Episode 142: “BNI Visualized”

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Synopsis

Today’s special guest is infographics specialist Steven Lin, who created a series of visual tools called “BNI Visualized” to help new members understand the value of BNI. These are on BNI’s main website, but we’re also going to put the Flash animations and the PDF notes here on the podcast site.

BNI members at every level can use “BNI Visualized” to benefit themselves, their guests, their chapter, and BNI as a whole.

• New members see the benefit of BNI and invite more guests
• Guests will join BNI because they see the benefits
• BNI directors can educate the leadership team more easily and train members who want to start new chapters
• Expands knowledge of directors so they can make their chapters stronger

The “Why Join BNI?” animation includes 4 reasons to join BNI:

1. World’s largest networking organization
2. Lock out competition
3. Mandate is to give referrals
4. Best marketing tools for your business

There’s also a second Flash animation called “How BNI Works” that explains the concept of Givers Gain.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 142 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, 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 Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I am joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. I hear you have a guest today.

Ivan:
I do. I have a very talented young man. His name is Steven Lin. Steven does a lot of work with art. He does icon creation and visual story creation and brand management, infographic creation, all kinds of very creative things. I met Steven originally in Vancouver, Canada, at a presentation I did, and he did a couple of drawings of me that show up on BNI SuccessNet every now and then with me as a magician, me with the black belt, the martial arts. I’m sitting here looking at it right now.

Steven, you’re really very creative, and you did something for BNI recently that I really liked. It’s a BNI Visualized which can be found on our Web site, and we’re also going to try and put it up on this podcast. It’s a live file that you’ll be able to see some of the things we’re talking about, and it is, right now, up at BNI.com under Why Join BNI.

And with no further ado, let me introduce Steven Lin. Steven, you’re really a creative guy. Thanks for sharing all of this. Tell us about this BNI Visualized that you put together.

Steven:
Thank you, Ivan, for having me on the air today. So as a longtime member of BNI, I’ve been with BNI for four years, and I have worked as Secretary/Treasurer in my leadership in my chapter as well, so I saw the value of BNI. And as a creative director that specializes in process of visualization, I want to create something that going to benefit all the members in the BNI organization. So what BNI Visualized is a set of processed diagrams that explain how BNI works and why BNI is the best marketing tool for businesses. So the whole objective behind it is it’s a time saving tool and it allows new members to quickly understand the value of BNI.

So in my note that I put down, BNI could be benefit to people at different levels. So at the bottom, it’s intended for members who are looking for a better way to invite guests to be part of their local chapter.

Ivan:
If I may, Steven, you’re referring to the handwritten notes, the PDF file, correct?

Steven:
Yes, yes, I am.

Ivan:
So if you’re listening to this podcast, we’re going to put this PDF up there. You ought to have it up in front of you as we’re discussing it and Steven’s explaining how the live – it’s not an executable file; it’s a – what is it called?

Steven:
PDF.

Ivan:
Yeah, this is a PDF, but you have another file that we’re going to try to put up here that is actually –

Steven:
Flash animation.

Ivan:
Flash animation. So the PDF is sort of a description of what’s going on with the flash animation. Is that correct, Steven?

Steven:
Yes, it’s how this would actually benefit the members.

Ivan:
Great. So you should have the PDF up looking at it while Steven’s describing it, and then when we’re all done, run the flash animation so you can see how it works. If we can’t get it up on BNI Podcast, go to BNI.com and look under Why BNI and you’ll see the flash animation we’re talking about.

Sorry, Steven. Go ahead.

Steven:
No problem.

So the first step for members is we’re always looking for a better way to enhance our guest invitation process, so with BNI Visualization, it allows guests to convince that BNI is a great marketing tool for them and remove some of the skepticism about BNI.

So the next level up is the chapter leadership team. It allows the leadership team to educate the chapter members or potential members about the benefit of BNI. For new members, they see the benefit of BNI so they will invite more guests into their BNI chapter. For guests that attended, they will join BNI because now they see the benefit of how BNI could do for their business. And at the director’s level, it’s twofold. Number one, it allows them to educate the leadership team so they will educate the chapter members and grow the membership that way. And also, it’s a great recruiting tool, because there’s a lot of guests come and visit my chapter, and because there’s already a conflict of interest, so they would start their own chapter. So this will be a great tool for the director to train them, for someone who wants to start their own chapter.

The last level is at the BNI level. If we can incorporate more visualization into our training material and this will allow the director to expend their knowledge so they can help to build a stronger chapter.

So these are the four reasons I believe how people could potentially benefit from the BNI Visualizer.

Back to you, Ivan.

Ivan:
This is really great flash animation, and I’m looking at the flash animation as we’re talking. Do you want to talk a little bit about what it is. And again, if we don’t have it up at BNI Podcast, go to BNI.com and look at Why Join and you’ll see the actual flash animation that we’ve just talked about in a PDF that you’re looking at, or should have on BNI Podcast, the PDF describes how to use this flash animation. But do you want to talk a little bit about what they can expect when they see this flash animation. It has four separate reasons.

Steven:
Yes, there’s four separate reasons of joining BNI, and that’s what we try to teach people at the Secretary/Treasurer report at the end of the meeting is the four reasons of joining BNI.

Number one, BNI is the world’s largest organization.

Number two, you get to lock out your competition.

And Number three, our mandate to join BNI is to give referrals to our members.

And last reason is it’s the best marketing tool for my business and for a lot of my colleagues’ business.

As a matter of fact, in BNI.com, there’s a section called How BNI Works. There’s another set of animation that we have created that really explains the I HAVE portion of the meeting, and that goes through – it’s a five step process that explains how BNI really works. And that’s where people can really understand the whole concept behind BNI of Givers Gain.

Ivan:
We really like this flash animation, and again, if you go to Why Join BNI, you see the four reasons. When you click on it, you’ll get the information in writing, but also, that’s your voice I believe, Steven, basically describing what they’re reading, correct?

Steven:
Um-hmm, that’s right, that’s right.

Ivan:
So the four reasons are:

It’s a professional organization; it’s one of the world’s largest networking organizations.

The second reason, we only take one person per profession.

The third reason is that giving referrals is really the cornerstone of the program, and you create a virtual sales team in BNI.

And the fourth reason in the flash animation is that it provides you with increased exposure.

I love this material. Let’s say somebody wanted to put on their Web site, let’s say their chapter Web site, or maybe even their individual Web site, because a lot of members say on their Web site “Proud member of BNI,” what do you think? You would be good with them linking back to this flash animation, wouldn’t you?

Steven:
Yes, the best way is to contact me by SLIN@2QCreations.com. Send me a quick e-mail, and I will send you the flash animation file so you can incorporate that into your chapter’s Web site, or I can send you a PDF version of that so you can print it out as a poster that you can use during your BNI meeting.

Ivan:
That’s very gracious of you. Let’s make sure we get that e-mail right. It’s SLin, SLIN@2QCreations.com.

Steven:
Yes.

Ivan:
And your Web site is, obviously, 2QCreations.com, and I urge members, if you don’t have anyone who does what Steven does in your chapter, give Steven a call, go to his Web site, take a look at he does. It’s very creative. You’re very talented, Steven. People who have no artistic talent whatsoever are always blown away by people like you, who can just put together stuff in a visual way that’s very interesting and visually attractive.

Steven:
Thank you, thank you, Ivan.

Ivan:
Really well done.

Steven:
Thank you, thank you.

Ivan:
All right. So if somebody would like to put this up on their Web site, they can contact you. You can also link to it either on this podcast or at BNI.com.

Anything else you want to leave them with, Steven?

Steven:
The other thing is I can also provide – I know SendACard is very popular among the BNI world, so I have also incorporated into SendACard format so you can actually send it out to your colleague as well or someone you’d like to invite into your BNI chapter.

And last thing I want to add is the whole point of visualization is people are just bombarded with too much information, and most information is disregarded. So with visualization, the more you can do is really help them to cut through the clutter and create a better understanding, and that’s how we specialize.

Ivan:
And that’s what you do professionally?

Steven:
Yes, exactly.

Ivan:
So if somebody could use your services, they know how to reach you, and they certainly have seen the kind of work you do. Steven, I really appreciate what you’ve put together for BNI, and as you can see, we’re using it in multiple locations. And I want to just thank you very much for your offering to do this for the organization.

Steven:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity, Ivan.

Ivan:
Great! And again, Steven’s Web site is 2QCreations.com, and if you’d like to connect with him directly, either get that or you can talk to him about the services that he has, please feel free to do that. Steven is a member of BNI and has been for a number of years.

Thank you very much, Steven. It’s been great having you on the show.

Priscilla, back to you.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Ivan and Steven. That was very interesting.

So I’d like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.