Colleen of the future (stuff I'll be doing)
- World-Changing Writing Workshop 2011 [Registration opens May 9] It takes people like Pace & Kyeli to get me more excited about making an entirely new thing and giving it away for nothing than I did teaching a paid class. But that's how they are. Bastards. And kids, for as good as last year's WCWW was, and it was an astounding value for your dollar, this year's is going to wipe the floor with last year's. What did I conjure up for this year's lucky participants? Poetry, baby, sheer poetry. (Okay, and a deconstruction of how I do it, and how you can, too. It's a class, right?) Check it out, get on the mailing list, blah blah blah.
- May L.A. Biznik Mixer at Jerry's Famous [Los Angeles; Wednesday, May 11] Fun, free, low-key networking plus great tips, tricks and ideas from your fellow indie-biz folk, which of course includes me. Duh. All that, and Happy Hour specials, too. Join up here (free membership, which is nice), then sign up here.
- World Domination Summit [Portland, OR; June 3-5] Alas, the WDS has been sold out for months, but I have a hunch that many of us who got golden tickets will be prowling around PDX outside the cozy confines of the venue. If you're in town that weekend, follow it on the Twitters or what have you. Extracurricular meetups FTW!
Colleen of the Past (what I have done for you lately)
I cannot shut up about the life-changing experience I had at Strictly Business 3, the conference series produced by the American Society for Media Photographers (ASMP). I came to keynote; I left with 600 new best friends and an upended perspective on how to look at meeting people. It's over now, but the awesomeness keeps on rolling:
- I wrote about my breakthrough "A-ha!" moment for Strictly Business, the ASMP blog in an uncharacteristically brief essay called "Avoiding the Curse of Familiarity." How I lived this long without ever hearing that phrase is mystery enough, but the real shock is that it took me this long to get why you must get out and meet people.
- Jill Waterman interviewed me on marketing in the postmodern creative landscape for the Spring issue of the ASMP Bulletin. You can't buy it on newsstands (or at least, I don't think you can), but you can read the even more excellent version, or the lengthier one, anyway, for free on their website. It's slanted towards photography, but I talk about all kinds of stuff of use to the creative person in today's nutty world: what makes one person get the job over another, equally-qualified person; why "awesome" is the new normal, and how you can be more so; ways the focally-challenged person can get her act together and much, much more. (I'm telling you, it is looooong.) (But Jill did a kickass job, so it's also good.)
- Speaking of kickass, one of my 600 new best friends wrote something so nice about me it made me cry. Thank you, Ellen Boughn. May we gather together to eat extra-crispy bacon again very soon.
Oh, okay, one non-ASMP-related thing, which was also totally awesome:
- Maureen Anderson has become one of my fave people I've never actually met. We have such a good time yakking, she's made me a semi-regular guest on her terrific Career Clinic radio show. Last month, we spent the better part of an hour talking about how to talk about yourself. Stuff like: do emails have to be short to be good? What makes a good subject line? Why do people hate your sales pitch? Is there a secret to "working the room"? We also get into things you might find interesting if you wonder how coaching works, and specifically, how coaching works with me. Good stuff up in there! Go get you some!
Colleen of the Present (stuff I do, rain or shine)
- communicatrix | focuses :: My monthly newsletter devoted to the ways and means of becoming a better clearer communicator (plus a few special treats I post nowhere else). Free! (archives & sign-up)
- Act Smart! is my monthly column about marketing for LA Casting. Nominally for actors, there's a ton of good info in there for any creative business person. Browse the archives, here.
- Internet flotsam :: If you suffer from a surfeit of time, you can always look for me on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, StumbleUpon and delicious.
xxx c
Photo of me and my beloved client, Susan Carr, Education Director supreme of the ASMP, at SB3 Chicago, by my other beloved client, Judy Herrmann, who introduced us. This is how it works, people!