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Archive for December, 2009

As understood by most of the people, the purpose of having a business card is not merely to convey and share the information printed on the card. It has several other purposes. Business cards have a dozen of stories to recite to different people. Today, as communication has become an innate part of the entire marketing procedure, having a business card works better to share some of the important contact information with the person meeting you.

Having so much importance of business cards in marketing world, it becomes necessary to make the card an impressive one. Discussing about some suggestions can help you appropriately to apply it in making the individual or organisational business card worth memorable. The first important thing you need is to understand the objective of your business card. Objective of the card has to meet the professional standard. Try to make all the subject matter clearer. Make it worth readable so that the card catches instant attention of readers.

The traditional way of designing business cards say that card has to follow the principle of black ink, white card, four line text and one side of printing. But, to let the card attain a lasting impression, it is important to break such rules. Both side printing on your card doubles up the card’s expression. It gives you further space to utilise it in putting more of information. Check whether the important communication content like mailing address, email address and contact numbers have been written in bold or in some way that it holds reader’s attention.

Moreover, putting a logo, which is symbolic representation of your company helps further to enhance your corporate image. Designing is other important tool which plays a vital role in making the business cards impressive. Plan better about the background colour of the card and text colour. Besides taking care of all such issues, keep in mind that your business card has to meet the professional standard.

Doug Stevenson’s Emotional Eloquence keynote and workshop. Storytelling, metaphor, engagement, influence. www.storytheater.net

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The power of non-verbal communication.: An article from: Doors and Hardware

Future leaders: Executives to get back to basics
Heading out of a decade that began ignobly with the greatest corporate collapse of all time — Enron Corp. — and closed out with the biggest financial bailout of Wall Street ever witnessed, the next 10 years for business leaders are expected to be a recalibration of the fundamentals.

Read more on National Post

Usually, you have one opportunity to present your organization’s ideas, products, and/or services to the audience.  You work on the account for months and the presentation is your big moment.  You speak to an under enthusiastic, yet polite audience; they thank you for your presentation and say they will get back to you.  Unfortunately, after the presentation you learn that they went with another vendor.

What Happened?

It amazes me how often we see presenters with only one opportunity to make a presentation to sell their products, services, or ideas who come nowhere near meeting the needs of their audience.  It’s almost as if the presenter is apologizing for making a presentation, and this prevents them from presenting well.

Why is it important for you to give a powerful presentation that sells you and your organization?  You face more competition during these economic times, so you need to stand out so that the prospective “customer” chooses you as their provider.  Your job as a presenter is to convince the decision-makers to choose your organization or act on the information shared during your presentation.  The following are ten presentation skills secrets that will help you give a powerful presentation that will sell you to decision makers:

1. Research Audience Needs – Invest time to find out what is important to the audience members so that you can meet their specific needs.  Find out what challenges they face and how you can help them overcome these challenges.  You will find out your audience members will appreciate your presentation more since you took the time to find out what is most important to them.

2. Be Organized – Have a clear opening, body, and closing to your speech.  Take the time to outline your main points and keep it simple.  Don’t put everything in your presentation.  Keep your presentation to three main points with sub points.

3. Get Excited – Show your excitement and passion for the subject you present.  When you are excited and it shows, the audience will also become excited about your presentation.  Excited audience members are audience members who will take action.  
4. Dress the Part – A friend once told me, “Dress like you want to be listened to.”  Take time to dress the part of an expert.  Be professional in the way you dress.  Investing in your looks shows the audience that you respect them and want to do a good job for them.

5. Open Strong – Bring in the audience members by creating a strong opening that will engage and challenge the audience.  Be confident and know your material so that rest of the presentation will be smooth.

6. Present Features and Benefits – Most presentations I listen to are laden with feature after feature of what the organization does.  You will distance yourself from the competition by presenting how the features you present will benefit the decision makers.  The difference between features and benefits is that features are elements a product or service has (e.g., easy opening parts, multiple customer service shifts, fast processors), while benefits are how those features can benefit the customer (e.g., easy opening parts allow you to quickly clean the product without hassle, multiple customer service shifts provide you with 24/7 service so that you get the answer you need when you need them, fast processor allow you to process your work in half the time).  Remember, decision makers will not care about you and your organization until they see how your organization will benefit them.

7. Questions Are the Answer – As you prepare for your presentation, ask the following question: “What are the possible questions I might be asked during my presentation?”  Once you have a list of possible questions, develop powerful answers.  Develop the mindset that questions asked by the audience are positive because they give you clues to how you can adjust your presentation to meet their needs.  So, embrace questions as a way to make your presentation better.

8. Use PowerPoint As An Aid – How many presentations have you seen that suffered “death by PowerPoint?”  The presenter has hundreds of slides they must go through. The slides are cluttered with several lines of text and multiple graphics on the each page. Presenters read directly from every slide, as the audience grows bored.  Remember the following to prevent death by PowerPoint:

You are the presentation; PowerPoint is the supporting aid to your presentation.

If your presentation cannot work without PowerPoint, it’s not a strong presentation.  Look for unique ways to simplify your presentation by eliminating PowerPoint slides that do not enhance your message.

9. Close Strong – Close your presentation by asking audience members to take action on the information you shared in your presentation.  Ask the decision-makers in your audience to take the next step and chose you and/or your company.  Repeat the benefits of doing business with you so that you become the obvious choice.

10. Ask for Feedback – Your presentation doesn’t end with your closing.  After your presentation, ask for feedback from decision-makers in the audience.  Listen to the feedback so that you can address the concerns they may have concerning you and your organization.

Your job is to stand out and be a cut above the rest of the competition so that decision-makers will choose you or your organization.  Follow the ten presentation secrets and you will gain more opportunities and success.

In this article, we would read about the reasons behind the innovation and popularity of the mobile phones besides finding some benefits of them. Let us start with the introduction followed by a close look at the reasons of their popularity.

Since the landline phones were low in terms of their portability and offered limited flexibility, there was an urgent need for a replacement. The replacement was made in 1973 by Dr. Martin Cooper in the form of a mobile phone. However, this phone was quite heavy and did not have enough features to boast upon. With the passage of time, several innovations took place and now the mobile phone is merely not a source to communicate but is also used for other tasks such as gaming and music. The credit of mobile phones’ popularity can be given to intense market competition, emergence of new market players and innovations. Now that we have learnt about the reasons behind the innovation and popularity of mobiles, let us now proceed to some of their benefits. A mobile phone offers a superior degree of portability, reliability and affordability as compared to the traditional phones.

Some of the highly acclaimed and latest mobile phones in today’s market are the Sony Ericsson T250i, Sony Ericsson K510i, Sony Ericsson K200i and Sony Ericsson W910i. These Sony Ericsson mobiles are incredibly high on sound and video quality besides coming up with smart features. These cheap mobile phones are easily available in the traditional as well as online markets.

However, you need to take caution while selecting the cheap mobile phones. You just cannot ignore factors such as performance, quality and affordability besides having a close look at the substitute products and price. If you can do that, there is nothing better than that.

Till Kahrs is a TV/Media Debate Expert who frequently appears on National TV to analyze Presidential Debates! Mr. Kahrs is also a Speaker, Author, Trainer who specializes in Communication Skills Training for Public Speaking, Selling Skills, and various other types of Business Communication Skills. Please contact him at TheTrainer4u.com Till’s book “Enhancing Your Presentation Skills” is available through http

Learn how vocal variety & intonation can help you be more engaging, create excitement for your topic and help your audience pay attention. By watching footage from live classroom training, you will be able to immediately implement this new skill into your presentation style. Visit www.power-presentations.com to purchase the complete DVD.

In 2010, resolve to communicate better at work
With the New Year upon us, I’ve been wondering why we think of resolutions as temporary even before we make them.

Read more on The Tennessean

www.Presentation411.com Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix, discusses lessons presenters can learn from a rock star