12 Days of Christmas 2012

Welcome to the Twelve Days for Christmas for 2012.  

Maybe you don't celebrate Christmas, maybe you are more a Haj, Chanuka or Bodi day kind of person. It doesn't matter, this applies to everyone.
Last year I put out the 12 Days Challenge and it got a great response so here it is again.

Here is your challenge for the next twelve days.  Don’t forget, that they are cumulative, just like the song.  That is, on the first day, you give the first thing. One the second day, you give the second thing and then the first thing.  On the third day you give the third thing, the second thing and then the first and so on.

Your Twelve Days and their challenges:
On the first day of Christmas I gave to my partner or best friend, an extra long and extra firm hug.
On the second day of Christmas I gave to a person on the road, 2 moments to cut in ahead of me.
On the third day of Christmas I gave to the person on the street $3 for a coffee treat.
On the fourth day of Christmas I gave to a member of my team, 4 minutes to tell me what they thought of me.
On the fifth day of Christmas I gave to myself 5 minutes of mediation.
On the sixth day of Christmas I gave to my family, six minutes of singing silly songs.
On the seventh day of Christmas I gave to my kids, seven minutes of undivided attention.
On the eighth day of Christmas I searched my memory for eight things I learned from this year.
On the ninth day of Christmas I wrote in my diary, nine goals for the coming year.
On the tenth day of Christmas I gave to my friends, ten minutes of non-stop praise.
On the eleventh day of Christmas for my sanity, I gave myself an eleven minute bath (Frankincense and Myrrh is optional).
On the twelfth day of Christmas I committed to the community twelve hours of my time as a volunteer.

It is ALMOST singable to the original tune!!  Don't be discouraged if you don't get it perfect but do act on as many as you can.  Carry the spirit of Christmas and giving with you as you do.

PS I know that the 12 Days of Christmas don't officially start until the 29th of December but I thought I would get in early! Have a fabulous festive season and here is to a magnificent 2013

How Good Is Your Call To Action?

I spoke to a school group this morning. On the way there I saw a delivery van covered with signage on their products. There was lots of colour and pictures but the sign that stood out was words saying 

"Book with me Now!"

My initial response was 'Book what?'

You see their signage got attention but you could not tell at a glance what it was for. With signage on a vehicle that moves at somewhere between 40 and 100 km/h you have to be able to understand it in a single glance.

This is a principle that I share with clients in my Exhibiting work. Can you tell at a glance what your stand is about?
It is equally applicable to the action line on an email. If the recipient cannot understand what you want from them at a glance, then you need to rework your call to action.

Are you getting the response you want with your "Call to Action?"



PS Be careful with abbreviations too. This sign was taken by a friend of mine in the USA and I don't think it says what they want it to!

Are You Trained?

Are You Trained?

I spent three days last week locked in a room with other similar minded entrepreneurs. Well maybe not locked but you get what I mean. We were looking at how to transform our businesses and take them to the next level (or even the one beyond that). The final day was planning and commitments for 2013 with an action plan to help get us there
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As a business owner it can be hard to dedicate this kind of time for additional training and development.

As an employee as well, there is always too much to do to spend time off getting training and development.

I have heard it said by many business gurus, "Too many managers say What if I train my employees and they leave, but what if you don't train them and they stay!"

By the way, don't wait for others to pay for or approve your training either. If you really want it or need it, be prepared to finance it yourself, after all, you get to keep it!

So what training do you need? What skills do you need to develop? What will you do TODAY to make that happen?

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PS Tomorrow night (Tuesday 4th December) we will be hosting the 5 Keys to Successful Exhibiting training from 6pm in Doncaster. Be my guest and use the promo code EASCOMP for your ticket at my expense. To register or find out more details, visit EASInstitute.Eventbrite.com

Are You Protecting Your Assets?
In business and life it is important to protect your assets. Sometimes our most important assets are not "things" but "skills." 

For example, as a Master of Ceremonies and Event Strategist, my most important asset is my ability to talk. Unfortunately I did not protect that asset and I have lost my voice! (The good news is that for the first time in a long time, my wife can finish her own sentences without me interrupting!)

I was speaking at a gig on Thursday last week - it was pretty warm and I was drinking ice water before I spoke. At the end my voice was a little strained but I thought it would recover. I was then MC at a wedding on Saturday night. I had spent the day chatting with a friend who had come down from Queensland and then the wedding venue was noisy so you had to shout to talk. The PA was poor quality so I strained the strain. As you may expect, the best thing to do is to not talk and let it recover. But Wifey and I had lunch and dinner planned with two sets of friends on Sunday. I tried not to talk but I can't help myself. 
This morning I have a very sore throat and minimal voice.

This all started with the Ice Water. If you are a performer, you must only drink room temperature water as it keeps your vocal chords flexible and ready to work. I know this but still I did not protect my assets.

What about you? What assets do you need to protect? How will you do that?


If one of your assets is to Sell or Generate leads, then let me help you look after your asset. On Tuesday 4th December in Melbourne we are running a 2 1/2 hr workshop on 5 Keys to Successful Exhibiting and Event Sponsorship. I would love you to be my guest. Simply use the Code EASCOMP when you register here and there will be no charge for you to attend. See you there!

Want More Sales?

Want More Sales?
There seems to be so many people out there spruiking the short cuts to more customers and more sales. Let me be honest with you, there is no short cut!

The best way to increase your sales and customer based is with focussed attention on the key methods that work and measuring your efforts and results in the process. The Centre for Exhibiting Industry Research found that Exhibiting and Event Sponsorship has one of the lowest costs per lead when compared to traditional marketing methods.

Now as you will know from previous posts, I am also a huge fan of Exhibiting and the results it brings but it is easy to get it very wrong!

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE

The biggest mistake people make is that they have no idea why they are exhibiting. They may know in loose terms but they have no idea how to measure it. As the adage says, "What gets measured gets improved." So when you next exhibiting, you MUST know your why and how you will measure it otherwise you are wasting your money.

My joint venture business The Exhibiting and Sponsorship Institute is just about to launch our new product, the Exhibit Like A Pro 12 Disc pack. We are launching it by running a 2 1/2 hr workshop on how to Exhibit Like A Pro on Tuesday 4th December. We are starting in Melbourne and next February we have a tour of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. To find out more or to register, click here. I would love to see you there.

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Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees.  If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

What Is It For?
The wife of a good friend of mine died on Friday. It's sad, tragic and many other emotions AND it is also a good reminder.

What is this life for?

Many of us are madly trying to be better at business, keep customers, bosses and colleagues happy, achieve goals, make money, raise kids, help others, advance ourself and deal with life issues. The death of someone close to us is a great reminder to question, "What is my life for?" Then look at your own life and see if you are on track. If not, change something.
So for you, what is it for?

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Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees.  If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.

Are You Flexible?

OMG! Can you believe it? I stuffed up. 

I live in Melbourne and didn't realise that I had scheduled my How to Create and Deliver a Great Introduction webinar smack bang in the middle of Melbourne Cup Day. Naturally I only found out about this just after I had sent the newsletter to over 1,500 people!

So a few quick tinkerings of the system and voila, it is now on this Wednesday at 1pm Melbourne time. If you want to be part of it, the webinar detail and registration is here 

What about you? When you find out about a problem can you let go of control enough to be flexible? Can you release the idea of what you wanted to happen and come up with a solution that will suit? From a cancelled meeting to a cancelled contract, anything can happen. As has been said so many times, it is not what happens to you but how you deal with it that counts. So are you flexible enough to deal with what happens to you?

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Warwick Merry - The Get More Guy, is your high energy, results focused, action oriented, no holds barred tour de force MC, keynote speaker and Exhibiting Specialist. He ensures your attendees Get More from your event. His MC work is like insurance for your event. It guarantees things will run smoothly and on time. As a speaker, he is like a dose of Berocca – a bubbling, burst of healthy, sustainable energy for your attendees.  If you need a burst of inspiration, cogitation and celebration at your next event you MUST book The Get More Guy, Warwick Merry.