Episode 009: The Hidden Elements

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Synopsis -
In this episode, Dr. Misner talks with BNI member and Education Coordinator Linda Campana about the hidden elements of a BNI chapter meeting:

Sharing the Transcripts of the BNI Podcast

Downloading Podcasts vs. Listening Online

The Hidden Elements of a BNI Chapter Meeting

Singing Your 60-Second Introduction

How Education Coordinators Can Use the Podcast as a Resource

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 009 -

Frank Felker:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the official BNI podcast, brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I’m Frank Felker in Washington, DC, joined on the phone today by Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner, calling from BNI headquarters in sunny southern California. How are you today Ivan?

Dr. Ivan Misner
I’m doing great Frank. I have someone with us this week. I have a long-term director for BNI, she’s been with the organization for a long time and is also a member of BNI, Linda Campana. Linda, hello.

Linda Campana
Hi Ivan. Thank you for inviting me on this podcast.

Ivan
It’s great to have you on. The reason that I’ve invited Linda to be on this podcast is that she was one of the first people when the podcast came out to post on the podcast bulletin board some messages about her responses to the podcast. She’s also an Education Coordinator for a chapter and she shared with me how she’s using the podcast as an Education Coordinator and I was really excited by that and I wanted to invite Linda to do this podcast with me to share with the members how these podcasts can be used by members and Education Coordinators and members on a weekly basis.

Linda, thanks for you comments. Maybe you can just share with us how you see the podcasts being used at a chapter level?

Linda
Having a weekly podcast coordinates very well with the weekly meetings. I go on to the podcast, I look for some highlights, things for the chapter, Sometimes I’ll print out the transcript or I’ll print out the highlights and pass those out during the Educational Coordinator time during my meeting.

Ivan
That’s a great idea, the transcript. So you print out some of those and pass them around. Do you highlight some of the aspects of what I talk about and then talk about them yourself during the meeting?

Linda
Yes I do. I just kind of highlight the main points and then I tell the members that if they want to see more details I encourage them to go on to the podcast and read the transcript too.

Ivan
One of the things I’ve discovered is that many people don’t realize that a podcast can be listened to directly off of the Internet. They sometimes think – particularly Baby Boomers – who aren’t familiar with some technology, think that you have to have an iPod to listen to the podcast, and so telling that is important so that they know that they can just go to the computer and listen to it.

Linda
Right. And it’s so easy, it’s so convenient because we multitask and so while I’m doing something else, I just put on the podcast and it’s only ten minutes and I listen to that while I’m doing other things.

Ivan
One of the things that you mentioned that you would like to see me cover in future podcasts is the whole idea of the hidden elements of a successful meeting. The hidden elements are portions of a meeting that kind of seem obvious but unless you understand them fully you can’t really master the process. Do you want to share a couple of the things that you think would be great for us to cover over the next year as far as the hidden elements?

Linda
Probably the Visitor Host, when they’re introducing the leadership team, the 60-second. I really enjoy doing my 60-second. I put a little twist on it because that’s when you really want people to remember you and you want to stand out from your competition, so at the end of my 60-second I sing a little jingle. I do Send Out Cards and I have a little jingle telling people how to send a card or be a card sender. My members look forward to it. They say “I wonder what song she’s going to sing today?” When they introduce me to visitors they say “Wait until you hear her song. She sings he 60-second.” Now other members are starting to put their 60-second into a little jingle.

Ivan
How would you integrate the concept of the hidden elements into the 60-second presentation? What’s the connection that you can make for the Education Coordinators out there?

Linda
Anything that’s going to help the other members remember what kind of referral is going to be good for them. One time we had a home inspector and he brought a stethoscope to explain that he uses it to hear water going down the pipes. That was interesting and you remember that.

Ivan
I would agree. I think the key aspect is that you’re trying to train a sales force and not close a sale. So the piece there is to educate each and every week so that members know how to bring in referrals for you on a regular basis.

Any other ways that you see using the podcast as an Education Coordinator or any other ways that you’ve used the podcast that we can suggest to the listeners so that they can take this back to their groups?

Linda
Especially if I see something that I know will be of interest to the members, I will encourage them to go on the podcast, you’ve got to check out this podcast this week. I let them know that it doesn’t take that much time.

Ivan
Yeah, they’re all under ten minutes. I’ll tell you what one Education Coordinator told me, was that he actually brought it into a chapter meeting and he played about a two-minute clip off of one of the podcasts and that was part of his Education Coordinator time. I thought that was a great idea. I’m not sure I would play the entire podcast, but I think to play a little clip of it is another great way that an Education Coordinator can use this on a weekly basis

Linda
That’s a great idea, I’m going to try that.

Ivan
When you do, post it on the bulletin board here. I think the bulletin board is another great tool. It gives members an opportunity to get online and share their responses to particular things that we’re talking about. They can talk about how something has worked for them or how it was presented to the chapter. I would really like for members to not just listen to the podcast but comment. Comment on what worked, what went well, what didn’t work, so we can continue to fine tune these tools.

One of the things about BNI that really sets us aside from every other networking organization in the world, is that we’re constantly fine tuning and adding content like this podcast. I’d like to think that that makes your job as an Education Coordinator a lot easier.

Linda
I agree. And like you said, your goal is to just be conversation around the water cooler. What was on the BNI podcast this week? Did you hear what was on there?

Ivan
I think we will have arrived as a process with the podcast when we have the chapters on a regular basis talking about what was on the last podcast.

Linda, anything else you want to add? I really appreciate your comments on the podcast and how it’s working for your chapter.

Linda
I look forward to the hidden elements. I think chapters are going to see not only the tip of the iceberg but the bigger picture of what BNI is about.

Ivan
I appreciate that. You recommended in an email to me that I cover the hidden elements as part of the podcast. What I’ve decided to do as part of your recommendation is, about once a month, take one of the hidden elements, and describe it in more detail, explain where it came from and talk about how it applies to a chapter meeting.

Next week’s podcast I’ll talk about the Visitor Host process and how that’s a hidden element. And then about once a month I’ll touch on a different hidden element until I get through the entire agenda over the course of a year. I think that will be really powerful content for Education Coordinators. I really appreciate the suggestion that you gave Linda and I hope that other people listening will give suggestions like that.

Linda
Thank you.

Ivan
I think we’re just about out of time for this week. I’ll turn it back over to you Frank

Frank
Thank you Ivan. Well, that’s it for this week. For Linda Campana, Dr. Ivan Misner, I’m Frank Felker saying we’ll see you next week on the official BNI Podcast.