Susanne Dansey’s Blog

I attended the UK & Ireland MVP Open Day today which was really interesting. To sit in a room amongst a group of passionate people from lots of different backgrounds and professions was pretty impressive and quietly I felt very overwhelmed. What inspired me the most was a presentation on security which was taken by Ed Gibson, Microsoft UK’s Chief Security Adviser.

It probably doesn’t help that I’m watching 24 at the moment (thanks to my flatmate Adam’s complete collection - only on season two right now!) but I was very impressed to find out about Ed and his background in the FBI. Not only that, this guy has connections and, more importantly, is genuinely passionate about his job - and it showed.

Equally impressive was this man’s ability to engage with his audience, this morning’s presentation was his eigth one of the week and it didn’t show. Funny and engaging, this guy was genuine, and although many had heard him before he was able to converse with anyone of the attendees regardless of their background. When someone tried to argue a point with him, Ed respectfully drew upon his knowledge and used fact to put it to bed.

What I liked about this session was not only the manner in which he spoke but also that for someone who has Government security clearance and the connections he painted a picture in the same way I describe a Small Business Specialist; like a swan - calm and graceful on top but paddling like hell underneath.

Moreover, when I was at dinner, Ed stopped to talk to me. I was just mooching through the restaurant and he came up and said “thank you”. I didn’t say anything throughout his session but I felt like I was the only person in the room when he talked. To have taken the time to chat to me was really impressive - it even motivated me to post about it!

I only know a few people who can do this, but it’s the way he engaged with those around him that impressed me. When you impress a customer by exceeding or exciting them, then they want to talk about it.

We all know that our jobs are full of problems and it would be all to easy to air our dirty laundry to those who we speak to. The way we present ourselves to others is by far the most influencial way of engaging with those who we talk to. This similar approach goes for how we talk about the services we offer our customers. It doesn’t matter that the patch updates on the server cause upset for us and our engineers or that the server vendor couldn’t get the replacement part to us in time; what the customer wants to know is that you can deliver on time and in a fashion that they expect.

Think like a swan and you won’t be so much of an ugly duckling!