Tim Longley has a combined 25 years of experience providing electronic and environmental business solutions to companies of all sizes. Founder of   eOffice Innovations, LLC Tim consults with clients and provides solutions that are cost effective and help reduce often overlooked injuries due to computer over-use (i.e. carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, “trigger finger,” etc.). Tim’s goal is to create healthy, efficient, productive, and comfortable office environments that are ergonomically tailored to meet client’s specific health and business needs.

Tim will be providing his signature “How to avoid injury at the desk in your office” presentation that he has provided to large and small groups all over the Kitsap region. What you will take away from this half hour session will be an awareness of the injuries that ultimately debilitate you just sitting at your desk.  Strategies and exercises to mitigate these injuries and tips on how to setup your desk at home or office will also be presented.

Come be part of this interactive half hour.

Scared of speaking in public? You’re not alone.

Fear of public speaking ranks high on the scale, close to the fear of death. What does this tell us about ourselves?

Most of us find that if we are asked to teach something others need to know, our focus is on the importance of getting out the message. However, when we think about “public speaking” our focus becomes all about the little “me.” What if I mess up, choke up, look like a jerk, create a mental block?

Recently I tested myself at a Toastmasters meeting. I’d been trying for the past year to develop better speaking skills and had been glued to my notes. This time I told myself my speech had to be designed around something I was passionate about; that I could walk up to anyone and share without hesitation. I chose to give a talk centered on the near-miraculous event of having 15-inspirational songs come through me and knowing I had to release them to the world. Results were just what I had wanted. I released my few notes to the lectern, stepped away and nailed a 5-7 minute talk! Well, actually I did use one extra minute but nobody noticed as they were so engaged.

I have also recently challenged myself to give more classes and to speak out when questions arise in other areas of life and work. Taking out the fear factor in a Toastmasters meeting means remembering the audience is really there to:

1. Better their speaking skills
2. Support one another
3. Learn something new

The one thing we never gather for is to judge one another. Concentrating on the fact that we are essentially “giving” something of value to our audience rather than “getting” their approval takes another big bite out of the emotion of fear.

Some organizations advertise, “work alone or one-on-one in the privacy of your own home.” With Toastmasters you get real experience in a group setting.  After all, it’s not called “public speaking” when the only audience is you! We’ve all got fears but why not put this big one away. Master your speech!  Join Bainbridge Island Toastmasters, 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 11:55am at the Winslow Arms clubhouse.

Contact me, Kathryn Lafond @ 206-842-5330 or Jim Sutton @ 206-842-2441 or simply show-up to share in the fun.

Netiquette: keeping your e-space communication courteous and clear.

Now that you all have become great networkers, and a sales force for yourself and your colleagues, it’s time to get back to the basics.  “Between the Ears” training as Dave Beck likes to call it.

The BBC (Bainbridge Business Connection) is proud to present a speaker’s series of “Doing Business Better” during our Friday – 8:00 to 8:30 AM time slot.  See the BBC Web Site for the lineup of future guest speakers.

Our first speaker will be Linna Callaham, insurance agent extraordinaire(American National), who WILL NOT be discussing insurance!  What???  Instead, she will be teaching a short class “Netiquette: keeping your e-space communication courteous, clear and concise.”

In another life (of which she has many), Linna taught this same class at Eastern Washington University and has distilled the information down to the essential “ 7 C’s of E-space communication.”

Linna says, “What you will take away from this “down & dirty communication gathering is a handy, ready-to-use worksheet,  books that have effective phrases already written for you, and a list of action verbs. ”  She goes on to say “… be ready to “rock-n-roll,”  “jump n’ jive,” and be able to stroll away from this half-hour session with useful, practical, and applicable knowledge.”

This should be a fun half hour. Don’t miss out!

Tim Longley
BBC Chair
bbc.eofficeinnovations.com

The Program: “How To Make Social Networking Work for Your Business.”

By Staff Writer, KD Kragen of “Kave Dragen, Ink”

Panel discussion featuring marketing and Internet consultants, Shannon Evans (http://practicallocalsearch.com), Jenn Putman (http://www.jennergy.com), and Elizabeth Scott.
What a great gathering! What a great presentation by Shannon, Jenn, and Elizabeth! Kevin Dwyer did an excellent job as MC, too (even if he still struggles just a little with English as a second language). Thank you all for an informative and fascinating time. Thank you for all the hard work you put into this event.

Business marketing has changed drastically! “Pull Marketing” has been replaced by “Push Marketing.” You need to blend your social marketing (SM) and networking (SN)—e.g. on Twitter (http://twitter.com), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com), Linked-In (http://www.linkedin.com), and Biznik (http://biznik.com).

You may also want to look at: review & local business listing sites, Yelp (http://www.yelp.com), Merchant Circle (http://www.merchantcircle.com), and iKarma (http://www.ikarma.com); Manta, a business search site (http://www.manta.com); GoogleMaps (http://maps.google.com), and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com).

Incorporate your marketing “brand” across all your domains, networks. Make your logo, art and color, and communications style consistent across your entire web presence. Then utilize specific individual SM tools such as Twitter—which, by the way, is a great mechanism for publishing daily business tips.

Don’t just sell products/services using Twitter, etc. Rather, it is about building your e-presence, about contributing to the larger community, sharing with other businesses in positive ways such as reviews, endorsements, referrals, testimonials. Monitoring your competitors is also a big part of the power of SM.

Do you need Social Marketing? Consider the following questions:

1. Who is your audience?

2. Will you use it? Wise time-management is a factor in deciding whether or not to utilize SM.

3. Are you looking for sales only? Then SM may not be what you need.

4. What do you want from SM?

5. Do you have compliance issues? They may hamper your use of SM with legal constraints.

6. Do you have enough time to seriously dedicate to SM? SM is a time-sucking activity.

7. Will you be actively interacting across your web presence?

8. Are your competitors using SM?

9. Can you be a leader on SM?

10. Can you be responsible for your web presence on SM? You must maintain control of your content.

Last point came up during Q&A: Anything you put out in e-space—anything!—should be thought about carefully, edited and polished. Once you’ve posted something on an Internet site, blog or forum, even in an email, it tends to remain out there. Taking it back can be very difficult at best. Think twice before posting or emailing (or doing anything on the Internet). Is it too personal? Is it inflammatory or libelous? Netiquette: Keep you web presence courteous, professional, friendly, polished, and community building.