If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Or, join our email list and get a free audio gift. Thanks for visiting!

The National Speakers Association is excited to have you join us tomorrow, May 28, for David Nour’s Webinar on Social Networking Best Practices – How to Be Online Without Having to Live Online!After the Webinar, continue your learning with David Nour by clicking here. You will find a link to join RENetworks. David’s private, intelligent enterprise social networking platform filled with templates, presentations by David and great articles similar to his Associations Now feature article on Social Networking Strategy. Quick Links Webinar Schedule  MyNSA.org  NSAConvention.org   Have to miss the Webinar? No problem! It Webinars will be archived and available at MyNSA.org/Webinars.aspxafter it occurs.

I recently had lunch with a colleague – let’s call him Bob, and couldn’t help but to make some general observations – not being judgmental, simply the blatant obvious: Bob has become fat, dumb & happy – and I’d submit by choice!  You see, Bob came up with an interesting idea in the mid 80s and became very engaged in consulting with global companies of varying sizes and industries.  For the past two decades Bob has milked every possible angle you can imagine on this simple (and at its height, unique and powerful) idea.

Read the rest of this entry »

I recently hosted a LinkedIn Best Practices Webinar.  We had 500+ attendees, a testament to the popularity of this site as a professional social networking platform AND the fact that most people on LinkedIn (or most of the social networking applications out there) really don’t know how to get the most out of it! 

To reiterate, here are my top 10 recommendations:

1. Build a Content-Rich Profile – see template under Global Resources on RENetworks
2. Download the Outlook Toolbar and learn how to integrate the two
3. Invite your most trusted relationships to join your LinkedIn Network via Outlook or CSV upload
4. Join up to 10 strategic groups from your education and professional background / affiliations
5. Explore LinkedIn Applications to see if you can tie your blog, presentations, or other functionality into your profile
6. Include your LinkedIn public profile (looks like this: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidnour) in your email signature, articles, event announcements
7. Create LinkedIn Events for your upcoming programs and include links where they can learn more (ideally back on your website)
8. Engage your network with daily invites & introductions, questions and answers, and group discussions
9. Recommend only those you wholeheartedly endorse
10. Use ping.fm to update 30+ social networking sites at once!

Read the rest of this entry »

Amazing how often we need to be reminded much more so than taught!  I found Dale Carnegie’s book on my bookshelf – this one from 1936.  Which advice here wouldn’t be an asset to your efforts today?

Best,

David

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.