Modern life is pretty fast paced for those that work and live in the city. Work that you complete on a computer can be sent in the blink of an eye within a fast connection to anywhere in the world. One morning can achieve a whole host of tasks that in the past would have taken a lot longer. Businesses and companies have all had to ensure that their technology is up to date so that they can provide the level of service that we all expect today.

Network communications have hugely changed in recent years, from a simple phone call on a phone line abroad that costs huge amounts of money, to conference calls made via VOIP (Voice over internet protocol). Making file transfers and sending mail information no longer relies on the old fax machine, all that is needed these days is a simple email account and an internet connection. Communicating over the internet is only slowly becoming more accepted as people come more familiar with the technology and understand that the cost of making a phone call over the internet is far cheaper than normal phone calls.

Making phone calls over the internet really is much cheaper than the alternatives out there, as no matter where you are in the world, the cost will remain the same. However the only price that you pay for these network communications is broadband internet connectivity. You pay for nothing else, however if your broadband provider is down then you will be unable to make calls in this way. Modern offices today not only communicate with the internet but now have developed technology to connect computers and machines together. This form of network communications makes it much easier to transfer information and keep up to date with one another.

However, it would seem that it is not just the business world that wants to keep in network communications. People all over the world connect together via different technologies such as mobile phones, online instant change programmes and online networking tools such as Facebook and MySpace. This is a huge distance from the past in which people had to communicate in many different and difficult ways, whereas today people are able to communicate to a wide range of people simply by using Smartphone technology. You often hear people claim how independent they are to the technology and how they would feel completely useless not being able to be apart of these network communications.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in modern technology.
Find out more about Network Communications and how the services available can keep your business well connected.

[tags]Network Communications, Telecommunications, Networking[/tags]

Do you ever read the comments section after finishing up an article online? When was the last time a comment changed your mind about something, or added something great to the conversation?

Just how valuable are comments?

First, let’s look at some random comments from different online sources that I found today:

Youtube: 1st comment. LOL (discussing a weekly news clip)

Times UK: I’m afraid the Government will have a hard task ahead of them persuading the average UK family to convert to solar power at UK prices.(warily eying Cap & Trade)

The New Republic: What you seem to have discovered is the artifice and intellectual bankruptcy of much of literary theory. Forgive me if I don’t read the book. (contemplating a book review & subsequent purchase)

Clearly, we see how comments can be bad (LOL), decent (restating simply, or with wit what’s already been said), and good (adding something more to the debate)

How are comments digested, ranked, & presented? Then & Now.

In the early days, comments were created only to become buried by newer comments. However, it left room for spammers and pranksters to run amok and hijack space created for civilized discussion. To control this, most sites adapted a editing system that mixed both editorial control and public moderation. Now, a link to diet pills or a racist diatribe are harder to find on comment sections.

Today, sites can either let every user vote for their favorite comments (popularity) or only let a group of select users/readers make visible comments. Welcome to High School 2.0.

Digg and other social bookmarking sites have relied on their massive user community to bury (digg down) useless and pointless comments and highlight funny, insightful, and witty comments. Comments on Digg are visible if they are approved by the majority.

Or, sites can chose to elect a group of users to produce visible, front page, comments. Gawker Media recently decided to do just this and currently displays comments that have been written by tier 1 readers/commentators. Tier 1 commentator’s are those users who have continually impressed the editors with their commenting skills. Comments left by anyone else will still be published, but in a completely different page that’s aptly titled, tier 2. The new system creates a order which will put Gawker’s advertisers at ease, alienate some of the existing community, and persuade other readers to work doubly hard to get into the tier 1 club. That’s a win, lose, win for Gawker.

A comment on the future of the love affair between social technology & business.

Comments by users make social technology/media sites as good as they are. After all, places like Twitter are simply platforms for user comments. They are important and they are shaping how people interact, do business, and network. Smart businesses can see the importance of staying on the cutting-edge of social technologies and comment ranking is a very big deal. Companies looking to promote their products virally may now need to earn the credentials (such as tier 1status) in order to begin a successfully marketing campaign. Or, perhaps comment rankings, in the future, can be bought, sold, and traded.

We’ll see.

An empty comment box is the modern day overturned soap box and it’s important that we think about its purpose, its visibility, and its future. Perhaps, sites shouldn’t create a tier 1 or a tier 2 comment system but instead offer commenters the ability to write in one of either three groups, support, disagree, or who cares. And than let the readers chose what they want to read.

Samuel Bacharach is the Professor of Labor Management at Cornell University’s ILR School. He is the Director of ILR’s New York City-based Institute for Workplace Studies and the director of the New York City-based Master of Professional Studies. He writes about proactive leadership on his blog. Check out: http://bacharachblog.com

[tags]social media interaction, future of comments, social media and business[/tags]

Effective business strategies aren’t always about spread sheets, meeting targets and being productive 24/7, sometimes a spot of social activity can be just the boost a business needs to increase profit potentials. Corporate events are a fantastic way to network with fellow industry professionals and new clients. We take a look at some of the most popular corporate events for raising a professional profile.

Corporate events are often held at sporting, musical or theatrical events that are open to public attendance. The corporate packages available have perks such as access to VIP areas, complementary bar and include dinner or a buffet by top chefs. Alternatively companies can arrange a private event that is open to invite only.

Prestigious sporting events such as the Grand National, Cowes Week and Henley Regatta are popular events for businesses to attend as they offer a diverse social opportunity for networking. Many companies buy tickets that allow small groups of employees to attend these events. Often tickets are given to important clients or business associates allowing a chance to discuss business matters in a relaxed environment.

Major concerts by influential musical artists are also popular opportunities for networking. Once again, packages available include special privileges such as complimentary champagne, food and souvenirs of the event. Access to VIP areas gives a chance for mixing with other high profile business people in an atmosphere where it is possible to socialise. Corporate events such as these are also an opportunity for colleagues to form social bonds, which in turn enhances working potential through partnerships.

Private corporate events are a great opportunity for team building days and activities. As they are open to invite only, a select group can be invited to enhance the potential for improved business communication and cooperation. As well as having staff present, clients and potential clients can be invited, presenting an informal atmosphere for business liaising.

By creating social opportunities for communication, colleagues can demonstrate skills that may not have otherwise been noticed in the working environment. Indentifying these skills and understanding how they can be used in the workplace means that companies can harness the potential of each employee and use it to increase productivity and ultimately the success of the business.

Taking employees out of the working environment and allowing them freedom of expression in a social environment benefits both the company and the individual; corporate events are the perfect platform for boosting a business profile publicly and professionally.

Dom Donaldson is a business expert.
Find out more about Corporate Events and the packages available that will boost the networking potential of your business at Keith Prowse.

[tags]Corporate Events, team building, networking, business building[/tags]

As businesses expand, their communications capabilities need to expand too. Through a collection of communication devices such as teleconference facilities, computer networks and voice over internet protocol phones, network communications form the hub of business activity and can be fundamental for success.

Before computer networks became common, network communications relied on human input between simple systems and between people. Historically, this can be viewed as anything from carrier pigeons to switchboards. Nowadays though, businesses rely on complicated internal and external systems that can facilitate conference calling, database management and remote server operations.

Without such systems it would be impossible for a company to keep up with its competitors, and as technology develops it is essential that existing network communication systems can be maintained and modified. This is primarily because the majority of people use modern technologies to perform everyday tasks.

Emails, faxes, online activity, instant messaging and mobile internet access all combine to make our era the most technologically reliant ever, a trend that is set to continue. The research going into expanding and speeding up communication options is constantly growing and incorporating ever more complicated technologies. Ideally, the more complicated the systems become, the less complicated it is to keep communication effective and efficient.

Considering that the telephone was invented only 130 years ago, the communication options available to us at present are proof that communication technology has bloomed beyond belief. We are able to communicate wirelessly using phones, laptops, computers and games consoles and currently scientists are working on creating a broadband connection between Earth and the Mars.

This breaking news came about from experiments in photon detection and it is thought that at some point in the future this technology could be used to send information via a laser stream. This could give us a network communications system unlike any other known, capable of sending large amounts of interplanetary information in much the same way as broadband connects businesses globally.

Presently, scientific information is sent via a radio frequency, and it can take hours for information to come through. By using a faster connection it is possible that between one million and thirty million bits per second can be transmitted. But what does this mean for development in business communications? Well given that your average desk top computer has more processing power than the NASA system that put man on the moon, developments in space research could be fuelling our business communications networks of the future.

Dom Donaldson is a communications expert.
Find out more about Network Communications and business telecommunication equipment at Voice and Data.

[tags]Network Communications, telecommunications, communication networks[/tags]

I don’t know about you but I just love summertime! It’s a time for outdoor barbecues and pool parties and meeting lots of fun new people.

And meeting all these new people provides a terrific opportunity for growing your small business. If you think of the six degrees of separation (have you ever played the Kevin Bacon game?) almost every one you’ll ever need to grow your small business is represented right there at that summertime barbecue. And you thought you were only going for the burgers!

The key is to get the person you’re meeting interested in who you are and what you do and to recognize how your services can help someone he knows. And that can be difficult to do in the time it takes to say, “Joe I’d like you to meet Michelle. Michelle this is Joe.”

Oh, the pressure! What’s a small business owner to do? Here you are, face to face with a Kevin Bacon wannabe, the person who has the potential to send dozens and dozens of referrals your way.

How do you capitalize on the next 30 seconds and not silently move into the nameless oblivion of every other partygoer currently enjoying their hotdogs and potato salad? How do you get this guy interested; how do you get him to come to the conclusion that he knows people you can help?

I can tell you what NOT to do. Do not, under any circumstances, respond by saying, “Hi, I’m a life coach.” Or, “Nice to meet you. I’m a CPA.” Chances are, that will bring any conversation about you and what you do to a screeching halt. Joe will answer with a brief “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” and immediately excuse himself to get some chocolate cake before the icing melts in the sun.

A trap that many entrepreneurs and small business owners (and employees, too) fall into is introducing themselves with their title, like “I’m a landscaper.” There are all sorts of problems with this approach, including the fact that the person you’re talking to already has a preconceived notion of what your title means.

But in my opinion, the biggest problem is that it’s just plain ol’ boring. Unless you’re speaking to a very experienced conversationalist or someone who just fired their landscaper yesterday, it’s going to be almost impossible to turn that introduction into a few more sentences about you and your services.

Now let me put a quick disclaimer in here… I’m not suggesting that you monopolize the conversation in any way. That would make you equally as boring.

What I am saying is that simply by tweaking the way you introduce yourself, you will empower your listener to conclude whether or not there is need for further discussion about your services. And you can still accomplish this in only seven seconds.

Instead of using your title, you want your introduction to focus on who it is that you help and how it is that you help them. You want to focus on the benefits that you bring to your clients or customers. This will help your listener shift his train of thought from YOU to the people he knows that fit the description of your clients.

For instance, if I introduce myself by saying, “I’m a marketing consultant…” my listener is subconsciously focused on everything he thinks of marketing - which may or may not be good!

But if I start out by saying “I work with small business owners and entrepreneurs…” my listener’s focus has now shifted to everyone he knows who is a small business owner. And when I throw in some of the benefits I provide, my listener is now thinking of people he knows who could benefit from my services.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that you can turn your business around and walk away with a flood of referrals simply by attending one pool party (of course I guess it depends on who’s on the guest list!)

But I would like to suggest that simply by changing the way you introduce yourself you will be able to engage more prospects and referral partners in mutually beneficial conversations.

And even if your new acquaintance doesn’t jump right in with a referral or a desire to do business with you immediately, by entering into a conversation and getting his card and/or contact information, you are now in a position to begin the follow-up process and continue the conversation. (And this is never something you want to leave up to your prospect!)

Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several whitepapers, free reports and checklists, including her FREE Can-Spam checklist and FREE email pre-flight checklist to ensure your emails get delivered, get opened and get read. Download your copies at http://www.ModernImage.com.

[tags]introduce yourself,networking,referrals[/tags]

There is an age old adage that no one should mix business with pleasure, but there are exceptions to the rule. Entertaining clients and networking in a social environment can help form essential bonds in business. We take a look at how corporate golf days can benefit a company’s reputation and improve their prominence in their industry.

Golf has always been the sport of gentlemen, and until recently clubs restricted access to male members and their male guests only. The long standing English tradition of comradery on the golf course has been the foundations of using the fairway to form business bonds. Corporate golf days are designed to tap into the relaxing atmosphere of the great outdoors and demonstrate levels of skill and competence in a subtle manner.

The element of friendly competition helps keep the conversation flowing, yet allows enough space to have what amounts to an informal meeting. It is true that many great deals have been struck on a golf course thanks to the privacy and relaxed atmosphere. This is why many companies organise corporate golf days when entertaining clients.

The atmosphere on the fairway is also conducive to creative thinking, thereby helping those working within a company expand on existing ideas and projects away from the pressure of the office environment. It is for this reason that some companies like to use corporate golf days for team building. The ability to think outside the box comes far easier when out in the open.

When the team members of a hosting company and their clients or guests are relaxed, it is easier to make a positive impression that will last. It also reflects a certain element of hospitality and generosity, a valuable impression to make when forming business partnerships.

To make the day more fun for all involved, some groups decide to have small tournaments with awards or prizes given at the end. These can be as fun or serious as desired, but should reflect the general tone of the day. It is customary for all those involved in the game to meet at the club house after for drinks and this is often an ideal time to talk about the more important aspects of the matters discussed during the game. Ultimately it is the personal touch of entertaining clients on the golf course that can single a company out as a more preferable business partner than another.

Dom Donaldson is a business expert.
Find out more about Corporate Golf Days and what you can expect on some of the world’s best golf courses at Keith Prowse.

[tags]Corporate Golf Days, golf, corporate entertainment, business, networking[/tags]

Having a community is important to your health, happiness and well being. “There are few better antidotes to unhappiness than close friendships with people who care about you”, says David G. Myers, author of “The Pursuit of Happiness”.

“Sadly, our increasingly individualistic society suffers from impoverished social connections, which some psychologists believe is a cause of today’s epidemic levels of depression,” Myers writes. “The social ties that bind also provide support in difficult times.”

What could be a more difficult time than when someone loses a job? It is then that people tend to look for others to support them.

Will your support network be there for you?

Over the years many of my job search clients have admitted that their close friends all came from the place that they work. After the layoff they felt disconnected from those friends. This made their job loss even more painful.

People whose job situation requires they spend many hours at work often have no time to look for friends outside their firm. It takes time and energy to build a relationship that develops into a friendship. People working long hours have little extra time for a life outside the office. Still for your health and well being it is an important priority.

You can build friendships with people at work but usually those friendships depend on work issues and people for a conversation topic. Your work friends and you can laugh and talk about situations at work but how much do you have in common otherwise.

When you leave a company those people who remain may be cordial but now you are not included in their spur of the moment lunch get togethers or plans to see a movie on the weekend. Not only have you just lost your job but a whole community as well. Often what clients tell me they miss most about their job is the camaraderie of the office.

Where can you be yourself?

It is very important to have a community that is not dependent on your work situation. You want to have people who are close to you, whom you trust and with whom you can be your authentic self. This won’t be a huge group but it will be a constant group that will be with you for the long term.

As a coach I encourage my clients to find a group of friends by joining into activities in their town, church/synagogue, or non profit organization. These will be people with whom they share a common interest other than work.

Of course not all friends are equal. You will have one or two with whom you are very close and then others with whom you have varying degrees of closeness.

Map Your Friendships

Years ago I bought a tape by Ruth Luban on burn out entitled “Keep The Fire: from Burnout to Balance”. In it she described an exercise to map your friendships from the closest to the acquaintances which she described as your Christmas card list. The exercise uses 5 concentric circles for the map with your closest friends being in the center of the circle.

I use the map myself to see where I need to build my support system. It is a useful and interesting exercise.

There are many components of a happy fulfilling life. Certainly doing meaningful work is one component. Having good supportive friends is another. Losing ones job can be extremely stressful. To also lose ones friends adds to the stress.

Alvah Parker is a Practice Advisor for Attorneys and a Career Coach as well as publisher of Parker’s Points, an email tip list and Road to Success, an ezine with career and business information. Subscribe now to these free monthly publications at her website free monthly publications and receive a free values assessment along with your subscription.

[tags]Meaningful work,happiness,support system,friends,supportive community,job loss,[/tags]

The demand for Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has increased massively in recent times, as organisations fully realise the greater functionality that VoIP can offer. IT departments and senior management are slowly becoming aware of other benefits of VoIP, other than the more widely-known cheap telephony benefits which are more publicised. Increasingly, medium-sized organisations are realising the full potential of VoIP.

Because of increased awareness of unified communications and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), VoIP is becoming easier to introduce intro organisations as the value of its services to specific industry requirements becomes clear. Companies who want to introduce flexible working could adopt VoIP, while others may be more interested in the ability to distribute phonecalls more effectively or control customer service standards. Convergence is the integration of voice, data and other media over a single infrastructure using IP.

The price of VoIP is falling, which has made it a lot more attractive and viable for medium-sized organisations who understand the value of VoIP. Initially VoIP was sold on the promise of cheaper calls, and that’s exactly what’s happening with FMC.

The real benefit of Fixed Mobile Convergence is not about coming into an office and switching from mobile to PBX, but to enjoy IP PBX capabilities on a phone. Company members who may only visit the office once or twice a month, benefit greatly from having a mobile communications device with all the benefits of a fixed desk phone.

Providing PBX functionality on a mobile device enables users to access email applications, and fully embodies the mobile office. PBX functionality presents a powerful sales message when talking to organisations who have employees who need office-based resources away from the office.

Clients can benefit from accessing services like VoIP with increased resilience, reliability and flexibility. Faster data traffic and higher bandwidth, mean an increased potential for staff to work remotely and at their own convenience.

Convergence means a reduction in operating costs as only one network is needed. Integrated networks offer more flexibility for business, so as businesses grow the communications infrastructure can grow with it.

Often the first companies to jump to new technologies, such as media companies who have adopted VoIP, are often the first to benefit. What businesses want is services that are reliable and resilient, with all the hassle of dealing with faults handled by the service provider, despite the business having complete control of the network.

Increasingly, small and medium-sized businesses are realising that VoIP could greatly improve the way their business works.

G3 Telecommunications designs and installs VoIP solutions using IP telephony technology which can stand up to the daily rigors of even the most demanding of enterprise environments.

[tags]voip, fpc, voice over internet protocol[/tags]

Seminars are one of the most misunderstood business building techniques I’ve ever come across. I’m not sure why but most people don’t go to them because either they think it’s too expensive, it’s wasting their time, or that the speakers will give you worthless information then pitch you at the end. And if you’re currently thinking like that, trust me, you’re missing out on a lot of cash.

Attending seminars is the one key link that most people are missing in their business to really “make it happen”. I personally know many people who’ve taken a startup business to a huge success in under a year, as a result of just 1 or 2 seminars they attended. But how does that happen you ask? It’s simple, When you attend a seminar, you’re not just going to meet the speakers or even to get the information they give. There’s one other reason you should attend seminars that can literally make or break your business. So what is it? Networking! Let me give you an example and say that you had a $97 product and you were going to pay $10,000 total to attend the seminar. Do you think you could somehow figure out how to bring back a positive ROI? In this scenario you’d have to sell 100 extra copies of your product or service just to break even. Although this might seem impossible, keep reading and I’ll show you how to do it.

So let’s say you meet just 2 people, each with a list of 15,000 people (which in these days isn’t even at much). They both decide to send out a promotion to your list, and put you in their autoresponder.

So that means your message is going out to 30,000 people. If a total of just 0.0034% of those 30,000 people ended up purchasing your product - you’d break even! You’ve just broken even and recouped ALL your money, plus you picked up 100 new PAYING customers who could then be sold your back-end products, PLUS you’re now on their autoresponder forever!

Any many times these relationships you build at seminars are life-long. You’ll continue to do joint ventures with that person for the lifetime of your business, and continue to generate income from that one time you met them.

I personally love seminars where you can start generating joint venture partners, get more clients for your services, and start building profitable relationships. Just think, everybody that you meet at this seminar will have the same goal in mind so all you have to do is go there and find the people who would be good to do joint ventures with and you can actually make a positive ROI on the seminar!

But my favorite seminar events the ones that are priced aggressively in the sub $200 range. It’s these type of lower cost to entry events that give you variety and a great opportunity to network. Many of the larger events sometimes are too intimate and do not offer the variety of a larger more exclusive seminar event, the big ticket events can be overwhelming so I favor the smaller under 800 attendee seminars for business networking and potential JV partnerships.

Maurice Castle writes about
Live Seminars from the experience of going to
Tony Robbins Seminars and;
Peak Potential Seminars
amongst others. Currently he has been attending the
free teleseminars promoted by
http://www.WealthBuildersEvent.com

[tags]live seminars, seminar events, networking,[/tags]

It sounds like the oldest cliche known, but first impressions do always count in business, obviously it is up to the individual to present a positive front, but following that it’s the business card’s responsibility. In this modern time, impressions really count and if you have a chance to create more business through just something as simple as a good design on a business card, then you should take the time and effort to ensure you cinch that deal.

Design wise there are so many options available for business cards and you don’t have to stop at traditional. Why not get something really different and stand out from the crowd, you could get lots of plain cards in a day and a design slightly quirky will keep in a potential client’s mind. Looking online there is a vast amount of amazing cards and not all of them are made on card! There are greyhound adoption business cards that have been printed on metal dog tags, to create a link between the business and the style of the card. Alternatively if that seems a bit much, there are less obvious quirks you can have on your card, such a design that has to be scratched much like a lottery card, to reveal the business contacts.

Possibilities are really endless; why not have tooth imprints on a dentist card? Or thumbprints for a detective? These are all small and fairly inexpensive ways to get your card to look a bit less generic. You can also explore making your business cards look like the product you are selling, for example if you are a doctor you could have the design look like a pill packet.

Business cards do not have to be printed on card either, like the greyhound tags; you could have your details printed on a balloon or on a piece of rubber. Business cards can also be made out of plastic and engraved onto metal. Although these are going to cost more than the average card, it should be really considered as investment to ensure more business is guaranteed for your company. People tend to enjoy attention-grabbing adverts, this works well in advertising so you can apply this technique to your business cards to maximise potential leads. So when designing your business card, perhaps think a little more out of the box than perhaps you would before it could be just what your business needs in 2009.

Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the design industry.
Find out more about Business Cards and how the services available can help with creating networking tools for your business.

[tags]Business Cards, business stationary, printing services, graphic design, printing[/tags]