ALWAYS BE PREPARED

 Always be prepared extends beyond my experience as a Boy Scout. You never know when an opportunity is going to present itself. I am a firm believer in this and had an experience yesterday that validates it.

 As a subscriber to this philosophy, my professional toolkit, that is never far from reach, includes my laptop loaded with my battery of presentations, professional dress and can-do attitude to help wherever needed. Yesterday, in less than 15 minutes, I developed a joint presentation on personal and marketing branding fundamentals for job seekers with my colleague and guest, Sylvia France, a branding expert.

 My intent earlier in the day was simply to attend a meeting where I am a periodic speaker to hear one of my favorite people speak, Tom Darrow.. He is none other than the Founder and Principal of Talent Connections, as well as board member and former Chairman of the Board of the SHRM Foundation. More importantly, Tom is a great speaker and guy who really goes out of his way to help others as much as he possible. I know that Tom would help me if I reach out to him.

 As Tom was on his way to speak, he stopped to assist an individual who was injured in a car accident that happened right in front of him on one of Atlanta’s major highways. This detained him and prevented him from delivering his presentation to the over 30 people attending the Life Lessons Over Lunch job seeker meeting. Although quite capable of delivering an excellent talk on employment advice, as Nadine Walley, moderator, has done so many times, or using Tom’s previously provided slide deck, she reached out to me to see if I would be willing to “pinch hit” and give a presentation on the use of social media in searching for a job.

 To make the session as informative as possible, I called upon Sylvia to help collaborate with me on a presentation based on branding for job seekers which I knew she would do in a heartbeat. We have worked together on projects and shared many war stories in working in high tech, retail and non-profit marketing. Her client list includes Apple, IBM and countless start-ups, as well as many large companies such as Home Depot and Verizon. She was my guest to hear Tom speak and to make the connection so he could be part of her network. Sylvia and I had just reviewed her presentation yesterday, as she will be presenting it to a local chapter gathering of the National Speaker’s Association in another week or so. Thus, we were good to go.

Sylvia captivated the audience with her storytelling about the branding efforts she has been working on for Antoinette Tuff, she is the bookkeeper who talked down a shooter with an AK-47 and 500 rounds of ammunition. Her compassion, calm and grace under fire had not only talked the gunman into surrendering peacefully to police, but no one at the school was killed or was injured. She saved 870 children and become a nationally recognized hero. Sylvia has been working to connect Antoinette’s name recognition to her heroic efforts allowing her to become a successful speaker to corporate America. Sylvia effectively tied in her efforts with Antoinette to what job seekers must do in “branding” themselves for the job search.

 After Sylvia completed her very well received and informative talk, it was my turn. I had slides at my finger tips and was ready to seamlessly jump in and take over. The crowd enjoyed my storytelling on how I had ended up finding great jobs in serendipitous ways. I will discuss these in other posts.

 The day ended up being a phenomenal success for Nadine knowing that the audience had learned a lot and would not walking away disappointed due to Tom not being there to present. Nadine is an excellent speaker, but the ability to turn the reigns over to two other experienced professionals who could talk about some different aspects of the job search was an added bonus.

 What I hope you gain from this post is that you should always be prepared when you go to a meeting. You never know what opportunity might arise to promote yourself and your abilities, as well as help out others. It can definitely be rewarding and fulfilling.

In closing, don’t forget to make sure that you have your professional toolkit immediately available and are prepared to step up to the plate if you’re asked.

How do you ensure that you're always prepared? I'd love to hear.

                                               ALWAYS BE PREPARED!!