Bad Bad Boring Blogger

Confession.

I'm a bad bad boring blogger. Any of you reading this blog irregularly already know that.

I don't blog consistently. Just not that prolific of a pontificating pontificator. I'm not that interesting. Don't have the urge to blog daily "sweet nothings." (Emphasis on nothing.)


Only do it when I have something to say, or need to test some new whiz-shebang Web2.0 technology.

I'm just a bad bad boring blogger.

Odious & Odoriferous

I'm bad.

But at least I come by it honestly.

I find it odious (Smell-bad-ifferus) to simply post a blog comment like "Joe Know-It-All" had a great post on "click here to check it out."


IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ... JUST SAY IT!

Plus - Ive been pretty busy writing and re-writing (and re-writing ad nauseum) a couple stories of my own (screenplays) as well as editing 1o-15 business articles a week for Expert Access, a B2B e-zine with 135, 000 subscribers.

I do have quite a few stories in the hopper I'll post here shortly. Stories I think are interesting, useful and fun - not only for the reader, but for me too.

First Up

Steve Pressfield article/interview - about his new book "Killing Rommel." Steven is one of my favorite writers. More importantly, to readers of all ages, he is a great sharer of life wisdom. Check out his book, "War of Art," if you ever need inspiration to move your life forward or get out of a rut.

The last story I did with Steven, "How To Defeat Your Inner Deabeat," still fuels my email inbox with questions, comments and thanks. Received over 250 email responses in the first couple days after it was first published it in 2007. One has to question why a classic like as "The War of Art," similar in vein to Vicktor Frankl's 'Search for Meaning," ( a best-seller for over 50 years now) wasn't an international best-seller. Maybe someday.

Guy Kawasaki's Alltop

Hmmm - I segued from the "War of Art" to the author of "The Art of the Start," which I haven't read yet. Why write about Alltop.com? Two reasons.

1. It's Good

Alltop collects stories from “all the top” sites on the web - and groups them by topic. It aggregates on a single webpage stories from some of the best thinkers on the web. Alltop refers to it as a “digital magazine rack.” Pretty well describes it.

And yes , I could do it myself. Already know that. I could build my own glitzy whiz-bang content aggregator. In fact, I have many unfinished versions of it already.

Been there.

Done that.

Done it again.

It's easier not to.

Trust me on this one.

2. It's the Way Things Oughta Be.

Why? I sent an email to info@alltop.com because I wanted to get an RSS feed for the Social Media topic category -- http://socialmedia.alltop.com.

I wanted to simplify my industry research and keep up with the biz. In my job you probably need to read 3-4 hours a day. I don't. But wish I could.

The pace of the information explosion is dizzying.

I wonder how William James knew about it so many years ago.

"Wisdom is knowing what to overlook."

James' wisdom is my aspiration. But it's a struggle right now.

Highly Successful Failure

I also wanted to see if they had figured out how to setup or run an RSS feed based on aggregated topics and writers.

Have tried to do it for years with Expert Access.

Been about as successful as a woodpecker with rubber lips.

Anyway, I said all that to say this, not only did I get a quick answer - it came from Guy Kawasaki himself.

Rare - and Highly Under-rated

The personal touch. Simple. Twitter Short. Direct. Concise. Rare - and highly under-rated. No autorespondering going on at Alltop.

Guy not only addressed and answered my question -- but also, as the consummate entrepreneur would, "asked for my vote," in- political parlance, so to speak.

"Please do write about us. It would be great. I would think that small businesses, marketing, and venturecapital.alltop.com would all be relevant to your audience.

Thanks! -- Guy

So, in far too many words, that's why I'm going to do a story on Alltop. Because it's the way things oughta be.

Charlie Rose - working on a story about Charlie Rose. Saw him speak (or be interviewed on stage actually) at a major media relations conference hosted by the Bulldog Reporter in San Franciso a short time ago. It's by far the best Media Relations conference around if you're in the PR/Marketing biz. (Check out Brian Pittman's interviews, he's the Director of Content and moderator for the PR University. Brian Pittman's a real up-and-coming Charlie Rose - if he doesn't sell out and do the Hollywood writer gig first. )

Charlie Rose has BO!
(more on that later)

Charlie was fascinating. Really connected - with everyone there.

I've seen a plethora, a bevy, a melange (I meant to say "a whole bunch" there but got carried away) of good presenters and speakers. All it takes to be a good presenter is hard work and practice.

If you're not good - you have only one person to blame, yourself.

But to be great you have to be good - and connect. Connecting is pretty special, it's an art. Maybe a gift. A heavenly endowment. You have to be an expert, wise, personable, dynamic, charismatic - and likable.

The only speaker I've seen anywhere near rivaling Charlie Rose was Steve Wynn. He was unbelievable. Excellent. Saw him speak at an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year ceremony in Palm Springs. Steve Wynn is dynamic, inspirational, charismatic. Best I ever saw (how's that for good English?). And, up until I saw him speak, I had very little knowledge of who he was or what he'd done (shows you the circles I don't run in). He had the movie star kinda mystique. But being a gazillionaire sorta lends itself to that. And, this was funny - he had an incredible Dali Lami impersonation.

Charlie Rose was not like that.

Two radically different styles. His talk was on "The Art of the Story: Finding the Heart of the Drama." He spoke about what he looked for in stories and guests for his show (he's done over 20,000 interviews). It essentially boiled down to this.

Interesting people actively engaged in the struggle of life.
Overcoming obstacles and adversity. Authentic. Able to tell their story.

What made him Charlie Rose so special?

He was talking to a group of 600 PR professionals. Each one dreaming up ways to talk to him - pitch him, get his ear. Almost holding up a sign saying "LOOK AT ME!"

And what did Charlie Rose do when his talk was finished?

Get ushered out quickly behind the stage - through some high-security, highfalutin steel curtain designed to protect him from the masses? (Some occasionally use the same word "masses," minus the "M," when referring to PR folks.)

DISCLAIMER: Yes, I do own a gorilla suit - but that's not me. I swear. An amazing coincidence. Two Steve's owning a gorilla suit. What are the odds?

No - he did something totally unexpected. Staggeringly unexpected.

He walked down from the stage and chatted with the sponsors, then slowly walked right out, ... through the masses.

'So what,' you say?

Charlie actually looked directly at each table as he passed. If someone made eye contact he stopped and spoke to them. He engaged. Engaged in the struggle of life. Okay. Maybe that's a little flim-flam flummery, a little melodramatic. But you get my point.

Never - in the History of Business ...

Have so many PR professionals been rendered completely speechless.

What about the Charlie Rose BO comment?


Oh, BO -- that's simple.

I mentioned I've been to way too many conferences and speeches?

One thing I use as a guidepost now- a barometer if you will - is something I created (patent not-pending, intellectual capital totally suspect) called the ... The BO Scale.


It doesn't mean what you think. An average presenter scores a BO rating of 5. Top of the scale being 10. Think golf here. Low score wins.

The Lazarus Phenomenon

The absolute worst presenter.

The bore the dead type presenter.

The ones capable of provoking a Lazarus type resur-insurrection (resurrection- insurrection) of peaceful souls, drifting on the rivers of the Lethe, to awake and beat you senseless with their own tombstones, -- score a BO-10 rating.

This BO scale was developed after reviewing and analyzing reams of evidence. But, it's not just theoretical. I got out in the real-world and tested it extensively.

I engaged. Sorta like Charlie Rose. Well, maybe not exactly. But I found the bottom. The bottom of the scale is a BO-10.

How do I know that?

The Worst Presentation on Earth

I purposely created the most god-awful presentation ever.

Specifically designed to be horrible. (That means I tried my best to do a great job - but failed miserably. On second thought I was a pretty successful failure. That might be a better way to spin it.)


A Real Stinker

It was terrible. ( I thought, really thought, it was elevating, inspirational and my ticket to fame and $$$$$ as a writer).

BO-10

I got on stage.

Did it.

And it came in at a BO-10.

What does that mean?

BO-10 means you're so bad people throw their BlackBerry's at you to get you off the stage.

Do you know how expensive BlackBerry's are?


BO-5

Means you're adequate.

Not bad.

Not good - but bearable.

Average.

Some people listen.

But about 50% of the people are shagging their BlackBerry's to do something else.

Anything but listen to you.

BO

Having BO is the greatest of achievements these days.

BO means you have the audience enraptured.

Spellbound.

You're great. You're humble.

Dynamic. Charismatic. Likable.

You're real real.

And?

Every damn Blackberry in the place remains off.

BO= ALL BlackBerry's off.

BO ... means you have arrived.

You have reached ... Charlie Rose status.

Faux End

P.S.

Charlie said he uses Google Alerts to monitor what people write about him. Charlie if you're out there ... Steven Pressfield would be a great guest for your show (and no, I'm not his rep - nor work for him in any way). Besides, you two are homey's. You went to the same high school.

Steven has BO too.

P.S.S. - sure would like to get a peak at those list of questions you use as an arc for your interviews. You held them up on a hand-written page-- but never got around to talking about them.

THE REAL END

Steve Kayser -- skbigm@gmail.com