How To Deliver A Sobering Message

An ad for POWA (People Opposing Woman Abuse) created by Ogilvy in South Africa shows that communicating a tough message is sometimes best done through action, not preaching.

Fancy Going To SXSW Interactive 2011 For Free?

In honour of our favourite show coming back for its fourth season on Sunday, we're holding a quick and cheerful contest that can get you to Austin's SXSW Interactive 2011 for free*.

Just visit Six For Gold's Facebook page and post a haiku about your favourite Mad Men character. Deadline for submissions is Saturday, July 24th.

*Registration only. Airfare and accommodation not included.

Change The Way Your Brand Is Perceived: Lessons From eBay On Location

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to attend eBay On Location, a road show the online auction and shopping website organises in key cities. 

It's been fashionable to be cynical about eBay, about how it morphed from an entrepreneurial marketplace to a profit-driven, faceless conglomerate that favours hard-nosed volume sellers. 

The event overturned these perceptions. It was big enough so that every detail was seen to, but the way sessions were designed and delivered, and the way delegates were encouraged to network, was very community-orientated. Following are the actions that made this contradiction possible:

Start the networking before the welcome reception. Days before the conference, I was invited to two coffee chats with eBay managers who wanted to find out how I felt about the company's services and offerings. These were done in groups, so I was able to meet fellow sellers in addition to eBay staff. 

Most conferences kick off networking with a welcome reception. Not a bad idea but for big events it can still feel like a cattle call. The group coffee chats were intimate and made delegates feel they knew the staff even before the conference began. 

The result? Friendly hellos in the hallways of the hotel that were genuine, not forced, and better perceptions of a company often seen as controlling and evil. Props to eBay for taking the time and trouble to start relationship-building before they were engulfed by running the event itself.

Empower delegates to stand out. Hands up if you hate the company t-shirt and the license-plate sized badge you are doomed to wear over three days. eBay had a really neat solution: It offered delegates an assortment of adhesive-backed ribbons that they could use to customise their badges and encourage networking. My own badge is below. 

All I had to do was look for similar ribbons and strike up a conversation. And for the first time, I wasn't looking for any excuse to bin the badge.

Knock their socks off by making one ordinary detail extraordinary. This was a boxed lunch, no frills, one-day only conference. Yet eBay kitted out the ballroom with tiered U-shaped seating so everyone got a talk-show feel and view of the stage; white Barcelona chairs in strategically placed conversation lounge areas; branded accents in the most unexpected areas, the most talked-about being the white carpet that lined one of the seating tiers. 

White carpets? Who does white carpets apart from Elton John? Well eBay does, and it was an unexpectedly luxe detail that was burnt forever in the delegates' memories. 

Understand that the people make or break the event. Every staffer I encountered was polished, stylish and articulate. eBay's bearded and baseball-capped Griff whom I met at my coffee chat not only welcomed the delegates in the morning, he also starred in a video about easy shipping online. A technical glitch during one session had the IT guy talking about his progress fixing it, on mic, to the speaker in a spontaneous conversation reminiscent of office banter. One eBay employee live-tweeting the conference proudly said that they were all wearing organic cotton company t-shirts. 

eBay online is a huge, noisy, anonymous marketplace. These glimpses hinted at a workplace that, contrary to what we'd been moaning about, seemed to be populated by real, likable people. Who -- shock, horror -- were proud of their own company swag.

Was the camaraderie real or staged? Are the staff really like this back in San Jose? Who knows? All I knew was that despite my jadedness, my impressions of eBay changed. So did the other delegates who, armed with complaints about the unfairness of detailed seller ratings, inaccurate shipping calculators and other injustices to sellers, were won over by the end of the conference. 

Walter Landor once said that "products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind." Whoever helmed eBay On Location knowingly or unknowingly altered a city's mental picture of a brand for the better -- and it took a conference, not a multi-million dollar campaign, to make it happen.

Do A Job Interview By Video Conference Without Stuffing Up

Your potential employer is in another continent and it's a bit pricey to be flying you out for the interview. Enter video conferencing, the next best thing to meeting face-to-face. Or is it?

What's great about video conferencing: It's quick and cost-effective. 

What's not so great: Conversation can be stilted; connections can be wonky; people can appear wooden. And unless you're Jennifer Aniston, charisma does not travel well on a tiny screen.

But needs must and all that. Following are some handy pointers on how not to stuff it up, especially if it's your first time with the technology:

Arrive at least 15 minutes early. The last thing you want is to be sliding into your seat, all sweaty and harried, while your next boss watches you on screen, marveling at how disheveled you look. Be there before both parties dial in. And toss the Starbucks cup.

Make sure your upper half is impeccable. It's what your interviewer will see. Avoid stripes -- they wiggle -- and other busy patterns. Wear a jacket. 

Resist the urge to keep looking at yourself in the little square in the corner. Now's not the time to obsess over what looks like the beginning of a double chin. Concentrate on the person you're talking to, and make as much eye contact as you can. It's a conversation and the monitor is not your bathroom mirror.

Take down notes. You want to learn as much as you can about the company, don't you? Show your interviewer that you're genuinely interested in what he or she has to say by writing down key ideas. You can then use these to bridge to specific questions, e.g. "You mentioned earlier that the rebranding may take place in September. On what factors will the timing be based?"

Wait a few seconds after your interviewer speaks before answering. Connections can be erratic and you can run into the end of his or her last sentence. Play on the safe side and give it two or three beats before replying. And on that note:

Avoid rambling. Be economical but descriptive when you talk. If your interviewer is shifting in his or her chair, wind up your sentences. Stay away from sticky topics like salaries or holidays. These are best discussed once your interviewer has determined that you're on to the second round of interviews.

Don't put your mobile phone on the table. It looks like you can't wait to twiddle with it, which looks really crass. Besides it can spark interference, which makes for a bad interview. Just put it away.

Have a glass of water to hand. It's perfectly fine to take a sip every now and then if your throat gets parched. 

Watch and listen to cues that it's about to end. A 45-minute interview is plenty long. Once you're asked if you've got any questions, ask one that's a natural ender -- "How will the success of this role be determined?" -- so that the conversation wraps up naturally. 

It's okay to laugh. Although web conferencing has been around a while, no one is 100% comfortable with it. Things go wrong. Whiny noises surface. Calls get cut. Lips move and sound follows 10 seconds later, just like those badly dubbed kung fu movies.

Weather the hiccups with grace and a bit of humour, and you'll find that talking at a screen with someone across the world, although still no substitute for face-to-face interaction, can be quite powerful in making a good first impression -- without even setting foot on a plane. Thank god for technology.

Picture of Google video conferencing courtesy of sfgate