Mediation Business Summit takeaways

Although its been a month since I attended the Mediation Business Summit, I thought I’d share a few of my takeaways from the event.

About the Summit

The Summit was a multi-day event via telephone and web, designed for dispute resolution professionals by dispute resolution professionals, Tammy Lenski and Amanda Bucklow.  Sessions featured business management, marketing and social media voices from inside and outside the dispute resolution world.  In MHO, the Summit was well organized/hosted, accessible, and relevant.

A few of my takeaways

Here’s a sampler of the business insights (speakers) that resonated with me:

• 20 great relationships with 20 influencers will keep you booked solid (Michael Port)
• Using word mediation can limit people’s understanding of what you do; “bringing together worlds that are disconnected is a playful act” (David Pearl)
• Have a good time when networking in-person; meet 1 or 2 people, be authentic, when naturally done a conversation, share/introduce that person to someone else (Phil Gerbyshak)
• Have guidelines for talking about your price, the elephant in the room (Charles Green)
• Connect with people who are both relational (will pass your name on, not hermits) and have $ (Liz Strauss)
• Think of opportunity cost focus on doing those things that generate leads/$ (minimize the minutiae); a passive income stream = more flexibility down the road (Carol Roth)
• Be intentional with your blog: How are you taking people through your blog content for action? What do they (target audience) need from you? (Denise Wakeman)
• Build community; e.g., (Cinnie Noble) started Conflict Coach Guild group on LinkedIn; it now has 500+ members, just reaching out as a solo practitioner

Other speakers included Char Polanosky, Dianne Levin, and Neil Denny.

Want more?

The Mediation Business Summit 2010: session recordings are now publicly available for download/purchase.  If you’re in the business of dispute resolution, and trying to get your business to the next level, and didn’t attend the Summit, you’ll do well by these sessions.

Oh, and if you’re interested in Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), another online forum is taking place this week, Cyberweek 2010.  I’ll be there.  Maybe we can chat?

Photo credit: Izzard on Flickr

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