Teacher's Pet

LinkedIn to Acquire lynda.com

Mountain View, Calif. – April 9, 2015 – LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 300 million members worldwide, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire lynda.com, a leading online learning company teaching business, technology and creative skills to help people achieve their professional goals. Based in Carpinteria, CA, lynda.com was co-founded in 1995 by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin.

The transaction is valued at approximately $1.5 billion, subject to adjustment, in a combination of approximately 52 percent cash and approximately 48 percent stock.  Subject to the completion of customary conditions, the acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2015.

Welcome to the LinkedIn Family, lynda.com!

[ http://blog.linkedin.com/2015/04/09/lynda-joins-linkedin/ ]

LinkedIn + lynda.com: Connect to Learning

[ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-lyndacom-connect-learning-lynda-weinman ]

Thank you, Jeff. Thank you Lynda and Bruce. You have made today’s blog post the easiest one for me to write since I started blogging Sunday mornings around five years ago.

For those of you who know me, since becoming the Executive Director of the www.NYDLA.org my “battle cry” has been: EVERYTHING IS DISTANCE LEARNING. I have been selling telecom and technology since 1983. I have watched the worlds of business and education morph and become reinvented many times. 

I watched how a college campus would once be judged by the size of its library; now it is judged by the speed of its wireless internet. I watched “the stacks” and Microfiche readers become replaced by iPads and YouTube videos accessing sites such as Khan Academy. I watched Google for Education come to life, and the birth of the Microsoft Cloud. I was a witness to the smartphone revolution, and the voice-enabled personal assistant trend. 

Siri: Apple’s Siri is a fully voiced assistant that’s been available to iPhone users since the inception of the iPhone 4S, offering users the freedom to ask questions, set up appointments and reminders, and interact with the sassy digital diva by setting up a nickname and more.

Cortana: Microsoft’s assistant is based off of the character of the same name from Microsoft’s Halo video game franchise. Featuring voice actress Jen Taylor, Cortana is available to anyone using Windows Phone 8.1. In some cases, you’ll receive your results with a computer-generated voice that is, admittedly, a lot less interesting than Taylor’s.

Google Now: Google Now is all about easy access and simplicity. When triggering voice commands, you can simply say, “OK, Google…” and then give your command. Like Siri and Cortana, you can look up info online, but Google Now is also good at delivering personal recommendations based on your search history and preferences. With just a few words, you can pull up YouTube videos, or TED.com talks on just about any topic, and watch them from anywhere in the world. And don’t get me started about TED.com! What an amazing happy accident, as they say. No one could have predicted the billions of views TED.com talks have earned over the years.

 The worlds of education and business are now so deeply intertwined that you cannot tell where one begins and the other ends. We are all lifelong learners. Knowledge, technology and talent have become the coin of the realm, now matter your age, your social status, or geography. You need all three to survive (and thrive) in today’s global economy. Knowledge, technology and talent. Two out of three is just not good enough.

You can observe a lot by just watching ~ Yogi Berra

I am one of LinkedIn’s first 100,000 members. I watched them grow into a company that can make a $1.5 billion dollar purchase without breaking a sweat. I watched companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft become household names.

Take the time to read the posts from Jeff and Lynda above. Watch the video from the CEO of LinkedIn, it is only a few minutes long. It explains why a company would spend $1.5 billion (and more) to buy a leading online learning company teaching business, technology and creative skills to help people achieve their professional goals.

I guess “Everything Is Distance Learning” after all.

TED Talks

Everything in life happens for a reason. Everyone you meet in life, you meet for a reason. Especially teachers.

If you did not know, TED.com is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.

With over 32 million views, Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson leads the pack with the most viewed TED talk of all time. He challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. You can watch his TED.com talk here:

Onstage at TED2013, Sugata Mitra made his bold TED Prize wish: Design the School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India, where children can explore and learn from each other -- using resources and mentoring from the cloud. His inspiring vision for Self Organized Learning Environments, earned him the TED.com prize. You can watch his TED.com talk here:

As the Executive Director of the NYDLA.org I was introduced to the world of Alternative Education (or Democratic Education) via Tamra Excell, NYDLA.org Board Member and founder of www.CMASAS.org 

Inspired by her life, and acting in her memory, The Christa McAuliffe School of Arts and Sciences honors Christa McAuliffe by educating the next generation of leaders, scientists, philosophers, artists, and others to be fully-prepared for the dynamic world of the 21st Century.

CMASAS.org opened in July 2009 and is headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon and is the culmination of over 25 years of combined experience, knowledge, and perseverance in alternative education. They combine the latest in online educational technology, integrated various online curricula, with the Personalized Education Philosophy.

Sir Ken Robinson. Sugata Mitra. Christa McAuliffe.

Everything in life happens for a reason.

The AERO conference is a unique event. There is no other one like it in the USA. It is a gathering of people who are involved with revolutionizing education, and who already have some of the answers. They demonstrate and work toward a learner-centered approach, one that empowers students, teachers and parents. It is based on the fact, confirmed by brain research, that children are natural learners and do not need to be forced to learn. In fact, if students are forced to learn it extinguishes their natural ability to learn, something that, unfortunately, happens in 95% of all schools.

One of this year's keynote speakers is Sugata Mitra, the very same winner of the TED Prize mentioned above, famous for the "Hole in the Wall Experiment" in which he put a computer in a wall in a slum area of India. Over the next few months the children not only taught themselves to use the computer, but also taught themselves English!

Sir Ken Robinson presented at previous AERO events:

I am proud to announce that this year’s NYDLA.org 2015 New York City Regional Conference shall be held in partnership with AERO. It will be my great honor and privilege to share the stage and give a keynote address with such amazing thought leaders in the world of alternative education. I will continue to blog on this as the event comes closer.

Don't Miss the NYDLA.org AERO Conference, May 20-25 at LIU/Post University, near New York City!  See www.NYDLA.org/events for more details.  

And then there were none

March Madness Part II

And then there were none.

In the 35th game of the NCAA tournament, the final perfect bracket fell. A 26-year-old sign language interpreter from Cleveland picked his favorite team -- Ohio State -- to beat Arizona. The Wildcats bested the Buckeyes 73-58 Saturday night.

On Friday night, the man who became the sole ESPN.com entrant with a perfect bracket through the round of 64 was checking his phone from a salsa club, reloading the final scoreboards to make sure he still had every game correct.

By day's end, Malachi, who asked to keep his last name anonymous out of privacy concerns, had the only one out of 11.57 million brackets with every team still in green. You can read the entire article HERE

11.57 million brackets filled out. Over 11 million people took the time, did the research, asked for advice, and filled out a NCAA tournament bracket. And of course, after submitting the bracket, they all paid close attention to see how far they would get.

In the time that it took them to do this, they could have opened a new business.

See my blog from earlier this month (scroll down). 

Never has it been so easy to start a business. Never has it been so easy be mentored, to be coached, to be guided on how to launch, run and grow a thriving business. 

One of last year's "Build A Business" winners launched their store in ONE DAY. That's right, from start to finish, they opened their new store and began taking orders in less than 24 hours. They had a idea. They took a shot. They got off the bench, and into the game. 

The NCAA Tournament is in the "Sweet Sixteen" phase. Our "Build A Business" 2015 contest is in the "Terrific Ten" phase. You have until March 31st to take a free trial of Shopify and start a business. Get off the bench. Get into the game. Your coaches are waiting for you, but they can only match your energy. 

If you are a member of the NYDLA.org you have DOUBLE the chances to win - as we shall be taking 5 lucky members of the NYDLA.org to Necker Island. It will cost you nothing to enter the contest, just like filling out a bracket for the NCAA Tournament. 11.57 million brackets filled out. 

Wow, just think about 11.57 million new businesses. 

Got questions? Send an email to NeckerIsland@NYDLA.org. 

You never know what will happen if you try. You only know with 100% certainty what will happen if you don't even take a shot. 

On Necker Island, you’ll be joined by this year’s mentors: Tim Ferriss, Richard Branson, Daymond John, Marie Forleo, and special guest Seth Godin. You’ll receive personalized, invaluable advice and guidance from each of them to help you continue to grow your business.

March Madness on Necker Island

March Madness. The Big Dance. Today is the first day of March, and with that begins the “buzz” about the 2015 NCAA Tournament. And of course, “Bracketology”.

Bracketology is the process of predicting the field of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, named as such because it is commonly used to fill in tournament brackets for the postseason. It incorporates predicting what the NCAA Selection Committee will use to determine at-large (non-conference winning) teams to complete the field of 68 teams, and, to seed the field by ranking all teams from first through sixty-eighth. ESPN's Joe Lunardi is the inventor of the term "bracketology", and is the resident bracketologist on ESPN. He also teaches an online course at Saint Joseph's University titled "Fundamentals of Bracketology".  

In recent years the concept of bracketology has been applied to areas outside of basketball.

Enter: The Build A Business competition.

Shopify, the industry leading eCommerce platform that allows anyone to sell online, in-store and everywhere in between is once again holding their Build A Business competition, the world’s biggest entrepreneurial contest encouraging anyone with a great business idea to start selling. The company has partnered with the industry’s most successful entrepreneurs to help new and emerging stores launch and grow their businesses. Over the past four years, the Build A Business competition has helped create over 36,000 new businesses that have sold over $180 million in products. Past winners including: DODOcase, GoldieBlox, Coffee Joulies, Bolder Band, among many others, have gone on to create multi-million dollar companies.

To participate, entrepreneurs must open a store and start selling products using Shopify. At the end of the competition, the top five stores that sell the most over a two-month period will be flying on a private jet to Richard Branson’s Necker Island for a five-day adventure full of mentorship, exploration, and professional growth.

This year’s mentors include names that every entrepreneur will recognize:

• Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group)
• Daymond John (FUBU, Shark Tank)
• Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek)
• Marie Forleo (MarieTV)
• Seth Godin (Best selling author)

“Over the years, I have witnessed thousands of people start and grow successful businesses using Shopify,” said Tobias Lütke, CEO, Shopify. “Becoming an entrepreneur is a dream for many people and Build A Business provides the platform needed to kickstart business ideas into a reality. Providing mentorship along the way has proven to be an invaluable tool and this year, we’ve brought together an all-star team to provide the guidance needed for these businesses to succeed.”

The Build A Business competition runs until May 31, 2015, with each of the mentors providing exclusive advice and guidance along the way. Inspired by the Build A Business competition - and the thrill of “The Big Dance” we have decided to throw our hat into the ring.

Enter: The Work At Home Coaches.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 50% of the workforce is expected to be self employed in the next five to ten years. 

The Work At Home Coaches nationwide network of business mentors and coaches are focused on providing the advice, training and skills to entrepreneurs and to create new jobs.  

We connect teams of qualified participants with successful CEOs and Schools of Business across the country to learn the steps needed to transform an invention or discovery into a product for the marketplace. The program gives both startups and experienced professionals the training and skills to become entrepreneurs or bring their new entrepreneurial skills to an existing company.

Over my 30+ year career in business, I have always operated under a Knowledge, Technology and Talent model. I feel that you need all three legs of that stool to truly thrive in business. By combining eCommerce technology like Shopify with the experience and mentorship of successful entrepreneurs and business leaders, we are strengthening communities by creating new pathways for citizens’ employment — giving participants the tools and training they need to create new businesses and stimulate job creation.

Back to March Madness: VOTED BIGGEST UNDERDOG MOMENT IN NCAA® HISTORY. 15-seeds had upset 2nd-seeded teams before, but when Lehigh knocked off Duke in 2012 it was the first time that the losing team featured a coach wearing a championship ring.

Are your ready to make your own underdog dreams a reality? 

Our business coaches and mentors are ready to help you every step of the way. Maybe all the way to Richard Branson’s Necker Island. 

Now THAT is what I call getting invited to “The Big Dance”.

Visit The Work At Home Coaches today!

Big Data Bowl

The Super Bowl Of Marketing

99.999% of those reading today’s blog will never have the budget to advertise during the Super Bowl. So, let us see what we can learn from those who DO advertise during THE BIG GAME.

With the ever-increasing cost of a 30-second TV spot, the advertising industry finds itself asking whether the massive investment is worth it. And, we now live in the world of “Big Data” and analytics and real-time metrics. So let’s go to school on the backs of the guys with the unlimited advertising budgets (like Microsoft, Budweiser and Ford).

All of us love to talk around the water cooler the next day about the creative genius of the Super Bowl ads without looking at their impact on sales. Let’s look at the data from 2014:

Animal Planet Puppy Bowl 2/1/15 at 3pm EST 

Initial findings appeared to support the notion that Super Bowl advertising had a positive impact on auto sales conversion rates. Auto advertisers who advertised during the game averaged 14.9% higher conversion rates in the four weeks following the Super Bowl (February) compared to the four weeks prior (January). This effect was even stronger if they weren’t advertising a luxury vehicle. But if we look at the conversion rates for these campaigns for the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, we see a different story. If Super Bowl advertising were actually driving greater conversion rates, then we expect to see a significant increase immediately following the game, rather than a gradual upward trend that appears to have started in January. Using data from Edmunds.com for sales in early 2014, we can see an increase in conversion rates simply mirrors the monthly industry-wide sales data. 

This suggests that auto advertisers get little to no additional value from their February advertising as a result of Super Bowl advertising. Analysis of luxury vehicles showed slower post-Super Bowl growth in the same fashion, leading to the initial notion that non-luxury vehicle display ads might benefit more from Super Bowl advertising.

Some say that the value of a Super Bowl ad can’t be determined online. However, prior research from Rocket Fuel, eMarketer, and JD Power suggests that auto buyers primarily research potential purchases online in the weeks prior to visiting a dealer. As a result, we would expect to see an increase in conversion rates that focus on these research actions on dealer websites as a result of Super Bowl advertising in the weeks following the game. But this does not happen.

And now, the Halftime Show! 

During the 2014 Super Bowl (6pm – midnight, EST) more than 2.5 billion bid requests across the display, mobile, video, and social media channels from 81 million unique users in the United States. Requests decreased every hour through the game, with little variation by device. This may be due to the record number of eyeballs fixated on the game: In February 2014 Nielsen reported a record number of viewers for the 2014 Super Bowl halftime show: 115.3 million, more than the game itself.

More people (came out of the kitchen) to watch the halftime show, than to watch the game itself. Did you catch that?

For the same cost as a 30-second Super Bowl TV spot, advertisers can also buy an 11-day takeover of the YouTube homepage, a nine-day takeover of Turner Networks’ affiliated web pages (which includes TNT.tv, CNN.com, NBA.com, AdultSwim.com, etc.), 45 days of stand-alone ads on Facebook’s logout page, and more than 37 days of sponsored trending on Twitter. 

Those advertisers particularly interested in diversifying can just buy every one of these items for three days, reaching more people for longer periods.

Advertisers are wising up to the idea that without measurable ROI, it's time to focus their advertising efforts elsewhere. According to the Detroit News, there will only be five auto advertisers for this year's game, the lowest since 2010. By comparison, the 2014 Super Bowl had eleven automotive brands.

And so: the little guys (like you and me) with proper SEO, Social Media Management and other “Big Data” marketing tools (now readily affordable to all of us) we obviously don’t need to be “in the Super Bowl” of Marketing to win big. 

Want some help? Email CEO@MTP-USA.com and we can discuss your online and offline marketing strategy.

Gary V. and Tommy C.

“You can observe a lot by watching” ~ Yogi Berra

Yesterday Gary Vaynerchuk went “Old School” working the floor at Wine Library. If you are reading this blog, then you are connected to the Internet. And there is a good chance that you know the name Gary Vaynerchuk. 

Gary Vaynerchuk (born November 14, 1975, in Babruysk, U.S.S.R. [now Belarus]) is co-founder and CEO of a social media brand consulting agency, video blogger, co-owner and director of operations of a wine retail store, and an author and public speaker on the subjects of social media, brand building and e-commerce. Vaynerchuk immigrated to the U.S. in 1978, and moved with his family to Edison, New Jersey.

After graduating from Mount Ida College in Newton, MA, Gary transformed his father's Springfield, Union County, New Jersey liquor store into a retail wine store named Wine Library, and in 2006 started the video blog Wine Library TV, a daily internet webcast on the subject of wine.

There were folks who drove from Boston to Springfield New Jersey, just to spend a few minutes with Gary. If for some reason, you don’t know your Gary V. history, you can Google him and find out EVERYTHING. 

Or just jump to www.garyvaynerchuk.com and spend a few minutes learning about a true small business success story. But just as our Yogi Berra said “You can observe a lot by watching” I learned some things yesterday by simply paying attention.

The first thing that I noticed was the parking. There were professional “parkers” in the parking lot. They knew in advance that parking was going to be an issue, but they were ready. I am sure that there we hundreds (thousands?) of people who “just wanted to get in and get out, and just wanted to buy wine yesterday. They maybe could care less about Gary V. (or care less about social media, or anything online). So, with a customer comes first culture, no one was upset. The Wine Library parking lot is not very large, not like parking at a big shopping mall or anything - but they figured it out. They were ready.

As soon as you walked in, a “greeter” handed you a free Baguette. You are not ten feet into the store, and you are in a good mood. Now, right away it becomes evident that something cool is going on today at the Wine Library. 

For those who were just there “to get some wine” they were wondering what was going on - was there some celebrity shopping for wine at the Wine Library that day? Yes, there was a celebrity in the building, but the celebrity just happened to be the owner.

I watched. I observed. I learned. From a comfortable distance, I was able to listen to the one-on-one conversations that Gary was having with the customers in the store. Some people had no idea that they were speaking to the owner of the store. 

Some knew EXACTLY who Gary was, but were clueless to his celebrity status via his social media mastery. And of course, some people drove hours just for the opportunity to take a selfie with Gary. But no matter if you were just looking to buy some wine for the holidays, or if you drove from Boston to take a selfie, Gary was “there” for you. Really there for you, in the moment, connecting.

What I witnessed was real-time social media, without the media. Gary asked questions. No matter where you were from, or how old you were, he would ask no less than three questions. Where are you from, what do you do, and “how can I help you” were the most common questions that I heard from a short distance away. But I also watched him answer questions with a thoughtful and meaningful comment. If you were from Boston, he would talk about his time in in Newton, MA. If you were from Boonton, NJ he would talk about his time spent at the Old Feed Mill Auction Center www.oldfeedmillauction.com and how he would drive there to get bargains on antiques and collectible Americana. He even knew that the Old Feel Mill is now in its fourth generation of operation. You can't fake that stuff.

From around 11:00am until 6:00pm Gary was there with amazing energy, walking the floor. He was engaging with clients, friends and fans. He was indeed working it “old school” as everyone in the building felt like they were meeting an old friend at the liquor store.

But I also saw “businessman" CEO Gary in action. When the checkout lines needed attention, all he had do was “point” and staff would scramble to open another line. When the free Baguette supply ran out, people were given gift certificates and coupons. But - this was company wide. The CULTURE of social media was live and in person at the Wine Library yesterday. Not online, not via the Internet or via a smartphone. It was live, palpable and very much observable. You could FEEL IT, from the minute you parked your car, until you were thanked for your business.

In August 2011, Gary announced he would be stepping away from his daily wine video series to focus his attention on VaynerMedia, the social media brand consulting agency he co-founded in the Spring of 2009.

In March 2009, Gary signed a 10-book deal with HarperStudio for over $1,000,000 and released the first book, Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion, in October 2009. The deal is groundbreaking in the publishing world as one of the first to successfully use a low-advance/high royalty business model. In the first weeks of its release Crush It climbed to #1 on the Amazon Best Seller list for Web Marketing books. It also opened at #2 on the New York Times Hardcover Advice bestseller list and #7 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List.

In March 2011, Gary released his follow-up to Crush It, in collaboration with HarperStudio, The Thank You Economy. This sophomore release in Vaynerchuk's business book series focuses on the need for companies to adapt in the Internet era, where the empowerment of the common consumer has created a fundamental shift in how businesses are expected to behave. "The Thank You Economy" landed Vaynerchuk again at #2 on the New York Times Hardcover Advice & Misc. Bestseller List, behind Suze Orman's "Money Class.”

I have been in the telecom and technology space since 1983. When I have social media projects for our valued clients that are simply “too big” or too comlex for our staff at MTP, Tommy C. partners with Gary V. and www.vaynermedia.com for a very simple reason. The culture. The same way that you feel from the time you park your car, to getting a free Baguette that you were not expecting, to having people listen - truly listen about your business dreams and aspirations. That feeling of connection, that feeling of caring and one-on-one bonding is hard to beat, online or offline. If you really, truly care about your clients, they can feel it. And people don't leave a good thing. 

In fact, people will drive from Boston, MA to Springfield, NJ for exactly that kind of a "good thing."

More wine, please.