Here I am, sitting in my hotel room in our Nation’s Capital putting the finishing touches on my presentation for tomorrow and staring 1:30 am in the face (with a crisp wake-up call off 5:30am). Tomorrow I’m presenting social media to the Cycling Industry advocates at the National Bike Summit 2010. I’m very excited and pleased to be a part of such a great cause, however I didn’t feel satisfied with my presentation. I felt there was something big missing. So i decided to take a step back and think, “Am I just presenting the same big numbers and mindless strategy that everyone in the industry is presenting? What is the meaning behind my message?”

While debating this and turning my mind off with the mindless humor of The Office I had a thought… everyone knows that social media is huge, everyone knows they need a strategy, but not everyone has the confidence to move forward with that strategy. Not everyone understands the “Do” part of social media… This is it… This is my differentiator, this is the thing that will get the attendees excited! This is what needs to be discussed now. Without the “Do” there is no success.

After looking through the presentation deck for the gazillionth time, with this new mindset, I entered a new slide after the numbers and strategy (which are still important), to simply say… “DO.” All of us in the industry can talk the talk, but there are only a few of us that are actually walking the walk… actually “Do”ing.

What a great epiphany… So I’ll leave you the same way I will leave my attendees tomorrow. Planning and strategy are essential to success, however without the “Do” there is nothing.