Friends and family,

Thank you all for coming here today, and supporting our family. Having so many people here shows just how many people my mother touched and how special she was to so many. I wanted to say a few words now for my dad and sisters on this difficult day, to celebrate my mom. Because that is what she would have wanted, everyone to be happy and to remember all of the good things about her.

As many of you remember, she was always smiling and in a good mood. I can’t even remember a time when she was angry or even too upset with me that didn’t end with a smile or a laugh. And as many of you who know me, there probably were several times that I deserved more than her laughter. On several occasions, she was the buffer between me and my father, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized most of the time when she said – wait until your father gets home, she never really told him anything.

She always had a smile on her face and was always there for me and our whole family. She was the glue that kept us all together. She was always so supportive of any decision we ever made, no questions asked and without judgment. Even if it was a decision that was not what she would have wanted – and as many of you know I made a few of those

She was one of my best friends as she understood me better than anyone else could. I could really talk to her about anything, she would listen and help me, but always stay true to her morals. No matter what.

She has been and will continue to be one of my most important role models. Even today when I talk to large groups about Internet marketing and social media, I use her as my example. When I launch a website, if am I proud to show it to my mom, I know it is done. If I would not want my mom to read it then I should not be posting it on Facebook. She always knew what was right and she was true to herself. I mean, this is a woman who has not had ice cream since I was a child in the hospital because she ‘promised’ not to if I was alright. Cake and cookies were also on the list of things she would not have.

She always did what she thought was right, and was proud of it. I think that all came from her background as a teacher. Most of you know that she worked at United Airlines for a long time, but she was an elementary school teacher in the Chicago Public Schools when she started her career. When she went back to work after having us she even substituted for some of my classes – I remember her subbing for Gym class at North School when we lived in Des Plaines before we moved to Buffalo Grove. But when we moved to BG, she went to work at United.

Looking back, we were so spoiled by that. I mean, we had airline tickets in our drawers that we could write our own tickets to anywhere at any time, as long as there was a seat on the plane. Travel was different then. We were lucky growing up to be able to travel almost anywhere. London and Mexico, Arizona…I was even able to go to Japan in college because of my mom. I mean, we went to Maui like other families went to Florida. She loved to travel. We were lucky. So lucky, looking back, that Terminal 2 in Toronto is something we will remember forever.

I have so many great memories. When I posted to facebook that morning, I was reminded once again how lucky we are and just how many people she touched. That post on Facebook, and the regular wall posts, there were well over 100 comments, maybe even 150. Friends and relatives remembering my mom and their memories of ‘the boat’, tubing for the first time or the lady that always took in dogs. Whatever the memory, it was refreshing. Refreshing that she was always trying to help others and really did it genuinely and from her heart. She loved so many from her heart.

Her Grandkids were her pride and joy. She cherished the time she spent every Friday watching Rachel and Theo, up until about a year ago. Watching Brynn, Logan, Josh and Sofia play soccer, baseball, an instrument or sing at a school concert. With 6 grandkids, she tried to make it to all their events. Even when it physically got tough for her to do. There was even a time when she sat in the car to watch because she was not supposed to be at the field.

Through it all, all of her medical issues, she never complained about herself, she never asked why her, she always had a positive mental attitude, and she always kept fighting. She was so strong for so long. She was a great woman, a great mother, a great Nana, a great wife. She was great person that meant a lot to so many. She is now at peace, no more pain, no more treatment, no more suffering, simply peace and rest.

That morning, at 9:25am on Friday, my dad, sisters and I were by her side, as we should have been. A great weight was lifted from the room. We felt it. It was time. I will always remember the clear day, as we all looked outside. Peaceful-ness in her face and calm across her body. Hoping the first thing she would do would be to eat ice cream.

I love you, Mom, you will be missed.

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This group will move fast as their ideas fly across the stage. As the social media stage crew for the Super Sales Rally, the mRELEVANCE team (Carol Flammer and myself) will once again by live tweeting and blogging to provide those at the show (and at home) with the latest greatest tips and quotes from this group of super sales trainers. Follow the IBS hashtag #IBS2011 on Twitter.

Learn breakthrough ideas to earn big numbers in new home sales. Ignite your selling power and blow past your goals with proven strategies that elevate and supercharge your sales. You’ll get enough new-home sales education to empower you for a full year. Every solution hits the sweet spot of selling by refining often-overlooked fundamentals and presenting today’s hottest techniques. Get ready for fast-focused, results-oriented sales education that will transform your results.

Learning Outcomes:

* Vaccinate yourself against predictable objections by using negotiation strategies that create win-win outcomes
* Learn the ‘baker’s dozen’ closing techniques that will help you close sales like clockwork – including the sure-fire cure for ‘talkaholisim’
* Create a customized, fail-safe follow-up program to convert your contacts into contracts
* Apply state-of-the-art internet selling strategies to expedite key parts of your sales process

Date: Thursday, January 13
Time: 9:00 am – 11:30 am
Location: Valencia Ballroom
Level: All

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Marketing vs. Communication

Most companies don’t differentiate marketing from communication. Corporate messaging, public relations, marketing, advertising, etc. all fall under the directive of ‘communication’ from a company strategy. Interaction with leads, prospects and customers is more sales, not necessarily communication – but it should be. Social media and the use of social networks enable direct and ‘instant’ communication to all groups and provide a forum (in the chosen medium of the lead, prospect or customer) for the company or stakeholder to interact. In other words, it is pretty easy for a customer and a marketer to interact quickly on Facebook.

Why then isn’t this ’social media’ thing then always corporate communication? It absolutely should be! Companies need to build a strategy surrounding their communication efforts that include goals, tactics and key performance indicators for a successful communication strategy.

Corporate Communication Strategy (i.e. the chart)

The MarketingSherpa chart demonstrates an online social media strategy and the amount of time/effort spent on each area. Social networks, like Facebook and LinkedIn, are the top item, Micro-blogs (like Twitter) second and Multimedia (YouTube and Flickr) third…tactics used MOST by companies, not the effectiveness of each, nor the capability impact the others.

When I do a ‘non-scientific’ evaluation of our clients from a traffic-generation, content syndication, reputation management and search engine optimization standpoint, the most effective item on this chart is “blogging on company managed blogs”. Even when not looking at the fact that the blog can feed social networking sites, micro-blogs and email newsletters…can be the repository for online press releases and news stories…and can be the place you send traffic when you ‘tease’ your content on other industry blogs and blogger/wordpress…even when you take ALL these time management and integration components out of your blog, when build right, it still is a top 5 referring site to your main website and appears one the first page of Google and the other search engines for your targeted words (sometimes higher than your website.)

mRELEVANCE builds a LOT of effective blogs. We moderate many of them monthly for our clients to maintain top placements on search engines and track the traffic and effectiveness. If you want to increase your qualified traffic by 50-200% on a monthly basis, contact mRELEVANCE to see how.

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During our time in American History, since September 11th, we have called out our patriotic nature and displayed our flag, our colors, and talked about our devotion to our heritage. We are a great nation, in part, due to our diversity and melting pot ethnicity. Although I consider myself very patriotic, there is one thing that I wish to change on this Fourth of July to show off our Patriotism even more.

I remember going to baseball games or other events when I was younger and singing the the Star Spangled Banner. In fact, I remember the announcers introduction of the singer whose task was to “lead us in the singing of our National Anthem.” I still go to events and I still actually sing with the celebrity, but I am in the minority. Today, the Star Spangled Banner and the opening of these kinds of events seems to be more of a show for the talent than a demonstration and respect for our country. Even since 9/11, when it seems “America the Beautiful” was added to the opening ceremonies, the audience still only stands, sometimes removes their hats and puts their hands over their hearts.

So that is what I want to return to this year and forever, the patriotism we show as a group when the National Anthem or other song from our American heritage is sung. Be proud to be an American, living in the best country in the world. Show our troops that we are behind them and want them to return safely and victoriously. Demonstrate your loyalty and respect for our country by doing a very simply thing…sing the Star Spangled Banner whenever you hear it, and if you are lucky enough to be the talent honored to sing in front of everyone, use that stage to lead our nation in our most honored song.

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The information is very interesting when you consider what B2B and B2C companies are trying to accomplish relative to their SEO strategy. It seems that more and more companies are beginning to blend their SEO, marketing, public relations, internet technology and corporate communications into a cross-functional department. The goals of all these traditional departments and functions seem to overlap, and companies both realize that and are working toward creating an environment where the message and the goals are the same.

From a traditional marketing standpoint, there are still a few great questions that must be considered no matter which company function takes the lead.

• Which function will take the lead at determining the company message?
• How will that message be delivered/managed through out the company and across which media?
• What metrics should we look at to determine success? Actual sales, branding, sentiment, reputation management and online traffic/reach?

Brand awareness, reputation management and public relations are objectives for SEO efforts and it definitely demonstrates a connection between social media and search engine optimization (which is why mRELEVANCE operates at the Intersection of Social and Search).

“Which function in your company takes the lead with regard to these tactics? PR, marketing, Internet technology, corporate communications or social media.” Please comment on this post to let me know how your company handles these objectives.

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