Last week I attended the 2007 Author Pow Wow sponsored by 800-CEO-Read. At the end of the two day event the participants were asked to share a single word that encapsulated their feelings and thoughts about our time together.

Words included: fun, invogorating, energy, relationships, genersoity, memorable, learning, and fattening (that was right on Ben). I chose the word Remarkable. The group chuckled at my choice, but it truly is the best word I could have chosen.

Consider this - a highly creative and fun environment thanks to The Catalyst Ranch in Chicago, over 20 business authors working to hone their craft and learn about the publishing and marketing of books, along with experts and gurus from across the expanse of publishing, as well as the 800-CEO-READ team. This group included:

The Authors

Erika Andersen - Growing Great Employees

Greg Alexander - Topgrading for Sales

Jose Castillo - an incredibily smart and creative guy.

Phil Gerbyshak - 10 Ways to Make it Great

Joanne Gordon - Be Happy at Work

Jackie Huba Creating Customer Evangelists

Joe Heuer - check out several of his books, including Business Daffynitions

Mike Kanazawa - Big Ideas to Big Results

Alexander Kjerulf - Happy Hour is 9 to 5

Steve Little - The Milkshake Moment

Ben McConnell - Citizen Marketers

Pamela Miles and Jack Mitchell - Hug Your Customers, and soon, Hug Your People

Robert Mintz - The World According To You

Susan Quandt - Sudden Impact on the Job

David Meerman Scott - The New Rules of Marketing and PR

Michael Stallard - Fired Up or Burned Out

Dan Roam - The Back of the Napkin

John Rosen and AnnaMaria Turano - Stopwatch Marketing

Rajesh Setty - Life Beyond Code

Bill Welter - The Prepared Mind of a Leader

Steve Yastrow - We - The Ideal Customer Relationship

The Gurus

Ray Bard - Bard Press

Mark Bloomfield - Harvard Business School Press

Shelley Dolley - Leap7

Barbara Cave Henricks and Dennis Welch - Cave Henricks Communications

Mark Fortier - Fortier Public Relations

Nick Morgan - Public Words

Gerry Sindell - ThoughtLeaders INTL

Les Tuerk - BrightSight Group

Susan Williams - Jossey-Bass (my inital editor for Remarkable Leadership)

The 800-CEO-READ Team

Jack Covert
Melinda Cross - Concepts Content Copy
Sally Haldorson
Jon Mueller
Kate Mytty
Joy Panos Stauber - Stauber Design Studio
Todd Sattersten
Aaron Schleicher
Dylan Schleicher
Rebecca Schlei

I want to thank everyone involved - the efforts of everyone form the staff at the Ranch, the the 800-CEO-READ team, to the speakers and gurus, to my fellow authors. Each one helped to create this amazing learning experience. All of my expectations for the event were met and surpassed thanks to everyone else.

The lesson here for everyone?

When you have a chance to hang out with and learn from other cool and smart people, make sure you do whatever you have to do to make it happen - it the experience will expand your thoughts, infuse you with energy and change your life if you let it.

Also posted on Creativity, Customer Service, Leadership, Learning, Teamwork and Training.

Labels: books, creativity

Digg it |  del.icio.us |  Technorati |  StumbleUpon |

I've got lots of great stuff in my head to get out of my head, through my fingers to the keyboard and on to you, but time this morning is limited, so just a couple of great ideas I've run across in the last couple of days. Both of these ideas relate to books and reading, and both make me smile as a book lover and reader (and I don't think those things are exactly the same).

In fact, book lovers will love this story in the New York Times about leaders and their book collections, It is titled C.E.O. Libraries Reveal Keys to Success. I highly recommend it. After you read it, ask yourself - what keys to success does your library reveal?

Readers, who are less connected to the books themselves (and are willing to actually let go of a book after they have read it) may find this idea more interesting - Bookswapping. I found this idea late last week on the Book Maven Blog. The post called A Night of Bookswapping has been intriguing me every since. I quote Bethanne:

The rules were, and remain, elegantly simple: bring any books in good condition that you're finished owning. You can take the same number as you bring (although by each bookswapping night's end, this rule is usually broken). We pile the books in a central location, pour wine and beer, and grab plates of nosh . . .

She goes on to say that the best part of the evening was the conversation about the books and the ideas they contained.

Imagine doing a Bookswap party at work on a Friday afternoon. Or even a book sharing party where people show up with favorite books in had to discuss them, let others see and touch them (and then place their order at 800-CEO-Read or their favorite online bookseller).

As Bethanne says, this isn't a replacement for a book club, but perhaps an interesting additional activity to try. The conversation may not be as focused, but might be much more serendipitous.

What do you think?

Also posted in Leadership, Learning, Teamwork, and Training.

Labels: books, bookswapping, speed reading

Digg it |  del.icio.us |  Technorati |  StumbleUpon |