The weekend just past does a lot to make one feel a wee bit more confident about the CEC. And it’s not all down to some well spent hours in Limerick at Bizcamp, but, like many I’m basking in the feel good rays brought on by some awesome Irish sporting accomplishments. I know I’m a blow in, but being an Australian I can certainly appreciate a good sporting moment. And it’s so heartening to see ya’ll out and cheering and full of happiness and enthusiasm, because god knows the last couple of months have been full of a lot pessimism and woe. All of this celebration is bound to rub off onto our daily toil and it could be just the push we need to get things moving back on up. (And to top it all off Liverpool FC are now sitting very pretty at just a point behind…)

Back to the biz…

We were looking forward to this day out at Bizcamp – especially because it’s about starting up and entrepreneurship with a focus on tech. And lots of bloggers and other industry peers were going to be attending or giving talks and it’s always nice to put a face to tweeter.

We found a lot of good stuff in these talks in particular:

Simple Planning for Startups by Ger Hartnett

Tight, practical, to the point – just the way we like it. Much of the stuff covered was stuff we all know but seldom do, so the refresher was much appreciated. And we particularly liked the fact that the suggestions were simple, low tech and and used free software, (Ger did flash up a screen on his product Coclarity which we’re yet to check out fully).

- check your email only twice a day.
This ones a bit tough. I’ve already checked it 3 times already and it’s only 11.30am. Will try harder.

- make a list
No problems in this department – Orla and I are list queens and will attest to ‘the to do list’ as indispensible.

- weekly & monthly plans
We especially liked the butchers paper & post it weekly plans.

- good reads for better time management
David Allen – ‘Getting things done’ with a focus on simple free tools like the pen and paper.
Tim Ferriss – ’4 hour work week’ – haven’t heard of this one but it sounds impressive

and finally…

- FART
Courtesy of a member of the audience – File – Act – Refer – Trash. We’ll try to do this more around the office.

Human Interaction by Adrian Avendano

An interesting talk from one of the guys who started www.meetforreal.ie which looked at human interaction from a hunter gatherer tribe perspective. The idea that in our last 2 million years of evolution humans have generally lived in tribes and small groups gives thought to why the modern human city dweller may struggle to interact successfully with potentially 1000′s of other humans. The reason I feel fearful or at best uncomfortable joining in the conversation with a group of people I don’t know at a party or event is because, in a nutshell, I am not socially evolved enough for this to be a natural experience. Adrian then says that we need to develop ‘hard core social skills’. I tried to keep this in mind as I wandered, sandwich in hand, through a sea of tables in the cafe at lunchtime.

What I particularly liked about this talk was the Pick up artist tips:

• select a target
• approach and open
• demonstrate high value
• create a personal connection
• keep the mystery flowing
• indicators of interest
• bounce

This is so nerdy!! I love it!

Anton Mannering spoke about Networking

As a newly formed small business we’re big believers in networking and Anton’s talk was excellent and immediately applicable to our networking practice.

universal laws of networking
- abundance
- reciprocity
- giving value first

“70% of success in life is showing up” – Woody Allen

some skills
- listen
- always on
- use peoples names
- ask questions
- nobody is a nobody
- not everyone will like you

other strategies
- give recognition (use names)
- empower others (i have info -> pass it on)
- be a role model
- strategic alliances

online presence
- writing blogs
- networks, linkedin, twitter, googlability
- coverage, blog, linkedin, business cards,
- reference

Check out the full slide list on Anton’s blog.

Some Thoughts on the Event….

The Limerick Bizcamp was very worthwhile and we’d recommend it to anyone starting or having started a business. It was positive about the economical situation and offered real and practical (yes, I know I have said practical a lot) advice for running a business, chasing success and staying motivated. 2 things I would suggest for improvement would be:

• Length of talks: 30 minutes seemed to be too short for quite a few of the talkers and with the additional time taken for people to leave, make their way to the next room and get settled. The talks I attended either went way over time (which is quite rude I think!) or cut too short by the late starting time. Perhaps consideration of extending talk to time to 40 mins or 45 mins?
• More chance for Networking: as we now know for sure, most people have a tough time with cold interaction – it takes us a little time to warm up. We also know that networking is practically essential for businesses. Perhaps subsequent events could force the issue a little more with a speed networking (or something a little more informal) room?