alabastro/gallery/Biznik-Innovators-Series-Author-Daniel-Pink/G0000eK72CNUVMMk

Wow, great photos!

FWIW, I posted some notes from the event - as well as two other book talks / conversations I attended last week (by David Allen and Bryant Simon) - on my blog. I looked up and linked to some of the studies that Dan had referenced, including one about gender differences regarding the morality of stealing medicine to aid a family member with cancer ... and I just updated the post with a link to the photos by Alan. If /when the video taken that night is posted online, I'll update the blog post [again].

http://gumption.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/motivations-conversations-and-book-centered-sociality.html

Hi Joe, I'm editing some of the event footage into a promo clip for future Innovator's Series events, but I'm not planning to post an event highlight reel of just this event.

Dan: thanks for the clarification. I've already embedded the TED talk video in the post (based on a reference to it in an earlier comment), so I'll just leave it as is.