The 800-CEO-READ Author Pow Wow is back!

The theme of this year’s event is Making Connections. Now, we don’t mean making connections in strictly networking terms—that’s just a bonus. As a company, we are interested in helping authors think comprehensively about idea creation and fruition, better connect their ideas with an audience, get books (or web links) to readers and potential fans, meet with people in the know, join the fast-moving world of business ideas and pull ahead of the others.

Whether you are new to the Pow Wow or a repeat attendee, a new author or working on your third book, we’ve crafted an event offering the most current and useful info you will need to make these connections.

This year’s Pow Wow will be held December 7th and 8th at the national award-winning Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, WI.

Here’s the agenda:

Pre-Pow Wow:

The night before the event, we’ll have a welcome reception at the 800-CEO-READ World Headquarters. Meet the panelists and other attendees, partake in refreshments, and see the place where all 8CR’s business book magic happens!

Day One | Industry Insider:

We’ll begin with breakfast and greetings in the Library Room at the Iron Horse. From there, Day One will cover the fundamentals of launching your idea into the world, featuring the following panels:

Publishing:
Adrian Zackheim (Portfolio), Clint Greenleaf (Greenleaf Publishing)

Bookselling:
Tom Wilson (Wiley), Deb Lewis (Penguin)

Publicity:
Mike Hofman (Inc.com), Allison McLean (Portfolio), Barbara Cave Henricks (Cave Henricks Communications)

Speaking:
Stephen Denning (author of A Leader’s Guide to Storytelling)

Day Two | Spreading Ideas:

You’ve got your idea written and ready, but how do you spread that idea far and wide, give it some horsepower in ways that will resonate and stick with your audience? Day Two’s panels will inspire you to act, to make the connections that will propel your idea into the world of business thought.

Social Media:
Kenneth Gillett (Target Marketing), Phil Gerbyshak (Social Media Sphere)

Personal Branding:
Sally Hogshead (author of Fascinate)

More presenters will be announced before the event date. Stay tuned for updates.

Post Pow Wow:

If your flight schedule allows, head back to the 800-CEO-READ World Headquarters video room and we’ll shoot a brief video of you talking about your idea which we will post on 800ceoread.com and use for future marketing.

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Cost includes event sessions, buffet breakfast and lunch served on each day of the event, plus group dinner the evening of Day One at Hinterland Gastropub | Lounge.

Hotel discount information provided upon registration.

To register: click here.

Please contact Jon (jon[at]800ceoread.com) with any questions.

Milwaukee will soon be hosting the first nationwide unGeeked Elite event. The conference is being organized by Cd Vann, owner of SohoBiztube.com, who defines unGeeking as “the widespread adoption of trends, strategies, and tools that allow us to enhance and embrace internal and external marketing campaigns, enhance customer service, strategize effective sales efforts, and develop better PR campaigns.” The focus of the event will be “to form a community of social media, marketing and branding professionals and pundits.”

And they couldn’t have found better folks to bring in for it. Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents and Social Media 101, and Sally Hogshead, author of Fascinate, will both be delivering keynotes—as will Scott Stratten, author of the soon-to-be-released Unmarketing.

We can recommend both Chris and Sally personally, as they are both old friends of the company. We first met Chris when he and Julien Smith wrote Trust Economics, the ChangeThis manifesto that begat their book. And we met Sally when she attended our first Author Pow-Wow around the time she released her fantastic debut effort, Radical Careering. (She later sent us a box of brass knuckles, which I would explain further, but it’s a better story without the explanation). And speaking just before Ms. Hogshead is another friend and Pow-Wow attendee, Phil Gerbashak, a man as consistently bright as Florida and the author of 10 Ways To Make It Great.

Other speakers include:

• Olivier Blanchard: The Brand Builder and Red Chair Group
• Jason Falls: Social Media Explorer – Marketing and PR
• Dan Schawbel: Personal Branding Guru, Best Selling Author, Columnist for Business Week
• Visible Technologies : Social Media Monitoring and Customer Relationship Management
• Hubspot: Inbound and Outbound Marketing Strategist and Experts

You can find more information and RSVP at sohobiztube.com.

Marshall Goldsmith brought his MOJO to Milwaukee today for our LeaveSmarter series, and I think he really woke the audience up in a way most business speakers just don’t.

Our sponsors for these events always send us a list of attendees with seating arrangements ahead of time. The first thing Marshall did was rearrange that preordained seating, having everybody get up and sit next to somebody they didn’t know. Then, throughout his time speaking, he would ask tough questions of the audience and have the attendees turn to their new neighbor to answer them, usually with a 20 second time limit, prompting the audience to quickly share their ideas without worrying if they’d sound ridiculous to a coworker—all while forming a very new, very real human connection. No, it wasn’t always comfortable, but Marshall Goldsmith is always very effective.

I believe the greatest advice Marshall had to offer today is to “Be happy now.” Stop believing you’ll be happy when you get the new car, the bigger house, the corner office… be happy now. And that doesn’t mean “be complacent,” or “don’t succeed.” It is, in fact, to be truly successful, to be happy now as you’re doing whatever it is you’re doing. And, if you’re not, to do something else.

Maybe that’s not as easy as it sounds, but it is probably the most important thing we can do for ourselves and those around us. He illustrated its importance by asking a very poignant question, “What do you want your children to be when they grow up?” The most common answer, of course, is “happy.” We don’t care what they do or become; we care simply that they’re happy. And that should be our goal for ourselves, as well.

We’ll have video of the event available and an interview for you soon, but until then, I’d like to share two simple questions he asked us to consider.

➻ “How happy was I?” and “How meaningful was it?” Ask yourself those two questions after your next (and every subsequent) meeting. If the answers aren’t satisfying to you, find a way to make that hour-long meeting less boring and actually worth your time. The responses those attending came up with were good, but my favorite was one the author suggested, (and I’m paraphrasing) “Take copious notes… on a different topic.”

➻ What percent of all your interpersonal communication time is spent on: “People talking about how smart, special or wonderful they are (or listening to this) + People talking about how stupid, inept or bad someone else is (or listening to that).”

And, as I said before, he did more than just talk at the audience about addressing these issues; he had the audience members talk to each other about them, and they spent almost as much time on their feet moving around the room as they did in their chairs. It is not only an engaging approach, it is a fun one. And when people’s awkardness falls away from the interaction, which it inevitably does, it is actually transformative.

You may not be able to have Marshall Goldsmith come to your home personally and do what he did today in Milwaukee, but you can get the next best thing—MOJO: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It.

For the past year, 8cr has hosted Pecha Kucha Night in Milwaukee. Now, I’m putting the shoe on the other foot and presenting at PKN Chicago on Tuesday, December 2. Held at Martyrs (3855 N. Lincoln Ave.), the fun starts at 8, but the doors open at 6.
Also presenting will be Ryan Schultz, Kathy Weaver, Arnold Kasemsarn, Derek Erdman, Charlotte Nelms, Kate Lorentz, Jean Linsner, Jim Newberry, and Dr Josh Kurutz. For my 20 slides, I’ll be talking about listening: what people get out of it, different ways it can be done, and how people can use the practice to analyze and understand a variety of different things.
Click here for more info and to order tickets for Pecha Kucha Chicago. Hope to see you there!

Authors, future authors, consultants, and speakers take note:
There are only a couple of spaces remaining for the 8cr Author Pow Wow, held on December 9th and 10th in Chicago at the amazing Catalyst Ranch.
This year, we’ll focus on the topic:
How Is a Good Idea Communicated?
Good ideas are usually plentiful for business authors and consultants. The challenge is communicating those ideas in effective and appropriate ways in a variety of situations. Those situations can be the critical difference between taking the next step, or not. Now, more than ever, this information needs to be clearly understood, so for this year’s Pow Wow, we’re bringing in these experts to share their wealth of experience:
Adrian Zackheim (publisher at Portfolio):
How is a good idea communicated to a publisher?
Barbara Cave Henricks (president of Cave Henricks Communications):
How is a good idea communicated to the media?
Erin Brown (publicity director at Harvard Business Publishing):
How is a good idea communicated to the media?
Nick Morgan (president of Public Words):
How is a good idea communicated to an audience?
Joy Stauber (president of Stauber Design Studio):
How is a good idea communicated visually?
Jose Castillo (president of ThinkJose):
How is a good idea communicated using new media?
Deb Lewis (Manager of Business-to-Business Sales, Penguin):
How is a good idea sold?
Lucas Conley (author of OBD, contributing writer for Fast Company Magazine):
How is a good idea communicated to the media?
Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten (president and vice president, 800ceoread):
How is a good idea communicated as a book?
Whether you’ve written a book and are looking forward to the next, want to do more speaking and consulting, or are completely new to the game and want to get an incredible head start, the information you will walk away with will be invaluable, and the experience of engaging in this conversation with each other is priceless.
Here’s evidence from last year’s Pow Wow.
Click here to register now.
You can also read more about the Pow Wow, attendees, and other details at:
www.800ceoread.com/powwow/

The economy is on everyone’s mind, and the media is talking about it at every turn, but it seems no solution is in sight.
We think getting a bunch of local business people together to talk about their struggles, share some input on what great business thinkers have experienced and said in the past, and try to understand what each of us can do regardless of the doom and gloom, is a good idea.
So, we’re doing just that.
On Tuesday, November 18, those in the Milwaukee area can come to the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design at 5pm, and for 45 minutes, we’ll conduct an economic group therapy session. Come share your struggles, success stories, and experience the cathartic process that can only happen when people come together. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll discover, who you’ll meet, and best of all, it’s FREE.
Here’s the details:
Tuesday, November 18th | 5:00 – 5:45 PM
The Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design | 208 N. Water Street
Free Admission
RSVP to jon@800ceoread.com if you’d like to attend.