The practitioner was Betsy Buckley, a local PR maven who’s been connecting people in the Twin Cities for decades. She’s like a walking, talking LinkedIn page, but without those lame, off-the-mark “recommendations.”
(Does Beth know copy editing? Does Beth know newsletters? Puh-leez. Being fabulous me involves a lot more than that, I think with a huff every time someone recommends me, even though I do appreciate when anyone takes the time.)
But there was Betsy, in about one minute connecting with six different people, and she’s a master. Here comes a personal compliment. There goes a business card. Now for an introduction between two acquaintances she thought should connect. Here’s a story idea for me to use. There’s a belly laugh at someone’s anecdote.
And, oh yes, here’s what she’s working on herself, delivered in two sentences max (280 characters?) and with so much enthusiasm I check it out when I get back to the office. She’s the president of Microgrants, a young foundation that gives $1,000 grants—not loans, because they don’t want to add any more debt to a fledgling company’s books—to promising business owners to help them gain traction. “Partnering with people of potential” is the tagline, and she’s a fierce advocate for the mission.
I’m still thinking about her a week after this event, while the hundreds of tweets, posts, emails, likes and status updates I’ve read and sent during the same time have become an amorphous glob in my overloaded brain. The only one I recall is the news that Season 2 of “Orange is the New Black” is downloading from Netflix June 6—a red-letter day for me, for sure, and other binge-TV fans of the juicy women’s prison drama, but not the kind of thing that helps me be a smart editor of Upsize.
What’s so powerful about the face-to-face meeting?
Well, you remember it, and that’s got to be because of the emotional connection. I had several more memorable chats at this same event, a workshop on exit strategies that was presented by Upsize and Club E and is covered in this issue’s Primer.
I talked with Paul Taylor, a business consultant whom I haven’t seen in years, who gave me the latest about upgrades to the U of Minnesota’s English department, my alma mater. I chatted with Norma Smith Olson, publisher of Minnesota Women’s Press, and we congratulated each other on surviving the publishing bloodbath since the financial crisis—we’re still here, we’re still serving readers, we said gratefully.
Why do these moments stick with me? Because they’re personal, based on a subject that interests both of us. Because they’re two-way: you talk, I respond, repeat.
Because they’re fun: who doesn’t like to make someone laugh or to hear a sincere compliment? We should all remember that in our frenzied efforts to connect with customers using online tools and social media.
Or better yet, we should put down that smartphone, get out there and meet somebody. Betsy Buckley, and I, would highly recommend it.
