Linda Johannesson » networking

My Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Linda Johannesson — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:02:20 +0000

Getting back to that conversation where a coworker posed the question, “where do you go to keep up to date on the latest in digital”. Here’s the list I promised in the previous post. You’ll notice it’s a little skewed to my Canadian roots and with a heavy North American influence, but geography aside, there are incredible insights to be gleaned that are equally relevant and appropriate for right here in ANZ. I guess another reason I enjoy some of them is that it’s kinda nice to hear people say “aboot” once in a while.

Resources

Social Media Today
Social Media Examiner
Blogspot
Mashable
Marketing Profs
TED
Digital Ministry
Mumbrella
AIMIA
AMI
Marketing Magazine
B&T

Key Thought Leaders

Seth Godin
Mitch Joel
David Meerman Scott
Chris Brogan
Scott Stratten
Joseph Jaffe
Jeremiah Owyang
(there really should be more women on this list!)

Podcasts

Six Pixels of Separation
For Immediate Release
Marketing over Coffee
The Marketing Edge
The Engaging Brand
Inbound Marketing Strategies
This Week in Tech
This Week in Google
MacBreak Weekly
The Social Hour
I Love Marketing

Questions of the day:

Who else should be on this list? What other podcasts, blogs and/or resources are worth tapping into?

An Invitation from the TorontoTalks Crew

Linda Johannesson — Fri, 07 May 2010 23:23:37 +0000

For all you IABC-ers out there…As outlined in the IABC 2010 World Conference program, there’s an “UNconference” session entitled Emerging Communication Channels scheduled for Sunday, June 6^th from 2- 5pm. We want as many of you to join us as possible. Your facilitators, aka The TorontoTalks Crew (TTC) are Jeremy Schultz, Christopher Swan, Bryan Person and me, Linda Johannesson.

So, what is an “UNconference” anyway? An UNconference:

Taps into wisdom of the crowds
Provides an opportunity for passionate people to share
Facilitates learning through conversations

It’s different from most conference sessions where you’d have one or two leaders speak and the audience listens, here, it’s the opposite. It’s the audience who has the floor – participants decide the topics – the content is determined by the wants, needs and desires of those in the room that day. You can participate as much or as little as you like in the discussions. The UNconference session will be a place for you to exchange your challenges, your victories, your concerns and your lessons learned with a diverse global audience of your IABC peers.

The session is free for conference attendees and will take place over a three hour time period, but feel free to come and participate for however long suits you.

A format skeleton for the session can be found here but, remember, the content will be up to you!

So, at 2pm Sunday afternoon grab your laptops, your mobile phones, ipads (if you’ve got’em), digital cameras, flip video cameras – come equipped with your case studies, your best resources, your stories, your burning questions, your best practices, your challenges and join us for the Unconference. It should be UNique learning opportunity and we hope that you’ll join us to enrich the experience .

In the meantime, if you have questions for the UNconference facilitators, ideas for discussion, want to share your stories, your experiences with other UNconferences, indicate your interest in attending, volunteer to lead a discussion, or just want to join in the conversation, you can find us online at grou.ps page , twitter, and on facebook.

I truly believe we can find wisdom in crowds, strength in communities and insight through conversation. So, join us in Toronto for our UNconference session and experience all three!

We are grateful to IABC for the opportunity to bring you this session. This kind of experience offers the entire membership another chance to “Be heard”.

We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

‘Nuf Said

Linda Johannesson — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:49:18 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

A Milestone in Conversations

Linda Johannesson — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:47:35 +0000

There it was. In print. The brochure arrived.The annual event that I look forward to year after year.

Finally in 2010, after 20 years of membership in the association, I’m achieving a milestone. I’m on the agenda for the 2010 IABC Word Conference, taking place in my home city of Toronto. I won’t be playing the role of sage on stage. I won’t be at the microphone talking at an audience for an hour. Instead, I’ll be joining three others in facilitating a conversation. An approach that I think is far more fun!

I’m both honoured and excited to join an international crew Bryan Person from Texas, Jeremy Schulz from Arizona and Christopher Swan from California in facilitating a three hour Unconference Session, entitled Emerging Communication Channels

Beyond a love for warmer climates, we all share sense for what’s possible, a passion for marketing and communications, an interest in social media, and an obvious infatuation with technology and new ideas. It was these that brought us together at last year’s IABC World Conference. The four of us first met online through the conversations that took place through the outtathegate campaign. That was the start of a great collaborative experience. We continued our conversations long after the 2009 conference, brainstormed some ideas and then pitched a few to IABC for this year and… tada…this session was the result.

I think this is a prime example of how a conversation between strangers with something in common, backed by the power of social media can lead to an incredible exchange of ideas and the creation of something wonderful.

Just how wonderful? You’ll have to be part of our unconference session to find out!

We’d be honoured if you join our conversation…

What Matters Now (A Montage of Ideas from 70+ Great Minds)

Linda Johannesson — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:18:53 +0000

What Matters Now is the latest free e-book from Seth Godin and friends -it’s provocative, insightful, inspiring and just plain powerful!

Download it, read it, live it….just trust me on this…this IS what matters now.

SME Summit was tops

Linda Johannesson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:56:34 +0000

What a great day at the SME Technology Summit 2009 This was an AWESOME way to kick off the month. HUGE thanks go out to @trib aka Stephen Collins whose generosity made it possible for me to attend. “You da man!”

So, what were my lasting impressions? First off, the Waterview Convention Centre is a stunning venue – well chosen! The Insight Exchange team ran a great conference and they diligently made sure that the speakers and delegates alike enjoyed the day’s experience.

The keynote speakers – Tim Pethick and Mark Pesce were both compelling and knowledgeable. I thank them for sharing their experiences, their thought provoking ideas and predictions for the future. It was obvious to those in the room that a future that relies heavily upon technology is as real for SMEs as it is for large multinationals.

I came away from these sessions reassured that I am one of the lucky ones. I get this stuff. I already have many of the skills necessary to participate and even lead in the use of technology in meeting the strategic marketing and communications agendas of organisations, large, small and anywhere in between.

Throughout the day, I jumped across all three tracks (Marketing, Social Media and Effectiveness) in the sessions

I attended. I noted a number of tips from the presenters, learned of some terrific examples, many of which were tweeted by a vocal group of us who populated the hundreds of tweets that became the #smetech hash tag dialogue.

I also came away with a long list of things I must learn/do more about – including:

•   investigating freelancer.com (and other such offerings) as both a buyer and supplier of services,
•   joining the Australian Business Women’s Network and possibly AIMIA
•   diving deeper into the sea of analytics
•   continuing my own efforts in blogging, podcasting, tweeting and so on…
•   pursuing potential opportunities with a number of the presenting companies
•   and furthering the conversations/connections, online and off, that began face to face today with a number of fabulous and talented people

Attending an event like this really brings home the need for both community and conversation in our professional lives. I’m grateful I could take advantage of this opportunity. Now, it’s time to leverage it and see how far I the journey will continue past this first step!

Thanks to the organizers, the venue staff, the speakers, the sponsors and the many delegates who all did their part in making the day worthwhile.

Are you revolting?

Linda Johannesson — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:36:46 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

I guess this post proves I’m one of the 54%

It’s a Ning thing…

Linda Johannesson — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:16:15 +0000

What is a Ning? How do we use it? What are the benefits?

If you’ve heard the term and are just a wee curious, here are two instructional videos that may help you to understand the Ning and the possibilities it offers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Still not quite sure whether a Ning is your thing? Maybe an example will help. Have a peek at the Interactive Whiteboard Ning. This Ning was created to support the book, The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution, co-authored by Chris Betcher and Mal Lee.

The Ning was developed with the express purpose of extending the conversation with the book’s authors and readers alike well beyond the content offered through it’s pages. The result? A vibrant (and growing) community that shares a common focus, effective teaching with Interactive Whiteboards, and continues to share examples, challenges, insights and conversations with each other.

Questions of the Day

What types of uses can you see for Ning? What kinds of communities do you think Ning would be appropriate for? Have you seen interesting examples being used? Share your observations and ideas

Linking In

Linda Johannesson — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:20:43 +0000

A recent article I provided for the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA)

Tips for Building your Networking Muscle

Using LinkedIn is a Little like Going to the Gym – 7 Tips for Building your Networking Muscle

We’ve all heard about it, we know it’s good for us, but how many of us really use it? It might surprise you to know that only 4% of PRIA’s membership has actually joined the official PRIA group on LinkedIn. So, are you on LinkedIn but haven’t yet joined the LinkedIn PRIA group or are you just not on LinkedIn at all?

LinkedIn, the business-oriented social networking site founded in December 2002, launched in May 2003 is mainly used for professional networking. As of February 2009, it had more than 35 million registered users, spanning 170 industries.

LinkedIn relies heavily on user profiles, but what makes for a strong profile? Are you still a little unsure about how to best to flex the power of LinkedIn for your own networking needs? Here are some tips to building some LinkedIn muscle and creating a powerful profile:

1. Be there – spend the time to actually create a profile, make it public sharing its details in full view.

2. Ensure your profile is complete – add a recent photo, list all your relevant details, including past jobs, associations, contact information, accomplishments. Provide the details that will make it easy for people to find and learn about you. As you build your profile you can actually gauge your completion status through the handy status bar.

3. Link your profile to your other websites – show a link to your current employer, if you write a blog, ensure you’ve listed the link for that too – and, where possible, make these links reciprocal by including your LinkedIn icon/button within your standard contact details.

4. Provide meaningful status updates regularly – if you have just received a promotion, your company has launched a new product, secured a new client, or you recently received a new certification or joined a new group, association, share this news with your network.

5. Write referrals for the great people you’ve worked with. And don’t forget to ask for some in return (a bit of shameless self promotion here is okay). Public referrals carry extra weight, especially when you can easily look into the background of those providing them.

6. Join the various industry groups and participate in those you actually join – add some value, share resources, make comments, share your connections, don’t be a hoarder or a passive observer sitting quietly on the sidelines – that’s just not in the spirit of social networking.

7. Proactively expand your network by using the Search People Feature to find key contacts and by regularly scanning the People you may know and the Just joined LinkedIn sections. Then reach out to the people from your past, even if it’s been a while.

Once you’ve created a profile you’re happy with, the next step is to investigate the LinkedIn applications to determine which will be useful to you in meeting your networking needs. Hopefully these tips will help to strengthen your profile and maximise your personal LinkedIn experience. Using LinkedIn is a little like going to the gym – the earlier you start, the better. And, the more often you visit, the more you’ll get out of it!

Good luck and we’ll see you online. Now, about joining that PRIA LinkedIn group… (psst…see #6)

Question of the Day

Are you on LinkedIn? Why or why not? Do you have a LinkedIn experience to share?