The Art of Evangelism

I was just talking to Ryan Stewart, whom has accepted a new role with Adobe, as one of their Evangelists headed up by Mike Downey (whom shifted into the owner of these roles earlier this month).

I managed to unearth Guy Kawasaki 10 Commandments for being an Evangelist, which is quite useful when you feel as if you are straying from the role at times (it can happen).

I think Ryan's going to do a kickbutt job in his new role, and wish him all the best as I think it suites his direction and whilst we all would of liked him to be that ZDNet neutral guy, he also has career ambitions and likes to eat? (apparently food costs money these days).

A bit of history, Guy's basically the god father of the "Evangelist" role, from when he was at Apple in the old days. I read his blog often alongside Seth Godin, as between the two of them you get a quirky look into the online business mindsets of today and more to the point Guy has this ability to just make sense (no emotion, just pure sense).

I have a lot to learn about being an Evangelist and I'm slowly approaching my 6 months in the role with this job, and can honestly say I've loved every minute of it so far (even the earlier stupid parts when Adobe Staffers & I had a few online skirmishes - all in good fun I guess).

My Favourite Point from Guy:

Look for agnostics, ignore atheists. A good evangelist can usually tell if people understand and like a product in five minutes. If they don't, cut your losses and avoid them. It is very hard to convert someone to a new religion (ie, product) when he believes in another god (ie, another product). It's much easier to convert a person who has no proof about the goodness or badness of the evangelist's product.

I continue to break this one (probably explains the skirmishes I get into) as, to be honest I think people at times get to associated with products as being religion, and would like to see this changed.