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How to Network at a Social Media Breakfast

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My Name Is Liz Strauss

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In a few minutes, I’ll be leaving to attend Jeff Pulver’s Chicago Social Media Breakfast. If you haven’t heard, Jeff is going around the US meeting folks from the world of Tech and Blogging. He came to Chicago for this event. Bloggers are gathering to me him and each other. Yeah!

As the host, Jeff has invented a way for his guests who just met to find it easier to talk to each other. Take minute to watch him talk about his “Social Networking Toolkit.”

I’m having a few thoughts about how I might make those two hours successful. Here are my tips for anyone who might be doing the same in the near future.

  • Dress comfortably. In clothes that make you feel good about who you are. It’s no fun to meet people feeling like you are really who you are.
  • Keep your goal for attending realistic and low stress. I want to meet new people and find out what they do.
  • Know that even though the other folks there might be looking at you. They could be thinking about you looking at them. Smile as if we’re all in on the secret. Break the ice for them by making yourself approachable, most will be grateful.
  • Have a question ready for that moment when the air seems call for a conversation to start between you and another person. Mine is “What do you do when you’re not doing this?”
  • When someone asks a question that leaves you feeling self-conscious or without an answer say so. . . . “I make everyone at these events so important. It throws me a bit. Could you hold on while I recover my ability to think? . . . Often just saying so gets past the feeling and moves me on to the next part of the conversation.
  • If you make everyone else the center of the universe, it’s hard to feel self-conscious or under a microscope. Get curious and see how many people you can get to tell you about themselves. Ask broad questions such as how they got where they are, what they wonder, or how they’d rewrite a recent industry event if they could.

I remember a friend who, when she and her husband started a new business, they made a contest to see who might get the most rejections from sales calls. I’ve made a contest for myself. I’m going to see how many folks I might get to talk to me when I go there.

What advice can you add for networking newbies about to attend their first networking breakfast?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Jeff Pulver Sent Two BIG Ideas My Way

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What’s His Big Idea?

I enjoy watching Jeff Pulver take on life. He’s a guy with BIG ideas. He also makes them happen, This week via email and a couple of blog posts, Jeff passed two of his great ideas on to a few folks that he knows. I was lucky. One of those folks happened to be me.

What’s Your “bestof”?

Friday, Jeff wrote about blog posts he’d like to make “sticky.” His idea seems simple enough — we might all consider it. His thoughts were that we mark certain signature posts with the same tag so that first-time readers could find them easily. After an email conversation, the appropriate tag chosen was “bestof.” Tom Evslin, offered to program something that would tie the posts together — if it rains this weekend. (I didn’t want to hope for rain, but the code will be nice. I’m guessing Chris Brogan, Jeff Jarvis, and Kfir Pravda — all part of the same conversation — might have been thinking the same thing.)

Imagine the value of this “bestof” tagging convention, if it caught on — readers would know to Google a name and “bestof” to find the work that defines a writer’s viewpoint. Reporters and other bloggers could find a blogger’s expertise with ease.

I’m updating the About Liz page in the sidebar to include a “Bestof” section that will include a handful of posts that I think fit this category.

BlogDay2007 Tag from Jeff Pulver

Three years ago, Nir Ofir started blogDay. As he says,

I initiated the blogDay in 2005 with the belief that bloggers should have one day which will be dedicated to discover new blogs and expose them to the world.

blogDay 3 is August 31.

Today Jeff Pulver launched a game to encourage folks to join the celebration — BlogDay Blog-Tag: A Game to Celebrate BlogDay3. He asked me to play. Jeff offers these simple suggestions for how to make it work seamlessly.

[R]ecommend five blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from [your] own culture, point of view and attitude. The goal of this version of blog-tag is for the readers of our blog posts to find themselves leaping around and discovering new voices and Blogs to explore. This in turn will help celebrate the discovery process of finding new people, their voices and their blogs.

When creating your BlogDay blog entry, please try to follow these instructions:

1. List five Blogs that you find interesting and if you can tell, include the city/country where they are from.
2. Identify five Bloggers to tag to join in this game with you. I recommend emailing the bloggers you tag to give them a heads up of you tagging them.
3. Use the tag: BlogDay2007 in your blog post.
4. (Optionally): Contact the owners of the blogs you shared as your “blogs to take a look at.”

I can do that.

I wonder who Ann, Sean, Chris, Troy, Phil might also recommend as world blogs we might explore.

Thanks, Jeff, for getting me to stretch in these ways.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Every Blogger Knows . . . Thank You Is Living on the Web

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It’s the Living!

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Every blogger knows we have to repeat what we say, because sometimes folks are absent. . . . or they’re busy thinking their own thoughts . . . or we didn’t say it quite as well as we might. So when a friend says something brilliant we keep it close and use it again and again.

It starts with the words of Tony D. Clark. Thank you, friend.

The whole thing changes when the world becomes your community.

Every blogger knows having a friend who will help out is why the Internet is thriving.

Two weeks ago, I asked a favor of Mitch Matthews. Would you guest host Open Comments Night? He made it sound like I was giving him a gift. Thank you, Mitch, for jumping in with all of the energy, fun, and wonderful things you are.

Every blogger knows, when someone comes to town, it’s important to say “hello,” even if you’ve never met. As it turned out a hello became the start of a conversation with Jeff Pulver and his cousin. Eric, and ended in Jeff’s Summer Party at the House of Blues. Thank you, Jeff, for your charming curiosity, your incredible generosity, and the amazing people you gathered in one room.

Every blogger knows some folks are connected before they meet. How do you do to Chris Brogan, who greeted me with kind words from a friend, Becky McCray. Thank you, Becky. I feel like you introduced us. Thank you, Chris, for unexpectedly showing up, and showing up more than I would have expected.

Every blogger knows that coming home is the best! Thank you everyone who was here at Open Comments Last Night to make Mitch feel welcome as a guest.

Thank you, Wendy and Ari, for being part of the event last night. Fun isn’t as much fun without people who are close.

Yeah it’s right. Sometimes we have to repeat what we say, because folks are absent. . . . or they’re busy thinking their own thoughts . . . or we didn’t say it quite as well as we might. So I’ll say it again.

I’m one lucky blogger so many times over. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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Net Neutrality 11-01-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Everything on IP

All telephone communications will become IP based Jeff Pulver, Jeff Pulver Blog, October 23, 2006, quoted from Jeff Pulver: All telephone communications will become IP based By Randy Howard, Barbados Advocate, Mon Oct 23 2006

I don’t know what’s more remarkable: that someone clearly says what is the case, or that a newspaper got it right.
Then there’s the corollary: dropping long distance rates incented telcos to abrogate net neutrality, so that they can get their monopoly back without having to come up with new value added services to make money.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 6-22-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

Jeff Pulver’s Save the Internet Contest Winners

And the winner is . . .
Congratulations to Chris Burke for claiming the $1000 prize in our “Save the Net” Viral Ad Contest. We intend to use the submission to spread the word in policy circles to ensure that government crafts policy that best advances the open Internet to allow for maximum creativity and innovation.
Chris’ winning entry is available at:
http://files.bungie.org/thisspartanlife/Blog05_S3.mov

Here are a few of the better runners-up:
http://www.anders.com/video/save-the-net.mov

http://67.15.182.229/nn.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7050009655852167999&q=save+the+internet

We are now launching Round II of the “Save the Net” Contest.


Tuning Fork

One of the other issues surrounding this bill is that cable companies believe telcos will cherry pick their towns, offering IPTV service only to areas with higher incomes. It’s illegal, but not hard to believe, even though the Telcos deny it’s their intent. To top it off, Congress plans to put that regulatory wonder, the FCC, in charge of making sure the phone companies don’t. Can’t you just imagine Telco Legree rubbing his hands together at the prospect of an agency as inept as the FCC regulating the phone company steamroller? It’s like asking a Little League commissioner to oversee drug testing for Major Leaguers—he’d be out of his league. Oh, wait…

What this boils down to is cable companies and telcos fighting to force their own agenda on consumers while telling us it’s for our own good. Meanwhile, Congress, ever obliging and the one-time guardian of the people, is really only interested in placating industry lobbyists and corporate interests. As to what’s going to happen down the road, suffice it to say that it’s all likely to work out in the end…for them.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 6-18-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

“Save the Net” Contest Winner…

…will be announced on Tuesday, June 20th

Telcos’ Business Model Broken?

Folks, put the pieces together. It ought not be hard. The skill of the Telcos to manipulate Congress? Their business model is broken? A hindrance to their expansion efforts was removed and they then tried an end run but got caught? Now they’re spending millions on the effort to put in place what they believe will set their profit run back on track!

You and I are out here attempting to define it. We have help. It has become more and more clear. It is about competition! The US Telcos don’t have the competition which opens the door for their monopolization attempts.

Placing my money where my mouth is

I’ve been eagerly expecting the next BlogAd to float my way since BlogAds only feeds money into my PayPal account after a certain dollar amount of ads have been sold, and my next ad is the tipping point for a payout. And that ad came in tonight!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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NET NEUTRALITY PAGE