It was the question asked on a LinkedIn group board: Why are experts such lousy speakers? As the professional speaking side of my business is booming, one of the points Shelley in our office is hearing constantly from our clients and prospects is: “We have tried booking less expensive ‘industry experts’ to address our conferences, and we are now returning to invest in a speaking professional, because our meetings have become so dull and uninspiring.” (Don’t get me wrong — there are drab professional speeches and exciting industry experts. It just…
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Most Topular Stories
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Why are “experts” such lousy speakers?
Scott McKain Viewpoint7 Feb 2012 | 7:30 am -
Harry Potter in 60 seconds [video]
Holy Kaw!8 Feb 2012 | 7:49 pmYou resisted the hype for so long, but now, curiosity has gotten the better of you and it’s simply not possible to live another minute without knowing what all the excitement was about. Lucky for you, catching up won’t involve spending a valuable week’s vacation holed up with a ten-pound book in hand thanks to the efforts of Ian Holliday and company. If you like what you see, be sure to follow the YouTube link and give them a hand winning the Virgin Radio Fake Film Festival 2012 contest. It’s what Dumbledore would have wanted. Full story at YouTube via The Mary Sue. -
Playbooks and visual explanations
Church of the Customer Blog6 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amBy the time the New York Giants and the New England Patriots took the field Sunday for their Super Bowl matchup, the players on both teams had read, re-read and rehearsed their respective game playbooks dozens, if not hundreds of times. They'd studied each play via multiple diagrams and photographs, stats and descriptions of assignments for every player on the field. A playbook is an apt metaphor for any business team that needs concise, how-to plans to deal with the complexity of systems, processes and moving variables, especially with social business. Whether it's for one of the world's… -
What Values Are You Communicating?
Leadership Consultant - Bill Hogg » Blog30 Jan 2012 | 6:20 amRecently I executed an employee engagement survey across a client organization. When I compared the senior executive team with the blended front-line results I discovered a very troubling outcome. The senior executives were almost unanimous in the belief that they had done an excellent job of communicating the core values of the organization — yet results from the front-line indicated exactly the opposite. Even worse, some of the comments indicated that the values the front-line were observing were inconsistent with the “advertised” values. Too many organizations believe… -
Where to Go When the Bank Says “No” Part II: The SBA 504 Loan Program
Small Business Blog20 Jan 2012 | 2:56 pmAllen E. Fishman, TAB Founder and Chairman In a recent survey of small- to medium-size business owners, the availability of capital was ranked in the top 3 risks for small businesses in 2012. So, what can we do when the bank says, "No"? Entrepreneur.com reported that in 2010 the SBA provided U.S. small businesses with over $50 million in loans per day. I especially favor the SBA 504 loan program. The 504 is a lending partnership between a bank of your choice and a certified development company (CDC). The SBA sells a debenture for 40 percent of the total loan amount to the…
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Scott McKain Viewpoint
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Why are “experts” such lousy speakers?
7 Feb 2012 | 7:30 amIt was the question asked on a LinkedIn group board: Why are experts such lousy speakers? As the professional speaking side of my business is booming, one of the points Shelley in our office is hearing constantly from our clients and prospects is: “We have tried booking less expensive ‘industry experts’ to address our conferences, and we are now returning to invest in a speaking professional, because our meetings have become so dull and uninspiring.” (Don’t get me wrong — there are drab professional speeches and exciting industry experts. It just… -
Beware of bias…
3 Feb 2012 | 12:30 pmBack when I was involved a bit in local television news — I was a free-lance anchor and entertainment commentator for the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis in the late ’80′s and early ’90′s — a broadcast veteran and I were talking about the media’s role in reporting Presidential politics. “Watch the next campaign,” he wisely told me. “It’s in the media’s interest to get the number of candidates in either party down to two as quickly as possible. The audience can’t follow closely when it’s six or seven running for… -
An ultimate experience from a reliable source
27 Jan 2012 | 5:44 amI’m flying from Baltimore to Vegas on an airline I don’t normally take…usually I would go Delta for the SkyMiles, but this airline has a non-stop, arriving two hours earlier, and I need the sleep. In the middle of the 5½ hour trip, a flight attendant makes an announcement, naming two passengers, and asking them to walk to the front of the plane. Confused, and not knowing one another, an older man and younger woman from separate parts of the aircraft approach the forward galley. Flight attendant now announces these two have something in common. It’s their birthday! She leads us in… -
Distinction may involve what is absent from your business
24 Jan 2012 | 5:30 pmAt a recent meeting I was addressing near Boston, I learned the fascinating story of the Berry family, and their restaurant on Cape Cod, Moby Dick’s. It’s a true story of distinction. You can read on their website how the restaurant came to be — and how the oldest son, Todd, discovered how much he enjoyed the business. When I met Todd, he gave me a very important insight on how and why their restaurant is so distinctive — to the extent it has received rave reviews everywhere from TripAdvisor.com to the New York Times’ Style Magazine. “We don’t have a… -
The difference between profit and growth
11 Jan 2012 | 8:43 pmThere is profitability…and then, there is growth. Many businesses – and their leaders – do not understand the difference. If I want to be more profitable, I can do either one — or a combination — of three steps: 1) Cut expenses 2) Get my current customers to spend more money with me 3) Get new customers (Thanks to my friend, Ford Saeks, for discussing this with me last week at a meeting in Las Vegas!) However, it is very difficult – perhaps impossible – to cut my way to growth. (It just sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?) Gary Hamel wrote, “You can only grow by…
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Holy Kaw!
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Harry Potter in 60 seconds [video]
8 Feb 2012 | 7:49 pmYou resisted the hype for so long, but now, curiosity has gotten the better of you and it’s simply not possible to live another minute without knowing what all the excitement was about. Lucky for you, catching up won’t involve spending a valuable week’s vacation holed up with a ten-pound book in hand thanks to the efforts of Ian Holliday and company. If you like what you see, be sure to follow the YouTube link and give them a hand winning the Virgin Radio Fake Film Festival 2012 contest. It’s what Dumbledore would have wanted. Full story at YouTube via The Mary Sue. -
SYNC: Even in a backwards world, love finds a way [video]
8 Feb 2012 | 7:20 pmDirected by Alberto Corral and filmed with an iPhone 4 and Steadicam Smoothee, SYNC takes a unique approach to retelling a classic story of love at first sight. Full story at YouTube via PetaPixel. Unique movies. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Every nerd’s worst nightmare: World’s largest dodgeball game [video]
8 Feb 2012 | 6:57 pmIf dodgeball day in gym class left you nursing wounds both physical and psychological during the eternity that is a bad grade school experience, you might not appreciate the efforts of 4,979 people at the University of Alberta trying to set a new world record. On the other hand, if dodgeball marked the high point of your glory days, revel in the chaos… Full story at Vimeo via Official Hype. Games from the good old days. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Text while you walk (safely this time)
8 Feb 2012 | 6:18 pmIf you’re ever twisted your ankle off a curb, bumped a stranger, or walked into a street post while texting—you need this app. ‘Transparent Screen’ for Android allows you to look through your device so you can anticipate any dangerous obstacles in your way while you’re texting on-the-go by harnessing the power of your camera to create the illusion of transparency. Just watch out for your battery life while using the app, as it’ll drain quickly. Full story at GeekOSystem. All the top tech. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Nintendo and Converse collaborate on an amazing sneaker
8 Feb 2012 | 5:25 pmClear out room in your closets, gamers. Converse is releasing their ‘One Star Super Mario Bros.’ shoe this March! Via Like Cool. Get your Nintendo fix. Permalink | Leave a comment »
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Church of the Customer Blog
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Playbooks and visual explanations
6 Feb 2012 | 8:30 amBy the time the New York Giants and the New England Patriots took the field Sunday for their Super Bowl matchup, the players on both teams had read, re-read and rehearsed their respective game playbooks dozens, if not hundreds of times. They'd studied each play via multiple diagrams and photographs, stats and descriptions of assignments for every player on the field. A playbook is an apt metaphor for any business team that needs concise, how-to plans to deal with the complexity of systems, processes and moving variables, especially with social business. Whether it's for one of the world's… -
People trust people
1 Feb 2012 | 12:27 pm[Click on chart to see larger version.] The latest edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer study just came out showing CEO's in the dog house when it comes to being trusted. Who do people trust? Academic and tech experts, sure. But the biggest movers in the study are "a person just like me" and "regular employee." Look at your 2012 marketing plan. Are you providing ways for your customers to get together in-person and online to encourage word of mouth? Are you showcasing your best employees in social media, at conferences, and at private events with customers? Source: 2012 Edelman… -
FedEx's apology: expertly delivered
21 Dec 2011 | 8:29 pmWe've seen this before: 1) company makes an egregious service mistake and is outed by a customer via a YouTube video, 2) video goes viral, 3) mainstream media picks up the story and amplifies it, 4) PR nightmare begins. This week's culprit is FedEx. A California FedEx driver is caught on a security-camera video flinging a package containing a computer monitor over the fence of a gated Southern California house. At no time does the driver attempt to ring the bell for delivery. Just a toss over the fence, and he jumps back into his truck. In two days, the video has over three million views. … -
The simplest definition of word of mouth marketing
28 Nov 2011 | 12:38 pmNice video from WOMMA on the basics of word of mouth marketing. Tweet -
14 new statistics about word of mouth marketing
17 Oct 2011 | 11:45 amThe Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) has a neat infographic detailing the latest stats about word or mouth marketing, online and offline. Source: WOMMA Note: the WOMMA Summit is coming up November 16-18 in Las Vegas. It's a great conference to learn the latest WOM marketing techniques from leading brands and agencies. Tweet
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Leadership Consultant - Bill Hogg » Blog
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What Values Are You Communicating?
30 Jan 2012 | 6:20 amRecently I executed an employee engagement survey across a client organization. When I compared the senior executive team with the blended front-line results I discovered a very troubling outcome. The senior executives were almost unanimous in the belief that they had done an excellent job of communicating the core values of the organization — yet results from the front-line indicated exactly the opposite. Even worse, some of the comments indicated that the values the front-line were observing were inconsistent with the “advertised” values. Too many organizations believe… -
Is Your Leadership Limiting Your Organizations Ability to Grow?
12 Jan 2012 | 8:43 amThis is the first in our series of articles that looks at leadership capacity and its impact on organizational growth and transformation. The full series will be available for download as a white paper once it is completed. Leadership capacity is more than simply skill development; it’s about performance, growth, transformation and change. For the purpose of our discussion in this series of articles, let’s define it as; “Leadership Capacity is the skilful use of leadership attributes for the growth and development of ourselves, our colleagues and our organization”. -
Are You Really Incubating Fresh Ideas and Thinking?
3 Jan 2012 | 11:46 amAre you finding that you are not hearing the fresh ideas and new thinking in your organization that you would like. Are you often faced with sitting through presentations that sound like the same ideas rehashed again and again. Well maybe you are burying good ideas under a bad process. Before you hear their ideas — are your teams spending time getting them “right”? Are they vetted, reviewed, revised and debated around in circles until all the edginess and excitement has been “fine-tuned” right out of existence. Imagine if ideas for the iPhone had been fine-tuned… -
Start, Stop, Do Different
1 Dec 2011 | 6:41 amMany people are familiar with the expression, Start, Stop, Do Different from personal evaluation processes — those regularly scheduled reviews by our supervisor. They will often use this outline to give us feedback of our performance. But I also think it should be used more regularly, both personally and with colleagues. No leader improves without feedback and personal introspection. So rather than waiting for a formal review by a supervisors, consider asking your colleagues these questions. What should I start doing? What activities or behaviours should I add into my daily activities… -
Best Practices Are Not Always Best Practice
17 Nov 2011 | 9:31 amBest Practices. Another great business term we all know and love. We love to throw out in meetings because it sounds good and rarely will anyone disagree. It’s safe. But is it wise. Who said that adopting best practices is right for your business? Maybe it’s the wrong thing to do in your case. Sacrilege? Maybe, but here are few thoughts to consider before deciding whether to adopt best practices or develop your own best practices. Are They Transferable? If the best practices are to work effectively in your business, then the businesses have to have similarities. Do you share…
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Small Business Blog
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Where to Go When the Bank Says “No” Part II: The SBA 504 Loan Program
20 Jan 2012 | 2:56 pmAllen E. Fishman, TAB Founder and Chairman In a recent survey of small- to medium-size business owners, the availability of capital was ranked in the top 3 risks for small businesses in 2012. So, what can we do when the bank says, "No"? Entrepreneur.com reported that in 2010 the SBA provided U.S. small businesses with over $50 million in loans per day. I especially favor the SBA 504 loan program. The 504 is a lending partnership between a bank of your choice and a certified development company (CDC). The SBA sells a debenture for 40 percent of the total loan amount to the… -
Where to Go When the Bank Says No - Small Business Investment Companies
13 Jan 2012 | 2:22 pmAllen E. Fishman, TAB Founder and Chairman What if the amount of money you need is more than what the bank will lend you, even with an SBA-backed loan? Licensed and regulated by the SBA; Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC) fill the debt and equity investment niche between straight lenders and venture capitalists. Investments by SBICs have fostered the growth of companies including Federal Express, Intel, America Online and Outback Steakhouse. SBICs use their own capital, plus funds borrowed from the federal government to provide small companies with long-term, fixed-rate… -
Understanding Conflict in the Family Business
6 Jan 2012 | 1:17 pmJacquelyn Gernaey, Independent Owner, The Alternative Board TAB, President, HyTech Consulting from Balancing Act: When Family and Business Intertwine Many articles on the subject of conflict contain an acknowledgement that conflict is a normal part of life. Webster’s Dictionary defines conflict as “a battle, contest of opposing forces, discord, antagonism existing between primitive desires, instincts and morale, religious or ethical ideals.” Conflict results when two or more people oppose one another because their needs, wants, goals or values are different. Most… -
An End-of-Year Leadership Check Up: Get Your Business Back on Track
30 Dec 2011 | 9:00 amAllen E. Fishman, Founder and Chairman of The Alternative Board Anyone can be an entrepreneur, but not everyone can be an entrepreneur while also being a great leader. The biggest test to see whether you are a successful leader within your company is to take a look directly into the success of your company. Hint: The success of your company is a direct reflection upon your leadership skills—good or bad. The characteristics of a great leader are endless, from being caring, kind and empathetic to detail-oriented, driven and ambitious. You’ll find all leaders have common characteristics that… -
Translating Social Networking into Real Benefits for Your Business
23 Dec 2011 | 9:00 amJacquelyn Gernaey, TAB Certified Facilitator/Coach To social network or not, that is the question. We are not talking about the social networking your kids or grandkids might do, we are talking about making social networking an integrated part of you marketing plan. (You all have marketing plans, right?) Ok, so for those who might not yet know what social networking is all about, think of it like regular networking in that you meet people, you join groups, you have conversations, you make and get referrals, you focus on giving rather than getting, and you benefit in the long run by…
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thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World
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A Personal Interview with a Great Leader
8 Feb 2012 | 9:29 amThe people in my professional network are awesome. Occasionally one of them is gracious enough to let me grill them on the subject of leadership. John Petrucci is one of those guys. He’s one of the most down-to-earth people you’ll ever meet and that’s part of what makes him an exemplary leader. You can read [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more. -
The Real Reasons You Didn’t Get the Job
6 Feb 2012 | 4:03 amInterviewing for a new job is an exercise in humiliation, fear, and confusion. Whether you’re interviewing for a job at a new company or just changing roles at your present employer, the process is nauseating. You do everything you can to put your best foot forward. You get your suit pressed. You make your hair [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more. -
Leadership and Decision Making – A Personal Interview
1 Feb 2012 | 9:46 amSo for the first time ever, I’m including a recorded interview as today’s blog post. I was recently interviewed by Yongho Shin on the subjects of leadership, the U.S. Army, decision making, and other leadership topics. The interview is about 30 minutes long and should be a good listen during your morning coffee. Yongho Shin [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more. -
Great Leaders Live Balanced Lives
30 Jan 2012 | 4:02 amThe following is an excerpt from One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership (you can get your copy here). This post focuses on having a balanced life and the importance of keeping things in perspective. If you’re burned out, you’re worthless. Here’s an example of how I keep myself in balance [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more. -
Get Out of B.E.D. And Alter Your Outcomes
26 Jan 2012 | 4:02 amToday’s post is by Marty Stanley, author of Get Out of B.E.D. and the newest member of the thoughtLEADERS team. “We got it done, but it was ugly,” the manager said, shaking his head in disbelief. Miscommunications, lack of communication, an inexperienced team leader and management on vacation resulted in cost over-runs exceeding $50,000, delayed [...] This is only the beginning of the thought... Please click the article headline above or go to http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/blog for more.
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The Webinar Blog
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Gartners Take On Web Conferencing
8 Feb 2012 | 7:58 amA big thank you to Sierra Peoples from InterCall for posting a link on LinkedIn to Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant report on Web Conferencing. Those can be hard to get if you aren’t a Gartner client, but it looks like InterCall got permission for distribution. You can view the report through this link: http://j.mp/xg89JG (hopefully that works even if you are not a LinkedIn user). Analyst David Mario Smith published the report last December. He points to continued acquisitions and consolidation in the marketplace (not news to any of us who follow the industry!). He also calls out the… -
Evolving Your 2012 Webinar Strategy
6 Feb 2012 | 8:45 amThis Wednesday, February 8, I will be giving a free talk on ways to enhance your webinar strategies for 2012. Brainshark is the gracious host for this live webinar. As always, I solemnly promise not to do any marketing or try to sell you anything. This is true educational value. We’ll look at ways to get people to register and attend your events, how to deal with multi-regional/multi-cultural audiences, build engagement, and use social media more effectively. This is a compact session… Just 30 minutes of presentation time and 15 minutes of live Q&A to address your concerns. So… -
AnyMeeting Giving Away A Kindle
3 Feb 2012 | 10:20 amAnyMeeting just announced a new promotion for users of their web conferencing platform. During the month of February, each time you hold an AnyMeeting web conference of at least 10 minutes with 2 or more people, you get an entry into a drawing for a Kindle Fire. Not a bad deal, considering that the basic product is free! Technorati Tags: AnyMeeting,web conference,web conferencing,webinar,web meeting,online meeting,web seminar,web collaboration -
MediaPlatform Puts Webcasts On Facebook
1 Feb 2012 | 6:55 amMediaPlatform is a webcasting software vendor that sells their product direct (MediaPlatform WebCaster) as well as letting other webcast service providers OEM and relabel the technology. The company put out a press release today announcing a new capability for WebCaster. Companies can now embed the webcast viewing window on a Facebook page or a SharePoint Online team site. This is a nice feature for companies taking advantage of those social collaboration platforms. For enterprise clients who use SharePoint as their main work portal, employees can stay inside the corporate firewall and within… -
omNovia Adds Web Conferencing Features
31 Jan 2012 | 1:30 pmomNovia keeps adding interesting and unusual features to its web conferencing software. The company doesn’t make formal product release announcements… It has a habit of just slipping new functionality into the product and letting users discover it on their own. The latest addition hasn’t even hit their Product Enhancements notification page as of this writing! A couple of weeks ago, they added an option for administrators to enable a Notes module in the conferencing console. omNovia tends to address different functional tasks inside a webinar through the use of modules that show up as…
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Presentation Zen
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Hans Rosling: The Jedi Master of data visualization
26 Jan 2012 | 11:31 pmDr. Hans Rosling is one of my presentation heroes; he's been featured or mentioned in all my books and several times on presentationzen.com over the years. If there is a Jedi Master of presenting data clearly, visually, and simply, then it is Hans. He proves time and time again, that data are not dull—and when you are trying to change the world, there is no excuse for boring presentations. Most people are aware of Dr. Rosling through his popular TED Talks, but just in case you've never seen him present, below is a nice 5-minute piece he did on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. At TED.com you'll… -
New: Presentation Zen (2nd Edition)
18 Jan 2012 | 10:36 pmFour years ago my first book Presentation Zen was published by Peachpit Press. Since then I wrote two other presentation books and a sketchbook/storyboard book and a DVD (plus an additional DVD/Book just for Japan). Although a lot of time had passed, I was still happy with the original Presentation Zen. And yet, the original Presentation Zen book could benefit from a little freshening up in the form of a 2nd edition for 2012. This 2nd edition of Presentation Zen has the same look and feel as the original book and I still did all the design and layout myself. The biggest difference is the book… -
10 great books to help you think, create, & communicate better in 2012
10 Jan 2012 | 4:54 amIn the spirit of personal kaizen, I have listed below a few books that I read (or reread) over the past year that you may want to read as part of your own continuous improvement journey. (Clicking on the book's icon takes you to Amazon.com.) (1) Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. Over the last 10-20 years scientists have made many remarkable discoveries concerning the brain and how it works. David Rock is not a neuroscientist but he is a good "neurotranslator" of the scientific evidence and does a good job of… -
Progress and the intentional selection of less
30 Dec 2011 | 5:26 pmMany people today talk about presentation technology as if it were a panacea for boring lectures and ineffective presentations. Technologies such as our laptops, iPads, and cool software packages are wonderful tools that can, when used well, increase the quality of communication and engagement. This is especially true when we need to engage with people live on the other side of the planet via tools like video conferencing, webinars, Skype, and so on. However, while technology has evolved in dramatic ways over the last generation, our deep human need for visceral connections, and personal… -
Steve Jobs: "People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint"
20 Dec 2011 | 5:12 amOne thing we need to constantly remind ourselves is that slides and other forms of projected visualization—no matter how "cool" they may be—are not appropriate for every context. Multimedia is great for presentations before large groups such as keynote addresses or conference presentations, but in meetings where you want to actively discuss issues or go over details in depth, slides—especially the snooze-inducing bulletpoint variety, which are never a good idea—are almost always counter productive. I stressed early on in the first version of Presentation Zen four years ago—and ad…
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Speaking about Presenting: Presentation Tips from Olivia Mitchell
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Find a Presentation Designer Here
25 Jan 2012 | 12:22 pmAre you looking for a presentation designer? I’ve been asked so many times if I could recommend a presentation designer that I’ve decided to publish a list of PowerPoint and Keynote slide design companies and freelancers. I asked each presentation designer to talk about their approach to presentation design and to give me an example of a slide that represents their brand. I’ve used a very traditional method to order these presentation designers – it’s alphabetical based on the principal’s last name. You’ll see a tremendous variety in approaches… -
6 Presentation Links Worth Clicking
14 Jan 2012 | 5:33 pmWhen I was in the States last year, I met up with Nancy Duarte… and she interviewed me. She’s now written up the interview on her blog. Find out more about my story and why I’m passionate about helping people be better presenters – and particularly helping people overcome the fear of public speaking. Here’s the link: Nancy Duarte interviews Olivia Mitchell. And here’s five more links to great writing on presentation skills: Even TED speakers get nervous TED is an elite conference where invited speakers give 18 minute talks on the ideas they’re… -
The sobering truth about what an audience remembers
27 Sep 2011 | 8:40 amLast week I spent three awesome days at the Presentation Summit. In this post, I want to explore what audience members remember from a presentation, using the first three keynotes of the conference as my examples. I asked as many people as I could what they remembered from each of these keynotes. This was an informal, non-random, non-scientific survey. Nigel Holmes Photo Credit: Rikk Flohr – www.rikkflohr.com Nigel Holmes is a phenomenal graphic artist who used to be Art Director for Time magazine. His presentation didn’t start well – there were a few technical hitches and it took him… -
The two types of presenter: which are you?
25 Aug 2011 | 3:03 pmThis is a post written by Tony Burns, my partner and co-trainer. There are two types of people in the world – those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don’t. I’m one of the former. I find models useful – they show distinctions that can help explain and predict behaviors – and they can help us see other opportunities and ways we can grow. One distinction that, as a presenter and presentation trainer, I’ve found useful, is to look at whether a person is “careful” or “carefree” when it comes to creating and delivering presentations. It’s a question… -
The 5-step cure for boring body language
16 Jun 2011 | 2:05 amCould your body language be more expressive? Do you inhibit your natural body language when you’re public speaking because of your self-consciousness? Or maybe you’ve been told (by a well-meaning but misguided person) that you wave your arms around too much? As a result you’ve shut down your natural gestures and become stiff and boring. The secret to curing boring body language in public speaking is to replicate the state you’re in when you’re in an animated one-on-one conversation. When you’re in that state your gestures unconsciously complement what…
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Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Blog
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PowerPoint Tip: Don’t start your presentation with credits
7 Feb 2012 | 7:08 amLast week in a coaching session a client asked, “What is the best way to start my presentation?” She said that she had tried different methods and didn’t feel that they were working as well as she wanted. This question reminded me of what Nick Morgan said in his keynote presentation at the Presentation Summit last fall. In this article I want to talk about how to start your presentation, building off of what Nick suggested in his talk. How do most movies and TV shows start today? As Nick pointed out, it is much different than 15 years ago. In the past, a movie started out with the… -
PowerPoint Tip: Boring presentations are not the problem
24 Jan 2012 | 10:48 amHow many times have you heard that the problem with many PowerPoint presentations is that they are boring? This is a common refrain from the media and it used to justify why presentations should not use PowerPoint, or use some other hot presentation tool instead of PowerPoint. I heartily disagree that most business presentations are boring. The problem with most presentations is not that they are boring, it is that they are confusing. In today’s article I want to explain the difference and what we can do about the problem. A boring presentation is one that has no useful information for the… -
PowerPoint Tip: Effective dashboard slides
10 Jan 2012 | 4:55 amAt the start of the year many organizations are looking back to see how they did last year. They will use many different measures, and they may decide that they want to start tracking certain statistics that will make a difference in improving performance going forward. A common approach is to create one or more dashboard slides that give executives a quick snapshot of how the organization is performing. In this article I want to share some tips on creating effective dashboard slides. The term dashboard comes from vehicle dashboards that use indicators to show the status of such metrics as… -
Apply John Bohannon’s proposal to your organization
3 Jan 2012 | 6:50 pmRecently, John Bohannon presented a TED talk in Brussels that proposed replacing PowerPoint with dancers. The video has had over 330,000 views in less than two months and the idea has once again started people talking about how to improve presentations. In his presentation, John quotes a calculation from an article I published a few years ago to illustrate how much poor PowerPoint presentations are costing organizations. He compares the enormous amount wasted by poor presentations with the cost of funding arts programs in the US, and suggests that cutting arts programs would not help the… -
PowerPoint Tip: Spreadsheets don't belong on slides
20 Dec 2011 | 6:28 amFrequently people tell me that financial presentations include a huge spreadsheet that has been copied on to a slide. The text and numbers are way too small and inevitably the presenter says, “I know you can’t read this, so I’ll read it to you.” Spreadsheets don’t belong on slides. Today I want to talk about why not and what you can do instead.Why don’t spreadsheets belong on slides? Because a spreadsheet is an analytical tool, not a communication tool. We use spreadsheets because they are the best tool for analyzing numbers, doing calculations and comparing numerical information.
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The Web Conferencing Blog by David Chao
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Who is Nicira? $50M Raised for Network Virtualization
6 Feb 2012 | 11:09 pmNetwork virtualization start-up Nicira is coming out of stealth mode today and it has an impressive set of customers who evidently believe that it can disrupt the likes of Cisco Systems and Juniper... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Cisco’s Vision: Five Future Technology Trends
20 Jan 2012 | 10:38 pmCisco CEO John Chambers and CTO Padmasree Warrior say the role of the network is transforming to a point that enables the connections of people, devices, and information. Some of the top trends that... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
LogMeIn Acquires Bold Software for $16.5M
9 Jan 2012 | 11:34 amLogMeIn, the longtime maker of remote access tools, has acquired Bold Software, a provider of web chat and customer communications software. The company says it will use the technology to offer... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Beat Your Competition
18 Dec 2011 | 2:46 pmWith tremendous market opportunity comes increased competition. When you look at the total available market opportunity for Collaboration, it's a $40B market! Cisco, a market leader in Telepresence,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] -
Oracle Buys RightNow for $1.5B
24 Oct 2011 | 9:25 pmRobin Wauters reported on TechCrunch that this morning Oracle announced it has acquired RightNow – both companies are listed on NASDAQ – for $43 per share or roughly $1.5 billion net of RightNow’s... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
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www.publetariat.com
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Taleist 2012 Self-Publishing Survey
8 Feb 2012 | 5:52 pmSteven Lewis's Taleist is administering a self-publisher survey. The results will be informative and helpful to self-publishers everywhere, and can be viewed immediately upon completing the survey, so please consider participating. From the site: How are you doing as a self-publisher? It’s a hard question to answer isn’t it? What are you measuring against? read more -
Using Ebooks To Their Full Advantage
8 Feb 2012 | 5:41 pmMost of us have heard that eBooks are now mainstream, yet are writers using them to their full advantage? According to James Moushon in his guest post “Real eBooks: Are We Still in the Stone Age?” on The Book Designer, probably not. Here’s what James says about what a real eBook should be: read more -
Author Blogging 101: Blogging Platforms & Why I Love WordPress
7 Feb 2012 | 6:00 pmI had a book design website once. It was one of those “web 1.0″ websites that you put up because you know you need one, or at least everyone says you do. It was built with a nifty Mac tool called Rapidweaver and for what it was, it was okay. It took a lot of time to design and build the 6 or 8 pages and I struggled to get it working right. There were pages describing services and some samples of books I’d designed. The usual thing. Looking at the little website, I realized there was one question I couldn’t answer: Why would anyone ever come here twice? read more -
Scrivener: 3 Reasons You Should Use It For Your Book
7 Feb 2012 | 6:00 pmI used Scrivener for my latest book, Prophecy. It’s been a truly life-changing experience after the dreadful cutting and pasting process in MS Word that plagued my last novel, Pentecost. I am now entirely converted and am also an evangelist for the product. I used Scrivener happily without reading the Help (because I hate reading the Help) but then I found David Hewson’s ‘Writing a Novel with Scrivener‘ which I highly recommend. It will convert you and make your writing life a whole lot easier, I promise! read more
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Shep Hyken
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Watching and Listening to Customers Can Help You Deliver Exceptional Customer Service
8 Feb 2012 | 9:01 amMy definition for delivering “amazing” customer service is to consistently be above average. At a minimum this is just a little above average. That’s what the best companies do. They are consistently above average. Note that word “consistently.” That’s the key. It needs to be all-of-the time to be amazing. The customer has to count on it – know it is going to happen. It becomes the expectation. Exceptional customer service means you go above and beyond what is expected. You create those “WOW” and “POW”… -
Six Strategies to Compete In Business
1 Feb 2012 | 8:21 amThis article started out to be about how the little guy company can compete with a big company. Specifically, in a recent interview I was asked how a small local business can use customer service to compete when a large national competitor, known for aggressive low pricing, comes to town. As I wrote out the answer, I realized that the business strategies used by a small company competing against a big one are actually sound strategies for a company of any size. By the way, customer service is important, but in this situation, there is much more to consider. A “Big Box”… -
Being Off Duty Doesn’t Mean You Aren’t Responsible for Customer Service (and More)
25 Jan 2012 | 5:52 amThis may start out to sound like a rant, but it isn’t. It’s simply the set up for the customer service lesson to be learned. I’m at an airport, working my way through the security line for about fifteen minutes. During this time , a number of flight attendants and airline personnel went ahead of me and everyone else, cutting in front of paying passengers to get through the metal detectors and x-ray machines. What I noticed is that most of these airline employees didn’t smile or talk to the passengers as they cut in front of them. Some of the passengers were… -
Five Ways to Create a Customer Service Culture
18 Jan 2012 | 7:21 amThe reason an organization can deliver good or bad customer service comes down to one thing; what is happening on the inside of that organization. To sum it up in one word: culture. The culture inside of the organization is impacting your customer service. It’s more than just hiring the right people, and it’s more than customer service training. At the same time, it’s simple. It’s just setting an example of customer service behavior at the top, and pushing its way, through all employees, toward the customer. Starting at the top means that leadership and… -
Customer Service Recovery Can Show How Good You Are
11 Jan 2012 | 6:09 amRecently I had the pleasure of having lunch with Julia Carcamo (VP of Brand Marketing) and Jim White (VP of Guest Satisfaction) of Isle of Capri Casinos. We had a great discussion about customer service. They shared a true story about a problem that happened at one of their casinos, and there’s a lesson to be learned about how the team managed the guest experience. The Lady Luck Casino, operated by Isle of Capri Casinos, is located in Caruthersville, MO. They hired Vicki Lawrence to present her concert, and it was a sold out event. The Lady Luck had just switched over to a new…
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How to Change the World
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Raising Money: What Not to Say and What Not to Believe #OfficeandGuyK
20 Jan 2012 | 10:46 amOver the past two weeks via my partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve provided templates of models for you to create enchanting PowerPoint pitches, Word business plans, and Excel financial models. They are all available for you to download from my SkyDrive account. I hope these documents and blog posts help you save a boatload of time and increase the quality of your efforts.I leave you with two sets of top ten lies: one of entrepreneurs and one of investors so that you know what not to say and what not to believe. Top Ten Lies of Entrepreneurs “Our projections are… -
Design a Sam Adams beer
20 Jan 2012 | 8:24 amNow this is a fun project. I’m helping Sam Adams “tap” the knowledge of beer drinkers and crowd source its next brew. Join the party by getting the app and designing your beer: The final brew will be released in Austin in the first week of March. #sponsored -
How to Create an Enchanting Financial Forecast #OfficeandGuyK
17 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pmThis is the third post in my Microsoft partnership, and it’s all about numbers. The topic is crafting your financial forecast to include in your pitch. Bill Reichert, my partner at Garage Technology Ventures, created an Excel model and wrote this blog post. There’s a lesson in this too: Get the best person for the job. His grasp of financial models and how to present them exceeds mine by two orders of magnitude. The Purpose of Financial Projections When it comes to financial projections, there are two types of entrepreneurs: first, the “visionary entrepreneur” who… -
How to Create an Enchanting Business Plan #OfficeandGuyK
12 Jan 2012 | 8:16 amHere is the second post in my series about planning, pitching, and launching a new business venture. In partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps, I’ve created a Word document that outlines a good business plan. It’s saved to my SkyDrive folder here. Feel free to download it and use it as inspiration. And if you’re working with a partner, you can use the free Word Web App to stay in sync. I provided the PowerPoint document before the Word document because a good business plan is an elaboration of a good pitch as opposed to a good pitch being a distillation of good business plan. -
How to Create an Enchanting Pitch #OfficeandGuyK
9 Jan 2012 | 8:01 amWelcome to the first in a series of blog posts I’ll be doing as part of a partnership with Microsoft and Office Web Apps. Over the next two weeks, I’ll cover everything a budding entrepreneur needs to turn an idea into an enchanting investment opportunity—from the perfect pitch to a killer business plan to financial forecasts. I’m going to start with a little dissertation on creating effective PowerPoint pitches for your company. I embedded the sample deck for you to click through by using the PowerPoint Web App. When you’re ready to get started, you can download the…
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indianapolis colts - Google News
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Ticats lose Hickman to NFL's Colts - Hamilton Spectator
8 Feb 2012 | 5:43 pmTSNTicats lose Hickman to NFL's ColtsHamilton SpectatorMoving to Indy Justin Hickman has agreed to a two-year contract with the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. This was one early-morning call that Justin Hickman didn't mind taking. The Ticats' defensive end was still in bed Monday Tiger-Cats DE Hickman signs with NFL's ColtsTSNall 2 news articles » -
Indianapolis Colts Peyton Manning is Working out Away From the Colts Facility - Rant Sports
8 Feb 2012 | 5:06 pmNBCSports.comIndianapolis Colts Peyton Manning is Working out Away From the Colts FacilityRant Sportsby Christopher Batchelder A few weeks back Peyton Manning said that his training in Indianapolis was hurting his rehab. The word from Duke University is that Manning is working out with one of Manning's lifelong family friends, David Cutcliffe who is The Trade of the Century – And with the #1 pick, the ______ select, Andrew Luck!The Landry Hatall 7 news articles » -
Indianapolis promotes personnel director Tom Telesco vice president of ... - Washington Post
8 Feb 2012 | 3:22 pmIndiana's NewsCenterIndianapolis promotes personnel director Tom Telesco vice president of Washington PostINDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts have promoted Tom Telesco to vice president of football operations. Telesco has spent the past six seasons as Indy's director of player personnel. He's one of the few holdovers Indianapolis is keeping around in a Colts Promote TelescoIndiana's NewsCenterColts promote Tom TelescoESPNTom Telesco named Colts vice president of football operationsIndianapolis Starall 94 news articles » -
Arizona Cardinals Hire Frank Reich; Peyton Manning Next? Fan's Take - Yahoo! Sports
8 Feb 2012 | 3:12 pmYahoo! SportsArizona Cardinals Hire Frank Reich; Peyton Manning Next? Fan's TakeYahoo! SportsContributor Network 3 hours, 16 minutes ago Almost before lights had dimmed in Lucas Oil Stadium after Super Bowl XLVI, fans of the Indianapolis Colts had already resumed our chatter regarding the future of inured quarterback Peyton Manning.Hmmm: Cardinals hire Manning's ex-coachESPN (blog)Cardinals move McNulty to QB coach, hire Reich to coach WRsWashington PostReich looking forward to new opportunity in the desertArizona SportsNational Football Post -AllMediaNY -SI.comall 66 news… -
Indy writer on Peyton: His 'arm is a noodle' - CBSSports.com (blog)
8 Feb 2012 | 2:46 pmCBSSports.com (blog)Indy writer on Peyton: His 'arm is a noodle'CBSSports.com (blog)Prior to the 2011 season, the general perception of what he meant to Indianapolis went something like this: he had singlehandedly saved the Colts from themselves, led them to a Super Bowl title in 2006, and his accomplishments were the currency that Could Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts produce sports' next huge breakup?Yahoo! SportsPeyton Manning says he's not envious of Eli's two ringsNFL News4 Reasons Why Colts Might Actually Keep Peyton ManningBleacher ReportESPN…
