According to Jason Clark’s new iMediaConnection article Why Twitter Will Soon Become Obsolete, he brings up a good point that I’ve also noticed with the evolution of online products and technology use in the social media space. We’ve seen it time and time again with sites such as Friendster, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter first popular with younger generations, but once the majority of mass audiences start taking notice and new forms of advertising and sponsorships take flight, there is a shift in interest for further use over time. As marketers grasp these new technologies for the promotion of products, it can proliferate making a site saturated with similar messages, rather than using the communication tools to better understand the audience and provide further customer service and community support.

As Jason states in his article and I agree, “the online community is hyper-sensitive to marketing tactics, and as soon as a social media marketing tool becomes spammy, it immediately becomes irrelevant. Test different media, but let’s not get caught up in just one. Twitter is not the final answer to social media marketing. Staying aware, good writing, and good communication will always be more important. Think “writing” instead of “blogging” or “tweeting.” Remember, what works for one market on Twitter, or some other social media platform, can’t always be applied to every business. Closely monitoring, testing and evaluating the responses are key to success. Make sure before you start to market your business in these spaces, you have a strategy with the proper individuals in place to manage the process.

Don’t Put Too Many Eggs in the Twitter Basket
I’ve seen some intrinsic value in Twitter and many other social media platforms, but honestly, I can see where it could be another short-lived trend. Jason predicts, “Twitter will find its social media and marketing niche, but I cannot see it being nearly as important as some marketers are making it out to be. The retention rate of Twitter is said to be only around 30 percent, which means seven out of 10 people try it out once and don’t come back.”

Crazy world in cyberspace it has become. Are these new forms of communication only to later become trends that fade away? My advice is to not put all your eggs in one basket, but take a diversified integrated approach to marketing your business. People seek real connections, as well as loathe being blatantly marketed products online with little value. First it was email spam and people were flagging to block certain emails and notify their email service provider. Next it was too much tweeting typed on and on from someone in the course of two minutes forcing one to block their responses. What’s next?

A new study in MediaPost’s Engage Teens eNewsletter promoted by Bill Cater, partner of FuseMarketing, highlights eMarketer’s research on the teen demographic and use of social media tools and attitudes toward advertising and sponsorships. “According to eMarketer, advertising on social networks was $1.2 billion in 2008, rising to $1.3 billion in 2009. However, the study also found that only 30% of teens have “friended” a brand on a social networking site. Additionally, over 60% had an unfavorable to neutral opinion of brands advertising on social networks.” Bill Carter provides additional advice to those that wish to reach teens on social media sites for “brands to invest in relevant, paid content that provides some type of added value to teens and then further investment to maintain/update that presence. Social network marketing tactics are not free! Invest in your content, keep it fresh, and success will follow.“

Big Brother, Big Business, Don’t Be Fooled By the Face Either
Well are you familiar with those quizzes on Facebook? Someone behind-the -scenes is tracking your every response, your likes, dislikes, and it’s not just your friends, but rather businesses looking to make a buck off your behavior. Soon there will be a rise of more marketing messages coming your way of products sometimes without your knowledge. You may not have control of those messages being distributed to you either. It could happen tomorrow, if it isn’t already appearing before your eyes today. Are you okay with that? Remember as digital mediums grow, so do the audiences’ understanding and their use of it. People are becoming more savvy with behaviorial marketing tactics and some are not happy with this approach. A good marketer has to be careful with their strategy and provide useful information, provide a way to reach out to the community in an honest manner, rather than push products down people’s throats, or use deceptive tactics to get people to “buy-in” to a specific promotion, program, product or service. Otherwise, in the long -term your audience will retaliate and take a negative approach to your business. Yet, this social media world is new to many marketers all learning what works best and unfortunately through the process some brands may suffer. Good customer service, being upfront with your audience and trustworthiness are important values to uphold.

What’s the Next Wave for Social Media?
As Facebook has gone through a few facelifts to enhance its features, some have complained it’s harder to navigate the site. The audience has not been too receptive to some changes. This past week the new personal URL was introduced for one to add their own name to a URL specific to his/her profile. Yet, in traditional Facebook style there was little or no clear communication to understand the importance and relevancy to what the new URL means. I hypothesized it would help to identify better someone in the organic search of one’s profile to appear close to the top of the search engine results page. At the same time, Facebook warns the user you will only have ONE TIME to create a personal URL and the one you want could be taken. You will NOT be able to change it ever again. As a participant of the site with a profile, what does this actually mean to my further use in the future, or others that wish to review my information? That’s poor customer service if I ever heard. Let’s threaten them, get them to buy into the concept, and make it imperative for others to hurry up before time is running out! Hey, maybe Facebook is actually looking to monetize this new approach by creating a bidding war for acquisition of certain URL’s at a later date? At that point, it could be too late to find out the purpose of this new personalized URL.  Shortly thereafter, or in due time, the audience could decide to abandon the site altogether, because they weren’t pleased and move onto the next Google Wave, or plan to surf the web for something else.

Read my previous thoughts and how it relates to this issue on are we Creating a Bunch of Followers or New Leaders?

AlwaysOn Venture East

Despite the economy in a slump, there are a few new start-ups on the horizon seeking the proper seed capital to get their businesses off the ground, or take their company to the next level of success. It appears to be a tough road ahead, but along every path there are a few bumps to proceed to the next promising opportunity.  Last week AlwaysOn hosted the Venture East conference at the Mandarin Hotel Boston, providing an opportunity for venture capitalists, angel investors, entrepreneurs and new start-ups to showcase their products and services, as well as discuss their thoughts around business today during these unpredictable times.

A few local companies offered demonstrations of their products and/or services available today, or are just a step away from the store soon. Maybe you always wanted that surround-sound audio system in your living room, office, or bedroom, but didn’t want to bother building, breaking down walls and investing in all the parts to put it together? Emo Labs has the answer with its built-in speaker technology revolutionizing the way sound is brought to you. Hate the line and check-out counter at the supermarket? Why not consider ModivMedia’s point, click and scan your items, expediting the time it takes to do your shopping and check out. All it takes with their product is a quick minute or two to pay the bill at the register.

There was some discussion of the venture capitalists having to overhaul their internal infrastructure and be more cautious about the types of investments for the future. The old ways of doing business is not working in this economy. Some professionals are jumping ship from traditional firms to start funds of their own to take advantage of the up and coming industries. In the past, too much money was being thrown at IT and very few deals are coming together now.

Business Week reported in These Angels Go Where Others Fear to Tread ( June 1, 2009 issue), that more and more people are shying away from the venture capitalists to further conduct business and are seeking help from angel investors. Josh Kopelman, founder of First Round Capital reported, “…many old-line firms have gotten too big and unwieldy to build innovative companies the way they used to, and many angels, individuals who invest in start-ups, don’t have enough money to back most high-tech ideas . The article continues to discuss the importance “to take [venture capital]..back to its roots, when firms were smaller, more nimble and more likely to get start-ups off the ground.”

More links from Business Week about the attitude around the VC community

Is There An Angel in the Hub?

Angel Investors

As an entrepreneur, angels can be another route to get your business off the ground. Some New England leaders at different local organizations had spoken at the conference. These included Jean Hammond, of Boston’s Golden Seeds, Ham Lord of Launchpad Venture Group, and David Verrill of Hub Angels to name a few, who provided some advice to prepare promising entrepreneurs with the proper tips when approaching angels.

• Find someone you want to target that has experience in your business, or someone that can help to network you in.
• Make sure to have an interesting set of people that are working for your business that can bring diverse skills to the table.
• Be sure to have a great connection to customers and consider bringing a few to the meeting when pitching your product and/or service.
• Make sure to have a proof of concept, patents, etc, validate your target market needs/wants.
• Prove that you have thought through the parameters around the exit and make sure the right fund is a strategic fit.

New Investment Opportunities:
Boston VC’s Offer Hope on the Horizon

Managers of many of the local venture capitalist firms also spoke about the opportunities in Cleantech, discovering new tools and uses within digital media, eCommerce and mobile as a few contenders for consideration. David Beisel, VP at Venrock sees new hope in performance advertising where there is a shift in publishing to ad networks and/or real-time ad exchanges. Yet, in some instances, ad networks can hurt publishers as the business scales. Bob Davis, General Partner at Highland Capital Partners, said there is very little interest in media companies. So if you’re looking to attract any interest, you must be able to engage 100 million unique users each day and the audience must be measurable. Alan Spoon, Managing General Partner at Polaris Ventures spoke about how social media platforms may create awareness, but monetizing this is still a tough struggle. It’s key to focus on what platforms you are using, and what types of intellectual property has been created that can be of value to other companies who wish to acquire those aspects of the business.

Cleantech, Mobile, Digital Tools, eCommerce

Jeff Bussgang, General Partner of Flybridge Capital Partners commented on additional areas of growth which includes virtual goods, where people are willing to pay a premium for a service such as certain subscriptions or online games.

Marketing Matters

Kopelman also sees light at the end of the tunnel vested in interest to “building businesses on information freely on the web, or disrupting markets with cheaper web technology.” As technology has improved, the barriers to entry for many are few, thus positioning many entrepreneurs down an easier path of getting the business off the ground. However, some are finding it tough to gain customer acquisition and further online engagement with their brands that could be attractive to potential investors. In that case Kopelman states, “hire a marketing executive and launch a guerilla campaign.”

Too often, I’ve seen companies, especially new start-ups overly focused on the product and technology development neglecting one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. MARKETING. You can have the best product, but until one can easily identify “what can this product/service do for me?”, then you could have a problem. I’ve seen quite a few glitzy designed websites, all beautiful, but showcasing models, graphs, technical jargon, you name it – still no understanding of the target with the proper research to create a brand that could attract audiences. A skilled-marketer should be a part of the product development and go-to-market plans early on communicating with all parties. This prevents getting too far along the process by taking into consideration how to attract the audience, how to understand the audience, how to define the needs of the audience, and learn to market the business in the right fashion.

Tell me more about your business and be featured potentially in a future blog post. What challenges have you encountered?  What avenues have you considered for your marketing and sales strategy, or what would you like to learn in hopes to attract interest from potential investors? I welcome an opportunity to consult with you, or become a future member of your team in a marketing or business development role.

Are you looking for a job? Are you stuck trying to figure out what social media can do to promote yourself, or what it can do to help your business? Or, maybe you’re having trouble closing a sale when so many people are sensitive to spending money now.

Gain the Upper Edge

Last week, the New England XPO for Business held an open event at the Boston Convention & Exhibitor Center (BCEC) that featured new tips and tricks to put into practice and how it has paid off for some professionals. The event provided an opportunity for one to perfect their skills, knowledge and approach for doing business with others.

Steven Davis of CXO Advisory Group asked the audience what is the importance of ROI? It’s not only the company’s return on investment, but one must consider in today’s social media and viral reach as one’s return on influence. As I’ve mentioned before the importance of building one’s virtual presence, it is just as important as building rapport with others with one’s real presence. Think of this when it comes to business, your brands, and building up your name, credibility and trust in the market.  Google is your brand engine, so be sure to keep your website or personal profiles up-to-date. It’s also a great tool to check up on your competitors, or other potential candidates nearby in your area of work. Try to make sure you end up close to the top of the list.  Contributing to a blog regularly is one sure way to get you there.

In fact, Google offers a service for you to update your personal information with Google Profiles. Regardless as to what may have been promoted about you on the search engine’s historic log , this is a great way to keep your information fresh, or if you need to clean out any skeletons from your virtual closet! It’s also a good way to clarify any information about yourself should some other site, or virtual log be mistaken. Be sure to use many new social media platforms as if you were networking at a business conference or cocktail party. Remind the world who you are or what your business has to offer.

Some things to keep in mind when perfecting your personal pitch or that of your business:

• Provide a description of your product, service or your personal career background.
• Who are your customers or your audience?
• Why would a company and/or customer benefit from your service and/or skills?
• What expertise do you offer, or what are the unique features of the business?
• Explain some typical companies you have worked for and what do you think of the competing products/services on the market.
• Always follow-up personally to each request or inquiry.

Whether you are looking to market yourself, or your brand, it’s important to maintain a specific image and message. Use social media to bridge the gap between technology by making sure to provide a personalized voice.

Consider some of these key take-aways from the event that I’ve found helpful to give you the edge:

• Be prepared
• Transparency is key
• Clarity and accuracy of the issue
• Communication channels: explore different mediums for different things
• Know the facts and promote them
• Make sure the message is positive and strong
• Monitor your message and how others respond

As one speaker suggested, “don’t show-up and throw-up”, but rather be clear to your audience that you know the market, the trends, opportunities, threats and issues faced for a specific industry. Try this the next time you plan to meet an executive and would like to bide one’s time for another 10 minutes proving you are knowledgeable of the field. Should you be invited to speak with someone about yourself, or your business, it’s also good to put together a brief agenda of your interests, as well as goals you wish to accomplish with the meeting. Feel free to share this list with that individual before you get together in person.

Start networking, setting up informational interviews, or potential leads, as you navigate online and off-line to reach your goals! Need help crafting your pitch, personal profile, or assistance marketing your business? Check out some of my advice and what other’s have to say.

CNBC’s On The Money Show is Helping Job Seekers.
Tune In for Advice on How You Can Improve Your Chances for Finding the Right Fit In A Challenging Economy.

I Did and They Listened!

Tuesday’s CNBC’s On the Money Job Watch segment presented a great opportunity for my questions to be answered personally by television host Carmen Wong Ulrich, as well as guest Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com and Eons.com. Each took the time to address my questions about preparing for the interview in person and proving one’s worth in this competitive job market.

Since being laid off, I’ve been making a point to attend networking events, where in fact I met Jeff and heard him speak. I’ve been researching job boards online, conducting informational interviews, relying on some traditional tactics, while using new types of social media tools to get recognized for the right opportunity. I’ve also been promoting my consulting services on a per project basis.

Jeff highlighted the importance to keep active all the time. He encouraged me and others not to get frustrated, although easier said than done for some. Yet, I’ve noticed surrounding myself with positive influences from friends to family, as well as getting involved in varied activities and educational opportunities, can help one during a stressful situation to be at ease. It’s also important to go through this exercise to learn more about oneself and interests.

I’ve been making a point to schedule my day that includes taking the time for my job search, researching and preparing for different meetings, sending thank you letters, but also attending classes, working out at the gym, and kicking back to be social with friends. I’ve been exploring new opportunities outside my familiar circle, as well as companies on the horizon that are hiring someone with my expertise.

Taking the time to refine my resume, putting together personalized cover letters, as well as figuring out how best to pitch myself as a professional has indeed been a learning experience. It’s about selling yourself and showcasing to others what you are capable in hopes one will take the time, commitment and investment in your skills to get the job done.

I’ve found it can’t hurt to ask others for some constructive advice. Companies may not always give it to you, because it’s not always favorable. Yet,  those that do should be appreciated for offering their opinions. It’s about taking the advice for what it’s worth, but learning to make improvements every step of the way regardless of the outcome. At the same time, it’s about finding out in fact if the potential employer would be the right fit after all for you.

Check out the video presentation of my call into the show and interview with Carmen and Jeff.

Although, I’ve had experiences in the online space, I’m very much a person that enjoys meeting people face-to-face. Inquire today about my potential candidacy with your company and call me for an interview!

Information About Me

Keri Singer’s Resume

An article last year in eWeek,“Why Are There so Few Women Tech Entrepreneurs?” featured a report from Business Week showcasing the best young entrepreneurs in tech most likely to shape the world’s digital future. Of the 45 entrepreneurs, only three were women. It still rings true today, where I’ve noticed a gap with many online start-ups dominated by men with engineering backgrounds who continue to gain the attention and support by the media and venture firms. There are a select group of women professionals who have gone out on a limb and have been noted for their accomplishments in technology and digital developments. Well, maybe it’s a matter of time more women come together highlighting the accomplishments of other women.

Joan of Arc was a peasant girl, who despite her circumstances and an army of men, felt obligated to help lead the people of France to defeat the English. At a time of battle, she was capable of raising the spirits of the French troops securing control of Orleans.

Many times, women are the brainchild for new ideas and unfortunately still aren’t given the recognition or taken seriously for their work as some men. Center for Women’s Business Research (CWBR), reported that 10.1 million businesses are owned by women and this accounts for 40% of all privately held firms in the United States. These women run operations attribute to generating 1.1 trillion dollars in sales.

Is it really still a boys club and can’t the gals play with the venture capitalist crowd? I’ve thought it would be a great alternative to create a women owned VC firm that supports women driven businesses. Forbes magazine selected some of the top women with the Midas Touch to support the growth of new businesses after going out on their own to create their own firms. Many were tired of playing only with the boys club and decided it was best to be entrepreneurial as well. Myra Hart, a retired Harvard professor, conducted a report alongside Patricia Greene of Babson College, and other notable women researchers called The Diana Project. They reviewed many of the myths for women entrepreneurs seeking venture capital funding. In the report, “there was a noticeable trend where women received a disproportionately low amount of the venture capital available in the United States,” as reported in eWeek. During these tough economic times, it has created new challenges for both men and women entrepreneurs to seek the necessary funding for the growth of their business where new sources of financial support will be in need.

Why is it some men work together and become mentors for one another, while for the most part some women compete often against one another? Women need to bond together as much as men to move the army of talented individuals to the forefront of the battleground to win. I was considering today that there are few resources that promote the success stories, as well as hearing the challenges for women in the digital space. It would be great to share these experiences first-hand with others, or help connect people that want to make a contribution to new developments. It always interests me to create programs that can cultivate new talent to thrive, brings together people of different backgrounds and different areas of expertise to help new ideas, inspire entrepreneurship, or provide the proper tools to individuals about marketing, sales, and creating further awareness. I would like to join the ranks of women in leadership for making a remarkable and memorable change to empower people, while celebrating our similarities and embracing our differences.

I continue to work towards leading others, or learning from other leaders which include both men and women. It’s about time in 2009 that more organizations such as Girls in Tech have started to develop local chapters to support women of all ages seeking advancement and resources.

For some reason the competition between certain women in power remains strong and not supportive, while men look beyond that with their colleagues in the workforce. New programs for women is a positive thing, however, there is much needed focus at an earlier age for young girls and older women to change the old attitudes about competition and be in touch with collaboration and mentoring one another.

Are you a Joan of Arc in the Making? Or, do you know of one? Let me know!

Tomorrow’s Future is Now

I’ve been researching and thinking about areas that could use new development to help shape our future. Let’s think for a moment a place where one may not have been so fortunate to pursue higher education, but needs the resources available to better connect with others to pursue his/her dreams. Let’s think for a minute, the child in China, Brazil, or even Afghanistan that wants to connect with another child in the United States to tell someone what their daily life is REALLY like and not what the media portrays. Let’s think about connecting people, especially young with old to mentor, tackle real-world projects together, learn from or influence one another. Or, let’s think about this scenario, where a company is struggling lacking the resources to handle programming a new website or application, but a 16 year-old enjoys taking the time to figure these things out and doesn’t know how to bring to market his/her talent. We need to create more environments that prepare young people in this new virtual world to experiment and be open to becoming the entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow.

The opportunities in the online business community are going to be the driving force for the future in every industry.  I’ve been considering how I could be a significant individual to help bring together like-minded people to better shape the educational institutions, encourage the companies of today to embrace the new ways of doing business, as well as partner with the youth of tomorrow.

LET’S COME TOGETHER WITH THE COMMON GOAL & LET’S WORK TOGETHER.

Whether one is pursuing his/her MBA, finishing their undergraduate program, or sitting in today’s high schools, young people are embracing the web and tend to be the first to adopt new technology and the different uses of the internet. They use it, have fun with it and enjoy spending time experimenting with the new tools. Why not help them understand how to take something they enjoy and turn it into something marketable as professionals. Why not let them collaborate with others that seek to learn, but feel too overwhelmed and not sure where to start. Why not help build the confidence and provide the opportunity to people of all ages that have the potential to go far with their talent and creativity.

Inspiring Teens to Get Down to Business

We need to provide teens more opportunities in the high school classroom to conduct a case analysis for a small business down the street, or give an opportunity to assist a large corporation, or maybe contribute to the growth of a new non-profit. Why not provide the window into a new world for companies looking to develop innovative ways about solving a problem, create more internships, or provide a setting for young people to express themselves whether virtually in groups, or meeting together face-to-face at conferences across the globe. Why not create a way for teens to document their professional growth in a place they can make their own.

All of these efforts as a way to inspire and groom today’s youth professionally, using the new social tools available online.  At the same time, older individuals will also find the joy of sharing their knowledge and will gain a new prospective in these new learning/work environments.

Here are a few that are beginning to dream that dream, so why don’t we come together to form a strong foundation in order to suspend a global bridge.

MacArthur Digital Media and Learning

RenegadeCEO’s

YouthActionNet

TechStars

YouthVenture

Northeastern University’s Co-op Program

Generations Incorporated

TeensInTech

InternshipIN

DoSomething

One Laptop Per Child

Did you lose your job?

Do you need to increase sales for your business?

Do you want to impress someone in hopes to date?

Do you just want to send out the right message to others about you and don’t know where to start?

Start taking control of your virtual presence and making a serious commitment as you have with your personal relations.

People are watching, reading or learning about you whether you like it or not. Thanks to the web and search engines, otherwise known as “Googling someone,” it’s as important to define who you are in person, as much as you define yourself online. Put your best foot forward as to how individuals come into contact with your background to learn more about you in cyberspace. Today, it’s important to be accessible online if you want to get noticed.  Whether it’s for your career development, meeting that special someone to enhance your life, or to just network with others showcasing your personality and talents to build stronger relationships. It’s difficult to climb an uphill battle to gain back one’s reputation, integrity and build respect among others than anything else. We must consider our interactions in the real-world and how it may impact our presence in the virtual world. Of course, we can’t worry what others think about us all the time because there are all sorts of people with different motives. But, it’s important for everyone to take the necessary steps to manage both one’s online and off-line reputation. Let me help you create your profile in the virtual world to lead you on the path to success. Every environment online can be different and keeping track of all the tools can be overwhelming. Take my advice to assess your personality and perfect your profiles across the web.

Give yourself a virtual make-over. Craft the right message, to the right audience to attract others professionally, or enhance your relationships with others. Gain the proper exposure about you, or your business to make a positive impact with others. Whether it’s Match.com, LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, your personal blog, or providing guidance for a face-lift to your website, let me assist you in the areas where you virtual presence will help you get noticed. CIO.com offers some advice on Managing Your Reputation Online

Posted in Blogs, Careers, Marketing, Networking, Small Business, Social Media Tagged: Blog, branding you, Careers, dating sites, LinkedIn, managing profiles, Match.com, Networking, reputation online, search-engines, Small Business, virtual presence, virtual world, websites ]]> http://kerisinger.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/make_me_over_helping_to_create_your_virtual_presence_and_profiles/feed/ 2 kerisinger http://kerisinger.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/hanging_at_the_house_of_blues_boston/ http://kerisinger.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/hanging_at_the_house_of_blues_boston/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:13:15 +0000 kerisinger http://kerisinger.wordpress.com/?p=506 ]]>

Bringin’ it Back to Beantown Where it All Began. The HOB first launched in Cambridge, but only a few were blue when it closed down. The restaurant and entertainment venue had much success expanding in such locations as Vegas and Chicagoentertaining crowds. I’m glad to see it come back home and nobody was singing the blues tonight in Boston. There were guests living it up, laughing and having a great time at the opening party listening to the rockin’ blues talent at the new location on Lansdowne Street. Young and old mingled in the crowd of eclectic artwork decorating the walls where the disco ball and lights of the Avalon nightclub used to shine. Dan Aykroyd, the original Blues Brother himself and his closest friends, including Carly Simon, gathered on stage to get the party started and give birth once again to the new venue next to the famous Fenway Park. Everyone was dancing and singing celebrating the occasion. It was a great escape from the stresses of society today, to see everyone smiling having a good time, and meeting new people. I had quite a few memories dancing at Avalon and wasn’t quite sure what to expect walking through the door. They preserved certain aspects of the nightclub with the new structure, but offered audiences three floors now to socialize. I’m told the VIP room called the Foundation is quite the place to see and you too can join with an exclusive membership.

The men on stage were taking off their shirts as they were gyrating their bellies to the music, as the girls got down swinging their hips. It was fun and quite funny. I enjoyed swinging it myself on the dance floor and few complimented my moves. Best of all, was seeing many familiar faces of my past at the party. Yes, time has moved on for all of us, people get married, move on, have kids, change jobs, start companies, nightclubs and restaurants open and close. Yet, there’s one great thing about this city I can appreciate, mixing the old with the new, but preserving those special moments as if they just happened yesterday. Yes, it’s nice to connect with people on Facebook from our past, but the experiences tonight with people in person around this town, no technology can replace the realism, the real connections and memories made face-to-face. I had a good time and happy to share that experience with you. 

It’s about opening my world to you to share my perspective. You will read the Boston Globe and/or Boston.com, and some people will be seeing tonight’s report on WBZ Channel-4, as well as many other media outlets reporting on the event. Yet, my perspective will be unique to all the others, and that’s what is great about the new technology in our hands today and the power it has on us.

So if you are sending your resumes on Monster, beefing up your LinkedIN profiles appealing to hiring mangers and HR executives, one comes to wonder, why are certain opportunities only granted to specific individuals? Is it really just luck, who you know, timing, or how you best market yourself? Is it about putting as many keywords in your resume to get the hiring manager’s attention? It’s a combination of a few things to see what works best for you based on your background and what you can offer.

Today there are lots of talented people laid-off, people looking for work in all areas and new graduates on the horizon adding to the competitive landscape. Honestly, it’s exhausting with all the resources out there. Yet, it’s important to be noticed where you can stand out best in your industry. Why is it now that we have to go to numerous channels to manage our identity online,  seek-out new positions, as we document our experiences, all in hopes to get noticed?  We are all learning with the advancements in technology, it’s about using the virtual world combined with the real world to bridge the gaps and build stronger relationships.

For those of you looking for jobs, including myself, I’ve come to notice  that many companies are still filling roles with the “cookie-cutter” mentality of finding someone with this or that, while many companies continue to overlook the valuable transferable skills. I believe there are some innate skills to identify with someone that proves they will go out there to make something happen, regardless of their background.Commitment, Passion, Enthusiasm, Creativity, Professionalism and of course a little Humor can go a long way in the right hands.

In certain cases, companies aren’t sure what exactly they need to be successful, or understand their true needs in this evolutionary time.

Why do companies take actions to attract audiences convincing them to provide random personal information to generate new leads for others, in return to spam people with useless information which later builds distrust in hopes one will stay connected to the community? For those examples, there is a lot to be learned. Some businesses are trying to catch up now playing a game of cat and mouse and for some it’s too late. The attitude has been if everyone else is doing it, we should be too. Yet, that is not always the best approach to follow, but rather test different segments of the market to see if in fact audiences are receptive. I still believe it’s important to utilize and be smart about using traditional marketing tactics, but at the same time be open to experimenting with the new concepts. You should too go out there and try something new as you prepare yourself for the next big thing around the corner.

What about the individual that wanted to go to Harvard Business school, wasn’t quite the best at standardized tests, or didn’t have the finances, but knew deep down they could benefit from the program and be the next leader. Why do we shut-down that opportunity for some and not take what Harvard, or other great universities have offered to create new programs for people not as fortunate to take advantage of these occasions. In today’s world, why do we continue to limit people from new ways of working together to build better businesses. Another example is why are trade conventions only available to an elite group to network for those that are employed by organizations that can afford to pay thousands of dollars to attend? Just think of the value of sharing that knowledge with others that could benefit? It’s great that new organizations are starting to form in cities and towns as there is increased demand for these networking events with little or no cost.

We are all questioning what the future will bring. The decline in our economy has dealt with a few crooks along the way that didn’t help any of us, but there will always be new ones around the corner. We can’t push the blame and we can’t continue to put up walls to stifle productivity. Now its’ evident big business is not surviving sticking to some of the old processes and procedures. We are living in a time where we can’t close doors anymore, but rather we need to smash some of the old standard practices and be open to new ideas, flourish in new work settings, and offer new programs to uplift others and allow people to shine together. We need to create more outlets to inspire hope and provide resources to everyone that are dedicated to making their dreams a reality. One may lack the resources or understanding how to accomplish their goals in the business community and get their ideas off the ground. This is why we need to continue to build a bridge that knocks down the walls to provide the guidance and steps to all individuals, all backgrounds, and all minorities. Hmmm..I like the sound of that!

Check out: CMi known as the Cambridge MicroFinance Initiative, holding a special event this Saturday, February 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am, offering a Small Business Crash Course Conference on campus at Harvard University. Looks like the crimson colored college is coming together to seek new ways to reach out to the community and support new business developments.