Behaving in way that is congruent with your brand and beneficial to your business is harder that you may think. How do you behave when you walk into a networking function where you know noone? How do you introduce yourself? Should you talk business straight away or have small talk first? Suit or shirt?

Here’s how you do it

Last week one of the speakers of the upcoming Short Takes event ‘Live Your Brand’ spoke at a packed Oxford Art Factory about etiquette, check it out: http://vimeo.com/39235993  

What to learn more?

Want to see Lady Danielle in action and learn more about how to connect the behaviour of you/your staff to your brand so you can really start cooking with gas business wise? Check out our video on the next Short Takes: http://vimeo.com/38760770 Our next Short Takes is on the 4th of April at the Hunting With Pixels Headquarters in Newtown. Find out more or book your ticket here.    

Earlier this year, we caught up for a social with the charming Andy Ellwood, Director of Business Development for Gowalla, a location-based social media group. For more info about Andy, click here. In these final two clips from our interview, Andy talks about where he thinks social media is going, and discusses how his company, Gowalla, fits into the future. Andy is not the first to suggest that social media has reached saturation point, and is now beginning to contract. He quotes entrepreneur Leonard Brody in calling this contracted social media environment the “Small Room” era. Broadly speaking, this means that instead of using our social media to interact with the entire internet, a space that is growing larger by the second, we will limit our interaction to those people who mean something to us, our friends and contacts. This will also lead to a rise in what is known as curation. Like a curator in a museum, we will arrange and display our thoughts and knowledge for our friends, and these recommendations will shape our online spaces. If this does become the norm, it will become harder for businesses to use social media to advertise. Rather than having a broad receptive audience, companies will need to form actual relationships, and only those that are able to become trusted curators will be able to thrive in the space. With this prediction in mind, Andy’s company, Gowalla, has set out to enable users of it’s location sharing software to tell a story, to share with their friends what a given space means to them, and to impart knowledge about the physical world through social media. It is this peer-to-peer system that forms the basis of Gowalla’s business model. Andy likens it to sharing your passport, with each stamp on the passport coming with a personal story attached. Hopefully, the person reading about where you’ve been and what you’ve done would take away ideas and knowledge, and share that with their friends, and on it goes. Even if the so-called “Small Room” era never comes about in the way predicted, it is still a solid business model for Gowalla, and gives a more personal alternative to the wide-band style of social media use that is predominant today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3YzTw2mjMw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2Fev_rDJu4

April’s Short Takes is all about Brand and Behaviour. With three Keynote speakers and a stage-discussion, this promises to be an interesting and enlightening evening! http://vimeo.com/38760770 This time our speakers will be presenting stories about the peculiarities of Australian business culture, as well as business etiquette, and personal branding. The word etiquette is not commonly used these days, but encompasses most aspects of social interaction in any society, and is vital in business interactions. It may sound like common sense, but how you and your staff behave sends out signals regarding your status and intentions, and it’s vital to be aware and in control of these messages. Click here to secure your spot. Here are our speakers

Michael Jones

Michael is a lecturer at the University of Wollongong, with a doctorate on management, looking at career commitment and motivation. He has been researching Australian business behaviour in relation to behavioural customs in other countries. His experience is not just based on books. After working in both commercial and private enterprise, and completing training as an Electronics Engineer with the Department of defence, Michael started his own company, employing several staff, manufacturing, importing and exporting electronic systems. Michael has been lecturing and tutoring management subjects at UoW since 2002.

Danielle Di-Masi

Danielle Di-Masi is a consultant and columnist on business etiquette and personal brand.   She is passionate about helping businesses improve their image, through guiding how staff perform and behave. Her motto is, when you are confident with business etiquette and appropriate behaviours, you are then able to concentrate on the important things in your business. Behaviour and succes are strongly connected, so it makes sense to pay some attention to this oft overlooked subject.  

Evelyn Lundström

Evelyne is managing director of First Impressions Image Training & Consulting.   She believes that in our world today, we are dominated by visual images, and are inclined to believe the evidence of our eyes. Companies invest huge dollars in corporate branding, but forget how important it is that individual employees reflect their brand values. Evelyn is a past President of, and current VP Member of Sydney Chapter Association of Image Consultants International. She co-authored ‘Executive Style’ (Prentice Hall) and is currently writing a book on ‘How Not To Do Old’ – the definitive book on ways to stay young.

So start living your brand!

So join us on at Short Takes to be inspired and gain new insights in ‘How to Live your Brand’. When: 4 April 2012 Time: 6.30 pm – 9.00 pm Where: Hunting with Pixels, Level 1, 270 King Street, Newtown, 2042 Price: $ 20.00 (including drinks and fingerfood)

Click on the link below to book: