The Seminar
I have been developing a Personal Marketing Strategies Seminar and Workshop with my friend Jeff Martinez. We met through a Social Network group called Professional Resource Network. The seminar covers important steps everyone should consider before and during the development of their Personal Brand and then covers the aspects of Personal Marketing your Brand.
Why we did it
I never thought I would be teaching a class on Personal Marketing or Personal Branding. In our group we saw a need to get our members up to speed on the subject of Personal Marketing and Personal Branding. We decided to fill that void. The question was where to begin. We didn’t know anybody personally that could teach a class on this subject, so we decided we would develop our own class.
Developing the Seminar
We started kicking around some ideas, we started with sketches on napkins, made lists in our notebooks, then expanded to developing the seminar using mind-maps on butcher paper. Finally, after alot of discussion, we decided on the content of the seminar and committed it to a PowerPoint presentation. While developing this presentation, I learned a lot. You should understand the subject better than your students. As we developed the Seminar, I became more aware of the things I needed to do personally to prepare myself for Personal Marketing and Branding. Of course, you need to practice what you preach so your students will learn by example.
The Presentation
We did the introductory presentation, then a workshop to give our students more time to explore the subject being taught. The feedback we received help us to understand our next steps in developing the class. The introductory presentation has been re-arranged to flow better. The workshop will most likely be broken into two parts. The first part to help the students get their focus. The second part to start applying that focus to action.
Accidental Expert
Because of this seminar, I think I have become an accidental expert on the subject. Attendees of the Seminar know I’ve been developing this class and that I try to stay current on all the latest developments in Personal Marketing and Personal Branding. I have started to develop a reputation of not only being the answer guy for Personal Marketing and Branding, but also for helping others get ahead in their careers. I don’t mind the recognition, but it is kind of scarey at times.
I need to remember this. No matter how much I learn on the subject, I don’t know what I don’t know, so I need to keep on learning.
