Lessons Learned from a Personal Ed Tech Brand

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     Are you trying to develop an EdTech Brand? I meet people all the time who are trying to create a brand that they can both speak and write from, and I thought it might be helpful to some to write my story with "Big Guy in a Bow Tie." I am no expert in branding, and I think there are some better experts in EdTech out there, but I have made some good and bad decisions along the way that lessons can be taken from.
      How did Big Guy in a Bow Tie Start? Well, I think it started with me getting the speaking bug. I went to my first ISTE in 2011, and I just thought folks like Adam Bellow and Leslie Fisher were incredible. I wanted to be like them so, in 2012, I applied to GAETC as a presenter for the first time. I started with a 60 apps in 60 minutes presentation (I still do an updated version of it today), and the presentation went over great. I did try and print out resource sheets though, and soon after that conference, I thought it was time to start my website.
     With my presentation being a 60 apps in 60 minutes presentation, I thought "Ed Tech Speed Dating" would be good and memorable. I got the domain name, and I started the build. Around the same time, I also started building my PLN with my Twitter account, but I used "ld112265" which I would later come to know wasn't a great tag. It all was a start, but it just wasn't good enough to make a difference. That would come later.
      Fast forward to GAETC in 2014, and my friend Heather Cox gave me the kick to start "Big Guy in a Bow Tie." I had been speaking for a while, but I still had that crappy Twitter tag. After the conference, she had the guts to come up to me and tell me my Twitter sucked. As I sat there, I thought "Yes, Yes it does." I started to think of what could be unique, and I recently picked up wearing bow ties, so why not combine my large size with a bow tie. I shared what I was thinking with Heather and Stephanee Stephens, and their reaction made me feel I hit on something. Big Guy in a Bow Tie was born. It brings me to my first lesson.

• Lesson 1: Pick Something Memorable- Big Guy in a Bow Tie may be overly cute (I will get to how that bothered me later), but it sure is memorable. I see people who are trying to establish their brand, and they sometimes lean too much into the EdTech side of things. They don't develop a name or brand that is unique to them. There are tons of Ed Tech "Leader" names and brands out there, but there aren't other "Big Guy in a Bow Tie."

     While it was easy to change my twitter handle, the website was a whole different thing. I liked "Ed Tech Speed Dating," and I did not want to kill it. I decided I was going to do two different sites. I would keep "Ed Tech Speed Dating" as a resource site, and add "Big Guy in a Bow Tie" as a consulting site. Part of it was I was not aware that I could forward "Ed Tech Speed Dating" to "Big Guy in a Bow Tie," but it was an overall mistake. I needed to keep it simple, and I had not done that. I want to say I changed things quickly, but it took me a year or two to get it done. In hindsight, it held my brand back.

• Lesson 2: Keep It Simple- Branding should be simple. You want people to be able to remember where they need to go without much thought. Keeping "Ed Tech Speed Dating" wasn't that. It meant I had to go to conferences and give out two websites. I also was trying to bring people to me instead of giving them something to come for. By combining the resources with the consulting side of things, I was bringing them to the site for the resources, and they were staying for the consulting.

     Now that I had a good brand, it was a matter of getting it out there. Getting is out there is all about being organized, being present, and delivering a positive message. To start, you have to be able to pull content and fill out things like presentation proposals quickly. My trick is to put everything in a Google Doc, and just cut and paste. From a being present standpoint, I applied to every conference I thought I could get to. Just being present and in front of people gives me that opportunity to build, and I always submitted multiple sessions to up my chances. Let's go to the next lesson, and then we can approach a positive message because it's something I need to work on

• Lesson 3: Build an Audience by being Present and Organized- You have to be in front of people to get people to use your stuff. In education technology, there aren't many better ways than presenting. To get in be organized with your proposals, and submit as many as you can. You can then build your brand.

      I think the other part of building your brand is messaging. You have to be able to deliver a message that people want to hear, and it's something that I am still learning. I think messaging-wise, one of my biggest influences is Monica Burns. She is excellent at creating an image around her messaging that can go viral and makes it easy to get some great content. She is also a master of giving something to her readers that brings them in, but it also lets her continue to have an audience. I am still figuring this part out, but the more I can copy Monica, the better off I will be

• Lesson 4: Focus on messaging-The whole goal is to give the user something that they want so they keep coming back. It means you need to keep your resources fresh and think of them in a total message. You can both curate content (like retweets on Twitter) and create your own. It's all about figuring out what works for you.

     In 2018, it became time for me to make a transition and join a company. I did not want to join a school as an administrator or a district, and I still needed to improve the standing of my family. I chose to go to Tynker for a host of reasons, but the point of this article is how it affected the brand. After I joined, I did not know for sure where the company stood on the brand, and I was frankly a little bit tired of the bow tie schtik. I dropped it in favor of my name, but I quickly realized that was a mistake. I went to the TETC conference in December, and I had multiple people ask me why I dropped the "bow tie." The interesting thing though was that I had not been to this conference in two years. It made me realize that the "Bow Tie" gimmick could help me in my new job, and I quickly went back to it.

• Lesson 5: Lean In: I wanted to drop the "Bow Tie" brand, but I realized it was a mistake. I would go places, and people would recognize me just from that. They may not know my name, but they sure remember the brand. I learned that I needed to lean into it the hard way. It also makes me curious if I missed out on some connections just because I did drop the bow tie for a while.