Cool Things My Friends Do (Week #115) - "Making Rain with Events" by Scott Ingram

Each week on this blog I enjoy highlighting some of the cool things my friends do in their personal and professional lives.

As a huge believer in the power of live events, I am excited about my friend Scott Ingram's new book "Making Rain with Events: Engage Your Tribe, Create Raving Fans and Deliver Bottom Line Results with Event Marketing" (Now available on Amazon.com).

I have known Scott Ingram since the early days on my journey as a speaker, and he has been one of those special friends who always believed in my efforts.  Scott was the founder of "NetworkInAustin" and is a successful salesperson in the technology industry (in addition to his more important role as a husband and the father of two daughters).

The completion of this book is the fulfillment of a long-term goal for Scott, and it was exciting to be part of the project (I am the author of a Chapter 5: "Setting The Tone For Connecting").  He has complied some great information from a variety of experts in sales, marketing, and the meetings industry and this book is a "MUST READ" for all event professionals.

It is with great excitement that I tell you about this book as week #115 of "Cool Things My Friends Do".  I suggest you order your copy today and dive into the content.

Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute and Content Marketing World says: “Every marketing executive who invests in events as part of their marketing mix should do themselves a favor and read this book.” .... and he is right!!!

Have A Great Day

thom singer

NetworkInAustin.com "Netstorming Events"

Today was another "Netstorming Event", hosted by Scott Ingram of NetworkInAustin.com.

Each month Scott hosts a consistently enthusiastic and eclectic group of Austin business professionals for an interesting mix of a motivating and informative speaker, coupled with "Netstorming".

The June event speaker was local businessman Peter Strople, founder of Zero 2. Peter's challenging message to the eager audience was one of excelling in your career. Peter is a student of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of Flow, and the repetitively reminded the crowd that when you are doing what you were meant to do, it just become natural. It is not work when you know who you are and how you are making a positive impact on the rest of the world.

Netstorming allows for tables of eight to explore ways for people to provide valuable advice to others who are looking for creative ways to expand their business. Each person has five minutes, in which time the savvy ones spend 90 seconds giving an overview of what they do, coupled with half a minute of describing a challenge. The remaining three minutes are used for those at the table to shout out ideas that can inspire the person to discover a new way of approaching their business.

The table I sat out had a delightfully diverse group of professionals. The advantage to participating in the NetworkInAustin.com events is that you have the opportunity to meet an exciting cross section of people whom you may not otherwise encounter. The best part is the ideas you hear pour out of people from different backgrounds. It is easy to see the world through the windows from which you and your peer group look from.... but true perspective comes from alternative vantage points.

Networking is an important element in success and any gathering where good people congregate can bring opportunities.

Have A Great Day.

thom

Austin Social Media Awards

The First Annual Austin Social Media Awards nominees have been announced by the Austin American Statesman.

Several of my friends have been nominated (I list them below with links to their blogs / websites).

If you live in Central Texas (or beyond) and are still confused by social media, this is a comprehensive list of people you could reach out to and better understand the medium.

You can click on the above hyper-links to see the whole list, but below is a list of folks I know well whom are nominees. I know some of the others by name, just not on a personal basis. Yes, there is a difference between following someone on Twitter and actually being their friend!!! I still believe that people claim "friendship" too fast in the social media world. A connection on Facebook is NOT an equal relationship to my my connection with my kid's godparents!!!.

Aruni Gunasegaram

Benn and Lani Rosales

Bryan Menell

Bryan Person

Connie Reece

Dave Evans

Dean Cruise

Dewey Gaedcke

Eugene Sepulveda

John Erik Metcalf

Liz Handlin

Michelle Greer

Mike Chapman

Ricardo Guerrero

Sam Decker

Scott Ingram

Congratulations to all the nominees and especially to my friends who made the list.

Have A Great Day.

thom

Network In Austin (dot) Com

NetworkInAustin.com is back.

Well it was never really gone, but the brain-child of local businessman Scott Ingram was put on the back burner as he and his wife had two children, remodeled their house and Scott developed a successful career with ADP.

While still leading the charge for ADP's middle market accounts, Scott is in the process of relaunching his website that focuses on networking opportunities in the Central Texas area.

While there’s no lack of networking opportunities in Austin, there’s also no comprehensive listing of all those events and organizations.

Until now.

NetworkInAustin.com grew out of a desire to make networking as productive as possible for local small business owners by allowing them to find the networking opportunities best suited to their schedules, budgets and message. A categorized directory provides members key information about Austin’s many networking events and the organizations that sponsor them, from large Chamber of Commerce conferences to intimate small-group networking breakfasts.

Individual NetworkInAustin.com members can also receive a listing in the online networking directory, increasing their professional visibility. Can’t remember who you met during last Tuesday’s lunch? Just skim through the industry-specific listings to bring up photos, profiles and business information about Austin’s most active networkers.

NetworkInAustin.com’s goal is to facilitate the relationship-building process that is at the core of business success — and, in doing so, help transform fledgling start-up ventures into profitable long-term enterprises. They believe that productive networking is one of the best, most cost-effective marketing programs a small business can develop, one that has the potential to create powerful word-of-mouth awareness on a shoe-string budget.

Hey, I believe that too!!!

For more information visit http://www.networkinaustin.com/

****Also, Scott has created a LinkedIn Group for Austinites to have discussions and contacts with each other on LinkedIn. You do NOT need to be a member of NetworkInAustin.com to join the LinkedIn Group!!! Join today.

Have A Great Day.

thom