I have just spent 2 days at the fantastic Yorkshire Mafia conference at the Royal Armories in Leeds. Over 2000 people, great speakers and forums, 150+ stands and all for free. The experience simply reminded me of the joys and horrors of networking events so it was an apposite coincidence when I saw Andy Lopata’s recent video in which he distinguishes between selling and networking. Andy is always good value so look and remind yourself of what not to do.

A long running joke between Katie and me has been that as an ex-tv journalist and newsreader she has always had the most professional looking photos of herself available – and still does. I have made do with some pics that my wife took in our dining room at no cost whatsoever. The difference in quality I have to admit is ‘just’ discernible. Just before Xmas I saw a Group On deal offering me a ‘boudoir experience’ including a makeover and a glass of bubbly for £19 at Mark Swinford’s studio in Horsforth, Leeds. This would get me one photo – which I reckoned was all I needed.

I finally got around to arranging these a couple of weeks ago. You will not be surprised that I did not take up the ‘boudoir experience” nor indeed was I offered it when I got there! If you are not sure what such an experience is – google it. You will quickly get the idea!

From the hundred or so pics that Mark took he put about 3o online and after much deliberation (after all my photos last for years – I could be dead before I arrange for another sitting) I got down to 3 and extravagantly therefore have bought 2 along with my ‘free’ one. Alongside this learning experience for me I came across a great blog posting from our guest blogger Jennifer Holloway, who was railing on about strange people who do not put a photo up on Linkedin and other social media. I had not thought about this before but whenever I see a blank where a photo should be or even more weird – a little cartoon or pen drawing – I have totally stopped reading about the person and instead am wondering why she/he has refused to let us see what they look like. I find it very distracting and absolutely I think it gets in the way of your personal brand. As portfolio workers we need to convey what we are about quickly and clearly. Refusing to show your face stops that in its tracks.

Coincidently, today, Fast Company has an amusing article all about what to do and not to do about using photos to project your brand. The writer here also abhors the facial no-shows. And he gives a number of tips to help your face and image become more memorable – no – not another boudoir experience!

You can see the one that I have put up on Linkedin and Twitter today. I shall expose the other 2 in my next postings. What I have to do to promote portfolio careers!

We all have one. Many of us have more than one. This is your most effective way of delivering your brand every day. Are you making the most of it? Look at an article in Fast Company magazine that gives tips on now to maximise your band in this way. It certainly got me to relook at what I send out every day.

Fascinating discussion started up on our portfolio careers Linkedin group by Rachel  Brushfield around  how easy is it for a portfolio worker to create a personal brand that works cross ALL strands of one’s career? When we interview portfolio workers we do of course find many for whom it is possible to identify a common theme through all of their jobs and roles but also we come across others who delight in the fact that they have multifaceted careers which reflect their multifaceted selves and where there would appear to be no discernible theme. Follow and contribute to the discussion.

This was the heading of an interesting new discussion started up on our portfolio careers linkedin group by Rachel Brushfield. We all have to fact this issue – hence the title of our book. Have you practised your answer or indeed answers to the dreaded question, “And what do you do?”

Hugh started talking about it way back – well it seems like at least 8 years ago with his Global Microbrand. I was asked by HP recently to talk to a select audience of small business owners about some things to think about in branding their businesses. Here are the slides. Lots of reasonably obvious stuff including how to create your “story”. I was reminded again yesterday by Mike Pegg that when talking about our businesses we should essentially be talking about how we can HELP THE CUSTOMER. We all love to talk about how well we have done and how many widgets we have sold to XYZ co but our customers really want to know what we can do for THEM. Apologies if this is soooooooo obvious but I think I certainly need reminding and I hope it helps you too.

This is a beautiful video that expresses concisely the power of words. So many portfolio workers rely on communication to get us work, to deliver work and to review our work. Networking in particular though crucial we argue to every worker is especially vital to us. Enjoy! And be creative.

StartUp Britain is a new campaign which hopes to inspire people across Britain to start and grow a business.

( A note from Oli Barratt)

A group of 8 (me, Rajeeb Dey, Richard O’Connor, Emma Jones, Michael Hayman, Jamie Murray Wells, Lara Morgan and Duncan Cheatle sat down to think about what would be practical, useful and helpful  http://www.startupbritain.org/

• We started with the idea that there is a massive amount already going on, and that we should point the way to it.  So you’ll see hundreds of links to good stuff.

• We took the view that a major way for business to help business is by offering practical deals and discounts to save time, money or hassle.  So you’ll see over 50 offers at launch, from business cards to broadband, and from office space to suits!

Just as importantly, thousands of people aspire to start a business and yet don’t.  We hope that StartUp Britain might inspire them by celebrating some of the fantastic work going on all over the UK. Startup Britain has the full support of the Prime Minister David Cameron and HM Government.  We have worked with the team at Number 10 and at BIS to plan what we hope is something useful. This is an independent, private sector initiative, and is not funded by Government.  We have been inspired by the Startup America Partnership and are in touch with their team.

I’d love your feedback.  You can follow StartUp Britain on Twitter @StartUpBritain and check out the site here.

We keep on telling people that they should be as googleme is the new business card. And LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner just announced that the professional network has now reached 100 million users worldwide. We keep hearing stories about the value of this online networking system. There are other interesting possibilities about too and we will inform you of a new personal branding tool shortly which is free for anyone to use too. Watch this space.

I am spending  more time with people in ” the digital space” as the groovy cats like to call it. Working with individuals and brands who want to understand and interact with their customers and potential customers. Regardless of the type of media; broadcast, digital, print or outdoor, I believe it all comes down to how you w/rap your message.

I loved the Happiness Rap so much I bought it for my phone to remind me of the important things in life. I may also buy the book and check out Sonja if she speaks in London. Cleverly w/rapping the product – in this case a book and speaker services.

Radisson Hotels in London wanted diners to really understand about the care and passion in their food. They print QR codes on the menus which link to short videos of their chefs preparing the dish you are interested in – an innovative way to help you make that all important decision and a reinforcement of the “we are here to help you” message.

Big companies like Microsoft are also wrapping by encouraging “story tellers”. Steve Clayton is a/THE ( imho) Microsoft story teller. He gets paid to explain to us (in English) what technology is just around the corner and how its going to improve our lives.

Got me thinking about my “theory of the bongs”. Yes that strange drawing above does mean something. In a previous life I was a TV News Journalist. I worked for the BBC and also ITN who produced News at Ten – a flagship news programme that used a Big Ben “BONG” just before each headline. A Bong is a 3 – 5 sec headline written so you need to know more. “Bomb explodes in tube station” for example leaves you wanting more info. This is represented by the top thick line. The lead in is the 3 sentences or 15 secs the news presenter reads to get you to watch the report – for example; ” A bomb exploded at XYZ station today. Emergency services were at the scene within minutes.  25 people have been taken to hospital and there are reports one person may have died. Joe Bloggs reports”. this is represented by the 3 thick lines. If this is written well, it will entice us to watch the 90 sec report, represented by the 5 lines. And finally ( as they say in all good news programmes), if the viewer is really interested in the detail, they will watch Panorama ( a 30 min, one topic in-depth news programme) represented by the mass of long lines at the bottom.

SO what? you say. Well, in my experience, most businesses (and quite a few individuals) are great at Panorama but not so great at the BONGS. With limited attention spans – the customer/audience wants to know very quickly whether its worth spending any more time listening to your message. They are not going to do the Panorama to Bong translation – that’s YOUR job. That’s why this model only works top down and not bottom up.

So there you have it. In one of the longest posts I have done in a while – I have attempted to explain my theory of brevity….