Skip to content

Fun

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

HR Leaders 4

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

Are You Ready for the NO Technology Challenge?

NO WI-FI AT CAMP........BUT YOU MAKE GREAT CONNECTIONS

In one of his keynotes, social media entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk asks the audience about their watch wearing habits.

Of course as you would probably expect most people in the audience, the millennials, under 30 are not wearing a watch, their watch is their smartphone, and camera, and recording device, and computer, and,,,,, and,,,, and,,,,, and………..

He then asks if the technology were available now to implant your smartphone in to your arm who would have it done. About 10% of the audience say they would. And next year he says, it will be 25%.

One fact, in this very fast moving social media facts video from Erik Qualman, is that 53% of millennials would rather lose their sense of smell than their technology.

[youtube id=”jottDMuLesU”]

 

So you might be surprised to hear that the two words my teenagers WILL NEVER utter this week, even though they do not have their technology or any wifi access are

Read More »Are You Ready for the NO Technology Challenge?

Will The Easter Bunny Really Make You Happy?

easter-695096_640

I  always wonder, as my kids get older, whether Easter and the fun of an egg hunt will lose its charm. Based on a slightly alternative version that my two got involved in on Good Friday, it would appear not. My girlfriend’s family and another family have an annual golf ball hunt,. Their Grandfather started the tradition and they still use the original golf balls !

It’s a highly competitive event, the adults joining in too. Each ball is worth certain points, with some coloured golf balls being worth more. Once all of them are collected, the points are tallied and prizes handed out or chosen. It was a lot of fun.

My kids were motivated to get involved and they rushed around…….Read More »Will The Easter Bunny Really Make You Happy?

The #1 Mistake (Nearly) Everyone Makes on LinkedIn and What to do About It.

If someone is going to search for your name on Google are they going to type in First Name, Last Name and a series of random letters and numbers?  Of course not! Then why do you continue to label your professional profile on LinkedIn this way? What most people do not realize is that you can custom the web address where your LinkedIn profile is placed, it is like your… Read More »The #1 Mistake (Nearly) Everyone Makes on LinkedIn and What to do About It.

5 Personal Brand Lessons You Can Learn From Halloween That Are Not Scary

Halloween never used to be a big celebration for me growing up in the UK. In fact it was never even on our radar as kids. The big fall event for us was always Guy Fawkes Day on November 5th. This is a typically British, slightly twisted, celebration of attempts to blow up the government and execute the conspirators and involves large fires, burning human effigies and setting off equally… Read More »5 Personal Brand Lessons You Can Learn From Halloween That Are Not Scary

5 Vine Secrets You Wish You Knew One Year Ago

  Communication of your online brand is becoming more and more critical. It is the message replacement for the letter, advertisement, even resume. Whether you end up working on it on a daily basis or not, it is critical that you take control of that message. I recently had the opportunity to attend the annual Tweetstock.ca Conference, which was being held for the first time in Hamilton. I had never attended… Read More »5 Vine Secrets You Wish You Knew One Year Ago

Are you offering the unexpected?

It has often been said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  For me, growing up, my Dad always ensured we walked out of the door to school with full stomachs after a 3 course breakfast! It is certainly one of the meals I always like preparing for company, or when the kids have friends for sleepovers. On occasion we will have breakfast out. And I do… Read More »Are you offering the unexpected?

Is Your Personal Brand More Credible Than Dr Oz?

When it comes to health and alternative solutions, one of the most prominent people in this area is Dr Oz. Followed and watched by millions he has built a personal brand that is envied and copied by many. With a large number of people he has a credible and obviously very visible brand. However many people also question his ethics around some of the products and remedies he recommends, particularly where they… Read More »Is Your Personal Brand More Credible Than Dr Oz?

Food Brand Alphabet Quiz

The majority of quizzes and surveys on social media I ignore or even go to the trouble of blocking or deleting. But once in a while one comes along that appeal to my brand mind. This one seeing if you can identify the food packaging from just one letter was fun. I only scored 14/26. Do you think you can do better? Post your score in the comments below! Here is… Read More »Food Brand Alphabet Quiz