PERSONAL BRANDING

September 10, 2013

BEFORE WE START...

•Discussion is not “how to.”

• It’s based on belief sets.

•Don’t do what I do.

•Do what feels right to you.

•And what fits your personal style and personality.

WHAT I BELIEVE

•Like minded people find and discover each other.

•When you put your voice out there, you’re more than likely to....

•be discovered

•connect

•create something new

“Personal branding should be aimed not at self-promotion, but to connect with the people you know, and being

discovered by those you attract...”

START HERE...

• In the context of Geekdom

•Enables you to give back in an easy and fun way

•Let’s you experiment in a human lab

• Intent is to go broader in other areas of your brand

TODAY....

•Two fold objective:

•help you master the art of personal branding in the context of where you create and get things done

•use Geekdom as a place to try this out and experiment

•help promote the Geekdom brand from the perspective of its community members

YOU & GEEKDOM

•Are

•brands

• stories

•a work in progress

•Ambassadors for each other’s brand

I’m a big deal at Geekdom:)

YOU ARE A BRAND

•Be it as a solo gig or as a team, you are in your own right, a brand

•The environment of Geekdom, the surroundings of downtown and the things you do in your work can help define and grow your influence and thought leadership on the social web

WHY

•Geekdom is on the rise...

•This is your opportunity to associate your personal brand with a brand that could help you think about how you are branding yourself

•Opportunity to grow your business around the world

•Being “discovered”

WTF?

•This is a distraction

• I am too busy working

• I can’t take on more work

•External to work, I have a life

HOW DO I BENEFIT?

•Gets you in the mindset of personal branding

•Associates yourself with the Geekdom brand

•Cross pollenates your personal brand with your team

•Helps your fellow Geekdom community members

•Could bring in new community members through your story telling

PART OF YOUR DAILY FLOW

•Your smart phone is your friend

•Open your eyes and ears and see what’s around you for easy story telling

•The collaborative nature of Geekdom inherently lends itself to this process

•A good way to connect with people you may not know

•A good way to build deeper relationships - this is not always about business

I DON’T KNOW BRANDING

•Just be you

•Share who you are

•Discover your surroundings with writing, photos, videos...

I’m awesome

TIMING

•Now through December, the weather is perfect for this

•Go, discover downtown

•Lots of funky dives, dumps, joints and street people that makes San Antonio very unique

•Great buildings, street signs, foods, bridges

1 + 1

When you are here.....

ONE “THING” PER DAY

•Shout out to a team member

•Photo of an object on the floor

•Go for a walk on the Riverwalk and share the moment

•Knock on your neighbor’s door and do an interview

•Write a blog post

•Do a Facebook entry

WHERE TO START?

•A few basics

•Pick a few obvious platforms - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, G+, Foursquare

•Check in daily

•Share one thing per day....

westoncenter

riverwalk

funky buildings

Discover the building and your surroundings....

foods

people

transportation

architecture

fun

culture

randbuilding

IF YOU TRAVEL....

•On business and on vacation...wave back to your peers

•Shout out to your team

•Root for the TechStars Cloud teams when they are in residence

•Wear your Geekdom T-shirt and photograph yourself at recognizable landmarks

•Wear your startup’s T-shirt and photograph yourself at recognizable landmarks

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

•Show the folks on the Geekdom staff some love

•Thank the local media when they cover Geekdom

•Thank the speakers who share their insights during programs

•High five your peers when they have a win, get funding, a major customer, or a big contract

•Promote new programming

•Welcome new community members as you meet

Story Telling With Instagram...

THE WESTON CENTER

•The building itself

•Lobby area - chairs, decorations, artwork, walkways, waterfall

•Restaurant

•Piano man

•Events & classes

•10th & 11 floor + the Rand Building in the works....

•Geekdom signage, collateral material, seminar handouts...

share and promote your

community members’

content, music, photos,

documents, etc.

Geekdom has tons of cool images you can create that surround the environment we

work in

Classy Joint: Geekdom.... I approach the

Weston Centre as an

infrastructure to Geekdom

geekdom you

institution humanity

Your personal branding helps humanize the Geekdom experience and the persona of its community members

your voice really matters and contributes

we are one :)

WIN & WIN

•Aimed to help you think about your personal brand

•Helps raise awareness of the awesomeness of the Geekdom experience

•The process could open new opportunities for you personally and with your team

START SLOW...

•Become aware of your surroundings

•Experiment and build your voice

•Meet, connect with someone new on the floor

•Take a stranger for a walk and share the experience

•Friend & connect with the community

•A good way to say “thank you” to the Geekdom team

TAKE STOCK OF YOURSELF

•Expertise

•Hobbies

•Communities

•Fan of....

•Believe in...

•Contribute to...

the rise of humanity...

SUSTAIN

•Think in the long run

•Daily is ideal, but focus on building on what you are working, making, creating

•A few check-ins / posts a week over the course of the balance of 2013 really adds up and helps you be discovered and shared

•The more you do this, the better you get at branding you and your team

•The collective voice of the community will really impact

thank you....

alan@weinkrantz.com