Yearly Archives: 2009

3 Affiliate Summit West 09 Wrapup – Gary Vaynerchuck Keynote

Another Affiliate Summit event has come and gone. I’m writing this post as I sit in the Vegas airport on delay back to Cleveland where it’s 6 degrees. I hate the cold but there’s no reason to stay in Vegas now that all of my friends are gone and the show is over.

So as I mentioned, the show is over, and what a great show it was. Shawn and Missy hit once again with a well-run, fun and informative show. Over 3200+ showed up in a poor economy… what does that tell you about this show?

As usual, this is my fourth time, I was the emcee for the show which meant I got to introduce the keynote speaker who was Gary Vaynerchuk of Winelibrary.tv. I’ve pasted the video recording of his keynote below. I highly recommend you watch it and get motivated to be successful!

Now it’s time to get home and get some things done. I always come back with a pocketful of ideas that turn into profitable businesses for me down the road. And that’s a really, really, good thing, no?

If we met in Vegas, it was great hanging out. If not, why didn’t come find me???? :)

19 How To Get & Give Interviews

I do quite a few interviews nowadays, mostly audio. I love doing it. It’s fun. I do them because it pushes my brand out to thousands of new customers, which in case you didn’t realize… helps you get more exposure which equals more sales, leads and publicity.

Here’s my latest with Jim from Personal Brilliance. Part 1 of 4 to come. (Click on the Awareness tab)

I’m kinda everywhere lately doing interviews, which means I get asked quite a bit about how I get so many interviews.

It’s easy to get interviews, and give good ones. Here’s how.

• Make it easy to be contacted. Have a page on your site that let’s someone easily contact you.
• Be entertaining. Nobody wants you to come on and drone away while you bore their listeners. Try to be upbeat and fun.
• Be unexpected. I have put my Ukulele on the lap and begun to sing. Show hosts, in my experience, want someone who will bring this type of unpredictability in to liven up the show. Why? Because 90% of guests are really, really boring.
• Keep your answers to the point, and short “enough”. If you go on for five minutes without letting the show host get a word in, you suck. Nobody wants to hear you that long. Keep your answers short enough and succint.
• Don’t ever sell. Even if you’re allowed a minute to talk about your brand or business. Keep it short, and don’t drop your URL into the conversation 20 times. Lame.
• Put it out to the universe. You have to tell the world you are ready to be interviewed. Announce it on Twitter, put a blog post up about it. If people see that you’re ready, they’ll invite you.
• Know something. Obviously, you’re going to have to know something about what you’re going to talk about. Don’t ever try to do an interview on a topic you’re clueless about. It will fail and you’ll look dumb.

And of course, make sure your pitch doesn’t suck! :)