By Liz Gooster (MC12), Meyler Campbell Special Advisor

What exactly is Twitter? According to Twitter’s own website, it’s ‘a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting’. But to the novice, this twittering, chirping, messy online community can seem overwhelming. The only way to really get a sense of what it’s all about is to plunge in, join the conversation and check it out for yourself. So if you do dip a digital toe into the twittersphere, here are my top 10 tips to getting the most out of Twitter.

1)      Think carefully about your Twitter name, or handle. You can use your real name, your company name, a tag that captures your brand or personality, a nickname, whatever you want. It depends on why you’re using Twitter: make sure your purpose is congruent with your username. So, if you’re a CEO looking to build your credentials as a thought leader, maybe @bigteddybear isn’t quite right for you. Plus, it’s already taken: your Twitter name has to be unique, which is why you’ll see things like @bigteddybear41.

2)      Work on your Twitter bio. You only have 160 characters for this, but it’s important because this is your shop window. It’s what people see first and will help them decide whether or not they want to follow you and hear what you have to say. As with your username, use your profile to convey the right image, whether personal or professional. Upload a photo or an image and add a link to your website if you have one.

3)      Find people you want to follow. You’ll see the tweets of everyone you follow in your Twitter feed. You can search for people by their real name, even if that’s not their Twitter username and the beauty of Twitter is you can follow anyone you want to, even if you don’t know each other and regardless of whether they follow you back. Search for keywords that reflect topics you’re interested in to find people tweeting on these subjects. Twitter will also make suggestions for new people for you to follow, based on who you’re already following.

4)      Look at the people who are following you. Check out their profiles and tweets before you follow them back to make sure you want to read their stuff and be associated with them.

5)      Start tweeting! And remember, you only have 140 characters, so keep it pithy! Think about why you’re tweeting and check before you tweet that your message is in tune with the image you want to build.

6)      Tell, spread and interact. Don’t just broadcast news about yourself – that’s the equivalent of being the bore at the party who constantly drones on about themselves and ignores everyone else. Aim for your tweets to be a mix of new content about you; retweets (RTs) of interesting tweets you’ve read and think other people might like to see; and responses or conversation-starting messages to other tweeters. Use hashtags if you’re tweeting about popular topics (eg #wimbledon) to make it easier for people to find your tweets.

7)      Don’t get too personal. Twitter is all about engaging with people, and it’s best to be authentic. But don’t share more than you’re comfortable with, and be mindful of your own boundaries about privacy – once a tweet’s out there, you can’t get it back (see also Tip 9). For private messages, use the direct messaging (DM) facility, which is the Twitter equivalent of an email.

8)      Manage your Twitter feed. As you follow more people, your Twitter feed will start to get very full. You can’t read every tweet, so test out ways of filtering to make sure you see tweets from the people and on the topics you really want to. Create lists of groups of people that reflect your interests (eg business contacts, celebrities, cookery experts). Try out social media dashboards such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic to help manage your feed.

9)      Never drink and tweet! Your tweets are there for ever, and anyone can see them, so drunk or sober, make sure that you’d be happy for your mum, your boss, your best friend and your worst enemy to see what you’ve written or linked to.

10)  Have fun. Twitter is a fast-paced, energetic, real-time way of communicating about anything you want, with anyone you want, anywhere in the world. So above all, just enjoy it!

Liz Gooster is an Executive Coach with The Alliance and Editor-at-Large for leading business publisher Kogan Page. You can read her blogs at www.lizgooster.com and http://goosterontheloose.wordpress.com/ and follow her on twitter at @bizclasscoach and @publishingcynic

The following is the speech given by Jules during the  launch of, “Uncommon sense and common nonsense: why some organisations consistently outperform others”. I hope you enjoy it.

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by Jules Goddard

The best moment in my academic career was an email from Stephen about a month ago, beginning “a very very handsome book has just landed on my desk”. I don’t think Stephen could have understood the weight of emotion that this simple statement released in my mind.

I first conceived the idea for my book in 1978 when I wrote a short essay called “A minimal definition of strategy”. My argument then was that what separates success from failure is not goals, or intentions, or values – but assumptions and beliefs. I thought at the time that this essay might be expandable into a book.

Now 34 years later, the result of this idle speculation is upon us.  The book has finally come out.

34 years.

This works out at 3 words a day.

To say that I was suffering from writer’s block would be like saying that Russell Brand was a confident young man or that Stephen Hawking was good with numbers or that John Prescott was sometimes irritable.

On a typical day, I would start to construct the first word of a new sentence over breakfast.  By lunchtime, the second word of the sentence was beginning to form in my mind.  Imagine the excitement as the third word came into focus just before bedtime.

I remember one day in 1984, a whole sentence came to me in a flash and the rest of the day was spent joyously writing it out in full, leaving the details of spelling and punctuation till the following day after a good night’s rest.

The breakthrough was 2003 when Tony came on board as my co-author. Immediately, the ideas became clearer and the pace quickened.  On one occasion, we had written three full sentences before elevenses.

Clearly, the tempo was killing us.  There was nothing to do but to step out for lunch in St John’s Wood and recover from our exertions.

In the time it took us to write a chapter, Mozart’s whole life could have been lived.

If Tolstoy had written at the same speed, we would still be waiting for Napoleon to be at the gates of Moscow.

Dostoevky could have written about not just the brothers Karamazov, but the sisters, the mothers, the nieces and the God Parents Karamavov as well, with time to spare.

Wagner’s Ring Cycle was composed in the time that Tony and I were rephrasing a particularly tricky paragraph on key performance indicators.

I worked out that if Cherry had done her line drawings for the book at the same pace that Tony and I were sculpting our immaculate prose, she would be drawing lines at 2mm a day.

Penny’s copy editing would be spotting grammatical errors once every three months.

And the printers would be churning out a copy of the book every 47 days.

So please buy this book.

Thrillingly relevant to the issues confronting the country in 1979, you will relive the excitement of the Callaghan years and the winter of discontent.

And by buying it, you will encourage us to write Part 2, so that in 2034 we can re-assemble to celebrate a pithy reminder of what life was like in the year 2012.

If you don’t buy the book, we will assume that you felt we’d rushed it into print without giving the ideas the attention they deserved.

This could radically slow down the speed and confidence with which we write the sequel.

So, my thanks to Tony, my co-author, for his patience, his intellectual companionship, his wisdom and his help.

We’re actually rather proud of the book and we think you will find it a refreshing antidote to most books on business.

When you read it, bear in mind that we had agreed long ago a straightforward division of labour – he would write the sense, and I would write the nonsense.

And finally, a very big thank you to Stephen, our extraordinarily kind and compassionate publisher, to Penny, our unfailingly optimistic copy editor, to Sue, the brilliant designer of the book and to my daughter Cherry, for her lovely illustrations.

And just as important, thank you all for coming this evening to pay homage to the speed with which the right words have been put together in the right combination over the course of a third of a century.

To buy please go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncommon-Sense-Common-Nonsense-organisations/dp/1846686016/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337067223&sr=8-1

by Moray McLaren (MC12)

I have been speaking to Anne and other Meyler Campbell friends about the possibility of organising an annual retreat for the community. Anne has kindly agreed to circulate this exploratory note.

The idea is to host a weekend retreat – where we can catch-up with friends, recharge batteries and have some interesting conversations – while enjoying the great food, wine and autumn sun in Barcelona.

I live in Spain and when Anne told me that 2012 is the 10^th Anniversary of the first Meyler Campbell graduates, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.

At the same time, I know how busy everyone is and that our personal time is very precious. Before putting this into action, I would really welcome some feedback on what would make this a success, our annual social and learning weekend together in the Catalan countryside.

More specifically:

• What are the hot topics we should be discussing?
• Who are the inspirational people we would like to hear / get to know?
• How best to relax and spend time getting to know each other?

(I am also tempted to ask, should we bring along our significant others – my wife hears so much about Meyler Campbell that she would be curious to meet you all).

No surprises that the suggestions I have received to date have been the fun stuff… hill walking along the coast, morning yoga / mindfullness, wine tasting, long lunches and great company.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to hearing what you think. My e-mail address is moray.mclaren@iberianlegalgroup.com. Please copy my secretary Paula who will be coordinating the responses (paula.brienza@iberianlegalgroup.com).

Best wishes,

Moray

OVERVIEW

What?

 Meyler-Campbell 10^th Anniversary Retreat

Where?

•  Sitges, the upmarket resort of Barcelona
• A 20 minute taxi ride from Barcelona Airport
• Dolce Sitges, a 5 Star, purpose built hotel spa and education centre on the beach
• www.dolcesitges.com

When?

•  Late September / early November 2012
• When England gets cold and Barcelona is still enjoying the autumn warmth
• We will circulate potential dates to those who are interested in attending

 Contacts?

•  Moray.mclaren@iberianlegalgroup.com
• Paula.brienza@iberianlegalgroup.com

Further information?

•  Hotel: http://www.dolcesitges.com/photo-gallery/photo-gallery
• Sitges: http://www.gositges.com/photo-gallery/photogallery.html
• Barcelona: http://www.barcelona-travelguide.com/pictures/barcelona-photo-gallery.html

by Ruth Storm (BC07)

Dear all,

I’m about to embark on another adventure and it would be great to have you follow along.  I’ll be skiing to the South Pole, mountain climbing in Antarctica’s Ellsworth Mountains, then exploring southern Chile.

You can follow me and the team I’m with on the following blogs:

www.southpoleroundtrip.com
www.weberarctic.com  (our Guide, Richard Weber)
http://south-pole.weebly.com/index.html (my team mate, Chris)
http://www.explorersweb.com/polar/ (overall coverage of all teams going to the South Pole this year, click on the main picture/Antarctica wrap-up to get full details)

Our journey is a 900 km ski from the edge of the Antarctic continent to the South Pole. We expect to take around 35 days to do this.  There is much more description on the websites above.  My time table (subject to weather) is as follows:

Nov 8 – depart London for Punta Arenas, Chile
Nov 16 – depart Punta Arenas for Union Glacier, Antarctica
Nov 20 – fly to start point, Messner Route to South Pole
Dec 25-28 – arrive South Pole!
Dec 28 – return to Union Glacier (Twin Otter plane pick-up) – the others will kite ski back
Dec 29 – Jan 5 – mountaineering in the Ellsworth Mountains
Jan 5 – return to Punta Arenas to await the others returning on Jan 12
Jan 12 – Jan 29 – explore southern Chile

Love, Ruth

By Jess Pryce-Jones (BC2005)

Wall St Journal have taken the first steps to launching a new happiness at work global index using our research. Please can you help us make that happen by going to this link, completing it and sending it on? http://tinyurl.com/WSJ-HappyAtWork

That would be fantastic! So far, so good!

By Ann Orton Faculty Member

With enormous efforts on the part of seven gutsy businesswomen and all those in support, the tandem skydive for Breakthrough Breast Cancer raised more than £160,000 and counting!  Flight 002 of The Booby Birds eventually took to the air on Saturday 3 September – not without drama, as we waited for four hours for the cloud to clear.  We were a breath away from a third postponement.

And the flight itself – well, it’s almost impossible to describe the experience of free-fall for about a minute and five or six with the parachute!  But here goes.  First you dress up in a magenta pink flying suit (not my colour but I grew to like it and went to Heathrow to pick up a friend still dressed that way – I was very tight on time – and got the appropriate reaction!) and a not-wildly-comfortable harness, helmet and goggles.  Then you join your flying partner (Si is from the military and has 1,500 flights logged and lots besides) and get into a plane with a very large hole rather than a door (as a friend on the ground commented rather anxiously).  Inside you sit in jumping order (we were 4 of 4), on the lap of your flying partner (yes, there are lots of ribald jokes to break the tension) strapped tightly at shoulder and hip.  When your turn comes you waddle over to the door where your partner sits on the edge and you hang out in fresh air, and find yourself launched into the air almost instantaneously, alongside the camera guy jumping with you (a digital SLR and a video camera attached to his helmet).  There is a first millisecond of being horizontal to the ground looking directly downwards when you realise just how very, very, very high up 10,500ft really is (the only moment I felt any anxiety)!  And that you are falling!!!  You eventually reach about 120mph so keeping your mouth shut helps avoid looking as though you have eaten all the cakes.  But you do have to remember to smile for the cameras!  And then, very quickly it seems, there’s the jerk of the parachute releasing, a more upright position, and glorious quiet – this must be the closest one gets to being a bird flying.  We zoom around (yes, I try steering), enjoy the view and the other flyers below, spot the crowd on the ground and chat as we fly. Then, all too soon, there is the instruction to raise your knees, then extend your legs (I can be very compliant when I need to be!), and Si takes control of the safe landing.  And it’s all over!

I would have flown again immediately given the chance.  I loved it!  It was challenging, exhilarating, awe-inspiring, and an extraordinary experience.  After such a challenge, the seven of us felt we had known one another for ever.  There was a huge surge of emotion on our safe return with a sombre reflection of the challenging journey faced by those with breast cancer.  

My heartfelt thanks to you all for your wonderful support.    

There’ll be more shortly on my fundraising page at www.VirginMoneyGiving.com and enter Ann Orton under ‘find a friend’.  And we’re looking for volunteers for Flight 003!

Photos: Credit Stephen Simpson/LNP © licensed to London News Pictures. Wallingford, UK. 03/09/11.  

By Ann Orton – Faculty Member

Well, dear reader – I’ve made it!  As in reached my commitment to raise £20,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer before the informal deadline of 31 July (the financial year end for Breakthrough).  Thanks to the wonderful generosity of family, friends, colleagues and the broader Meyler Campbell community we’ve achieved something pretty amazing in the current climate. There are another few weeks before the skydive on 28 August (this time with a back-up date of 3 September!).  And now of course I want to raise more!  Which triggered a thought about ever developing goals:  we ask our clients to commit to goals for their overall coaching and then to define specific goals for each coaching session within the coaching programme.  But how often do or should those overall goals change?  What is our role as coach in helping clients to take on additional challenges or stretch goals as they make progress, increase self-awareness and gain insight?  What more might our clients achieve if they reach for the skies?

By Christopher Heimann, MC Community Member

This is a list Christopher saw and thought it might be useful (we will credit it properly if anyone can remember where it was!). He’s contributing it to the community partly because we love great coffee, partly as some of them might be interesting places for informal meetings, that perennial search coaches have:

• Espresso Room, 31-35 Great Ormond St, WC1N 3HZ
• Pitch 42, Whitecross St Market, EC1
• Dose Espresso, 69 Long Lane, EC1A 9EJ
• Kaffeine, 66 Great Titchfield St, W1W 7QJ
• Milk Bar, 3 Bateman St, W1D 4AG (open Sun)
• Merito coffee stall, Wed & Fri
• Swiss Cottage Market, Eton Ave, NW3 3EU
• Sat: Broadway Market
• Tina, We Salute You, 47 King Henry’s Walk, N1 4NH (open Sun)
• Ginger & White, 4 Perrins Court, NW3 1QS (open Sun)
• Ottolenghi, 287 Upper Street, N1 2TZ (open Sun)
• Prufrock Coffee, 40 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE (open Sun)
• Counter Cafe, 4a Roach Rd, Hackney Wick, E3 2PA (open Sun)
• Taste of Bitter Love, 276 Hackney Rd, E2 7SJ (open Sun, not Sat)
• Wilton’s, 63 Wilton Way, E8 1BG (open Sun)
• Climpson & Sons, 67 Broadway Market, E8 4PH
• Monmouth Coffee Co, 2 Park St, Borough Market, SE1 9AB
• Scootercaffe, 132 Lower Marsh, SE1 7AE (open til 11pm, Mon-Sat)
• Kensington Square Kitchen, 9 Kensington Square, W8 5EP (open Sun)
• Coffee Plant, 180 Portobello Rd, W11 2EB (open Sun)

By Anne Scoular