Just a quick note to let you know that the Heart Harmony Office will be closed from 19th September 2009-1 October 2009 for holidays.
Urgent calls and emails will be returned, but the majority will not be actioned until the office re-opens. This also means there will not be a newsletter next week.
How To Get the Most Out of Attending Seminars
This week we have a special guest article by my colleague Donna-Marie Coggins. Donna-Marie teaches businesses how to design and implement a successful online business. She is pragmatic - real and goes right to the basics. If you don't know what a URL is - then the program she works for is for you!
In her work Donna-Marie spends a lot of time on the road either attending or facilitating seminars of up to a few hundred people at a time, so she is well credentialed to give tips on how to get the most out of attending seminars.
There’s no doubt about it, seminars and conferences are a great way of learning and furthering your own education, whether the topics are related to your business or job, personal development or perhaps another area of interest for you.
I attend a lot of seminars - either as an attendee or as part of the organisational team. There’s one phrase I hear so often … ‘information overload’.
It seems that many attendees, particularly those who are fairly new to the topics and ideas being presented, find it difficult to manage the incredible amount of information they’re given.
Now really, this is a good thing, right? It’s great that so much useful information is being shared. But if you take copious pages of notes and then find yourself so overwhelmed that you don’t act on anything you’ve learnt, then sadly, you may be missing some excellent opportunities to move forward.
If you’re one of these people, here are my suggestions for getting the most out of attending seminars:
write down the 3 most important things you feel you want to learn from the seminar, or the 3 things you most want to achieve, and pay particular attention for information on those 3 areas
by all means take notes, but highlight, asterisk or circle those things that you can do first and will act on as soon as you get back home
don’t worry if you don’t ‘get it’ all. Just take in what you can for now. If you attend a similar event in a month, 2 months or 6 months time, you’ll find some of the more complex information now makes sense to you
if you have an opportunity to meet any of the presenters or speak with them, make the most of that opportunity … ask them questions, find out how you can learn more from them
don’t try to learn it all in one day, one weekend or one week. If there is a particular presenter whom you resonate with and whose ideas, systems or business model feel right for you, consider taking them on as a mentor or joining a coaching or training program, if they have one available
show your enthusiasm - most professional presenters feed off the audience, so the more you clap and show your appreciation for what they’re sharing with you, the more they’re inclined to give you
the presenters and information shared from the stage or workshops are only one part of the event; another valuable way to benefit from seminars is by networking with fellow attendees. Have lunch or a drink with fellow attendees, mingle, sit with different people during each session, swap contact details. Not only will this help to keep you on-track and motivated, but if you can keep in touch with these people after the event you’ll find you can really help each other to progress. And who knows, you may even make some new friends
So there you have it - a short & to the point series of practical tips you can implement the next time you attend a seminar.
Donna-Marie has just released a free e-book titled
It is certainly worth reading and is packed full of to the point tips on killing the multi-tasking habit but still boosting your productivity.
HR Tip of the Week: Sharing Seminar Info in the Workplace
Sending employees to seminars is great for their personal development - but how can you leverage this new knowledge back in the workplace?
Some of the things I used to do was to request each seminar attendee give a 5 minute presentation to their work colleagues on their return, highlighting the key points the seminar covered and sharing their core learnings.
This served to share the employees knowledge and embed their learning at the same time.(It also meant they paid closer attention during the seminar actively looking for those nuggets of information, rather than goofing off.)
I also asked that copies of useful handouts went into the central library area so everyone could access it (after first sending it around on a circulation list to all team members to read).
I used to get the seminar attendees to rate the session and keep that on file so if future people wanted to attend a similar seminar I had details of whether or not the seminar was actually useful and worthwhile.
If the seminar was brilliant I would then talk with the training provider about providing the same seminar in-house to all my team - it always worked out cheaper than sending people individually.
Finally, in my one-on-one weekly meeting with the team member I would ask for the top 3 things they brought back and wanted to implement. These would be added to their performance review plans and tracked as part of our performance management process.
Seminars are generally quite costly, but with a bit of planning you can make your investment pay dividends across a number of team members.
Business of the Week - Moreton Bay Regional Council Bunya Tip
Ok - who would have guessed that a tip or garbage dump would get my business of the week award? Well, you see next week I am clearing my mother's house for her after she has moved into a nursing home. Of course there will be a lot of things that need to be dumped as they were only of use to her. There will also be a significant amount to go to charity and other places.
So ... I rang to find out about tips in my mother's area. These tips have all been privatised, which means that each tip charges their own fees and select what you can and can't dump. The fees are very high (starting at $27 for a car boot load) and there is no capacity for recycling any materials at any of the tips.
The council did say they offer a free kerbside pick up 4 times a year - but you need to ring to book a collection and leave your goods outside for up to 5 weeks. And they wonder why they have a significant problem in the area with illegal dumping!
I compared this to my local tip which is run by our local council. If you live in the area it is free to tip within reasonable limits. The guys at the gatehouse are very friendly and happy to help in whatever way they can and the set up of the dump is brilliant.
99% of cars are sent to the road on the left. This road on one side has a barrage of charity bins that are regularly cleared - to encourage donations of clothes, books etc to charity. These bins are flanked by another group of bins for glass bottles and jars.
On the left are huge skips clearly marked. You have cardboard skips, scrap metal skips & general waste.
Go along a bit further and you come to the building where you dump tyres in one place, car batteries in another, oil in another, LPG bottles, paints and chemicals on shelves.
A bit further along and you get to the green waste area - where you drop off all your branches, cuttings, and trees. These are mulched and used in parks and gardens around the shire. Consumers can also buy loads of mulch at bargain rates.
Keep going and you get to the Trash & Treasure drop off. This is where you put things you could sell at a garage sale (if you wanted to run one). The council has a Trash & Treasure market and sells these goods, putting the money into employment programs for the local area.
Then finally you get to the regular traditional landfill area - which most cars never get to as they have made use of all the recycling options.
I take my hat off to our local council - they are doing everything they can to reduce and recycle. It's funny how often you don't realise how great something is until you see the alternative!
While this is a personal post, there is still an important story relating to dealing with dream stealers, the power of belief and impact teachers and mentors can have on our lives.
Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter
Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.
Dear Ingrid,
Long time no see. Some time back you wrote an excellent blogg on IP protection. By some great good fortune I have developed a financial platform which was presented in part at the 13th International IASI Sporting Congress and now has an international audience. I am trending the IP protection route and have been scouting for an outstanding Patent Attorney and an excellent "Assignment of Copywrite" Agreement. I could also use an excellent Commercial Lawyer with a solid understanding of Cororate Social Responsibility. Its more of a challenge than I expected (my program is a considerable paradigm shift). Can you furnish me with a decent referral? Were you able to develop an Assignment of Copywrite Agreement that you were happy with? Nath
email
So there you have it - a short & to the point series of practical tips you can implement the next time you attend a seminar. 
This served to share the employees knowledge and embed their learning at the same time.(It also meant they paid closer attention during the seminar actively looking for those nuggets of information, rather than goofing off.)
Ok - who would have guessed that a tip or garbage dump would get my business of the week award? Well, you see next week I am clearing my mother's house for her after she has moved into a nursing home. Of course there will be a lot of things that need to be dumped as they were only of use to her. There will also be a significant amount to go to charity and other places. 
