Day 5 DONE

So what a day. Saw Rudy (You know Rudy the movie) he was interesting and inspiring.
I moved from there to the HTG booth to help them out. It was a continuous stream of people wanting to know what this HTG thing is. See Here (http://www.htgmembers.com/) I was supposed to be there from 10 till 11:30. However we went until 12:30.

From there to my first presentation about HaaS. It went much better today. A little change, in the presentation along with some great help from Loren went a long way. It was interesting to see how the same basic slide deck with some small changes really changed the room. I feel quite a bit better about this presentation. I had 8 minutes between this presentation and the next.

I presented for SonicWALL (See http://www.sonicwall.com/us/) Ted Hulsy and I have done several events now and it continues to get better. This also went really well.
Both rooms today were packed. People standing in the back, sitting on the floor and every seat filled. According to SonicWALL we had 120 plus people in the room. I have had over 50 emails today from these events and many connections on LinkedIN.
Here is one comment received today:
Steve,

I really enjoyed your presentation at the ConnectWise conference on Taas. It was very informative and timely for my company.

Hi Steve,
I thought your presentation was one of the most valuable at the show. We are revamping some of our offerings now and your presentation speaks directly to some of our ideas.

Thanks for an excellent presentation, and your candor.

Thanks for the seminar

Hi Steve,
Can you please send me your TAAS presentation? It was great. Thank you for
Great presentation

So many more I could put!

Day 4 more hard work and found a little time for play. (On Delay)

Started the day early once again and unfortunately went to bed a little late last night. The keynote spoke about the challenges of growing a business, and some great examples of research and companies that have done just that.

I then moved on to my presentation on HaaS. We had standing room only. I am give myself a average presentation. It did not flow like I would have liked. So with Loren’s help, I spent some time tonight adding some content and rearranging information. We will see how tomorrow goes.

Tomorrow will be BUSY. Starting first thing in the morning I get to hear Rudy present. Moving from there it goes to working the booth for HTG then the HaaS presentation 10 minutes later I move to the SonicWALL Presentation. Will be interesting.

In the evening I will move to another motel that is closer to the Airport here in Orlando. I have to fly out early (But hey, I get to gain an hour! (Time change)
Oh yea!, Loren and I had a chance to visit EPCOT. We did some rides, shopping and we ate our way around the word. It involved snails, Wine, Crab, and some other interesting things. Finally, a couple of hours to enjoy Orlando.

So Day 3 is over and it was in your face.

We started the day with sales training. From Hiring, de-hiring, training expectations and measuring. I felt like it was well received. I set out to fill 3 hours and with questions and such we took up 4 hours and we had to cut it short. We had a couple of guests from the UK today and they had some unique input through out the day. We ended in some real direct feedback for the members doing their QBR’s (Quarterly Business Reviews) The group is really becoming direct and this creates a level of feedback that is honest and valuable.

I did have a comment from Raja today that was a huge compliment. He stated that I described sales in a very professional way and did the industry proud. He went on to describe sales as getting a bad rap. If done properly and in a Go-Giver way it can be very honorable and valuable.

So after getting some information (And open invite) about London I am adding it to the bucket list. Question is if Jen will go with me. I know we will have to wait till the kids will be older. However what a great experience to get the tour from a local and get a real view of another country. Raja probably did not know that he included all that in his invite. Maybe I can repay his generosity with a little sales training for his group.

In this blog I have documented (It has been a while) my ability to read people. One thing that was interesting to me is I was unable to read my new friends from overseas. We discussed some cultural differences that may be a key link to this ability to read. I am just interested in looking at this as a key to the ability to read. I also ran into my friend Fuzzy from Australia, he is less of a mystery. Per Raja, he suggested that those from the UK are more indirect and more specifically more polite. Is this the basic key? I just found it interesting.

All in all it was a great day and I am done. Put a fork in me. I ended the day with a trip to Lego Land and the boys will be very happy when I get back.
Raja challenged me to find my next challenge. Point taken.

Day 2 (On Delay)

Finished up facilitation today. It did not end on a up note, however getting real was the object of this meeting.

Achieved.

Another late night and early morning. I do not know the last time that I have felt this done at the end of the day. Great week ahead. I am sure that I will get more energy by then!

Wow, Day 1 is over in Orlando (On Delay)

I thought yesterday would be a slow entry into HTG. Wow was I wrong. I had a plan to sleep in a little due to my first meeting being at 10, that didn’t happen. I was reminded by Christy to get the projector down early for some breakout sessions. So then I continued the façade to think I would get back to the room till 10. Didn’t happen. The next time I saw the room was for 15 minutes to change into some tennis shoes to go to dinner.

Great restaurant at Disney. That took us until a little past 9 and of course couple of hours at the bar catching up, next thing I knew it was midnight and I still had a hour or so preparation. Made for a short night.

During the day I attended some Facilitator training that was well run and on time, training on Managed Services, then selling Managed services and Service Leadership. All capped off by meeting with SonicWALL to discuss their new Champs program. All in all a great start to the week. However, dragging a little already. I will get more energy once the day starts!

To Flordia I go (On Delay)

So today, I wake up at 36 degrees to be at almost 90 in Flordia later. I am going to see the gang at HTG (All event) and later to the ConnectWise event. I am presenting a total of 6 times. Doing somthing a bit different this time and presenting for SonicWALL (Hey Ted, I put the capitals in the right place this time)

Anyway, I am going with Loren who I have worked with in some capicity for over 15 years. Should be fun. The events go fast, the week goes fast, I HATE the travel. From the car to the plane to taxi to room etc.

Prayers to Jen being a single mother this week and being alone on her birthday once again this year. (Third year in a row I believe)

Thanks for all you do Jen.