The importance of networking offline
I network a lot. I’ve even given three presentations on how to network. I always recommend that meeting people in-person will bring you more success than meeting online. Of course, I supplement my networking through social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction. That’s because it’s easier to develop the rapport [...]
Experiencing SXSW Interactive
I spent a whirlwind 36 hours at the Interactive portion of South by Southwest, and below is what I learned. But first, no one in Austin says “South by Southwest.” Instead, they say simply, “South By.” Do I need to buy a badge? Depends. If you’re really looking to attend the sessions/keynotes, then yes. However, [...]
I hate Reply All
Ugh, I shudder when people hit “Reply All” to an email when they clearly should have just replied directly to the sender. For example, on an invitation to a meeting, do you need to tell everyone you have a dentist appointment? What’s worse is when people try to opt-out, replying to everyone to stop using [...]
Small Business Saturday
I like the idea of Small Business Saturday. For those unfamiliar, it was started two years ago by American Express to support small businesses between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. When you make a purchase from a small business, it helps their bottom line by a much greater percentage than a big box retailer’s. Same [...]
Some people weren’t made to network
This week, I was talking to someone at a networking event, when another person butted in and joined our conversation. A general rule of networking is that you leave two people alone, and that faux pas should have warned me about how rude this person was. After I nicely introduced myself to him, he mentioned [...]
What a year
On Jan. 4, Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media celebrated its anniversary. I don’t mean “celebrated” like we had a party or anything. Nor did we gloat about it to our peers or through outlets like social media. Instead, I quietly reflected while sitting on the newly installed futon. I remembered the ebbs and the [...]
The Iain MacFarlane Show
My interview with business radio host Iain MacFarlane of 1670 WTDY aired on Saturday, Nov. 19. The premise of his show is to have business owners share their insights as to what has helped them succeed. I enjoyed the interview. We recorded early morning on a Friday in September. I remember walking in to the [...]
Chicago Rocks
Last week was Chicago Ideas Week, which is described as bringing “the world’s top speakers together with Chicago’s best thinkers to create an ecosystem of innovation, exploration, and intellectual recreation.” I was fortunate to be invited to the Chicago Rocks private party on Wednesday night at Park West. It featured a cocktail reception and a [...]
Bad decisions by a company
One responsibility of a public relations or marketing department is to explain to senior management what the outcomes of any company decision would be. Usually, bad decisions can be stopped or altered in the pre-planning stages before it gets too late. I can’t imagine this scenario was played out at Netflix. In July, it announced [...]
Funny text messages
Besides phone calls and email, there are a few clients with whom I text message. I try not to make the texts too sloppy, as I have to still be professional despite the medium. One thing I do is double-check all texts before I send them. Here are some funny examples of the autocorrect feature messing [...]