Copy
Welcome to Digital Leadership Inspiration newsletter. You are receiving this email because you signed up to my email list, are one of my clients, or you gave me permission to add you. Do you wish to continue to receive my emails, please add sofie@sofiesandell.com to your address book.
View this email in your browser

Welcome to the 63rd issue of Digital Leadership Inspiration 

Thank you for taking the time to open the email, here are the past issues. 

Media mentions

 
5 Essential Tips For Brands Battling Social Media Trolls

The 5 Worst Social Media Practices Brands Should Avoid

I comment on news and events every week. If you would like a comment, get in touch over email: sofie@sofiesandell.com

Book me to speak


When I started speaking I said I will speak in any country I'm invited to. That's still my motto. 

Book now for talks in the UK & Sweden or anywhere else in the world 🌍 🌷 

sofie@sofiesandell.com
 
Hello everyone, 

You who are interested in creating a web that is better, safer and fairer will like this update. 

Earlier this year I got trolled in some Facebook groups. It was totally ridiculous and I found it distressing and humiliating, and it went on for days. 

[The post I linked to in the groups was about sexist fridge magnets that I found in a Swedish government owned airport]

A few days after this happened I went along to an event in London where I met Facebook's diversity director. In front of an audience of a few hundred people I explained what happened to me, how I felt and that I thought that Facebook was not nurturing a web environment that supports diversity. She almost fell off her chair when I described the situation. 

After this she connected me to Facebook's head of policy. I spoke to the policy team a few weeks later and I explained what happened and how Facebook's design makes their communities pretty useless if you are discussing a sensitive topic. 

After two chats over the phone and a long email summarising my points, I felt better and I hoped that they may actually do something about the problems. 

I imagine that Facebook work on an improvement schedule, releasing new functions on a beta platform and then publicly releasing them after receiving feedback from super-users. So any improvement goes through this process before it’s released and it may take a while before all the testing is done. 

Now, a few months later, I'm pleased to see that Facebook has redesigned some of the group functions that I pointed out were unsafe. 

As Facebook users we have no idea where bullies are hiding on Facebook. If there is a group of people working together against you because you said something too politically correct, you are exposed to intense stress that will send anyone mad. 

We spend so much time online now and as the biggest social media platform, Facebook needs to develop proper tools to make it bearable when you are mass-trolled.  

I will give some talks about this in the future. If you would like to book me to share my story and talk about how to create a better and safer web climate please get in touch.

I can also give an inspiring talk about perseverance and never give up. It took plenty of tenacity and energy to get that far to talk to a person inside the Facebook network. Normally if you have a problem with Facebook you are only met with plenty of non-personal 'forms' to fill in. 

#MicroActionMatters 

Sofie 

PS. Our next live broadcast is 30th Sept at 10am UK time 11am CET, and the topic is '9 Ways to Develop Personal Power' here is the link. And here is the summary of the last discussion about how to benefit from diversity. 

PPS. I watched the documentary about Tony Robbins last week, and I wrote a review of the movies as well. You can read it on my LinkedIn profile. 

Email: sofie@sofiesandell.com 
TwitterSoffi_Propp 
My posts on Huffington Post 
A while ago VIDA asked me if I wanted to print my art on their platform. I gave it a go and I have to say that it's not bad at all to use your own art to keep you warm 😀

All prints are manufactured 'on demand' - a cool thing to do in our inter-connected world full of global citizens.

I painted the art in London or Sweden, added it to the VIDA platform, and they sent it off to printers and producers in India or Pakistan. All thanks to an entrepreneur in San Francisco who set it all up.

#DigitalLeadership

Love it when technology can be used this way.

You can view and order the scarves I designed in the VIDA shop. 
Share
Tweet
Forward
Online course:
Strategies for membership based organisations
Read more here
30-Day Challenge:
Prevent Digital Stress and Organisational Mess
Join today

The topics I speak about – the story behind them and a bit about me 


I was recently asked what topics I speak about, and I thought the best way to answer was to give some context and explain why I started my journey as a professional speaker.

If you don’t have time to read the full post, the short summary is that my speaking topics tend to be on social media, leadership, and digital balance.

I’ve done public speaking on and off for many years. The year I trained to become a ski-instructor we did lots of public speaking, and I sort of got ‘out of my shell’ back then.

For as long as I can remember I liked teaching and sharing knowledge and experiences with others. Speaking in front of a large audience can be pretty scary, and as it is with many people, I didn’t feel it was pleasurable at all to start with.

The first time I was asked to speak as an expert was in 2009 when I was working as first social media manger/e-commerce manger/film producer at a large publisher in London. There were guests coming in from other similar companies and they wanted me to share what we were doing and what we were up to.

The next step was to educate all my colleagues about what this new thing called social media was all about, as well as what’s happening in the world when we connect online and publish heaps of information online.

After this I started to talk about social media, marketing and communication for some other businesses and at Junior Chamber International (JCI). I have some kind of flow when it comes to understanding how marketing, media and PR works and which stories will get attention. It’s hard to explain how I’ve got this skill, but it seems to have been in me for many years. Maybe I see connections and angles that others don’t? I have plenty of experience from my engagement in JCI and several other membership-based organisations. The question of why someone should care about your organisation’s mission and vision is deep and complex, and it is interesting to ponder over.

Randomness leads to more randomness. I love listening to talks live. I like networking and meeting new people. This has led me to get to know lots of people, and many of these connections have in turn invited me to talk about different topics.

Now that I have some more experience under my belt and a good visual picture of how the world of professional speaking works, I feel more confident in what kind of events I should speak at.

After I started to talk about social media, I got more into speaking about leadership and wrote a book called Digital Leadership. I also started to give talks and workshops on digital leadership and creativity, and spoke about creativity and collaboration at some events. This led me into to deliver some advanced social media training for large and complex businesses in which communication is sensitive.

To open up the topic of digital leadership to a larger audience I’ve developed a talk named Digital Inspiration, which is more inclusive than leadership. Sometimes the word ‘leadership’ puts people off.

It is natural to think about branding when you communicate online, and some of my talks have a focus on branding in the digital age. What you say about yourself is as important as what others say about you.

I’ve also taught digital marketing at a university in London for MBA students. When I worked there I was responsible for four different courses.

Some of my talks are more focused on thoughtleadership, and how you develop online content that people trust. I’ve spoken about personal branding and social media. We are more exposed when we are online, and what we say online affects our personality.

I’ve been invited to talk at conferences about design where the focus has been on our life online and the questions that people ask me after my talks. Over the years I’ve been asked the most personal questions about life online, and some of them are published in my blog under ’Social Media Q&A’.

Finally, I would like to mention that all of my talks are customised to fit the audience. I’ve spoken in front of people of all ages, from teenagers up to senior citizens. My approach of combining social media, leadership and how the world is changing can work for all kinds of people.

I’ve trained directors of social media for large Asian businesses based in China. I’ve worked with companies in Nigeria, as well as providing training in companies based in the Gulf area.

This week my work led me to give a talk at Volvo’s headquarters in Sweden. I spoke about digital agility and the effective use of digital tools. What I said really resonated with the audience.

There are many areas to explore for me as a speaker and digital expert. I’m open-minded, curious and I deliver talks to all kind of organisations.

We are going to share more data every year, buy new digital devices and be more concerned about our personal brand in the future.

And we are only at the beginning of discovering all the new digital devices that are going to influence us.

One last thing to mention, I’ve coached lots of people 1-2-1 helping them prepare a new talk. It’s fun and I enjoy helping people.

If you would like to work with me you can either contact any of the speaker bureaus that I work with, or you can talk to me directly, on sofie@sofiesandell.com.

PS. I'm based in both Sweden, near Gothenburg and in London, UK.

 

About Sofie Sandell


Sofie Sandell is an international speaker who speaks about leadership, social media, marketing, personal branding and online communication. She is based in London, UK and Sweden. In 2013 Sofie published her book first book on Digital Leadership, exploring leadership, your ability to improvise and creativity as driving forces for new ideas in the digital world.

Social media and new technology have created new habits and new challenges. It’s a gift that we should use carefully and with the best intentions. Our understanding of ourselves and the world changes hugely when we connect with new technology. 

We live one life, and our online life is weaved into our real life.

Sofie runs a popular social media Q&A that raises some of the big questions about life in relation to  social media, you are welcome to email her if you have any questions hello@sofiesandell.com. 

Previously Sofie studied behavioural science, and organisation and leadership at Lund University in Sweden. Sofie is also an award-winning leader in a non-for-profit organisation. 
Copyright © 2016 The Social Media Impact Factory, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list