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5 Phases of Leveraging Events to Build and Grow Your Personal Brand

Life after COVID means many of the daily aspects of our lives have changed, but they’ve also changed the way we produce events and position our personal brand. With all events being virtual during the pandemic and since in-person events are becoming an option, the question is now being raised, do we remain virtual, transition to in-person, or do a hybrid event? To help us uncover the answer to this… Read More »5 Phases of Leveraging Events to Build and Grow Your Personal Brand

What Happens If You Don’t Have a Face for Video?

Jerry Springer, the salacious TV host and one-time Mayor of Cinncinatti, once said “Someone said I had a face for radio and a voice for newspapers” You are probably tired of hearing everyone telling you that to get noticed anywhere you must be using video.  But what happens if you are not comfortable in front of or using a camera?  What if Video is Not For Me? Not everyone is… Read More »What Happens If You Don’t Have a Face for Video?

Connecting Sales, Marketing & You Inc on LinkedIn in 2017

Below is my TED-style talk at the Haste & Hustle conference earlier this year – includes the Pinata BBQ Accountant story. It is imperative that you understand how to leverage LinkedIn’s benefits for the sales AND marketing of You Inc. and build a profile that stands out. Paul Copcutt will show you how to use LinkedIn to communicate your personal brand in 5 minutes a day, as well as offer… Read More »Connecting Sales, Marketing & You Inc on LinkedIn in 2017

Will Today be Trump or Clinton’s Best Day at Work?

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By the end of the day, one of the candidates may well be looking back to today as one of their best days at work, at least so far. Of course, the work for the successful President of the United States is only just beginning, some future days maybe best days and some may be the worst, it’s not an easy job for sure. The best and worst seems to be how many of you look at your own jobs and careers.

Presenteeism, time spent at the workplace while not productively engaged in work, is the new absenteeism

The conclusion of a 2015 Canadian study, The True Picture of Workplace Absenteeism, with 1,300 people including just over 1,000 employees, found that 80 percent of respondents self-reported experience with presenteeism. 81 percent indicated that they had gone into work while they could not perform as well as they would have liked.

The reasons for doing so included physical sickness (47 percent), stress or anxiety (40 percent) and workplace issues and/or problems with co-workers or managers (22 percent). Depression was specified as the cause by 15 percent of respondents.

A quick Google search of #BestWorkDay uncovers plenty of top 10 lists on ways to ensure you have your best days at work. The common advice to these problems seems to fall into two camps.

Read More »Will Today be Trump or Clinton’s Best Day at Work?

3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

All Hallows Eve is the time of the year dedicated to remembering the dead. It seems fitting that on Halloween we reflect on the personal brand lessons from the news last week that Twitter will be closing down their 6-second video app Vine. It may have come as a surprise to many of you, however, the ‘Vine Personal Brand Stars’ that it helped to create have already been moving on… Read More »3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

Lessons From Discover Your Personal Brand Conference – The All Star Panel

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This past weekend I had the opportunity to speak again at the Discover Your Personal Brand Conference.  DYPB 2016 was different from 2014 in a number of ways.

The focus was more toward small business and the caliber of speaker, panels and attendees was awesome. There were many inspiring young Canadians in attendance that really gave me a lift about the future of our country. All held within the back drop of Telus’ state of the art office in downtown Toronto, an environmental LEED building, bursting with technology and balanced with space and light.

The opportunity to attend conferences is always a big investment, even if its local so it was great to get such a rich experience. 

After introductions from the motivating conference organizer and founder Bobby Umar and keynotes from the always excellent Mark Bowden and inspiring Real Food for Real Kids founder Lulu Cohen-Farnell the highlight of the first evening for me was the Personal Brand Leadership All Star Panel. They were;

Cameron Gordon, Head of Communications, Twitter – Moderator
Erin Bury, Managing Director at 88 Creative
Jennifer Ettinger, Founder & President at Fit Your Style
Jagmeet Singh, MPP, ONDP Deputy Leader
Bobby Umar, Founder, Raeallan & DYPB

Full bios and more details on the schedule http://www.dypb.ca/schedule/ and other speakers can be found here http://www.dypb.ca/speakers/ 

Here is a Summary of the questions and panel answers;

Read More »Lessons From Discover Your Personal Brand Conference – The All Star Panel

Discover Your Personal Brand 2016 #DYPB16

Last chance to book tickets for #DYPB16 – dypb.ca  TODAY only! Half Price Tickets to #DYPB16 #Toronto Aug 12-13. Buy One Get One Free! picatic.com/DYPB16 #BOGO over 50 experts & speakers on personal branding [youtube id=”mEFm7l3DLFY”]

Are You Ready to Hog the LinkedIn Publishing Limelight?

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“Have you been published? Do you have a book?” are common questions I am asked when I deliver keynotes and workshops. I should collect my approach to personal branding into a book, and the idea has crossed my mind a million times, but I seem to have as many excuses not to.

I had an interesting discussion with a fellow speaker at a recent conference when we talked about this whole notion that a book does not generate significant revenue, but can help clarify in your own mind what you stand for and can help clearly position your expertise and knowledge.

My first ever blog post was December 2003, so it’s not that I don’t like writing or run out of things to say! I am also one of those people that prefers the kinesthetic feel of a physical rather then digital book.  Market research suggests that the old fashioned book is not the rapidly dying media that some would have us believe.

But our social media streams are increasingly becoming a visual collection of videos, high quality images, You Tube links and GIF’s (Graphics Interchange Format).

“Visual media is the new headline.” – Unknown

The poll that I ran in one of my articles showed the following results when it came to the various visual media that people used as part of their publishing;

Read More »Are You Ready to Hog the LinkedIn Publishing Limelight?

7 Best Practices For Being a Conference Guerrilla

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The following story is an example of how the actions recommended in this series of articles can work for you. Whilst they are intended mostly for longer conferences they can apply and work equally well to one off events.

How to be a Conference Guerrilla – Part 1 – Pre-Conference can be read here. 

In our time-crunched lives and with the option of virtual events, physically attending conferences can be a hard decision to make.  Approach events with more than just looking at the speaker line up, the complimentary networking sessions or in some cases to get the professional development credits checked off.  Instead actually measure the ‘return on investment’ of attending a conference. Start using this mindset and you will see the value to your organization and your personal brand in getting out there.

I once went to hear Keith Ferrazzi, author of “Never Eat Alone” speak at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. I learnt about the event from the organizer who had booked me to speak there a few months earlier.

I followed Keith’s advice in his book about ‘bumping‘ the speaker before they go on stage and engaging them quickly to gain a follow-up.  I had brought my copy of the book and asked him to ‘sign it before he became famous’ – a quote from the book. He commented that I had obviously read the book and I said it was (and still is) my most referred and recommended book on networking. I have even given several people copies as gifts.  I then told him that I would like the opportunity to follow up with him to discuss how to make his book the #1 business book in Canada. “Absolutely” he said and handed me his card.

As I walked away,  someone behind him had taken my lead and asked for their book to be signed.  I heard Keith ask the person….Read More »7 Best Practices For Being a Conference Guerrilla

How to Be a Conference Guerrilla – Part 1 – Pre-Conference

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Recently I was the keynote speaker at the HR Leaders Conference taking place on a boat on the River Danube in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was a great conference and of course the location was pretty unique!

In our time crunched lives and with the option of virtual events, physically attending conferences can be a hard decision. I consider the speaker line up, the networking sessions or in some cases the professional development credits. I also consider the cost, both in terms of dollars and ‘lost production’.

However very few people actually measure the ‘return on investment’ of attending a conference. This is important because ‘getting out there’ adds value to your organization and your personal brand.

There is a lot more to it than showing up. Here’s how to plan like a conference guerrilla.

Pre-Conference

The meetings and conference industry runs into the $100’s of billions each year, so there are always plenty of conferences to choose from. With so much latest research and information available to access and use at the click of a mouse, going to a conference to hear the latest leading edge speakers should not be at the top of your priorities.

The true value of attending a conference are the relationships that you develop.

What is your goal? Is it to find new business for your company, network to find your next job or are there certain industry contacts you want to make?  Are there less expensive ways you can accomplish this goal other than conference attendance?

You might also want to review where your personal brand stands right now with a Personal Brand Audit

Review & Research

First step is deciding which conference to attend. There can be a number of factors worth taking in to account;

Read More »How to Be a Conference Guerrilla – Part 1 – Pre-Conference