I have spent close to a lifetime talking, explaining, asking, writing, persuading, clarifying, asserting, requesting, evangelizing, drumming it up, stirring it all up. Its a big part of who I am. Willy-nilly, I have come to understand a bit of what works and what does not work. Its not magic. Whatever it is, I have done a lot of it. Lots of project management, lots of communication, lots of planning. Who I am and what I do is connect all those things. Writing and speaking is a big part of that.
* * *
Promotions:
Major role, in arranging free publicity in a major, Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper, helping a major regional, historical known not for profit club of over fifty active members obtain a large, feature article. I made the initial contact to the senior editorial staff, pitched the idea, got assigned to a professional writer, arranged interviews, visiting photography. The Giants won The Superbowl and all staff were busy putting the polish on obvious regional coverage–this was when I was East, taking care of my aged mother for 18 months, in a hospice situation. After two months of work, local professional sports slowed down our effort. The biggest compliment. Trying to follow up weeks before, the writer called me THE NEXT day, the morning after the Superbowl, and was published days latter. Say no more.
* * *
Speaking:
I have given group presentations, to groups of fifty or more. I have also been contacted, by a major indigenous Nation of three million in population, as part of a major G7 nation, about potentially speaking for THAT nation or doing all the major projects, coordinating the work of the princess of that nation. As part of my vetting process, I was called in, to present to that nation, given comprehensive presentation material hours before their planned event, and asked to speak for the nation, in a roomful of leaders.
* * *
Selling, Phone, Door to door:
I made over 100,000 phone calls, done inside and outside selling, and comfortable calling anyone on an issue or need I believe in. I have also put on a three piece suit, and cold called in person while employed at one of the two or three largest investment firms in the world. I have knocked on the door of a three-hundred million dollar company, asking for the CEO, and talked to them within ninety seconds of coming in the door, off the street.
* * *
Writing:
I have written for a best of breed publication, publishing an article being read by over 100k readers, world wide.
* * *
Twitter/Facebook/Blogger/WordPress/YouTube/Reddit/SEO:
These things really do have their limits, but woe if you do not know how to use them. I was a power user at Twitter, early on, deciding not to go further, but it does have its uses, for status micro-blogging.
Blogger is a different matter. I dove into that, and grew a readership worldwide, and in the end, found what I needed to find, realizing being popular had its real limits–and cost. I got this to about 4,000 visits per month, and had 100,000 or more readers this winter. Chess Improvement, is the name of the blog. There were a lot of other interludes, but perhaps the one that best typifies me, my generalist blog, about really the learning inside the learning, The System of the System blog, here.
You know you have written a lot, when you often do key word searches in a major subject you need help on, and keep finding yourself. Got to two or three in the world, on two key words.
Posted video resumes and entertainment, on YouTube, Heuristical Worker.
There is a reason many go to blogger, tied as it is, to Google, and Google+. WordPress can be very hard, simple as it all should be. I made myself get here, glad I did, know how it works. What a powerful tool!
I have posted at Reddit. Many wind up leaving, as simple submittals of value can be daunting.
Facebook and I managed to stay apart, for a long, long time, even though I had opportunity to join very early on. Ultimately, my partner in Activism told me, ‘David, you cannot be an activist and NOT be on Facebook’, and she was right. Powerful tool for delivery of content and establishing communities of knowledge, learning communities. Here it is.
* * *
I worked hard to establish myself as an Advanced Google Map Maker, glad I did, but never want to have to do it again. Google can really mess up simple things, but somehow, it keeps getting better. Sometimes however, the simplest things are almost impossible. You also have legitimate businesses which cannot get on (read $), and fake ones, shown there, its the wild west. You have sabotage going on all the time, and fake data. I understand this environment, as a power Google user. I also use Gmail, which I also avoided for long, but the word searches are so good. I WANT Google to track me, it learns your footrpint, and that’s not all bad. Maps, blogger, search, Gmail, and that ties nicely to GoogleDocs, my major workhorse, and specialize in:
* * *
Using GoogleDocs
For personal, and professional effectiveness, collaboration, and knowledge management. GoogleDocs!
David Korn Special Projects 