Expensive meetings, a truckload of logistical necessities and communication breakdowns coming from any direction can make a professional meeting planner weak in the knees. Plan your corporate event right and you are the hero. But, make any of these three pesky planning mistakes and you may wish you had stayed home.

1^st Pesky Mistake: The Mismatch Maker

Be sure the people you connect with tasks are a match made in heaven. Like an old-school matchmaker who decrees relationship compatibility, coupling someone’s skills with the needs at hand are critical. You may have a gut feel for someone or sense you can take a chance on a trusted employee, but beware. You don't want to be a "Mismatch Maker."

Un-mistake Able Tip: Planning a meeting is like taming a dragon with ten heads. Match proven skills with the vision you have for your event. To do this, start with the end in mind. Work backwards with this one simple question, “In order for this outcome to happen, this (insert action) has to occur.” Repeat this until you have worked your way back to today. With one ultimate outcome, immediately split the next level into various entities: Attendees, Executives, Vendors, Contractors and Planners. You can come up with other categories as well. You will notice certain people have the skill set to fulfill certain actions. This is a flow-chart, similar to a sideways family tree or a sports bracket.

2^nd Pesky Mistake: You Didn’t Track Your Twerks with Tweaks

When young Miley twerked her way into our consciousness, it became an oft repeated phrase, “That’s dancing?” The same can be said for any proverbial “left turn” in our plans. When the unexpected ‘twerk’ happens in your planning, you simply, in real-time, need to tweak your plans. Or you’ll have a foam finger pointed at you and an uproar on your hands.

Un-mistake Able Tip: Consistently tweak as the weeks and days approach your big event. Tweaking involves three things: document, communicate and manage revisions. Changes in travel, weather, seating, food, speakers and the gazillion other logistics will happen. Leading up to your meeting, constantly be on the ready to track your ‘twerks’ with tweaks.

3^rd Pesky Mistake: Only a Handful of Contingencies

Every planner has contingencies in mind but it is huge mistake to only have a few in place. For example, with an outdoor event, what if the weather changes where will we go? Ending your contingency planning here would be a mistake. This is your chance to go over the top with contingencies. 

Un-mistake Able Tip: This is where multiple heads are better than one. In your planning phase, map out the various contingencies for every possible situation you can get your hands on.The more contingencies you can imagine, with a contingency sequence, the more prepared you are. Basically, dive deep in with this senctence, "If this, then that." This can be a fun process rather than an arduous task.

Split your planning team into groups and have each map out their ideas on contingencies. Being aware of any weak spots in what you planned can pay off big time when it is ‘show time.’

About the author. Vince Poscente has spoken to over a 1,500 meetings in every setting imaginable:

• Sunrise at the Acropolis
• Outdoor Bahamas event in gale force winds
• Flatbed stage while the Olympic torch comes from the other end of the street
• 6am motivational keynote in a cardboard manufacturing plant
• 18,000 network marketers
• 12 double PhD’s at a Fortune 500 company think-tank
• 5,000 home-based-business females who admitted, “We don’t get out much.”
• Countless, convention ballrooms full of salespeople / leaders / user groups / IT pros / (you name it)

He has partnered with numerous professional planners as a keynote speaker who cares about the meeting outcomes.

If you would like to spend 15 minutes discussing your next meeting with Vince Poscente, click here. 

You can have quality and speed at the same time. Even if it appears cumbersome on the surface. Here is a flashback motivational eBrief that rings as true today as it occured eight years ago. 

During the 41^st Super Bowl telecast, Sheryl Crow starred in a Revlon Colorist television commercial with a Buddy Holly classic only available on iTunes where all proceeds went towards Breast Cancer Research.

Say that ten times.

Crow, a cancer survivor, teamed up with Revlon to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Revlon pony upped for the commercial time and production costs. All parties got a plug and created goodwill in the same moment. The NFL looked good for running the ad. Apple tossed in the digital infrastructure. Sheryl Crow lent her talents. Revlon Colorist sent a message to over 90 million people that their product works on hair and for charity.

All in less than 60 seconds.

In the time it takes to read this eBrief; Sheryl Crow, the NFL,Revlon, iTunes sent a compelling message to millions that will ultimately help benefit women who have a one out of eight chance of a breast cancer diagnosis.

Think of the value and benefits you, your products or services represent. How do you get your message across when you have the opportunity to sell or promote?

Pitching a concept to a committee has more traction if you tell a story about the idea before listing the benefits. You ingratiate yourself to employees by revealing insights about being a parent before extolling the virtues of leadership traits. A supplier will be more loyal to you if they know about you rather than just what they can get from you.

Tell a story, make it an experience. People remember an experience. Stories help them remember your message. Revlon could have had Crow do the conventional; sit in a chair and pitch all the reasons why you should donate money for Breast Cancer Research. Instead, Revlon told a story 

In the ad, Crow was approached by Revlon to use its Colorist product on tour. They drove a hard bargain and Crow ended up on stage week after week with no faded hair. A classy, subtle sidebar appeared part way through the commercial saying, “Not Fade Away, Only Available on iTunes.” The catchy ditty ends and sixty seconds are up.

It has been said repeatedly that speed and quality can’t be delivered at the same time. That was then. Today we can and are compelled to live by a different motto. Speed and quality can be delivered together.

Kudos to Revlon, iTunes, the NFL, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and especially Sheryl Crow for creating a charitable conduit that is a toe tapping song in earbuds across the land.

We live in the age of speed where we are asked to do more-faster-now. Some motivational examples help us see that it’s possible, even if it appears on a hair care commercial.

We speakers love our hotel partners; with one exception. We can't say the same about the guy who sets up the chairs. Time and again, the conference room is set up the same. Huuuuuuuuge middle aisle. Laser beam straight rows. An acre of property between the front row and the stage. Before your speaker even hits the stage, the energy in the room is compromised. 

The opposite end of the room set-up spectrum is a case in point for amplifying energy at your event. If you have ever been to a stand-up comedy club you know what they do. They cram seats together in a seemly chaotic mish-mash of table and seat angles. The front row guests literally bump their knees up to the stage. The stage is surrounded on three sides with seats. Back seats are not opened up until the remaining attendees filter in. Before the stand-up commedian hits the stage, there is a buzz in the room. 

At a corporate conference, there is a nice balance between the picture above and the randomness of a comedy club. The bottom line is this: Make sure you are dedicted to building energy in the room before hand. This starts with the seating arrangement. 

There is no exact seating design that works for every room, but generally follow these three rules.

1. Eliminate the Center Aisle -  Give your presenters a fighting chance by filling THE most important real estate in the room with humans, not dead air. You can easily add two rows on either side of the center. Boom! Problem solved. 

2. Apply the Tiny Ten - Ten feet is all a speaker needs to have a relatively good rapport with the front row. It helps if you fill those seats. Have you ever noticed, when the seats are free, such as church and conferences, the back rows fill up first. When the seats cost money, the front row is coveted. Help your speaker fill the front first. A tiny, ten feet will be a boost to the energy exchange between audience and speaker.

3. Use the 114 Degree Rule - Amp the energy in a room by ensuring everyone has a peripheral view of their seat mates. As you are looking at this screen, broaden your gaze to your peripheral vision. You have a visual awareness of approximatelly a third of 360 degrees. If someone was sitting directly beside you you could not see their face. If they were within a 114 degree scope of your vision, their expressions zoom into your awareness. Bring each of the chairs within peripheral view of each other and you added another layer of energetic buzz to your room.  

Ask Us How your meeting can have a better ROI from one keynote speech. 

According to Tiger Wood’s former swing coach, Hank Haney, more than 1/4 of golfers suffer from the yips. It seems that the yips could be a corporate condition as well.

Some of you are going, “Wow, that’s high.” Others are saying, “Yips? What are yips?”

To get us all on the same page, yips are a slight tremor occurring just before the forward swing of a club. In effect, a golfer can have all the skill and experience in the world, but if he or she has a slight “yip” before striking the ball it will end up in an unintended location.

Speaking at a PGA Merchandise Show, Haney talked abou the yips and a Golf Digest interview he did. The average response to any article is about 30 emails. Golf Digest registered over 3000 emails from the yipping community. “The articles hit a nerve,” explained Haney.

Golf is considered to be a slow, meandering sport but it really is a speed game. In less than three seconds a myriad of physical and mental skills need to align for the perfect shot. Flawless execution in such a brief period is the holy-grail for all golfers.

The yips are a natural human condition. Unlocking the mysteries of the human condition is the quest for golf coaches and business guru’s alike.

In business, the yips would be analogous to real time, forced decision making. In other words, when there is no time for conscious deliberation. It could be that crucial point in a sale where you immediately need to know exactly what to say. Or a negotiation that requires the perfect words. Or a speech in front of industry specialists scrutinizing your every word.

One yip and you’re toast.

Here’s how to get past the yips in business (and golf):

1. Interrupt your patterns. If you have a habit of one sort, break up the habit by doing something different. For example, in a speech if you typically walk on stage and say, “Good morning,” then change it up. Pause first, look at the audience, take a breath and then say something else like, “We are going to have some fun this morning.” Haney recommends that instead of looking at the ball, look at the bill of your cap at the top of your swing. In either case you are interrupting the unconscious patterns that circumnavigate the patterns associated with yips.
2. Keep your eye on the prize. Any behavior that is self destructive in nature reveals a deeper, unconscious pathway to an undesirable outcome. Even subtle behaviors like gossiping or forgetting to call someone back can be clues to an unconscious agenda that needs to be corrected. Ensure that you are clear on the prize that you desire. Know what closing a deal or sinking a birdie would feel like and then take a swing.
3. Let go of yips gone by. Fixating on a problem only exacerbates the problem. You will give power to problems by obsessing on them. Acknowledge the yip and move on.

May you speed past the yips as you golf, work or manage to do both at once.

What would happen if we eliminated all the "adult daycare drama" out of a sales organization? Let’s fantasize for a moment… that happy place in corporate la-la land. What if a sale’s manager’s job was not managing people problems? What if his or her sole focus was just on improving sales? 

No damage control on who hurt who has feelings. No fragile egos running to the managers office to complain about stuff. An entire office of people 100% accountable for their actions and results. 

Don’t jump out of the dream just yet. Imagine a sales manager who could spend his or her time as follows:

• 35% on generating leads for the sales people
• 35% on improving efficiency of sales operations
• 20% on internal effectiveness initiatives like less paperwork
• 10% on protecting the rebels and their wellspring of innovation

How would that accelerate your organization’s sales?

You might be fortunate to be part of a well-oiled, highly accountable sales division.

You might be part of a semi-dysfunctional sales group.

Or you might be suffering in a sales organization that is like an adult daycare.

Whatever your situation, the sales team can always improve.

Be a part of the solution. Find ways to own the problem.

Do this and your sales numbers will soar and your drama will whither.

Need help with focusing your sales team? Would a motivational kick-in-the-pants help? Check our availability...

Life balance? HA! But think about how fun balance can be when you're on a see saw. You're up. You're down. Sometimes your skinny butt stays up because the 'husky' kid won't let you down. During this time, take a breather, sharpen your (SEE things clearer) SAW. 

Senior Covey's 7th habit, "Sharpen your Saw" reminds us, "... preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual."

There is that word again, balance. HA! HA! We are so busy, we simply drive past logic. We each, unconsciously believe we need to keep driving forward, cutting wood, bouncing up and down on the see saw. 

YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT NOW.

You are likely blasting through this article so you can get onto your next activity. Odds are your time is tight and you can't rationalize taking anything more than a 70 second break. Unless you take control of your life starting now. 

Take control of your life, one of two ways.

1. Be Impulsive about slowing down. Here's a little test. Let's see how you do. To the left is an 8 minute video. It is PACKED with powerful information designed to improve your life. If you impulsively took 8 minutes and dedicated it to sharpening your own (SEE things clearer) SAW you may just be yelling "Timber" more often today. Take time to sharpen you - and you get more done.  

2. Be Tactical about taking a break. Every Wednesday, fellow hockey buddies invest time with a Stanley Cup champion (Brent Severyn) for skills training. We love the one on one learning with an NHL professional. Is it manditory we each take time to sharpen our skills for beer league hockey? No. But it makes playing the game more fun. The same goes for the game of life in your world. As for the business of life... leading up to each Wednesday, a few hours are spent writing this eBrief for you. Is it essential you get to read a free eBrief from yours truly. No. But each week, my writing skills get sharpened, a little at a time. With your welcoming mind, I plan on being a better writer and motivational keynote speaker.

Hopefully, you took a moment and watched the video clip above.

Fingers crossed you will get more tactical about forcing some balance into your life.

Balance? HA HA HA... this SEE SAW is a great ride.

Is our 24/7, instant message, more-faster-now world eating us alive or setting us free? A recent nationwide “Speed Survey” has some answers for us. The results reveal how we are seemingly, just surviving vs thriving. (I’ll save the stats on sex vs high speed technology until the end.)

• 9 out of 10 employees are feeling rushed several times per week if not every day
• 9 out of 10 feel they have to get more done in less time

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone but check this out:

• 1/2 feel that in order to succeed they need to slow things down
• yet 3/4 feel the pace of work will only increase in the next five years

There is a disconnect that must not be ignored here. Most of us are approaching or in the thick of overwhelm and more than half believe that slowing down is the answer to success but most are convinced things will only get faster.

YIKES!

It reminds me of a nightmare where things only get worse the harder you try to get past the struggle. Folks, there is an oncoming force and it is called “speed.” And a large percentage of corporate managers are ignoring this force.

• Over 2 out of 5 feel that management doesn’t understand the impact of the more-faster-now demands on the employees in our organizations.
• While 1 out of 3 employees are uncomfortable with the demands for speed in their company

Somebody’s in for a wake-up call.

• 1/3rd of all respondents don’t feel their organization is embracing speed.
• and 1/3rd people feel their organization is more stressful and intense than ever.

An interesting theme was revealed in the Speed Survey. We want to HAVE things faster, but we don’t necessarily want to DO things faster. Speed becomes a love, hate relationship and it is only going to paradoxically intensify.

According to Scott Cook, the Chairman and co-founder of Intuit (the makers of Quicken and Quick Books) says, there is a “speed tsunami that’s overtaking business and life.”

Where will the solution come from? How can we make the oncoming force of speed in our world our friend, not the enemy? The answer lies in being able to both embrace speed and harness this oncoming force that Cook talks about.

Now for the Sex vs High Speed Technology.

• 1/3rd of our survey respondents would give up sex for week before they would give up their high speed internet connection or their email
• 1/3rd would pass on the PDA in favor or a week of whoopy.

So there you go. Life in the age of speed is truly interesting and one to be reckoned with. Harness speed and leave chaos behind.

(Click the book to invest in a hard cover copy of The Age of Speed)

Nine years later, a flashback of nearly dying keeps resurfacing.

It was on the summit attempt of Chakri Peak when we were faced with a twenty-foot rock-wall as the last challenge before reaching the mountain top. I kept thinking about a friend in college who went rock climbing one weekend and didn’t come home. His hand slipped, he fell and died from internal bleeding. He was nineteen years old.

At the time I thought it was tragic that such a young soul would have to perish doing what seemed like an overly dangerous sport. But, there I was, approaching 17,000 feet, in the Himalayas of India staring at my options on a rock face. Our leader, Jeff Salz (part mountain goat, all friend, also a motivational keynote speaker), had scampered up the face in a matter of seconds. My skills weren’t near his so I took my time.

The way he went up seemed too difficult for me. So, I stepped back and reassessed other options. To the left it was just as steep but it appeared to have more of a pronounced set of foot and hand holds. The draw back wa it overhung a 1000-foot drop. But, falling wasn’t an option, climbing was the objective.

As I tested my foothold everything seemed perfect. The first handhold was just as solid so I reached out further over the cliff to grab onto a rock with my left hand. This is when things went wrong.

From an observer’s standpoint it probably looked like I just reached up, grabbed a rock, changed my mind and backtracked. Yet, in my own skin, it was far more tenuous of a maneuver. As I grabbed the furthest rock with my left hand it felt good for a second but as I engaged more weight it started to pull out of the loose rock wall.

Had I hung on for anymore time, it would have dislodged and I would have cart wheeled to the left spinning like a starfish towards a nasty thud on the rocks below. Shards of time separated disaster from recovery. In a quick and decisive move my boot blindly found the previous foothold and I stepped back into a safe space. What could have been a horrible fall ended up being an education in what wouldn’t work. Jeff’s path turned out to be the best one after all.

Accelerating decision-making in rock climbing or any pursuit in life can have the same sort of outcome. There are three things that relate to a little speed making a big difference.

1. Don’t freeze. The worst mistake would have been freezing long enough for it to be too late to backtrack. The biggest blunder you can make in a touch-and-go situation is to freeze.

2. Multiply your options. Rock climbing is a blend of art and technique. Climbing our way through life is the same. Keep scanning your path for options. Like a chess player, pick a strategy where you multiply your options.

3. Trust your instinct. We each have an innate capability or aptitude with more situations than we are conscious of. The sheer power of the subconscious mind can handle a variety of problems at high speed.

The little extra speed with which you handle a situation can translate into a big difference in many parts of your life. Take a moment and see where you are stopping yourself. Take an inventory of your options and trust your instinct. Move deliberately and move quickly.

Do this and you’ll (safely) reach your BIG GOALS in ½ the time.

NOTE: I have a new keynote called BIG GOALS FAST. You may have a group interested in reaching thier own lofty objectives. ASK US HOW.

When Starlighter was past her prime, Dale Leicht took her in. Years ago, Starlighter was a finalist in the Fort Worth Cutting Horse Futurity. One day, in a dimly lit practice arena, Starlighter taught me how to get in sync with high-speed decisions.

I watched as other skilled riders worked with their horses. As each herd of calves was approached the horse morphed into a massive feline. Ears would twitch back and front haunches would lower. Rider and horse found a near telepathic way of selecting the calf to be cut from the heard. Back and forth, rider and horse faced the selected calf looking for the chance to cut it from the pack. As options for the calf diminished the horse’s posture was even more determined.

The herd started with dozen calves. Then six would be cut out. Then three. Then two. In a flurried dance the front hooves pounced left or right as a desperate calf tried to reunite with the group. If rider and horse worked well together within the permitted two and half minutes, the selected calf gets cut off completely from the herd and the team’s artistic score is recorded. But this was practice and it was my turn.

I naively rode Starlighter toward the dozen calves. As we got closer it became a guessing game which calf Starlighter had her eye on. And I am quite sure Starlighter was wondering if the bozo on her back would give her a clue which calf, said bozo, had chosen.

Finally there was one calf that stood out. Quickly we cut the heard in half and then reduced the grouping to three. Starlighter eased into the zone she’d been trained to engage. I buried my boots into the stirrups, kept a death grip on the horn and held my other hand with reins just above the mane.

In a flash our designated calf made a run for the herd. Starlighter saw it before I did. The feeling of a 2000 pound animal making an instantaneous 180 degree shift caught me off guard. As Starlighter deeked right I was like Wile E. Coyote on the left, suspended in midair. While my entire body was leaving the saddle, I thrust my right heel toward the horn, hooked it and pulled myself back onto my cutting steed.

Back in the saddle we continued the somewhat poetic dance of rider and cutting horse. As I write I am reliving the feeling of syncing with Starlighter’s powerful flanks. Back and forth. Grace and power blended. I get shivers thinking about it because years later I vividly remember the feeling.

After we cut the calf I got off the Starlighter and walked her past a seasoned cowboy. I was clearly buzzing from my experience. Trying to be funny I said, “Betcha never seen a move like that? Did you see how I kept on the horse with my heel?”

“Weren’t you,” said the cowboy. “Starlighter knew your was falling off, scooped you back up and then went back to cuttin’… she musta felt sorry for ya.”

Starlighter, not the cowboy, taught me a lesson that day. When quick decisions are about to be made you had better be in anticipation mode.

Be ready for anything, even a 180 degree change. If that kind of decision occurs, blend with it, get the most from it. If you do you will enjoy the ride.

If you would like a motivational story like this or a tailored inspirational / dealing with change message for your people... just ASK US HOW.

An excuse is never a good idea, unless there's a gift in mind. The gift doesn't have to be tied in a bow. The excuse doesn't have to be a set-back.

Anniversaries, special events, an idle Wednesday or most recently, Valentine's Day can be an excuse worthy of a gift you'd like to give a loved one. Recently, Mom opened an email. It was a 90 second video acknowledging the extraordinary person she is, and the gift she was a part of with health care professionals.

This past Saturday, she sent an email to her inner circle.

My son Vince has always liked to make his own Valentine gifts for his mom.
When he was age 7 or 8 he took an empty metal juice can.
He turned it upside down. Vincent envisioned a work of art that his mom could treasure.
On his own, he found hands full of flat-head 3 inch long nails in a jar on his Dad's workbench.
The family-sized juice can was about as tall as our, then, glass milk bottles or my vase which sometimes held flowers from my garden. But this was February 14th, in Edmonton. My flower garden was covered with snow. Obviously, Vince wanted to give me a bouquet of flowers.

I still have it at home in Canada. It certainly is true; it's the thought that counts.

This year, Vince edited some meaningful words from a DVD of a speaking engagement.
He was addressing a room full of pharmacists.
This home-made Valentine showed up as one of my emails.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did/do.
Happy Valentine's Day. (Sent from Patricia Poscente's iPad)

It helps to have an excuse to remind someone special in your life how special they are. Maybe this 70 second eBrief is excuse enough for you to send a gift of your time... or a tin can with nails in it. The thoughts you share do indeed count as a treasured gift.