I went to a seminar this past weekend entitled “Publicity using Old and New Media.” It was hosted by Robert Breen and was part of the JRMAs. There was a really inspirational story that Nik Duncan told that I would like to share with you today. He’s the Communications Coordinator for Norris-Whitney Communications and handles Canadian Musician magazine as well as a few other notable publications.

Fortunately, I was rolling audio at the time and was able to record this for all of you. Nik Duncan tells his story and you can also hear Rose Cora Perry say a few words. She is a talented singer, songwriter, blogger, and writer. I then added a bit of audio from the Brother Ali interview I conducted on Friday that ties nicely into the message here as well.

All together, this make a ten-minute podcast that I hope you will find inspiring. I know I sure did.

The panel was meant for musicians but this podcast is for everyone. If you want to be inspired today, please give it a listen. Feel free to download it and take it with you in your iPod or MP3 player as well.

Here is a transcript of the show. Enjoy!

Nik Duncan: “You heard me earlier say that ‘research is king’ and there’s another one I have. It goes like this, ‘Everyone is a resource. Just like that.

Let me tell you something. I got a car, sitting out there in the parking lot. It got me into a crazy accident. It whips me. Thank God, I’m alive and I can still walk. It threw me like a mofo and I ended up in a tree.

And my mechanic is my neighbour. I went to him. his name is Jorge but everyone calls him George. I went to him and said, “Jorge, yo man, make my car look pretty so cops don’t harass me. There was a little damage that I couldn’t take care of then. I had to wait but I needed it to look pretty to pass it by the cops. So he made it look pretty. It took him a little while and he made it look good.

About four days after that, I was to show up at a university and speak to their class and if it wasn’t for Jorge making my car look pretty, I wouldn’t have been able to make that trip. And when I told them this story, one kid asked me, ‘What does Jorge have to do with communications or entertainment?’

And I said, ‘I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Jorge.’

Everybody is a resource to you.

I want to say to this cat right here who asked the question, yourself, or your friends and family or somebody else, this is the order of things; the plan, the team, then the rest. So if you got yourself a product and you’re going to go out there and do it haphazardly or half-assed or all over the place, what do you think you’re going to get with that? You need a plan, you need a plan.

Once you have the plan, you need a team. You can’t do it by yourself. So if that means getting your brother, sister, uncle, nephew, niece, grandma. Go get them. Go get grandma to work the phone for you, if that’s what you need. Go get your cousin Bill to write your press release for you, if that’s what you need. Go get your Uncle Tom (that’s a bad one. Some of you may not get that, some of you will)”

Rose Cora Perry: “Uncle John, say that instead.”

Nik Duncan; “But everybody is a resource is what I’m saying to you. Access them. Call them, find them out, the nine people that don’t call you man, (*this is in reference to another panelist who mentioned that for every ten cards he gives out only one person actually follows through with a call and that can work to your advantage if you do call*)

Anybody who sends me email from a card I give and says, ‘Hey Nik, it was good to meet you at the conference, it was good to meet you at the show, I’ve got them. I take that email and I put it somewhere. And if they ever come back to me and say, ‘Hey Nik, do you remember me from so and so,’ I remembered you because I had at least two, possibly three, maybe four emails from you, I’ll remember you.

But if you take my card and you don’t give me your card and I never see you again, don’t think for a minute you made an impact the first time you meet somebody, because you didn’t. If you did, it’s probably because you got something going on, you know what I’m saying. You stood out in some mega-way. And if not, then they’re not gonna remember you.

Access you resources, use your team. These two cats right here, teammates. Whatever they can do, have them do it. There are girls out there, man, when you rock on stage will love you. Have them do work for you my friend. I know it sounds like a bad thing to say but it’s true.

There’s going to be all kinds of people that will love you. Access them and make them work for you.”

Rose Cora Perry: “You gotta use what you have. Use it all”

Robert Breen: “And for that matter, be a resource to other people too. Because today you guys all learned something and maybe you have musician friends and you can share that with them. That’s how it comes back, like when you ask someone to write a bio, the process of going through that kind of deepens your relationship and maybe someday you can do something for them. That’s kind of how this thing works. It’s a two-way street too, It’s not just what you can get.”

Chase March: “I think every now and then you should visit a myspace page you wouldn’t normally go to or read a book that you wouldn’t normally read-“

Brother Ali: “Or talk to a person that you normally wouldn’t talk to.”

The conversation continues on the podcast, so please go and listen to it if you only just read it now. Download it, save it, and play it again and again.

A special thanks goes out to Nik Duncan for taking the time to speak to everyone at this seminar and for agreeing to let me blog and podcast about it as well. Thank you to Robert Breen for hosting the events all day long on Saturday. Thank you to Rose Cora Perry for your excellent advice as well. And thanks to Brother Ali who echoed the message of this panel the day before in Toronto.

What a great message,

Everyone is a resource, Everyone has something to offer and like Bob said, it’s a two-way street, you can both give and get a lot from other people.

Very wise words indeed.