What, you ain’t the National Post?!

Their big beef seems to be that the head of Radio-Canada spent money staying in hotels and rewarding staff with two — JUST TWO — celebrations in three years.

The President of the CBC, who retains a tonne of respect from CBC employees, had this to say in response:

——————————————————-

I have been reading a lot of nasty, out-of-context stuff recently about our senior executives in the papers owned by our competitors, notably a series of articles in The Sun and Le Journal de Montréal.

This Corporation prides itself on its accountability and responsible use of its limited resources, particularly since 60 per cent of our budget comes from Canadian taxpayers. This is why it is particularly irritating that the information laid out in these articles is often misleading, emphasizing dollar amounts with little or no context or comparison. The papers are less interested in reason and analysis than in a sensational headline. And, of course, they also conveniently overlook practices, financial or otherwise, in their own organizations.

Take Sylvain Lafrance for example. They lumped Sylvain’s personal expenses in with corporate activities that he approved as the executive in charge of a business, and ascribed all expenses to him personally. If Sylvain approves the presence of CBC/Radio-Canada at a social event or approves the holding of a corporate event inside our organization to thank our employees for a job particularly well done, is it fair to say that these approved expenses are his own? C’mon. Let’s be fair.

And a few weeks back, Le Journal de Montréal publicly attacked him for his expenses for a leadership program that he attended at Harvard in 2005, noting that he spent about $3,400, in expenses including hotels and meals and dry cleaning… We sent him to live in a hotel for eight weeks for god’s sake. The same paper is likely to have another go at Sylvain for the cost of the program, which was about $52,000.

Consider what Sylvain does. He has been at CBC/Radio-Canada for 30 years and is entrusted with the task of managing 4,000 employees and about a half-billion dollar a year business. Sylvain’s challenge has been to take two historically self-reliant organizations (radio and television), merge them and then integrate our Web services within those two units. The Corporation decided this Harvard course would help him do just that. This was about helping Sylvain become a better executive, and exposing him to others of like kind. There is absolutely no question in my mind that both the Corporation and Canadians got great value for their money. And it’s worth adding that this isn’t something we do regularly. Sylvain had a huge and important task to do, and we equipped him for it.

I want you to know that we will not ignore this issue or sit idly by and watch these attacks happen. We understand that we are entrusted with a billion dollars of public funds. And, in the current economic climate, we are doubly mindful of our financial responsibility to taxpayers. We get that. I don’t need to ask that you continue to be reasonable and responsible in your own conduct. I know that you are.

I truly believe that both employees and taxpayers can rest assured that we are both effective and responsible stewards of the public funds we get from government. We will stand up and say so.

I can’t speak for our competitors’ principles in this context, but I will say this about ours:

We are subject to the Access to Information Act (ATIA), and we will abide by the law. We will safeguard CBC/Radio-Canada’s strategic business interests, especially in an environment that is as competitive as ours. We will fervently defend our people – both their integrity and their privacy – at every turn.

Cheers.

Hubert
November 19, 2008

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Once again, the CBC is beaten up for no reason.

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Add my mom to your Twitter!

Click to Play

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Tod Maffin: Recruiting the Facebook Generation preview HRPO

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What I tweeted yesterday: (follow me at http://twitter.com/todmaffin )

1. Immediately upon booking (three min): Introduce myself, thank them for booking me, etc. This is just a touch-point to say hi and answer any basic questions they have. I let them know I’ll be calling closer to the event to get the specifics of the day from them (depending on how far out you’re booked, they may not know some of the details like venue and agenda yet).
   .
2. Three weeks prior to event: This is the main and most important call. Book at least an hour for this call, though usually run only about 20-30 minutes. This is where you’ll walk through your checklist of information. The template I use, which you’re welcome to use, is below.
   .
3. Three days prior to the event: This is a brief call just before the day to find out if there have been any changes to the venue and/or room, your speaking time, and so on. This is also when you should give them your preferred introduction (see “Writing The Perfect Introduction For Yourself,” chapter 5) and get the phone number of the person introducing you so you can briefly call them as well to say hi.

The Pre-Event Checklist
(with example details)

THE CONFERENCE

Conference theme/topic: Innovation: “Innovate or Die — Our Shared Future”

Graphics/imagery used for theme: Three interlocked blue gears (image at http://appliedinc.com/images/3gearsLarge.JPG)

Conference length: Three days

Other keynote speakers, dates/times, and their topics:

• Bill Clinton: “Monica, Cigars, and Me”
• Oprah Winfrey: “I’m Not Gay, And So Is My Best Friend Gail”
• Steve Jobs: “Why I Secretly Use a Windows PC At Work”
• 120 concurrent sessions: Topics include creative workplaces, Sustainability / Corp Social Resp., Leadership - Be Authentic With Yourself, Futurist talking about creativity, future applications and issues hitting the workplace
  Demographics - what are some talent management issues

THE AUDIENCE

How many people in the audience? 2400

What kind of jobs do they have?

• manufacturing to gov’t to not for profits
• there are agencies and consultants attending as well
• most are generalists — recruiting is a core resp. but may not be the whole

How much technology do they interact with each day? Almost none.

Gender split: 70/30 women

Age distribution: 75% are boomers aged 45-55, remainder mostly 30s

THE PRESENTATION

Type: Keynote Plenary | Keynote Sessional | Luncheon | Over Dinner/Reception

Time to arrive: 7:30 a.m. for a/v check

Exact schedule prior to speech:

• 8:00 a.m. doors open
• 8:15 a.m. housekeeping
• 8:25 a.m. introduction

Exact schedule after speech:

• 10:00 a.m. announcements
• 10:05 a.m. break and book signing
• 10:30 a.m. concurrent sessions

Topic, as presented to attendees: “Recruiting the Facebook Generation: Winning the New Race for Talent”

Sponsor: Apple Inc. Introducer: Steve Jobs (5 min)

Length: 60 min presentation, 30 min Q&A

FINAL NOTES

1. Did you receive my a/v requirements from the agency?
2. Confirm I require VGA and audio right at the lectern
3. Confirm no audio or video recording permitted
4. Ask for PDFs of all conference promotional material to date

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ProSpeaking: The “3-3-3″ Pre-Event Client Calls

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Tod reviews the 3M MPro110 Mini Projector

Well-intentioned as they may be, this is not the time for you to answer any more than the most basic of questions — some people’s enthusiasm get in the way of noticing that other people are waiting to speak with you as well.

Most commonly, people will want you to email them your slides (something I never do — if they want to see it again or show it to another group in their company, they should pay me to give the presentation again, in my opinion) or have you get back to them on something.

Since I’m a crappy note-taker, I’ve developed this system of folding the corners of business cards so I can remember what each person wants when I get back to my hotel room. Here are my hints; feel free to invent your own:

• Top-Left: Potential client (I always ask their preference and have the corner point at either their email address or phone number, depending on how they prefer I contact them.)
• Top-Right: They want more info/stats/references from my points
• Bottom-Left: Potential client — Tell agent to call them
• Bottom-Right: “Friend” them on Facebook

If you need more tabs, don’t forget you can fold the corners over backward and you’ve got four more. You can get another four by folding horizontally or vertically, either toward or away from the printed side. I’ve found, though, that four positions is more than sufficient.

Regardless of what they talk to you about, hand them your business card and ask for theirs if you don’t have it yet. You want to put your card in the hands of as many people as possible. It’s just good marketing.

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ProSpeaking: Tod’s Secret Card-Tab Technique

If this
email
was a
TV
it would
be the
new
Sharp
AQUOS
XS1 -
less than
one inch
thick.

But if
this
email
was the
Sharp
AQUOS
XS1
it would
be the
clearest,
brightest
email
you’ve
ever seen
in Canada.
One
million
to one
dynamic
contrast
ratio,
amazing
colour
depth;
simply
the most
stunning
LCD TV
available.

I’d attach
the news
release,
but that
would
make this
already
long
message
even
longer.

Instead,
here’s
a nice
photo
of the
XS1 in
profile,
to show
you what
we mean.

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Great news release I received today

And unless you’re armed with the latest information about how your students are using social media, you may find yourself with a lot of catching up to do.

In this provocative and entertaining keynote presentation, Tod Maffin explains how teachers and school administrators can harness the tools of today’s social networking web sites to promote deeper learning.

You’ll hear educational technology thought-leaders via videocam, and discover how the very multimedia technology that surrounds our students daily is slowly and systematically harming their ability to learn. (60-90 min).

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The Clicks Behind Your Back: Social Networking in the Classroom

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Can You Recommend a Retreat Centre?

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YOU can help me shape the ebook!

I use a lot of video with sound in my presentations. I use the pre-set volume control in Keynote/Powerpoint to make sure each audio slide has roughly the same level. (Often, video volumes sources start out wildly different from each other. Consider the DVD rip with perfect volume with a YouTube capture recorded at 20% by some pimply-faced l33t nerd in his parent’s basement — chances are he doesn’t have mad audio skillz.)

Now walk over to the A/V guy (it’s almost certain to be a guy), make small talk and admire his equipment. — er, mixing board. If you have some audio knowledge, ask him some questions about his gear. Whether you’re going for coffee or not, tell him you are and ask if you can get him some. This will come in handy later. Also, like shotcallers in prison, A/V people are much more likely to cooperate with you if they like you and feel you’re one of them.

Go back to the lectern (it’s a lectern, not a podium) and plug the audio cable in. Make absolutely sure he has the slider down before you plug the audio cable in or it’ll pop the hell out of the speakers. Now turn your laptop volume to exactly 50%. The A/V guy will insist you turn it up to 100% and leave it there. Nod. Smile politely. Ignore him. Repeat if necessary.

Why 50% and not 100%? By keeping your laptop volume at 50%, you, and not he, will have complete up and down control of the volume as it plays — and can tweak it up or down live during the presentation if you want to. If your volume is locked in at 100%, then the only thing you’ll be able to do if you want more volume is to call over to him to increase it, which is the acoustical equivalent of saying “Next slide, please.” Which is the verbal equivalent of shouting out “Hi! I’ve never given a presentation before!”

Hit play on each audio slide and walk to different parts of the room while it plays to make sure it sounds good everywhere.

Now keep your eye on the A/V guy. Remember that coffee you got him? (See, there’s method to this madness!) Watch with amusement has he turns a crimson shade of, er, crimson as that Colombian Bold races toward his bladder. The second he leaves his post to find a friendly urinal, race over to the mixing board and adjust the EQ/equalizer. On most mixing boards, you’ll find them (they’ll look like knobs) together in a column of three or four. Set the bottom and top ones at what looks like 70% setting, and leave the middle one around the middle. This will lift your treble and bass and give much more clarity to your voice. The smaller the room, the less bass you should add lest you boom unnecessarily. When your new nerd friend comes back, tell him you were trying to dial in an Australian accent. (Seriously, I use this joke all the time. They love it.)

That’s it! You should now be set up perfectly for your presentation.

During the presentation, if you feel the need to tweak live, you’ll now be able to. (Here’s a little secret: On a Mac, holding down Option while you hit the volume keys will give you much more granular control over the volume adjustment. You’re welcome.) Sometimes I’ll want to bring the volume down to speak over a slide, or turn the volume up if the room gets noisy with a surprise air conditioner startup.

TODBIT: Mac machines by default make a chirping sound each time you hit a volume key. You can turn that off by going to System Preferences, then Sound, then uncheck “Play feedbackwhen volume is changed.” Really, the last thing you need is a speaker-destroying chirp that glues your audience to the ceiling. Lousy client relations.

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ProSpeaking: Audio Slides and the 50% Trick

As soon as you get a contract back, you should pick up the phone and call your main client contact. There are a lot of tiny details that will be important for you to know as early as you can. Here is the template I use when I’m on the phone with my clients. I’ve added some sample content in there as an example. Feel free to use/modify it for your own use. I only require a 10% cut.

Also be sure to schedule with them a final checkup call about two weeks prior to the engagement date — sometimes details firm up or change closer to the time.

Pre-Event Call Template

CLIENT American Cheddar Eaters’ Association
EVENT Annual convention and trade show
CONTACT Robert Gouda, robert@cheesehead.com
CELL ON SITE 555.1-CHEESE
DATE February 31, 2009

VENUE Fairmont New York, 1234 34th Avenue, NY
ROOM Regency Ballrooms A-C

————————————————
OVERALL EVENT/CONFERENCE THEME:
Cheese Into the Future

ANY GRAPHICS USED TO SUPPORT THEME? (to make seamless with my presentation)
A big block of green swiss cheese, in the bottom right of all collateral material. Client to email me PSD.

————————————————

KEYNOTE? SESSIONAL? DURING MEAL?
This will be a sessional speech (concurrent with other presentations) which happens during lunch. Presentation to start about five minutes after meal served.

NAME AND COMPANY OF INTRODUCER
Johnny Cheesecake, The New Cheesoporium (will email him preferred bio)

PRESENTATION TITLE
Edam For Management: The Science of Being Cheesy on the Job

IMMEDIATELY BEFORE MY PRESENTATION
11:30 a.m.: Open-host bar
12:00 noon: Lunch served
12:05 p.m: Housekeeping, introduction

PRESENTATION START TIME
12:07 p.m.

END TIME
Aim for 70 min speech, 20 min Q&A. Do NOT go over, but it’s okay to end up to 15 minutes early if there are no other room questions.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER MY PRESENTATION
Thanks from introducer, more housekeeping, then five minute SHARP break for me to remove my laptop.

————————————————

AUDIENCE SIZE
~2,000

TYPES OF JOBS IN AUDIENCE
All cheesemakers (blessed are they)

MALE/FEMALE SPLIT
90% women, 8% men, 2% TBD

AGE RANGE (Overall, Men, Female)
Women mostly in their early 20s (note to self: NO HITTING ON THEM!), men mostly in their 70s.

————————————————

Confirm client has received A/V sheet?
Emailing it today.

Date arranged for final checkup call:
Feb 14, 2009

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ProSpeaking: The Pre-Event Call

Flight Tips Your Mother Never Told You

Be sure to have your client agree to fully-refundable airfare (Air Canada calls these classes “Latitude” and “Latitude Plus”). They’re more expensive of course (usually considerably more) but come with some good benefits: They’re upgradable to business-class seats provided you have the right certificate, you’ll usually get a free sandwich and drink or something like that, and you’ll be able to book one of the locked seats — the good seats like forward seats or emergency row seating. It shouldn’t be a deal-breaker, but you should try for it. Presented with the possibility that your flight has to be moved and there’s no seats left on any other flight, your client will more than likely agree.

Regardless of the type of fare you get, call as soon as soon as that signed contract is back in your hot little hands. Flights fill up fast mid-week and you don’t want to find yourself walking. You’ll also get the best shot upgrade seating.

Don’t be offended if other people get their seats upgraded at the gate and you find yourself weeping with a crumpled certificate in your hands — they simply fly more and have a higher status level than you. See? You really are that insignificant. Now go back to your pathetic little life.

BONUS TODBIT FOR CANADIANS: Air Canada will let you upgrade cheaper seats, but you’ll have to be an Elite or Super Elite member with a “Special System Wide” certificate. These babies are like gold since you can use them to turn a $200 flight into a $1800 seat. You’re welcome.

A DIRTY LITTLE TRICK: This trick is dangerous, but used to work flawlessly, but most airlines have tightened up this delicious loophole. This trick only works when you know the flight is or will be 100% full to capacity.

Book an upgradable fare, then call back immediately and upgrade to a business-class seat whether you have an upgrade certificate or not. This will remove your economy seat, making it available for someone else, and book you into “the forward cabin” (that’s what we frequent flyer snobs call it. You can too. It’s fun.)

Now follow these instructions exactly.

At the airport, do not check in with the agent (who will ask you to present your non-existing certificate) — use a check-in kiosk instead.

At the gate, find a spot to sit within earshot but not eyeshot of the gate agent. Do not board when they call for business-class flyers. Don’t board when they let the rest of the lowly peasants on board. Just sit there. Sit there when they ask for any remaining passengers. Sit there when they call for you by name. Sit there when they announce the final call. Then — and only then — run up to the gate, panting, and claim traffic getting to the airport was miserable (you’ll need a reason for being so late). Then hand them your boarding pass with your certificate curiously absent.

Here’s what will happen. The gate agent will ask you for your certificate. This is where your Grade Nine drama class will come in handy. Look embarrassed and start patting yourself down apparently searching for the certificate you conveniently seem to have left at home. Apologize profusely and start scouring your carry-on bag. By now, the other agent will be at the gate door just waiting impatiently the last passenger — you — to board.

On any other flight, they’d bump you back into economy but remember, you booked a completely full flight and there simply are economy seats left. The only seat they have available will be your precious business-class seat and they’ll have to seat you there. Airline policies won’t let them bump you to a different flight in this case.

Then board, lean back, and tell yourself how clever you are.

Warning: Most airlines are onto this scam. Many — including Air Canada — will insist on getting you to read them the unique certificate number. Bastards.

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ProSpeaking: Flight Tips Your Mother Never Told You

What Kind of Speaker Do You Want to Be?

First of all, decide whether you even want to be represented by an agency at all. That might seem like a silly question — doesn’t everyone want the prestige and bookings that come with an agency representation? But you have much to gain from being either self-represented or a “free-agent” as well. Let’s start with those.

Self-Represented

There are actually many advantages to going it alone and representing yourself on the speaking circuit, the most major being that you get to keep your whole fee rather than having your agency’s 30% come off the top (and no, unless you are Bill Clinton, that cut is nearly never negotiable). You’ll also have the direct relationship with your client. Being self-represented, though, is a great place to start and get your feet wet.

But in my opinion, the downsides to being self-represented vastly outweigh the upsides. For one, you’ll be handing all your marketing, contracting, and billing. It’ll be your direct ass on the line should there be some snafu with your flights and you end up in Los Alamos instead of Los Angelos (hope you like lawsuits!).

Free-Agent

Most professional public speakers are free-agents. You’ll handle all the details themselves, just as if they you were self-represented, but in this case you’ll be on the “available speakers” lists of a variety of speakers’ agencies.

Backfill Speaker

If you just want to get your feet wet first, consider being a backfill speaker. Contact all the agencies you can find and send them information about yourself, offering to be a backup speaker, should one of their roster or exclusive speakers not be able to make a gig. Besides the goodwill you’ll generate saving their ass, it also gives them a sense of how you perform in a real setting. This is one surefire path on your way to becoming represented in full.

Roster Speaker

Being a “roster speaker” is usually where most speakers start. All it means is that you have signed a deal with one or more agencies and they list you on their roster. You’ll certainly get bookings this way, but more from prospects spotting your name in the agency’s catalog (usually their web site — very few agencies publish a real catalog anymore) than agents slutting you around.. er, selling you.

Exclusive Speaker

Being a back-fill speaker or free-agent certainly sounds like a tempting position to be in — after all, in theory you stand to get more bookings if you work with a number of agencies, right? Nope.

Signing to be exclusively represented by a single agency brings with it a tonne of advantages. Sure, you usually won’t be able to work with any other agency should they come calling (take their gigs on the side and you’ll find yourself on the uncomfortable end of a termination of representation letter) but you’ll lose a lot more, trust me.

Oh and they will come calling. I get a friendly, gentle call about every month from other agencies wanting to know if I’d work with them as well, take a gig of theirs, or appear on their roster. Sometimes the carrot they dangle is indeed tempting. I once turned down a $15,000 gig in Geneva complete with two first-class plane seats, five nights on the ground, and $500 for shopping… er, host-city expenses like ground transportation. Do I regret declining it? Not for a minute. I more than made up for it with the more presentations that come with having a strong relationship with my agency.

Some advantages to signing an exclusive deal (most of which run three years with the option to renew) include having a ready supply of backfill speakers should you become ill or not be able to make it to the event, a much stronger relationship with the agents who, once they trust you, will book you more simply because of that exclusive relationship.

The agency will also do the heavy-lifting when it comes to marketing yourself out there. They’ll do the cold-calls, rolodex mining, and online marketing. That doesn’t mean, of course, you can’t market yourself as well — the more, the merrier. In some cases, your agency will be willing to pay for 30% of any marketing you do. In this case, be sure to let them see and approve the materials first.

Do not, under any circumstances, take gigs on the side. Always, always politely refer them to the agency. (By the way, this is why it’s important that you get to know the agents’ categories. At my agency, most of the agents are assigned sales categories, such as western Canada, trade associations, colleges and universities, the finance sector, and so on. Send prospects to the right agency and you’ll close the deal faster without having to send them through the runaround. They’re considering more people than you, Johnny Egopants, and it doesn’t take more than a half-day delay in returning a voicemail to have them move onto someone else. Either way, like they say, dance with the one who brung ya.

Another no-no: Emailing or calling the agency, asking to be represented. It just doesn’t work that way and is considered the sign of an amateur or someone who’s really not serious. If you’re out there and good, they’ll find you. You’d be surprised how far agencies’ feelers are. This doesn’t prevent you from emailing them a link to an online video of one of your speeches, a link to your web site, or a heads-up that you’ll be speaking in their city, but you should do so only in the spirit of getting on their radar, not pestering them to be represented. It can be a vicious industry and you risk being blacklisted — at least until you’re not so green under your ears. Or whatever the hell that metaphor is.

TODBIT: Some agencies — not mine — will work with other agencies and split the cut. It’s pretty rare to find that, though, and in my opinion not worth the trouble.

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ProSpeaking: Working With an Agency

Five Things I Was Doing Ten Years Ago:

1. Celebrating becoming a multi-millionaire (in escrowed stock) by partying with my three partners and the girl I had a hopeless crush on, in San Francisco.
2. Beginning to date the woman who would later become my ex-wife (and thank God, too — how quickly “In sickness and in health” goes out the window when you actually do become sick).
3. Working at CBC Radio, living my childhood dream — being a network radio host.
4. Just beginning to get really busy on the professional speaking circuit.
5. Just beginning to get sick, leading to the chronic disease I live with today (currently in remission).

Five Things On My To-do List Today:

1. Pray that this cabbie drives faster so I don’t miss my 4:00 p.m. flight home. (Update: I made the gate within five minutes.)
2. Get a refill of the meds I let run out.
3. Have a nap (thank goodness for business-class contract riders) and practice meditation. Goal: Three minutes of mindfulness.
4. Watch the TV shows I bought and downloaded on iTunes. (Specifically: Dragon’s Den, Celebrity Rehab Season 2, South Park (Canada On Strike episode), Sarah Silverman show, Rick Mercer Report, and Jackass (episodes 1-6).
5. Tease Dr. Snow for using mixed case in her meme titles and using digits for numbers one to ten. So much more training required. <sigh>

Five Snacks I Like:

1. Chocolate milk
2. Poutine
3. Microwave popcorn with light butter. Layered, natch.
4. Cookie dough ice cream. Okay, fine, just plain cookie dough.
5. Licorice allsorts (except the all-black licorice ones)

Five Things I Would Do it I Were a Millionaire (IN THIS ORDER)

1. Quit job. Move to Turks and Caocos (sp?)
2. Start a large annual bursary for First Nations young adults who would like to tell stories of their communities, languages, and nations through audio/radio storytelling
3. Go on a world cruise
4. Write and produce radio documentaries
5. Invest the money then donate the annual interest to the Mood Disorders Association of Canada and the Alzheimers’ Association of Canada.

(The Only) Five Places In Which I’ve Lived (IN ORDER):

Ladner, B.C.

Sechelt, B.C.

Creston, B.C.

Port Moody, B.C.

Vancouver, B.C.

Five Jobs That I Have Had:

National Host and Producer, CBC Radio (todradio.com, Real Life Chronicles, DNTO, Spin Cycle, and other shows)

Backfill Host for Richardson’s Roundup and Freestyle, CBC Radio

National Techonlogy Columnist, CBC Radio

Vice President of Marketing, Emerge Online

Cashier, Yellow Zone at the McDonalds at Expo 86

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I’ve Been Memed: Five Things

I’m considering starting a blog with posts a few times a week around the topic of professional public speaking. I’ve noticed a lot of people these days are giving presentations on social media, marketing, the new p.r., and all that stuff. I’ve got more than 12 years’ experience as a professional keynote speaker — I’ve spoken everywhere from here to Sydney, London, Las Vegas, Stockholm, Berlin, Atlanta, Romania, Melbourne, and some parts of eastern Burnaby.

But this content won’t be the usual stuff everyone knows (”Smile when you walk on stage,” and “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them you told them.”) I’ve got some pretty specific and, I think, unique tips and ideas.

I’m really testing the water here to see if there’s interest in a larger ebook with this kind of content. So if you like the next few postings, please let me know in the comments and I’ll give some thought into doing more and putting it together in an ebook.

So here’s the first post. I’d love to hear your feedback.

Outsourcing Your Research

I hate research. I really, really hate it. It’s not that I never want my presentations to be founded in fact, I just can’t stand to spend time slogging through wikipedia pages or newspaper databases. And, frankly, I’ve always thought my time was better used getting ready for pre-event calls with the client and working on my presentation slides.

That’s why I now outsource all my research to people who not only are much better at it than I am but also who love the task.

I almost exclusively use uClue.com for my research outsourcing. uClue grew from the roots of Google Answers, a pay-per-question service by Google.

The way it works is a group of selected people around the world (to account for different times of day) act as researchers. You type in your question (make it as detailed as you can) and tell the site how much you’re willing to pay for an answer — between $2 and $400. The more you offer, the more likely a research will answer it and the more detailed a response you’ll get. Pay $10 and you’re not likely to get much more than few links. Pay $400 (the maximum limit) and you’ll get paraphrased summaries, direct quotes, and organized into sub-topics.

For a sample question, see I need 8-10 examples of social media used by broadcasters for which I paid $101.

Commonly, here’s how the flow works on uClue: You submit your question and price, a researcher “locks” it to prevent other researchers from spending time duplicating effort, and you two chat back and forth via the web page (where all communications happens and research is posted) to fine-tune what you’re looking for. The better researchers (like “Bobbi7″ with whom I’ve always had excellent dealings, will post their draft research on the page for you to review before you formally “close” the question, thereby charging you the fee you offered. Others will just assume their research is golden and will answer it without that extra courtesy check. As with everything online, your mileage may vary. (Kilometerage?) Finally, when your satisfied with the answer, you can give the researcher a rating of up to five stars and even add an additional tip if you like. Not surprisingly, the $400 limit doesn’t apply to tips.

There are some downsides to uClue. For one, you ever can’t email or call your researcher directly. All communications and research must happen on your question page. I presume this is so your answer can go into the public searchable index and so that you can’t bypass uClue entirely for your future research. Don’t even bother asking. I’ve found some researchers get a little testy on this. Not being able to email your researcher means you two won’t be able to easily swap attachments, though some will put any needed files up on a file sharing site. Nearly all of the research, though, comes from the web so things like PDF files are provided as links anyway.

Also, remember that these people are researchers only. They’re outstanding researchers, but that’s all they’re able to do for you. They can’t turn your research into PowerPoint or Keynote slides and they can’t write the presentation for you. They just provide the foundation material; you’ve got to do the rest of the work, you lazy bastard.

And finally, you can’t request a specific researcher. You get whoever locks your question first. (Sometimes, researchers will lock the question while they do some preliminary research to see if the work involved is worth the amount you offered; if they don’t like what they find online, they’ll release the lock for another researcher to jump on it. Luckily, in my experience, this doesn’t happen that frequently.) You’ll occasionally notice some people put the username of a favourite researcher into the title of the question, like “For Bobbi7: Damnit, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck after all?”, but there’s no guarantee other researchers will wait for Bobbi7 to lock it and answer it.

There are indeed other Q&A web sites out there, like the popular and free Yahoo! Answers service, but most aren’t worth the time you spent typing in their URL. While an entertaining web site, Yahoo! Answers really isn’t helpful much more beyond getting a quick question answered (e.g., “Q: What is a reliable, inexpensive cell phone provider in Canada with good customer service? A: Error. No such record found.”)

Because it’s free, Yahoo! Answers often looks more like a Facebook group for high school students: “Shut up. No you shut you. You shut up you stupid @&*^# tard. Your momma says hi.”

TODBIT: Before you put your question on the site, do a search of previous questions submitted. uClue archives all the questions along side with the answers.If you’d rather not have your answer viewable (read: poachable) by others, e sure to check the “Private” box when submitting your question.

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ProSpeaking: Outsourcing Your Research