Nick Armstrong: Colorado's Storytelling Small Business Marketing Expert and Funny Public Speaker

Ignite Fort Collins: Pitch Your Talks! #IgniteFC

Written by Nick Armstrong on March 11, 2011

My favorite Fort Collins event is coming up – Ignite Fort Collins. This will be the eighth Ignite event here and every time is packed full of #winning. Instead of giving an intro this time, I wanted to pitch a talk – so I’ve pitched three ideas:

How To Get Turned Off (your tech is trying to kill you),
Technobabble: The Language of 1337 (a guide to internet vernacular), and
iRock: A Guide to #Winning with your own Awesomesauce (you really are that cool)

If you could vote for and/or share my talks (one or any of ‘em) – I’d really appreciate it. Be sure to check out all the great spark submissions too and pitch your own if you’ve got the speaking bug!

(Header photo: Untitled by Yann Ropars)

Posted in Fort Collins Events, Geek Superhero, Ignites | Tagged Ignite, Ignite Fort Collins, Technology | 1 Comment

A Toolkit For Bitchslapping

Written by Nick Armstrong on March 10, 2011

Having been born with the ability to deliver a fierce written bitchslap – the likes of which is now feared on three continents – I’ve tilted at quite a few windmills of perceived wrong in my time. For whatever reason, when expectations weren’t managed correctly or attitudes need adjusted, I’d deliver a written tirade on order of an Alan Shore speech.

Though fun, I’ve learned that I needed to tone it the hell down sometimes, just in case my perception wasn’t based in reality. As a result, I created a 7-part toolkit for responsible bitchslapping.

Honest Intent – Also called giving the benefit of the doubt. If this person had the best intentions before the problem occurred, would I still be writing the letter? Is my response intended to be actionable, constructive criticism or just hurtful?
Clarity – Have I given the clearest possible information? Are the facts represented in a way that isn’t biased? Were the questions asked, deadlines stated, and resources requested clearly enough?
Fair - Is my response a fair one considering the scope of the problem? Was theirs?
Honest/Straightforward – Have I been as honest as possible? Have I been straightforward with my assessment?
Tone/Verbiage Respectful – Was my tone respectful? If not, does it need to be or am I ok with burning this bridge?
Follow-Up – Did I follow up when it was appropriate? Will I commit to following up in the future? Or is this something I could do without?
Own Mistakes – Did I honestly own my own mistakes? Did the other party own up to theirs? Did I set a plan to fix it – and actually fix it? Or is it not worth the trouble?

The toolkit can sometimes be a pain, especially when the jerks have it coming. But by taking a bit of time to figure out whether or not its worth my time to fight the battle, I can save myself the time and effort of bitchslapping unnecessarily.

Posted in Communication Ideas, Psychotic Resumes Blog | Tagged Business Communication | 3 Comments

An Open Letter To 99.9 FM: Ad-Free?

Written by Nick Armstrong on March 7, 2011

This morning there was a promo on 99.9 FM. The basic premise was that the station was going ad-free. It went on for about 20 seconds before revealing that by ad-free, they meant that between the hours of 9AM to Noon on weekdays, they won’t play ads.

I almost wrecked my car.

In other words, they spent 20 seconds (an eternity in radio) to lavish themselves with praise and tell me that – when people in their key demographic are at work and not listening – the station won’t play advertising.

I was a DJ for three years on 90.5 FM KCSU, where the only advertising was no-call-to-action, no-music, no-effect, flat-read underwriting. That’s about as ad-free as you can go. And my year as Production Director is enough for me to know that refraining from playing ads for 15 hours a week is hardly worthy of a 15-20 second back-patting “going ad-free” promo.

Before you start high-fiving yourself too hard for this amazing act of generosity to your listeners – consider doing something that requires some element of risk on your part. Something that your listeners will actually appreciate and value – something that isn’t just a marketing ploy.

Forget this campaign and go 100% ad-free on Mondays. Mondays suck enough already for your target demographic – if you’re going to cut ad spots anyway, you’ll get more bang for your buck this way. Give your listeners something they can look forward to – no ads on their drive there, no ads on their drive home. That would be really generous and worthy of 20-second promos.

(Header photo: 388 by Shovelling Son)