I had an opportunity to speak on integrating social media into your search and mobile marketing at the Internet Summit this week within the advanced social media track of the pre-conference. My presentation went well, and I think I gave people at least a few nuggets of information to make them smarter.
As I was driving home after the final day of the conference I realized I had missed a golden opportunity. I had failed to do the thing I always mention to people as one of the keys to my successful SEO Meetup – a take away. One of the smartest things that Ashley Berman Hale did when getting the SEO Meetup started was to always print out a handout that people could take with them so that they didn’t have to try to remember all the mumbo-jumbo we had just thrown at them.
The handouts for the SEO Meetup take a couple of hours to put together each month, but they are well worth it. I feel like I should have spent a few hours to put together a kick-ass double-sided one page handout that people could have grabbed after my presentation.
I would have been the only speaker that day to offer such a thing. I would have been able to do a little branding for myself and my company.
Every time I stand up in front of people I like to be just a little bit better than the person who came before me and the one following me. I think a well thought out handout could have given me that nudge.
If you sat in a large conference and a speaker offered a handout, would you bother to walk up front to grab one?
Here’s the slides from my presentation on integrating social media into your search and mobile marketing plans.
Photo by Thos Ballantyne
Yes! It’s great to be able to access the slides after presentations, but a well-organized succinct little HO is something I could refer to quickly, easily, and repeatedly. I’d grab one. Even if it meant walking allll the way to the front of the room. 🙂
My goal would be to give out something that would be tacked up next to your desk, or even something you make a copy of and hand to your co-workers. If it’s not worth the loooong walk to pick it up, it’s useless.
I agree it would pay dividends. Some positive long tail, even? 🙂 It’s never too late. If time permits, perhaps post that handout as a .pdf here and your blog followers will benefit.
I like the idea of adding it here… I guess I have some homework now.
I used copies of Capstrat’s Millennials and Work white paper as a companion to the Marketing to Niche Audiences session where I presented. I had quite a few people pick it up, along with my business card. I agree it’s good to give a handout. I think it shows how much you appreciate your audience.
http://www.capstrat.com/elements/downloads/files/millennials-work.pdf
I knew there was a reason you were running the world’s best communication agency!
Karen: the Millennial Study was great, as it validated a number of thoughts and hypotheses I’ve formulated over the past few months. With real-time information and results in the palms of their hands, this generation could very well be a driving force in a surge of citizen engagements and activities. I’ve always believed that people AND organization could do GOOD and do WELL. Glad to see younger people realizing this sooner than later.
Phil: the handout idea is valuable, but some won’t come up to the front of the room to grab it. I’d have some and mention it, but also post a big QR code on the concluding page of the presentation (on screen) for people to easily download (no pen, paper or lengthy URLs required). You could even consider throwing some small special offer in there and mentioning that as well.
My two cents,
Ian
@IanGertler