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November 15th, 2010 by admin

Posters beware!

When the Ugly Bug Ball announced its first engagement I was compelled to see what it was all about. The couple in question announced their engagement a month after meeting.

A website designed for the ‘aesthetically challenged’ was quite intriguing so I decided to take a look. BIG regret.

Within minutes of setting up an account and having it all approved by the powers that be I began receiving ‘Winks’ and ‘Private Messages’ from random people up and down the country. Not willing to pay for anything I could only see the subject line of these messages, all of which were harmless and boosted my ego no end.

Only problem was I had forgotten that if you posted images on a public domain they could get picked up via external sources.

Imagine my mortification when less than a week later, website completely forgotten about, I received a picture message from an ex boyfriend with caption ‘recognise someone’.

The image was from an email received as part of a monthly subscription to FHM magazine and at the bottom was my happy smiling face under the title ‘The Dates’. I was FULLY clothed.

Having since been completely ribbed by all my male friends about having to succumb to an ugly people dating website to try and find a date I soon learnt that I was not the only one to have an innocent image appear, unknowingly, as a space filler.

An acquaintance revealed how she had but some images of her boyfriend in his boxers on Facebook and a month or so later he appeared on an advert at the side of the page.

So beware of putting up pictures in a public space as you never know what they are going to end up being used for.

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November 12th, 2010 by Clare English

Successful Networkers go in for the Long Haul

There’s been much talk about the subject of networking, this week.

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.

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March 11th, 2010 by Marie Efthymiou

To kiss, or not to kiss . . . ?

 

Whilst reading an article on ‘Office Etiquette’ in this week’s Stylist magazine, I had a little chuckle to myself as I remembered a recent embarrassing moment at work . . . 

My ‘cringe’ moment took place a couple of weeks ago, when I walked into a client meeting and goodness knows what came over me but I lent in for a smacker with one of the two clients (a double smacker whilst grasping onto both shoulders – Mediterranean style). As I was kissing him, a little voice in my head screamed ‘what am I doing? Boll*cks, I have to know kiss the other one so he doesn’t feel left out!’

Many of you are probably wondering ‘what’s really cringing about that? I always kiss my clients when we meet’. I partly agree, I do have clients which always kiss on hellos and goodbyes, but they’re typically ‘PR dahling’ types, these two clearly weren’t by the crimson coloured cheeks and wide-eyed look on their faces.

This was the tenth meeting over the course of 12 months, and I had never kissed them on any of these previous occasions, so why start now? I then spent the next hour of the meeting sweating about how to handle their departure, ‘as I’ve kissed once, do I kiss again? Will they expect it from now on?’

I didn’t, I stuck out my hand (abruptly) and sighed with relief as we were now back on familiar ground – the good old handshake.

Reeling with confusion after my illicit encounter, I approached one of our MD’s, Steve Earl and asked ‘to kiss or not to kiss?’ His response was simply ‘if they pay seven figures they get tongue’.

If only the guide to office etiquette had been published earlier!

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March 8th, 2010 by Chris McCrudden

Love is a four-letter word

According to Huey Lewis and the News, “The power of love is a curious thing, Makes one man weep, and another man sing”. But if he was writing that song now it’s more than likely there’d be a verse about the internet.

Because online dating is smoking hot. What once was a slightly shameful affair that allowed C++ programmers to find a Thai bride without ever leaving their terminal is resolutely mainstream. And it’s even a social event. As anyone who lives with a single female under 30 will know, there’s very little a group of hungover women like doing more on a Sunday than bitching through the profiles on  Mysinglefriend.com, Match.com and Guardian Soulmates while Hollyoaks plays in the background.

But what if you have more…specialised interests in the love department? Mainstream dating sites are great if your tastes in relaxation extend to a hot bath with aromatherapy oils, but this puts you in a difficult position if you’d rather fill the bath with wallpaper paste. And as an opening gambit on Match.com, there’s probably no better way of getting yourself blocked than being too specialist too early. For example: -

Hey,

How r u? Ur pretty and like Snow Patrol – the perfect combination! Fancy coming round to mine sometime and playing in a paddling pool full of custard?

Gary x

It’s therefore no surprise that along the more ‘vanilla’ dating sites has grown a more shadowy (and infinitely more interesting!) ecosystem of what we might term ‘niche interest dating platforms’. And here are some of our favourites.

The Speed Top Five sites for Specialist Dating

1. Paganpartners.co.uk

Ever wanted to date a Druid? Think Love is…sharing a cauldron? Well, look no further. The chances of getting a church wedding out of this site are nil, but white robes are a lot cheaper than a wedding dress.

2. Platonicpartners.co.uk

True love waits – forever according to this site. Ideal if you’re looking for spiritual repose with a soulmate: useless for a quickie, which brings us on to…

3. Illicit Encounters

Nothing can be said on this site that its ruthlessly opportunistic PR team hasn’t already press released and sold in to the Daily Telegraph. The sidecar for the bike (fnar!) that is married love, Illicit Encounters is ideal for those of you who always cheat at Patience and want to extend that idea into your marriage.

4. Latter Day Saints Mingle

Are you a Mormon whose too tired after a day of relentless good-natured smiling through people shutting doors in your face to meet your future spouse at a teetotal barndance?  In that case Latter Day Saints Mingle is for you. Disappointingly this site is not sponsored by an Osmond, nor does it have a ‘looking for more than one wife’ polygamy option.

5. Dwarf Date

It’s official: good things do come in small packages.

Thank you and goodnight.

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