Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Interesting Finds: June 24, 2006 AM edition

In the course of my work, I sit through a lot of presentations. There are some great ones (Guy Kawasaki, Steve Jobs, Brad Ames, and more). And then there are the ones where I wish I could teleport myself out of the room.

I've written about some good presentation skills/aids in the past (see Related Links, below). On the other side of the coin, here is my "don't do it" list so far.

  1. Don't put too many words on the slide. If you want me to read an article, send it to me in email. I came to hear you - and hear your stories from your heart.
  2. No animations, videos, etc. unless they are a crucial part of your story. If you are showing a video clip that helps tell your story, I can dig it. If it's a race car sound effect with a word skidding onto the screen, I don't need that. PowerPoint gimmicks are like the "Reply All" button in your email client - just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.
  3. No jokes about getting the time slot after lunch, and how everyone is going to nod off. That's just not funny because everyone says it. Just tell me a story about something, or a good clean joke.
  4. No reading the slides verbatim. Again, I'm here to hear you and your stories. You can use the main points to jog your memory, but tell me something I don't see on the slide (this is even worse when you combine it with #1 and you read a bunch of words to me).
  5. Face me, not the screen. When you face me, I feel a connection and your voice projects toward me. When you face away, I lose the connection. More so if I can't hear you.
  6. Don't use a font that's too small to read from the back of the room. I get the cheap seats sometimes but I still want to see your slides from way back there.
  7. Don't use a text and background color combination with low contrast. Dark blue on black (yes, I saw that recently) doesn't cut it from anywhere in the room.
  8. Avoid busy / heavy background graphics. Text gets lost on a busy background.
  9. Don't talk too fast, and don't mumble. I think this one speaksforitselforatleastitshould.
  10. Don't "wing it." Know your topic, know your slides, and know your key points. It's important enough for me to be here, so don't treat it like improv. Rehearse before you show up.

Not comfortable presenting?

Some ways to improve include:

Related links:

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We can tackle the Big with a lot of Small

OK, let me start by saying I'm not trying to bring everybody down with this topic. That said, today I heard a thought-provoking discussion around Gartner's Research advisory, "G00136943: Prepare Now for a Coming Avian Flu Pandemic" (this is a free research note, and Gartner is planning a series of such advisories go to the Gartner web site and search for "pandemic" to find them, along with more detailed for-fee research).

The core warning of the note is that companies should look beyond their current, traditional disaster recovery / business continuity plans, and start developing pandemic response plans. And, we should all be doing this now. Excellent (if disconcerting) advice. Why?

We have not yet experienced a pandemic in the high tech era

Yes, we have disasters all the time - hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc. These kinds of disasters only affect a localized geographic area. Even the devastating disasters like huge tsunami of 2004, the earthquakes in 2005, and Hurricane Katrina caused localized sorts of problems. They also tend to have short-lived periods of destruction (i.e. the part that causes damage goes away pretty quickly). All of this means that surrounding global communities who are not affected are able to mobilize fairly quickly and begin providing aid.

In contrast, a "pandemic," (a global epidemic) will affect a large portion of the world in a very short period of time, and could continue for weeks or months. The Gartner note cites a U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report projecting the likely effect that a pandemic of the avian influenza virus H5N1 would have on the U.S. economy, if it were to begin spreading to humans:

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Throwing in the towel...

For years, just about every hotel I visit (and I visit a bunch of them) has a little sign in the room that tells me how much the world suffers because of all of the towels I make them wash every day. I'm sure you've seen the signs. They all go something like this (my paraphrased version):

Throughout the world, travelers like you cause the hotel industry to use a kabillion gallons of water and a whole boatload of energy every single day just to give you a new towel every day. You can save the world by re-using your towels.

To re-use your towels, hang them on the rack. Otherwise toss them on the floor or in the tub, and we'll replace them.

Every time I stay at a hotel for more than a night, I re-hang my towel so I can use it again. And, in about 99% of the cases, they take my towel anyway and give me a fresh, clean one.

In addition to hanging towels on the towel bar, I have tried hanging them in the closet, on the hook on the back of the door, and other places to keep from sending the world to Hell in a handbasket because of my excessive use of towels. Most of these have no effect (though hanging the towel in the closet usually keeps them from taking that one - but sometimes causes them to leave an additional towel in the bathroom).

What's my point?

This is about more than just towels. This is about business and management. What can we, as managers, learn from this?

  1. If your business sets a customer's expectation in a certain way, you should try to satisfy those expectations in a manner that's consistent with what you've said you're going to do.
  2. If you have a policy you don't enforce, why have the policy at all?
  3. If you implement a policy or practice which you expect your staff to fulfill on your behalf, it's your responsibility to ensure that the staff understands how to act according to your wishes.

Take a look at your business's policies, practices, and messages to your customers. Do they make sense? Does your staff understand what's expected of them? Are you fulfilling the expectations you've set for your customers?

If not, are you going to fix it? If it's your responsibility, what are you waiting for?

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Travel tools for red-eyes and jet lag

Last week, I woke up in every US continental time zone (Portland, OR on Monday; Dallas on Tuesday; Philadelphia on Wednesday; Denver on Thursday; and Portland, OR again on Friday).

I also take quite a few red-eye flights and flights overseas.

This kind of time zone shifting messes with my body clock sometimes, causing me to stay up late (particularly when I travel east), typically followed by an early morning start. There are a ton of things you can do to help with jet lag and recovery from red-eye flights, but I want to share a few of my favorite 'tools' with you.

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What a coincidence...

As you may have noted from a couple of my posts this past week, I've been thinking a lot about laser beams and focus (following my LASIK procedure).

I laughed out loud at the coincidence when I received an email from Amazon yesterday that my advance copy of Lisa Haneberg's latest book, "Focus Like a Laser Beam: 10 Ways to Do What Matters Most" just shipped yesterday. I'm confident I'll be as pleased with Lisa's book as I have been with my LASIK.

I've been a big fan of Lisa's work for quite a while, starting with her book, "High Impact Middle Management" which was one of my favorites from last year. I then participated in the pilot of her "2 Weeks 2 A Breakthrough" pilot program last summer, and was even more impressed with how she works and thinks.

From some early clues from her about this latest book, I'm glad it'll arrive just in time for a flight to Houston this week. Check out Lisa's new book - and check out her blog Management Craft if you haven't already done so.

Congratulations, Lisa!

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