To say I was honoured and filled with excitement to be asked to chair the final @CommsHero event of 2016 could be a slight understatement. However, with that giddiness came with it a feel of responsibility – these events get A LOT of attention and A LOT of coverage; quite rightly so.
In addition, the previous 2 have been huge successes chaired by the awesome @paulwdiggory and @ChloeAlexandra7 – a housing legend welsh superstar and an award winning innovator, merely delivering a concept derived from an award winning marketing agency @weareresource; no pressure for the one who sells homes for a living and thinks, no i KNOW, unicorns are real!
The theme is #daretofail though right? – and I’m all for a challenge.
As the awesome @simonsinek preaches we should always startwithwhy.com . Before you get chance to settle down and read the great mans work, ill tell you what i mean by it.
- What is your why?
- Why do you do what you do?
- What drives you?
- What motivates you and keeps you going?
People buy why we do what we do, not what we do. When i say buy, this doesn’t have to be a product or service, it can and should be your passion and/or your vision.
We often forget this, and we often forget that we have a reason ‘why’; we get this confused with the need to pay bills, earn a certain amount or have a certain job title for example.
We would all feel like winners a lot more, if only we would all just take a few more moments to appreciate that those measures of success are actually by products of our ability and tenacity to act upon our ‘why’, along with a #daretofail bloody mindedness that exists in all of us, therefore making sure our own personal crusades are won.
We all know that the one thing that sets @CommsHero apart from any other ‘conference’ that you may go to is the levels of engagement and true relationship building that occurs.
The team are nothing short of genius in bringing their delegates together prior to the event, connecting those with similar interests and views. So when 50-60 people arrive in a room at 9,30am desperately searching for coffee, they are also greeted by smiling faces of people they have never met #IRL (in real life – that ones for you @MLawrenceJourno) and feel like they already know them. That awkward desperate search to view the name card hung round peoples necks, are replaced with face recognition smiles from online profiles and a hug as a welcome; already the event is 3 hours ahead of your standard conference.
This continues throughout the day with constant online and offline engaged chats, but here is the gem – the one thing that I’m still astounded no one else does – the engagement continues not just for that evening, or the day after but for months after. Here is the real success – because you have been connected with people who share an element of your ‘why’ you personally invest in that relationship thereafter and your commonalty is -‘oh yeah, we met at @CommsHero. A few of mine are:
@KevinW_Wulvern – he steals tee shirts from you though so i would steer clear!
@petebond7 – his fave film is Cocktail – whats not to like?
@MLawrenceJourno – he watches Princess Diaries (awks) and travels to Ireland to meet people in real life
@suzanne_DSmith – she likes horses and is lovely
@Caroline_Torus – THE original @CommsHero chair and defo worth a follow for @elfontheshelf festive antics
@AnnamDesmond – a proud @CommsHero tee wearer and fellow unicorn appreciator
So, this is a little ask to all you lovely peeps that have booked on for Manchester on the 29th – before you arrive re visit your ‘why’ and take some time to make friends with it again. Having this exposed to yourself along with the environment that these heroes put you in means that the success of you implementing your own #daretofail when you get back to normality will be greater.
You are taking the time to come along, a ton of work is gone in to this event to make sure you get more than the actual event on the run up to and after (excluding the personalised SWAG!) – do your bit too and lets make the sector brace itself for a whole host of energised brave professionals, working together nationally to implement project #daretofail
I can’t wait to see you on the 29th, and hey – I may even share my ‘why’ with you!
Amy Nettleton – Aster head of sales and marketing