Tech Tools: WriteBoard for Client Collaboration

You want to “wow” your clients, right? How do you do it? With such an emphasis on ROI and lasting value these days, delivering customized content that is on-target with the event objectives is a good place to start. If you do everything else right but don’t deliver in those areas, you could be in trouble. As a case in point, I just had a speaker at a client event and he was very dynamic and funny — and highly recognizable — but he didn’t offer attendees any solid take-home value. As a result, he was outdone by a local no-name speaker whose presentation was packed with relevant material.

So, how do you make sure your presentation meets — and exceeds — client expectations? It’s all about communication leading up to the event. That’s where Writeboard comes in.

Writeboard is a nifty little tool that could hardly be more simple, but I believe it could be very valuable in your event preparation process. Think of it like a private message board, or, as you might guess from the name, an online whiteboard — between you, your client, and any other event stakeholders you’d like to invite to participate. You could post your questions or comments at your leisure, and your client could respond at his or her leisure — no need to play phone tag, and no need to keep track of dozens of emails back and forth.

Here’s what the home page of Writeboard.com looks like:

All you need to do to get started is give your “Writeboard” a name, assign it a password, and enter your email address. You’ll then receive an email with a link to your Writeboard page, and from there, you can invite other participants. They’ll automatically be emailed the same link and the password so they can log in.

Once you and your client and any other participants are connected to your Writeboard page — you would have a unique page for each event if you opt to use it this way — then you can pose your questions and solicit input from the client. Maybe you would respond with some tidbits of content you’re thinking about using to make sure they’re on track.

It seems to me that this could create a very efficient, effective way to communicate with your clients to make sure you are completely on track with your presentation content.

Of course there are other ways a professional speaker could benefit from a tool like Writeboard, such as:

• collaborating with a co-author on your next book
• communicating with your web designer on some website enhancements
• engaging with your office staff on a particular project while you’re traveling
• or…

Writeboard is free, so if this sounds interesting, give it a try. Then come back and leave a comment and let us know if you found it useful.