Of course I’ll be attending ad:tech New York. I hope I’ll see you there. Let me know if you are going.

Did you know there are only 3 more days until the early bird discount expires? Book by October 3rd and get in to the exhibit hall free or pay between $35 and $125 after Friday of this week.

Same goes for the conference price. It’s $1,495 in Early Bird before 10/4 and goes up to $1,995 on site.
If you use my “Bratton Bonus” promo code, you save 30% off your exhibit or conference registration. You’ll pay only $1,046,50.

Use promo code DISHYN when you register for ad:tech to save 30% – more than $500.

Get your act together this week and save your company $500 bucks!

Every week I interview a guest on DishyMix. I thought I’d share my process with you.

You can see in the phot below how I planned my questions in advance for John Zogby, the episode coming up where we talk about his book, “The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream.” (get a free autographed copy)

I use Post-It Notes to capture all my ideas and then when I have all of my questions, I organize them into categories.

In this case, I talked first about how political polling and marketing research are similar. John shared his “Retail Politics” findings where he can tell your party affiliation by the stores in which you shop. Next we talked about life in the first decade of the 21st Century and changing American values. The third column covers his demographic profiling work. The fourth column various topics around authenticity and personality. And finally, a personal story about John’s Dad that’s germane to the whole topic.

Across the top of my sheet of paper is his name, his book title and some monikers I use to introduce him. Along the left is a sample of the “tag cloud” I use in most episodes of the show to tell my listener the myriad subjects covered in that particular episode.

I got this “system” for organizing my thoughts from a company called Decker Communications where I was trained in public speaking. Their Decker Grid System uses the same Post-It Note construct and requires you to first understand your Listeners. Who are they? What are their demographics, needs and attitudes?

Then once you understand your audience, you establish your Point of View. What is your stance, attitude, opions about the subject? Put that on a Post-It Note.

You must then lay out the Action Steps. What do you want your listeners to do?

Next you outline the Benefits of your perspective. How will you listeners benefit from taking the action steps?

If there are a series of Action Steps or Benefits, you list them all and then organize them into columns so you can hit each point in the best order for your audience. Just like I did when interview John Zogby above. I had 5 key areas, with multiple questions in four of those areas.

You finish your presentation asking your listeners to take the actions you’ve outlines and viola, you have a compelling and organized presentation.

The great thing about using Post-It Notes is that I can move them around as I go, switching priorities on the fly or skipping questions should I need to.

I hope this will help you become an even better interviewer. Want to share your process with us? Comment below.

I often interview authors on DishyMix who are writing the latest books on digital marketing, books on understanding our strengths, books by ad agencies about their business and more. My guests are kind enough to allow me to give away free, autographed copies of books and sometimes they even have tee-shirts or other great schwag.

If you would like any of these freebies, just post your request on “the wall” in my DishyMix Facebook Fan Club.

Here are some of the goodies available to my listeners:

• I have the scoop (first interview ever!) of Dave Evans detailing his new book “Social Media: An Hour a Day.” He is personally autographing copies for DishyMix fans.
• And John Zogby, preeminent pollster will personally autograph copies of his book “The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream.”
• Alex Bogusky is giving a really fascinating book about Crispin, Porter + Bogusky called “Hoopla” that has a sandpaper cover and crazy story to go with it. If you bicycle, you can have a Hoopla Cycling Jersey.
• Pete Blackshaw is autographing a few copies of “Satisfied Customers Tell 3 Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000: Running a Business in Today’s Consumer-Generated World.”
• Paul Woolmington of Naked Communications has copies of the book “House of Naked” and “Naked on Tour” tee-shirts.
• Gina Bianchini from NING offered up Ning-emblazoned tchotckes. Maybe you’d like a Ning coffee cup?

Deals from my sponsors:

30% off ad:tech registration for ad:tech New York with promo code DISHYN

$250 off registration of any sales training class at Upstream Group Habitat with promo code DISHY. They are almost sold out in NY in October but Chicago and Texas are still booking strong.

Free shipping or a free Dymo Letra Tag Plus Labeler with your purchase of a CardScan business card scanner with promo code Free or Special respectively. (they just launched a CardScan for Mac!)

If you listen to my DishyMix podcast you hear me talking about Burning Man with my guests. Here’s a short piece of footage from Center Camp at the recent Burning Man. It’s a drumming circle. You can BYOD and join in or just dance as the spirit moves you.

I love LinkedIn.

I use it every single business day for one reason or another. Sometimes I meet new people at a conference and want to link to them. Sometimes I use LinkedIn to get introduced to a prospective sponsor for one of the podcasts on Personal Life Media. Sometimes I use LinkedIn to ask questions of my network to prep for a speaking op at a conference or for an interview on my DishyMix show.

LinkedIn is the single most invaluable tool in my social media toolkit. I welcome your connection. http://www.linkedin.com/in/susanbratton

On a recent episode of DishyMix, Stephan Spencer of NetConcepts gave us some actionable advice for becoming even more of a LinkedIn power user. Here are some juicy, quick tidbits to make your LinkedIn membership work even better:

Stephan Spencer: On LinkedIn, the larger your network the better your reach, as long as it’s a good network, your not just…

Susan Bratton: …accepting everybody.

Stephan Spencer: Exactly, but it’s usefull to have one or two, what are called LIONs, “linked-in open networkers” on your network, and the reason why is that, one of these LIONs who often have have five or ten-thousand contacts on their network, signifigantly increases your reach if you are sending out a job notice or using in LinkedIn “Answers.”

Thereare lists out there of top most LinkedIn folks, and thats actually how I found my LION that I added, my guys name is Flip Filipowski, he’s a VC, he has tons of contacts and he is one of the most LinkedIn individuals on LinkedIn. He has I think, over fifty-thousand.

Susan Bratton: So then how does it work? I frequently use LinkedIn “Answers” for DishyMix. I’ll say something like: “I have Stephan Spencer coming on, he knows everything about how to make your blog more visible in the SEO world, send me questions in advance to the show and if I can use it, I’ll mention you on the show.” I usually get between six and twenty responses to every question.

(I have nearly 3,000 people connected to me on LinkedIn now. I originally uploaded my address book and have been keeping up with it every week for years to make sure I connect with new contacts.)

When I post to Answers, who sees it? How does that work? You get this choice of picking people that you send it to so you could either just post it or you could post it and then pick people. And then I try to personally select people that would be likely to want to ask me a question about the subject of my post… how does that manifest in the LinkedIn ether?
Stephan Spencer: It’s like concentric circles. When you have your network of lets say fifty people or two-hundred people or two-thousand people, that’s one connection away, right? So they are considered first degree connections.

Then there’s your next concentric circle in that second degree, and that’s a much larger circle, many many more people.

Susan Bratton: So do people see that when I post my “Answer?” (Which is technically an “ask?”

Stephan Spencer: It depends on what you are doing. If you’re doing LinkedIn “Answers” or you’re sending out a job notice, for which you’ve paid, it goes out farther that your first set of connections, past the first concentric circle, I dont know if it’s second degree or third degree, but each service that’s paid for or free with LinkedIn, reaches differently.

Susan Bratton: So one of the things you also said was to put your e-mail adress in your name on your profile. I’ve seen alot of people do that and I was always worried that I would attract to many people if I did that, but you think it might be a good idea if you’re trying to build up your network, to make it easy for people to send you an e-mail.

Stephan Spencer: That’s right, because if I, an industry person, don’t have your e-mail address and I don’t have the time to dig for it on your blog or website, I want to very quickly be able to add people on. If I don’t already have you in my adress book, just that could make difference between me reaching out and connecting with out or not, is having that e-mail address right there for me to add you.

I just think that it’s up to you to decide weather you want that person or not. So you can easily say no, I’m not going to accept a particular invitation I will just “archive” it which means it goes away and I don’t have to deal with it.

Susan Bratton: One of the things I’ve noticed is that Facebook is soo much faster for adding people and confirming or ignoring people than LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s process is slower. Clicking on a request in email, then going to the site, once you say “yes” then you have to go to their record, then you have to download their vCard, and that takes time, and then you have to add the Vcard into your address book. It’s kind of a pain, however Facebook doesn’t even let you add contacts into your adress book at all. You can’t even copy and paste it ito your address book from Facebook which keeps it from being a more professional tool like LinkedIn. So in the end, though it’s slow, it’s still significantly better as a contact management tool. And with LinkedIn’s constant improvements, I’m sure it will get faster too.

Stephan Spencer: Each social service will offer different features. One thing that’s great about LinkedIn is that you can choose when you put in your URL of your blog and of your website, you can actually change the anchor text, the underlying words, it doesn’t have to say: my blog. It can actually say the name of your blog, especially if there are good keywords in your blog or website title.

Just choose “other” when your filling out your profile or updating your profile so there’s my website, my blog etc. and then there’s ‘other’ box, and when you choose that, that gives you a whole a box to type in exactly what you want to name the site that you’re linking to.

Susan Bratton: Ah that’s good, I’m going to go update my profile today.
I want to get to Twitter and some power user hacks for Twitter, and then I want to get right into the top SEO mistakes we make with Blogs, and how we can make our blogs soar in the search engines. So stay tuned, we’re with Stephan Spencer, the founder and President of Net Concepts, talking tech stuff which is fun, fun, fun.

Listen to the whole interview here for more power hacks and Twitter goodies:

Stephan Spencer on Top SEO Blog Mistakes, Social Media Power User Hacks and Sticky Posts

Tomorrow I’m moderating a panel at Blog World Expo. Here are some of the questions we’re planning to cover during the session with a focus on production, distribution and monetization.

Damon Berger, Director of Programming and Business Development, Revision3
How do you think the media conglomerates will influence the future of content online?

How do you plan to bring in advertisers on new shows/brands that aren’t established properties?
Schlomo Rabinowitz, Online Video Producer and Consultant, Echoplex Park Productions
How can you make a living through online video without actually making Viral Videos?

How is “Old Media” just like New Media in relation to advertising?

Tim Street, Creator/Executive Producer, French Maid TV
How many video views do you get per episode?

Where do you get most of your views?

Brett Wilson, co-founder and CEO, Tube Mogul
What is the typical life of an online video, and what are the implications?

Are advertisers better off creating their own videos, or inserting ads into other’s videos?

Almost a year ago I wrote excitedly about Catalog Choice, a website where you could go to opt out of direct mail catalogs.

I Unsubscribed from 83 Catalogs and You Can Too! 

I think it significantly cut down on the extraenous bulk mail I received this year and I encourage you to log your catalogs into the site if you are getting mail you don’t want.

Today I want to congratulate the Direct Marketing executive at Crate and Barrel responsible for  sending me this email.

Crate & Barrel has informed me that they respect the opt-out request I made at catalogchoice.org  and will no longer receive Crate and Barrel catalogues.

My name has been removed from their mailing list, and they promise that all catalogues will cease to arrive at my address within the next six to eight weeks.

That makes me want to drive right over to my C&B and buy something!

Thank you Crate & Barrel. I am sick of recycling catalogs and REALLY appreciate that you respect my requests.

Big gold marketing star to Crate & Barrel today. Yay! Promote that marketing exec!

Thank you. And thank the founders of Catalog Choice too.

Aloha Social Media Summit

I’m speaking at the Social Media Summit in Boulder CO on Oct 7th on “The Line Between Personal and Professional.” It’s about personal branding in the social media space.

How much should a person reveal online and will transparency increase your personal brand by providing intimacy and connection with your audience?

I need recommendations for what key points I should include. What would YOU want to know if you were attending my session?

Susan Bratton, Om Malik, Biz Stone, Peter Shankman and other industry leaders join hosts Dave Taylor and Andy Beal for a mastermind workshop.

The second Aloha Social Media Summit, October 6-7 in Boulder, Colorado, brings together entrepreneurs, marketers and executives for two-days of hands-on social networking and web 2.0 training. (Save $250 off registration when you use Promo Code “SUSAN.”)

With no boring PowerPoint presentations, or sales pitches, the Aloha Social Media Summit changes the rules of learning. With seating limited to 25 attendees, the experience will be much more of a mastermind brain-storming retreat – a radical departure from standard conferences or workshops. Every attendee is certain to gain a tremendous amount of insight and practical know-how application into both cutting edge and mainstream social networking and social media campaign building and execution.

The Aloha Social Media Summit is co-hosted by Andy Beal and Dave Taylor, who bring decades of experience in the online world as consultants, entrepreneurs, teachers and, most importantly, as professionals in the trenches with social media. They have high profile brands on LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, in the blogosphere, and at professional events. Both have been involved with social media since the beginning of the industry movement.

Registration is simple, but space is limited. (Save $250 off registration when you use Promo Code “SUSAN.”)

For information visit:

http://www.AlohaSummit.com

One of the shows we created when we launched Personal Life Media 18 months ago was a podcast that delves deep into plastic surgery and medical innovation around “staying young” longer. Called Beauty Now, the host of this show, Teri Hausman Struck is an experienced and very well-informed consumer, an investor in bio-medical technologies and the wife of a board-certified and renouned plastic surgeon in the San Francisco Bay Area. She knows her subject matter and can speak at a level that we as consumers can understand.

As Boomers begin to show signs of aging, many of us want to keep our youthful appearances as long as possible by not only eating well, getting exercise and taking care of our health, but by leveraging the amazing innovations in the various fields of medicine.

Television and magazines with their sound bite mentality do a poor job going deeply into these subject areas. Podcasting is the perfect medium to explore the intricacies of issues from face lifts to bio-identical hormone, from peptides to mesotherapy.

With Beauty Now you can spend 30 minutes on a single subject, listening to an expert describe in great detail a procedure or a medical technology.

One of my favorite products I discovered on Beauty Now is from Jan Marini Skin Research. It’s called “Marini Hair Revitalizing Conditioner.”  It complements Marini Lash with the same peptide ingredient. Jan Marini is the person who invented the now famous Marini Lash Eyelash Conditioner that I use to make my eyelashes considerably thicker and longer. And now I’m hooked on her Hair Revitalizing Conditioner too.

Can you think of a product, that after only a few weeks of using it, shows you an appreciable difference? Jan Marini’s Hair and Eyelash Conditioners really work.

The Hair Conditioner is sprayed on after shampoo and you leave in and style as usual. You’ll see new growth very quickly. It’s kind of like Rogaine for women.

The Eyelash Conditioner is clear and you put it on like eyeliner before you go to bed. In a week your eyelashes will start looking thicker and soon after you’ll see them look longer and longer. If I slack off and don’t use the Eyelash Conditioner, I can really see the difference. My lashes go back to being stubby, short and more sparse.

One of the things I love about Beauty Now is that Teri asked all the questions I would never even have enough knowledge to ask, but she asks them like she’s your personal advocate. Even if I’ll never have a tummy tuck or god forbid, vaginal rejuvenation, it’s still a fascinating area of health and beauty care to me.

Her three part series with Dr. Nicholas Perricone is not to be missed.

So today I give you two good tips. First, Beauty Now rocks. Secondly, Jan Marini is a goddess in my life. Thank you, Jan, for making beauty products that make a difference, make me feel beautiful and work – FAST.

Yay for the girls team today!

Beauty Now: The Intersection of Cosmetic Surgery, Longevity & Bio-Medical Innovation

There is new opportunity at the intersection of technology and beauty but it comes with a price. Not just the costs of cosmetic surgery and non-invasive dermatology procedures and injectables but the costs of changing forever our natural beauty.

Teri Hausman, biomedical investor, beauty aficionado, wife of a plastic surgeon and typical woman who wants to stay ageless interviews leading plastic surgeons about the newest procedures in the market today. Teri also talks to the founders of companies behind new anti-aging products and technologies.

Get advice from experts on anti-aging and longevity, fitness, nutrition, cosmetic surgery, hormone therapies, laser and chemical procedures, cosmeceuticals and more.

Here’s a note from a DishyMix listener and fellow podcaster about understanding one’s strengths and some fun happiness assement tools you can use.

On a related note, I’m also emceeing a conference on happiness called Happiness and Its Causes in November. Check it out.

In a similar vein, Marcus Buckingham (of Oprah fame) will be on DishyMix soon talking about his new book, “The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success.”

Hi Susan,

I just moved back to the Bay Area (Palo Alto) from Illinois where I have been an Executive in Residence at Northern Illinois University.  I use to do the Cullinane & Green Report podcast (until Green moved to Philly) and I’m writing a book on marketing and technology.  I like your podcast and I’d love to chat.

 Best regards,

Joe Cullinane

Sean Cheyney: 21st Century Marketer, Scrabble Aficionado and Multi-Variate Mad Scientist