Panel: Making the Web Work for You

How Non-Geeks Use Social Media and Web 2.0

Listen to highlights from the panel!

Download an updated handout with the list of tools.

We’ve talked a lot about Web 2.0 tools at BACN this year, but all this social media stuff is confusing for busy senior consultants. It seems there’s a new social network or microblogging platform launched every day. Which ones are important? How can we keep up? Isn’t it just for kids and geeks?

This panel introduces you to four consultants who have made these new tools work for them—without having to sacrifice time they should be spending with their clients. You’ll hear how they’ve succeeded by selecting one or two tools that best suit their skills and their business goals.

Here are some questions we’ll address:

How much time do these tools really take?
How hard is it to learn to use them?
What kind of business results can you get?
What’s the real cost of these so-called free services?
Can you replace other marketing methods with Web 2.0, or do you have to add it on?

The panel is moderated by BACN Executive Team member, social media evangelist, and self-confessed geek Sallie Goetsch (rhymes with “sketch”).

About the Panelists

Terry Gault is the VP of Services at The Henderson Group. The Henderson Group helps Fortune 500 companies and start-ups to more effectively persuade and influence their customers, partners, and peers. Terry has been a coach, trainer, and consultant in communications skills since 1997. He has trained thousands of professionals at Oracle, GE, Wells Fargo, Visa, EMC, eBay, and hundreds more in other organizations, large and small.

Terry writes both a business blog and a personal blog, is active on Facebook and LinkedIn, and posts videos to YouTube.

Michael North has been engaged in Sales and Operations for 26 years working with universities as well as small, medium and global sized companies. He brings a comprehensive background in Sales, Project Management and Operations to every project. Mike has led design teams that have built national WANs and software development for Organ Transplantation as well as the some early portions of the Internet. Most recently, he has been working with the Not for Profit and Personal Coaching communities on ways to operationalize the web component to reaching their client base.

Mike uses Google Blog Alerts, Yahoo! Groups, and teleconferencing in his consulting practice—as well as good old-fashioned FTP.

Sandy Shepard wears many hats: lawyer, speaker, author, and lifestyle trainer. Sandy used a blog to create her book, fEmpowerment: A Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Bond Girl and created a podcast and a new blog based on the book, attracting both mainstream media publicity (e.g., ABC-TV, KCBS radio) and new coaching clients.

She has also blogged on law-related topics, and uses Google Alerts and iGoogle to keep track in our info-inundated world. Sandy’s current passion, however, is turning “high tech into high touch” through SendOutCards.com.

Jeff Stoffer, CFA, CFP® is a principal at Stoffer Wealth Advisors, a financial planning and investment advisory firm in Marin County. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Jeff pursued a successful cooking career, which culminated at the nationally renowned restaurant Chez Panisse. Upon discovering a passion for finance and investments he earned a Masters degree in finance. He became an equity analyst before moving into portfolio management. He is now bringing all his skills together to help individuals and families create brighter futures through retirement planning and sound investing.