Krishna, I just wanted to thank you so much for your excellent workshop on how to build buzz and market in a recession. It really hit the spot, in terms of meeting the audience’s need and being very practical and full of genuinely ‘fresh’, new ideas for marketing our businesses.
98% of the attendees rated the programme as ‘Excellent’ (the other 2% rated the presentation as it as ‘Very Good’). Attendees commented that the event was ‘Inspirational, practical and engaging’ and ‘I will approach my business with new vigour and energy after tonight’.
The attendance numbers were also fantastic with a packed room – we were delighted to have such a good start to 2009! Thanks for putting so much energy into the workshop.
Louise Fleming
Assistant CEO
Wicklow County Enterprise Board
Many thanks for such an informative event on such an important topic as ‘Word of Mouse Marketing’ for the future success of any business. You made the subjects of Social Media, Social Networking and Internet Marketing clear and straightforward.
When selecting our courses we endeavor that all participants can leave the training room, and implement new ideas and learning as soon as possible to enhance their business development. Our feedback indicates that there will be a rapid increase in business blogging and social networking in the Limerick area over the coming weeks!
Most importantly you showed that if you ignore this area of your business will leave you out in the cold in years to come or wondering why your business channels reduced. Ignore business social networking at your peril! Many thanks for a great workshop and we can’t wait to have you deliver additional programmes to our community.
Agnes Relihan
Business Advisor
Limerick County Enterprise Board
I attended my first workshop on blogging, microblogging and podcasting run by Krishna De for the Irish Internet Association. It was my intention to fast track my way into an information world that I knew very little about but was eager to explore.
Krishna De was an excellent speaker who illustrated her expertise on the subject of blogs, microblogs and podcasts in an informal manner that helped everyone relax and enjoy the half day workshop. Having the class participate from the word go is always a smart way to ensure that you get everyone involved. More than that, it also ensures that there was little chance of going home unhappy that the class was meaningless because you can help direct the content.
Our audience consisted of a good mix of complete novices, intermediates, and professionals. Everyone approached the workshop with a clear objective to use blogs, microblogs and podcasts as an essential part of their lives. Most had a good grasp of how it might help them build their business or that of the company in which they worked.
Krishna provided lots of real examples or case studies that showed how others were using this technology to share information within a variety of social and business networks. Although I would not like to be tested on the full extent of my workshop comprehension, the great outcome for me was to leave the workshop with a conceptual toolbox and a new confidence to give it a go.
I quickly purchased the software and equipment I needed to start a series of design podcasts. Within days I had recorded the first part of my new podcast series. With some more work I will soon be ready to launch myself as an official podcaster. From this first endeavour, I plan to gradually develop my skills through practice using tips and advice provided in the class. My first efforts may well prove real amateur hour but I don’t mind because I know that this time next year I’ll be much better. Krishna orchestrated a really great workshop.
Derek McGarry (Board member of the Institute of Designers in Ireland and a lecturer in the National College of Art and Design )
Deputy to Head of Design Faculty
National College of Art and Design, Dublin
I recently attended an interesting talk on Blogs, Micro-Blogging and Podcasting. The course was run by the IIA and the speaker was Krishna De. At Clickstream web design, we have lots of experience in setting up wordpress blogs, from designing the look-and-feel to suit our clients’ requirements integrating blogs with existing websites and adding lots of plugins and functionality to blogs. However, it is important to keep on top of the latest developments in blogging and Krishna’s talk was just that.
Aoife Ni Choronnaith
Clickstream.ie
I attended the ‘Word Of Mouse Marketing’ workshop and I got a lot of great information – I was sorry when it was over and its not often you can say that at business presentations. Thank you. I run a micro business support network. I am very interested in developing the social media potential of my service.I realise I have a long way to go but your presentation answered a lot of my questions.
Sarah Howcroft
www.thesmallbusinessnetwork.com
Just to say that I thought the first speaker was excellent, Krishna’s seminar was very informative and very entertaining and she is the first person I have met to truly explain social networking !
Suzanne Trehy
Tourism Marketing (e-Business) Shannon Development
discoverIreland.ie/ShannonRegion
Shannondevelopment.ie
I attended one of your recent workshops (‘Building Buzz Through Blogging, Microblogging and Podcasting’) in Dublin and wanted to let you know that I found it really useful. In fact, thanks to our new Twitter and Blip pages we have already received some positive press and requests for further business and partnerships in less than a week since attending the workshop. I’ll be following your blogging closely from now on in the hope of unearthing some other valuable nuggets!
Eoin White
Hostels.com
Very few people understand the blending and the mix of the real world implementation of podcasting, in the corporation, in business, and in communication.
Watching Krishna on stage speaking at the Corporate Podcasting Summit where I was MC and through our previous communications, I realise that she is one of the few people who understands the need for this delicate balance between the two things.
The correct implementation of the technology in the corporate setting is challenging and few people can do that. If you are considering using podcasting in your business to support your communications and engagement agenda, I highly recommend you speak with Krishna.”
Paul Colligan
paulcolligan.com
Author of the Business Podcasting Bible and Creator of Podcasting Secrets
Krishna gave a very informative and lively presentation on marketing on a budget (in fact a very small budget), which certainly grabbed the attention of the audince. She gave a number of useful hint and tips.
Krishna also referred to the ’six degrees of separation’ – the idea that, if a person is one “step” away from each person he or she knows and two “steps” away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is no more than six “steps” away from each person – and commented that in Ireland it really is a “small world” and business people should be using this to their advantage at all times.
She helped us profile our ideal customer – think about what they are looking for; where are they and then how do you get to them and what would you say to them given the opportunity. Krishna finally stressed the importance of everyone gathered jotting down at least one action that they would now carry out as a result of attending the workshop, and to make it their business to follow-up on this action – only then would they truly get a return on the time they invested in attending the seminar!
Sean Mc Keown
Chief Executive & Company Secretary
Kilkenny County Enterprise Board
“As Managing Director for Bigfish Recruitment, I am pleased to recommend Krishna as one of the most entertaining and inspiring marketing speakers you will find. She is an energetic and fast paced speaker with a seemingly unlimited depth of extremely relevant and valuable marketing knowledge!
We first met Krishna in 2006 at a company launch conference in London where our team were captivated by Krishna’s talk on ‘personal branding’.
As the hosts for MarketingBites, a highly successful series of marketing events in the UK, it was evident from the outset that Bigfish invite Krishna to attend our ‘Branding’ event as a key speaker.
Krishna’s presentation on personal branding for marketing executives was outstanding and really captured the attention of the marketing professionals who were present at our event.
The event was a great success for our company and was extremely well received by the delegates.
Overall, it was an absolute pleasure to collaborate with Krishna at our MarketingBites event. I certainly enjoyed it and as we know from the feedback, so did the other attendees.”
Nicola Kleinmann
Managing Director
BigfishRecruitment.com
“Krishna De was one of the keynote speakers at the 2006 IrishBusinessWomen.com conference, which was on the theme of “Making it Happen”. When we originally decided to run the conference we asked our members to nominate speakers they would like to hear. A number of them suggested we speak to Krishna. She came to us, therefore, with a high reputation, and as a consequence met an audience with equally high expectations!
To say that our members – and there were 175 of them in attendance – were not disappointed would be a complete understatement. She was the first keynote speaker of the day, and the buzz she created was discernable and, happily for all of us involved, it carried on for the duration of the conference.
In our promotional brochure for the conference we said that she would “get the day off to a flying start with practical tips on how to network with confidence and ease”. She did that and more besides. She set the tone for what was to follow. Afterwards many of the members commented positively on her presentation, both in person and via the feed-back forms we used for the event.
Creating a buzz on the day and getting positive feed-back is one thing, getting people to take what they have heard on board and putting it into action it is another! It was particularly gratifying, therefore, to see some members post onto our online forum – some on the very day of the conference itself – about how they were putting what they had learned into action.
Krishna’s presentation on the day made a positive and significant impact on those present. Many of our members continue to benefit on a continuous basis from her knowledge and professionalism via her radio show, her on-line contributions and her openness to support our members time and again.
I look forward to continuing to work with Krishna in the months ahead as we expand our community and will personally access her expertise on how to create a compelling brand and grow our exciting business venture.”
Frank Fullard
Chief Executive
Mayo County Enterprise Board
www.mayococo.ie
“Krishna presented a workshop to our firm on the subject of building your online brand.
The workshop was useful to all of our Divisions, partly because of the new ideas presented, but mainly because of the smack-upside-the-head links Krishna’s input and insights created for us. It was generous, jargon-free and fun.”
Terry Prone
Director
www.CarrCommunications.ie
“Krishna has an infectious spirit, tremendous knowledge and a special tenderness with new clients.
I am so happy I learned the importance of branding from Krishna. I never make a move without a quick consult with her.
I respect her ideas so much, that I have her as a guest speaker for my “30 Day to Radio Success” course to teach my clients about the importance of originality when it comes to being a guest on radio.
Krishna is articulate, well prepared and genuinely cares for people’s success.
It doesn’t matter if you are new to business or have been doing it for decades, time spent with Krishna will be money earned.
Krishna is an integral piece to your success puzzle!
PS grab her now because in 5 years she’ll be under contract with Donald Trump or Bill Gates …… and then we’ll never be able to afford her!”
Wayne Kelly
President
www.onairpublicity.com
“As the Founder of the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisors in Ireland, Southern Region, I asked Krishna to lead a workshop and be the key note address for the launch of the organisation.
Her expertise is highly relevant for consultants who need to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive market. We all need to be know how to position our expertise and attract our ideal clients. Considering ourselves as a “brand” gave us new insight in this important area for our own commercial success.
We certainly were not disappointed – Krishna led a highly participative event that was practical and informative. It was a great way to launch our new organisation.
In fact she was so good we asked her back a second time to run another workshop, this time on the subject of networking for success. The workshop was very relevant and rich in content.
If you are looking for a key note address or workshop facilitator on the subject of how to grow your business, I highly recommend Krishna and I know we will definately have her back again to speak to our membership.”
Laura Curtin
www.communicatepr.ie
“Krishna was one of the key note speakers at the launch of our new business. The subject she spoke on was how to build your brand and the audience was HR professionals, recruiters and headhunters.
She was masterful in her command of the topic and the audience. Whilst this was a keynote, she found ways to engage the audience and it was highly participative.
Her presentation was in fact the highlight of the event and the audience found her content relevant, practical and engaging – she shared ideas that we could put immediately into practice.
I highly recommend Krishna as a keynote address or after dinner speaker – she is inspirational, challenging and she delivers unique content to support the objectives or your organisation.”
Catriona Ryan
Managing Director
www.digitalvideointerview.co.uk
“I asked Krishna to speak at our 2006 UK annual conference and the subject she spoke on was how to leverage your employer brand to attract and retain talent. She had come highly recommended by another organisation where she had been a key note address.
Her content was ideally targeted at the audience of corporate recruiters and headhunters who were at the event to learn more about the developments in the online recruitment market.
Krishna integrated well into our conference programme providing a dynamic presentation.
Our delegate feedback rated her one of the top speakers on the day.
I would highly recommend her as an inspirational, dynamic and elloquent speaker.”
David Hurst
Managing Director
www.onrec.com
“Having seen Krishna speak speak as a keynote address, I approached Krishna to speak at our 2006 conference at Olympia, London.
The conference was targeted at executives looking to change career – we had about 4000 attendees at the confernece.
Krishna spoke on the subject of building your personal brand to expand your professional success. The room was packed out – in fact there was standing room only.
The content was inspiring, relevant and practical.
If you are looking for a speaker who engages, motivates and entertains your audience, definately give Krishna a call.”
Andrew Clarke
Event Organiser
www.erec2006.com
“Krishna spoke at our Events Day 06 Conference on the topic of ‘Event Management in Bits and Bytes’ – revealing the secrets of Virtual Events to our delegates – people who organise events.
Krishna’s presentation was excellent. It was faultlessly structured, comprehensive and pitched at just the right level.
She provided valuable information on Teleconferencing, Webinars and promoting virtual events, interspersed with practical advice and experience from her own business and that of her clients.
As the organiser of the event I found working with her a pleasure. She is highly professional, utterly reliable and an engaging, inspiring and interesting speaker.”
Sarah Carroll
NEO Ireland – the Network for Event Organisers in Ireland
www.neoireland.com
“I recently attended a Networking Master Class that Krishna led in Cork and found it very beneficial.
She provided interesting insights into and tips on how to network with confidence.
As a result of my attendance at her workshop in Cork I booked her to facilitate a workshop for the group of entrepreneurs that I work with on the South East Enterprise Platform Programme.
If you are going to run workshops on the subject of networking, I could highly recommend Krishna. Many people, myself included, are new to the idea of networking as a business tool, and Krishna can provide guidance and inspiration on this increasingly important skill for professional and personal success.”
Emma Walsh
www.seepp.ie
“I recently attended a workshop presented and facilitated by Krishna. The workshop was about networking and before the workshop networking was a bad word for me, an instant cringe word!
I learnt tips that day that I have put into practice every day and every week in my business.
The first learning was that we are all networking every day when we meet with friends in terms of sharing good experiences on books, places to eat and holiday recommendations.
Secondly I learnt that Business networking is about transferring that sharing of information to business situations. Just like friendships, business relationships take time to build and you need to work at it in a consistent manner.
So top of my mind now is what information or connections can I provide for current or potential clients? What gaps do they have that I can fill in terms of information, skills or access to specialist’s skills provided by another colleague?
The third thing I learnt is that I needed to address the real reason my clients bought from me – that I am providing a solution to their problems. Based on Krishna’s advice I have changed all of my marketing materials and my approach to focus really on the needs of my clients and their biggest challenge.
Thank you Krishna for your invaluable help and guidance. I now approach client meetings with that solution focused mindset and am having good success at winning projects because of it.
If you are organising a conference and about growing your business, do consider networking skills as part of the agenda to help your audience grow in their confidence in networking. And do speak to Krishna about being your guest speaker – she has invaluable insights to share and can help you change your skills in networking with confidence.
Pamela Fay
www.bpp.ie
“Krishna thank you for facilitating a very interactive and collaborative Master Networking event. I now have a selection of highly practical yet innovative tools which I feel comfortable in using.
I am also more confident about my personal brand dialogue and better equipped to provide an impressive and natural answer to the dreaded question, ‘So what do you do?’
The practice of nurturing my network every day will build relationships and lead to introductions and new relationships. The trust that will be forged is of vital importance to the growth and maintenance of my business.
Thank you also for providing excellent insights in how to build an online profile so that the next time I’m ‘Googled’ there will be something interesting to see.
The workshop was enjoyable, increased my confidence and I now have clear goals about how to grow my business by networking and creating continuous referrals, supported by tools to help me.
Thank you Krishna for demonstrating the you understand the fears that many of us in business have when it comes to networking and for building our confidence and helping make it a natural way of developing our business.”
Audrey Lynch
Lighthouse Finance
“I recently attended a Networking Masterclass workshop facilitated by Krishna and wanted to share my thoughts and feedback on the event.
I gained tremendous insights from the event – these probably seem obvious to me now, but they were never in my thoughts before the workshop. For example I now know that I need to prepare for networking conversations and to establish objectives for myself, analysing the return of investment of participating in the business networks I am part of. I also realise that to network effectively I need to give to others – it’s not about what’s in it for me.
I’ve more confidence in networking and realise there are possibilities to network on line through virtual communities which I had never considered previously.
Immediately following the workshop I have been implementing Krishna’s strategies for following up with clients – I have ensured that I got back to people I spoke to last week as quickly as possible. It’s easy to delay getting back to a client or prospect and I now realise that this could impact the perception of my brand.
What left the biggest impression with me was realising that it is important not to feel threatened by, or feel competitive with, anyone you want to network with – especially the people who are helping me learn how to network effectively; I feel I can relax and trust in the strategies and skills I was shown by Krishna.
I have also begun to consider my personal brand as the co-founder of my business and realise that it’s important to develop an authentic personal brand along side that of my company’s corporate brand. I am now well positioned to begin to build my brand on-line which I realise will expand my reach to potential clients.”
Dermot O’Shea
www.taoglas.com
“Thank you Krishna for your input and inspiration on the subject of networking and personal branding when you spoke at the recent conference I attended.
I learned a lot in a relatively short space of time. You successfully dispelled a lot of the fears I personally held (and I use the past tense here with purpose!).
As a (former) “network sceptic” I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed your fresh insights on networking and branding and am already employing my new tools. Thank you once again.”
Lorraine Reid
www.wealthofwomen.com
“I met with Krishna at the Irish Business Women’s conference in May
2006 when she was the keynote address at the conference. I was extremely intrigued by her way with people – she had a wonderful ease as she worked a room of 200 people.
Subsequently I engaged with her about advice on how to introduce myself at business meetings and I requested her advice on the layout and design of my website which is to sell Handmade Wedding Stationery.
Krishna’s feedback was exceptional and I am currently implementing the changes which she suggested.
I have also referred others to her as I know they will benefit from her expertise.
I look forward to working again with Krishna in the future.”
Noreen Clifford
www.clifforddesigns.ie
The key insights I gained from the Master Networking workshop is that while it is natural and understandable that we struggle with the process of networking, there are relatively straight forward steps we can take to vastly improve how effective we are at it.
I personally found the structure Krishna gave the workshop participants to formulate “My Personal Brand Dialogue” to be very useful.
Krishna led the workshop with a healthy mix of candour and humour. From the get go, she placed an onus on the workshop participants to work hard during the session and to strive to leave the workshop with tangible tools/processes to improve their businesses going forward.
Having completed the workshop I have a greater appreciation of the need to prepare/be clear on my objectives for every networking meeting I attend as well as how important it is for me to be able to articulate clearly the benefits/outcomes my clients experience through working with me.
Pat Gurren
www.gurren.ie
“It was lovely to meet you at the recent conference where you spoke on the subject of networking for professional and personal success.
I thoroughly enjoyed your interactive session – it was very interesting, full of fun and for me personally it was the best part of the day because you are so inspiring and you provided practical tips that I could use immediately in my business. Having spoken to several other attendees since returning home I’m not alone in that opinion!
Thank you again Krishna.”
Tina Kavanagh
www.stealthshield.ie
“Thank you Krishna for your session on networking as the keynote address at the recent Irish Business Women conference.
You made it very interesting and it was a great way to get us all to open up. As I was there on my own, my partner could not make it, I was a bit sceptical about going.
However your tactics and wonderful openness brought a room of 175 women together with a common bond. It was fantastic! I will use many of your ideas in the future.
It was very nice to meet you Krishna and thank you for your inspiration.”
Angela Hoey-Reilly
www.silkroadsdesigns.com
“I met Krishna at a recent conference where she was the key note address on how to develop your personal brand for business and personal success.
Within 4 days of the conference I had two presentations to deliver about my business and immediately integrated strategies and tips she shared with us to enhance my presentation to potential clients.
I am looking forward to speaking again with Krishna again in the future to learn more about how I can apply further strategies to help me grow my business.”
Colin Kirby
www.offsitegroup.net
“I met Krishna at a recent conference where she was a key note address on the subject of ‘Employer Branding to Attract and Retain Talent’.
What she shared was truly inspirational – in fact immediately after the event I made personal contact with her to invite her to present on the same subject to our clients in the Czech Republic.
I was amazed with what she shared with the audience of about 150 people – she truly was engaging. Her lessons for us on the subject of benchmarking and personal marketing are key topics for us all to be more effective at if we are to grow our business.”
