Villalobos says personal branding makes, “you… top of mind” and generate referrals and business. She points out that this is especially important where there’s a lot of competition and your work is based on referrals.

“If people are talking about you,” she explains, “that creates a premium for your services.” But in any industry where price-cutting and competition have resulted in what she says is “almost a commoditization of the industry” personal branding can help you stand out.

She says that’s particularly important for meeting planers, where many people are in the industry as side-business, and cut rates.

But how do you go about personal branding?

Villalobos, has just authored a chapter in Dr. Ivan Misner’s book, “Building the Ultimate Network,” that covers that issue in nine steps and shared three of those steps with Mulligan.

The fist step she says is to own your name online. Part of that, she explains, is if it is possible, you should own your name as an online internet address. For example Villalobos owns, “MichelleVillalobos.com.” But there’s more to it. She advises her clients to fill out as many online profiles as you can, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter, Google Plus and Google Profiles. The reason for this, she explains, is that prospective employers are likely going to search your name using Google and that, ideally, you want the entire first page of results to be about you and, “make sure it’s saying about you what’s going to be strategic to get more business.”

The second is to gather testimonials. Villalobos says places like Linkedin are perfect for gathering such testimonials. She cautions, however, to not settle for one or two, because that may appear as though you solicited a couple of your best friends. Instead, she suggests you strive for at least 16. She calls 16 a “magic number (that)…completely establishes your credibility.”

Finally she says to deliver valuable content to your network of sites. However, she warns you need to think of your audience, and, “who’s hiring me?” For example, for event planners, she says they need to think about the corporation-level people who are responsible for hiring event planners.

And what’s the point for doing all of this?

Villalobos says once people are talking about you, “you can get a lot of business and all of a sudden your price points can go up.”

Villalobos is one of a select cadre of professional speakers and trainers who are represented by Mulligan Speakers International.

“The ones that didn’t use notes were the ones that were the most effective,” explains Vankooten in this edition of MSI showcase. He pointed out that those who use notes, “…came across as very rote.”

He cautions those who have to go before audiences to stay away from what he calls, “your cheat sheets,” because you risk losing contact with your audience.

And what about the moment with actress Angelina Jolie struck her now infamous pose on stage? Jeff says it reminded him of the, “I’m a little tea pot short and stout,” song. The take away message from that, says Vankooten is that, “stance matters.”

Jeff is one of a select cadre of speakers and trainers at Mulligan Speakers International.

In this Speakers Showcase, Blakeman tells MSI’s Diane Mulligan that when he goes before an audience he hopes to offer something that the audience “can go out with that’s very practical.”

Blakeman hopes that meetings planners are looking for people who both train and motivate because while, “motivational speaking is helpful…it’s also got to be practical.” He suggests that planners not simply settle for people who or are educational or informative, but “people who are transformative.”

Blakeman also tells Mulligan about one of the transformative concepts he’s speaking and writing about, the idea of how technology is reversing some industrial-era aspects of life, including the separation of work and play.

He explains that industrial-era employers only want one portion of a person to report to work and the “messy part” should stay home. With changes in communication technology, Blakeman says, that concept is reversing itself, returning to the way things were before the industrial revolution.

Blakeman is one of a select cadre of speakers and trainers who are represented by Mulligan Speakers International. To learn more about Blakeman and the other MSI speakers, visit mulliganspeakers.com.

Harding and Laviolette created the successful Boston comedy club, “Improv Asylum,” and discovered that what they do hundreds of times a year on stage is applicable to other professions that need to generate new ideas.  As keynote speakers and business trainers they travel the country teaching people their techniques.

“We’re not teaching comedy,” emphasizes Laviolette, “we’re teaching improvisation,” that becomes a business skill.

“We’re innovating all the time,” says Laviolette. Adds Harding, “How we’re listening and building on each other then and there in the moment is very applicable to how teams or individuals do or don’t do that well.”

YES AND

One concept they teach is one of the fundamentals of improvisational comedy; the idea of, “Yes, and.” Harding explains that, “Whenever we’re on stage with somebody, when somebody puts their idea out there, we say yes to it and then we put our part on to it to build it to something bigger.”

Adds Laviolette, “We’re not just saying yes, but on the flip side we’re not saying ‘no’ or ‘Here’s the thing that I want to do.’  We very quickly create something that is very innovative.”

LISTENING

But both agree that a key skill for innovation from the comedy stage to the boardroom is listening.  Explains Laviolette, “It’s the idea that when we listen and work off each other we can quickly build that idea that neither one of us had when we started that might just be bigger and better than either of us would have come up with on our own.”

He cautions that, “if there’s no personal connection from the speaker to the audience people are going to get bored,” but that good speakers can make that connection. He points out that this speaking skill goes back to ancient times where stories were passed by word of mouth and that this was successful because they told, “stories that mattered to the audience (and) engaged people.”
He says he’s noticed that with speakers who don’t try to make connections with their audience, “Lots of times the speaker is just doing an information dump.”
To those who worry that content should be the concern, not the presentation, Singer answers, “It’s not too much to ask for both.”
Singer also says that when he speaks these days he encourages the audience to bring out their cell phones.
Since technology allows phones to do so much more, and with the rise of social networks like Twitter and Facebook he’s found that, “Very often people were actually tweeting what the speaker was saying from the stage.”
Singer is just one of the speakers at Mulligan Speakers International who can provide both motivation and action points for your organization’s next meeting.

Taking the lessons he learned as a member and then team captain for a team was so unusual, it was profiled in the movie, “Cool Running’s” – the Jamaican Bobsled Teams of the 1980’s and 90’s, Harris now brings his “Keep on Pushing” message to businesses, meetings and events worldwide.

Not only is his message important to audiences, Harris’ message is even important to the planners who organize the events where he appears. His first tip for them concerns the idea of purpose. He explains that, “When a meeting planner asks me to be part of a meeting the first question I’m asking is ‘what is the meeting about, what are you working to achieve?’” He adds, “This has to be established. It’s almost like the ground rules, because that’s how you define success.”

Another tip for meeting planners include challenging them to, “Get better working collaboratively” both with what he calls, “internal teammates,” in the office and, “external teammates” outside the office such as vendors and other suppliers.

His final tip is for planers to, “Get out of their comfort zone (and) be willing to embrace new ideas.” He says growth is one thing that, “Makes you recession-proof.”

Great ideas for personal growth and a perfect topic of discussion for meeting planners from the man who helped put Jamaica on the map in the arctic sport of bobsledding.

In this interview with Diane Mulligan, Booker points out that because of the extreme climate, “there’s not a lot of time to stand around with your hands in your pockets.”
As a speaker Booker brings to businesses not only the inspirational story of how she challenges her MS through immense physical challenges, but also how building a good team though good communication, clear goals and mutual respect can lead to great achievements whether the goal is, “to climb Mt. Everest,” or “have a successful sales team.”

In this conversation with Mulligan Speakers International’s Diane Mulligan, James warns meeting planners to not settle for speakers who offer only the, “feel-good, fluffy funny stuff.”

James, who is a professional speaker in the area of productivity, says there are three things meeting planners should look for in a speaker.

First, she says, is that, “A true thought leader is published,” which shows they’ve done the research and have thought deeply about the topic.  Second is client testimonials.  James explains that, “I’m a real fan of seeing what the clients are saying about the speaker.”  And third says Neen, meeting planners should ask, “What are the results…that the audience has enjoyed as a result of working with that speaker.”

However, he points out that because business is changing so rapidly—what he calls, “an historic exclamation mark,” we have to start, “embracing uncertainty… letting go of what is going away…in order to move ahead in fresh new ways.

Vankooten, who is represented by Mulligan Speakers International as a keynote and motivational speaker at meetings nationwide, says he has three areas of focus to help people, especially business people be resilient as changes happen.  They are:

“They need to reshape new perceptions” and give challenges a fresh new look

“Invite new resources into their lives”

“Embrace new directions”

Vankooten says, “This is the time for bold actions” and therefore successful business people need to have the boldness to move ahead.

Speaking with MSI’s Diane Mulligan, James says this approach is especially important for the meeting planners she works with so that they can create the best meetings possible with the time that is available.