by Laura West
Happy Monday!
I am in the office taking care of a few details today before heading off to be the Guest Coach and co-leader at Ellen Britt’s Pink Coattails Mastermind Retreat at the beautiful Serenbe Farms. I am so ready to be taking walks in the early morning with the horses, chickens and goats, as well as being in the energy of an amazing group of women business owners.
Stay tuned to your email inbox as I have a couple of programs coming up soon: December’s Virtual Creative Planning Retreat and a January in-person Creative Retreat by the sea… we are putting the final touches on everything and will be sharing all the goodness soon!
Meanwhile, enjoy today’s super practical Miracle Marketing Message about technology, glitches and maintaining your cool!
En-JOY!
AUDIO – Tech glitches happen. Are you gonna let it ruin your event?
Here is your Miracle Marketing Message audio. This audio is designed to help you start your week with inspiration, reflection, positive intention and some smart marketing ideas!
Listen to: Tech glitches happen. Are you gonna let it ruin your event?
ARTICLE – Tech glitches happen. Are you gonna let it ruin your event?
I was just on the launch call of a 30-day event this morning, and the host had a bunch of problems with getting on the bridgeline and being heard. I so felt for her.
I’ve been there. If you lead classes online using technology – bridgeline, recordings, webinars, google hangouts (don’t get me started on that one!) – then you’ve undoubtedly experienced it too.
As the leader, it really is one of the worst feelings to have your technology fail you: from an overbooked bridgeline, user error (!), team error, bridgeline company changes its procedures or phone number (and doesn’t inform you), or who knows… maybe it really was Mercury in retrograde!
What can you do?
You have your reputation to uphold.
You want satisfied and happy clients.
And, you soooo don’t want to have to do it all over again.
First of all. Breathe. Don’t panic.
Panicking will make all the technology backfire on you even worse. The numbers will blur, you’ll dial in wrong numbers and have to hang up and start again, and most of all you don’t want to send bad juju energy to your already frustrated clients and participants.
So, breathe. Take one small action… let everyone know what is happening and you are taking care of it.
And here are 5 more tips to help prepare ahead of time for technology disaster:
1. Practice. If you are new to using bridgelines, conference lines, looping in a recording, or webinar and video technology, practice ahead of time in the same format you will use. This may mean scheduling a practice call with a team member or giving your clients a free call or even asking your family to practice with you.
2. Create a checklist. Even if it seems simple, write it down. I always have a template for all my calls with the correct bridgeline and recording numbers and pin numbers listed – even though I’ve been doing this for over 14 years!
3. Have a team member on the line. They can alert you if there is an issue. They can have your cell phone number and call you if you can’t be heard or if there are problems. Yes, you’ll have to pay her for her time on the line, but, trust me, it’s worth it.
4. Have a central way of disseminating information quickly if there is an issue. You need to know how to use your shopping cart or database system to send out a quick message, or if it’s a reoccurring class, I let the group know to go to our Facebook group if they are having issues or to share a problem. It’s kind of like home emergency policy of “meeting at the mailbox” in case of a fire.
5. Breathe and don’t rush. Give yourself plenty of time to come to a class beforehand and turn on, check in, and test out. It’s easy to think you have it handled and just jump on a minute before the class starts. That’s fine for the participants, but as the leader you are responsible for the experience being the best it can be, so give yourself time and systems to be successful.
Lastly, technology snafus will happen… I’ve had my share. Remember you are still the leader even when things get all kinked up. I have received my fair share of compliments from participants when there were technology issues about how I modeled “grace under fire” – that was worth the price of the program for them!
This week, think about checklist, systems, practicing and breathing… as you are planning your next classes and trainings.
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