Southeastern Mediators’ Summit: A practice-building conference not to be missed

Have mediators limited their thinking too narrowly? Can mediation realize its potential for social change and economic viability? Is it possible to transform business disillusionment into making a decent living as a mediator?

These are some of the important questions that Lipscomb University’s Institute for Conflict Management is going to help answer on December 1-3 in the first annual Southeastern Mediators’ Summit.

With an inaugural theme of “In the Shadow and Out of the Box,” the two-and-a-half-day Summit in Nashville, TN will help mediators learn how to apply what you know as a mediator in new ways and in new markets. Workshops and general sessions include “Thriving Community Mediation Models,” “Managing Faith-Based Disputes,” “Mediation’s Future in Health Care,” “Advanced Commercial Mediation,” and “Sustainable Environmental Mediation.”

I think so highly of what the Summit wants to achieve that [Read more]

Lunch on Friday at ACR

A quick note for folks in Austin at the ACR conference: My lunch invitation still stands!

Several of you have been kind enough to connect up with me and ask if I’m still open to having an informal lunch with anyone who shows up on Friday at 12:30.

Yes, indeed I am. I’ll be in the lobby near the front doors and hope to meet you there!

Here’s a little page I put up about it for my events calendar.

Cheers,

Mediator Tech newsletter: the fall 2008 happenings edition

There’s so much going on, I couldn’t wait a whole month for another newsletter post. So this is the “Fall 2008 Happenings” edition.

If you’ve been wondering where and how to learn more about mediation marketing, ADR practice-building and practice management, or how to keep your own center in the midst of conflict, then this edition is for you. Here’s what’s on tap:

1. ADR marketing and management workshop in November
2. Legal Trends launches social network
3. Hold the date for a Conflict Zen retreat
4. Geoff Sharp offers up a commercial mediation survey

[Read more]

Mediator Tech newsletter for july 2008

What’s better than a savvy marketing plan to jump-start your ADR business? Better than a website to leverage the web for your business? Well, read on, and you’ll find out.

But first, let me welcome you to the July ‘08 newsletter and thank you for being a Mediator Tech reader. I’m glad you’re here because it’s a whole lot of fun to blog for subscribers and commenters like you.

Here’s what’s in this edition of the newsletter:

• New marketing and web strategy service for mediators
• A special reader offer
• ACR conference registration now open
• Good reads and resources for mediation marketers and business owners
• Digest of Mediator Tech articles from the past month

[Read more]

Mediator Tech newsletter for june 2008

What do you associate with summer?

I associate laid back time with friends, great reading, cookouts, kayaking, hiking and plenty of other outside play time. I can’t reproduce the latter few for you online, but I can cook up something that combines the first two! Read on to find out what I’m up to.

Here’s what’s on tap in this newsletter, a new monthly feature at Mediator Tech:

• Announcing the “Making Mediation Your Day Job” Summer Book Group
• Book news
• Good reads and resources for ADR business owners
• Digest of Mediator Tech articles from the past month

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Announcing the “Making Mediation Your Day Job” Summer Book Group

One of my favorite things is to sit down with my local book group, shoot the breeze, share great food and wine, and talk about our favorite reads. So it seems only natural to create a special summer book group for my own book, Making Mediation Your Day Job!

Beginning Friday, June 27, 12-12:45 pm Eastern Time, and continuing every two weeks through August, I’ll be hosting a telephone version of a book group. I’ll delve into my book with you chapter by chapter (not necessarily in the order printed), take your questions, brainstorm solutions to your own mediation marketing challenges, and serve as a resource to you. There’s no charge beyond purchasing your own copy of my book.

Come to one of them, come to all of them…your call (pun intended!). To register, just fill in and submit this form:

Name:
Email:
State/Province:

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Book news

I received my very first royalty check in the mail last week. It was tempting to frame it instead of cash it, until I thought of all the hours I put in writing Making Mediation Your Day Job. My dogs, Smudge and Hugo, were happy to go to the bank’s drive-up teller with me and get the dog biscuits they know to expect from the nice bank lady.

I continue to offer my Virtual Book Tour teleseminars for interested ADR associations and groups. If you’re interested, just drop me a line and I’ll share the details for getting it set up with minimal hassle. I’ve got it down to a science by now!

Have you had any new insights or breakthroughts from reading the book? I’d love to hear about them.

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Good reads and resources for ADR business owners

Here’s a quick roundup of some good ideas and useful tips from around the web:

• Geoff Sharp shows us how to store YouTube videos on our hard drives
• Dave Taylor explains how to get faxes for free and a few eFax secrets
• Web Worker Daily helps us find copies of long-lost user manuals via an online clearinghouse
• Diane Levin holds us accountable – and rightfully so – in her discussion of career prospects for mediators (and also mentions Geoff Sharp’s excellent posts on the topic).

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Digest of Mediator Tech articles from the last month

Here’s a digest of the past month’s articles at Mediator Tech:

• Tech support for mediators and other everyday people
• Blog commenting as a mediator networking activity
• How to start a mediation business blog
• 4 reasons online networking is valuable for mediators even if your market is local
• Dear SnarkMonster: please change your email name
• Why your website needs a good 404 page
• Calculate your GQ (google quotient)
• How to make your ADR website a must-read
• Twitter 101 for mediators

Best to you,

My holiday gift to fellow mediators

On Christmas morning for the past 18 years, my husband Rod and I have listened to a story written and recorded years ago by radio broadcaster John Henry Faulk.

We’re not big on the shop-til-you-drop approach to the holidays, and it’s one of the reasons we’re so moved by Faulk’s story of real giving in the Christmas season.

To listen to the author’s 1974 recording, click here (if the link doesn’t work on your computer, click on the Faulk link above and you’ll see options to stream in either RealAudio or Windows Audio). [Read more]

My Declaration of Interdependence

In this time when the U.S. celebrates Independence Day, it seems especially important to celebrate our interdependence now too:

One More Vote…Pretty Please?

Thanks to your votes in the semi-finals, my private office is a finalist in Lifehacker’s Coolest Workspace Contest! Wow, thanks for the support, my friends.

Now the final vote is underway and I’m hoping you’ll vote for my office space one more time. You can vote in less than a minute by visiting the Lifehacker Contest Page before early afternoon on Friday. My office space is the one they’ve named “Making Space” (purple walls, lots of natural wood).

Thank you!

I Need Your Vote!

Mediator Tech readers, I need your vote! It’ll take you one minute and the link is below.

You see, a while back, I entered my private office into Lifehacker’s Coolest Workspaces Contest and wow, mine was one of the cool workspaces picked for the preliminary round. Now I’m a finalist and the voting has begun. It’s a tough race, as there are some cool competitors. Help me out, won’t you?

Vote here: Lifehacker Coolest Workspace Contest

View the profile of my office here: [Read more]

Mediator Tech Is Live!

Welcome to Mediator Tech, which is now live! Mediator Tech helps mediators and other ADR professionals build, promote and manage thriving practices by leveraging technology to make those jobs easier.

I hope you’ll subscribe to the RSS feed (don’t know what that is? Fear not, I’ll be discussing RSS in an upcoming post) or sign up to receive the blog by email. I also hope you’ll visit often and sample the guidance, advice, tech reviews and tips.

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