Did that get your attention?

That's exactly what happened with my class of 113 real estate agents in the Minneapolis, MN area in April and May.  How did they do it?  They attending a class I facilitate called BOLD-Business Objective a Life by Design.

Why Denver in the headline.  Because that's where I'll be next.  On Monday, June 28th I'll be presenting First Step to BOLD in the greater Denver area.  If the thought of 11 transactions in the months and July and August intrigues you--let me know I'll make sure you have a seat on June 28th!

What is BOLD? 

BOLD was written by Dianna Kokoska, president of MAPS coaching.  BOLD includes the strategies, skills and scripts that have propelled Kokoszka's own million dollar real estate career and secured her place as the industry's "Queen of Systems and Scripts".  Take a look at this quick video for more information:  http://ow.ly/1VeBc

When you attend, you will:

• Overcome your limiting beliefs
• Set BOLD goals
• Learn how to deliver powerful scripts that naturally influence people to work with you
• Build an abundance of leads in your business
• Incorporate time saving strategies and techniques that will take your business to the highest levels.
• Discover the benefits of a life by design
• RSVP now.  We're limited to 200 Guests:  http://bolddenver.eventbrite.com

I'd love to have some fellow 'Rainers in the room on June 28th!

How many times have you found yourself, much like me, attending a conference, presentation, seminar and the presenter and/or the facility is ill prepared to make the most of the time?

This may sound curt on my part, yet I find it interesting how many "professionals" don't truly understand the importance and significance of making sure the attendee has a great experience.  In my world I believe we need to put ourselves, as the presenter, into the shoes of the participant.  What do I mean by that?  They are giving up their time to be a part of whatever this program is.  Time is the 1 thing in life you can never get back.  Why don't we hold it as such a valuable commodity?

Here's an example. 

This morning I attending a training workshop put on by a fledgling group in my town.  Their mission statement intrigued me and I found my schedule was open for the 8:30-11:00 a.m. timeslot their marketing told me this presentation would take.

I arrived at 8:25 found a seat at 1 of the round tables set up for the program.  At 8:30 the minute came and went, then 8:34, then 8:35 finally at 8:40 the "host" of the event went to the microphone and proceeded to BLAST us out of the room with the volume being WAY TOO LOUD!  She introduced the sponsors for the event and we all applauded to thank them for their contribution.  Then she introduced the major sponsor and proceeded to read his entire life resume from college until now.  He then got up, again on the BOOM microphone and welcomed us.  He then introduced the presenter for the day. 

She grabbed the microphone and started to walk out into the audience and realized the cord only reached 5 feet in front of the podium, which incidentally happened to be right under 1 of the ceiling speakers.  This, if you don't know, causes the sound system to feedback with that ear piercing squeal that most presenter seem to never understand.  Let me tell you-you are typically "recycling" your sound.  What I mean by this is you are either standing under a speaker or in line with you whereby the speaker is projecting the sound and the microphone is grabbing it again-thus the squeal.  STEP AWAY FROM THAT SPOT!  It's not about moving the mic away from your mouth.  It's about stopping the recycling of sound through the system.  WHEW......breathe, breathe, breathe..

Now, before you think I'm being a total jerk about this, think about what I'm saying.  You invest your time and quite often your money to attend these types of presentations.  Doesn't the presenter and/or those who are producing the event owe it to you to make sure things work right?  How would you feel if you invested $60 to see your favorite music star and they take to the stage late and then proceed to have so much sound system feedback you can't hear or understand a word they are singing?  Would you walk away being OK or would you find a way to complain to someone about it?  Why isn't this the same thing?

So here's my idea and thus this post.  Effective Presenting: 7 Steps to Ensure a Great Audience Experience.

1. Timing:  As the presenter, arrive early.  I recommend at least 1 hour before the scheduled start time.
2. Set Up:  Make sure the room is set up to your expectations for your program.  If not, get it reset.  You are in charge not the facility you are holding the meeting in.  If you need it changed, get it changed.
3. Sound Check:  Grab the microphone and do a sound check.  If it's a corded mic, check the distance you can move with the chord and all areas to find those "feedback spots" and make mental note not to stand there.
4. Sound Check II:  If you are using a cordless mic  or lavaliere do the same thing.  If you plan to walk throughout the room do this as a sound check.  Remember the musician example above, they set up and do a sound check hours before the audience arrives.  You should to!
5. Respect Time:  Start on time and end on time.  In my example above, we started 10 minutes late and the program ran 10 minutes late.  This is inexcusable if you want to be known as a professional!  Remember time is not replaceable.  Don't waste it for your attendees and don't assume they are all OK if you run over because you started late.
6. Technology-  Just as important as a sound check is a technology check.  What I mean is if you fall into the myriad of presenters who rely on PowerPoint presentations, make sure the presentation works with the projector at the facility.  In addition, if you'll be using music and/or video as part of your presentation, sound check each of these as well.  
7. Know your Audience- if you are presenting a topic you're not the "expert" in, don't fake it.  Don't go online and grab information without knowing who to attribute it to nor who they really are.  We can all do that.  Be honest, do your research, dig deeper.  Understand you will almost always have that audience member who'll want to know who that person is you're quoting if they aren't an easily recognizable source.

Thanks for indulging me in this.  I worked hard to stay in curiosity and out of judgment in this experience yet I found myself really wanting to stand up and just handle what wasn't working.

I used to watch the ABC Reality show "Extreme Makeover" whenever I needed a little bit of a "feel good" cry.  The why my emotions would be worked in that 2 hour segment is amazing.  In the back of my mind I always had the thought "How can the family afford to maintain a house like this?"  I guess my thoughts were right. 

In the Wall Street Journal today, there's an announcement of one of these "extreme" housing hitting the for sale market.  As I read the story I was saddened to hear the trials of this family. 

I do remember, a few years ago, of an episode of the show in which the family got an incredible house and the non-profit arm of my company Keller Williams Cares paid off the mortgage on the home in full.  Thus hopefully allowing the family to only have the obligation of property taxes and maintenance. 

In my mind that's the only way this show would be considered a success to me. 

Click here for the WSJ article.

I always love when someone shares a great story....this might be a little bit of a shameless plug...but what the hey!

Here's a broker comment line from our local MLS:

So here are my questions:

1. Is this statement in the best interest of the Seller?  (A short sale seller I'm told)
2. Are the statements of this broker risky for stating future value?
3. How about the business hours of this brokerage--truly in the clients best interest?

I'd love to hear your comments.

Ok... so I'm going to vent just a little this morning.

I had to travel to Bozeman, MT for a meeting today.  I arrived at the airport 1 hour before the flight was to depart.  This is usually more than enough window of time in my small town airport (Dane County/Madison WI).  My flight was with Delta, er, Northwest, er Delta Northwest or NorthDeltaWest...whatever they are calling it these days.

I traveled 1 week ago on Delta to Atlanta.  In my airport, 1 week ago there was a Delta check in desk.  Today the check in desk for Delta is gone.  It's now combined with the check in desk for Northwest.  OK, merger must be moving further forward, I thought.  Then I saw THE LINE OF PEOPLE trying to get checked in!  It was outside the maze and down the hall.  This was a 7:15 a.m. flight.  Not the first of the day and check in was going to take over 1/2 hour.

Now I know many of you who travel through large airports are feeling no sympathy for me but remember, I always have to travel somewhere first, change planes and then get to my destination.  My offset for 2-3 legs on every trip is the convenience of the small airport.  Well Delta is trying to change that by seemingly understaffing their check in counter in Madison.  Thus increasing the "inconvenience factor" to levels of the large hub city airports.

I've been known to operate my businesses from time to time under the "ready, fire, aim" methodology but this seems a bit extreme for what's now being touted as "The World's Largest Airline".  How difficult would it be to realize that when you combine 2 businesses, don't significantly reduce the number of flights that both had combined, it might take an adequate staff to move people through? 

I could go on but I'm trying to find the lesson here for me.  Does anyone know what it might be?

Haven't heard of it?  Well it's a magical tool that allows me to virtually be throughout all of the web 2.0 at 1 time. 

It's really a tool that allows you to 1 stop post and autofeed that out to many different sites at once.  From Social Media sites to blogs to Microblogs--all in 1 spot and from your web browser or your smart phone.

How do you set it up?  Go to http://ping.fm.  There you can create a free account and cross reference which sites you are a member of and how you might want to post to them. 

Sound easy?  It is.  Remember your opportunity to leverage tools like this will allow you to increase your Web 2.0 prescence without spending all day at your computer.  We all know that doesn't get us much business by itself!