A Presentation Well Done!

Yesterday, I delivered my final thesis presentation to the College of Business Honors Advisory Board, a handful of professors, two outside guests, and my biggest supporter through the entire process... literally... my mother. Before even beginning the meat and potatoes of the presentation, I had to let everyone know how grateful I am for her continued support as I devoted my time to my research rather than supporting myself alone. I also owe my thesis advisor, Dr. Neil Hair, a great deal of thanks for his continued guidance and support throughout the project.

I was quite pleased with the turnout and the level of interest the audience showed by actively participating in the question and answer session. The presentation itself was 35 minutes long, followed by a 25 minute Q&A. After the experience provided by Dr. Phil Tyler's professional selling course, speaking in front of a room of people alone for half an hour wasn't as intimidating a thing as one might imagine. I was a bit nervous about the crowd size given the way the college was promoting the event with flyers and the display on its atrium LCD screen, but it turned out as an excellent event.

For more information about what I actually covered in the presentation itself, please see my previous post. While I'll be holding off on releasing my actual findings until official publication of my research, an audio recording of the presentation will be made available on my website soon. From here, my next steps will be to finish drafting up the thesis itself, submit conference papers on it to the American Marketing Association (for an opportunity to present at its annual conference), and try for publication in The Journal of Interactive Marketing.

College of Business Honors Program:

http://www.rit.edu/~cobhon/index.php3

American Marketing Association:

http://www.marketingpower.com/

The Journal of Interactive Marketing:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jabout/38979/ProductInformation.html

Personal Branding Thesis Presentation!

On Tuesday, 19 December, from 4:30 to 5PM, I will be presenting my thesis research at the E. Phillip Saunders College of Business at RIT. This presentation represents over 300 hours of research time and has been over a year in the making. It will be in the newly completed breakout rooms 1225/1235. Those interested in attending are more than welcome.The title of my thesis is "Marketing Professionals' Perceptions of Personally-Branded Websites."

What is Personal Branding, and why should you care?

The fact is, we are branding each other every day. It is human nature to make assumptions about one's past, personality, and attitudes based on his or her physical appearance. Many a personal drama can be attributed to this behavior, to be sure. Personal Branding is the art and science of deliberately controlling others' perceptions about oneself. One need only take a few moments to consider how one does this each and every day (the clothes one wears, one's physique, one's tone of voice, etc). With more and more people using the internet, web pages are increasingly becoming a means by which people may come to conclusions about each other. This is especially true in the context of business, where experts or consultants use personally-branded web pages to sell their services to businesses looking for someone who can be of help. My research examines the thoughts and reactions of marketing professionals from academia and industry to eleven personally-branded websites. See the reactions and conclusions they come to based on everything from the colors of their webpages to the looks on the proprietors' faces in their photos.

Think this doesn't apply to you? Look no further than your own webpage... your Facebook or Myspace profile, your blog, your online journal, or instant messenger profile... this list goes on in more ways than you may realize...

See you on the 19th!

Acceptance, Advocacy, Competition, Research...

Despite being finished with classes at RIT, I've found myself busier than ever. A great deal has been happening, not the least of which my acceptance to the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester! I'll be starting Orientation there on 2 January. Lest anyone think I'm escaping the quarter system, think again. Simon is one of the schools at UR also on quarters. No rest for the wicked! I can now breathe a sigh of relief at having been accepted, as most who apply don't get in. In fact, University of Rochester has been included among Kaplan College Guide's elite "New Ivies." I suppose the committment to good grades is paying off!




Unfortunately, education of such quality and reputation doesn't come cheap. In fact, two years of graduate business education there will run about $75,000. For that reason, I have been participating in the Second Annual Simon Business Simulation Competition. The competition draws entrants from all over the world, each of us hoping to win a full-ride scholarship or one of several partial scholarships ranging from 25% to 75%. Currently, we are taking a very much appreciated break after completing round two. The competition is broken down into three rounds, the first of which being a simple version of the simulation in which players compete alone against artificial intelligences. From that group (about 75 strong), the top 25 performers are selected to move on to round two (a more complicated version of the simulation in which each of the 8 decision periods took about 6 hours). At the end of round 2, I sit at 4th place in score (see adjacent graph for relative scores). Round three will involve presentations at Simon of how we played the Simulation. Last year, two full-ride scholarships were awarded. I think I have a good shot for at least one of the partials.



Also of note, I've entered an essay competition for those between 18 and 25 being put on by the Alzheimer's Association. The questions are what can Alzheimer's advocacy accomplish and how can young adults recruit other young adults to pursue advocacy projects? Given my thesis research, I had no shortage of things to mention. The winners will be announced at the end of december, the winner given free travel and admission to a national alzheimer's advocacy event in Washington, DC (along with a press conference and the opportunity to testify before Congress). Fingers crossed, they'll choose my entry!



Finally, I have some news on the thesis front. Because of unforseen delays, I will not be able to make the deadline necessary to present in Iceland. However, my new deadline for completion is 15 December for presenting at a conference in the US being put on by the AMA (American Marketing Association). My research is beginning to bear fruit, manifested in the first of ten HVM's (Hierarchical Value Maps), shown at right.




Simon School:
http://simon.rochester.edu/

Marketplace Simulation:
http://www.marketplace6.com/mindex.php?sl=en-us

Alzheimer's Young Adult Essay Competition:
http://www.kintera.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=mmKXLbP8E&b=2232681&en=aeKDLJMqF6KDLUPpG3KEJSNBLgIELKPsFiKLIXNEIsE

American Marketing Association:
http://www.marketingpower.com/