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Category: Turner Magic Updates

12 More Tips for Shining at Meetings and Networking Events

Didn’t get enough last time? Here are a dozen more tips to get you ready to make a good impression when you are out meeting people in professional networking environments. Nametags Nametags are traditionally worn on the right side of the body so that they are most visible during your first handshake. This is a rule of thumb and while you may be coached on this by some networking veterans, don’t sweat this too much. The rear-adhesive nametags are notorious for falling off easily. Here’s a handy tip: keep a couple of paper clips in the car. If you affix your tag to a part of your clothing near an edge (lapel, collar, ruffle, etc.) then you can slide the clip on to help it stay in place. More experienced networkers have probably moved into having a custom name badge produced, typically with a magnetic clip so that you don’t have to pin through your clothes. Here’s tip: many events feature plastic name badges which have magnetic clips. You can probably keep one from the next event you attend, then create your own custom badge on a printer and just drop it in. Make your name large enough to be seen in a dim room, and include a QR code of your contact information or a link to your social media site of choice. Food and Beverage There are multiple philosophies on eating and drinking at networking events. Some people say you shouldn’t do it at all, while others say it’s no big deal. My view is that it is a function of how productive you want the meeting to be, and whether you already have an established presence at that organization. If this is your first visit to that organization and you don’t know many people, I suggest you eat before you arrive or wait until afterward. Spend your time meeting as many people as possible. You want to walk away with at least a dozen people whose businesses you’ve learned something about, who have learned something about your business, and who have given you permission to contact them on social media. You want to make a great impression on these people; crumbs on your tie will not help. If you’ve become a regular at the event and already know most folks, then eating is a different consideration. I suggest getting there early and enjoying your snack, then dive in with networking the rest of the time. If you have two free hands while other people have one or none, then you will have the opportunity to be extremely helpful to other people during the event. Maximize this opportunity to make a great impression. There is often alcohol available at after-hours events. You don’t need another lecture on the dumb and/or dangerous things that can happen when you drink too much. Make wise choices. Professional Image Choose your attire with some forethought. People will judge your business capabilities by the way you look, the way you talk, the way you behave, and the overall impression you make as a human being. Your business is not a business card or a contract or a corporate seal. It is not even a name or a logo. At a networking event, your business is you, personally. Your face, your hair, your clothes, your hygiene, and your manners. Nobody said it was fair or accurate for your entire business to be judged by those things. I’m just telling you that your personal impression is the first experience that people will have with your brand. I keep a container of breath mints in my car, as well as nail clippers, a hairbrush, some tweezers, a lint brush, and skin moisturizer. In some cases, I may even bring my electric shaver with me so that I can clean up before an after-hours event. The business impact is both immediate and long-lasting. If you have created an impressive personal and professional image – one with which others would be proud to be associated – then you can charge more for your services. Furthermore, the perceived value of what you do will increase. Here’s a lesson to remember: if the audience perceives your value is higher, then your REAL value to your client is higher. I regularly get paid to do the very same events that others would have to do for free “for the exposure.” This is not by accident. Don’t look like a rumpled slob when you go out to network or get in front of people at a leads meeting or other meeting. Clean up. You may not need to wear a suit and tie, but you need to present yourself in a way consistent with the value you propose to deliver. If you engage in professional networking, people will talk about you later. Hopefully they will be talking about the great impression you made and how you have an amazing way of presenting your business. Don’t distract them from that task by giving them negative things to talk about in terms of your personal and professional appearance, your etiquette, or your ability to be heard and understood.

9 Tips for Shining at Meetings and Networking Events

There are a variety of networking meetings and events where people can go to increase visibility, meet potential customers, and grow their networks. Here are some tips that will help you avoid looking like you have no idea what you’re doing in a meeting of professionals. Etiquette and Elevator Speeches When you go to a networking event, remember that the people at the event are not your prospects. They are your gatekeepers. You are not there to make them into your customers; you are there to transform them into your sales force. Don’t go in looking to sell to the people around you. Think about the kinds of people they may know or interact with. Who might be on their email list? Sure, you’ll do some business with the people you meet, but your goal is to create business for them and for yourself by putting your networks together. Here’s the real truth: most people at a professional networking meeting do not actually care about your product or service no matter how revolutionary it is. This goes for your pill, dietary supplement, exercise program, amazing card trick, electric skin zapper, fruit juice, health product, or any other cool thing that you have or do. They care about THEIR cool things that they have or do. You have to break through this by being clear, specific, and interesting. If you get a chance to make a 30 or 60 second speech, make it pithy, memorable, and focused on helping attendees connect you to other people they know. Don’t tell the people in the room how long you’ve been in business. Don’t tell them why you think they should buy your product or why they should even be excited about it. Don’t say your target market is “everyone” or “anyone.” In your short speech, tell them who you are and what you do. Tell them the specific types of clients that you are looking to meet – describe your best clients in the last 6-12 months. And tell them how you would want them to describe your business if telling others about it. Be charming, grateful, confident, and bold. Speak up so you can be heard. Cell Phones Set your phone on vibrate or turn it off. When it rings and you reach down to turn it off, most people will politely say, “Oh, that’s okay.” They are lying. It is not okay – everyone there is, in fact, disturbed that your phone went off and interrupted whomever was speaking at that moment. Even if their own phone rang earlier, they are still ticked at you. Put your phone on vibrate or turn it off. Keep it off the table where it will rattle the whole table. Put it in a pocket, hold it in your lap, put it in your purse, or just turn it off. You may need to be contacted during the meeting – that’s fine. Your task as a competent, considerate networker is to find a way to be discreet. If you must take a call, don’t answer it until you are out of the room. If your phone does go off and you must take the call, don’t answer it as you are standing up to exit. Yes, it is 10% considerate of you to excuse yourself to take the call, but it is 90% inconsiderate of you to begin it with “Hello? Uh, I’m in a meeting – let me step out” as you step over and around and through chairs to get to the door. If you don’t want to drop the call, click the answer button on the way out, but don’t speak until you have actually left the room. They’ll hear that you’re moving and wonder what is going on, but you don’t say a word. If they hang up before you can answer or speak, you can call them back in the hallway. Microphones If there is a microphone, use it. Yes, use it even if you don’t want to. Yes, use it even if you have a loud voice and you think it carries well. Yes, use it even if for your whole life, everyone has told you that you don’t need it. They are wrong. If there is a microphone there and it’s working, you need to use it. It makes weaker voices strong enough to be heard. It makes stronger voices even more understandable. It helps to give your voice authority and pop that help people to pay attention. If others are using it and you don’t, then the whole feel of the meeting changes unnecessarily. Most people don’t use a microphone because they are afraid of what their voice sounds like when amplified. Get over it. Use the microphone. Hold the microphone closer to your mouth. Just because you are holding it doesn’t magically make you heard. You can’t hold it at your chest or a foot away from your mouth – you actually have to speak into it for it to work properly. Hold the microphone about 5 inches from your mouth and speak into it. It’s okay if you’re louder than the person before you. He didn’t know how to use it properly and now you do. Don’t gesture with it, point at other things with it, or wave it at other people. If you need to gesture, use your other hand. Don’t grip the microphone at the very bottom. Many wireless microphones have their transmitting hardware in that area. Grasp the microphone around the middle of the barrel. Stay tuned for more tips in the next post!

Turner Magic & Keynotes Named Best of Atlanta 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Turner Magic & Keynotes Receives 2012 Best of Atlanta Award Atlanta Award Program Honors the Achievement ATLANTA July 30, 2012 — Turner Magic & Keynotes has been selected for the 2012 Best of Atlanta Award in the Party Planning & Event Consultants category by the Atlanta Award Program. Each year, the Atlanta Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Atlanta area a great place to live, work and play. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2012 Atlanta Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Atlanta Award Program and data provided by third parties. About Atlanta Award Program The Atlanta Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Atlanta area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value. The Atlanta Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy. SOURCE: Atlanta Award Program CONTACT: Atlanta Award Program Email: PublicRelations@awardprogram.org URL: https://www.awardprogram.org ###

Change Management and New Shoes

Organizational change initiatives are complex in part because they can succeed or fail based on variables such as human psychology, business agility, economic environments, leadership skills, communication skills, technical capability, and even the occasional lucky break. Managing change is a combination of business acumen, social instinct, and leadership abilities that can’t be reduced to silly, oversimplified analogies. On the other hand, change initiatives are a lot like getting new shoes. Eventually you’re going to need new shoes. You can’t put it off forever – even if you resole the pair you love, you already know that’s a stopgap measure. You know now that one day you’re going to need to get rid of what you’re wearing in favor of something else. If you wait until your shoes have holes in them, then you’ll have a lot less flexibility in looking for replacements. Do you want to be searching for new shoes because you have to have something immediately, or do you want to search for the next pair while you have the luxury of taking your time? Do you think you’ll more easily find the right fit if you search carefully, or if you search while in a state of dire need? In all likelihood, the exact make and model of the shoes you’re wearing now won’t be available when you need new ones. Even classics get changed, updated, or taken out of production. If you have convinced yourself that you can only function in one particular brand, style, or color of shoe then you may find yourself barefoot while looking for the new ones – and that may be a fool’s errand. Is your ability to function going to be helped or hindered by the constraints you have established for the new shoes? Are you certain that the constraints are meaningful? Even if the same shoes are available, your activities and needs may be different by the time you get the new ones. You might have a new job, suit, or fashion taste by the time you’re in the market for that new pair. Maybe you bought an extra pair when you found them. Even so, eventually your supply will run out. Are you willing to bet your future mobility on your hunch that neither your activities nor the environment in which you operate will change? Does that seem like a wise risk to you? You may not be able to afford custom-built shoes. Some folks can guarantee that they’ll never have to wear shoes that were mass produced. Most of the world will have to buy something off a shelf. Can you afford a custom solution for your new shoes? Does your budget make that a realistic option? Or will you get further, faster, by doing a careful search of more affordable options? There may be some discomfort involved. Even when new shoes fit great in the store, when they get put into action in the real world, you might get a blister at first. Eventually both the feet and the shoes adapt to each other. The process of change is inevitably going to bring some degree of discomfort. That doesn’t mean you discard the shoes – it means you may have to stretch them, break them in, and give them time to mold to your physical shape. Are you giving the new shoes a fair trial? Can you think of other ways that organizational change is like getting new shoes?

Change Aversion, Iocane Powder, and Your GPS

The fact is that all of us demonstrate elements of being change ready and change averse. Equally true is the fact that we all live and work in environments where the pace of change is constantly accelerating. Help yourself be more adaptable by building up a tolerance for change.

What is Mentalism?

My clients know that I perform a variety of illusions in different genres, depending on the specific needs and character of their event. Many of them have encountered the term “mentalism” in conversations with me, or they’ve heard it from others, or they’ve seen the popular show The Mentalist on CBS. Many people still approach me with the question: just what is mentalism, anyway? Per un trattamento adeguato una soluzione efficace c’è e consiste nell’utilizzare delle pillole davvero ottime come ad esempio quelle di cialis generico in farmacia senza ricetta pagamento alla consegna che in pratica è la versione economica commercializzata dalla sua casa produttrice che risponde al nome di Lilly. Il suo principio attivo Tadalafil ha l’effetto sicuro per, attenzione, intere 36 ore, il che è moltissimo per le medicine di questo tipo. Mentalism, simply put, is the branch of illusion arts that deals with psychological experiences more than visual ones, though there is sometimes some overlap. Mentalists present their audiences with experiences that seem like mind-reading, mental influence, predictions of future events, and occasionally the ability to move or affect physical objects with the power of the mind. Modern mentalism has roots in ancient times, where soothsayers and mediums performed acts that would be related to some kinds of mentalism today. In the 1800s, psychic entertainers became popular and some of the feats they performed would still be part of any mentalism performance today. Some mentalists strongly resist any comparison to magicians, preferring to think of the art as an entirely separate one with no pretended “supernatural” elements. Given that some mentalists have overtly made claims of “supernatural gifts” as the source of their abilities, that distinction holds little sway. Another common approach to performing mentalism today is to offer it in the context of using highly developed observational skills and an ability to read body language as the theatrical premise for the performance. This premise is, however, sometimes largely an illusion in its own right. It is generally a contrivance intended to persuade audiences that what they are experiencing is less a theatrical experience and more an actual ability to perceive people’s specific thoughts. While this claim is not supernatural in nature, in my view it is only slightly less dishonest. My personal approach to mentalism is to recognize it for what it really is: a truly mystifying branch of the illusion arts focused on experiences of the mind. Just as a skilled sleight-of-hand artist can make a coin appear to melt into nothingness, a skilled mentalist can seem to make a thought appear in your mind. The first illusion is visual; the second is psychological. They rely on some techniques that are similar, and some which are different. Likewise, the performer who makes a tiger appear on a stage relies on some techniques that are similar, and some which are different. All of the experiences are illusions to an audience. It can be fun to leave the line between reality and performance a little blurry for an audience. When that blurred line becomes a means by which someone attempts to sell products or services through the perception that the theatrical premise represents legitimate expertise on the part of the performer, then another line is also being blurred: the line between honest performer and scam artist. Interestingly, when the television show The Mentalist premiered, the Atlanta CBS affiliate contacted me about coming on the news for a feature on “Atlanta’s Real Life Mentalist.” In that segment they profiled me and my work as a speaker and mentalist. The interview itself is linked just below the image. Enjoy! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFl0fCs5wG0&w=420&h=315]