PLAN B
Back to Basics

A new year means a fresh chance to turn it all around. Here’s how you can make 2010 your best planning year yet. By Janet White Bardwell.

1. Brand Yourself

This is your year to define or re-define your personal brand. Experts say your brand is what people say about it when you are not in the room. Ever wonder what that is? If not, it’s time to give it some thoughtful effort.

The first step to the brand building process? Think about yourself, say the experts. “You must focus on uncovering and applying your unique talent, which is your core genius that allows you to excel and overachieve,” says Gerry Visca, partner and creative director of Burlington, Ont.-based Red Chair Branding, international speaker and author of Get Creative and What Have You Got to Win? “It can be defined as effortless—the jewel that distinguishes you.”

Visca and his partners at Red Chair specialize in helping individuals and businesses define and develop their brands. “There needs to be an emphasis on the feeling and emotional aspects of your brand,” says Visca. “This means that you need to understand the power of experience when positioning your brand.”

In the coaching process, Visca asks his clients:

• What does your brand represent in three words?
  
• What do you want people to feel about you or your brand?
  
• What unique strategies are you using over the next three months to communicate your brand to your clients?

Leaders such as Starbucks and Apple clearly understand how to make you experience their brand. “Look for ways to extend your brand experience to your clients by engaging the right side of their brains,” explains Visca. “People want to feel connected to your brand.”

2. Talk Tech

Google Wave
Google Wave is sure to make an appearance on your radar screen this year. Currently being tested and fine-tuned by the wizards at the helm of the brand, Google Wave can best be described as a web-based, computing platform and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wiki and social networking. It has a strong collaborative and real-time focus and is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and more, all in a browser format. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Applications for meetings and your work life in general could be huge. Visit wave.google.com.

Education Alert
A new year means a chance to sharpen your planning skills. Take advantage of Meeting Professional International's first Canadian Global Training Centre for Meetings and Business Events at Toronto's Ryerson University. This new centre will host an intensive five-day Global Certificate in Meetings and Business Events III event from June 14 to 18, 2010, which will focus on skills to help you lead your projects and teams to successful meeting and business events. The course will cover:

• Strategic planning, measurement and project finances
  
• Relationship management
  
• Creating project plans
  
• Managing the project team
  Marketing communication

Cost: $2,000 for MPI members, $2,500 for non-members. A one-year membership is included. Visit mpiweb.org.

3. Refresh

According to Wendy Woods, principal of Watershed Training Solutions in Toronto, use the 2010 games in Vancouver to help you stay motivated and inspired in your own life.
Here’s how:

Create a visual reminder. Find a picture, quote or memento of a goal that you want to achieve. Keep it close to you to remind you of the goal.

Find your support system. Surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and support you in your dream will help make it happen. Telling someone else about your goals will also help you achieve them. They can help you stay the course when times are tough.

Visualize daily. “Remain focused on your dream despite all obstacles and challenges. Imagine yourself in that dream as if you were actually crossing the finish line or getting that promotion. Use all your senses as you step into that dream; note what you see, feel, hear, taste and smell.” says Woods.

Don’t forget to breathe. We all need a bit more oxygen, don’t we? Treat your workspace this year to a little bit more air: NASA identified the Peace Lily as one of the most plentiful oxygen producers, in addition to bamboo and orchids. But don’t overwater the handsome Peace Lily. It will withstand the negligence of being in a busy office space and even thrive in fluorescent light.

4. Build Skills

Here’s how to make a positive impression in your next round of financials or budget meetings.

Think of your boss’s boss. If you’re feeling stressed out by the number-crunchers, just remember who they are accountable to. “Boards want information, they don’t want opinions. They want data relevant, useful data,” Peter Allen, CFO of defense industry specialist Allen Vanguard in Ottawa, told a recent education forum hosted by the
Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

Speak to the brain style. Some money minds can decide on the fly, many others prefer to mull the numbers before diving into any conversation. If you need to, give your financial decision-makers a brief a day in advance with the financials they need.

Keep it simple. Skip the preamble, summarize and help everyone get to the point. Rather than hand over reams of data reports, highlight what’s important.

Know what keeps the boat afloat. If you don’t understand what makes your company money, it’ll be tough to talk about how your project or idea supports it, no matter how good your numbers look.

Offer expert perspective. Deliver what you’re asked for, but be conscious of what your CFO might not know. For example, if executives are fixating on travel costs like average airfare, dig up other metrics that may be more insightful, such as average airfare per mile flown, or averages from your industry.

Share the turf. As more organizations move to consolidate meetings and travel expenses, don’t feel slighted if financial executives opt to bring in an outside consultant in your area of expertise. Use it as an opportunity to broaden your know-how.

Bring your ideas. “I bet any CFO out there is dying for ideas, and they get their ideas from the good people they have around them,” says Allen. “There’s probably never been a better time to make your relationship stronger with your CFO.” - Julie Charles

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