By: Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski

All in Place Communications and Event Planning

www.allinplace.ca

Happy New Year! 2012 brings a wealth of new opportunities and chances – it’s up to you on how you can or will seize them to your full advantage.

For those trying to find creative ways to engage your employees, why not try offering Corporate Acting Workshops. The November/December 2011 issue of Meetings + Incentive Travel (MeetingsCanada.com), mentions “the craft of acting requires skill sets that also apply to the business world.” Poise, communication, creative decision-making, concentration, single-mindedness are all attributes necessary in the acting and business worlds. When you spell it out like that, it makes for a great innovative way of enhancing employees’ overall skills and abilities.

Acting skills help you deal with how to react in crisis situations, better communicate with your coworkers and strengthen teambuilding practices; all leading to a better, overall work environment.

So why not offer an innovative alternative to the typical corporate meeting or retreat by offering acting workshops! This would be a great way to enhance employees’ abilities and skills in fun yet productive creative exercises.

Start organizing your acting workshops by contacting your city’s acting school or theatre organization. They can work with you to create corporate acting classes tailored to your specific business needs. Another resource would also be contacting comedy organizations. They often provide workshops, in improv or presentation skills (the two most crucial skills needed to thrive successfully within the corporate world) that can relate to corporate groups.

Not only is this a creative way to motivate a group, it’s a fun and different activity that will get employees excited to attend instead of their usual corporate meetings where sometimes what they look forward to the most is their snack breaks!

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By: Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski

All in Place Communications and Event Planning

www.allinplace.ca

So I took the summer off from blogging but now I`m back again. Hope you all had a great summer and are ready to embrace Fall; the crisp, cool air and wearing fuzzy sweaters again. Goodbye sweet summer, hello Autumn!

I recently participated in a Teambuliding Day full of activities that tested our teamwork attitudes and overall thinking abilities. I must say it made me face a few things about myself that I didn`t realize (or maybe did not want to realize).

One particular activity stuck with me. Our overall group consisted of 25 and each one of us were supposed to climb up a ladder tied to a tree. We had to walk up 5 steps, and with our backs turned, we had to fall back into the waiting arms and hands of our group members/teammates. First of all, I have a fear of heights. Second of all, it was hard for me to just to fall back despite their words of encouragement. Maybe, it is a control issue, maybe a trust issue, maybe a little of both. Some group members did the “Nestea plunge” flawlessly while others struggled a few seconds before they released themselves off the ladder (as I did). I was surprised at how emotional some became (including myself) from allowing themselves to fall back onto their teammates’ arms and hands. For some of us, our eyes glistened with relief and satisfaction that we were standing on the ground with our own two feet again.

But, this particular teambuilding activity bothered me for a few days. So I asked some of my closest friends on whether they had ever taken the backward plunge into their colleagues` arms. They had, but they too experienced hesitation and fear into “letting themselves go” into their awaiting arms. It is a difficult thing to do – relinquish complete trust and face fear.

In the end though, I was able to complete the plunge. We were given the option to opt out and I`m glad that I didn`t. Yes, it was an unnerving experience but it made me look at what I need to do to improve myself to keep growing as a professional and team player.

Do you think you could have done it without some hesitation? Have you ever done this teambuilding activity?

Comment below about your experiences; I’d love to hear about them.

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By: Rosita Carobelli-Zukowski

All in Place Communications and Event Planning

www.allinplace.ca

Recently on Twitter, I came across a unique teambuilding experience, Yoga in the Vineyard (www.yogainthevineyard.ca).  A number of Yoga and Wine events have been held at local wineries within the Niagara region. What a great idea!

It may sound that it is geared mainly towards women; however, men are starting to take notice of the overall health benefits of practicing yoga too. Combine meditation and yoga with the indulgence of wine – sounds very relaxing!

What a great way to motivate a group – whether a girls’ outing or a sales team – it will help those individuals appreciate slowing down their everyday pace. Yoga is defined as ‘an integrated practice which brings all aspects of self – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – into balance’.  More and more, it is important for us to tune into what our bodies are telling us (especially sneaking in a power weekend nap after a long work week); the power of yoga can help refresh those tired minds and make them productive once again. Introducing another de-stressor method such as yoga may help co-workers to sign-up or better yet, practice together.

Yoga is therapeutic, self-rewarding and helps ground you to free your mind from the “go-go-go” of it all.

Let’s make a toast to that!

You can follow me on Twitter, @AllinPlace_Comm as well as Yoga in the Vineyard, @Vineyard_Yoga

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by Dave Lutz in Social Media at Velvet Chainsaw

I’ve been doing quite a bit of spying lately, in search of social media best practices among organizations.

While there’s some good stuff out there, the social landscape is littered with examples of what not to do.

If your social media initiatives are not yielding proof of engagement — sharing, comments, likes, and/or click-throughs — you’re probably not going about it in the right way.

Five Social Media Things You May Be Doing Wrong

Here are five things that you may be doing wrong.

1. Clogging the stream.

Are you integrating your Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook posts so the exact same message appears on two or more platforms? Are your posts unscheduled or all within a matter of seconds? Those are two big no-no’s.

Each social media platform has different audiences, requiring individual engagement strategies. Take the time to make each post on each platform relevant or you will be hidden, ignored, disliked or simply not followed. If you are pushing out multiple posts, space them at least an hour apart.

2. Being self-centered.

If more than 25% of your posts promote your offerings and share content you’ve developed, you’re going to smell like spam. Instead, you should be curating lots of helpful content from other sources and having real conversations. If your community views you as being helpful and living your mission by providing educational value (regardless of the source), you’ll reap big-time benefits.

3. Hiding behind your logo.

In the social media space, people want to interact with people, not brands. This one’s tough. Most organizations use their logo, but that’s so 2007!

Make your social media platforms more human by including the people behind the logo. Feature their profiles. Have them participate in ongoing conversations. Some off-topic discussions that can be loosely tied to your industry also help humanize your social media efforts.

4. Not answering the social phone.

If a member of your community asks a question or posts helpful information, it’s your job to make sure that they get a timely answer or are thanked for contributing. It’s neighborly!

The same standard operating procedures you have in place for returning phone calls or emails should apply to your social media engagement. There’s no difference.

5. Over- or under-policing.

Most organizations are loosening the reigns and opening up their social media pages and groups to a wider audience. If you limit access, you run the risk of disenchanting future customers.

On the other hand, if you don’t make sure that your sites are sales-free zones, you’ll scare away the community members you want most. Your best play is to accept all, follow back on most, and establish posting guidelines that your members can help enforce.

A strong and open Facebook page or LinkedIn group has huge SEO (search engine optimization) value.

Adapted from Dave’s People & Processes column in PCMA’s June edition of Convene. Reprinted with permission of Convene, the magazine of the Professional Convention Management Association. © 2011.

What other social media don’ts would you add to this list? What irks you the most that some organizations do in social media?

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