Clive Simpkins

Your conference is part of your branding – remember?

 

No-brainer headline? Or is it time that you revisit how you run your dealer or other conferences, because they tell your people and your guests more about your business practices than you might care to know!

I'm seeing an escalating trend and notice a deteriorating standard on the technical support front at some conferences. Part of the problem (my personal observation) is that there's an obsession with balancing the procurement scorecard, so anyone with a pigmented skin will do. The point is not the pigmentation but the lack of training, mentoring and the sometimes breath-taking opportunism that comes with such an approach. All are losers in this silly quest - not for professionalism, but political correctness - and its completely misplaced 'empowerment' objective. It's in fact anything but empowerment for the ill -trained people trying to offer a service for which they're simply not presently equipped.

The tech (lighting/sound/production) desk at a conference is a bit like the flight deck (cockpit is no longer politically correct!) in an aircraft. If what's happening there ain't working, then the entire flight is at risk.

I was a speaker at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CICC). There was an audience of over one thousand people. Not the CICC's fault, but the client had contracted an affirmative action team to handle the speaker support. Bad move.

The young coloured guys in charge of tech had their 'desk' located halfway back in the audience. No attempt to drape or conceal the equipment such as it was or the jumble of wires leading to and from it. The 'mixing desk' looked like the kind of thing you'd buy your son as an entry level Karaoke set-up. Their notebook computer looked like they'd borrowed it from a PC museum and they were quite comfortably 'testing slides' while audience members were present.

The keynote speaker for the morning was an internationally celebrated German Ph.D. The poor man had to present for at least seven minutes without a single one of his visuals on screen. He kept saying in the most painfully polite tones, 'Could ve try my pictures now please?' I cringed. Not only for him but at the thought of the 'export' take-away around dinner tables which must be, 'Presenting in South Africa is like a preview of hell.' I phoned a buddy of mine who was scheduled to do the multi-media-dependent closing presentation at that conference the following day. I gave him the heads-up on the potential disaster and some sharply-worded phone calls later, he'd revolutionised the tech aspect and delivered his usual excellent stuff.

More recently, another speaker and I encountered a scenario where the sound desk crashed the presentation of the organization's financial director in mid-flight. While the incompetent and obdurate young Indian woman 'in charge' of it set about getting it up and running again, the MC brought on a comedian to occupy the audience's attention. There was no monitor in front of the speakers at the podium, so they had to keep turning to read their information off the two screens located behind them – an unacceptable, amateurish practice. The wireless remote control provided by Miss Inefficiency had not been switched on. When they finally got their act together (the conference was now running half an hour late after just one and a half hours), the next speaker was unable to forward his own visuals. Madame gave a self-conscious little giggle each time she missed the boat in anticipation terms and he either found a visual he didn't want, or couldn't activate the one he did want. I was aghast.

Don't people realise that what happens at a conference like this speaks of their entire approach to quality, professionalism and commitment to excellence – or it's negative counterpart? Why would you want to place your brand reputation and corporate image in the hands of someone whose sense of control and status is more important to her than getting the job right? And doing what she's there to do – which is offer technical support?

To cut a long story short, the other speaker and I had to get pretty assertive to get things changed so that we could deliver professional presentations, which we did. I'm rapidly reaching the point where I think a new clause in my Terms and Conditions is going to be along the lines of: 'If the set-up requested by Clive Simpkins, in order to deliver a professional presentation, is not provided, it will be at the discretion of Simpkins as to whether he delivers the presentation or not. You will however, remain liable for payment.' I'm rapidly reaching the conclusion that only when there's a financial penalty do some people or organizations take requests seriously.

The power of authenticity

 

Modern life leads to many people wearing masks in order to get through just the average day. In response to expectations from other people, we often allow ourselves to distort or 'morph' into other shapes, in the hope of pleasing them. What goes out of the window, when we react and interact like this, is not only congruence and WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), but authenticity.

The eminent psychoanalyst Carl Jung, referred to 'Authentic Presence'. It's a powerful concept. The idea being that not only must we be real, but more importantly, authentically 'there' or in the moment, whatever the interaction or situation.

Presenting a façade, veneer, or assuming 'another shape' when dealing with people, will often lead to legitimate confusion on their part. There's a delightful example used to illustrate it. Not mine, but I can't remember its origin. It goes: The chameleon turned brown when he stood on a branch, turned green on a leaf, but died when he tried to walk across a tartan rug. We find it frightening or disconcerting when people are so 'adaptive' as opposed to adaptable. That they slip, seemingly effortlessly, from one discussion or interaction 'position' to another. Highly manipulative salespeople regretfully, often fall into this category of non-authenticity.

I worked with such a person for a time. She trespassed the boundaries of exaggeration and untruth so frequently that the border-line first became blurred, then non-existent. A plastic smile was always at the ready. Truth would be massaged to take a shape expedient to the situation. The tragedy with such behaviour is that in time, the perpetrator begins to believe her or his own rhetoric or codswallop. The fact that their listeners are aghast at the sheer improbability of their claims, or privy to the blatant dishonesty of their interactions, seems not to strike them. Or is it just that after a while, they don't care? Authenticity either isn't in their behavioural dictionary, or if it is, the page isn't at all well-thumbed.

From observation, such people aren't genuinely 'with' most of us in a communicating situation. They appear constantly to be plotting their next move. The non-verbal signals of genuine listening – a tilted head or nodding – may be there, but the eyes show that their brain is listening to another station. Sometimes the smile is a little too fixed or easily flashed. The all-revealing 'Duchenne Effect' of crinkles at the sides of the eyes – that take time to develop into a smile and take even longer to fade away, when it's the real thing – is not there. But then maybe that's just the Botox shot, designed to keep wrinkles at bay! J

If I sound a little testy, it's probably because of the energy lost in dealing with such people. Catching the proverbial tablet of soap under water is a cinch by comparison. When you're attempting to, or are already running to a script in which authenticity plays an important part, dealing with such artificiality is very uncomfortable. It's as if these people assume we're wearing a neon sign on the forehead, reading 'idiot'. Or that we're unable to see through their manipulation, deceit, lack of integrity and don't-give-a-damn about anyone but themselves, attitude. Such an approach hasn't developed overnight. They've chosen it and allowed it to develop its own sad momentum.

 

http://clivesimpkins.brandyourself.com/

Clive Simpkins

South African Speaker Industry Transforms

From Meetings SA July/August 2008. Click on the article to open in a larger format, in a new window.

Speakers, Bureaus and Agents

Who said I can't be diplomatic when the occasion demands? Here's what's just appeared in Meetings SA, July/August '08 edition, on the topic of Speakers, Bureaus and Agents.

continues below...Click on the actual image to enlarge text in a new window.

   

Did you know that the National Speakers Association of Southern Africa (NSASA) is now known as the Professional Speakers Association of SA (PSASA)? For more about the PSASA go here and if you want to e-mail the PSASA administrator, Nikki Bakker, click here.

How to be a good conversationalist

Conversation is the life-blood of social interaction. Like me, you may not class social events as your favourite activity. You may, like me, even be averse to them.

You may, also like me, actively avoid them. Frankly, I regard a cocktail party or similar function as a preview of purgatory. But if I have to attend such an event, I make a success of it. How?

No rules, but plenty of guidelines for surviving or thriving in a social setting:

1. Adage says: Shyness is ‘I’-ness. If you think everyone’s going to be focused on you and how you engage, you’re wrong.
   
2. They’re typically quite focused on themselves!
3. You can’t converse or communicate well if you’re excessively worried about what people will think of you or your ideas.
4. People are not psychic or telepathic, so the greatest response or riposte inside your head means nothing, unless you open your mouth and vocalise it! So speak up. The more frequently you do, the easier it becomes.
5. The greatest aid to developing a really interesting conversational ‘menu’ is to read. The more widely and eclectically you read the greater will be the range of topics on which you’ll be informed.
6. Good journalism has the essence of the story in the first paragraph. So learn to skim-read newspapers, magazines and online publications. You don’t need all the details, but you’ll at least have a grasp of the issue and its topicality.
7. Give up on the idea that you need to be or are expected to be informed on every topic imaginable. I know nothing about sport for example. But I can keep sport fanatics engaged for hours, by asking them questions. They love nothing better than an opportunity to re-populate the national rugby, soccer or cricket teams.
8. Having said that, I hate the idea that you go to a social function prepared to ask stupid things like, ‘How do you know the host?’ Or ‘What’s your favourite food?’ That tells me you’ve been on a ‘Conversational skills 101’ course.
9. If you do want to (sincerely) ask questions, then make sure they’re ‘open-ended’. Example of a close-ended question (the wrong kind): ‘Do you like chocolate?’ I’ll typically get a one word answer. But if I ask, ‘What are your views on chocolate?’ (open-ended) I’ll get at least a phrase in response. So use Why? When? Where? How? Avoid like the plague ‘Do you?’ or ‘Have you?’ The answers are inevitably just ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
10. I once attended a stamp exhibition in the Benoni Town Hall – not by choice I hasten to add. I was cornered by an 80-something year-old man. He’d spent his life collecting stamps with dogs on them. I’ve yet to see a stamp (do people still use them anyhow?) with a dog on it. I walked away from the discussion newly informed. I now know how to pronounce philatelic (as in exhibition) and philately (the art of stamp collecting) and knowing that I was talking to a philatelist. So don’t waste an opportunity. If you have to be there, then make the most of it. 
11. Go subscribe to ‘The Week’ It’s a superb distillation of the best of journalism in the  UK and elsewhere. It'll put your finger on the pulse of global events and issues that you'll reasonably be expected to know something about.
12. A tense and anxious brain doesn’t work well. It causes your body to produce cortisol, which  negatively affects short-term memory. Be prepared to be adventurous. Have fun. Treat the conversation as something of an adventure. Then your brain is optimally relaxed and will function at its best.
13. Finally, listen. Really listen. To what people are talking about in the room or at the event. Just by adding a conversational nudge like, ‘That’s a really interesting thought. What would you do to rectify the situation?’ can keep someone chatting away. Listen to how people you regard as good conversationalists keep the ball rolling - and learn from them.

Literacy on the ground?

Saw this on CNN's website some time back. Kinda hitting the tar with your reading program. Or could it be called a lack of traction, one wonders?

Memorable way to remember a number!

This is on the concrete support beam as you drive from the middle level to ground, in the Hyde Park shopping centre parkade. Fun. To help you remember - it's the Flying Squad number...

Losing out in the comms race

RISKsa March edition is out. Here's my article.  Right click and select 'open link in new window' if you want to print this out. Text version below the visual if you'd prefer to read it that way.

Loser in the comms race

I still run across businessmen (I’ve never heard a businesswoman make the claim) who proudly announce that they can’t use computers and that they dictate their e-mail. That’s simply pathetic. In five years time, if you’re not reasonably tech-literate, you won’t be able to operate your banking card.

This year sees the large-scale commercial introduction of so-called ‘smart cards’ for banking. They operate on the same principle as the SIM card in your mobile phone. That little gold-coloured fella is a micro-processor. Whilst not foolproof, it’s not going to be quite as easy to skim or otherwise extract information from your card. But given time, the criminals will undoubtedly get up to speed and we’ll be driven to yet another level of security.

As technology becomes ever more pervasive in the work and business place, we have to take care that our older or lower-tech type customers aren’t alienated because of the technology. A day before writing this article I called in at Old Mutual’s client service centre in Sandton. I was asked by the receptionist for my full name and ID number. I assumed it was for security purposes. In fact, she was entering it into an automated customer service system. I sat in reception and as soon as a consultant became available, the LED board readout indicated ‘C. Simpkins, cubicle 8’. I dutifully went off to cubicle 8 and got helped. It would have been even nicer if the sign had read, ‘Welcome Mr. Simpkins, please go to cubicle 8’. But maybe Old Mutual will get there.

Just by the by, the helpful assistant didn’t introduce herself, wear a name badge, or have a sign with her name on the desk. I played it in observation mode, until she wrote her name on a document and then I used her name to address her. Detail, marketing people, detail! Get the training right. The tech’s great, but don’t forget the interpersonal touches.

That’s the thought behind this article. In the midst of all the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and other information capture and manipulation systems, we run the risk of the client becoming a statistic. Having all the demographic (age, gender, occupation, location of home, language, number of children, etc.) data, or indeed, even some psychographic (lifestyle, attitudinal, preferences, biases, affiliations etc.) type information, doesn’t do a single thing on the interpersonal contact front, if we don’t compel personal engagement.

As John Naisbitt so presciently said twenty years ago in his book, Megatrends, the higher the tech the greater will be the demand by people wanting ‘high touch’, as he described it. That excellent book has now been superseded by his ‘High-tech, High-touch’, in recognition of the enduring principle of getting the balance between the two correct. If you haven’t read it, go visit kalahari.net, amazon.com or exclusivebooks.com, but buy it! It’ll give you a marvellous insight into the dangers of your client-base drifting into the arms of a more personable competitor.

All of us in a client-orientated business need to examine the ratio of tech contact to interpersonal contact. Ask yourself when last you picked up the phone, or pressed the flesh (the hand, of course!) of your clients? If they’ve been reduced to getting only your e-zine, your newsletter, e-mails, voicemails and your text messages on promotions, then beware. Make 2008 your year of high touch.

Feel free to use and share if it has relevance for you.

Speaker Bureau Ethics

A bit like 'Military Intelligence', 'Speaker-Bureau Ethics' may well be an oxymoron - meaning literally 'a contradiction in terms'. I dumped every one of them some time back after a series of interesting experiences with several, supporting my thesis. A few months ago, I wrote an article on the topic for RISKsa which is published below. Yesterday a good buddy sent me the URL for an interesting parallel. Go read it here. If you're a blind old bat like Dolf Kaestner (see his comments below), right click on the article, select 'Open link in new window' and you can print it or read it in the larger font, or with your magnifying glass. Just please remember to wear your deer-stalker hat whilst doing so!

No credibility among Govt. spokespeople

Do you believe anything Thabo Mbeki says? I don't. He's the man who 'acted as soon as I knew' about the charges against National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi. (Currently holidaying at our expense.)

Nyet! (as his confidant Manto would say), he knew a year before as everyone now knows. (She mutters in Russian when under duress, you'll recall.)

That means that President Mbeki lies to us and lied to the religious leaders he urged a year ago, to 'trust me'.

The Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, also lies. She had the bare-faced gall to excuse the power cuts during her homily at a Johannesburg school - delivered by candle-light - by claiming our economic growth had outstripped expectations. [Click on 'continue reading'  below to read what she said]

Que? Or should that be 'Vot?' Does Thabo and does 'Phumzie', as the Citizen newspaper persists in calling her, think we're total idiots?

This is a case of 'cry wolf' once too often. So when Mbeki, Mlambo-Ngcuka or that dolt, smart-Alec Erwin open their mouths, all they do is testify to the veracity of the old saw which goes: 'How do you know when a politician's lying? Answer: 'When  his mouth is moving.' Right....having cleared that up.

It doesn't really help for anyone to 'give assurances' that all will be well, power-wise for 2010. All of their assurances to date have come to nought. In fact the outcomes have been way worse in blackout terms than any of them, or we, could remotely have imagined.

Alec Erwin must be on hallucinogenics. First, in his economics 101 bluster, he claims that the current power problems 'won't affect the economy'. A junior-school kid reading the newspaper knows that just one affected mine is losing R 100 million A DAY. Thank God this jackass isn't Minister of Finance.

Now he says (see the second yellow bit in the article) "By 2010 there would be a far more comfortable margin between supply and demand." From where, precisely, Alec? The savings we might effect (I switch off my geyser for 20 hours out of 24 and I'm a minority) - even if we ALL got into the act - will never be enough to offset the urban growth, business development and industrial expansion until that date. Even if everyone heeded the Eskom FD's Pollyanna notion, and canned any development until 2013.

As for Sepp dearest, 'Blattering' on about South Africa being 'Plan A, Plan B and Plan C'  for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010 - yeah, right. Wait until his ample gelatinous butt is on the line and international soccer bodies are baying for his blood. Why? Because he still wants the tourney to go ahead in what may literally then be 'darkest Africa'. He'll no doubt whip out Plan D, for which read 'dodge', and we'll find some other country had a marketing plan in the wings as 'back-up'.

Bottom line: Mbeki, Mlambo-Ngcuka, Blatter et al should just shut up as the Spanish King Juan Carlos would say to Hugo Chavez. Whatever they now say, they're just utterly unbelievable. They have no credibilty left. Only the most naive will even bother to give their belches of hot air the time of day. 'Reputation in tatters' is approximately right for 'Little Foot'. Oh, that's Mbeki's shoe size, a seven, in soft leather - bought by Jackie Selebi, according to his close chum, self-confessed fraudster and drug baron, Glen Agliotti. God, all this is better than a script for reality TV. Sophisticates must be burbling behind their dinner napkins...