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If I could do anything in the world for no pay, I would probably choose brainstorming. Yes, I love brainstorming. And I am always on the lookout for ways to make brainstorming more effective.

As more and more of us are considering or doing brainstorming over the phone, instead of in person, I wanted to share some great telephone brainstorming tips from www.effectivemeetings.com.

This is what the participants on today’s Speed Brainstorming call will use as a guideline for the session.

1. Send all attendees tips on effective listening and communicating skills, including “ask questions,” “don’t interrupt” and “don’t change the subject.”
 
2. Send all attendees a list of participants so they may address one another by name.
 
3. Before the session starts have attendees agree to recognize a sound you make – such as a whistle or knock on a table – as the sign to stop talking and allow you to take over.
 
4. Assign a scribe to record ideas and decisions. After the session send the notes to all attendees.
 
5. Make sure attendees from all locations are involved in the discussion.
 
6. Have all attendees choose a quiet location from which to participate. They shouldn’t meet from their desks unless they have a private office and won’t be disturbed.
 
7. Don’t allow anyone to speak for too long. Attendees will stop paying attention to rambling speakers, especially in a teleconference.
 
8. Attendees won’t see the scribe’s notes, so remind them throughout the session’s focus.
 
9. Take a few minutes halfway through the session to have the scribe read aloud the ideas and decisions recorded to that point. Attendees can then let you know if they agree with the decisions or if something’s been missed.
 

What is the value of a good idea?

For those of you who have attended any of my workshops or had consultations with me, you know I think fast, and love to help others with their challenges. Since this will be a group session that I will host and others can participate in, the price is really low. No challenge is too big or small. Participation is limited, to make sure that everyone gets a chance to be helped.

The date is Wednesday, April 15, 2009, at 2 p.m.

It’s $49, or free for WBO American Dream members. WBO members can sign up in the WBO American Dream community, or find out about the program at www.wboamericandream.com.  Non-members can sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/c6d26q.

While many of us (myself included) might be intimidated by the thought of using video, I can tell you from first-hand experience that it is easy.

The key is to use easy equipment (Flip Video, in my case), and to have specific uses for your business video.

My guest this month is Donna Maria Coles Johnson, who is not only a good friend and great businesswoman, but an expert in using video in business. She also recently launched an online shopping network that uses video.

Still not convinced that video is right for your business? Did you know that using video can dramatically improve your conversion rate? Take a look at these statistics:

• Of the people viewing your product or service, over half will take action, and 12% will buy (vs. ½-2% normally)
• 65% of online surfers will view a video to completion; 68% who watch online videos will pass links on to friends
• More than 65% of those watching are between 35-64; 67% have middle to high incomes

In this fast-paced, 90-minute call, we will be joined by our featured guest, Donna Maria Coles Johnson, of the Indie Beauty Network.

You will learn how to:

• Use a Webcam and/or Flip Video to take your own video
• How to use your existing software to add a few key items to your video
• Ways you can find inexpensive video production houses
• Examples of businesses using video on YouTube, and how you can, too
• Examples of businesses using video on Web sites, and how you can, too
• Examples of businesses using video on Facebook and other social networking sites
• And much more!

How Do I Sign Up?

The teleseminar is free for members of the WBO American Dream program, and $49 if purchased separately.

Seats are limited, so please sign up now. We will close the sign-ups when the seats are filled.

To sign up for the teleseminar only, please visit http://zfpr.com/public_relations_products.htm.

To learn more about the WBO American Dream program, please visit www.wboamericandream.com.

Facebook is the #1 social networking site in terms of users, surpassing MySpace in April, 2008. As of November, 2008, there are more than 200 million Facebook users, more than 50% of whom are past college.

Originally set up as a consumer social networking site, Facebook is being used increasingly by people to grow their businesses.

In this fast-paced, 60-minute call, we will be joined by our featured guest, Aliza Sherman, of Conversify.

You will learn how to:

• Set up an effective personal Facebook account/profile and business page

• Use Facebook to drive traffic to your Website

• Connect with people you would normally not be able to have access to

• Strategically participate on Facebook to drive business

• Decide who to invite and accept as Friends

• Manage the amount of time you spend on Facebook

• And much more!

How Do I Sign Up?

The teleseminar is free for members of the WBO American Dream program, and $49 if purchased separately.

By signing up, you can listen in live and ask questions. If you can’t make the date, you can still sign up and you’ll receive the audio that you can download or listen to from our Web site.

The date of the live teleseminar is February 17, 2009, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Seats are limited, so please sign up now. We will close the sign-ups when the seats are filled.

To sign up for the teleseminar only, please visit http://zfpr.com/public_relations_products.htm.

To learn more about the WBO American Dream program, please visit http://www.wboamericandream.com/.

Refunds are available until February 15, 2009.

Linda Lopeke, member of the WBO American Dream program, has made a very generous offer.  Thanks, Linda! If you are one of the first 100 members to join the WBO American Dream program, your membership will include enrollment in the award-winning SMARTSTART Business Success mentoring program at no additional charge! (The annual fee for a seat in this business program is $1,188.) And, as long as you stay continuously enrolled in SMARTSTART, that will be your fee for life… $0. To learn more, visit www.wboamericandream.com.

Lately I have posted several queries for sources and information on Help a Reporter Out (HARO) – www.helpareporter.com – for articles I’m writing for WBO Digest (www.wboamericandream.com).   So, I’ve been on the reporter side of the fence, instead of the P.R. side.

I got many responses, some great, some not so great. I thought providing you with reasons why I didn’t use certain sources might be helpful to you in understanding why your media pitches (to any media outlet) might not be used – and, of course, how to make them better:

1. No Information – You told me you had “great information” to share, and to contact you.  I don’t have time for that, and instead used sources who provided that information to me.

2. Partial Information – You give me part of a great story, and say you’ll provide more if I contact you. I don’t have time for that either.

3. Contact Information – You didn’t provide me with all of your contact information, including full name, city, state/country, business name, phone number.  I didn’t have time to go digging around for it.

4. Attachments – You sent me your response in an attachment, which clogs up my Inbox or gets sent to my spam folder.  You needed to cut and paste your response and include it in your email. 

5. Geography – I had too many sources from your city, state, country, and I wanted more geographic diversity.

6. Presentation – You sent me tons of great info, but it’s not sent in a way I can quickly read. Here are some of the best ways to send the information:

•  Q&A – Include my questions and your answers 

•   Provide answers with bullet points or numbers

•  Offer more details at the bottom, in case I want the “long version”  

7. Deadline – You sent in your information after the deadline, and I already got 50 responses, so I don’t have time to look at yours.

8. Typos – You sent me a response with many spelling errors.  One spelling error I can usually overlook; several start to bother me. And I’m probably more lenient than most reporters out there.

9. Selling – You give me information on your business, but don’t answer my question, hoping that I’ll just write a profile on you.  Not happening – just irritating!

10. Uniqueness – You gave me information, but it wasn’t interesting, unique or different enough for me to include.

 If getting great P.R. is your goal, spend some time making sure your pitches work.  You’ll have more success getting placements and growing your business!

This is a great example of an email with a Subject Line that made me want to read it, and information that was useful.

Here it is, from Bob Bly

Subject Line:  The Awful Truth About Information Marketing

You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.bly.com or because you are one of Bob’s clients, prospcts, seminar attendees, or book buyers. If you would prefer not to receive further e-mails of this type, go to the bottom of this message and click on “SafeUnsubscribe”.You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.

I got to watch my daughter’s kindergarten parade at school this morning.  The joys of a flexible schedule!

A picture of Zoe and one of her potential future husbands is here.

Zoe and Tyler 

My friends at the Gab Group are working on this. Check it out:

THE PRODUCERS OF STYLE NETWORK’S #1 HIT SHOWS SPLIT ENDS & PETER PERFECT are looking to create a reality show following the lives of  BOCA RATON/PALM BEACH COUNTY SOCIALITES Think The Hills meets Real Housewives meets Laguna Beach only 10x better!

IF YOU ANSWER YES TO ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS, WE WANT YOU:

-Do you live a FABULOUS BOCA LIFESTYLE?
-Are you and your friends the ‘It’ Girls or Guys of Boca?
- Do you live an unbelievable lifestyle, an exclusive lifestyle others can only dream of?
- Is your life more interesting than The Hills or Real Housewives?
- Do you hold the people you date to extremely high standards? Will you only date a guy if you can wear your designer heels?
- Are you a philanthropist?
- Is shopping for designer clothes for the evening event your day job? Or does someone shop for you?
- Have you always thought there should be a reality show about you and your friends?
***We are also seeking a mother-daughter socialite duo***

This will be a reality show all about you!

Email The Gab Group today at events@thegabgroup.com with the following:

Your first and last name
Age
Your Photo
Telephone Number
Reason you should be considered for this show

Deadline: Immediate. Show producers are looking to film as soon as possible!

In the November, 2008 issue of Inc. Magazine, Leslie Richard, owner of The Oko Box, discusses how a negative blog entry resulted in a $20 million lawsuit against her company. 

To summarize, Richard posted an entry at her blog warning other business owners about a “new scam.”  The company she mentioned said that it had lost $5 million in business due to her negative comments, and filed a $20 million lawsuit against her.

A few blogging experts contributed to the article, including Seth Godin.  Here is one of Seth’s quotes from the Inc. Magazine article:

“My sense is that she could have written her warning post in a more careful way.  I want to push CEOs to be authentic on their blogs and to be selfless in trying to help readers.  But they also have to understand that their words will be out there and widely seen.  So they owe it to their stakeholders to act responsibly.”

It got me thinking…

We write lots of stuff on blogs, in e-mails, on Twitter, etc., that could be considered controversial.  Often we write it because that’s the kind of stuff we like to read.

But in today’s litigious world, maybe we need to step back and think about this.

A while back I noticed something on Seth Godin’s signature line in his e-mails.  It said “This note is off the record (blogs, too) unless we agree otherwise.”

When I asked him about why he had that line in his e-mail signature line, he e-mailed this reply:  “I do it so I can have ‘human’ conversations instead of press conversations.” And yes, I got his permission to write about his response.

It was a great answer, but it’s also a great way to cover yourself if you have lots of casual e-mail conversations. 

What are your thoughts about posting negative thoughts about people and companies?