Successful Blog

Conference Time!

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I attended a Podcamp unconference over the weekend. It was so much fun. Not only did I learn from the sessions, which covered topics such as podcasting, metrics, and monetization, but I met so many wonderful people as well. The conference was a two day event with days full of sharing information and dinners and parties at night. It was busy and exhausting. In order to get as much out of the conference experience as possible I have suggestions that might be helpful.

 – take the time to say hello and introduce yourself to as many people as possible. If there is a person at the conference whom you admire, say hello.  Say hello to the person you’re sitting beside, the person who presented and the person in the coffee room. Chances are you have come across these people online and just may not recognize them. If not you’ve just made new connections!

–  remember the hallways, lobbies, and all public spaces in the venue. You’d be surprised how much networking occurs in these busy spaces. Hang around and introduce yourself to the other people hanging around there.

– remember business cards. I’ve asked this question a few times on Twitter and I always have someone say “business cards are obsolete”. That may be for someone who’s famous online, but business cards are like souvenirs for encounters. Make yours memorable. One of my favorites has a picture of the person and their url on it. Be generous in handing them out.

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It’s conference season coming up. SXSW is the big one that comes to mind and, of course, there’s the one we’re all looking forward to – SOBCon 2009. Plan your time there wisely you so you can walk away with a wonderful ROI in the relationships you create there. Are you planning on attending any conferences this year?

from Kathryn aka @northernchick

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photo credit: @SuzeMuze

Beach Notes: Model of Service

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by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

Our beach notes today are inspired by the 100 year commemoration of the first surf rescue on our local Coolangatta beach, by the all-volunteer Surf Life Saving Club.

Four women – clad in the neck-to-knee swimming costumes dictated by the times – and one man – swam out to sea, to then “get into difficulties” with the surf and have to be rescued by the volunteer “lifesavers”, to use the traditional term now being supplanted by the imported American term “lifeguard”.

It was an inspiring moment, thinking not just about that particular rescue 100 years ago today, but of all the volunteers, at hundreds of beaches around the country, turning out every weekend, rain or shine, to watch over their fellow citizens and regularly risk their own safety, even their lives, to save people from drowning and to resuscitate those they can.

Not all those stories end happily, but many have over the years been plucked from the waves by these courageous men and women in their distinctive red and yellow caps and spared the fate of a watery grave. Two years ago the Australian Surf Life Saving Association estimated the number of lives saved at over 500,000.

Yes, we do have some paid lifeguards, provided by local councils, during the week and even – in our part of the country – through the winter months, at the more popular tourist-oriented beaches.

But without the dedicated service of those thousands of volunteers of the Australian Surf Life Saving Association, a cherished part of life for many Australians – “having a surf” – would become a much more hazardous pasttime.

And it’s not just in Australia. The movement started by a few people in Sydney, Australia, some 103 years ago, has spread also to other countries, including South Africa, the USA, Great Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Ireland and New Zealand.

The motto of the Surf Life Saving movement? “Vigilance and Service”.

We salute the dedication and heroism of our lifesavers, past and present.

A model of service, an inspiration.

What do you say to commemorate 100 years of people serving the world?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

Design, Function or Content — Which Is More Important?

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I asked a question the other day on Twitter: What would you respond to the comment, “Content is more important than design.” The first response I usually get is content – content is king. If you go to a site and there isn’t any content to engage with or provide value, and it doesn’t get you thinking, there’s really no point or purpose to it. Content that changes, gets updated frequently and is genuine is usually the first element in any order of importance in relation to what people want to see when they visit your site.

Kyle Placy, a friend and designer responded, “Hmmm, content is more important than design… I think that is a relative statement. You can have great content and a terribly designed blog and the content is moot. I would say on a sliding scale content is more important but there is a fine line to draw between clean and easy design to terrible design.”

Vicky Hennegan said that content is more important but a good design can affect how long you stay on a site.

I read a lot of blogs and visit a lot of websites. We all do. Sometimes it’s part of my job to go find information from a website and sometimes that is all I’m there to do. If I like the look of the site I might spend a little more time and read some posts. If the site is appealing either because of its design or function capabilities I might click through and check out some features. I will definitely return if I like the content but I will also return if I liked the look (design) and feel (function) of the site. Things to consider:

1. Does everything your site/blog “say” it can do work? For example, links, pages, signup for RSS feeds, newsletters etc.? Do all the functions work the way they were intended to?

2. Do you have your contact info somewhere easy to find? You may not want people emailing you; that’s fine but chances are at some point someone is going to want to reach you. Will they easily be able to find this information? I sometimes have to collect contact info from websites and am so surprised when I have to hunt to find it. Home page is best if you want to be found.

3. Do you have all your social platforms listed on your site somewhere?

4. Not everyone has a designer. Not everyone needs one, in fact. WordPress, Blogger and Thesis have made it really quite easy and painless to customize your site. Twitter is a great resource as well – ask for help and you’ll get it!

Design, function, or content, which is more for you?

from Kathryn Jennex aka northernchick

photocredit – Anna Hape

Beach Notes: I Almost Gave Up!

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by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

Last week I started swimming with 3 local guys who swim each day, weather permitting, from one end of the beach to the other. One end being Greenmount Beach, the other end being Coolangatta Beach. This is about 750 meters (half a mile) in length.

I have been talking about swimming the length of the beach for several years, but never quite got started. Greg one of the swimmers asked me recently when I was going to start. I said: ” When I get some goggles.”

At the beach the next day Greg presented me with a spare pair of his goggles to try – no more excuses.

I decided to start the next Monday and I would swim Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

Day 1 I got about halfway and discovered that swimming

the length of the beach was no pushover. Day 2 seemed even more difficult, the sea was also quite rough, to the point that I wondered whether I would even make halfway on Friday. I was even wondering if this was something I wanted to continue with.

I set off on Friday ahead of the guys and surprised myself when I looked up at the halfway point and thought that seemed easy and kept swimming to the end.

I reached the end and there was a slightly nervous moment when I thought the current was going to carry me around the point to the next beach. I was able to swim into the shore, I felt exhilarated.

I was so glad I had persevered.

Time to celebrate and do a happy dance.

What do you know about giving Up?

Suzie Cheel

Creative Batteries: How Far Can You Go on a Single Charge?

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by Seth Simonds

How long can you work on a creative task before you need to recharge?

I like to think of my creative energy in terms of a little electric car. Not a beautiful and fast electric supercar (who am I kidding?) but a little bee-bop two-seater with an 8-inch steering wheel. If I had a picture of my creative energy, it’d look a lot like the one in the photo, only blue.

Thinking in terms of a small electric car allows me to plan for my projects based on three factors:

  1. My Range: I’m good for about 150 miles of projects before low-battery warnings start to sound. Sure, I can push a bit more, but if I do, I’ll need to take an extended break before I can get back to work in top form. There’s a time to push ahead through blinding exhaustion in order to get a task done but I try to avoid it.
  2. My Itinerary: Having a plan means I’ll know when to stop  for breaks so that I keep myself charged and can bring a project to completion. Planning can seem like a dreadfully dull portion of a project but the resulting energy makes every moment of planning worth the effort.
  3. My Destination: If you’ve ever driven a car the size of my creative energy, you know that it can be hard to see over and around the larger vehicles involved in a project. Financial restriction trucks block intersections and deadline buses will try to run you off the road. Having a clear idea of what my end product allows me to stay focused no matter what short term distraction comes up.

I’m not a tireless machine that can happily trudge around social media stapling smiles to telephone polls and posting stump speeches on my blog without ever needing a break. I’m more like that little electric car, using power at a discernible rate. I get worn out during projects and find myself growing frustrated with people over things I’d never notice if I were getting enough sleep. I get dismayed by human nature and sometimes catch myself saying things like “I hate people” even though I don’t really mean it.

That all changes when I’ve planned out a project and know what my destination is and how I plan on reaching it. When I take time to recharge by quietly reading a novel, talking on the phone with a friend, or going for a walk, I find that my energy level stays high and projects are completed with a flourish. Bringing a friend along for the ride can add a lot to a project as well. The picture of the car shows only two seats but there’s room for a lot more people than you’d imagine!

What do you do to keep your battery charged?

Seth Simonds is about writing, networking, sharing in crazy conversations with brilliant people. He writes at Seth Simonds.com
Follow him on Twitter: @sethsimonds
photo credit: Flickr: frankh

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Social Media Fatigue (SMF)

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Do you suffer from Social Media fatigue (SMF?)

Unless you’re aware of your goals and understand why you’re using the many social platforms you may be involved in, it’s easy to get caught up in the sharing of links, music and personal tidbits. Everyone has had an hour fly by on Twitter when they’ve just meant to pop in for a few minutes right? Was there anything specific of value that you found during that time or did you just get caught up in the flurry? Blasting about in social media can take a lot out of you.

If you spend time in the stream on Twitter,  Face Book, Friendfeed  (or on any of the myriad of social platforms ) you form relationships with people. These relationships may be based on business interests or friendships or both. Last week, a close friend and I both noticed a friend was in trouble. His tweets tweets were sporadic and talked of being in ill health. We checked in. Our interaction had brought us beyond our keyboards into a real sense of human empathy. When you see someone tweet about a bad day, a mis-hap, or a loss do you check in – DM a little message? visit their blog and leave an encouraging comment?

Recently, I read along as Seth Simonds held a discussion on Twitter about how many users felt like they could freely admit to having a bad day in a tweet. Then, without warning, he asked everybody to “tweet” ME with a bowl of curried lentils. I love curried lentils! My screen was suddenly filled with tweets from strangers “giving” me a hot bowl of lentils. It’s random and silly, right? Then why did it put such a bright spot in my day? Because it reflected that brightness of empathy and community that brings me back into social media time after time.

The next time you sit down for “just five minutes” in social media, make a point to lift up another person. You don’t need to attempt profound conversations on deep subjects at every turn. Just try to stay open to the signals we all give when discouragement, loneliness, and fatigue set in.

Only you can prevent SMF! 😉

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from: Kathryn Jennex @northernchick

photo: Vito’