As a small business ourselves, we want to assist other companies that face similar issues. There's an entire small business community that has benefited from tracking their time and there's a great reason why:

In the 17 years that Journyx has been in business, we've noticed that there are three key factors that can make or break a company's productivity:

• One -- recognizing the time sinks in your company
• Two -- identifying the capabilities of your team and where to invest
• Three -- keeping up with the backlog of information, organizing it, and using it to guide or support important decisions about the company  

We have numerous success stories of how tracking time has supported businesses of all shapes and sizes, but the only way for you to really find out if it works for your business is to try it out. We're offering a 30-day FREE trial of our software - sign up today!

In the spirit of SXSW Interactive 2013, and being a startup once ourselves 17 years ago, we've decided to provide our web-based timesheet for free to all startups with 10 users or less. We want you to be successful, and we believe we can help. There are three key factors that can affect a startup's productivity that Journyx helps remedy:

1. Identifying time sinks

2. Determining when to outsource or to hire a dedicated employee

3. Analyzing company history and making smart decisions on how and where to scale

Click here for more information. Of course, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can email me at christa@journyx.com.

Enjoy, and let us know how it works for you!

After attending  Microsoft Convergence in Houston last year, we met up with a few other companies in our space to learn even more about Dynamics and some of the trends of VARS. Our CEO, Curt Finch, wrote an article for MSDynamicsWorld.com about the true value from VARs, the “Master VAR program” and the new role VARs play in guiding customers to certain flavors of Dynamics products.

Curt spoke with the Tony DiBenedetto, CEO of Tribridge, one of the largest Microsoft Dynamics VARs, about the rapid growth of Dynamics AX. Curt also discussed the old VAR model and the movement towards more verticality with the President of FastPath Solutions, Andrew Snook.

If you’d like to read more about the trends occurring in the space, here’s the link.  

And, don't forget, we'll be attending Convergence 2013 the week of March 18, so stop by booth #1655 for more information on the best Timesheet solution for Microsoft Dynamics GP!

Do you want to acquire the tools necessary to avoid issues and help you get the most in Microsoft Dynamics? Sometimes there are bottlenecks and data errors that stem from weak processes and human error. Following are five steps that will help you maximize the value of Microsoft Dynamics no matter what size company you are in.

1. Implementation

First, you’ll need an implementation strategy that starts with a backlog of project data. Without this step, you’re allowing for misinformation, disorganization and increased possibility of failure of projects. Tip: This important process of looking into the past and importing that data can be smoothed out and managed by a Microsoft approved partner or VAR.

2. Education

After implementation, you must provide direction for the new system. Don’t just expect new behavior simply because you’ve installed new software. Have your team attend management-led seminars or hire outside tutors.

3. Universality

All necessary data relating to project accounting must be accessible from within Dynamics. If your team finds it difficult to get that information, they may circumvent the system resulting in inaccuracies. Fortunately, Microsoft has a plug-in strategy for more advanced third-party software options.

4. Visibility

Create tiered and targeted visibility protocols within your system to guarantee the right people have access to the right information at all times. Too often, management will attempt to access data within Dynamics, only to discover that the information they need is buried. Creating role-based views makes it easier to make informed decisions from clear, coherent data.

5. Accountability

Your project accounting system should incorporate an accountability structure to promote adherence to goals and assigned processes. To help with sticking with goals, management should set forth defined key performance indicators that can be measured with data-driven metrics. Pick on or two KPI’s, assign them to employees that have direct influence over them, and check in often to see how they’re coming along.

In this modern business climate, every company has access to tools that will promote long-term success. Use them wisely and you will be able to gain and maintain a strategic advantage that will last for the lifetime of your company. 

W Squared provides business process outsourcing solutions including finance and accounting, technology, human resources and payroll, healthcare, and more. They are an affordable solution for companies that desire a more sophisticated corporate back-office support system that will scale alongside the expansion of their operations.

W Squared trusts Microsoft Dynamics GP for accounting and ADP for payroll, but needed a time tracking system that not only integrated with the two but also allowed W Squared to make customizations for complex business processes. This is where Journyx shines.

“We needed time tracking data to be used for billing clients, and also wanted this information to show which projects are profitable and which aren’t,” said Moreen Logsdon, Vice President of Enterprise Business Solutions for W Squared.

Prior to Journyx, W Squared used Deltek for time tracking but found that employees had way too much freedom in the system to, for example, mark regular hours as overtime, add receipts to six-month-old expense reports and the like. With Journyx, they were able to do this and capture payroll and project data, all in one.

To learn more about how the trio of Microsoft Dynamics, ADP and Journyx offers a complete and unbeatable solution for W Squared's customers, take a look at the success story.

One of the biggest events Journyx is planning to attend this year is Microsoft Convergence 2013. This year the conference is being held in New Orleans. It’s four days where Microsoft Dynamics customers learn about all the opportunities and innovations that come together to create business value.  Partners like us get to showcase how they deliver that value and help users get the most out of those products.

We learned some valuable things last year and we are looking forward to the conference this year. Journyx has worked with companies like business process outsourcing solutions company, W Squared, and business accounting software company, Kissimmee Utility Authority. Our solutions can also help other companies fill in the gaps or build on the Dyanamics solution to improve time tracking and project management processes.

We’ll be at booth #1655, so come stop by and say hi. We’ll have great prizes such as a $500 gift card to Best Buy and a chance to win an Xbox Kinect! See you there!

Dave Brown, Partner at Foundation Finance, excels at helping clients get beyond the limitations of current financial conventional wisdom and take control of their own economic future. Today, Dave has written a guest blog for us about the financing options for SMBs:

Any small business owner who took the time to research the outlook for obtaining financing in 2013 would most likely get opinions as varied as the sources consulted.  Such a forecast depends on many variables – the state of the overall economy; the state of the local economy; the potential sources of financing; and, the overall credit-worthiness of the applicant, to highlight just a few.  While these are clear starting points, things can start to get somewhat murky once we begin to drill down on the subject of potential sources of financing.

As we continue to deal with the impact of the 2008 financial meltdown, it's impossible for anyone to not still feel ramifications of it.  So even though you might not have had a need for financing in 2010 or 2012, just know changes that were set in motion during the backlash of the last few years might very well have an impact on your efforts to obtain financing in 2013.  This goes beyond the obvious truth that applicants should expect to spend more time and manpower jumping through the lender’s hoops in order to prove they are worthy of the financing help.  We must also be aware of any potential impact on the actual pool of lendable capital in the marketplace. 

As part of the Journyx webinar series, in How To Shield Your Business from the Next Financial Downturn , we discuss just how critical the availability of financing is to the entire global economy, along with how the traditional sources of financing have been impacted and the resulting rise of “alternative” financing.  We also discuss the impact of government regulation, how one government action can contradict another, and how the influence is felt at the local level.  Finally, we explore the possibility of being less dependent on external sources of capital in order to maintain greater flexibility and control in any economic environment.    

This webinar will next be presented on Thursday, Feb 21, at 2 p.m. CST. I hope you'll join us. Please write down any questions now that you have on this topic and I'll do my best to answer it during the webinar's Q&A section.

One of our most popular Journyx Webinar presenters, Jan Triplett, CEO of the Business Success Center, shares some insights about gaining and keeping stakeholders in this guest blog post:

Trick question: how many stakeholders does it take to get things done? It’s always more than you think. One client counted up 50 stakeholder groups and more than 100 people.

If you’re like most organizations, you work very hard to get everyone lined up and saying “yes”. Then somehow they vanish. It can be really discouraging. This is just as true when you’re trying to get a sale as it is for getting things done internally or with allies and influencers.

You ask them, “What happened?” “You were on board yesterday (an hour ago, last month, etc.).” What you hear (if you hear anything) is “I re-thought about it” or “I’m just not so sure this is a good idea anymore”. All your hard work is down the drain. The sale, issue, decision or activity is postponed or gone forever.

What went wrong? One of three possibilities has occurred. Two of them are fixable; one of them isn’t. The unfixable one is caused by “ghost competitors”™ to your idea. One fixable problem is caused by rushing the stakeholders. The other is due to not letting them go completely through their “buy-in” process. It’s what we call the “Buying Continuum”™.  

Just as you have a process to get their sale, agreement, participation, etc., they have a process to reduce or take the risk out of doing what you ask. There are different kinds of risk takers and to “catch” them, you need to use that information in the process you use in your particular Buying Continuum™.

There are seven steps to the Buying Continuum™ that all these risk takers must go through to do what you want. They won’t match up exactly with what you do on your behalf. Some of their steps may happen simultaneously but they must happen. If you know how it works, you can mentor them through any steps that they try to circumvent or delay.

The result of doing this is staggering.  You can reduce your time, effort, and maybe even money to get them all the way to the finish line. You can also see the writing on the wall a lot faster and not even bother or find a way around that particular stakeholder.

In my free Journyx webinar, "Catching the Wild Stakeholder”,  I talk about the risk takers and the Buying Continuum™ process. Register here. Please feel free to email me your questions at triplett@ownersview.com.

By Jan F. Triplett, Ph.D., CEO, Business Success Center

I wanted to share some photos we snapped at our recent company party. This was a very special get-together devoted to our team members for our Sweet Sixteen birthday party. That’s right, Journyx turned 16 last month! The party was Journyx’s way of showing appreciation to the hardworking and dedicated staff. Below are photos capturing the fun we had at Dave & Buster's:

Journyx fondant cupcakes!

Our CEO, Curt, reading one of the 16 balloons, each with an interesting fact about Journyx.

Whitney from the marketing department won enough tickets to get a Hamilton Beach grill! Congratulations!

Rob from development kicking some zombie butt.

We invited everyone's kids to join us in our celebration- they LOVED the Dave & Buster's games!

This is me with Barbara from HR. She has one of the Journyx Sweet Sixteen goblets Journyx had made for the event.

Cheers from Journyx and here's to 16 more great years helping our customers track time and better understand their financials!

For more photos of the event check out our Facebook page.

To read the press lease on our 16 year anniversary click here.

I'm excited to announce Journyx's search for interns to work in the marketing department for the Fall semester. Qualified candidates must be college-level undergraduates in the Austin area. We understand that college can be intense and we are willing to work with students on a flexible attendence structure that would best suit the needs of the intern as well as the department.

The intern will assist with:

• Market research
• Distribution and delivery of marketing materials
• Competitive analysis
• Updating and cleaning the sales and marketing databases (Salesforce.com and Pardot)
• Replenishment of marketing and office supplies
• And more!

This link will provide more information about the program. Any questions or resumes should be sent to me at christa@journyx.com.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Hi everyone! To wrap this week up I’d like to showcase a really cool feature that our customers love, but some may not know about. It’s a Timesheet component that allows admins to set up and submit multiple timesheets with ease using just one page as opposed to opening a new page for each submission. The process facilitates any number of employees to fill the Timesheet efficiently and with accuracy. We call it the Master Timekeeper.

I’ve pulled the feature list from the press release if you’re interested:

• Create and view entries for more than just one employee at once

• View and manipulate time, expense and mileage entries simultaneously on separate screens

• Submit timesheets for approval directly from the Master Timekeeper screen

• Receive automatic blank row support. When customers being a blank time entry row, a new one is automatically created in the background

• Obtain enhanced support for quick keyboard-based entry

Feel free to email me about your questions at christa@journyx.com.

That’s all for my updates so I hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Happy Friday everyone! I wanted to announce that we are currently looking for top-of-the-line presenters to join our team of stellar professionals on our webinar series. This month's sequence offers tips and techniques that companies can use to address common business issues. Current topics range from partnerships, to finance to social media and GSA contracts. They are quite informative and prove to be a wonderful way to ask questions and connect with knowledgeable people in the industry. 

I’m currently scheduling presenters for next month so please let me know if you are interested or know someone who’d be a great fit by August 17 th . Please contact me at christa@journyx.com or on Twitter using @ChristaFreeland. 

Thanks everyone and hope you spend your time wisely this weekend! 

I’ve been working on developing our Pinterest page as a way to communicate the Journyx company culture and values. We have a great office lifestyle so of course I was more than happy to communicate this when I was invited to expand Journyx’s presence on this exciting platform.

The best thing about Pinterest is its ability to inspire. We can share ideas and success stories through the creative use of images. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

One of my favorite boards is our “All The Time In The World” board. At Journyx, we help people and companies thrive on recognizing the value of time as their most important resource. This board demonstrates the incredible possibilities derived from innovative time management strategies. If you had this type of freedom, what would you do? I want to invite you to share your ideas with us through Pinterest or email me at christa@journyx.com -- we might even add your image to our board!

Our “Let’s Get Together" board showcases fun events we’ve held for our team in the past. I’m a huge advocate for improving company culture and strengthening bonds with people you work with everyday. Our “TED Talk and Torchy’s Tacos Tuesdays” was a hit with the team! That’s just one idea we want to share in making the office more happy and efficient!

We’re thinking about showcasing the fun side of our employees to add a more personal appeal and to help our fans get to know us better.

What would you like to see on our Pinterest page?

Just in time for my Friday blog post updates, here are some highlights from the weekend in San Antonio, TX at the AACE International Conference for cost engineers:

• First and foremost, I want to thank the attendees for stopping by and the vendors for being great booth neighbors. Great show!
• We had 14 very patient winners of our “Time Is Money Challenge”! Attendees were given six minutes to open a puzzle maze for a $20 prize enclosed inside. See photos below.
• Congratulations to our Enterprise Account Manager, Brian Maxin for helping his team win 1^st place in the charity golf tournament. 
• Thank you AACE volunteers and everyone else who made a difference at the show- we’ll see you all next year!

If you’d like to find out more about why cost engineers like our software services, you can check out this demo we’ve got lined up for next week.

Now for some photos captured at the event:

Booth visitors taking our money maze challenge.   

 Conference room with keynote speaker.

The conference was within walking distance to the Alamo.

Here at Journyx, we love listening to customer feedback. We've discovered, among other things, that our customers would like to learn more about the cool features that come with our reporting function. Reporting is one of the main reasons why Journyx Timesheet is so attractive to companies. It’s no surprise that people like to know where their money, time and resources are going. And it's important to us here at Journyx that customers get maximum return on their Journyx investment.

This is why we are launching the new Journyx Customer Training Webinar series. Beginning in July, we will present free monthly webinars on a variety of topics to help you get the most out of Journyx. Our first webinar is Wednesday, July 11, at 2 p.m. CST on the topic of Journyx Timesheet Reporting.

In this 30 minute webinar, we will review the standard reporting tool in Journyx Timesheet to make sure that you understand everything you need to know to run any type of report.  Specifically, we will cover:

• The various reports and formats available
• How to modify and export reports while sharing them with other users in the system
• How to track project information at the program, project or task level

Register here for the free webinar. We have many other great topics planned for the rest of the year - see the full list here. We look forward to seeing you at a future webinar!

I'm very happy to share some exciting news: we've recently launched a mobile site for Journyx. This means that when you view our website from your smartphone, it will automatically redirect you to our mobile optimized site. Easier navigation of the site and faster download times were the top two reasons we pushed for this initiatve. Below is a Q&A that I conducted with Stephen, the head of our mobile site launch, on this matter: 

What is the number one thing you want someone to come across when visiting the site?

I don’t know that I would necessarily say that we want one thing to come across more than others. Rather, the design is focused on getting necessary information into the hands of potential customers, whatever that may be. If someone is using a mobile device, particularly on a slower cellular network, it is imperative that they know where to look for information. Searching around a site with lengthy page load times is sure to turn off even the most interested consumer. We give customers the ability to try our product for free from every page, because once they have all the information they need, we want to remove all obstacles for them to get to the product.

What sort of features would you like to include in the mobile app in the future?

Ideally, it would be nice to include some level of interactivity directly through the mobile app. For instance, if users could sign up for and view a webinar all through the mobile site while at lunch or commuting on a bus, for example, that would be beneficial. When it comes to mobile, it really is all about convenience.

What did you use to build the site and how long did it take?

I used Dudamobile, a new service that allows users to customize mobile websites based on their existing sites. I found the service very beneficial in terms of getting a mobile site optimized quickly, and it allows for customization options including HTML and CSS coding. From start time to the first iteration of the mobile site, it only took about two weeks. The staff at Dudamobile was very responsive to all of my questions. Without their quality of customer service, it would have taken longer.

Head over to check out our mobile site here. Let us know of any suggestions you have by emailing me directly at christa@journyx.com.

Last Tuesday we exhibited at Decisions, a virtual conference showcasing the family of Microsoft Dynamics GP solutions. Attendees asked us some very important questions mostly regarding what our magical powers are with Microsoft Dynamics GP. A magician never reveals his secret… but the reason why businesses that use GP love us is just no secret anymore. We’ve been doing it for 16 years. Here are a few inquires that I’ve pulled out of the hat:

Q: I would like to know how you gather the time, and if your project integration is to project accounting?

A: We can integrate in a number of ways. Our solution tracks time and expense via the web and can send it to Dynamics GP through Project Accounting. We also act as stand-alone solutions for time and expense tracking.

Q: We have a need to collect time in our outlying locations, but since most of our work is done outside (no computer available) we will need to collect time in different parts of our plant without much employee involvement. Does your product fit this situation? We already have Dynamics GP PR in place.

A: Supervisors and team leaders can enter time of behalf of their resources or we can pre-populate the time based on what work is usually done, which would be a simple login-and-approve interaction. Employees would be able to make changes as needed

Q: Do you work with Thinkware?

A: We can integrate with most systems, specifically if it can accept .txt or Excel files. We are definitely familiar with the PEO space so integrating with Thinkware would not be a problem.

Q: Can you have three different approvals on the same time sheet going on at the same time, i.e. one for the PM, manager, and program manager?

A: Absolutely that’s one of our product's biggest advantages. We provide flexible approval paths that allow you to control who has access to timesheets at the per-person level.

If you’d like to learn more about our approvals, integrations or more, I’ve provided links. I’ll also be able to help you if you want to email me at christa@journyx.com.

I’ve talked about trade shows before. I’m lucky that Journyx sent me to the Texas Payroll Conference and to the behemoth of a show, Microsoft Convergence. I'm even currently planning for AACE International, a five day conference for cost engineers. But this is different. Really different. This is something that neither Journyx, nor myself, have ever done before. It’s called Decisions, and it’s for the members of the Microsoft Dynamics community who want to keep up to date with the industry’s opportunities and challenges. What’s so innovative about it? It’s a virtual tradeshow. 

This trade show is just like any traditional one except that it's online. I will man our virtual booth and assist any visitors with questions they have. My cohort, Erin, will make sure that interested attendees get the information they need to learn about us online. She has also created tailored collateral for attendees seeking more information. And just like at a conventional exhibitor booth, we will provide a giveaway! Check out the photo below for a sneak peak of the booth.

Even though we lose the face-to-face interaction, the price of a virtual trade show is minimal since there are no expenses related to flying staff to the site, staying in a hotel, providing food and gas expenses, etc. Not having to purchase booth essentials such as carpeting, tables, printed collateral, and lighting also drives down the cost.

Perhaps as soon as 5 years in the future, we will look back and think, "Wow! Why did companies spend so much money on those old trade shows!" What do you think?

This month’s get-together was a Family Feud competition between Journyx and our business partner and next door office neighbor, AimSourcing. I wanted to share this as just another idea to get the team together in the spirit of competition.

The photo collage below showcases the flier we posted around the office to remind the staff of the event. In the shot, my mustache is a printed paper replication of the one Steve Harvey sports as the current Family Feud host… in case the resemblance wasn't too obvious! Top right is a photo of our conquering team beaming proudly about their recent victory. Bottom right, I’m congratulating Stephen, the winner of the gift card prize drawing only offered to the team who came out on top.

One of my main responsibilities here at Journyx is working with presenters on their contributions to our webinar series. The June sequence is comprised of top-of-the-line presenters who offer tips and techniques SMBs can use to address common business issues.

I would like to spotlight our newest presenter, Dave Brown, Partner at Foundation Finance. He’ll talk about how businesses can shield themselves from the next financial downturn. If you want to hear specific, actionable advice about minimizing risks from external forces, this is one you definitely need to see. Dave will also share how to leverage existing finances for maximum benefit to everyday business. We are excited that he is willing to impart his value-producing knowledge in his webinar this month! Be sure to sign up and see for see for yourself.

If you haven’t yet scanned our upcoming events for June, make sure you do. They are a great way to learn and connect with industry professionals. Attendees have reached out to let me know they have derived real business value from our series and have used the knowledge to improve their own companies. It's a partnership effort between our presenters and us here at Journyx to help businesses truly understand their resources and capabilities.

One of the top viral videos on YouTube right now in the technology space is Leap Motion, with almost 2 million views in two days. Why has this San Francisco startup's video received so much attention? Let's disregard for a moment the hip, visual appeal of minimalistic design reminiscent of Apple and Google products, paired with trendy, relaxed background music. Leap boasts “motion control technology that is radically more powerful and also significantly less costly than existing technology” (ahem, Kinect!). What I've found most impressive is that Leap’s accuracy is so precise that it tracks movement to 1/100^th of a millimeter. You’ll witness this in the video- it’s impressive!

On Tuesday, I tagged along with James, our marketing director, to an Austin chapter meeting of the Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains User Group (GPUG). A quick background: GP is just one company in the extensive family of Microsoft Dynamics software solutions. Our time tracking solution enhances GP accounting software and, in an effort to increase our involvement as a partner, we were interested in learning about how to strengthen our bond with the local GP community.

Regardless of whether or not you have a need for GP, I’d like to share a valuable tip that all businesses can (and should) use. Landon Russell, Chairman of the Austin GPUG, routinely presents a segment called “Landon’s Tips”. Tuesday’s topic hit on a great point I thought worth reiterating here on our blog: the importance of backing up your data. Don’t wait until it’s too late before you think about storing valuable information in another location. Use a secondary drive or, even better, employ an offsite location. You can save yourself and your company from a whole world of trouble. Simple as that.

I’d like to wrap up this post with a very entertaining and informative YouTube video that Landon shared with us about how backing up information saved the popular Disney/Pixar movie, Toy Story 2.

If you’re like us here at Journyx and are infatuated with all things tech, why not spread a little of that geeky-love to Mom this weekend? There are many high-tech presents out there that will show Mom how much you care! Consider her interests: does she spend time outside at the grandkids’ soccer practice? She’ll appreciate a solar-powered Kindle cover! Strapped for cash? No problem! There are many options that won’t cost you a penny. What about putting together an Instagram album of the most meaningful moments you’ve captured from family events? Any Mom would appreciate the thoughtfulness of this gift! 

These are just two ideas I snagged from the gift guide, “Tech Gifts For Mother’s Day”. It’s a list that hopefully will inspire a nice gesture that Mom is sure enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

I’ve caught Mad Men fever. That's an Instagram of me "Draping" in the office. Really, who hasn’t been infected with this highly epicurean, uber-stylish and intelligently executed television series set in the swingin’ sixties? I've learned a few lessons from the show that might help with career life and thought I'd share them with you today.

Networking is a necessity.

That hasn’t changed and it never will. Business over cocktails is a regular occurrence on the series and we can definitely relate to this in our world today. There was a scene where a huge merger was initiated over cocktails between three men at a table in a restaurant. You’d be wrong if you assumed this is just Hollywood pizzazz - that type of interaction doesn't just happen on the screen.

Recognize new opportunities. 

An eye for opportunity is invaluable, especially working for a technology company. For example, a technology company would need to decide if it's a good idea to develop a mobile app. Take Harry Crane, a former copywriter from Sterling Cooper, the advertising firm where Mad Men takes place. He was able to spot the potential of television as an up-and-coming medium, and negotiated a new start to his career as the head of the television department. If you can recongnize the power in something new, be smart and get behind it. Hopefully you’re at a company that allows for creative initiatives whether it’s re-establishing the current focus on prospects or just giving a shot at a new office get-together.

It’s okay if you’re the only female copywriter.

Alright, I’m looking at you, Peggy. I can relate. Part of my means of staying connected with the tech industry is by jumping in at tech events, where women are unfortunately still in the minority. It’s easy to feel intimidated walking into a room where almost everyone has more experience and is older. At least a few times in your life, no matter your status, you will find yourself  feeling out of place like Peggy. And again, like Peggy, if you learn to curb fear and uncertainty, you will be unstoppable.

If you work in an office, you know how hard it can be to get employees to participate in team building events. Usually they're boring or awkward or irrelevant - or a combination of all three. At Journyx, we won't settle for that! Last Tuesday, the Journyx team got together and polished off some very tasty Torchy’s Tacos and watched TED Talks.  (Notice the "T" theme?) We watched two popular TED Talks in our conference room as we munched on our lunch. Here are links to the Talks we watched - you still have time to grab your taco!

Steve Jobs: How To Live Before You Die

Nigel Marsh: How To Make Work-life Balance Work

It’s worth it to do something fun and out of the norm for your office that will get your team excited (or at least bring them together). Sometimes the workplace can seem disconnected. Bonding is great for co-workers and has statically been proven to jumpstart efficiency. With an event like this, who can complain? Especially if you fill your mind AND your tummy at the same time!

What are things you’ve done in your office to open up the workplace? Anything you want to try?

There were many things I noticed while attending Microsoft Convergence, but you can apply these key takeways to any trade show. They are sure to improve your convention experience and get the attention you know you want!

Don’t let your booth staff talk a visitor’s ear off

If anything they should LISTEN. This is the number one reason attendees don’t stop by in the first place. They don’t want a 10 minute sales pitch for something they might not want or need. It’s great to cast a wide net, but you need to train your team to target valuable prospects more selectively by asking the right questions. It might sound like a given but, actually pay attention to the comments from people who stop by your booth. James Brawner, Director of Marketing at Journyx, emphasized this point in his interview at the show.

Pace yourself

Be sure to let your booth staff take a break when necessary. You can have the best attention-grabbing displays and games, but if the staff is moping and tired, prospects will have a bad impression of your booth. If you want them to be happy go-getters then periodic breaks are the best way to keep that energy up!

Attend the functions afterward

I know, I just said pace yourself. But here’s why I highly recommend going to the after parties: deals happen there just as fast as on the booth floor. It's another opportunity to get in front of attendees or future partners, and that means more bang for your buck. So have fun with it! Well, not TOO much fun, of course –  be professional!

Do you have any other ideas for getting the most out of conventions? Let us know some of your best practices!

Here at Journyx, we like to have fun! You might have figured this out from our previous blog about the giveaways last month. Well, I can’t wait to tell you about this new incentive we’re offering our fans and followers on social media.

You’ll want to pay extra close attention at the beginning of every month when we post a trivia question to Twitter or Facebook. It could be anything from “What is a trait you look for in a leader?” to “What’s the coolest piece of swag you’ve received at a tradeshow?” Prizes will range from gift cards to coffee mugs… or even something bigger! You’ll have to play to find out!

You could win lots of gift cards like these. 

Why are we doing this? It’s just a wonderful chance to get to know you! Obviously if you have subscribed to us on our Linkedin company page, followed us on Twitter or are a fan of the Journyx Facebook page, you know a little about us. It’s very important to us to know you, as well!

Remember if you don’t play, you don’t win!

That’s right – there were delicious giveaways left and right this month! First, let’s talk about a giveaway from a project management blog that is one of our favorite indulgences: A Girl’s Guide to Project Management. Brian from Utah won our CEO, Curt Finch’s book, “All Your Money Wont Another Minute Buy: Valuing Time as a Business Resource”. I’ve read it and can confirm it’s a great resource for anyone who wants to bring intelligent, forward-thinking time management into their business. Thanks to Girl’s Guide editor, Elizabeth Harrin, for coordinating the giveaway!

Next off, I’d like to congratulate Tommy from HireRight for winning one of our grand prizes at the Microsoft Convergence conference – an Xbox 360 w/ 250 GB and Kinect. Congratulations to Tommy for scoring the top time racing around the Journyx Dash Track on the JoyRide for Xbox Kinect. He was quick – I know, I raced against him!

Erin from the Microsoft Convergence team presenting one of the prizes.

We also gave away a $50 Visa gift card to Stefan from Canada. Anyone who Tweeted about their Journyx Dash Track experience got entered into the drawing. The biggest giveaway (quite literally) was a 42” LCD HD TV – maybe you read about in our previous Convergence post. We are shipping it to Stephanie Holcomb of Kansas. 

Once again congratulations to all of our winners and thanks for playing!

If you’ve been following my posts on this blog, you may already know this about me: I love, love, love SXSW Interactive. But do you know what Interactive means? Do you know why I think it’s so grand? Let’s take a closer look at what’s behind all the annoyingly bright orange lanyards, outrageously long lines, conference hashtags crowding your Twitter stream, more swag than you could possibly ever use, and a conference that turns major highways into parking lots. Despite how “glamorous” I just made SXSWi sound, it’s actually quite incredible and here’s why.

Hands down, the main reason I enjoy going to these tech events is because of the community they bring. Bringing together the most intelligent, proactive, disruptive-thinking people so they can all interact is electric. It’s kind of like TED – SXSWi has an “Idea Worth Spreading” (pun intended). SXSWi shares similar TED qualities but with lots of wide-eyed entrepreneurs, gaggles of freshly venture-backed startup teams, a sea of highly judgmental venture capitalists and, of course, me!

Here’s a little secret: experiences like this actually happen all the time in Austin. SXSWi just attracts people from around the country to our playground for a week. Talk about intense! I love to brag that I have the opportunity to live in this up-and-coming tech hub. Although now our secret is out and Austin really isn’t “up-and-coming” anymore. It has arrived with fascinating momentum!

This would not have happened without organizations putting in the elbow grease to make this work. It is absolutely necessary to give credit to networking groups like Door64, Tech Ranch, Austin Women In Technology , ATC,  We Are Austin Tech  and, of course, Austin Ventures. All of these organizations recognize the great potential of getting the geeks (and geekettes!) of Austin in collaboration.

Armed with a Redbull, I stopped by the We Are Austin Tech booth at the SXSW Startup Crawl in the gorgeous downtown Omni Hotel for the Interactive kickoff. It was great to meet up with director/producer, Ruben Cantu of We are Austin Tech at their booth.

Let’s keep in mind that it’s all of our responsibility to grow the community. I’ll speak for Austin when I say we certainly have a fun time doing it!

Will you be attending SXSW in Austin over the next few weeks? If so, you’ll definitely want to do the whole SXSW networking thing! But maybe you’re having doubts because you’re feeling shy? Don’t be! Most likely, everyone else is just as weary of getting out there as you are and like you, they all just want to make the most of it. There are three stages of networking: pregame, during, and after-party. Keep in mind that these are figurative, not literal, phases of networking that you need to be aware of before stepping out to your next event.

The Pregame – Time to get warmed up. I find that it helps me to call a good friend on the phone while I’m on my way to a mixer. If you’re left to your own thoughts while driving to the event, you might start thinking of all the possible encounters in your head and get nervous. But if you have a good conversation with someone like your Mom who thinks the world of you, you will get that feeling that you are “on a roll”. A positive conversation will get your confidence flowing before you make your appearance.

During the Event – If you think or talk about how uneasy you feel especially while at the event, it’s going to flow into your actual behavior. You’ll walk into the room with these things I like to call “negative tapes” in your head:

“Everyone’s smarter than me”

“I am horrible at conversation”

“People think I don’t belong here”

These are terrible things to say to yourself and are detrimental not just to how you feel at the event but for your self esteem, in general! Instead, think to yourself, “His badge says National Instruments – my dad used to work there” or “She’s got cool boots, I wonder if she’s from Austin?” or “I wonder if anyone else had trouble finding this place?” Get curious about OTHERS and notice interesting things about THEM. It’s a wonderful way to take the focus off yourself and start conversations with people you don’t know. These “positive tapes” are really as painless as ice breakers get.

Dave Michaels, Director of Business Development, whom I met from a Tech Ranch Incubator Mixer

The After Party – Now that the event is over, you need to reach out to the people you’ve met, reminding them of the conversation you had or ideas you shared. Networking is a waste of time if you don’t follow up and do this important step. To maintain relationships with people you met, invite them to other events that spark your interest since you both are at least somewhat like-minded with events. Doing so makes it much easier to maintain a natural momentum and keep in touch with people you meet instead of it being a chore. Friendly, social, smart, encouraging people who have a passion for learning will wear off on you. I promise! You can see passion in others…which brings me to my final point. I know I said there are three stages, but this one’s a bonus and probably the most important!

I know it’s cheesy but be yourself and show some passion – in all the stages of networking! Have the right mentality going in, show enthusiasm at the event and follow through to the very end. You won’t get the best experience out of it if you’re doing it halfway.

Now, off you go! Go explore SXSW and all it has to offer! From my own experience, you will meet incredible people and have an amazing time doing it.

P.S. We at Journyx are going to a few SXSW Interactive events ourselves, so stay tuned or follow us on Twitter to keep up!