A warm compliment for Merv Adrian and an interesting comment about the Forrester layoffs

Background:  This text originally came in as a comment to Forrester experiences analyst layoffs. Because of the last line, I did not approve the comment leaving it as a private communication to SageCircle. But I did tweet that someone had sent along a very nice compliment for Merv Adrian. That triggered this comment to the original (and not published) comment:  ”Saw your tweet. [...]

Presentation Zen – what we are reading

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of attending a full-day seminar by Garr Reynolds where he discussed his ideas for simplifying presentations. It was an amazing day because it demolished the typical approaches for creating corporate presentations. The norm is full of clutter that masks rather than communicates information. Reynolds’ approach is [...]

Do I place my bets on AR-Sales partnering or adopting social media?

Question: If I had to choose between starting an AR-Sales partnership or launching a social media initiative, which way should I go? If I did both, but with limited resources, how should I divide my efforts?
 During the happy hour after the first session of our STRATEGIC ISSUES advanced AR seminar, one of the attendees asked [...]

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It is easy to get on the distribution list for SageCircle’s weekly free analyst relations newsletter. Simply send an email to “info [at] sagecircle.com” with Subscribe in the subject box.

Is your email to industry analysts value-add or spam?

Forrester analyst and best-selling business book Groundswell co-author Josh Bernoff (blog, Twitter handle, bio) has an interesting little critique of the emails he receives in Three quarters of the PR email I receive is irrelevant. Why? Josh tweeted me that this post applied just as much to analyst relations (AR) professionals as PR.
You should take [...]

Big 2 social media expands – 15 new Gartner blogs, 3 new Forrester podcasts

There has been significant activity on the social media front over the last few weeks that you might want to examine for relevance, either as an end-user client of the analysts or a vendor AR team. 
Gartner has moved to phase 2 of its expanded use of blogging that was started last October. Last week it [...]

Forrester layoffs in Europe – round 2 or round 1 continued?

SageCircle has received credible intelligence from AR professionals on both sides of the Atlantic that  Forrester Research  initiated a job action resulting in analyst lay offs. We will continue to provide updates as we learn new information.

Update – 2/18/09 6:53 am PT – Initial post. Sent request for confirmation to Forrester’s press office
Update – 2/19/09 7:12 am PT – Two [...]

AR & Recession – AR needs to help Sales deal with analysts’ cost cutting advice

At SageCircle we keep our eye on all aspects of the analyst ecosystem. This includes other bloggers with opinions about the analysts. In a very uninformed blog post, Irrelevance doesn’t pay, analystsanalyst said that analysts should “… start telling people how to save money and jobs, NOW.” What a nonsensical statement. Does analystsananlyst not know [...]

Should vendors be investing in analyst conference sponsorships in 2009?

It their Q4 and full year 2008 earnings calls, both Gartner (2/5/09) and Forrester (2/11/09) commented on how the recession is impacting enterprise end user attendance at their events. Example statements:
Gartner CEO Gene Hall “As discussed on our last earnings call that business has been impacted by corporate travel restrictions which have made it more [...]

What are the pluses and minuses of former analysts taking on vendor AR roles? [Practitioner Question]

Comment/Question: Re: your point below about jobs for senior analysts, here’s an idea for a blog entry – the pluses and minuses of former analysts taking on vendor analyst relations roles. That ought to stimulate some discussion on the comments section.
Rob Curran, wicked smart AR professional at Waggener Edstrom, sent along that comment after this [...]

Gartner Consulting could be lurking in the background of active sales opportunities

In last week’s Gartner Q4 and FY08 earnings call there was a very interesting point that CEO Gene Hall made:
“… In consulting, fourth quarter results were stronger than expected and this was driven by robust demand for our contract optimization and benchmarking services. These unique services directly help our clients lower costs and their outperformance [...]

Forrester Research Q4 and FY08 earnings – 2008 revenues up, 2009 guidance down

This analysis does not look at areas of interest to investors, but seeks to pull out insights that are relevant to clients and prospects of Forrester Research, the number two advisory analyst firm, as well as communications and IT vendor analyst relations (AR) teams. 
Forrester Research (NASDAQ: FORR) reported its Q4 and full-year 2008 earnings on February 11, 2009. [...]

SageCircle Special Webinar: Impact of the Recession on the Analysts and AR – Time for Ruthless Action

The worldwide economic downturn is impacting analyst firms that only a few months ago thought they would see slowing of their revenues, but not much more. In the last month, eight analyst firms – including Forrester and Gartner – have announced layoffs. More are surely to come.
And it is not just the analysts who are [...]

Forrester experiences analyst layoffs

SageCircle has received credible intelligence that Forrester Research  initiated a job action resulting in analyst lay offs. We will continue to provide updates as we learn new information.

Update – 2/9/09 12:15 pm PT – Initial post. Sent request for confirmation to Forrester’s press office
Update – 2/9/09 12:30 pm PT – Context
Update – 2/9/09 12:45 pm PT – Details: 111 [...]

IDS Scheer – Senior Manager of Analyst Relations and Alliances

Senior Manager of Analyst Relations and Alliances 
IDS Scheer
Job ID:  2009-1206
Location:  US East Coast or Midwest
Key Responsibilities: The Senior Manager of Industry Analyst Relations works with the Company’s public relations agencies, Executive leadership, and other Senior Management to create and implement communications plans that help to achieve the Company’s business goals and increase equity valuation.  
Primary responsibilities include [...]

In-Stat experiences layoffs

SageCircle has received credible intelligence that In-Stat (digital communications market research) initiated a job action resulting in nine analysts being laid off. We will continue to provide updates as we learn new information.

Update – 2/6/09 6:10 am - Initial post. Sent request for confirmation to In-Stat’s press contact
Update – 2/6/09 10:17 am – Official statement from In-Stat

Official Statement from In-Stat
Sent: [...]

Gartner Q4 and FY08 earnings – Research Contract and revenues up, trouble in Events

This analysis does not look at areas of interest to investors, but seeks to pull out insights that are relevant to clients and prospects of the “Big Two” advisory analyst firms as well as communications and IT vendor analyst relations (AR) teams. 
Gartner (NYSE:IT) announced its Q4 and full year 2008 earnings on February 5, 2009.
Update 1: 5:45 [...]

If you have to say you are the market leader, you probably aren’t

Forrester analyst extraordinaire and social media poster boy Jeremiah Owyang (Twitter handle, blog) recently posted a very useful article How to Translate Vendor Talk into Plain English. Besides Jeremiah’s thoughts in the post, there is also a vigorous debate going on in the comments so read them as well.
 While written for enterprise IT managers getting [...]

Analyst relations podcasts to check out: John Simonds and Marius Joshfn

There new new podcasts by AR professionals interviewing analysts and other AR professionals. Both are well worth checking out. 
IBM’s AR wizard John Simonds (Twitter handle) has started a series called “An Analyst’s View of Analyst Relations” that you can find on his blog Delusions of Adequacy. The first two podcasts are:

Podcast: An Analyst’s View of [...]