Deft Communications

Panels

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Sometimes when hosting the Jon of All Trades Podcast, I’ll approach a potential guest and tell them I want to feature their work on the show. And sometimes they turn me down. This is always vexing to me, especially if it’s someone who doesn’t have the media banging down their door day after day.

It’s an opportunity! A gift! Someone thinks enough of your work to invite you to feature in a venue where previously you had no access! Amazing!

Suffice to say, when I was approached to participate in two recent panels, I jumped at the chance.

Last month as part of Seattle Fish Company’s 100-Year Anniversary called “The 100 Years More: Sustainability and Thought Leadership Symposium,” I was asked to moderate a panel called “The Sustainable Message: Communicating Between Consumers, Restaurants, Suppliers, and Distributors.” The talent on this panel was unbelievable, featuring Gin Walker, a sustainability copywriter; Oliver Luckett and Thor Gestsson of Niceland Seafood (Oliver also brand managed Pixar for a number of years); Derek Figueroa, CEO of Seattle Fish Co.; and John Imbergano, Founder of The Imbergano Group.

It’s a murderers’ row of talent, and there was little old me keeping the conversation moving, offering prompts for the panelists to respond to, and keeping them on their toes with references to Koko the Gorilla (the one who learned sign language) and other off-kilter nonsense I’m noted for. The event was tremendous, it was a thrill meeting this exceptional talent, and I’m grateful to Ginna Santy for asking me to do this.

(left to right): Jon Ekstrom, Gin Walker, Thor Gestsson, Oliver Luckett, Derek Figueroa, John Imbergano.
(left to right): Jon Ekstrom, Gin Walker, Thor Gestsson, Oliver Luckett, Derek Figueroa, John Imbergano.

Last Saturday I was invited by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association to be a panelist and talk about the hows and whys of being a guest on a podcast. I’ve had authors on my show, but since I cover so many different types of jobs, I knew my insight would be a bit different than from my fellow panelists.

I was joined by Jerry Fabyanic, who hosts a podcast called Writers Talk that also appears on KYGT fm in Idaho Springs, and Analisa Parent, who hosts The Writing Gym Podcast. The questions were lively from the attendees, my fellow panelists had terrific insight, and it was a fun way to spend a Saturday. Big thanks to Jen Kolic for the invitation!

(left to right): Jerry Fabyanic, Annalisa Parent, and Jon of All Trades
(left to right): Jerry Fabyanic, Annalisa Parent, and Jon of All Trades

Sorry that photo is cropped weird, but the event took place at the Church of Scientology downtown, and they don’t allow you to post photos of the emblem (which would be above and left) nor the bust of L. Ron Hubbard (to the right) for whatever reason. Who knew Scientology could be weird, arbitrary and secretive?

If you’d like me to participate on a panel, just hit me up at jon [at] deftcom (dot) us.

Professional Communication Class

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Last Wednesday Jon and I were invited to be guest lecturers at Colorado State University’s Professional Communication class. We were asked to speak about what we thought was important to know about the professional world, what we wished we knew, any mistakes we made and anything that surprised us about the professional world.

Kristin presenting to the Professional Communication class at Colorado State University.
Kristin presenting to the Professional Communication class at Colorado State University.

Before we delved into our biographical histories (which are quite varied and filled with interesting and weird digressions), we first looked at the syllabus sent to us by the instructor, who was an old friend of ours from graduate school, and we noted that the day’s lecture topic was professional presentations. Having an entire blog series about the topic (the next one goes up this week!), we thought it prudent to share our insights to the class about professional presentations.

We considered going up there and winging it – I mean, we’re professionals, we’re busy enough as it is, and these are college kids, how would they even know the difference? – but we quickly came to our senses and put together a PowerPoint and an outline of talking points. This became a lesson unto itself.

One of the best things you can do when you approach a presentation – any presentation – is to prepare for it. Treat every opportunity no matter the audience, how big, how small, above you in the corporate hierarchy or below, with the same careful consideration, and you’ll generally acquit yourself well. We need to practice what we preach, and that’s why we treated this audience of college kids with the same level of importance as we would a potential client.

Did we reach them? Who knows. College kids are notoriously hard to read in a classroom setting, but the important thing is that the trick to giving good professional presentations is the same trick to succeeding at pretty much everything else.

Work hard, prepare as much as possible, and give your best effort no matter the circumstances. Show up for your audience. Show up for your clients. Show up for yourself.

Interested in having us speak to your college class? Get in touch with us through the Contact Form on our website. We’re happy to talk about anything communications related you’d like. Just click that link.