DO: Be Prepared

Sales people ought to know that preparation is key. It is one of the three p’s that I always used to repeat to my team: Prepare, Plan and Prosper. But it isn’t simply something that aids the success of salespeople alone – preparation in many ways should be the automatic first step in any process an entrepreneur chooses. This week I spoke at a WimLink (www.wimlink.org) event in New York – whilst the subject was about Networking specifically – again the topic of preparation came up. Talking about networking – we hit upon the issue of how you deal with events. Whether large scale or small scale – again you can do a lot worse then prepare yourself well in order to gain maximum advantage and knowledge. I so often wonder why people actually attend conferences. Typically when you speak to someone about their upcoming conference or trade show – they bemoan the fact that they have to go and sit through “boring” lectures and “sad case studies” or listen to people “drone on” about stuff they really don’t care much for. So why do they go? Only because their boss tells them, or they feel they have to be seen to be there. To me, all the wrong reasons. Conferences or Events can be great, but only if take the trouble to prepare, to research the subject, the speakers and the other participants. E.Factor hosted an event in Amsterdam not long ago on “Fashion and Entrepreneurship”. We brought together a super panel of speakers from diverse areas of the fashion industry. But when it comes to asking them questions – the audience mostly is very hesitant to drill down into the industry secrets, or asks questions that are only peripheral to the subject matter. Whilst I believe that everyone should be able to ask anything they wish to know, and there is no such thing as a stupid question, I think it is such a shame when you have perhaps a once in a lifetime chance to gain some further insight. The same happened in New York this past week, where we hosted an event with superb people such as Herb Scannell, the CEO of NextNewNetworks, Robert Raciti, SVP GE Capital and Robert Prazmark - the person responsible for the Olympic sponsorships as well as other top experts. We did have a lively discussion – and the panelists happily answered all the questions but it would have been really great if we had had more questions that really intrigued the speakers and required their collective brain power.  It is so easy these days to find out a little information about the speakers and their subjects before the event – and it’s more fun too. No-one should be afraid to put these speakers on the spot and invite them to talk about something that they really understand and have dealt with in their careers. Soon we will be hosting another top event with Pierre Everaerts – the man who grew Imbev from a small brewing company (well – small is still multi-million) to a global conglomerate worth several billions and who has just led the acquisition of Budweiser’s parent company, Anheuser Busch. I can’t wait to see what questions will come up from the audience. And I know that the event will be much more interesting for all, if both the audience AND the speaker come prepared.

3 Comments

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• Peter Evers | Sep 21, 2008 01:12 PM

  Hi Marion, with all the conferences I visited, here in the Netherlands and abroad, the startup of any discussion is slow. However, when people start to become more comfertable, questions will come up.. That's why I'm in favour of the possibility to pose questions when they occur and not specially afterwards. The E.Factor event hosted in Amsterdam (see http://efactor.com/p/news/id=199) not long ago on “Fashion and Entrepreneurship” was a good example. You had to stop taking questions after a somewhat slow start. It was a great meeting with great discussions. But like a diesel, you have to warm it up. Kind regards, Peter

• Marion Freijsen | Sep 21, 2008 01:42 PM

  Hi Peter, thank you for your comment - you make a great point. Audiences do take time to warm to a subject. Perhaps what would also help is if we, E.Factor, more clearly post Speaker bios prior to the event so participants can read up on their background. And I'll work on implementing the ability to continue asking questions of the panel-members for 24-48 hours post the event (ofcourse you can anyway, they usually are E.Factor members as well). That way, when you think of something you really would like to ask on your way home, you can still post the question...
  
  Thanks for your point!
  Marion

• Paulette Rodriguez | Sep 21, 2008 06:02 PM

  Marion,
  
  I could not agree more about how being prepared is key in any business. You can be very good at what you do, however the perception you give your clients is a result of how prepared you are. Being prepared for me allows me to show professionalism, knowledge and care. My business is very personal. I am a real estate broker who works with investors in addition to buyers and sellers for all types of property from around the world. They have many choices therefore being prepared is very important. Thanks for bringing us back to basics.

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