4/1/09
Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn® training, or personal development; and some of you may know me by LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email or telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.
There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I’m always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my monthly email newsletter with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you. I tend to focus on topics related to networking, Social Media and inspiration, but you never know what you’ll find here. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to be added to this distribution list or if you’d like to view previous newsletters, please email me and let me know.
Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to thousands of readers all over the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Iran, France, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Ukraine, India, Japan, Dubai, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa and even New Jersey among a few other remote places (Joizy….what exit?).
I use LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com/in/kevin
A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements. I do have a number of speaking engagements this month. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.
Spring is here! It must be Spring because it’s snowing in Colorado. I think that we’ve had more snow in the last week than we had all winter long. After weeks of temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s, we’re seeing beautiful snow everywhere. But, we all know that it will be back in the 70’s soon enough.
Baseball season starts in a few days and that means barbecues, fireworks, drive-in movies, etc. Man, this is a great time of year! For those of you in the Southern hemisphere, start bundling up. I’ve heard that you’ve had some frosty mornings already in Southern New Zealand. C’mon up here to the north if you’d like to get warm. Is it just me, or did that sound weird?
I was recently interviewed by The Colorado Springs Gazette and here’s the link to the interview. Although they got some of my personal information a little bit off, they did print my quotes pretty accurately.
http://www.gazette.com/art
“WHAT THE TWEET?” in Salida, Colorado
People in Colorado who are interested in learning about Social Media while enjoying the beautiful Rocky Mountains are in luck! My friend, Cathy Fraser has organized a fantastic event scheduled for May 2nd. The event is called “What the Tweet?” and features 7 speakers at about 30 to 45 minutes each. This one-day conference in Salida is designed “To Help Small Business Owners Learn How Low and No-Cost Social Media Can Grow Your Business”. The speakers will talk about what Social Media is, Twitter, RSS, blogs, and other very current topics. I’ve been asked to be the keynote speaker and I’ll be delivering a 90 minute talk on why you should integrate Social Media with your traditional marketing methods. I’ll be highlighting the applications of LinkedIn and Facebook while also explaining how to utilize Social Media as a significant business development tool.
This is going to be a tremendous event that you don’t want to miss. You won’t find another event like this anywhere in the state. There are hotel discounts and other perks in store for those that attend. There has never been a Social Media in the Mountains event before and this will be the start of great future programs. Register early and avoid the rush!
www.wildernessexecutives.c
A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
I’m On LinkedIn – Now What???- Jason Alba
Most of you know that I have been training on how to most effectively use LinkedIn since 2004 and that I have over 3500 personal connections and over 13,000,000 overall connections on the site. LinkedIn is the world’s undisputed premier business networking social networking site with over 500,000 people registering for free accounts on LinkedIn every week. If you’re in business, having a Linkedin profile is non-negotiable. I know that that may sound dramatic, but it’s reality. Even if you are in a niche business in some obscure corner of the world, there are multiple reasons as to why you should be on LinkedIn. These include building credibility, increasing your online and offline presence and becoming the “go-to person” in your industry, and staying up to date with what your competition is doing. Even if you’re secure in your job and have no interest in seeing what else is out there, there are many reasons as to why you should be on LinkedIn. There are over 35,000,000 profiles on LinkedIn and that is a tremendous database to utilize for many purposes in the development of your business success.
Jason Alba was “downsized” (politically correct for laid off) a few years ago and he created his own business to help others who had also been laid off. He also started experimenting with LinkedIn and wrote this short book to help people understand how to use this powerful tool. His book covers the basics of how to create a robust profile and how to utilize some of the features of LinkedIn. This is a great book for LinkedIn “newbies” and for those that have had a LinkedIn profile for some time. There are a lot of people who have accepted a LinkedIn invitation over the years and forgotten about it until now and are now saying “I’m on LinkedIn…Now What?”
Alba does a good job of explaining how to use LinkedIn for the layman who is unfamiliar with social networking and perhaps a little intimidated by the whole thing. If you’re in business, or perhaps in transition (politically correct for between jobs), learning how to use LinkedIn is mandatory. I don’t usually use such strong terms, but I’m telling you, it’s true. In this ever increasingly interconnected world, if you’re not Linkedin…….wait for it…….here it comes……you’re “LinkedOut”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
www.imonlinkedinnowwhat.co
GREAT MUSIC
Hyms of the 49th Parallel- k.d. lang
Every since k.d. lang broke onto the music scene back in the late 80’s, she has had a very distinctive strong voice that can also be very tender. I have been a huge lang fan since the early 90’s. I think that I wore out her “Ingenue” cassette (remember those things?)
I love this 2004 CD because k.d. is singing some classic songs from other Canadian musicians including one of my favorite musicians, Neil Young. Those darn Canadians are awesome.
Most of the arrangements are acoustic and understated. lang is at just about her “smoky, jazz bar” best on this CD.
This is a subdued classic that you’ll never get tired of. Its a very mellow, muted disc, designed to be a gentle acoustic recording. It makes for a great listening experience, but for the listener looking for a Top 40 hit, it's not here. What is here are her flawless vocals and sparse arrangements like your own private sessions in her living room.
www.kdlang.com
ALLTOP
I have been using a great website for some time and I think that you may really like it too. The site is www.alltop.com. Alltop describes itself as “Alltop is an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. We update the stories every hour. Pick a topic by searching, news category, or name, and we’ll deliver it to you 24 x 7. All the topics, all the time.”
Alltop was started by Guy Kawasaki (super-genius), one of the original folks at Apple. You can create your own Alltop page and select the topics that you have an interest in and check it whenever you like. The news feeds are updated hourly so there is almost always something new for you and the great thing is that you have selected the topics so there’s always something of interest there for you. This site rocks!
www.altop.com
COMMONCRAFT
Here’s another great website that I think you’ll enjoy. Lee and Sachi LeFever started this site in their home in Seattle and now work with companies all over the world from their home office. They are very good at taking things that can appear to be complicated and simplifying them in short video clips using stick figures and simple drawings. This may sound silly, but once you watch a few of these brilliant clips, you’ll love them.
In my networking and Social Media talks, I often refer to www.commoncraft.com as a means of learning more about SM and also as a way for my audiences to teach the people that they know not to be intimidated by SM and technology. By the way, people often think that I’m a very computer-smart person. I am not. I know nothing about the operating systems of computers and I’ve never created an Excel spreadsheet in my life (and I’m darn proud of that last piece of information). I don’t know how a transmission works, but I can drive a car. Get in, crank up the heated seats, put the key and roll. Turn on your computer, get online and surf. Same thing.
Here’s a few of their short clips on the topics of:
Social Networking http://www.commoncraft.com
Twitter http://www.commoncraft.com
LinkedIn http://www.commoncraft.com
If you know people that are interested in learning about Social Networking, this is a great site that has lots of videos that a child can understand. And the short videos aren’t just about computer-related topics. They have a number of short clips on a variety of topics. Lee and Sachi are brilliant and you will love this site!
www.commoncraft.com
THE DOG, THE CAT, AND THE RAT
Thanks to my friend Melanie for sending me this clip. This is a great clip of a homeless man in Santa Barbara, California. He has trained a dog, a cat and a rat to do something amazing. He also shares some profound wisdom in a simple way. When you think about it, isn’t it always simple? I love this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
THE MAYOR OF MISSISSAUGA
Thanks to my friend Julie at www.silverplanet.com for sending me this clip. 88 year old “Hurricane Hazel” may hold a record that no one else on the planet holds. She has been the Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario for 31 years and has won 11 elections. She has outlasted 8 Prime Ministers. She’s like Castro, but she still comes to work every day. This lady is awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ETHAN BORTNICK
I love inspirational clips of kids and this is one amazing clip. 6 year old Ethan Bortnick is quite a piano player for a little kid. In this clip he is on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Jay has him play some Joplin, Mozart, Bach and one of his originals on a baby grand. He’s played in front of audiences as large as 6,000. He has some funny comments regarding a time when he heard Aerosmith. Very cute kid. Amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/wat
FREE HUGS
Free Hugs is the creation of and real life story of Juan Mann, a man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. He has turned that mission into a worldwide movement and April 4th is Global Hug Day. Checkout Juan’s website at http://www.freehugscampaig
If you see me on April 4th, give me a hug….heck, anytime you see me give me a hug! Here’s a great short musical clip that paints a pretty cool picture of his mission.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
SEASONS IN THE SUN
Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for catchy pop songs from the 70’s. Do you remember this one? So what that Terry Jacks was a one-hit wonder?
http://www.youtube.com/wat
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
Alright, just to keep it fair, here’s a clip from the 80’s. Remember Duran Duran? If you were a teenage girl in the early 80’s, you know that you do. I remember hearing that these guys were going to be the next Beatles. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way but they did have some pretty cool songs and videos (and way too perfect hair).
http://www.youtube.com/wat
SOME GREAT QUOTES
“All the technology in the world will never replace a positive attitude.” Harvey Mackay
“Love is metaphysical gravity.” Buckminster Fuller
“Indecision may or may not be my problem.” Jimmy Buffett
“The quality of the answers that we get in life is determined by the quality of the questions that we ask.” Unknown
“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.” Emerson
“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” Laurence Peter
“A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them – they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship.” Rainer Maria Rilke
“What’s the difference between a boyfriend and a husband? About thirty pounds.” Cindy Gardner
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Dale Carnegie
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.” Carl Jung
“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” Arthur Rubinstein
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” Steven Wright
If you think that this newsletter will be of interest to someone that you know, please feel free to forward it on. If you have any thoughts or opinions on any of these recommendations or have recommendations of your own, please let me know-you never know where the conversation may go from there.
If you are interested in online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn or personal development, please visit my website at www.kevinknebl.com for upcoming talks, trainings, webinars and information about booking me for an upcoming event. I speak multiple times per week and am always eager to deliver talks and trainings that provide immediate, measurable impact to your employees, company or organization. As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kevin@kevinknebl.com or mobile phone at
To your success,
Kevin