Joe's Biz Talk posts

Anyone interested in compiling a digest of currently-published articles relevant to this group?

There's gold in them thar hills! Really. The Biznik article storehouse is chock full of great articles on promoting, hosting, speaking, presenting, facilitating, and other great info relevant to all of us.

My time is a bit limited right now, and I would love if someone would jump in and start this project. I think writing an article is the best solution, with titles of articles and the existing summaries, including a link to each. Maybe to start, just the ones rated 8 or above.

If you have interest, declare it here and we can talk further. When you've taken on the project, we'll announce that here and lock the topic so nobody else duplicates your effort.

Thank you!!

Best Practices for getting your group up and running?

I'm taking it slow in getting my Best Practices for Event Hosting group up and running - haven't invited anyone yet, while I see what the bugs are and figure out how to create a welcoming environment for when people do eventually get invited. (Thanks to those who have joined already anyway!) I'm curious about what you're all learning.

First: the hurdles to participation. Are new invites finding it easy to jump in, or is the fact that they need to enter the group through the link in their email making it harder for them to get involved? Are there other hurdles getting in the way?

Second: How to set the tone, expectations, etc? I love what Brandi did for The Marketing Crowd, laying out the guidelines for the group in an article and creating a sticky/locked post in discussions with a link to the article. There's not a way to "sticky" an article, but her clever strategy with the discussion post does the trick of making sure people will see it front and center, even months from now.

What other ideas are working / not working for stimulating activity in your groups? It's looking to me like it's easy to get people to join a group, but not as easy to get the participation ball rolling. Let's throw our ideas into this thread and figure it out as we go.

A couple mini-bugs: Bad link in Discussion page. Wrong-size bio field in article submission page.

The bad link is at the bottom of the Discussion page. Both the "Next" link and the "2" for the second page of posts link to biznik.com/forums/groups-group-discussion/2 rather than to biznik.com/groups/groups-group/discussions/2. Interestingly, the top links do have the apparently correct URL, but rather than preserve the /discussions (without the /2) in the address bar and advancing the listing within the discussions page, it sends you to the actual URL (complete with /2) and throws an error page.

On the article submission page accessed by the Get Published link in my group (Best Practices for Event Hosting), I was given 350 characters for the author bio. I used the full 350, but found when the article was published that the bio was truncated to 250 characters. Clicking the edit button, I found I was only permitted 250 in the article page itself.

How might we use Groups in creative, non-obvious ways?

I have an idea for a group, and wanted to float it out there.

Rough Drafts: Feedback for articles in progress
For writers to submit article drafts and get/give feedback. Let's talk about what makes a great article and coach one another toward quality writing for the web.

My vision for this group is that people who aren't so confident in their writing could submit a draft, get feedback, make revisions, and submit their final draft where appropriate: perhaps to another group or to the main article page.

Is this practical? Will it work? Will it be useful?

Another question: Can business names/brands be used in a group name? For example, could I create a Mondo Charisma™ group?

What other ideas do people have for possible non-obvious ways to use this new functionality?

Your feedback: What do you want to see in this group?

Hello all,

Speak up! Let me and the rest of the group know what's important to you in getting and giving support for hosting great events that build your business.

• What kinds of articles would you like to see? Can you write any of those?
• What are your special needs as an event host? How can we meet them for one another?
• What other questions do you have?

Best Practices is something I envision us compiling as a community over time. A year from now, I would love a new Biznik member to be able to join this group and very quickly learn all she needs to know to host a great event. I want her to be able to learn not only the nuts and bolts of creating an event, but to learn how to do it in a way that helps grow her network and her business, as well as contributing great value tot he Biznik community.

What do we have to do now to make that vision a reality?

Display group descriptions? Edit description, photo and tags?

Where did the description go?

When I created my group, I filled in a large text field for "description." I do not see it anywhere in the group pages.

I'm noticing that I see a "What we're about" section on other groups I have not joined, (although not in this Groups Group, which I did join). Perhaps this description is visible only to non-members?

After further testing

Answer: Yes. I tested by leaving the Groups Group. The "What we're about" section was revealed! Upon joining the group again, it disappeared.

By design? Or a bug? I'd prefer it was there for everyone.

Editing description, photo and tags?

I don't see any place to edit description, tags, or photo now that the group is created. Coming soon?

Network feature: How will you use it?

I got a question from someone who I invited to my network, about whether this was a popularity contest, sort of like who has the most friends in MySpace. I replied with: The way I'm looking at it is as a tool for networking. I've gone back and invited people I had a good connection with, with whom the connection faded for one reason or another, (often because of my poor followup). Having a single place to go where my Biznik connections are listed will make it easier for me to stay actively in touch.

I'm curious to hear how others are thinking of this tool, and how you plan to use it.

BizJam audio preview...

I don't know about you, but I'm eager to listen to some of the presentations I missed at BizJam last month. According to a post last week at SeattleBizJam.com, the audio recordings of BizJam presentations are on their way, and will be available sometime after July 9. For those who can't wait, here's a link to a recording I made of my presentation: Indie Success - Ditch Your Vision, Launch a Revolution. Enjoy!

Curious about rules of thumb for Biznik referrals

When is it appropriate to log a referral to or from a fellow Biznik?

1. If I provide name and contact info for a fellow Biznik, to someone who is interested in their services, does that count as a referral even if they never contact the Biznik? Should it only be counted once contact has been made?

I have done this several times, but felt awkward asking for permission for the Biznik to contact the prospect, like that would be pushy. It feels more respectful to allow the prospect the freedom to contact if they wish. But then I'm out of the loop and may not get credit for the referral.

Suggestions? Maybe something along the lines of, "I think Ms. Biznik might offer a special deal to you because I'm referring you; would it be ok if I have her contact you?"

1. Does it count as a referral if I choose to use the services of a fellow Biznik? In other words, ok to refer myself?

Thoughts? Suggestions? Guidelines?

Idea for peer coaching groups

Since I've been involved with Biznik, I've noticed how useful it's been to receive feedback from business peers and share ideas as well as frustrations and solutions. I've experienced this both live at meetings and online here on BizTalk. I'd like to suggest a way to make this benefit more directly available to members, and get some input into how to implement the idea.

The idea:

Small groups of 5 to 12 affinity-related peers who meet regularly to support one another in the challenges of building their businesses.

Meetings:

Group members commit to meeting once a month. Members can meet live if that's possible, online via chat or other technology, or over the phone using one of the many conference call services.

Affinity:

Members come together based on their interest in a particular type, phase, or function of business. To take a few examples, groups might form for financial planners, new owners, or members wanting to get better at marketing.

Ongoing Support:

Members support one another between meetings as desired through email, an online forum for their group, occasional phone calls, or other channels.

Accountability:

At the end of each meeting, each member commits to take some action. At the beginning of each meeting, members briefly share results of their actions.

Meeting Facilitation:

Members could take turns being the lead facilitator, or one person could take on that ongoing responsibility. However, all members take responsibility for the meeting being useful to all. Biznik makes suggested facilitation guidelines available. Interested members participate in ongoing discussions to improve and refine those guidelines.

Benefits:

1. As a member, you get a group of peers who learn about you and your business over time, who can provide feedback that is timely and relevant.

2. As a member, you gain confidence in your own knowledge by offering feedback that other members find valuable.

3. Members in far-flung locales can fruitfully engage with other Biznikers without waiting for a critical mass of members to join in their area.

Questions/Needs:

1. Would people be interested in this? What would you need, to make it useful to you? What kinds of affiliation or focus would attract you to joining a group?

2. Dan, would you be able to implement the capability for a) chat and b) group-focused forums or blogs if people were interested in using those? Are there other technologies that could mediate meetings and ongoing support?

3. What other benefits do you see to these groups for yourself? For Biznik?

My Contribution:

I would be interested in contributing to, or even hosting, a live and/or online discussion about this, exploring ways to set up the structure so that people get the most out of it. I'm making this post as a first step.

Q's and feedback for people trying ideas from the Top 10 Class

I thought I'd start this thread for myself and others to ask for and offer feedback on ideas we're trying out based on Chris and Dom's Top Ten Marketing Mistakes class the other night.

I'd like feedback on two different "branding" terms for myself. The first term more explicitly says what somebody gets when they use my services:

The Mood Transformation Coach

The second term rolls off the tongue and sticks in the mind more easily. Plus it's more fun.

The Mood Wizard

Which is a better candidate to build a personal brand around, and why?

Thanks!