How to Successfully Take On Any Project – Big or Small

We all start new projects every day - whether it’s launching a multi-million dollar IT upgrade, starting a marketing campaign, onboarding a customer or simply creating a spreadsheet.

When taking on a new project, how do you know where to begin?

Even the smallest project can look intimidating at first glance. With the right tools, however, you can efficiently conquer any project – big or small.

Whether you are working alone or with the support of a team, basic project management skills are necessary to successfully tackle any endeavor.

Join Deborah C. Miller, President of Miller Productivity, on Wednesday, September 19, at 1:00 PM Eastern, for a FREE webinar as she highlights the responsibilities, expectations and characteristics of effective and successful project managers.

During this hour-long webinar, designed for all levels in your organization, you’ll learn how to:

• Clearly define measurements and goals for success
• Effectively define the “four main tasks”
• Productively manage time, delegate, direct, communicate and coordinate

Register now

About our Speaker:
Deborah C. Miller has 25+ years of experience working with corporate, medical, manufacturing, and nonprofit organizations. Deb is dedicated to helping organizations transform the work environment and work processes in ways that increase productivity, encourage creativity, and shift the organization from imitation to innovation. Deb earned a Master’s Degree from Purdue University, a Six Sigma Black Belt from SBTI and a Lean in Healthcare Certification from Leading Edge Group.

Tonya Hottmann is the director of marketing at InterCall, responsible for small business marketing. Before joining InterCall, Tonya ran a boutique marketing consulting firm for 10 years. An avid baseball fan, she enjoys reading, traveling, exercising and spending summer days at the beach.

Sins and CEOs: Lessons from Leaders and Losers That Will Change Your Career

Everyone is the CEO of something.

Whether managing a department, leading a volunteer committee, or even coaching a soccer team - we all are in charge of some aspect of our lives. Often times, being a leader means you must make challenging decisions under an immense amount of pressure and scrutiny.

Join Richard Moran on Wednesday, August 15 at 1:00 p.m. eastern for a free webinar as he teaches you how to become a stronger and more focused leader.

During this hour-long webinar, you will learn:

• How to identify 9 common offenses of the workplace
• About the Sins of Omission and how they can affect your professional life
• How to avoid the most egregious intentional sins

Register now

About Our Speaker:
Richard A. Moran is a nationally known authority on corporate leadership and workplace issues. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chair at Accretive Solutions, a venture capitalist and serves as director on several boards. Richard is credited with creating the genre of “business bullet” books, based on the belief that business is often best directed by simple, rather than complex principles. His latest book is Sins and CEOs: Lessons from Leaders and Losers That Will Change Your Career.  His previous books include National Bestseller Never Confuse a Memo with Reality; Beware Those Who Ask for Feedback; Fear No Yellow Stickies; Cancel the Meetings, Keep the Doughnuts; and Nuts, Bolts and Jolts.

Tonya Hottmann is the director of marketing at InterCall, responsible for small business marketing. Before joining InterCall, Tonya ran a boutique marketing consulting firm for 10 years. An avid baseball fan, she enjoys reading, traveling, exercising and spending summer days at the beach.

Perseverance, Success and You!

Resilience is a practice, not a personality trait. In both our business and personal lives, it is commonly believed that “pain instructs, failures are lessons-learned and crisis drives action”. When crisis hits, perseverance is required to bounce back. Success is no mere achievement; it is a triumph whereby the victor emerges richer and stronger because of battle.

Join Brian Patrick Jensen, on Wednesday, July 18, at 1:00 PM eastern for a free webinar as he explains the dynamics of perseverance and how you can apply them in order to triumph when the going gets tough.

During this hour long webinar, you will learn:

• How to choose to persevere and why some people are more resilient than others.
• "Five Things Resilient People Do" and how to apply them
• Exercises that you can apply to your own challenges
• How to access free additional resources and online essays

Register Now

About our Speaker:
Brian Patrick Jensen is a business leader, writer and passionate orator. He is a successful human resources and corporate communications executive, training consultant and college lecturer renowned throughout his career for his spirited presentations and straight-talk. In 2010 Brian suffered sudden and profound hearing loss; and he is now deaf. His signature public speaking service and namesake blog--BrianPatrickJensen.com--was launched in July 2011 and has already inspired thousands

Tonya Hottmann is the director of marketing at InterCall, responsible for small business marketing. Before joining InterCall, Tonya ran a boutique marketing consulting firm for 10 years. An avid baseball fan, she enjoys reading, traveling, exercising and spending summer days at the beach.

Get to the Point and Get People to See Things Your Way

Want to be clear, confident and convincing?

Whether leading a board room or simply talking amongst coworkers, clear communication is essential whenever you have something important to say.

Most people want to be able to effectively communicate their ideas comfortably and confidently. Learning how to focus your message and deliver it in a clear and compelling way will increase your credibility and create a positive, lasting impression on your audience – whether it’s your boss, colleague or employee.

Join Terri Langhans, on Wednesday, June 20, at 1:00 PM Eastern for a free webinar as she explains what it takes to communicate with more impact and influence to get the kind of results, response and decisions you’re looking for.

During this hour long webinar, you will learn how to:

• Focus your message in a clear and compelling way
• Eliminate rambling and stay on track without memorizing
• Think on your feet when handling questions and objections

Register now>>

About Our Speaker
Terri Langhans, Certified Speaking Professional, is the author of the book, The 7 Marketing Mistakes Every Business Makes and How to Fix Them, and is the former CEO of a $30 million national ad agency and marketing firm that she started from scratch and sold to a publicly traded company. Her work has won a New York Film Festival award for television commercials, the coveted CLEO for advertising and the American Marketing Association’s EFFIE for the most effective marketing campaign in the country. Terri’s Company, Blah Blah Blah, works with companies who want their message to stand out and get the results they're looking for--without being blah.

Tonya Hottmann is the director of marketing at InterCall, responsible for small business marketing. Before joining InterCall, Tonya ran a boutique marketing consulting firm for 10 years. An avid baseball fan, she enjoys reading, traveling, exercising and spending summer days at the beach.

10 Tips to Successful Webcasts

Do you feel that your webcasts or web events go unnoticed or are not producing the results you WANT? Learn the best tips from industry leaders and experts. Join us for a webcast that will teach you how to increase attendance, audience engagement and knowledge transfer via web events.

In this interactive webcast you will learn:

1. How to market to your audience and make them WANT to attend your events
2. Best ways to engage and CONNECT your audience during the event
3. Understand and apply BEST PRACTICES to gauge audience interest and target the right market
4. How to properly follow up and use data to create “hot leads”

Webinar Details

• Date: Tuesday, June 26
• Time: 11 AM PST
• Register here

Hope to see you there!

Eric Vidal is a Director of Product Marketing at InterCall and is considered a leading voice and expert in virtual business, which expands from marketing to collaboration to learning. He has more than 15 years experience in developing, implementing and optimizing strategies in these areas for numerous organizations and Global 2000 companies. As the director of product marketing for InterCall’s event services, Eric manages the strategy and initiatives for the virtual technologies that include virtual environments, streaming, event management services and operator assisted services. Previously from WebEx, Eric managed the virtual classroom product, as well as brand advertising and new media. Over the last several years, Eric has held management positions at Cisco, WebEx, IBM, BBDO Worldwide and Macromedia.

Building Effective PowerPoint Slides for Webcasts

Are you and your co-workers building PowerPoint presentations that lack impact? Do you find yourself reading off of slides instead of telling a story?

Join us for a webcast on Wednesday, June 20 at 10 AM PST where I will interview PowerPoint and “graphic guru” Malcolm Johnson as he shares best practices to create powerful and engaging presentations. Learn what to do and what not to do from someone that has created over 100 slide decks for webcasts and virtual events. In this session you will learn:

• Why you should build a PowerPoint specifically for a webcast
• How to hold people's attention
• Good examples
• Examples of what not do and what to avoid when building PPTs for webcast

Register now>>

Eric Vidal is a Director of Product Marketing at InterCall and is considered a leading voice and expert in virtual business, which expands from marketing to collaboration to learning. He has more than 15 years experience in developing, implementing and optimizing strategies in these areas for numerous organizations and Global 2000 companies. As the director of product marketing for InterCall’s event services, Eric manages the strategy and initiatives for the virtual technologies that include virtual environments, streaming, event management services and operator assisted services. Previously from WebEx, Eric managed the virtual classroom product, as well as brand advertising and new media. Over the last several years, Eric has held management positions at Cisco, WebEx, IBM, BBDO Worldwide and Macromedia.

Using Virtual Events To Ignite Your Lead Generation

Most of today's top-notched marketers have either participated in or even executed their own virtual event. But many still miss the mark when it comes to using virtual events to ignite lead generation.

Although there's no "one-size-fits-all" solution, we invite you to listen to industry leader Larry Cook of IBM. As one of the key architects of the IBM Global Virtual Events Center—a dynamic and "always open" virtual business environment--here's your chance to listen to a true lead generation expert and learn:

• To create innovative programs in your virtual events that keeps visitors coming back
• Secrets to driving amazing registration numbers, in both quantity and quality
• To keep your audience engaged, even after your event has concluded

And keynoted by Sharon Hudson of MarketingProfs, we're certain you'll come away with critical insights and ideas that will impact your virtual event strategies for years to come.

• Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012
• Time: 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST
• Register here>>

 

Eric Vidal is a Director of Product Marketing at InterCall and is considered a leading voice and expert in virtual business, which expands from marketing to collaboration to learning. He has more than 15 years experience in developing, implementing and optimizing strategies in these areas for numerous organizations and Global 2000 companies. As the director of product marketing for InterCall’s event services, Eric manages the strategy and initiatives for the virtual technologies that include virtual environments, streaming, event management services and operator assisted services. Previously from WebEx, Eric managed the virtual classroom product, as well as brand advertising and new media. Over the last several years, Eric has held management positions at Cisco, WebEx, IBM, BBDO Worldwide and Macromedia.

Can Virtual Training Be More Costly Than Classroom Training?

The answer to that question is yes, when done incorrectly.

How many times have you seen the uninformed do-it-yourself project end in various levels of disaster? And heard, “I know how to do that,” or “How hard can it be?” Then one hour or one day or one month later, the plumbing project—that supposedly saved several hundreds of dollars at the time—developed a slow leak that wound up causing several thousands of dollars of repair. If only the quick tips and training offered by the store or the manufacturer had been followed!

Uninformed do-it-yourself efforts can cost more than having hired a professional from the start. On the other hand, informed do-it-yourselfers can save grand amounts of money and time. I have seen this time and time again in virtual training and meeting. You hear, “I know how to do that,” or “How hard can it be? Just throw some PowerPoint slides together or use the ones we used at the last session, throw it on the virtual platform and get going. We can do it ourselves and get this done quickly and cost effectively.”

Maybe. Maybe not. Are you an informed virtual training/meeting do-it-yourselfer? If not, here’s what may be in store for you: wasting money (participants x hourly rate) and more money (productivity, sales, quality loss from lack of knowledge or skill building). Many times this exceeds the costs of bringing the participants together for an effective classroom session. Don’t be fooled again!

Here are some easy-to-use secrets of great LIVE virtual training sessions and meetings to help you be an informed do-it-yourselfer.

• ENGAGEMENT. Once every 90 seconds, engage your participants. What does this mean? Visual changes, audible changes and participant interaction or collaboration.
• VISUAL CHANGES include showing a PowerPoint presentation (slide advances, annotating a slide, purposeful animation) and sharing video, websites, documents and other applications.
• AUDIBLE CHANGES include varying your vocal tone, pace and volume, including the powerful use of silence; adding in others’ voices live or recorded; and music.
• PARTICIPANT INTERACTION AND COLLABORATION include using the virtual platform features such as Twitter, chat, polls, raise hand, breakouts, report outs, etc. or even external collaboration applications that can be shared. You are not limited to the features of the virtual platform itself.
• ONE IDEA PER SLIDE. Stick with this if you’re using PowerPoint unless it’s an introduction or summary slide. Yes, that means more slides than typical in a physical setting. Many of the “rules” learned for physically communicating (six words, six bullets, number of minutes per slide) are actually wrong for the virtual setting.
• VISUAL STIMULATION IS KEY. Virtual communication requires a lot of stimulating visual content in order to grab attention, keep attention and convey messaging in a way that humans will assimilate it. Just look at advertising, the ultimate virtual communication example that has been around for years. They know how to do it. Why would we think that communicating virtually in a business setting would trump our basic human wiring?

With the amount of knowledge and skill sharing needed in today’s business world, everyone needs to be a virtual trainer and meeting leader. Become informed and do-it-yourself quickly, effectively and cost efficiently. Don’t be fooled again.

About Our Guest Blogger
Corinne Miller is the founder and principal trainer and consultant at Innovating Results Inc (IRI) where she focuses on solutions for managing a virtual workforce, virtual teaming, virtual training and innovation for everyday problem solving. Prior to IRI, Corinne’s career has included leadership positions in learning and development, business operations and engineering in the high-tech industry. She is a frequently requested writer and speaker. More on Corinne can be found at: http://innovatingresults.com.

The InterCall Guest Blogger is a subject matter expert who contributes relevant articles to The InterCall Blog. Topics can range from unified communications, conferencing and collaboration or virtual events to general business communications and process improvement. If you are interested in submitting an article for The InterCall Blog, please email blog@intercall.com.

Growing Your Business

Looking to revitalize your company’s growth?

Today’s economy presents a whole new set of obstacles for business owners, often making it difficult to remain focused on a daily basis. In the midst of all of this challenge and change, it’s important to take a step back and reflect on what will and will not work within your organization.

For business owners who are willing to take on a creative and innovative approach to building their business, there are still plenty of growth opportunities available. Implementation of a single tip or tactic often creates a turning point, steering your business down the road to success.

Join Mark LeBlanc on Wednesday, May 16, at 1:00 PM Eastern for a free webinar where he’ll reveal turning points, as well as some keen insights, observations and sound strategies that will make or break your business.

During this hour long webinar, you will learn how to:

• Put more money in your pocket
• Position yourself for higher fees
• Create a marketing plan that gets you booked
• Set up a system for staying focused on a daily basis

Register now >>

About the Speaker
Mark LeBlanc, president of Small Business Success, is a member of Master Speaker International and former president of the National Speakers Association. Mark now speaks and writes on the street-smart strategies for achieving in times of challenge and change.

Mark’s comprehensive, one-of-a-kind, business philosophy offers the perfect blend of wisdom, strategies and ideas that can be implemented immediately. Mark owns several companies and has also authored the books Growing Your Business!, a how-to for business owners looking to sell more products and services, and Never Be the Same, a self-management and leadership guide.

Tonya Hottmann is the director of marketing at InterCall, responsible for small business marketing. Before joining InterCall, Tonya ran a boutique marketing consulting firm for 10 years. An avid baseball fan, she enjoys reading, traveling, exercising and spending summer days at the beach.

Duct Tape Marketing: 7 Steps to Marketing Success

What is the fastest way to make your business grow?

Many small businesses believe that success hinges on the efficient implementation of financial, operational and sales processes within their organizations. While these procedures will help to keep your business running, they will not ensure growth.

Delivering consistent leads and creating new revenue opportunities through a successful marketing system will consistently deliver tangible results to grow your business and surpass your competition.

Join Matt Murren, certified Duct Tape Marketing consultant, on Wednesday, April 18, at 1:00 PM Eastern for a free webinar as he explains how building a marketing system will help to differentiate yourself from the competition, build revenue and take your business to the next level.

During this hour long webinar, you will also learn how to:

• Find your ideal client
• Build a referral marketing system
• Use online marketing to dominate your competition

Register now>>

About the Speaker
Matt Murren is a certified Duct Tape Marketing consultant and serial entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience marketing and operating small businesses. Matt specializes in online marketing, product launches and installing marketing systems that generate leads for small businesses. Matt's approach was developed after seeing his consulting clients struggle with getting their marketing systems built and taking action to generate real leads for their business.

Tonya Hottmann is the director of marketing at InterCall, responsible for small business marketing. Before joining InterCall, Tonya ran a boutique marketing consulting firm for 10 years. An avid baseball fan, she enjoys reading, traveling, exercising and spending summer days at the beach.