Last Thursday night I participated in my first #Tweetchat: #LawJobChat No. 12. Amanda Ellis and Melissa Sachs asked me to participate along with Ari Kaplan and Adrian Dayton (two young dynamos who both type at least twice as fast as me.) Our topic was Writing and Speaking to Get Hired. Since most of my clients first learned about me from my writing and speaking that topic was a good one for me. Amanda kindly sent me a link to a Tweetchats 101 and directed me to the Tweetchat website.

TweetChat.pngI confess it was a fun experience. My friend Betsy Munnell advised me that as an old guy, I should have my tweets prepared in advance. I did that during the week and thought they were brilliant. There was only one small problem: None of my prepared tweets were relevant answers to what I was asked in the #Tweetchat.

Amanda prepared a summary + transcript of #LawJobChat No.12. Here are some of my tweets the participants found useful. Hopefully you will also:

  • They (law firm associates) should start by finding a topic that addresses a timely client problem, opportunity or change. #lawjobchat
  • When I had a monthly column in a construction magazine I spent more time deciding on a topic than writing the column. #lawjobchat
  • Associates should also remember clients do not care about what lawyers do they care about how it solves their problems. #lawjobchat
  • Lawyers have to “narrow” their market to have a group interested in their writing or speaking. #lawjobchat
  • Blogging is the equivalent to the monthly column I wrote for over 25 years. It must be consistently posted not hit or miss. #lawjobchat
  • Whether its a blog or article; topic must be right, written to capture target reader and distributed widely. #lawjobchat
  • I like bullet points or lists. My clients never wanted to know the history of Swiss watch making they wanted to know the time. #lawjobchat
  • Many firms want group blogs. That is fine except you lose the voice of the blogger. #lawjobchat
  • My writing led to speaking opportunities. The writing gives you a “calling card” to get asked to speak. #lawjobchat
  • I tell lawyers I coach to pretend reader will only read first sentence. #lawjobchat
  • Business clients skim blog posts they do not read them word for word. it is like email. #lawjobchat
  • To be a thought leader you have to see things others do not see. Daniel Pink would say that is a right brain skill. #lawjobchat
  • As a construction lawyer I quickly learned speaking to other lawyers was a waste of time. Speaking to contractors was best. #lawjobchat
  • For follow-up I always held something back and let participants know I would send it to them after the event. #lawjobchat
  • Almost all the lawyers I coach who are doing the best are blogging. #lawjobchat
  • My bravest: Speaking for first time to 250 potential clients I was up all night nervous and going over what I would say. #lawjobchat