Ahead of the Curve

Port/7SIMPLERULES/WorkshopSummary

Workshop Summary and Objectives for:

The 7 Simple Rules for Producing Remark-able Projects with MichaelPort

Opening: 15-Minutes

The introduction will explain why and how producing remarkable projects will help business ownersbuild a thriving business. In addition, I will build rapport with the audience by offering a meaningful, humorous, and anecdotal story of why the 7 simple rules are effective principles that will produce remarkable projects. The introduction will conclude with an overview of what will be presented in the session.

Body: 60-Minutes (includes Q&A throughout)

I will teach the audience members the 7 simple rules for producing remarkable projects; presenting each rule with a real-life project example and the result that applying the rule produced.

Rule #1: Bring your passion to the project. I will offer that passion is a requisite for producing remark-able projects, and that you can’t do a project that others are going to remark on if you don’t engage your passion. As with anything, when we’re creating something new, we’re faced with problems; seeming insurmountable barriers and circumstances that are out of our control. During these times, our passion and personal investment in the project are what carries us through to completion. I will help the audience connect to their passion around the biggest project in their pipeline.

Rule #2: Work with others. I will make a compelling case for working with others on projects; explaining that I don’t do projects alone even though I’m an experienced project producer. I will suggest that the project producer bring others in at the earliest possible moment as the project is being developed. I will prove through fascinating examples that if you work with others you will wind up with something far greater than you could produce alone. I also offer, through a coaching conversation, that if this is hard to do then ask yourself whether you are committed to having something truly great or just getting it your way. I will guide the audience members through an exercise to identify whom they would like to work with, and how to approach them and establish connected and successful partnerships.

Rule #3: Call on your talents. I will show that working on a project of any sort is the perfect venue for showcasing talents. Talents are those gifts that are innate to whom we are; whereas skills are things that are learned. I will demonstrate that when we utilize our talents, the quality of what we produce increases and we get recognized for those talents. Projects are the perfect vehicle for becoming known for fulfilling certain kinds of offers. While it might be thought of as reputation building or brand building, it goes even further. It’s also business building and "you" building. I will conclude this point by helping the audience identify their talents and realize how to maximize and showcase them in their projects and their business.

Rule #4: Develop habits of commitment making and fulfilling. I will prove that progress depends on the successful completion of promises, and that developing habits of making commitments and fulfilling those commitments are essential for the successful completion of projects and more. I will help audience members understand how to turn good intentions into commitments, and how to create routines that have people coming together and making promises to each other. (E.g. The work that I promise to complete today allows you to start your task tomorrow.) The downfall of not doing this is one breakdown after another. I will complete this point by asking audience members to make promises to each other with respect to what they’re going to do with what they’ve learned at the conference.

Rule #5: Tightly couple learning with action. I will reveal that a successful future belongs to the learner not the learned; and that successful people learn in action in both their personal and professional lives. I will facilitate the realization that one of the biggest obstacles to business development is thinking that we need to know something fully before we start. I will demonstrate that if we wait to learn everything we need to know to do a project we’ll never get started, and I’ll provide a simple solution for how to learn in action so that the audience members can identify what they need/want to learn, and how to go about learning and doing at the same time.

Rule #6: Have clear intentions. I will remind audience members that it’s important to “start with the end in mind.” And, that this principle is critical when producing projects. In order to have clear outcomes we need to have clear intentions about what we want to accomplish. I will bring the first 6 rules together, demonstrating that our intentions are comprised of our passions, talents, contributions to others, the commitments we make, and the promises we fulfill. I will help the audience members clearly define what it is they are trying to produce with their projects.

Rule #7: Have a compelling story for you product. I will highlight the fact that projects never go the way we expect they will. And, that keeping our passion and our focus depends on telling and re-telling “the story” of our project; why it matters to us and others. On a grander scale, it is our vision and purpose rolled into one. The story of the project becomes increasingly important as we face problems, setbacks or any type of project breakdown. Thankfully, we can always go back to our story to lift us up and get us back on track. Story telling is a tool of leadership, and the way we engage others in our projects. It's the way we maintain our mood when things go wrong. Being able to articulate, and rearticulate, “the story” of the project is essential. I will conclude this point by helping the audience members create and tell “the story” of their project. It’s a wildly inspiring moment for all.

Conclusion: 15-Minutes

I will review the 7 simple rules for producing remarkable projects, and highlight the fact that remark-able projects build our identity in the world because others are “able” to “remark” on the project; the primary reason I’ve been so successful. People talk about the projects I produce – which is the best and most authentic marketing strategy on the planet. We can only reap these rewards by creating remarkable projects which produce remarkable results. When we do, we become known for being able to fulfill certain kinds of offers.

My closing remarks will focus on the fact that remarkable projects are emergent; that the future is uncertain and we can't determine results. We can only create circumstances for navigating to results, and the building of a business is the successful completion of one project after another. However, if the audience members follow the 7 simple rules they will, without a doubt, create the circumstances for navigating to remarkable projects and results.