Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Review: "Get Noticed" By Marcus Taylor and Rob Lawrence

Get Noticed: How to master the process of getting noticed

By Marcus Taylor and Rob Lawrence

Amazon Kindle

http://www.wegetnoticed.com/ 

PROS:

• Systematic guide to networking by being noticeable.
• Encourages you to ask important questions.
• Easy, intelligent, readable style.
• Easy to re-read

CONS:

• WIll cover familiar territory for some.

SUMMARY: A good guide to networking by getting noticed - that helps make it into a system and helps you explore your goals and options.

Promoting Professional Geekery #21: Start A Geeky Group At Work

Your work place may be the geekiest thing ever or it may be so straight-laced people fear there's going to be an office comedy made of it.  No matter what, it's a great place to form a geeky group - and a great way to support professional geekery.

Think of all the things you can do at work that bands people together for geeky interests, or just band geeks together.  A gaming group, a group for programming arduinos, an anime viewing group, what have you.  Why not found one - you and all your fellow employees may enjoy it.

It's also a great way to support professional geekery.  Yes it may be fun and relaxing, but it's also a huge professional advantage:

• It lets you meet your fellow geeks at work - which lets you band together to work on your careers as well.
• It makes people at work aware of the geeky contingent there - and shows them in a good light (well, hopefully).
• It gives people away to meet the professional geeks at work and get to know them.  You might find a few unrealized professional geeks there.
• It raises your profile at work by being so involved in bringing people together.
• It shows off your skills and interests, which might open opportunities for you to apply them.
• It helps promote other geeky interests at work - who knows what will emerge next from the fertile mind of your fellow progeeks?

There's really no downside as long as you do it right. 

- Steven Savage

You Could Be Rich And Not Know It

“The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be.”
-unknown

You could be rich and not know it!  And I’m not talking about getting an email from a Nigerian prince.  I’m talking geeky street cred, or as it’s known in more formal terms, social capital.*

Social capital is the richness of your network, and it’s the key to fansourcing, learning new things, influencing the world out there, and getting a favourable introduction to someone in a position to help you get your dream job.

Promoting Professional Geekery #12: Do A Geek Networking Event

(The series keeps rolling on - believe me, I've got a lot of these).

So you want to help out present and future professional geeks to live their dream careers - so start helping them connect.

Yes, I'm charging you with the task of creating a Geek Networking Event.

What Fandom Has Given Me

This is the week of Speak Out With Your Geek Out, a time of celebrating fandom.  Because I am an active member of many fandoms, I couldn’t pick just one.  Therefore, I’m writing to you about all that my various fandoms have done for me.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 11 - Lrn 2 Advermatize and Market (At Least Better than HP. Ouch, Lawsuit in 3...2...1....)

Aside from merchandising, one thing that you may want to look into is A&M (that's Advertising and Marketing, for those who didn't stay awake during Business Ed.)  If you want your endeavor to be successful, you have to get the word out there; it's rare when they come looking for you from the very start.  So you have to make the effort.

I'll get this right out of the way: advertising and marketing sucks.  It's a specialized skill, and not many have the knack to do it.  There are a very few who are a natural when it comes to it and they usually find new and unique ways of approaching it (my favorite is Scott Stratten's UnMarketing methodology).  Chances are, you're like me and abhor it.  Well, it sucks but it has to be done, and with that in mind, let's get cracking.

(Oh, and forewarning: due to the examples of just sheer wrongness people do, this post is slightly NSFW.  No naughty bits, just lots of language.)

Interview with Smultron of Hawaii Kawaii

Smultron Rydstedt, the creator of Hawaii Kawaii , talks about how to make and market an image-based blog.

Beyond The Loading Screen: May

May?  What is May?  The fifth month on my calendar is called “Anime North.”  That said, it’s not like this month wasn’t beneficial to my career.

The YA Project
This one has been at a standstill due to certain parties being preoccupied with other commitments.  Seeing as one of those parties was Yours Truly, I cannot complain.

The TV Show
No one is watching the YouTube clips anymore.   I will keep an eye on it for another month, and then consider taking a different approach to getting fans.  I have an idea or two in the works, one of which involves a colab with someone I met at Anime North.  The other involves a skill I developed while making a game show for, you guessed it, Anime North.

The Company
Okay, here’s the big one.  I need to promote and sell my show, and during the con, I met some contacts who might help me do that.  Ironically, not one of them was encountered during my planned Networking Time.  It just goes to show you the value of always being prepared to take advantage of an opportunity as it presents itself.

Actually, this whole month was proof of the value of removing the boundary between work and fun.  When you are doing something progeeky, your work IS fun, and so even in your offtime, you are bound to discover things that can help you on your way.

Goals for June: follow up with the new contacts and get cracking on those new ideas for promoting my show.

-Tamara Hecht

How To Network at a Con

A convention is a great place to meet new people, make business contacts, and learn about the industry you want to get into.  However, cons are supposed to be fun, and for some people, “networking” means “crisis” more than “opportunity.”  If you’re the sort of person who looks at networking or other career-related activities as a reason to hide inside a mech suit and never come out, fear not.  It IS possible to enjoy yourself and network at the same con.

I Have a Job, They Don't: The Networking Jam

Friends and family looking for work? Fellow geeks without jobs? Are you looking to help out? Okay, we probably all for this, celebs continue with my ever–rambling look into how you can help people were unemployed, when you yourself have a job.

Here's an idea - a Networking Jam.

(Yes, more networking advice.  It's easier in chunks)