Online Networking Meetings

The Dos and Don’ts of Online Networking Meetingsstring(50) "The Dos and Don’ts of Online Networking Meetings"

May 18, 2020
, , , , Online Networking, Social Media, technology, Video Blog 14

The technology that exists today is great.  When I started BNI 35 years ago, we couldn’t do any of this.  We all had to quickly learn how to utilize the net as part of your networking strategy this year. Naturally, there’s a great deal of overlap between face-to-face and online networking. However, networking online works only when you are engaged during your online networking meetings to learn about each other.  Therefore, you need to practice active listening so that you leave your online networking meetings with more ideas on how to refer your networking partners. Now, more than ever, you need your network to work together and support each other by networking online.

Seven Tips for Your Online Networking Meetings

Watch this video to learn how you can make your online networking meetings more successful:

Learn how to utilize the net as part of your networking strategy.

It will still be a while until we can attend face-to-face networking events again. Therefore, we need to attend online networking meetings instead. Online networking meetings will never replace in-person networking, but they work well together. If you remember these tips during your next online networking meeting, you will maintain a powerful personal network that will be even stronger once we return to in-person networking again.

What tips do you have for attending your online networking meetings? I would love to read your suggestions. Please share them in the comments below.

Networking Online

Networking Onlinestring(17) "Networking Online"

March 19, 2020
, Adversity, Building Relationships, How Can I Help You?, Networking, Online Networking, technology, Video Blog 2

Because of the current health situation, a lot of us are working from home. Even if you cannot go to your usual places to network face-to-face with others at mixers, meetings, or social events, you can still take action and build up your networking online.

Earlier this week, I shared some tips for working from home. Please watch this video to learn a few things you can do right now to maintain a powerful personal network online:

Networking Online

Take a few minutes daily to reach out to a few people each day in your network and schedule an appointment to talk to them later in the week. There are many ways to connect with others, even if not face to face. The easiest way is to pick up the phone and actually have a conversation with them. If both you and that person are comfortable with setting up a video call, I recommend connecting with them at a scheduled time on Zoom, Teams, or some other platform. Not only chat about each other’s businesses but ask how they are doing personally. Find out if there are ways you can help them. Finally, it is ok to also ask them for help. We all could use a friend these days.

Now is the time to build up your online networking with your fellow BNI® members using our newest platform: BNI Online™. This will allow you to stay in touch and attend your BNI Networking meetings virtually during these days of social isolation.

If you’re not in BNI®, we are inviting local business professionals to join us online. If you know someone looking to grow their business online during these challenging times, please invite them as our guests to our online meeting. This is a chance for them to experience BNI and networking from the comfort of their home or office.

Find a local online meeting in your area:
https://www.bni.com/find-a-chapter

Please watch this video to learn some things you can do right now to maintain a powerful personal network. Now, more than ever, you need your network. Work together with them by networking online.

working from home

Seven Tips for Working From Homestring(32) "Seven Tips for Working From Home"

March 16, 2020
, Entrepreneur, Innovation, personal story, Productivity, Social Media, technology, work ethic 15

In the early 1980s, I spent one of several evenings in the home of an entrepreneurial couple who lived in the foothills of Los Angeles.  This couple would regularly invite people over to their home to talk.  Talk about what?  Everything.  Life, relationships, business, and most of all – the future.  It was an informal mastermind group of people who loved good wine, forward-thinking, and great conversation.  One night after an interesting discussion among that night’s guests, the husband invited me into his office (but not working from home back then) and showed me a fairly large rectangular hard-plastic box.  It was a box with a very small, 5” screen on it.  He turned it on and it lit up with bright yellow monochromatic characters that flashed on the screen.  He said – “It’s an Osborne!”   “An Osborne what?” I asked.  “An Osborne computer,” he said.

By today’s standards, this precursor to the personal computer wasn’t much to look at.   The least expensive mobile phones on the market today have infinitely more computing power than that big box on his desk.  Nevertheless, I was impressed.  More importantly, I remember the words he said next:  “This kind of technology will change the world and the way people do business in it,”  Clearly, I could see how computers would enhance the business but, I still didn’t understand what he meant.  He explained that this type of technology “will allow people to do business anywhere – even at home!”   This was a prophetic comment if ever there was one.

Working From Home Tips

working from home

Working from home has become more common, and sometimes like today – more necessary. So, if you’re working from home these days, here are some things to consider:

  1. Establish a dedicated area as your workspace.  It could be a room or just a table.  But that is your workspace.
  2. Focus.  Don’t get distracted.  Your home is now your office.  Treat your workspace like your office.  Structure your day like you would in an office.
  3. Use the technology that is at your fingertips.
    1. Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting or any other platform that allows you to talk to people online.
    2. Here’s a crazy idea – talk to people using that 21st Century version of what Alexander Graham Bell invented – your telephone.
  4. That technology is great – but stay OFF social media unless it is directly work-related.
  5. Plan your day.  Schedule your work on your calendar, hour by hour.  This will help you stay focused and on track.
  6. Communicate your expectations and ground rules with anyone else that may be at home with you (toddlers and younger are an exception).
  7. Take breaks away from your “workspace” and go back to your workspace immediately after your break time is over.

Working from home can be productive, I know.  I’ve done it off and on for more than 35 years.  The trick is that you have to have a plan and work that plan… even when your work is also your home.

Ivan’s Inner Circle

Tomorrow is the Unveiling of Ivan’s Inner Circlestring(50) "Tomorrow is the Unveiling of Ivan’s Inner Circle"

March 25, 2019
Marketing/Sales, Networking, Referrals, Relationships, technology, Time Management

Ivan’s Inner Circle is addressing both of these pain points because I will be your mentor. I will teach everything I have learned over the past 30+ years in networking and referral generation, and our technology partner at Synduit will become the only marketing software you need to build and implement your marketing plan for the entire year. I have not been this excited in years because the impact that all of us will produce together will be seismic in the world, and it will also take your franchise to the next level while supporting all of your members as well.

The more I think about this launch, the more I realize how vital this program is to the success of small business owners and franchisers. Networking, referral generation, and marketing have become somewhat of a lost art and nearly every marketing software that I have ever seen is too complicated for the everyday user.

I am ready to share Ivan’s Inner Circle with you and anyone else you decide to invite during our official unveiling tomorrow – Tuesday, March 26 at 12 pm ET (9 am PT).

If you have not done so, please make sure to register here: https://tribe.synduit.com/IvanInnerCircle0001

Inner Circle

Be a Part of my Inner Circlestring(28) "Be a Part of my Inner Circle"

March 18, 2019
Marketing/Sales, Networking, Referrals, Relationships, technology, Time Management 6

Networking, referral generation, and emotional intelligence still aren’t taught in colleges and universities and nearly every marketing software system that I have ever seen is too complicated for the everyday user. For the past decade I have been thinking about building an environment where I could easily share the top lessons and skills I have acquired on networking, referral marketing, time management, and scaling a company with a select inner circle.  I am pleased to say that I found the perfect partner to make these lessons an absolute game-changer for business people.

Ivan’s Inner Circle

I am really excited, because after 10-years of contemplating this idea, my friends at Synduit have developed a program they call “Ivan’s Inner Circle” which will officially launch on Tuesday, March 26 at 12 pm ET (9 am PT) during a FREE live webinar and Q&A.

I will be your mentor. I will teach everything I have learned over the past 30+ years in networking and referral generation. Our technology partner will become the only marketing software you need to build and implement your marketing plan for the entire year. Allow me to mentor you on networking, referral generation, and marketing with the simplest marketing software for your business that you will ever find.

Who’s in Your Network?

The first webinar topic is: “Who’s in Your Network?”  It is a spin on the content from Who’s in Your Room? but it is specifically aimed at BNI members and networking. Please invite other business people you know to this experience too.

I invite you to please join me by registering here: https://tribe.synduit.com/IvanInnerCircle0001

I have not been this excited in a long time, and I am eager for you to take part in this monumental launch of “Ivan’s Inner Circle”.

mixed reality

Why Mixed Reality Meetings of the Future Will Be Face-to-Facestring(61) "Why Mixed Reality Meetings of the Future Will Be Face-to-Face"

January 7, 2019
, Entrepreneur, Networking, technology 1

When I started BNI in 1985, the biggest question from the media was: “Is this networking thing just a fad?” Well, 34 years and more than 8,700 groups later — it’s clearly not a fad. There have been changes over time though. The biggest change has been the introduction of the internet. Ironically, online networking has contributed to the success of face-to-face networks by greatly reducing the communication hierarchy and allowing people to communicate through mixed reality on online platforms.

Today around 50% of all small businesses are home-based and nearly half of the US workforce is expected to work remotely by 2020. This means that 50% or more of future entrepreneurs and employees will be working remotely within the next few years.

Mixed Reality

Today, I see an even more amazing trend on the horizon as it relates to remote work, technology, and business networking.  That trend is the emergence of mixed reality within the realm of personal networking. Mixed reality is the merging of real and virtual worlds where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. Mixed reality takes place not only in the physical world or the virtual world but is a mix of reality and virtual reality.

As this technology develops, it will allow remote teams to work together and tackle objectives no matter where the individuals are physically located.  People can enter a collaborative, immersive virtual environment in order to develop and activate relationships, increase business, enhance knowledge, expand one’s sphere of influence, or serve the community.  And, in the not too distant future, I predict that they will be able to network remotely through a mixed reality environment. I believe the future of networking is a blending of the physical world with the digital world.

One of the current missing elements of a video discussion is the lack of intimacy with online communication. However, as this technology advances, people will be better able to read non-verbal language like crossed arms, leaning in, or signs of nervousness. People attach value to the feeling of physically sharing space with another person. The more technology enables that feeling to mirror reality, the more effective it will be. Science has shown, the brain is often unable to determine what is real and what is not as it relates to virtual reality.

True,  a virtual mixed reality meeting is not the same as being there — but it will be getting closer to “real” reality when networking.

Net-Sit

It’s Not Net-Sit or Net-Eat — It’s Called Networkstring(67) "It’s Not Net-Sit or Net-Eat — It’s Called Network"

July 2, 2018
, Networking, Networking Tactics, personal story, technology 2

I came up with this phrase, “It’s Not Net-Sit or Net-Eat — It’s Called Network”, back in 1985 when I went to a business mixer and witnessed virtually everyone either sitting around the edges of the room or standing around eating and drinking.  Almost no one was actually networking. It struck me like a bolt of lightning that this was supposed to be a “networking” event but people were just eating and drinking (especially the later)! As a result, the first mixer that I personally organized, I went to a printer and printed up this phrase on little signs and put them all around the room to remind people why they were there.

I also came up with the original version of the 10 Commandments of Networking which I printed and posted around the room.

The 10 Commandments of Networking

  1. Have the tools to network with you at all times (card holder, badge cards, etc.).
  2. Set a goal for the number of people you’ll meet.
  3. Act like a host, not a guest.
  4. Listen and ask questions.
  5. Don’t try to sell to them.
  6. Give referrals whenever possible.
  7. Exchange business cards.
  8. Manage your time efficiently.
  9. Write notes about your conversation.
  10. Follow up!

One last thing I did before the event got fully underway was to tell everyone that it’s ok to come to a networking event with someone you know or a co-worker; just don’t hang around with that person.

What a difference in networking events.  By just giving a little guidance to the participants, the event was much more successful than the ones I’d seen in the past. So GET UP, get off your phones and network.

app

The Networking Scorecard™ Appstring(31) "The Networking Scorecard™ App"

February 19, 2018
, , , Networking Tactics, Productivity, technology 15

Now, the power of networking smarter comes to your smartphone for free.

In this comprehensive app, your mobile device now becomes your networking tool. You will discover strategies that go beyond collecting business cards and turn networking into a profitable resource for your business. Dive into this FREE app based on the book. Discover how the most successful networkers leverage their brand, expertise, and customers to achieve greatness in life.

The networking scorecard app is a way of measuring the kinds of things that you should be doing. It is a way of tracking your networking success. In the networking scorecard app, you track the kind of things that you need to be doing in order to achieve success in networking. These things include sending a thank you card, calling someone in your networking and having a conversation, arranging a one-to-one meeting, attending a networking event, setting up some kind of activity to connect with people, giving a referral, and sending an article of interest. In conclusion, there are a whole lot of things that you can do to track your networking scorecard, and they are part of the mobile app.

So if you are doing things that are listed in the networking scorecard app, then you’re mining your network. Although it may take time, you’re doing the things necessary to generate the business. With the networking scorecard, you know you have to do a certain number of these things in order to get business. Furthermore, it’s a way to track and feel better about the activities that you’re conducting.

Features of this amazing app:

FREE

  • Track networking activities like thank-you notes, meetings, calls, events, and referrals
  • Earn points to track your networking skill level and performance
  • View weekly networking activities at-a-glance
  • Set up a customized networking calendar
  • Access resources, worksheets and templates from Dr. Misner, Brian Hilliard, BNI, and Asentiv designed to help you get the most out of your network.
  • And most importantly, measure if you are Networking Like a Pro!

 

In business, you achieve what you measure.  The Networking Scorecard™ App provides you with a mobile solution to measuring your networking efforts. If you’re ready to build connections that turn relationships into profitable customers, this mobile app is for you!

Are you having problems signing up for “The Networking Scorecard”?

 We have released a patch to resolve the issue that users with certain phone number formats were facing when signing up for the Networking Scorecard App. Please update the app and try the sign up again. For those who have previously downloaded it and you were experiencing problems, you will need to update it then sign up again.

You may go to the App Store and update or click this link and update:

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/the-networking-scorecard/id1318616340?mt=8

Download the free app now

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.networking.scoreboard

https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/the-networking-scorecard/id1318616340?mt=8

Print Friendly

How to print my blogs in a “Print Friendly” formatstring(62) "How to print my blogs in a “Print Friendly” format"

August 31, 2017
Blogs, technology
Do you want to easily print my “Dr. Ivan Misner®” weekly blogs? These make great educational moments for your chapter.
Click on the green option icon   at the top of each blog and choose the “Print Friendly” option.

See the example below of how to choose the “Print Friendly” format.

 

Often users want to print articles they find interesting. By default, WordPress itself and most WordPress themes would print your page as it is, with all the graphics, colors, and text in sidebars. In this article, we will show you how to add a printer friendly option to your own WordPress Blog posts.

Click here to learn how to add a printer friendly option to your own WordPress Blog posts. 

monorail

Technology and My 8-Year-Old Selfstring(33) "Technology and My 8-Year-Old Self"

December 19, 2016
, , Innovation, personal story, technology, Travel 4

It was a crowded day at the Toronto airport as I was walking to my gate recently. On the way, I heard a soft but steady swooshing sound coming up behind me. I looked up to see a red monorail drive on by above me. I immediately had a monumental flashback to my first visit to Disneyland circa 1964. I was roughly 8 years old and was in awe of all the amazing things that I witnessed, most of which was in of the Tomorrowland exhibits.

monorail

The Disney monorail was the first daily operating monorail in the United States. In my flashback to my early visit to the park, I remembered wondering if something like this would ever be commonplace. It was amazing to see it operating in Toronto and going right through the building much like it did in Tomorrowland many years ago.

As I stood there watching the monorail go on by, I realized that during that same visit (or one soon after), I also spent time gawking at the first ‘push button’ telephones and first ‘touch screen’ computer monitor (it had 9 sections and all you could do was play tic tac toe). The push button phones transitioned into daily use in the following decade but the touch screen technology took many more years to become commonplace.

It makes me want to go back to Disneyland to see what the future holds for the next generation. What technology did you first see at a Disney Park or World Fair? I’d love to hear about your experience.