Michael Leander well received in Beirut, Lebanon for Digital Marketing Seminar

New country, new market, new people, different culture. It is always very exciting to be speaking in a "new" country for the first time. I presented the Digital Marketing Seminar in Beirut, Lebanon for the first time in March 2010. A few days ago I received the evaluation and an invitation to come back to Beirut soon. Here is my report. Evaluation results at the bottom.

A quick story and praise to Beirut
First, let me tell you a quick story. A few months ago when traveling from Prague to Cairo, I came to talk a person whom was traveling to Beirut. My first question to her was "Wow - isn't that dangerous?" - she of course replied, "no, not anymore".

I think that many people have a misconception about Beirut and Lebanon. So let me make one thing very clear:  Beirut is a fantastic place. Rather well organized offering visitors a great mix of modernity and awesome history, still affordable yet offering world class hospitality and a whole lot of fascinating places - most of which I haven't been to myself - yet. On top of that; people there are great. Hospitable and most speak English, which helps a lot.  I highly recommend you to go there for a visit. You won't regret - guaranteed. 

A report from the Digital Marketing Seminar
Since this was the first time to have the Michael Leander Digital Marketing Seminar in Beirut, the organizers from Global Consultants had decided to start out with a 1 day seminar. Apart from a brief presentation from a Microsoft representative, I was the only presenter.

Although the delegates represented many different industries, different levels of experience in digital marketing and - I am sure - different expectations, I am pleased to say that I found the audience to be quite fantastic. Quite a bit of interactivity going on throughout the course of the day, many asking questions frequently. I was left with the impression that Lebanese people came to learn concrete tips, which they could apply in their own digital marketing efforts immediately. And that is good.

Website reviews very popular
Part of the Digital Marketing Seminar is me reviewing and criticizing websites. So the way it works is that I ask whom would like to have their website criticized in front of the entire audience of marketers. With around 40 different companies represented, I had expected 5-6 to come forward. But to my great surprise, 24 companies wanted their websites reviewed. Unfortunately time did not allow me to complete all - but the rest will be reviewed during the follow up web seminar, which is always a part of the Digital Marketing Seminar in the Middle East and North Africa.

In conclusion, I thought that the delegates were fantastic, and they created a great atmosphere. So much so, that I enjoyed being at work that day.

The Moment of Truth - Evaluation of My Efforts
As mentioned earlier, I received the evaluation of the Digital Marketing Seminar in Beirut a few days ago. While the result - for me - are satisfactory I learned that there is room for improvement (see below). Again, which is often the case for me, I would have liked more time to go into more detail. And so would the delegates, judging from their comments.

The evaluation is on a 5 point scale, where 1 is low and 5 is high:

Michael Leander's....
1. communication skills: 4,60
2. knowledge/expertise: 4,82
3. personality: 4,69
4. helpfulness: 4,45

Taking into account that two people found me unworthy by passing the big failure grade of 1 onto me in all four areas, I suppose I will suck the energy from the fact that most people kindly rated my efforts to maximum points.

NEWS: COMING BACK TO BEIRUT
I am very excited about coming back for a 2 day Digital Marketing Seminar in Beirut on 17-18 May 2010. I will post more information as soon as I have more information about it.