Time for an update on my networking/spacefinding/what-the-heck-do-I-do-with-my-life quest.

Earlier this week, I attended a great workshop entitled Taking your elevator speech to the top floor: Networking skills everyone should know. If you have been following me on this blog, you know one of my main tasks here is to not only find my space in the social media sphere, but also develop an elevator statement, and learn how to leverage and use that statement as a networking tool.

The facilitator, an acting coach, was excellent. She related several tools to be used in almost any situation, and gave us tips for zapping uncomfortable “ahs” and “ums” from our conversation. We paired up and worked on our conversational techniques. When the facilitator talked about critical listening in conversations, I thought back to a networking conversation I witnessed but did not participate in, while attending Podcamp Boston. Both of those campers used the exact techniques described by the facilitator.

But for me, maybe the timing wasn’t quite right for this workshop, for this reason: I still don’t have an elevator statement. In fact, I still haven’t figured out what it is that I do, nor have I figured out how to help people with whatever it is that I do. All of this was going through the back of my mind as the next breakout session started.

The person I paired up with had to leave early, so for this breakout session, I worked with two other participants. This brealout though, required me to talk, answering questions posed by the two other members of my group. As I fumbled through the exercise, my breakout partner stopped me dead in my tracks.

“You’re a consultant, specializing in teaching computers and technical writing. Those are great skills to have, because not everyone can write, and a lot of people don’t have time to write.”

I was floored, and didn’t know what to say. This workshop participant had spent all of, maybe, 90 seconds listening to me, yet summed up in a few words, what I’ve been trying to put my finger on for about two months now.

Well, in all honesty, the room was so loud that I didn’t quite catch every word she said, so some follow-up is needed. But her observations were a great kick-start towards my own elevator statement “nirvana.”

So keep a close eye out. There may be a blog post in the future announcing a new elevator statement, which will require new business cards, and also require a touch-up of the website. The best part though, will be crossing off yet another task on my Podcamp Boston Takeaways #pcb4 checklist.

Ed's Podcamp task list

While driving to Podcamp Boston 4 a few weekends ago, I took stock of where I was in this whole social media space.

I’ve been blogging, inconsistently, for nearly almost three years, and mostly about personal life events. I had a successful podcast for about six months. I’ve posted with regularity on You Tube, and shared photos on Flickr. I rode the MySpace bus for a year and a half before migrating over to Facebook. I’ve bought domains and configured them to point to a personal website, a professional website, and a resume website.

I totally understand Twitter, save bookmarks to Delicious, and have a gallery of movies and photos on my Mobile Me space. I’ve also commented on enough blogs and published some public relations work, so Googling my name renders about ten pages of links.

Yet when another Podcamper sat at my table asked why I was attending, all I could muster was, “I’m just checking it out.”

How’s that for a closed-ended response!

When the Podcamper asked what I did, I couldn’t even come up with a decent answer. By the end of the day I referred to myself as a “lifecaster” because it was the only category I could think of, but in all honesty, another Podcamper suggested that to me.

It would be an understatement to say I was a bit unprepared, and listening to other podcampers talking and socializing revealed to me the depths of my unpreparedness. To wit:

- I had no business cards.

- I had no prepared elevator statements.

- I could not define what I did, what I wanted to do, nor my goals for this conference.

- I was painfully shy about engaging in conversations at the tables I was sitting at, and even more shy about initiating conversations with conference leaders, or anyone else for that matter.

It was, to say the least, not an auspicious start.

I recovered nicely, though, thanks to a vigorous lunchtime conversation, and an afternoon session on the “conversational web” that turned into a Twitter 101 and Facebook privacy issues forum. I felt good about my contributions to the dialogue, and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to engage anyone who sat with 10 feet of me.

Two days removed from the conference, I sat down to make a list of takeaways and action items. Here is what I came up with:

- Rehash website

- Install WordPress Blog

- Blog at least three times a week, on any topic

- Tweet (compelling) at least once a day

- Develop elevator statent

- Look for more networking opportunities

- Define role

- Podacast?

I also wrote down several bloggers names to follow, and jotted some working titles to help define what it is I wanted to do. Now, not even a full month later, I can report that I’ve crossed off half the tasks off the list, and I’m well on my way to completing the rest of the items.

In the spirit of sharing, here are the results of accomplishing these tasks.

Rehash website

Rebuilding my professional website forced me to define a title, and put in to words exactly what it is that I do. It also illustrated the need to change my resume website. That will be a task for the next list.

Install WordPress Blog

Installing a WordPress’ platform forced me out my iLife/Blogger comfort zone. I’m still a bit challenged by WordPress themes, but learning new web protocols is always exciting. Finally grabbing my name as a dotcom URL puts me on an even keel with the rest of the world.

Blog at least three times a week, on any topic

Penelope Trunk’s excellent guide to starting a blog suggests three steps relating to the actual writing of the blog; 1)post something right now, 2) practice, practice, practice, and 3) ignore your lack of readers. I can’t think of three better tips for beginning bloggers.

Look for more networking opps

Look out PodCamp New Hampshire. I’ll be there, elevator statement ready and business cards in hand. I’ll also be at Tech Cocktail Boston 3, testing out my elevator statements and enjoying some downtown fun.

I was going to wait till the one-month date to post this little progress report, but going through the list got me excited about the progress I’ve made in a few short weeks. We are often told to celebrate small victories. This is one for me.