Guy Kawasaki’s tips for effective email

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  • Attach files infrequently. How often do you get an email that says, “Please read the attached letter.”? Then you open the attachment, and it’s a dumb-shitcake Word document with a three paragraph message that could have easily been copied and pasted into the email.
  • Never forward something that you think is funny. The odds are that by the time you’ve received it, your recipient already has too, so what is intended as funny is now tedious.

May I add one of my own? When you send an all-company email, please put the recipients in the BCC field so we don’t have to scroll through 300 names. And please, try to resist the impulse to reply-to-all with something witty like, “I couldn’t agree more.” The reply-to-all button should automatically include something along the lines of “This is a Reply-to-All from a Clueless Ass-Clown” …right at the top of the message.

Where’s my camera?!

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This is why you should always have a camera with you. Jackie Johnson, a co-worker in our Madison, WI newsroom, captured the amazing image below:

Bald Eagle

“I’ve seen many bald eagles in my life, but never one in the wild just a couple feet away from me! The other day I came across a mature bald eagle on the side of the road eating roadkill! It was cool! I hit the breaks so as not to kill this endangered species, and simultaneously grabbed my camera and manage to get a somewhat decent shot as the fully-grown bird flew away. It’s a little blurry as I frantically tried to contain my excitement.”

Oprah & Friends on XM

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Oprah Winfrey has signed a three-year, $55 million deal for her own channel on XM Satellite Radio. “Oprah & Friends,” as the channel will be known, is aimed at closing satellite radio’s gender gap. Men account for about two-thirds of the 9.3 million satellite subscriptions nationwide, but XM and its rival, Sirius Satellite Radio of New York, expect to attract more women as they purchase cars equipped with satellite radios.

Somehow, I just think the XM guys understand this satellite radio thing better than the other guys. This sounds like a really good idea to me.

Video podcast on biotechnology

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Received a news release today from Monsanto announcing a new video podcast called, Conversations about Plant Biotechnology. These are short (the one I watched was just a couple of minutes) and extremely well produced. They feature “… farmers and experts discussing their personal views and first-hand experiences with genetically modified crops.”

Difficult for me to imagine someone subscribing to these on a regular basis but then I’m not interested in biotechnology. I think this is a very good use of video podcasting and expect to see lot more of it. I’d package it with a good audio podcast and a blog.

Podfading

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Podcasting is easy and inexpensive which has a lot to do with why so many people are doing it. But, like with many “hobbies,” it can be difficult to sustain over the long haul and some podcasters are starting to pack it in. They call it podfading. Rob Walch (Podcast411) estimates at least a fifth of podcasters don’t make it to their 10th show and he won’t interview a podcaster until the show has at least 10 episodes. This week Henry and I recorded our 16th podcast and I see no signs of fading. I think we both have sort of an unspoken target of 52 shows. Would be fun to make it a full year.

New look for Learfield.com

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Andy and I have been working…or not working…or thinking about working on a new look for the Learfield corporate website for most of a year. And tonight we “relaunched.” Tomorrow a few hundred people will start calling and emailing to tell me they can’t find something on the company intranet or that they think the new look sucks. Or both. But that’s all part of the drill. The site is three years old and way past dew for a make-over. The new design has lots of white space and has a nice, open feel about it.

Learfield.comI’m reminded of the early days (1996?) when we put up the first FrontPage monstrosities. Nobody gave a second thought to websites back then so it didn’t matter if they looked like shit. Or maybe we just hadn’t seen enough good sites to recognize bad ones. No more. Increasingly, the worlds first impression of your company is the website and it better look good, have some useful content and be well organized. It is a never ending struggle. But it’s time for a cold Bud.

Selling radio spots online

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Broadcast sales execs are still upbeat about the future. Sort of. From an informal Banc of America Securities survey of 46 GSMs and other sales execs at the recent Radio Advertising Bureau meeting:

  • Nearly one-quarter of respondents indicate that they already use online services . . . to sell available airtime,and another 30% plan to use such services in the future.
  • The new worry is the iPod and the Internet radio, not satellite radio. 26% think Internet radio is a bigger threat than satellite radio. That’s up from 10% of respondents a year ago.

From Billboard Radio Monitor [via RAIN]

Chimps and Geeks

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If you also missed the careerbuilder.com chimp ads in the Super Bowl, you can see them here. I’d pay a hundred bucks to spend the day watching those commercials being made. Nothing on god’s green earth is funnier than a chimp in a coat and tie.

Did I mention I’m all registered, booked and reserved for Gnomedex 6.0? It’s five months away and I can hardly wait. For three days I won’t have to explain or defend blogging and podcasting and RSS and all the rest. I will be be among believers. Not just believers, but those who are creating and applying these revolutionary technologies. I have no idea who the speakers will be or what they’ll be talking about. But everyone in the room will have a clue.