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Hello everyone welcome to the JMOR tech talk show where we answer questions about technology, explain the way they should work and why they don't sometimes. And now here's your host, john C. Morley.
John C. Morley: Well, Hey, everybody, welcome once again to the JMOR Tech Talk Show. Great to be here. How are you doing tonight, Marcus?
Marcus: I'm doing outstanding John. It's great to be back another great Friday night.
John C. Morley: Yes, I don't know where these Fridays are going. We just keep having some amazing episodes. And we got some really great guests that are coming up. We have Jason Jacobus tonight who is a professional networker helping entrepreneurs all over. So we're going to get to talk to him a little bit later. He's actually part of something historical the founders network, so we'll learn about that a little bit. But we have a lot of stuff going on. So you know, we were talking about clubhouse Marcus, not too long ago. And we were talking about all the good and the challenges of it. Well, there's some more challenges coming with clubhouse.
Marcus: I bet I can guess what it is.
John C. Morley: You know what it is? Okay. All right. What is it?
Marcus: Yeah, no, like, we said it was going to be an issue. And this security, you know, it's got to be security.
John C. Morley: You're 100% right. Well, I should have bet on that. We should have been a billion dollars on that Marcus. Agora who is actually part of clubhouse claims that they don't store audio. Now, this is very interesting, because so Agora is headquartered in the US, and in China, which makes them bound by the cyber security law. So they're saying that clubhouse doesn't store any audio, but clubhouse does store audio temporarily in the United States. Now, because Agora is headquartered in China, this is going to pose some pretty interesting privacy concerns. But I think I called this didn't I?
Marcus: Yeah, you did. Man, I swear, if we was betting on some type of news line, you would have got all the money.
John C. Morley: People need to take my advice. I mean, I know I'm not this person has billions of followers yet. But you know I really have some insights to what's going on our world, then. This just takes me back to when I spoke for Harvard and Yale and I did the talk minor and major inconveniences of y2k. Our world wasn't going to stop markets as we know, we just going to have some inconveniences. And that's exactly what happened. People couldn't access their money, they couldn't get their medication.
Computers couldn't build properly. They showed they had less money in the bank, all kinds of little annoyances. But that's all it did. The world didn't stop. Nobody died, right? But clubhouses, supposedly taking this very seriously, where so they say. They're going to start putting encryptions in to block pings from China's server. And this is due to research from our good friends at Stanford, that actually found the vulnerabilities. Now clubhouse is not really released for China at this point. And I can imagine why. But if they do release in China, that's going to become even more of a pickle.
Marcus: Oh, yeah. I am just wondering with the potential release in China, you know, we are going to have some conflicting information coming from clubhouse at some point.
John C. Morley: Well, I think it's going to eventually release in China. And here's why. Agora is headquartered in China. So I'm sure they're going to want to roll it out there. But now, can we trust what they're going to do with the information? So your information now they haven't said how long but your information is held temporarily. They don't tell us how long temporarily is. It's not two minutes.
And it's not 20 minutes. It could be temporarily a day, temporarily two days, temporarily three days, hey, temporarily a week, maybe temporarily a month, we really don't know. It's going to be interesting what happens. So they're supposedly working on some fixes to prevent China from, you know, spying in and what's going on and actually taking this information and using it to their benefit, which might actually harm people in united states. So it's a big cybersecurity concern.
Marcus: It will. It is. Yeah, definitely. And the more people that's getting locked on this platform, the more you got the potential for somebody to be one of those bad actors that we know and that we are familiar with.
John C. Morley: Yeah, exactly. And they're not the kind that work for Disney or a Time Warner.
Marcus: Not at all.
John C. Morley: Exactly. I knew clubhouse was going to be a challenge. I don't think clubhouse is going to be ready for release. I could be wrong till the end of the year. We'll have to see. But if they're just having security issues now in February, when are they going to be really certain that they've gotten the bugs all out? And that security is really short? I don't think we're going to know right away. Might be a few months till they discover. And again, Stanford was the one that discovered this. We will have to keep an eye on clubhouse. I think there's a lot of interesting developments that are going to surface throughout this year, and next year, as well. But on a lighter note, have you ever taken the subway before or MTA or one of those mass transit you know, subway trains?
Marcus: Yeah, I had the opportunity to do so when I was visiting out East.
John C. Morley: Now imagine this, you get on the MTA. Now we all know how they change the person who used to get on that horrible speaker or loudmouth device. And basically, because that's what it was, it was a loudmouth device was terrible, wasn't really even a megaphone, it was like so distorted, you couldn't even hear the number. You thought it sound like this street or Park Street, you had a kind of Is that it? Let me just get off just to make sure because I don't want to miss my stop. And it was terrible. Well, they finally fixed that a few years ago, and they had professional recordings done, that actually made it that you could hear not only the number but the stop. And it's so clear that there's no way you could misinterpret your stop. Plus, you can even see it on the little LED screen. So they really made some major improvements. But you know, during the pandemic, people are not paying attention. They're just doing whatever the heck they want. And people sometimes are fickle creatures, right? They do what they want to do. And I always say people do two things, at least most in America, they do things to avoid pain, and gain pleasure. However, sometimes that's at other people's costs, which shouldn't be. So how do you get people that don't want to follow instructions, something like you know, wearing your mask fully over your mouth and nose when you're on MTA subway trains, how to get people to do that. Well, they actually hired Whoopi Goldberg, Jerry Seinfeld and CamRon. And what they all have in common, as you're probably wanting to know, is they're all New York's famous, as we'll call it, Oscar award winners to be the voice of safety when you get on the MTA railroad trains and subways. I'll tell you something. First time I heard them because obviously not on the subway, but I was able to play them online. They're very attention getting, you know, you just can't avoid Whoopi Goldberg, or Jerry Seinfeld, for that matter, CamRon either. There's just a very distinct quality to each of them. And you know, just the way Whoopi talks is like, you know, so you know, you want to keep it safe, you know, you're going to put that on your mouth. It's like, she's not like being nasty, but just like she has this real spark to her. That makes her voice not annoying, but something you just got to pay attention to. And with Jerry Seinfeld talks, oh my gosh. He just starts with things. And it could be something very simple as you go into the dry cleaners. And he'll say something to you like, well, you know, I had a spot on those pants. Okay, we'll try to get the spot out for you. Okay, well, please do because I have a very important date this weekend. And I really don't want to be embarrassed because my slacks have stains on them. We got you Mr. Seinfeld, we got you. He comes back to the cleaners. I'm just giving an example. And he says, you know, there's still spot on my slacks. I don't see spots. Well, but there are, there are spots on my slacks. I mean, I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass to you. But there's still a spot on, Mary did you see a spot? George, can you see there is a spot? Yeah, there's definitely a spot. He says a spot. I says a spot. She says a spot. We will do it again, comes back. But you get the idea. So that you come back another time. And they're all here again. And I don't want to bring them back to you. I don't even want to cause you a problem. But all I'm saying is, I'm not going to be two very, very happy if I take that bag off and I see a spot on those pants. No, no Mr. Seinfeld, we worked on the pants. Because I hope so.
Takes the bag off the pants. There's still a spot on the pants. Oh, no, Mr. Seinfeld, there's no spot on the pants. Well, what do you call that? Well, that is a patch, a patch? A patch? It's a very nice patch. Why is there a patch where my spot was? And I'm making this whole thing up. But you get the idea. And he comes back. And let's say they'll say, I need to talk to the spotter, spotter comes out. You know there was a spot on the pants. I came back and there's another spot and the third spot and now there's no spot. But there's a patch? Oh, yes. Mr. Seinfeld a very good patch. Well, who put the patch on there? Well, that would be the seamstress. We have to talk to the seamstress. Seamstress upfront. Why did you put a patch on where the spot was? Well, I put the patch because the spotter told me to put the patch. This is crazy. So why did you put the patch on there? Well, the seamstress told me. I told her to put the patch on. Okay, well, why did you tell her then to put the patch on? Oh, this gets complicated. You see the spot which you had we use chemicals. And you know, we try really hard Mr. Seinfeld to get the spot out. We try once, we try twice, we try a second time, we even put a tag on the top of the pants, which you didn't see you just complained about the spot to my boss. And you never read the tag that said we tried very hard. But if we try any more, we might damage it. I never saw a tag. Well, it was a tag it probably fell. Well, I didn't see a tag. So what are you saying? Well, we actually worked on it quite a while. And now there's a hole there. So we had to put a patch to cover the hole. So you're telling me that you put a patch over the hole? Oh, yes, sir. Very, very nice patch. It actually looks quite nice. We could put it on the other side if you'd like so it matches. No, I want my pants that I paid. I mean, these were $500 pants from Italy. And they got a spot on them. You got to buy me a new pair of pants. Well, I can't do that, you have to talk to the owner. They go back and forth. And finally, do you know who I am? I'm Jerry Seinfeld. And I'm telling you right now that I'm going to make sure my whole building doesn't come here. And I know the person who's actually managing the Yankees and I am going to make sure they don't come here anymore. What would you like me to do? We can credit you for the cleaning, I don't want you to credit me for the cleaning. I want another pair of pants. Okay, how much were the pants? $25? No, they are $500. That's going to be a problem because I don't have that in my budget to cover that. Well, who do you have to talk to? My wife. Well, when is your wife coming back? Well, she's out visiting her sister. Well, when can I come back? I don't know. Well, can you pick up your cell phone and call her? Well, I could. But she's talking with my daughter. Well, this is crazy. George's is this crazy. Mary's isn't this crazy. It's crazy. I mean, do I have to sue you to get the money for the pants? Oh, no, no, no, please, please, please don't call the courts. My wife and I we don't like the courts. Well, somebody's got to pay up the money. Because I'm going to see George's friend who's one of the best attorneys in the whole area. And trust me, he's going to make sure you pay for those pants and maybe more. You know, you're starting to give me heart palpitations here Mr. Seinfeld. I'll be right back. Comes back. I give you your money $100, $200, $300, $400, $500. Yeah. What about $100 for my aggravation? He's right aggravation. $100 for aggravation. Thank you. Pleasure doing business with you. Yes, thank you have a nice day. Thank you, Mr. Seinfeld. Thank you very much. So you get my point. And this was a made up skip. But this is how he does things. Everything he talks about becomes this entire issue. And I can guarantee you for that lunch, that dinner. And the rest of the meals for that week. He's going to be talking about those pants to everybody. Which cleaner did you go to? Well, I don't really want to, you know rat the guy out. Because they tried and he did pay me for the pants. Was it on the street? Yeah, it was the guy on the street. Well, which one? There's only two cleaners. What was on the corner? Well, they're both on the corner. Oh, was it the Chinese guy? Or was it the Spanish guy? It was the Chinese guy. I knew it, I never want to bring him anything. He lost my wife's dress. And then my daughter had a prom. And they couldn't find it. And then my daughter in law, they brought the wedding gown that was almost $100,000. And they couldn't find it. That's the guy. I'll tell you, these people, why don't they even stay in business. But you get my point. So something like that, obviously held your attention. And if you're on the subway, and somebody's telling you, you know, when you're getting on a subway, just put your mask on, make sure it covers your nose, and your whole face, your mouth and everything. You know, we don't want to put one on either, but let's just do what's right. It's good for everyone else. All right. And then when you get off the train, you can take the darn thing off. All right, but just put on right now. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. And you get it. So that's going to catch somebody's attention, isn't it? We don't usually do comedy. There's no extra charge for comedy. But I had to throw that in there. Because you know, when you see these people, that's what they have in common. They are the Oscars to be the creme de la creme for being the voice of safety on the MTA railways, and subways. That's just...
Marcus: I think it is going to be phenomenal.
John C. Morley: It definitely is going to be phenomenal. You can actually just go online and Google these people and their subway announcement. And it comes right up. So I'm sure a lot of people are going to do that. So you don't have to go make yourself feel unsafe and get on a closed train or subway and be nonsocial distance even though they claim you're being social distance. What is it, Marcus? I'm traveling in a few days. And when you go to an airport, and you go through all this hodgepodge, there's social distance, right? But when you get on the plane, there's no social distancing. Like, did they go through a magic, like a hemisphere that suddenly the COVID doesn't exist on the plane? Unless you're always wearing a mask? I don't understand that. We will calm down. Our next guest is pretty interesting. His name is Jason Jacobsohn, and he is actually a resource. He's a connector for entrepreneurs. Jason is known as a master connector, who is an advocate, as I mentioned, for entrepreneurs, and he is very proactive, very congenial. And he has a wealth of experience in relationship building, not just in face to face settings, but through social media. And I think that's really important to understand, not just how we stay resilient in a face to face environment, but how we do it online. Please help me welcome to the JMOR tech talk show. Mr. Jason Jacobsohn.
John C. Morley: Well welcome Jason Jacobsohn to the JMOR tech talk show. It's a pleasure to have you on the show today. Thank you for making time for us.
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me, john.
John C. Morley: It's my pleasure. So with the technology, and I understand you're a professional networker, which I guess is becoming something very important during the pandemic era, right?
Jason Jacobsohn: Absolutely. And it's been part of my entire career, but especially right now very important.
John C. Morley: So it allows you to capitalize on something you've been doing your entire life, but now it's becoming kind of like a priority for everybody else, because they can't do things unless they do them virtually., right?
Jason Jacobsohn: That's, and for the most part, yes, virtual is a way of life at this point for most people.
John C. Morley: So there are different types of, I guess, reasons that people go online. Can you just summarize for us? Like, one of the reasons I mean, we know we go online, obviously, to surf the Internet, and, you know, look up names or research places or get directions sometimes. But what else do people use the internet for?
Jason Jacobsohn: It's building relationships is an extremely important element of doing that, you know, there's online tools that professional tools, social tools that we all are well aware of. And for me, it's been a great way to build new relationships and maintain the relationships. And nowadays, with everything being really online, at least for right now. There are plenty of tools to connect with people with video with 3D virtual reality. You name it, there's all kinds of tools out there to connect people. We're social by nature, humans are social by nature. So we want to meet people. And so having online tools to meet people is a great way to continue that dialogue that you may be having in person.
John C. Morley: Now, Jason, we get a lot of different types of audience, demographic that watch our show each Friday night. But can you tell us for some of the people that may not understand what's 2D event, a 3D event, 4D event, like, just kind of break it down for us in simple terms, if you would?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, so it depends on the engagement. So you know what we're doing right now, with this interview that really is a 2D, it's, you know, we're all familiar with the platforms out there, we have these calls every day, it's just having a face to face conversation, like a one on one conversation, or it could be in a group of people. And that's the extent of it, you can chat, you can share your screen, you can go on breakout rooms, that's really the extent of it, you're talking about 3D, these are immersive experiences, you may be walking around in your own Avatar and connecting with people one on one, connecting in small groups, you could use a virtual reality headset, augmented reality, but you have control of your experience. And you can do whatever you want in those environments, as long as you know, there's certain elements in the environment. And so it could be going to a panel discussion, could be listening to someone do a pitch, could be small group discussion, you have a lot more control in your environment.
John C. Morley: So when we talk about these different types of environments, does the more immersive environments use things like artificial intelligence? And how does that fit into the play? And what's the benefit of that for people that attend networking events, as opposed to just a regular 2D type event?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, so I think it depends on the platform. You know, AI can be used in some for sure, especially if you're looking to connect with people, it'll curate the invitation or the meeting. So there's definitely some advanced technologies out there to help you meet with people that you want to meet with. And that's hard to do an in person event. So with online, there's a lot, there's more things you can do. And you know, virtual reality, all those things allow you to connect with people, as close as you can get to in person without actually having to leave the comfort of your home. It's cost effective, and you can meet people from all around the world and not having to travel. So it's really interesting that, you know, we're only in the beginning stages of this too. So we're going to see a lot more innovation soon.
John C. Morley: The travel agents probably don't like this unless they were buying stock in these virtual platforms because you are now, I hear you can actually take a trip with some of the new virtual reality, you can pay a price so that if it cost you, I don't know, $5,000 to take a priceless trip to Fiji, you can actually have a virtual trip to Fiji for maybe $450. But you can keep replaying that trip, or you can buy so many credits.
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, that's really interesting. I don't think I'd pay $450 for a virtual trip. But you know, still cheaper than going there. I suppose.
John C. Morley: That's what I think they're working on. And I believe the pricing is something that they're still trying to play with and see how much is it that people are really willing to pay? I think it's probably going to be about $100, $250, I don't think 450 unless there was something really stellar in that trip, you know, maybe it was a trip after some famous person, and you were getting to relive that experience, well, then maybe they can get it because of the branding. But I agree with you, I don't think the trip is worth $500, or $1,000, like they're trying to portray. So we hear about these different events, Jason, and there's a word that gets tossed around a lot. And it's called Virtual and hybrid. So can you give us a little rundown? What does it mean to have a virtual event, as opposed to a hybrid event?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yes, so virtual event is completely online discussion, whether it's 2D, 3D, it depends on how immersive you want it. But it's 100% online. Hybrid is where you have an online and offline component where you, you know, meeting people in person, but there's also some online component where you can connect with people. And there's other resources and other discussions. So it could bring people from around the world into one particular meeting room, some in person, some online. There's also groups just doing hybrid events, or we'll be doing that where they'll do some in person some online events. And I think that's the future going forward is, or event organizers, companies are going to do a mix of online and offline, whether they may bring it together into one event, or they're just going to mix up the interaction between online and offline. But I think this is all been accelerated, because of the times we live in right now.
John C. Morley: It's going to give us the best of both worlds, right? Because the people that could normally not attend an event, let's say in Las Vegas, or something like that, they can actually go online and basically get the same experience, they can go to a virtual booth, I’ve been to several of them. And it's pretty amazing how you can actually interact. The problem that I always see Jason is that a lot of the people running the events don't understand that when it's a virtual event, you still have to staff it just like they do a regular event.
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, you're absolutely right. Now the costs should go down with a virtual event. No travel expenses, you don't have to rent out a room or anything like that. But you still want to have people there to welcome guests into, understand and teach them how the technology works. Now some of these platforms have chat bots, or avatar bots, that will give you tips along the way. But you still want to have people guiding the attendees on what to do, you definitely don't need as much staff. Now, I think it depends on the size, you know, their conferences, going online now that probably still have dozens, if not hundreds of staff to organize everything.
John C. Morley: I think you need to have almost what I call a run through of the event. So if you're doing something on a platform, especially with your first time, have a run through not just with yourself, and I call people but all the people that are going to be part of that event, so that you can get the kinks out, you can understand how it works. And you know what it means when somebody is waiting to speak to you. So it's very different. But I think if you're not tech savvy for that, and somebody that's coming to this event, whether they're technically savvy or not, it gives a very bad impression that you don't know what you're doing.
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, I absolutely agree. And the 3d virtual events that I’ve been hosting over the last year, we do that we do a walkthrough with the sponsors and the startups that are pitching there. So absolutely want to make sure everyone involved, knows what they're doing, you know, before we get started, so I completely agree. There's always a learning curve with new technology and this platform that we've been using, and I'm sure it's with other platforms, they are constantly educating their users or customers and how it works. And once you get the hang of it, it's usually pretty easy to use, but there's always a learning curve. But you're absolutely right. You need to have that walkthrough. So people understand it, how to use it even before you jump into the environment. And they got to take it seriously. I mean, it's not a video game. It's not something you're doing while you're home watching TV, you got to take it seriously because this is the way your clients are coming through your door. And just like your website or any type of communication you need to realize you got to greet that client the same way you'd want to greet them with a red carpet at your office, or at your home, you had people visit you, you got to treat them the same way. But it's just a different understanding how to do that. Now, we're both entrepreneurs. And, you know, what would you say is the magic to helping people connect? And what's the right way to network? Because a lot of people I know, just don't know how to network, you don't go on a platform and network. There's a little more to it than that. It's not like just saying, okay, I sell this, and I'm cheaper than everybody else. And that's what I do. And you just push your agenda. So what do you have to say about that Jason?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, I mean, it's extremely important to build relationships, networking is not transactional. It's relationship building. So my entire career, I’ve been a relationship builder. And I always find out how I can help people before I ask for anything. So I find out what their needs are, who they want to meet. And I open up my network and connect people together. And I rarely ask for anything, but when I am looking for something, people are open to helping me. And I connect people almost every day together, so I stay fresh in people's minds. And that allows me to build the network, that allowed me to really build my career.
John C. Morley: It's kind of very similar to one of the reasons we started this show not too long ago. And for those of you that don't know, we started the show over five years ago. And we started just as a little tiny, online, audio only show. And it was going pretty well. We took calls and stuff like that. And then we actually expanded to 38 states, we became a national show. But then an interesting thing happened. We had an advertiser call us and ask to buy an ad. So what did we do, we gave him the person who handles the advertising for the station, the syndicate, though we're doing a great job, not knowing that they were going to pay $3.5 million dollars, not to us, but to the radio station, and guess what they did? They bought out our time slot on prime Thursday nights, 9 to 10pm, we lost our show. So it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth for a while and didn't feel like I wanted to do that. And then when the pandemic happened, I started doing some YouTube unboxings, reviewing channels, and have a great cohosts now. And the thing that was important to me was that I wanted to bring the show back, because I want to interview great people like yourself, and I wanted to give value. I think that's really why I do this every day. I mean, I get charged up to be at the office, some people think I'm nuts, but interviewing people the day or at night, because you know, this is interesting, because when you provide value to people, you don't ever sell anything, you just provide value. And I always say if you have to call people, well that's not the way you should be doing it. When you're ready to do something, we'll reach out to me. And if you're not ready, well, that's okay, too.
Jason Jacobsohn: I completely agree. And that is I believe the right way to think about it. And it's only going to, it's going to help everyone you know, without a hard sell.
John C. Morley: So if we're in it for the long game, which we are obviously, but a lot of people aren't, they're always looking to what I like to call the radio station that's tuned in to them. We call it WIIFM.
And there's another radio station, what's in it for you? WIIFU. So a lot of people are tuned to other radio station, I tell people, they have to tune to the what's in it for you meaning the other person first. And just having a desire and a strong intent to listen. We were given two ears for a reason. We really should be listening more than we talk. So talking about tech trends in 2021. What can you share with us about networking? About platforms? Just about the whole digital age? Where are things going Jason?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah. So obviously, the uncertain times we have right now it's accelerated the use of technology platforms for businesses, for entrepreneurs, for employees. For employers, it's just the future work is a very hot topic these days, which can encompass virtual events, HR tech, business connectivity tools between employers and employees, communication tools, I mean, all these things have been accelerated many of these things, we're already starting to go in that direction, but it's all been pushed forward sooner because of the world we live in right now. And I believe this is all good. This is good stuff because you don't need to be in a physical location for everything you do. Now, facetime is still important. I don't want to dismiss that at all. But all these tools are extremely important way to really accelerate communication and growth of people and individuals. So I'm excited to see what happens this next year. There's a lot of other trends. But this is a hot trend right now.
John C. Morley: I think it's really important. And you can let me know your thoughts about this is that when you're dealing with a new client, and they call you, it's important to have that trust relationship built. And I don't just mean that they trust you. But they know a little bit about your company. Where do you exist? A lot of times, they say, where are you and we invite people to come down for an appointment, obviously, with COVID, they can't just pop in. So I think it's important that people feel comfortable, and that you give them a choice, they want to meet you socially distanced if they can, and you're close, because I think the virtual world is good. But I think some people use it in a bad way, don't they? And that gives a lot of us that are playing this game, the right way to get good clients for relationships. I think that kind of makes it hard for us sometimes.
Jason Jacobsohn: Well, with some of these platforms, people are, you know, selling, selling, selling, they're not building a relationship. So they're coming, going right, and asking for the sale before they get to know you. And that does turn people off, whether it's in person or online. It for some people, they don't like doing events, because of that reason, they come across these people that are selling them immediately, before they get to know them. Now, there's plenty of good people out there to meet that or understand the value of building relationships. But there's always going to be bad apples no matter what you do. And so you just have to move on if you don't want to connect and talk to that person. You get that on LinkedIn sometimes, too. And when I get somebody that sends me the 17 page dissertation, I thank them. And I usually come back, and I say, hey, so what was it in my profile that made you want to connect with me, and you can usually tell, if the person doesn't have a genuine interest in you, then you move on. And then there's those people that just do the hard sell. And I'm like, I'm not interested. And then it usually results in you breaking your connection, which you think that'll give them the message. But then they still try to message you until they run out of free messages. So I think It is causing desperation for some people, but I think other people are not educated enough to use it the right way. The other question I have for you is, what do you think about paid events versus free events. I know a lot of people won't go to paid events. I know I like to go to a lot of paid events, because I feel the caliber of people, you're meeting there are putting in not that's a lot of money, but they're actually making a commitment to be on time. And to actually be present and be a good networker and a good listener. What do you think about that Jason?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, I do a lot of paid. I've done a lot of paid events, but I do more free events. But you know, sometimes we just charge a little bit just to weed out the people that aren't serious. There's always cost. So we charge 5,10 bucks, it's not a big deal. It covers some costs, and it weeds out people that are not serious. So yeah, I think with a lot of online events now, you don't need to charge that much. There's still some costs, and some of the event organizers still want to make a living or earn some income from this. So I'm okay with both, you know, paid or free. But I agree the caliber is generally higher if people are paying because you know, they're going to probably show up.
John C. Morley: And it's not like you're asking them for a lot, you're usually asking for 810 dollars or something like that. Sometimes there's events that a little bit more because they offer some value, or they have tiers where you could pay for different things like there's a seminar, just like if you went in person, you would pay for a seminar for an extra, you know, benefit or something. So well, we're almost out of time. But I want to ask you just another question. What would you like to leave our viewers with tonight? I mean, is there something that you want everyone to take home tonight about networking, about virtual events? What would you like to put in everyone's mind before we say goodbye tonight?
Jason Jacobsohn: Relationship building is a process, it takes time to get to meet people. Don't go into it transactional at all, get to meet people, understand what their needs are, who they like to meet and connect people and help wherever you can. You want to provide value as much as possible. So pay it forward, help people and eventually it will come around to you when you're needing something and you know with these new platforms out there, give them a chance. We're not meeting people in person as much these days. So this is our best bet. There's a lot of great platforms out there, great ways to engage with people. I've met some great people during this pandemic, using these platforms. So you know, definitely don't use this time as a reason not to meet people, you should always be building your network and your relationships. It's a continual process.
John C. Morley: And I think something else too Jason that when you go to these platforms, you know, it's important to dress the way you'd go if you're going to an event, you don't have to wear a jacket and tie. But you see some people that they're not dressed right, they have a T shirt, or the famous one is, well, why don't have to wear pants because it's a virtual event, you know, and it's like, okay, but to bring that up, and then to have that mentality, it's saying to me, like, you're doing something in between everything else. And if you have time, then you're going to talk to me, and that already kind of, like demotes them on my scale. Because I feel that they're not really vested in networking. They're just doing this while their wife's making dinner, or while their kids are finishing a virtual learning session, and they don't have to babysit them. That's what I get out of it. So I think people need to prepare before they attend these events. What do you think about that?
Jason Jacobsohn: Absolutely I agree, I always put on a nice shirt. Because you know, I'm having these virtual calls every day, like all of us. But you're right, you want to dress the part. I dress same whether I'd be in person or online. It's a mindset, you want to be in that professional mindset. And I agree with you, there are people that I have virtual calls with now that they wouldn't be dressing that way if I met them in person. So it surprises me, and I think some people are taking us to be extra casual, you know, business casual is popular, but they're taking it to be casual, now they're bringing it down another level. And so I agree that you need to take it serious.
John C. Morley: It reminds me this go back a few years more than a couple, when you went to the resort and they had seven levels of dress, you would have like resort, resort casual, casual, like casual, resort dress, resort formal, I mean, that all kind of dropped. And I feel that when it dropped, it changed people's attitudes about how they are. I mean, just when you're in an office, or you're somewhere, you need to have it the way you want to be. Because when you're making phone calls, you're talking to somebody, you can't be slouched in the chair, you have to have that attitude. And I believe the attitude just kind of breathes through you. So if you're on the phone, and you're kind of like doing this, well, you might think nobody sees you because it's not on video. But I think that actually comes through your voice.
Jason Jacobsohn: I agree. You definitely want to have the right setup, you know, have a good camera, have a good lighting situation. You know, all that, have a good background, whatever it is you want to be, you want to pay attention. I paid attention to that right when this pandemic started when I knew that it was all going this way. And you know, there's definitely some etiquette. And a lot of people don't know it, there are people out there that have shared tips around that. But most people are not taking it that serious.
John C. Morley: It's almost like when you use dating sites online, there's business dating etiquette, and then there's regular dating etiquette, and there's things you do, and you don't do. And it's like, well, there's no rules. Well, there's no formal rules. True. But would you call somebody at night at 11 o'clock? No, we're usually taught that you don't call someone after 8pm. And understanding time zones, and I think people a lot of times, you know, press that, or you know, they'll call you during dinner, and they don't understand what they're doing. They're disrupting you from having dinner with your family or working on something. And then they think it's nothing to just interrupt you. And I always like to use the one that a famous actor Jerry Seinfeld used when you call somebody up and you talk to them, and the person says to him, you know, let me get your number. Your number. Yeah. And what time do you have dinner? Yeah, I want to call you back when you're having dinner because see, I'm having dinner right now. You know, and you laugh. But you know, it's funny, we actually learn things when they're funny. Or when they really immerse our senses. The more senses we immerse, or the crazier we make something, Jason, we remember it. I mean, the memory analogy, when you go to the store, and you can pile things on your head, and you can make things more ridiculous. You tend to remember what the heck he went to the store for. So in closing, the last question I just want to ask you is as tech is evolving through 2021,2022, and this new decade, what do you think is coming up the road?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of industries that are already being tested right now and advancing and accelerating. I mean, so we've got supply chain is a big one, fintech, Agtech, a future work which I mentioned before in healthcare is a big one. I mean, they're all advanced as pharma with drug discovery and R&D that is accelerating because of what's happened recently, you're going to see there's been a lot of investment in that specifically lately. And so everyone's being strained, and everyone is evolving and adjusting to this new way of doing things. And it's a good thing because this stuff is in process. So you're going to see all kinds of industries, being you know, crypto is big right now, again, and blockchain you know, some of these technologies have been around for a while, but I think this year, a lot of this is going to go to the next level. And it's just there's a lot of investment and a lot of company people starting companies.
John C. Morley: I think COVID really lit a fire on everybody, not because they wanted it, but it happened. And it forced people to react. Most people don't know this about themselves, but your body is trained to keep you safe every day. It's not trained to make you successful, you have to do that yourself and build those programs, your body is meant to retract you, so you don't get hurt, you don't get harmed. And so that it's just like, it doesn't want to push the envelope. So that's what we have to rewrite a lot of those programs, in our mind. But you know, you mentioned something about blockchain. And I can't help but ask you another question. So a lot of people are losing money in blockchain, $140 billion. But before I go into that, when you talk about the tech space, we had a little side note, last week on the show, or a few weeks ago, where we talked about the technology for home health care, there's a device now you can buy, it's probably about this big. And there's one adapter on it that basically you can hold it in your head, and it will take your forehead temperature, big deal. But it also with another adapter can actually operate as a stethoscope. Another one it can use as a scope for your ear, another one for your nose and other one for your mouth. Now you're saying Well, what's all this going to do? Well, it goes through a secure network supposedly, and your remote doctor is going to use it. My big concern is how we're securing and encrypting this information because there's no governance out there right now. And my other question is that blockchain, I think is good. But I'm concerned when it comes to finances in blockchain. I think it should be used more as a Validation Service, but not something that we store our money in.
Jason Jacobsohn: Well, so home healthcare definitely is growing, you know, telehealth, there's a lot of advancements and acceleration of that. You know, some companies that had home health care services are now doing telemedicine, I mean, that is a growing trend, and it's here to stay. Previously, the company I was, a fund I was involved in, a venture capital fund we invested in a company in that space and they accelerated their telehealth during this time. So you're going to see a lot of that, blockchain, I mean, people made lots of money lately in crypto and Bitcoin, but blockchain is really the underlying technology behind all that. And blockchain is, you know, it does offer, you know, verification, and it does have somewhat of a trail, but, you know, it's hitting every industry. And so I think people have to be more comfortable with it. But you know, some of the big companies are now investing in it, and big banks and other large financial institutions. So once that people are comfortable, that they're putting a lot of money into that and making sure that these systems are secure I think that's the future. I mean, there's so much money being put in into it. And it's still I believe, in the early stages, but everyone will feel more comfortable about it as time goes on. But there's definitely security with all that stuff. I mean, everything can be hacked I suppose at some point.
John C. Morley: There's always a level. We remember WEP, the wireless encryption privacy, which was garbage, I mean, a 12 year old could basically hack that in a matter of 20 or 30 minutes about with a program they downloaded for free. And then we went to WPA, WPA 2, WPA3, and then we have the higher level for corporations. But my big concern is governance. And with all these things, IoT, I mean, we have the W3C, see, most people don't know, but Google has their own chip, or they so they say it's their own chip. It's really not. They kind of built it. But they actually weren't the ones that came up with the idea, it came up through the W3C Consortium, saying that no device should be trusted. And more and more companies are using that technology now. But I think we really have to worry about setting a standard like in the Internet of Things, security of governance. What do you think about that? Because I'm concerned about all this information out there. Like I won't have an Alexa in my home, or one of those Google Voice I just won't do it. I don't trust the information. I don't trust it, even though it's on edge computing, I believe it's going to a container. And the best way to explain this to you is if we had a bucket of water, and we were all drinking that bucket of water. Well, there could be germs if one of us had a cold or something. But let's say that I was to put a filter in there, and we each were drinking from filtered water, well that would be fine. That's not happening right now, when we talk about how distribute processing is working.
Jason Jacobsohn: Well, yeah, I mean, there's so much going on out there. I mean, you know, some of these platforms, you know, social platforms can follow you around where they follow you around between your, your mobile phone, your computer, you see ads that may be looked on your phone or online, you're seeing stuff everywhere. I mean, it's so just depends on your level of security and comfort. You know, there are plenty of people that use those in home devices, you know, I have a few in my house. Information is out there regardless, and I don't feel like you know, me personally, I’ve been impacted, at least that I'm not aware of. So I think it just depends on how comfortable you are. And every time you buy something, almost your information’s out there. So I think it just depends on what happens with that information. And But yeah, I think there's going to, there probably will be some more government oversight on some of these things. And some of the big tech companies are also trying to add more oversight as well and governance, but it's going to take time, I think.
John C. Morley: We need a consortium I mean the W3C was built years and years ago. And the classic example I always go back to Jason is there was a doll, probably about less than a year ago, maybe around that time, the doll was given to his daughter, they played with the doll and everything was fine for a week or two, the doll would do things like you know, play a song, or play a game, say you're nice, you're my friend, all these very innocent things. And then within a week or two, the doll was hacked. Now the kid didn't know the doll was hacked. And now this doll is asking, I'm just going to make up the name. Let's say her name was Megan. Megan, so what's your full name Megan? And where do you live? Where do you go to school? And are your parents’ home now? And do they work late every night? And how about your grandparents? Watched you or Who are your friends? What do you like to do. And now you've suddenly taken something that seemed to be very innocent. But because a company didn't have governance or take the responsibility, and was so concerned about making a fast buck, they didn't put in a small little governance to having a PIN code on that doll. So the website could be hacked through a phone. It's not Apple's fault, apple just pair the phone with the doll. But maybe Apple should be saying, hey, if there's an app out there, and it talks to a device, well, it needs to have a six digit PIN code, we're not going to allow it, they could do that. But they're not. So I think right now, it doesn't become a problem. Fortunately, until somebody gets hurt, until it causes a real issue, or becomes a lawsuit. That's what I always tell people. When that happens, then it seems like everybody wants to suddenly solve the problem that either hurt somebody or compromised someone. I mean, that's when we all you know, we all kind of respond. But there's so many things I guess, can evolve in the next decade as we move forward. And again, in summary, I guess there's lots of networking opportunities for people. What would you say Jason is the wrong way to network so that people know what they shouldn't be doing?
Jason Jacobsohn: Well, I mentioned a little bit before, don't try to sell your product or service on the first interaction with someone, get them to know you, and they will want to buy from you at some point, if they like you, trust you, and feel comfortable about you. They're buying from you, not your company. And so just realize it's a long term process, you're building these relationships. And over time, it will build, you'll build value on both sides, you'll get introductions, and you know, but don't be aggressive. Just be very thoughtful and try to help people wherever you can, but it is a long term process. And you know, I encourage you to try different ways to meet people, different events, whether online in person, but be open minded to try to meet new people. And you know, expand your network because you never know when these people could be valuable for your personal or business life in general or and your brand.
John C. Morley: That's a very valuable statement. And not only could those people be valuable to you directly, but they may be indirectly valuable to you because they may connect you to somebody that can lead you to a big deal or lead you to your partner, or whatever it is. So you never know who somebody else might know and who they may know. And that's the whole thing of the World Wide Web, or I like to call it the World Wide Web of people. Jason, this has been really educational. I know our viewers have really enjoyed learning, not only about the different ways people can network online, and just kind of your view on you know, where things are going. So really do want to thank you for taking time and joining us on the JMOR Tech Talk show tonight.
Jason Jacobsohn: Thank you, John, I really appreciate you having me on the show.
John C. Morley: It is our pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, Jason Jacobsohn, professional networker, and a person who does so much more can help you with events and a lot of other things. And if they wouldn't reach out to you, Jason, is there a way that our viewers could reach out to you?
Jason Jacobsohn: Yeah, I think LinkedIn is a great way to find me just Jason Jacobsohn, and look for me on LinkedIn and send me a note and tell me where you found me know how you heard about me.
John C. Morley: Tell him that you heard about him on the JMOR tech talk show. And I'm sure he'll be happy to connect with you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot more great guests coming up, as you know. And, again, I want to thank you, Jason, this was really educational. And I know it'll hopefully help me to get somebody off of their chair to take the step they need that may just bring them the business that they've been waiting for months, as they say, nothing actually happens until you take action.
John C. Morley: So what did you think of our guest, Jason, of what he had to say about some of the things we should be doing with people remotely, and some things we shouldn't be doing.
Marcus: You know, it really puts you into deep thought about this. And I think a lot of people have made the mistake. And he has just put a huge perspective on the correct ways in which to do, so I think a lot. You know, I’ve learned a lot.
John C. Morley: I definitely did. I mean, there were a lot of points he brought up and some things you would think are very common, but common and sense don't seem to exist in our world anymore. You have to like, actually spell everything out. But I really do thank Jason Jacobsohn again, for spending time with us tonight, I'm sure our viewers definitely learned a lot about, you know how to network in this pandemic, which can seem a little bit challenging. And I have to tell you something. When you have to network, and you can't get close to people, you probably figured, well, I'm not going to do it, well, your business still needs to survive. And this is something you need to do. And you need to get passionate about it. And the people that don't want to do this, Marcus, it might be time for them to hang up their hat. It's not nice to say, but I think they might have already planned their retirement, they might just add five years earlier than what they planned. Because for some reason, sometimes when you add technology to certain people, they just clinch, you know, like this. And I don't know why. But is it because they feel inferior? Maybe it's because they feel intimidated? Or is it just because, they just don't like it. I think the reason is because they don't want to learn it. They don't want to apply themselves, and now be accountable for learning something new. And when they don't want to take that honest approach to doing it with sincerity.
They don't want to be part of it. Because one side says they don't want to learn it. And the side that says they don't want to learn it knows that they have to put a lot of time in. So really, they're being lazy. I think they could learn it, Marcus, but they're being lazy. And that's why they're staying away from these virtual networking platforms and events. So they don't embarrass themselves. But if they just applied themselves, they could actually network with some amazing people. And we've learned that from Jason. So thank you again for being on our show. Going down into something else that's happening. We haven't really talked about Mercedes too much in quite a few months. But Mercedes is recalling over 1 million vehicles Marcus.
Marcus: This is so terrible.
John C. Morley: Actually, if you want you know a precise number 1.29 million vehicles are being recalled.
Marcus: Just to thank a lot of people rolling around think the in high class and they need some work done.
John C. Morley: It doesn't matter whether you have a Honda, whether you have, you know, a Jaguar, an Acura, a Land Rover, a Ford, or a Rolls Royce. If they have a recall, well, then you can't be driving them, can you?
Marcus: No, you can't, you know, if it's unsafe, it's unsafe. And they're going to get a recall. That's the fact of the matter.
John C. Morley: So what I want you to understand is that this recall is pretty serious. We think about recalls, it's usually like, okay, the taillight didn't work properly. Or when you close your gas cap, you may get an annoyance message pop up. But it really doesn't cause a big problem. I know, I had one A while back, where they said there was an issue with the taillight. And then there was an issue with the, I think it was the gas pedal. And I said, well, gee, this didn't sound too terrible. But then when I read the little, tiny, fine print onto the second recall, and this is important, because failure to respond to this in a timely fashion, may cause your car to stall and may lead to death. So I went to the dealer. And I said, Well, what does that mean? Well, it's not really going to happen. But let's just say you were in traffic, or you were on the highway, and your car didn't get enough gas, whatever reason, it would just stall. And then the cars behind you would just kind of crash into you. Oh, you make that sounds so easy. As soon as I heard that, I said, this needs to be done today. Well, we can't do it till next week. Because we don't have the part, you don't have the part. Now we don't have the part. Will you have it next Tuesday. We think we'll have it next Tuesday. But we have about 1000 of these to do. So what happens if I'm out on the road, you'll probably be fine. But do yourself a favor, just don't go above 60 miles an hour, it'll put less strain on the engine. I mean, I feel real safe now Marcus. So there was a little bit different. But it was still a safety concern. When you get a recall, like, you know, they say that a cushion needs to be recalled or a latch needs to be recalled. That's not a life or death safety issue. So imagine this Marcus being on the road. And God forbid, the car gets into an accident. And when that happens, there's a split moment when the power is actually interrupted for the sensors, for the actual onboard, we call it and it's like a GPS, two way call location system. And what happens is, that device makes a call out using a separate cellular number. It's only used for we call the 911. When that happens, yeah, it dials the private branded roadside, because these companies don't have their own roadside. I learned this not too long ago, that there's one or two companies out there. And they just have private lines they answer in these companies’ names. They don't have their own roadside assistance. And I learned this because when I was on the phone, talking to somebody, I heard them mentioning another car name. And I said wow, I said you guys do that too. They said, oh yeah, we do all the cars. How do you do all the cars when you're just for Mercedes or just for Acura? Or it wasn't? Oh, well, you see, we're just one company and we just answer the phone different ways depending on what line rings. Yet they brand it, and they charge you all this extra money saying it's an exclusive service with the car. But imagine that that device...
Marcus: The wait time.
John C. Morley: And that's exactly right. Yeah. So this device gets tripped. It makes a call very similar to a cell phone is that's what it is. And it dials the headquarters and it's supposed to not only contact them so you can talk to them. Hi, Welcome to such and such emergency or sometimes now they have a message that plays to calm the people down. Attention. Your vehicle has been a crash everything is okay. We're calling help immediately. Please remain calm. So they now recorded this message instead of you waiting, because what would happen is the system would call out, but then it may not get through to somebody, you'd have to either ring or wait. And that's not good when something happens. So now they have that little preamble while they're trying to get somebody on the line. And the person gets on the line. Now that all works fine with Mercedes. But now she's just okay, I have your location. And I'm going to send help. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. I think my car just got hit. Okay, and I do show you right there by the bridge. Is that correct? What bridge? Well, you're right there on next to the bridge. No, I'm not anywhere near a bridge. I'm actually in Pennsylvania by the zoo. Oh, hang on a minute. What's your VIN number? Now you're going to ask somebody and ask what is your Vin? That's not going to go over too well. So the problem is their electronic notification system is sending out either no information or wrong information. That's pretty serious, Marcus.
Now in case you're wondering, God, what cars this happens to?
What's that Marcus?
Marcus: God forbid, you know that anything happens, you're pretty much out of luck.
John C. Morley: Yeah, I'd say you're kind of up a creek without a paddle. So the cars were This is currently been the ones that are being affected, it's the 2016 to the 2021, including the CLA class, the GLA class, the GLE Class, the GLS class, the SLC class, the A class, the GT class, the C class, the E Class, the S Class, the CLS class, the SL class, the B class, the GLB class, the GLC class, and the G class vehicles. And this is according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. I am the one to say about that.
Marcus: That sounds like all of them. That sounds like all of them.
John C. Morley: I think, eve