Daily Digital Detox
For those of you who know me, you know I love social media. I’m fascinated by the fact that we have all these nifty tools right at our fingertips which allow us to communicate with anyone in the world. We are more connected to each other than we ever have been before.
At the same time, the digital devices we use to access these social networks serve as a distraction when we need to communicate offline. We struggle to engage in quality, in-person conversations because we are so worried about what is happening online.
So as much as I love being connected through social media, I want to challenge you to a Daily Digital Detox. You may have read articles where some folks do a digital detox by going off Facebook for a month or staying off of social sites while they are on vacation. When I speak of a digital detox, I want to take it one step further. Let’s turn off our digital devices and put them away.
I have thought about how WE can do this on a daily basis – and I plan on taking this challenge with you because goodness knows I am always connected to my laptop. Watch this video to hear the four ways we can meet the challenge of a Daily Digitial Detox.
Let’s re-cap those four great tips so you can meet your Daily Digital Detox challenge!
1. Get a traditional alarm clock.
If you use your cellphone for your alarm (like I do), you have a huge temptation to check your e-mail, facebook, twitter and more, as soon as you turn your alarm off (like I do). This is no way to wake up! In your state of grogginess, you do not want to reply to that e-mail from your boss. If you use an alarm clock that is not your phone or your tablet, you can get out of bed, get ready and wake up to your day before you get plugged in.
2. No digital devices at meetings or meal times.
If you have your cell phone on the table during meetings and meal times, you are not fully present in that moment. Unless you are working on website design with your team or building the next great app, do not even bring your digital devices into that next team meeting. You will be a more conscious contributor and you can enjoy more productive meetings. When you are with your friends, your family or your client, make sure your phone is turned off and put away. Be fully present in that moment and in the conversation. You will find that you engage in higher quality conversations and enrich your relationships because your focus is on the people in front of you, not on the notification rings and dings of your phone.
3. Enjoy the experience, live in the moment.
The next time you are at a concert, enjoying a sporting event or at the park with your kids, put the phone away. Sure, take a few snapshots, record that one favorite song the band plays, but aside from that, put the phone away and soak it all in. If you record every moment of your life through the screen of your cell phone, that’s all you are experiencing. You are missing the bigger picture and the opportunity for a more memorable event. When you live in the moment, you are creating a richer memory. When you speak about the event at a later date, you will remember more of it, because you actually lived it – all of it.
4. Establish a digital curfew.
If you tend to go to bed at the same time every night, this will be a bit easier for you. What I’d like you to do is shut down your computer, your iPad and cell phone one hour before you go to bed. Give yourself some time to unwind and relax before you go to sleep so that you can feel more rested and rejuvenated in the morning. If you are on your computer two minutes before you plop your head on the pillow, you are likely one of those people who are dreaming about work and wake up completely stressed out. Give your body the opportunity to digitally detox and calm down before you drift off into dreamland. You are making for a better night’s sleep.
Now it’s time to challenge you!
While I don’t anticipate that you will incorporate all four of these tips at once, I challenge you to adopt one of them right now. Give yourself the next three days to incorporate your Daily Digital Detox and be sure to let me know how you do. I’m curious how it makes you feel and how it enhances your conversations and your life.
It is simply amazing and wonderful to be digitally connected to the world, but it is so important that we do not forget how to communicate with those who are sitting right in front of us. The human connection is far richer than a text message or a tweet. We crave interaction with people, so let’s unplug those digital devices and enjoy each other more.
Thanks for sharing this article with your friends who can take the daily digital detox challenge with you! If you want your weekly serving of positivity and purpose, as well as helpful tips for strategic communication, branding and social media, please make sure you subscribe to Beaming Bohemian news. It lands in your inbox every Friday!
Four Tips for Better Networking
After attending a few business functions in the past couple of months, I see that few people are taking the opportunity to grow their contact base and network. I’ve even attended networking mixers where people did not bring their business cards or didn’t reciprocate when I handed them mine. Awkward! So with these experiences and the start to 2014, I thought I would share my four tips for better networking.
To expand on the points I mentioned in the video…
1. Always have a business card on you!
You never know who you will meet and where you might meet them. Tuck business cards into your purse, briefcase, wallet, car, gym bag and other things you carry so that if you happen to meet the one person who can help you get ahead in this world, you are not scribbling your information on a napkin. Or worse, you don’t exchange information at all.
STUDENTS: Set yourself and your personal brand apart by having contact cards made. Include your name, field of interest, and one or two ways to get in contact with you, including a social network, like Twitter. If you are a student-athlete, mention the sport you play or use graphics on the card to express this point. Vista Print is an affordable option. I like the designs available at MOO.com.
2. Be approachable and responsive at events.
If you are attending a business function or networking mixer, even a cocktail party, it’s time to be open to meeting new people. If you stand in the corner with your nose to your phone or speak only with your friends, you are missing out on the opportunity to expand and grow your network. What’s the point of attending a function in the first place? On that note, if someone is brave enough to walk up to you and introduce themselves, by all means, be friendly and welcoming, engage in conversation and exchange business cards. If you are the host of what you call a “networking mixer” it is your job to introduce guests to each other and help people work the room.
3. Listen up!
Your secret ingredient to being a top-notch networker is your listening skills. Develop the ability to listen to the person you’ve met and figure out what or who you have in common. Do you know someone who works at their company? Do you share the same love of the outdoors and hiking? Maybe they have a family and their kids go to the same school as yours. Maybe you are both UCSB Gauchos! Learning about your new contact will help you develop a better relationship with them and connect them to others in your network. The art of networking rests within the ability to make connections. If you approach people with the idea that you want to see what you can get out of them, you are not networking. If you recognize that your role is to connect people you know, you will be a very successful networker. The more you connect other people to each other, the more they will connect others to you. What you give, you will receive.
4. Connect online and follow up.
Once you’ve collected those cards, go home and jot down some notes. This will help you keep your memory in tact! What event did you meet at? What do you have in common? Was there a funny story you enjoyed? If you know who you want to connect them to, write their name down too. Figure out what social channel your new contact is on and connect. Follow up by introducing them to another person in your network and scheduling that coffee meeting you spoke about. Periodically going through your business cards will jog your memory of the people you know and set you up for success when you are out and about or at business-specific functions. Those notes you wrote on the cards will help you follow-up and nurture your relations.
STUDENTS: Your contact base may not be as large as a seasoned professional, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot play by these rules. At the next young executives gathering or a networking function, challenge yourself to meet five new people or ten new people, whatever you find reasonable for the event. Apply these tips and watch how fast your network grows.
And that’s four! Pretty easy to adopt and very effective tips for better networking. Remember, networking is not about you. It’s about helping connect the people you already know. This lands you a reputation as a good networker and that person who “knows everyone.” To grow in your career or expand your business, networking is an essential skill.
Now it’s time to challenge you. Take these four tips with you to your next business or networking function and let me know in the comments below how well it worked for you. Have a tip of your own? Leave a comment below and share with us! Besides, you never know who you might meet in the comment section. Think of it as digital networking.
Thanks for watching the video. If you want your weekly serving of positivity and purpose, as well as helpful tips for strategic communication, branding and social media, please make sure you subscribe to Beaming Bohemian news. It lands in your inbox every Friday!
Using Golf to Up Your Business Game
Last night, I had the pleasure of attending WISE San Diego’s* first event of 2014 – WISE WORDS: GOLF. We were privileged to have as special guests, pro golfer Charlotte Mayorkas, Melissa Ziegler from Taylormade-Addidas and Julie Chang of YDetour. And because one of our board members works for the Farmer’s Insurance Open, we were able to host the event at the Torrey Pines Golf Course. Gorgeous!
One of the points made in the session which really stuck with me is this: Women do not take the opportunity to use golf in the same way that men do because we get hung up on what we are wearing and how good (or bad) our game is comparably.
We miss out on major business deals. We pass up the chance to enrich our relationships. We get left out of subsequent meetings and projects because we simply weren’t present at the start of the conversation.
The fact remains that men sometimes forget their proper golf clothes and often are not the most skilled at the game. But they take the opportunity anyway. You will not hear a man go on about not wearing the right pants or how embarrassed he is that his swing is not up to par. Women care more about these details than men do.
So ladies, let’s get in the game. Whether it be on the golf course or in other opportunities which present themselves, let’s make the most of the situation and enjoy the experience. Let’s worry a little less about ourselves and more about what the moment is presenting to us. Is it a chance for a promotion? A new career path? A new client? A richer relationship? A big business deal? We will never know unless we get in the game!
*WISE is a national organization for Women in Sports and Events. The San Diego chapter has just completed their first year as an organized group and has an awesome calendar of events in the works for 2014. If you are a woman working in the sports industry, I encourage you to visit wiseworks.org to learn more about a chapter in your area. If you are in San Diego visit http://wisesandiego.com or if you would like one of our board members to contact you, please e-mail [email protected].
Leveraging LinkedIn – Graduates
If you are a senior in college, and you have yet to set-up a LinkedIn profile, now is the time to do so! There are so many features LinkedIn has built in, specifically for recent grads (or about to be grads in your case). You can take advantage of sections like Test Scores, Honors & Awards, even a Courses section so that you can share your areas of expertise, without feeling the pressure to have a lengthy “Experience” section.
A few things you want to pay attention to in LinkedIn:
1. Your headline (what appears under your name), the summary section and your work experience are all key-word rich and searchable. Pay attention to key words used in your industry and pepper these sections with the right words so your profile is discoverable. Fill these sections out, add your Skills & Expertise and other sections (like Projects) to “beef up” your profile.
2. Start connecting with your professors or university staff you know well. Think about who you know who is working in the industry you want to go into, even if it is your parents’ friends or colleagues. Connect with any professionals you met during internships or summer jobs. Start building your contact base.
3. If you’ve completed internships or held relatable summer jobs, connect with and get recommendations from your supervisors, as well as others who worked directly with you. If you worked at the ice-cream stand for two summers, don’t bother getting recommended by the owner, unless you have a desire to work for Ben & Jerry’s. If your career path is in marketing, and you helped boost sales for the ice cream stand, then go ahead and ask for the recommendation. That’s what I mean by relatable.
4. Join groups focused on the field you are interested in and jump into the discussions. Comment professionally and on the topics where you actually have knowledge or experience. You don’t need to participate in ever discussion in your groups. Filter out the discussions that aren’t related to your career or won’t move you forward.
5. Keep an eye on the companies you are interested in working for, as often times they post jobs to LinkedIn before other sources. If you start applying for jobs prior to graduation, you are likely to graduate with a job, versus being at the start of your search.
6. Make sure you are behaving yourself on other social sites! If a recruiter or hiring manager finds you on LinkedIn, they will likely check out your other accounts. Every post, photo, tweet and video should work to make you look good! Don’t let one tweet ruin your chances of getting your dream job. You are what you tweet!
7. While you are on other channels, be sure to share the link to your LinkedIn account so that you increase your visibility. Good way to invite others to connect with you, too. Don’t be embarrassed to promote yourself. Do you want to get an interview with that company? Do you want the job? Humble self-promotion will also help you stand-out from your peers, as there are few who will take this advice to heart. I hope you are one of them.
While I originally posted this (below the next photo) in April 2013, I wanted to update this post now – it’s good timing for YOU! While there have been only a few changes to LinkedIn since then, I hope to see a major shift in the number of seniors who raise their hands in my seminars who say they HAVE a LinkedIn profile. Those will be the students and student-atheltes I know who are on the road to success.
If you are a college student and have a LinkedIn account, please share with us in the comments how this has helped you. Who have you connected with that helped pave your career path? How have you made LinkedIn work for you?
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In the last few weeks, I spoke with a handful of undergraduate student groups. I nearly fell flat on the floor when I learned that most of the students do not have a LinkedIn account. (Many of them have neglected Twitter, too.) One class I spoke with were all seniors and business majors, to boot. They are graduating, and they are job hunting! Thank goodness I could give them a bit of a nudge with advice to nurture their personal brand and tips to take advantage of social media, where a good 92% of companies are looking to find talent.
LinkedIn’s newest features, like the Skills & Expertise, Honors & Awards, Organizations, Test Scores and Projects sections were created specifically for college graduates. While the soon-to-be grad’s Experience section may be a bit slim, these other areas can paint the student in a positive light and help tell the story of the past four years.
For those of us who do have a healthy amount of work experience under our belt, these sections can also be used to highlight career achievements and extracurricular activities that show we have a healthy work-life balance. The information provided in these sections can also perk the interest of hiring managers if they see that you share the same core values are a good fit with the brand culture.
If you are the parent of a college student, or know a friend or family member who is graduating, please – Please! – encourage and help them get set-up on LinkedIn. This is a must in the digital age. You are helping your student get found and giving the gift of employment, come graduation. If you need help, of course, I am available to consult with you privately. Contact me at 619.244.2400 or [email protected]
Avoid a Michael Bay Meltdown
It’s been all over the news this week that Michael Bay had an epic meltdown on stage for Samsung at CES after the teleprompter malfunctioned and he simply froze. As a professional speaker, I empathize with him. I think we’ve all had a moment where our brain short circuits and we totally forget where and who we are! After looking at the video (and cringing throughout), I wanted to give you a few speaking tips so that you do not experience a Michael Bay moment. While I do believe that my participation in youth theater rid me of stage fright, I understand that giving a professional presentation is a whole heartedly different experience than dressing in costume and performing in a play (that’s my subtle hint that some theater classes may also help). Nonetheless, here is my advice:
Prepare, prepare, prepare.
You cannot prepare enough for a formal speech. You have to thoroughly familiarize yourself with the material, know what you will say when each slide appears and memorize key phrases which are your impact points. Preparing for your speech also means rehearsing several times before you do it live. This makes for a more natural performance, because you are comfortable with the material.
I actually go through my whole presentation without the computer, so that I can visualize the slides I am speaking on. This will help you rely less on the screen and more on your words, so that you are speaking WITH the audience, not merely describing whatever information you’ve put in your slides. It is clear to me that Michael bay did not really prepare for his presentation. His plan was to rely on the teleprompter. So when that went on the fritz, he was lost. He even said, “I’ll try to wing it.” But clearly he didn’t prepare enough to be able to do so.
Anticipate the worst.
In my preparation, I include pauses where I anticipate a question from the audience. I think about what questions the audience might have and prepare my answers. I think about what questions I might pose to them to keep the conversation going. You also have to anticipate computer malfunction, disruptions from the audience (cellphones going off), power outages, etc. The more interruptions you can anticipate, the more you will be prepared. Clearly, Michael Bay didn’t anticipate technical difficulties. Had he anticipated this and prepared his speech for it, he wouldn’t have walked off the stage.
Practice spontaneity.
This sounds a little strange, but you can actually do this. As part of your preparation, you should visualize yourself in the room, on the stage with double the audience you anticipate will be there. In your visualization, throw yourself some curveballs and practice your reaction. Imagine a heckler. Imagine your sound cuts out. Imagine the teleprompter shuts off just seconds into your speech. While this is a bit like anticipation, practicing spontaneity is practicing your reaction. If you practice spontaneity, you will not have the deer-in-the-headlights moment that Michael Bay did.
My own Michael Bay moment.
In a presentation I made for PCMA in 2012, I was asked to put the powerpoint on a clip so they could use their computer, already hooked up and ready to go. I prefer using my Mac, but I wanted to be cooperative and provided the USB clip. Sure enough, about half way through my presentation, their computer crashed. I had a good laugh with the audience when I said, “Great! That’s my cue for the entertainment portion of the program.” I then did a mock tap dance while I sang, “Let Me Entertain You.” I then explained that my Mac would never leave me high and dry in a presentation (more humor and a chuckle from the audience) and that I needed help (being honest, humble and human). Two of the audience members came to my rescue and while they were getting the powerpoint back up, I was able to stay on point and continue to deliver my content. And the audience stayed with me. Was I embarrassed? Of course! My cheeks felt hot and I felt tremendous pressure to recover. But I had prepared well for my presentation, I anticipated glitches, and I practiced spontaneity. Many remarked that they were impressed with how I handled the situation because they expected a Michael Bay meltdown and instead got a Shanna Bright show. 😉 I wowed them.
I absolutely get that speaking in front of large audiences is a frightening experience. But preparation, anticipation and spontaneity are your tools for delivering a successful speech and one that engages and involves your audience. You are not a professor who is giving a lecture, you are a professional who is speaking WITH your audience. Rehearsing your conversation will help you navigate the talking points and deliver a more personal presentation. With that, you can completely avoid the on-stage nightmare that Michael Bay lived out in front of all of us.
Here is the video on the off-chance you have not yet seen it:
How to Have a Great Day
I was just reading some business and social media news as well as a few motivational articles. I came across this one in Inc. Magazine called “7 Ways to Start a Great Day.” I remembered that I created a great graphic with my daily mantra. The first line? “Today is going to be a great day.” It’s all about attitude, right? If you believe it’s going to be a great day, it will be. The article had some other great tips to wake up on the positive side of the bed, so I encourage you to click and soak it up. Here’s my daily mantra in all it’s glory. It definitely pushes me toward greatness. I hope it works for your too!
Happy 2014!
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and rang in the New Year in style. I certainly enjoyed the holidays with my family but also used this downtime for a healthy strategy session. I have lots in store for you for 2014!
For those of you who know me, you know that I do not make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I like to develop a personal theme each year. Last year’s theme was, “Knuckles down, chin up, GAME ON!” This year’s theme is a little bit different, and I’ll tell you why. I noticed that most of my previous themes have been something I’m striving for. But this year, I wanted to develop a theme that is a statement I’m going to live. So the 2014 personal theme of Shanna Bright is (drum roll please) … I am abundant in health, wealth, joy and sparkle!
Of course, health and wealth have deeper meanings. For example health is not only a healthy lifestyle but also a healthy attitude, healthy relationships, healthy business etc. And wealth refers not only to good fortune but a wealth of gratitude, a wealth of experience, wealth of knowledge, etc.
The word “joy” is pretty self explanatory. Joy is a wonderfully descriptive word and and awesome emotion to live in. The word, “sparkle” was chosen after I had a conversation with one of my good friends. He said to me, “Shanna, you know, you are the only person who understands what I mean when I say, ‘I want my soul to sparkle’.” I really loved that idea and so I wanted to make sure to put the word sparkle into my personal theme for 2014. Plus, with the last name of Bright, I always feel a bit of pressure to shine.
One of the reasons I choose a personal theme is that I’m not making a promise I could possibly break. In fact, it’s not a promise at all. I’m meant to emobdy this theme each and every day.
So tell, me … What’s your personal theme for 2014? Do you like this idea, or are you still a firm believer in resolutions? If so, what are your resolutions or goals for 2014? How to do plan to achieve them? Leave a comment below and let’s learn from each other.
No matter how you plan to make it a great year, I wish you a spectacular 2014 filled with all the love, laughter and success you can stand. All my best to you!
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