Dr. Neil Hair

I keynoted todays half day conference on Personal Branding for the RPCN which was held at Saunders College of Business. The event was a success seeing standing room only for many of the sessions. Over 90 consultants from the region came to hear what we had to say about how personal branding changes in the new super connected online world. Emily Carpenter did a GREAT job of organizing the event along with Donna Schneid from Saunders. A number of interesting reflections came to mind;

1. There was a clear split between those who aggressively use the tools and techniques to promote themselves online effectively online and those that do not. A number had not registered with either LinkedIn or Facebook for instance and so I gave them a number of gentle homeworks to help bring them up to speed. I will check to see if you complete these by the way those of you who were there!

2. I had the delegates rate themselves against a diagnostic I have created on important skills sets and use of tactics. The majority of those in attendance were advanced. Only a few noted themselves as expert and three as my fourth and favorite category 'psycho' (of which I am also a member).

3. There was a genuine interest in all of the attendees in extending their reach online and enhancing their personal brands. There wasnt for instance one person who did not profess to holding at least some expertise in their chosen field (and I met many many interesting people today!).

4. There are HUNDREDS of exceptionally talented consultants in the Rochester region if todays interaction was anything to go by. The questions were probing and the environment extremely collegial (remember, many of us compete for business!). This can be only good news for the region and solidifies in my mind the fact that Rochester is home to some outstanding skills sets.

In all a very enjoyable event and Im looking forward to continuing to talk to those that attended. My regrets to those of you who could not make it, you missed a real treat! For those of you who were there – dont forget to connect with me, facebook me, and follow my twitter feed.

Interesting review by The Times on a Japanese woman's virtual life impacting her real life. The said lady was divorced by her virtual husband and so she logged into his account, murdered the avatar (essentially she hit the delete button) and then went on as normal. The murdered avatar turns out to be rather upset by having his life terminated and called the real police. Shes now facing a jail sentence for her actions. I have long maintained that peoples virtual and real lives will increasingly merge as we move forward into the 21st century, it's a key feature in fact of my marketing trends lectures. Some interesting evidence that this is already taking place is as follows;

1. The blackbury junkie. Someone who cannot bear to ignore that vibration in their shirt pocket that signals they have just received a new email message. (yes Roger, I'm referring to you my friend).
2. Ordering your SecondLife clothing so that you can wear it in the real world. Yes this happens quite frequently these days and I for one am seriously considering a black Nerhu suit for work purposes.
3. Emoticon crossover. Those of you who use in offline letters know what I mean here. Neil LMAO.
4. Falling in love online and marrying offline. I once nearly went there. Nuff said.

Every once in a while I engage in one of my favourite past times (researching new beers) and every once in a blue moon I come across a beer that I adore. This is my ode to Southern Tiers Pumking beer. It is in short – fabulous. Southern Tier have a reputation for making very tasty beers – a few to note include the Unearthly (VERY hoppy) Cheery Saison (VERY cherry), Creme Brulee (VERY ok you get the point) and Jav*ha varieties. This seasonal beer however tops all of the above. In fact Id go as far to say that it is every bit as good as my all time favourite beer The Blandford Fly (not available in the US fortunately for my wallet).  So – marketing angle – one of the best stites Ive come across from the brewery itself http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/. Whats missing from it though are all the links to the various beer evaluation sites out there. In other words – a failure to communicate the outstanding record this company has for making beer amongst its converted. Be wary of these beers however, theyre very strong and thats exactly what makes one of these perfect for a cold Autumn night holed up with the pregnant wife and two cats.

On Wednesday the 15th I will present research findings on how marketing trends (especially digital) will impact the senior living industry. The presentation will focus on the exponential growth of social networking, the extension of word of mouth online and where I think marketing trends will be beyond 2010. This will be of particular relevance to marketing professionals in this field and speaks to a profession that is very close to my heart. The session will be held at 'Cloverwood', 1 Sinclair drive, on the corners of Clover Street and Jefferson starting at 8am. See you there.

——–

Updates: Presented to a packed house this morning of some of Rochesters most innovative senior services companies. Very pleased with the nature of questions that were asked of me and the genuine interest in seeing this important industry flourish in Rochester. I noted a number of participants duly shocked by some of the technological changes we're starting to see including commercial blogs, the importance of reputation management online, the rise and potential use of online social networks and of the importance of reinvigorating your web site offer. For those of you wanting more information on Saunders student projects please visit my lectures section of this site where I present a more detailed overview of what is involved and what the benefits are. I am also very happy to continue to discuss the marketing advances facing your industry as it is one that I hold dear to my heart personally.

I recently acted as guest essayist for the Democrat and Chronicle's visions for Rochester 2033 (25 years from now). Here is the article which purposefully paints a troubled picture;

October 2033: Business as we know it will be radically transformed. The days of working for one organization at any one time will be gone. Most U.S. employees will act as technical subcontractors to a portfolio of virtual organizations, domestic and international. People will work from where they are situated, permanently logged onto a super-fast Internet. Access will come from a range of connection devices. Wearable computers will be all the rage, but early adopters will have opted for more permanent machinery that is physically implanted. Employees will work in teams that have a truly global makeup. As a result of technologically enhanced globalization, working days will run on WT (world time) in one language — a hybrid known as Global English.

Regular work meetings will take place in a virtual world. "Total Immersion Technology" will add sensory data such as touch, smell and natural movement to the virtual environment. You will feel virtual handshakes and physically walk to meeting spaces online without actually moving from your real world location. Increasingly, humans will have difficulty differentiating between their virtual life and nonvirtual life. For your efforts as a global technology worker, you will be paid in the universal currency of Credits — payment will be directly related to consumer or industrial demand for products or services and will be received in real time at the point of transaction.

Increasingly, those who succeed in business will be those with an enlarged online social network. Most recruitment will take place within these social spaces. Digital divides will become more apparent between those who are socially enabled online and those who are technologically challenged or "techno-socially disabled." Retirement will be an obsolete term as workers are able to continue to farm out their networks for economic gain, and work/life balance will become increasingly blurred.

Two things went through my mind earlier today when one of the techies called out to me as I passed their cave. 1. Why? and 2. Why the big smile on his face when doing so? The answer is perhaps best explained by two photographs attached for your viewing pleasure. People of neilhair.com meet Hanns G, my newest and bestest friend (other than Vic Perotti who built the purchase of this monster into a research grant looking at digital business applications in SecondLife). All 28 inches of goodness sat on my desk (all of my desk in fact). I cant wait to test run SecondLife on my German friend using my Japanese Qosmio. Pictures of that event to follow in an additional post.