July 2007

On July 3rd I attended a moving 3 hour funeral for Anne Kramer - a wonderful human being and exemplary toastmaster. I was a bit late and the First Memorial Boal Chapel in North Vancouver was already packed with some 200 people. It looked like a performance rather than a funeral with 2 video cameramen and a professional photographer recording the ceremony.

Many people offered delightful speeches about Anne. It made me realize that although I had been complaining about how few successful female CEO’s there are who can balance a great career with a charming family life that, there she was, right beside me all the time.

Anne Kramer was simply amazing. From her distinctive and authoritative low voice to the way she enrolled talented people around her to reach for the top, leading the Toastmasters in District 21 (BC) to 3rd in the world, and helping Angela Louis achieve 2nd in the World Speech Competitions, she was an inspiring mentor.

Although I didn’t know Anne well, we all felt her presence from her excited and encouraging e-mails, to the visits and speeches she would deliver at our Toastmaster clubs. I remember her as a lady in red - she was always wearing a snazzy new suit that spoke of power and grace. She was the CEO of a high tech company before cancer got a hold of her, and she had risen to the top of Toastmasters and Girl Scouts. Many fondly remember her as “ 2 by 4 Annie”, as she was firm and direct in getting things done. Collecting membership fees was no exception!

At her funeral, I found out just how much she was loved. Her husband had written this poem in the little handout we got at the service:
There
Are no words
To trace
The beauty
Of her face.

There
Are no words
To hold the rush
Of her blood
Into a blush

Now
That our love
Has come to this
There are no words
For her kiss.

I begin to see people around me in a whole new light, because everyone has qualities that we can model ourselves after. Thank you Anne.

While working on the Family Fair Trade Show, my client invited Randy from Sandler Sales Institute to give us some pointers on Tradeshow Dos and Don’ts. Here is a summary:

Dos:
1) Have an attractive tradeshow space, put the table at the back of the space with a brightly colored table cloth.
2) Ask people: What made you decide to stop at our booth?
3) Keep Audio and Visual presentations at the back.
4) Listen to your audience, write down their questions on paper, book an appointment if they’re taking up too much of your time.
5) Follow up within 24 hours, if you get their voicemail, simply say “Hi ___, we met at ____, I have a question for you, please give me a call.”
6) Try to get a group session for those really interested in your product or service.
7) If you want to survey your audience, do it over the phone, not in email or website.
8) Do validate people by given them 100% of your attention.

Don’ts:
1) DO NOT SELL at a tradeshow.
2) Don’t put a ton of literature on your table, people will throw it away. Tape them to your table and when people try to take them, ask them why they’re interested.
3) Don’t overpower with too many people in your booth.
4) Be careful when saying “why?” as, it can be very confrontational.
5) Don’t chase people, get them to call you!
6) People like to manage numbers when it comes to your staff’s performance at a tradeshow, you should focus on managing people and behaviour.
7) Don’t be an educator at the tradeshow.
8) Don’t have food, drink, or coffee consumption during tradeshow time.
9) Don’t pack up early.
10) Don’t have bored or unhappy staff in your booth.
11) If they didn’t ask for it, don’t give it, you can lose clients over this.

Randy also gave all of us a small booklet titled “Why Salespeople Fail”.

If you like his tips, you can reach him at
Trainwest Management and Consulting Inc.
#100-4170 Still Creek Drive. Burnaby, BC V5C 6C6
Tel 604 291-1272 Fax 604 291-1279
Email: trainwest@shaw.ca
Web: www.tmcinc.sandler.com

        
One of the lessons I teach my students in my Event Planning 101 classes at Vancouver Community College is “Crisis Management”, and I had to practice it during my last event. I was hired on to manage and staff a family tradeshow and children’s concert on Saturday, July 21st at the Surrey Bell Centre. The venue is spectacular, a new spacious theatre & high school with great staff. Everything was going well, getting the arts and crafts tables, the pin the donkey station, face painting, rallying volunteers to man the booth.

The bomb dropped 3 pm on Friday afternoon when I got news that the wife of our main draw, RED GRAMMER, the children’s singer is in the hospital with cancer, and he cannot come. This is less than 24 hours away from show time, so airline tickets, hotel stay, rental car has all been reserved and there are no refunds if the notice is less than 48 hours. Not only that, all the families that have been planning their weekend around it will have no show to go to. I pulled out my rolodex and started calling entertainers, after 30 minutes, and getting some quotes, I spoke to my client and found out that she’s not willing to pay for any more entertainment because of the losses already incurred. I finally found a fantastic magician on Friday night who was willing to come and perform for ticket sales. Ray Medway came to the rescue with a very humorous Harry Potter Magic Show, with many great props and terrific audience interactions. Give this man a hand! www.raymedway.com

Many great events were happening on July 21: the Yaletown Festival, theYogathon and our Family Tradeshow. Rick of BC Event Makers came with a children’s bouncy castle, which was a HUGE hit! The mascot from JR FM was another favorite of the children… they loved getting hugs. The musical instrument making table and face painting were among the busiest of all the children’s stations that day.

I’m proud of the 15 phenomenal volunteers (Vivian, Deborah, Linsey, Moon, Julie, Hoon, Fiona, Travis, Ulysses, Karla, Tania, Daniela, Ariane, Sheila, Janice) that staffed the tradeshow, and the professionalism all the vendors displayed. I really felt for my client Anita Mirza. She worked tirelessly to get publicity from JR FM, News 1130, Breakfast Television, Surrey and Delta Leader, and placed many advertisements. Yet she stood up and respected RED’s decision to stay by his wife’s side, as she recently lost a friend to cancer. “ Somethings are more important than profit. Like family, because in the end, that’s all you can count on.” says Anita. Wise words in our profit oriented society.

So next time you organize an event, remember to have a Plan B and Plan C. Vancouverites tend to be indoors during rainy weather, so don’t expect the sun will shine on your big day.

I know you’ve heard this before, but we are in the middle of building Social Butterfly Club website. We’re using Joombla as a free software as the backend to maintain this complex website. Our target launch date is Sept 1, 2007.

We will have a big party to relaunch Social Butterfly Club, so be sure to stay tuned for your invitation.

This website will include a simple directory of all our members, so if you want to be included, please let us know your First Name, Last Name, Tel, Email. I know some of you reads this newsletter from a friend’s forward, the subscription is free, so get a membership. There will be loads of new benefits only to members soon…. We’re making those deals right now.