Presentations and PowerPoint

At an industry convention I recently attended I witnessed first hand how relying solely on PowerPoint can kill a presentation. The presenter was well versed on his topic. The pre-meeting promotion I read interested me. Here is where it went down hill fast. The presenter used the exact same wording in his PowerPoint as his handouts. This bored the audience to tears. The subject of the presentation was focused around an industry study with statistical material. People in the back of the room started to leave after the first few minutes. Eyes glazed over with that after lunch bloating that sets in. I felt bad for this industry expert who had the knowledge to share yet did not use the presentation or the technology to engage the audience with the passion I knew he had for the subject. I sat in the first row so I was stuck. Therefore, I used the opportunity to write notes to myself and ask how could the presenter have made this a more enjoyable experience for the audience? How could the PowerPoint technology be used to help not hurt the presentation?

First of all I would have created a structure in the PowerPoint and had some style to the presentation. One technique is to use the “Tell ‘Em” method of presenting. This begins with “Tell the audience what you are going to talk about, then Tell the audience, backing each point with facts, figures and information. Then, Tell the audience what you told them.” This would have set the stage. The presenter just jumped into the material. Images would have given a frame of reference to the audience since most folks think visually these days.

The presenter peppered stories from his experience with his own company throughout the presentation to back up the industry data. This was good, yet he could have made the stories more powerful with appropriate images that reinforced each point he was trying to make. The presenter also appeared to be anchored at the podium. To add interest the speaker could have walked around the room to connect with his audience. A remote clicker could have kept him mobile and not stuck advancing the slides. Moving around during the presentation could have kept the audience involved and awake.

Another issue was that the presenter spoke in a monotone manner throughout the entire talk. Using some vocal variety with the speech with some well place gestures would have added interest and given the listeners an opportunity to engage with the presenter. Sound bites or sound effects could have been added humor or helped make his points more vivid.

Bottom line; Technology is great, yet an interesting person with interesting information does not make for an interesting PowerPoint presentation.

Yes! We have it in that color.

A customer asked me recently if I had some way to promote my products in his store. Being in the hardgoods side of my business we do not do a lot of point of sales materials, I asked what are you looking for? The customer paused and then said, “I know you have literature and do lots of advertising in trade publications. But, I’m looking for something that my people can wear to be a reminder that we sell your product.” I sell spray color in a aerosol can.

This customer has lots of walk in traffic and is located in a terminal market with many other businesses. The customer went on to say, “so often we get people looking for a container or a prop and we don’t have it in the color they are looking for and I am constantly training my staff to get the sell no matter what. If I can help them see that we have what they need and all they have to do it spray it with your colors everyone is happy. I sell what I have in stock and the customer gets the look they need.”

This customer’s employees all were a smock to protect their clothes and have a uniformed look allowing their customers to tell that they work at the store. “Why don’t you create a button that all my folks can wear on their smocks. It could say something like, Yes we have it in that color.”

The idea was simple and the buttons were produced. An inexpensive way to help a customer get our message out and provide them with a tool that can help sell more product. Often time just letting a customer think out loud gives you an opportunity to be a hero and give them what they want. Listen and you shall hear.

Business is GREAT!!!

The idea of attraction says if you hang around successful people you have the opportunity to be successful. If you hang around smart people you have the opportunity to be smart. I believe in this idea and choose to be happy, strive for success and work at being smarter every day. Depending on how you view the preverbal glass, half full or half empty is what your customers pick up on. I choose to say business is great. Is it? You make the call.

Some businesses are booming. Guns sales are up. Adult Beverage Sales are up. Retailers like Dollar Stores and Wal-Mart are up. With every boom and bust cycle there are winners and losers, (as long as government allows the free market to work). The question I ask myself is how can my products and services be apart of the market even when the economy is down? What do I need to do to make sure my well has water in it even in a drought? Planning for these times surely helps. Being lean and efficient is a necessity. I would say that the biggest opportunity a person has is to work on is themselves. Be happy. Be positive. Be someone others wish to be around. Yea, so the news says things “suck.” Choose not to participate in the muck.

The motivational speaker, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones would say “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” You have to get out in the market place and meet people. Join your local Chamber of Commerce and network. Join a non-profit and give your time to a worthy cause. Become a member of an Optimist Club, Lions, Rotary or any other service organization. In time you will get known and in front of people. Give all you can of your time and energy. Volunteer for activities and be known as a happy, positive person that can get things done.

Read anything and everything you can on biographies of successful people, business, history, wealth management, psychology, political science, sports and personal development. Be interesting and knowledgeable about many topics. Listen to books on tape to and from work. Give yourself 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at the end of the day to read and enhance your thinking. Go to lectures and attend seminars that are informative and challenging.

Business is great and only getting better everyday with a positive attitude, an investment in your future and by reading more and meeting someone new every day.

"We're too busy sir!"

We were all set up for a recent trade show in Dallas. The booth looked great. We had our new product all ready to roll out. Run through the check list one more time before the show opened. Price list - check. Literature - check. Give aways – Give aways. Oh we no we forgot the giveaways. What to do? I know. I’ll go over to the world famous coffee house with the green mermaid as it’s logo and buy some gift cards to hand out to good customers as our way of saying thanks for visiting our booth.

There is a short line and I wait a few minutes for my turn. As I move forward the line grows by a few people. It’s my turn to order. “One cup of coffee, black and twenty $10.00 gift cards please.” I am sorry sir we are too busy to do gift cards now. There is a line behind you. "Yes, I know there is a line behind me, however I want to spend $200.00 on gift cards and there are 10 people behind me that want to spend $4.00 dollars each on coffee. That’s $40.00 bucks. I need $200.00 in gift cards now.” I am sorry sir you will have to come back.” I can’t believe what I am hearing. I repeat, "I need $200.00 in gift cards now, please." Wait a moment sir. The cashier yells in a foreign language to someone in the back. A voice booms out, “Tell him we are too busy and he will have to come back.”

"You have got to be kidding. The economy is supposedly bad I want to spend $200 now and you are turning me down because the people behind me will have to wait?" What has happened to service in America? What has happened to common sense? What would you have done?

I tell you what I did. I took my business to the juice vendor down the hall. He was happy to take my money. I had several people behind me even when I asked for his gift cards. The problem for the world famous coffee house with the green mermaid as its logo is that I told everyone who came into my booth about my experience on how not to treat customers. I am telling you as you read this page. The world famous coffee house with the green mermaid had recently made a big deal about closing down for a day to retrain their staff about coffee and customer service. At least that’s what the PR department stated.

How can a local independent compete against a big corporate giant like the world famous coffee house with the green mermaid as its logo? Simple. Give the customer what they want, when they want it. Be pleasant. Be likable. And most of all, train your staff to be ready for extra business even when they are busy. Find a way to take care of good customers. Moral. Stop picking up dimes when you can pick you dollars. I now drink coffee from the golden arches and I save $2.50 a cup.

The Difference between “I” and “We”.

According to the dictionary the word “I” is the first person singular as a subject and is used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself. The word “I” provides clarity and gives the listener the knowledge of the speaker’s stance. Using the word “I” is assertive and gives a first person point of view.

The word “we” is a nominative plural of “I”. “We” refers to, you and another. ”We” can also mean on behalf of the group or persons who agree with each other. “We” can also be used as a leadership word for a nation or institution. Such as in the Preamble of our Constitution, “We the People of the United States…”

Before there can be a “we” there has to be an “I”. As I reflect on the recent election, I can see the real difference between each of the two main parties by the words they use and their ideologies. One party clearly believes in the strength of the individual and states “I believe” and “I am”. The other party clearly seeks to create and support a community by stating, “We want” and “Yes we can”.

As inclusive as it is, “we” leaves out the personal responsibility of being in command and control of ones own self. “We” relies on the collectiveness of the group and does not require or qualify the assembled. “We” creates it strength from its numbers. The beauty of the “I” is to know the strength of the individual, to know ones capabilities and ones convictions and beliefs and thereby being able to rely on ones self.

My concern is that the people who believe in the “we” are now in the position to take away all the guarantees of our constitution of individual and property rights, of free markets that can prosper under limited government and low taxes and provide for a strong national defense, so “we” can engage in the aforementioned enterprises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Government cannot and should not give us our happiness. It should help, yet not hinder. Government should provide only that which the “I” can not do and serve the “we” where necessary, and not just when needed or wanted.

It seams people these days want to skip being “I” and want to jump right into being “we”. I wonder why? Is it too much work? Has life become so complicated? I hope not. For “we” to work, our country needs to get back to being “I’” first.

How will you vote?

After being inundated with hundreds of commercials, postcards, flyers, newspaper articles, e-mail blasts, blog reports and even personal visits from candidates the race for public office has become an interruption in my daily life. Like most people I would like to get back to the comfort of my routine before the election. I would like to go back before I ever had to met Freddie and Fannie
and the economic meltdown of Wall Street. Here’s the problem. There is no going back, only the future. We can’t change what has happened. We can learn from the past and only go forward.

I have been told how we got into the current situation. The finger pointing has been directed at both major political parties and their leaders How do we fix the problem so we can go forward and pull away from all the of negativity and mistrust of government? How do we vote for real change? Here’s a novel idea. Pull out that dusty copy of the United States Constitution you gave your kids to read for school. Can’t find it? Go to the library and ask for a copy, they may still have one, someplace. Better yet, go on-line and look it up. Read what it has to say. Yes, I know the wording is perhaps a bit old fashion. I know it’s something you haven’t looked at since high school civics class. Do yourself and your country a favor and read it.

You may be shocked how different you will “fill in the boxes” in the voting booth. The ideals set forth by America’s Founders in the United States Constitution should be everyone’s guiding principles in making their decisions on Election Day. Do the candidates you are voting for or the issues you are in favor of protect individual and property rights? Do the individuals running for office stand for personal responsibility? Are your candidates in favor of free markets, limited government and low taxes? And most importantly is your candidate voting for a strong national defense?

If you can answer yes to all these questions then the person you are voting for and the issues you are in favor of are upholding the guiding principles of our Constitution. If they are not, then you get the government you vote for. My suggestion for my countrymen is to really move on. Read one of the most enduring documents written by all mankind. Read your Constitution and then vote.

Waiting for the sun to rise.

Leadership is earned, not a given.
Sometimes one finds themselves placed in this position. Others seek it out.
If you are a leader of a group or a company try this exercise. Before the early morning dawn stand facing the west and wait for the sun to rise.You may will it all you want. You can think positively. You may dream it to happen. Yet, simply being positive or optimistic about the outcome will not make it happen. Facing away from the challenge and wishing, hoping or commanding the sun to rise in the west will not make it so.

What does a leader do? Realize that you are not so powerful that you can wish, will or command an object like the sun to move away from its natural cycle. Your employees, volunteers in a group or even your kids are much the same way. People follow leaders that lead. It sounds redundant, however I have found it is a correct statement. A leader has a vision or their goals based on his or her values, plans and activities. A leader then follows the vision with their mission. A simplified statement of purpose and a base for all else that is to be accomplished. Finally, a leader must communicate their vision and mission in a compelling manner that engages the listener in a way that they wish to be lead.

Simple to say, yet it is very challenging to do. I have studied leadership by reading, listening and attending seminars and talks. I have been to management institutes, industry conventions and trade shows too numerous to count. I am still learning about the art and the science of leadership. I have been in leadership positions and have been successful. I have been in leadership positions and failed and I have had to learn that leadership is a moving target that evolves as the group or situation changes. The key is not to lose sight of the one’s vision and mission. Leaders can adapt with new or different information, yet it then has to be redefined and communicated again.

When I think back to the people I have followed in my life, my parents, my teachers, my professional mentors, I see one common thread. It is that they cared about me. They touched my heart and asked that I be a part of their lives. Leaders know how to do this with their actions, their stories and their real world experiences which allow others to follow. Leaders lead from the heart, not from their position. The sun will prove it every time.