Well done, Mr Winterbottom.  Email me and we’ll wing your bottle of booze over.

You may have read in my blog, last week, about Devora Zack’s bestselling book – ‘Networking for People Who Hate Networking’. This week, McGraw-Hill Professional and Open University Press have been in touch to inform me that Devora is hosting an event on 30 November from 6pm – 8.30pm and have offered a discount of £5 on tickets if you book via this link.  The discounted ticket price is £20 and the event is taking place at McGraw-Hill, Canada Square.

Proud introvert – and enthusiastic networker, Zack, promises that this event is for anyone that traditional networking advice is written in a foreign language and  says ‘networking enables you to accomplish the things that are important to you. But you can’t adopt a style that goes against who you are—and you don’t have to. I have never met a person who did not benefit tremendously from learning how to network—on his or her own terms. You do not succeed by denying your natural temperament; you succeed by working with your strengths.’

The cost includes a copy of the book, drinks and canapés (and of course a great networking opportunity!). Follow this link for further details or to book.

Speed has begun the planning process for 2011 with earnest, this week. With clients – and indeed, about our plans and ambitions as an agency, next year.

As Speed launched in 2009, at this point in time, last year, we had very little reference from the past year to guide in developing our 2010 strategy.  Put simply, we’ve been working hard and doing our best, but largely entering the unknown. So, it felt like a real luxury, this year, to be able to audit our development, identify our strengths and more importantly – our weaknesses.

I won’t go into all the areas we’ve scrutinised, but for any agency, I would say that taking time out to examine the following will allow for the development of a good strategy for growth.

- Client audit; what do your clients think about your strengths and areas that you could improve?
- How many new clients have you won
- Where did the referrals for the opportunities come from?
- What was the average amount of each new contract secured?
- Where is your organically generated additional revenue coming from?
- What is your pitch : new business win ratio?
- What is your opportunity : pitch ratio?
- Who are your real competitors in the eyes of your prospects?

Finally, once you have all the answers to the above, the crucial question that must be answered honestly, is whether the facts match up to the agency’s current expectations for the year ahead.  And if they don’t, what strategy needs to be implemented to close this gap?

Speed is pleased to be hosting tonight’s LDNPod event. According to Rajar (Radio Joint Audio Research) 15 per cent of people have downloaded a podcast, and Internet radio listenership is on the up. This would appear to further underline the value of podcasts to business, but how can companies build a business case for podcasting?

Tonight’s event is free and I’m pleased to say that I can release five places for anyone who wishes to come along – just email me at clare.english@speedcommunications.com with your details and I’ll get back to you.  We’ll be listening to expert podcasters to learn more about why and how to podcast, and there will be tips from those who have used podcasting to generate new business and revenue streams, as well as the opportunity to network with peers.

The presentations have been developed for in-house and agency-side marketers and PR professionals who are keen to learn more about how to podcast and how to cost-justify or upsell podcasting services.

Date: TODAY – Tuesday, 16 November, 2010
Time: 18:00-21:00
Venue: The offices of Speed Communications, 6th Floor, The Communications Building, 48 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7LT
Map: http://www.speedcommunications.com/contact/

Programme and Speakers:

6.30pm – Welcome and introduction
6.30-6.50pm – Why podcast? Building the business case (Chris Lee, Planet Content)
7.00-7.20pm – How to podcast: Entry level to business class (Andy White, WireWorldMedia)
7.30-7.50pm – Podcasting success case study (Kelvin Newman, Site Visibility)
8.00-8.20pm – What makes a good podcast? (Gary Andrews, TwoFootedTackle)
8.30-9.00pm – networking and general questions

Firstly, @MarieEfthymiou and @Mlle_Estelle ran a great lunchtime learning session at Speed, the slide share presentation for which is seen, below.

Then, after the subject of networking as a sales tool cropped up at Speed towers, yesterday, I was all set to write a quick blog with some of my fail safe tips. But, then, I happened to stumble upon this great article at WomenEntrepreneur that very usefully, makes the differentiation between extrovert and introvert personalities and their preferences towards networking styles.  This great post, taken from the book,  Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected by Devora Zack, made me realise that the same tips and tricks are not going to be applicable to all.

But it’s also worth noting the fact that, often, the problem is less about disliking networking, but more about finding it difficult to reap rewards from it. If you’re a humble person, it’s difficult to wax lyrical about yourself, or your company to a complete stranger – it’s simply ‘not British’. So, as a final word, I do have just one fail safe pointer that goes against many American theories that you will read on the subject of using networking as a sales tool – and is basically rooted in polite common sense. When ultimately, your goal is to sell when you’re networking, forget about the ‘elevator pitch’.  First find out what you can do for the person you’re talking to. Ask them about themselves (how has your day been? Why has it been bad? What are you working on?) and figure out if there is someone, or a resource that you can connect them to, to help (you’ll be surprised at how often you can – us PRs are jolly well read, which is something we often take for granted). Once you’ve offered them something, or even if you haven’t at that time, keep their situation in mind (make a note of it in your contacts database and revisit this often to remind you) and send over any future information, events, articles etc that you think will be of relevance.

Finally, the last point is the one that I would like you to take away with you.  Do not qualify your networking success or failure on the basis of whether you pick up an immediate opportunity.  Successful networkers go in for the long haul and focus on building that crucial area of business that it’s often all to easy to forget – relationships.

Today, Bex tells us a little more about her foray into the charity sector and why we should all indulge in a little hatha breathing in the morning.

Q. How did you get into public relations?

A. Like most people I kind of fell into it – I looked around for work experience in PR or marketing and got a two week placement at a friend of a friend’s new PR company, stayed for two years (in paid employment)…

Q. When do you move to four days per week and how will your role at Speed change?

A. Last week…! Nothing much will change apart from working on two less clients. I suspect Thursdays will be a little bit more stressful and I’ll be sad to miss out on the pod’s Spotify Friday fun

Q. You are going to do some volunteering. What are you planning?

A. Supporting local business by becoming an expert ‘Lady Wot Lunches’ in Ealing. But when I’m not doing that, I’ll be helping out at my local Macmillan office in Hammersmith in their fundraising team to support comms. First day is today so I’ll know more next week.

Q. Charities and NGOs operate some of the best single issue campaigns. Are there any that you particularly admire? Why?

A. Macmillan (I’m a fan, can you tell?) – their steady ongoing campaigning for free/cheaper hospital car parking with combined PR and lobbying at national and regional level has effected real change; which is always good to see

Q. Do you think that CSR is a genuine effort by companies to give something back to the community, or is it PR lipstick?

A. Well, to start off – don’t view it as PR lipstick! That kind of attitude will get you/the company no-where. Yes, I do believe a genuine effort can give something back to the community; it’s just getting the (white male middle aged) board to buy into it

Q. Is there a viable alternative to capitalism as an economic construct to support society?

A. Who’s saying we need an alternative? Show me an economic construct that truly works. But since you asked, there are two options: yoga, or a communist state led by Yogis. A little compulsory hatha breathing in the morning would work wonders for everyone’s PMA

I had an invite to an event ran by Deb Khan and I wanted to share the details with everyone. Deb Khan is one of the people whom I’ve come across in my professional life, who has literally changed me – for the absolute better – overnight.  I owe a lot of restful night’s sleep to this woman!

Deb has a pretty unique background, that blends management consultancy with education and work in the theatre – making her the best presentation tutor I have come across. Before I met Deb and attended one of her presentation workshops, I would worry for days about any sort of public speaking – from pitching to new clients, to even briefing large groups of my own colleagues and peers.  I’d have the stereotypical dreams about being naked at the front of a lecture theatre and, when the speaking date came, I’d turn puce from the chest up and the ability to get a point over concisely would turn to fluff.

Luckily for me, Deb was undeterred and – despite the fact that I often still turn a bit pink (thank God for scarves), the practical tips that this wondrous woman taught me have served me well, and I like to think that with a little preparation, I’m now a confident and compelling presenter and public speaker – which is lucky, as my role at Speed requires me to do a lot of it.

Deb’s next open workshop is taking place from 9am – 4pm on 19 November, in St Pancras, and costs £300 (early bird) to attend.  I would seriously urge anyone who thinks they would benefit from practical tips and training in this area to consider attending.  More details can be found here.

THANK YOU,  Deb!

This week, we catch up with Speed’s own bit of posh, Helen Beavis,  and gets some more advice for the Speed Christmas Barcelona trip.

Q. It’s great to have you back from maternity leave. Are you enjoying it?

A. It’s marvellous.

Q. Where did you learn to dance like a stripper?

A. A Polish peasant lady. And don’t give it, you love it.

Q. It’s 1990. What advice would you give to your younger self?

A. Read

Q. You’re from Northern Ireland? How did you get here and what’s the Cornish accent about?

A. I swam. And I love Cornish ice cream. What can I say; it’s affected me

Q. Is PR a proper job for a grown-up?

A. Yes, so not quite sure what the hell I’m doing here.

Q. Tell you about worst Christmas party experience.

A. Isn’t one. All my parties been great.  However, [I once caught] someone else was with their pants down – and hands in places they shouldn’t have been. So beware Barceloners! And if anyone wants any dance lessons you know where to to find me.

I’ve recently been reading the book written by one of the founders of Innocent, ‘Innocent, Our Story And Some Things We’ve Learned’ and I’ve found it really interesting. It’s an easy-to-read book about successful business that we can probably all take a leaf out of.

Most interesting to me, was the reminder that every business should figure out what it really cares about and what its sense of purpose is.  By this, I don’t just mean the bottom line or client service or being as environmentally sustainable as possible – these are things that should, really, be expected from any business.

Here’s the challenge: when we launched Speed, in 2009, we merged five existing agencies together and the primary focus became managing change – both for our people and for our clients.  We needed to start talking about how things were going to be different, but without rocking the boat too much – and it was a fine balance to get right.

18-months on, now that we’ve proved to clients that they’ve retained all the things they used to love about us and it’s second nature us to be working as ‘one team’, it’s time we took stock of our real sense of purpose. It will help focus us all to prioritise the direction we want to go in, work with the clients we really want to work with and hire people who are a really good fit for the business.  And the best thing is that all this is sitting right under our noses; we all know why we get out of bed in the morning, but our challenge now is to make this tangible.

So thank you, Innocent. Aside from making me just a little bit healthier, over the past fortnight (what a great piece of PR – I’ve consumed at least three smoothies and a veg pot over the past week), you’ve inspired us to take some time to review what’s at the heart of our business.

Well, watch this space, because @Nicky_Savage and myself spent the best part of 36 hours, this week, at the first Loewy Leadership Programme.

Kicking off with a two day event at Leeds Castle (check out the picture – the ceilings in my room were taller than the height of my house and there were some pretty scary paintings of children with goats on the wall), Loewy Chief Executive, Iain Johnston crammed two weeks’ of learning, debate and practical exercise into two days for 15 candidates from across Loewy and agencies Epoch, Seymour Powell, WMH, The Team – and of course, Speed.

Subjects covered in the programme developed by Iain included self awareness, leadership attributes and behaviours, leadership development theories, personal branding, objective, priority and time management, delegation, business values and constructs, ‘power’ theories and implementing change within organisations.  My brain is still throbbing a little, but we were left with lots of motivating, practical direction as to how we can start putting everything into practise, with immediate effect.

So, back to my original question – can PR professionals make good leaders? The most insightful thing that I took out of the course in relation to PR centred around the fact that leadership requires stringent time management to deliver against the objectives of an organisation as a whole.  Having worked client side for ten years, juggling press and client deadlines and only fitting business-focused tasks in between, this was really enlightening.  PRs become used to spending at least half their time jumping on adhoc opportunities and ensuring emails, tweets and calls are responded to in lightening quick time. Perhaps one of the key struggles that PRs face as they venture into leadership for their own organisations is taking the time to step outside of the day-to-day in order to focus on the future.  I for one will be closing Outlook down for two hours, today – I’ve got some important planning to do.