STAT-A-MATRIX is the world’s leading performance improvement consulting and training firm.

We know that the economic climate is tough and likely to get tougher still. The one key element that will help your organization weather these challenging times is performance improvement. STAT-A-MATRIX can help you learn how to achieve organizational excellence and sustain viability in your particular sector.

In addition to developing custom solutions for our client’s needs, we use a variety of methodologies to assist organizations’ improvement initiatives, including Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, Process Management, Nuclear Quality Assurance, ISO 9000, AS 9100, TL 9000, ISO 14000, and ISO 13485. Our FDA Regulated Practice assists Medical Device and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration to comply with the quality and regulatory requirements that are imposed upon them.

Founded in 1968, STAT-A-MATRIX began by helping clients in the U.S. and around the world develop and implement unique performance improvement programs to enhance the quality of their products and services and improve their performance. Having been around longer than any other firm in the industry, we have a clear understanding of our customers’ needs.

STAT-A-MATRIX Headquarters, Edison, NJ

Our experience in providing excellence in performance improvement training and consulting services, along with our proven methodologies and overall customer satisfaction, sets us apart from our competitors. Our approach incorporates a blend of concepts, methods, techniques, and tools designed to transfer skills and knowledge to your organization effectively and efficiently.

The STAT-A-MATRIX Institute, our nonprofit educational institute, provides quality education and training to government and industry. The institute currently offers hundreds of public seminars each year in Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing, Process Management, Medical Device and Pharmaceutical quality and regulatory requirements, ISO 9000, AS 9100, TL 9000, ISO 14000, and ISO 13485.

With trainers and consultants in 33 states and 14 countries, STAT-A-MATRIX has achieved measurable success in helping our clients successfully compete in the global marketplace. Call us today and let us show you how we can empower your organization to achieve and sustain quality and excellence.

Oriel Incorporated offers two project management training courses to give you the proper tools to create and deliver your organization’s products and services in the most effective manner possible.

From general definitions to the specific skills and techniques of scheduling, team management, communication, and more, our courses will teach you the latest and most effective project management techniques. Created in partnership with Boston University’s Corporate Education Center, these courses are presented by a stellar group of highly experienced professionals who have successfully employed project management across a host of industries.

Whether you are new to the field of project management or are an experienced manager who wants to keep up with the current trends, turn to Oriel. Our core material can also be customized to address the unique elements of your particular organization.

Our courses include:

• Principles and Techniques of Project Management
• Project Management Fast Track

Principles and Techniques of Project Management (3 days)
Learn how to effectively balance the weight of your managerial responsibilities with the expectations of different stakeholders.  This course provides an overview of the concepts and principles of project management, which will enable you to oversee your projects efficiently and effectively.  An integrated case study gives you a first-hand opportunity to practice the theories and concepts discussed in the course.  This class is 100% compliant with the current Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) from the Project Management Institute (PMI®).

In this course, you will learn how to clearly differentiate among project, program, and subproject, identifying contrasting and related characteristics of each;  compare and contrast project management to strategic management, operations management, and crisis management, understanding your role in all of these relationships;  define the role of project manager while addressing the expectations of different project stakeholders;  and develop essential management deliverables such as project charters, scope statements, work breakdown structures, activity lists, duration estimates, network diagrams, and risk analysis.

Project Management Fast Track (5 days)
As a project manager, do you feel confident in your ability to effectively plan, execute, control, and close the projects that are assigned to you?  If not, or if you’d like to learn to perform your job more easily, look no further—this five-day class from Oriel, offered in partnership with Boston University’s Corporate Education Center, will give you the background and tools you need to optimize your role in the project management process.  Even better, this course will help you prepare for Project Management Professional®  (PMI) certification from the Project Management Institute® (PMI).

A case study is threaded throughout the program and includes activities that enable participants to apply the lessons that they’re learning.  The curriculum is presented in dual fashion: PMI theories are presented and then supplemented with examples from the course instructors’ project management experiences.  This combination of theoretical and practical will give you a more intensive presentation of the material, so that you can absorb—and retain—it more thoroughly.

Prerequisites for this course are a minimum of 2–4 years experience working in a project manager role and leading a team, familiarity with and understanding of PMI® and the PMBOK® Guide, and/or interest in and sufficient experience (4,500 hours over 5 years) to take the PMI certification exam.

From startupnation.com

In our experience, the process of creating and writing a business plan is as valuable as the end product itself – a document that will provide the priorities, context and sanity you’ll need as you start up your business.

Just remember that the most important audience for a business plan is YOU! You’ll be forced to be accountable to all of the statements, claims, stats and facts inside of it.

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From startupnation.com

Before you launched your own business, keeping track of your finances and doing your own taxes was probably a cinch. Easy-to-use bookkeeping software such as Microsoft Office Accounting, Quicken and QuickBooks helps you keep control while doing it yourself.

Like many entrepreneurs trying to shepherd an expanding enterprise, it might now make sense to turn over tax, accounting and other financial chores to outside specialists. Choosing the right type of accounting services, however, is an important decision. The right accounting assistance can lift a tremendous burden off your shoulders.

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I manage all the content for Building’s contract publishing supplements which, by the magic of the web, are now available as digital editions. Here you can have a virtual flick through a recent eight-pager for ICI – as it’s about paint, it was a good excuse to have fun with a very lairy colour scheme. And today we published a 32-page magazine for the government’s waste quango, WRAP. But this one is probably my favourite, for Waitrose earlier this year, which was rather more successful than my shortlived stint on their checkouts in 1994.

I’ve also edited quite a few editorial supplements – like this one on the retail sector in November 2007, this careers guide with a sustained “Choose Your Own Adventure” theme (complete with “If you decide to leap the ravine, turn to page 5″ links) and this one, focusing on construction in the Gulf states – a must if you like pictures of very tall buildings…

So, is PR in its traditional perceived form dead? Not a loaded question in the slightest! Three things have got me thinking about this – completing the CIPR Diploma, climbing Snowdon, and starting on the CIM Diploma.

The more reading I did around PR while studying for the Diploma (and the Certificate before it), the more I realised that PR in its strictest perceived form just does not – or should not – exist anymore. PR professionals (and I use that word deliberately) do not just wine and dine journalists or massage egos. Our role is – and should be – so much wider.

The PR profession (again, a deliberate choice of words) has a PR problem. While we may have developed professionally to offer clients so much more than the PR practitioners of the early 1900s with their publicity campaigns – we are not telling people about it. And, when we do, they don’t understand our jargon.

Our trip up Snowdon got us all thinking about what it is we actually do – what benefit do we offer our clients? Our vision, mission and values have been clearly defined for some time (has everyone seen our brand onion?) but how we crystallise that into a service offering that clients actually understand has been a longer process.

We subscribe to the CIPR’s definition of PR – it is about reputation; the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. We feel this covers the holistic nature of the PR profession – defining your cause and then integrating your communications so that your messages and values are consistent across all media and to all audiences.

This is where the CIM Diploma comes into it. The reading I’ve done over the last two months has highlighted just how much we do that extends outside of the traditional realm of PR.

While we do not profess to be HR people or business management consultants, we do know how to use communications to achieve buy-in from all parties – internal and external – and how to use that for competitive advantage (the holy grail as defined by the CIM).

So, open to debate, “we are business communications problem solvers” – succinct and to the point? Or vague and yet more jargon? Does it actually accurately convey what we do? Or is it just another way of hiding behind words while we try to articulate clearly the value that we add?

The North Cork Enterprise Board in association with the North Cork Business Alliance will hold a Business Information and Speed Networking Evening for local Business Owners, on:

Tuesday, 1st December 2009
In
Springfort Hall, Mallow
At 6.30 p.m.

Admission:    Free
****************

Guest Speaker:

Gareth Fitzgerald C.E.O.
Munster Rugby

Our Evening will include light Refreshments , Speed Networking, Socialising and… Recital by Duhallow Choral Group

If you would like to book a place please contact The North Cork Enterprise Board on 022 43235

All businesses and business network members are very welcome to attend.  Please spread the word.

Today’s post is a little different.  It looks at what things may mean, aside from their physical presence.  An earlier version first appeared as an emailed comment on October 21, 2009 to JStreet.org, an emerging interesting group noted for expanding the Middle Eastern conversation.  Here’s the item at JStreet/Settlements that got my attention…

Security Barrier & Two-state Sustainability:  “J Street supports the concept of a security barrier as an important element of Israel’s defense, but believes that the barrier must be located along an internationally recognized border.  Its present route has confiscated land and separated Palestinians from the jobs, health care and family. It will have to be relocated in many sections as part of a final status agreement.”

So let’s look at that for a moment.  Isn’t it possible that it’s exactly “the concept of a security barrier” that makes a barricaded border into a mutual membrane that filters out the directly accessible economic and individual interactions that define viable social and political life?  Can the term “barrier” end up turning the meaning of “security” upside down?

It’s not like Europe hasn’t torn itself apart twice in the past century, and numerous times prior to that (see History_of_Europe).  Yet, consider that the 1930-1939 barrier attempted between two European antagonists has become the signature term for a futile defensive crouch.  For details, look at the Maginot_Line polity and policy.  Just as the Line tried to substitute concrete for wisdom, mobile forces, and firepower, so an ongoing barrier says that an ongoing relationship will be grounded in a physical manifestation of an Existential disbelief in any shared positive reality between the people on the ground.

In relative terms, the Berlin_Wall outlived the Maginot Line by decades, but it didn’t buy durable security for the German Democratic Republic.  The poet Robert Frost wrote that “good fences make good neighbors” (see Mending_Wall), but it seems also true that solid walls make prisoners on both sides.  At least a fence lets air, light, and sight pass through, and provides a place to rest one’s forearms while discussing the day with a neighbor.  And unlike a solid wall or barrier, a simple fence is a mutual respect for a shared larger space.  That’s a security no barrier can provide.

Once the idea of “barrier” digs into the mind, other examples come into focus.  There’s Hadrian’s_Wall to keep Romans safe in Britannia.  There’s the Great_Wall_of_China  to keep out invaders from the 5th Century BC to the 16th Century Current Era.  Each kept people busy and delayed incursions, but their need for continuous work indicates neither succeeded in staving off depredations as the respective centers lost their way.  Makes one wonder about the ability to process lessons learned.  See current US efforts to paste walls of steel (South) and procedure (North) to cover policy shortfalls affecting both borders (U.S.-border-policy-question, United_States_border).

So there’s something seductive about a wall.  People keep building them to feel good by doing something, anything, to avoid doing something more insightful.  Their record says it’s more likely walls end up looking like a lunge for a security blanket, than like real clarity of mind.  Maybe simple fences to mark shared spaces aren’t so simple-minded after all.

Many times as an entrepreneur we have high hopes of starting & developing 1 or more successful businesses. In the process of building a new  business or working on the current one that you have, you may forget about family. Sometimes you may forget or don’t pay enough attention to how is this going to affect your family or the ones closet in your life.

Starting & managing a business can take a lot out of you. Many things around the life and success of your business ventures or projects should start out with a strategic plan & support. Why?

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Because without strategically planning things can lead to disorganization, various problems in your company, problems with family, friends etc… If your entrepreneurial adventures have some affect on your family or close ones then create a plan; a strategic one at that.

Let your family know that this is a business and things have to get done but there will be family time soon & stick to the plan! When you have a strategic plan to make time for both: business & family, you could possibly create & maintain a sense of balance which could possibly lead to success in both areas.

Take into account those around you. Then you all can coordinate your schedules together. Take time out each week or month to have a meeting with them to discuss up coming events, plans etc…. Then decide how you all will work them out. Stick To The Plan!!

Have these things written out on paper, on your computer, personal calendar etc… Post them where every one involved can see them or be a reminder to you. That way, you all will know what’s going on (or supposed to be) in the coming days or weeks. Then you won’t have any surprises (hopefully).

In your plan you can leave some room for adjustments and problems but with your plan by your side you’ll see your way through a crisis.

Try to get more assistance around the home. Schedule out personal time, family time, quiet time for you to reflect, not too much till you start slacking in your business. Slacking off will show, your customers & associates might notice & that’s bad for business. Put aside enough time to just relax & release then come back to business refreshed. Let your family, close ones or loved ones help you out in your business in small ways.

A little strategic planning goes a long way, it can help you & benefit your business, your family & you in the long run.

November 17, 2009 by Steve Hannaford

Posted in: Latest News & Views, Regulations & Compliance

Most companies now understand that all sorts of data on their servers is vulnerable to be dragged into court in the event of a lawsuit. But now it’s their metadata that’s under attack, and the change may mean more trouble yet.

What is metadata? It’s the digital information that gets attached to any email or text document that traces who created the document and when, what (if anything) it was based on, who modified it and when, and how it was routed inside and outside the company.

Think, for example, of a lawsuit that turns on the issue of whether a certain document was reviewed by a senior manager. Consider a fired employee who can demand not only confidential personnel files, but who wrote them and when.

The issue came up in a ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court, which reversed a power court decision that ruled that metadata –- in this case included in public records — not being an intrinsic part of the document, could not be demanded by the plaintiffs along with the documents in question. The higher court stated that the hidden metadata was to be made as available as the regular data.

As one legal expert stated:

“Without knowing when something happened, or who was involved, electronic evidence is often useless –- thus, metadata is critical. Because of metadata’s critical nature, it is generally deemed to be part and parcel of the document it describes – if the document is relevant and must be divulged, then so must the metadata.”

What can and should companies do? The temptation might be to erase metadata in advance (there are tools in Microsoft Office that can). But at least one other case is pending where a company may be in hot water for doing this.

As emails including hastily written text messages become ever more interesting to plaintiffs, expect this whole area of metadata to become an ever-bigger issue. For more on metadata, you might want to check out this legally-oriented report.

Six business networking tips

Unless you’re independently wealthy and have an unlimited marketing budget, business networking events present one of the best opportunities for gaining new clients and growing your business. And, in an economic environment in which some long-successful clients are going out of business, it’s important to always seek new customers.

But if marketing your business and services doesn’t come natural to you, this is a problem. Others will pick up on your unease, the resulting awkwardness, and the subsequent pained and pregnant pauses when you attempt conversation. You need to feel capable, confident, and charismatic. Unless you’re a rookie IT consultant, you’re already a smooth operator — you just don’t know it.

If you remember these six simple tips, the next business network event you attend will proceed smoothly.

1. Remember that the technology component is the toughest part of this business.
Talking to people is easy. If you’ve been in business and existing clients are happy with your service, you’ve likely already begun mastering the most difficult challenges IT professionals face. Don’t place too much pressure to talk to X number of people — just go with the event’s energy flow. For some meet-ups, that may mean introducing yourself to 15 – 20 people or more. For other events, it may mean forging a relationship with a single contact.

2. You don’t have to start by talking about yourself.
If you have trouble initiating conversation with strangers, just ask what they do. It’s simple. For instance, I might say, “Hello, my name is Erik. What brings you to today’s networking event?” or “Hi, my name’s Erik; what line of work are you in?” Be sure to use your name; when you do, people will open up, tell you their name, and describe their business. Ask for their business card. When they ask what you do, tell them; if they don’t ask, and there’s a pause in the conversation, just tell them. Explain a crazy technology story that’s recently proved arresting. Humor’s always a great method of breaking the ice, such as “certainly you’ve never had any computer trouble before, right?” Everyone around may well laugh knowingly.

3. Be yourself.
I don’t subscribe to the theory that you need to attend motivational or public speaking classes to become an effective networker. Whenever you’re asked to talk about things that interest you, I suspect you have no trouble becoming enthusiastic. That’s why being a technology consultant is a good thing — everyone can relate to the problems and issues we fix, and that’s where our interest lies, so that’s a good match.

4. Relax.
No one’s going to chop your head off. Introduce yourself, ask what others do, and inevitably others will ask about your line of work. There’s no pressure. It doesn’t matter if you’re addressing a CEO or an administrative assistant; as long as you’re respectful, avoid bad words, and are polite, good things will follow. You don’t have to feel like The Office’s Michael Scott — that is, worried you’ll reveal a deep secret (in Scott’s case, the fact is his business is broke). Remember that IT consultants provide services that are very much in demand.

5. Carry business cards with you — everywhere.
I get stopped in parking lots, at church, at movie theaters, and in other locations by folks who know my office provides IT service. I always provide them with business cards. You’d think everyone would have business cards at a networking event, but I’m surprised at how often others must promise to forward me their contact information later by email, as they have no business cards handy. Better yet, keep your business cards within easy reach. My front right pants pocket always has a few, as does my car console, laptop bag, and coat.

6. Follow up.
A wise executive once taught me the value of hand-written thank you cards, but I believe that email has finally supplanted such traditional correspondence. Whenever you meet new contacts, send them a personalized email (not a prepackaged form message) and remind them of the services your IT consultancy provides. This is another occasion to leverage your personality, so be sure to take advantage of this networking opportunity.

Related TechRepublic resources

• Make sure your business plan includes a targeted marketing strategy
• Marketing, networking work hand-in-hand for consultants
• Marketing your services as a consultant
• Six tips for networking to success
• Add client shopping to your weekly to-do list

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Balanced Scorecard Methodology
The steps required to introduce and operate a balanced scorecard approach are listed below.

1) Define the elements of the scorecard
First, it is necessary to establish the constituents of the balanced scorecard – the perspectives from which performance requirements will be defined and measured as a basis for improvement. The elements usually include financial, process and customer factors. People factors covering development, motivation, leadership, and so forth, are sometimes substituted for learning and growth.
In the retail network of Halifax plc the four areas are:
    how people are managed;
    how internal processes are managed;
    levels of customer service;
    business performance (sales).
At this stage it is also necessary to define clearly the objectives of the balanced scorecard approach.

2) Identify performance drivers
The second step is to identify the performance drivers for each of the categories – for example, repeating and expanding sales from existing customers, the internal processes at which the company must excel, the needs and wants of customers and the particular people skills the organization needs now and in the future.
Links will need to be established between each of these areas so that they are mutually reinforcing. For example, high levels of customer service in defined areas will lead to better financial performance; customer service levels can be improved by attention to processes such as on-time delivery, and customer care will be enhanced if the right people are selected and given the training to develop the necessary skills.

3) Identify performance measures
The third step is to determine how performance in each of the categories will be measured. In some areas such as finance and customer service it may be quite easy to determine quantitative measures such as sales or levels of service as assessed by surveys, questionnaires and mystery shopping. The measures for the process and change in perspectives may, however, have to focus on the achievement of development programmes to meet defined specifications and to deliver expected results.

4) Communicate
This fourth step is to communicate to all employees what the balanced scorecard is, why it is important, how it will work, the part they will be expected to play and how they and the organization will benefit from it.

5) Operationalize
The fifth step is to operationalize the system. This means developing policies, procedures and processes that ensure that it is applied at all levels in the organization – strategically at the top, tactically in the middle – and as a matter of continuing importance so far as working practices are concerned to all employees.
Operationalization might include the definition of performance requirements in terms of targets and the introduction of new processes, the communication of these requirements, and the development and application of processes for measuring outcomes and taking corrective action when required. At an individual level, performance management processes may be based on the four elements of the scorecard. Objectives and standards of performance and competencies that are aligned to corporate objectives would be agreed for each element and performance reviews would assess progress and lead to agreed improvement and personal development plans.

6) Train
The sixth step is to provide training for everyone in the organization on the operation of the balanced scorecard and on what, on their different levels, they are expected to do about managing and implementing the process.

7) Monitoring, evaluation and review
Finally, the operation of the balanced scorecard should be monitored and its effectiveness evaluated in agreement with its objectives. A review can then take place to decide on where improvements or amendments need to be made and how they will take place.

The Social Science Research Network has released a free iPhone application. This allows iPhone and iPhone Touch users to search and view full text papers from the database. The application is available from the iTunes store.

The Social Science Research Network contains working papers in economics, accounting, entrepreneurship, finance and management.

Call them brand ambassadors, evangelists or advocates they all go out of their way to tell the world just how great you and your company are. These are the kind of employees that you want your organization’s culture to create to build a stellar reputation and sales.

Most companies, even great ones operate inconsistently. It takes commitment and constant attention to the details of execution to create a company with rave reviews from employees and customers alike.

According to Shep Hyken in his book ‘The Cult of the Customer”, employees and customers live in parallel worlds. And these employees must move through five phases before the customers do. These phases include uncertainty, alignment, experience, ownership and finally amazement.

To paraphrase Hyken, uncertainty occurs when a company is operations-focused instead of customer-focused. Specifically

• Internal processes and communication are inconsistent and disorganized
• Employees and customers aren’t sure what the company’s vision and brand promise are
• There is a company-wide lack of motivation and an attitude of indifference, to name a few.

Overcoming these and other practices which cause uncertainty about the company can move the organization into alignment. When employees understand the vision or brand promise and are able to repeat it, they must have the skills and tools to prove it to the customer, who will need to experience proof of the brand promise.

When a company starts focusing on how to repeat positive experiences that support both customers and employees, it begins to develop an environment where confidence starts to build and both the customer and employee have a positive experience.

To move into the fourth phase called ownership, is when the positive experience is predictable and consistently experienced. Here

• Strong levels of employee engagement are the norm in the organization
• Formal internal processes have been implemented to empower employee to fix problems
• Deep concerns at all levels of the organization for the quality of customer experience are voiced regularly, among others.

In the final phase, amazement, customers come to expect not just positive, but above-average service from the company and start recommending you to others as a result. Stay here is the real test. A single employee can pull you off track and make the customer ‘uncertain.’ When that happens your company must restore confidence. When customers know they can count on you, they will become loyal and eventually your brand advocate.

We are nowadays, more frequently hearing stories of disciplinary or other action being taken on individuals, or groups of individuals, by their employers because of comments or content posted on one of the many popular social media websites in use.

There was a story a few weeks ago about a young woman who was asked to leave her employment after posting derogatory comments about her boss onto the FaceBook site, forgetting that she had previously added him as a friend, meaning he would be able to see everything she had written. Then just this weeks, reports of a woman in Canada losing her sick-pay, being paid for depression, because she posted pictures of herself on the internet, again on FaceBook, looking happy. Her medical insurance company came to the conclusion that from looking at these pictures, she was no longer depressed. In a world where more and more people are fully aware of the technology available, and how we use it, it’s not very surprising that more and more people are being subjected to online vetting. It’s well known that when applying for a lot of jobs, HR departments will often perform an internet search to see just who you really are, delving into FaceBook, MySpace, and anywhere else you may have an online presence. These are both real world examples of just what an impact social networking can have on our professional identities.

I think there is another matter though, and it is all to do with workplace productivity. It’s something that I have thought about a couple of times before, but today witnessed something which really got the message across to me. I have been sat in a meeting room in a project planning brief. The room had about 40 people contained within it, all sat in groups of 2, 3, or 4 discussing different aspects of an upcoming project. The chance to have influential people from IT, people from Marketing, people from HR, all in the same room, on the same day has been a wonderful chance to really make some decent progress. However, every time I glanced up across the room, almost every screen I could see either had FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, or another social networking site open. If we take it that there were 40 people in the room for 6 hours each, that’s a total of 240 total man hours. I would love to know just how many of these hours were spent off task, rather than devoted to work. I myself found it so strange, that I immediately opened up Twitter and began to give a running commentary of the events as they unfolded – from the cleaner bursting in, to the lunchtime menu.

At a first glance, this would seem like a very unprofessional attitude and using such sites during company time could even be considered time theft. However, I find myself much more productive if I can send off the odd tweet, or update my FaceBook status. Now I’m not saying I agree with people who sit all day on these sites – but it was a strange experience watching a room of professional people, working hard and making good progress, at the same time as being in contact with colleagues, friends, and family, all over the world. Technology is a wonderful thing, but we should be careful to prevent it from consuming our time.

In these tough economic times we should all be on the lookout for ways to make ourselves stand out in business – in a good way. Being able to step up on the job and to create and do an effective presentation is a great way to make ourselves stand out. Are you an entrepreneur who does presentations for your business? Are you a sales person who does presentations for clients? Are you a speaker who speaks in front of crowds on a regular basis and you want to stay at the top of your game? Are you in a business and you want to advance and impress your boss? All of these people can use the information in this book.

This is one of the smallest books I’ve read lately – but its packed with great information. One the very first page it says:

Greatest Fears Among Americans

1. Speaking before a group
2. Heights
3. Insects and bugs
4. Financial problems
5. Deep water
6. Sickness
7. Death

— from The Book of Lists

Okay – I’m in agreement with most of that list. Although I’ve been speaking in front of groups since I was young. However, I realize that most people don’t have that background and even with all that experience, I’m still nervous before I start to speak. So,  I was intrigued with this book. I was also curious to see how much they could squeeze into about 45 pages.

First – the full title is

136 Effective Presentation Tips: Inspire, Inform & Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

The table of contents gives us a glimpse inside –

Tips on Getting Started

– Moving From Nervous to Natural

– Getting Your Act Together

Tips on Getting Attention

– Beginning Strong

– Setting the Tone

Tips on Keeping Attention

– Involving the Audience

– Maximizing Visual Aids

—– Powerpoint

—– Flip Charts

—–Presentation readiness

—– Handouts

Tips on Gaining Buy In

– Earning the Right to Call for Action

– The Summary and Closing

A Closing Thought

All the important elements are here – so does the book deliver. I think it does. Under each heading, there are a series of tips and an explanation to implement the tip. Near the very beginning they tell us not to apologize for being nervous. How many times have you or someone you heard started a presentation like that? First point, don’t apologize.

There is a great chart that is called the 3-D outline. It very simply and clearly outlines what, why and how to execute each part of the presentation AND how long each segment should be. Its very simple and very powerful. That chart is worth buying this book.

We learn how to take control of the environment — the tips are very easy to implement, but they work. Tips to reduce your stress – physical and psychological stress. We get the Top Ten Ways to Kill a Presentation. How many times have you wanted to hand that to a presenter when they were finished? These are great tips and I’ve seen people do most of these in past presentations. There are even tips for virtual presentations.

Like I mentioned this is a small book, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone who does presentations or may need to do a presentation in the future. Its a quick read, easy to go back to for reminders and packed with great tips. Do yourself a favor and order a copy of this book and study it from cover to cover before your next or your first presentation.

There is order information in the back of this book – which I’ll share here.

Cornerstone Leadership

P O Box 764087

Dallas, TX 75376

www.cornerstoneleadership.com

Clothing stores have hit a rough patch while we’ve sloshed through turbulent economic seas. Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren’s promising efforts to better align customers and products is the topic of this Knowledge at Wharton article.

It’s always nice to be surprised by people – in a good way, not a bad way!

I remember sitting on a log with a Sales Director from Greene King on a course discussing one of his junior members of staff. He had seen a whole new side to him during an outdoor training course and it had made him reconsider his future potential with the company.

In reality how often do we get to see our colleagues and team members outside work? We might see them singing out of tune at the Christmas karaoke party after a few too many mulled wines but do we see them in an environment where they can excel?

With such fierce competition in the workplace it’s not always easy to spot someone’s hidden depths whilst still at work. You get a good feel for how they operate; whether they hit their targets; whether they communicate effectively. But you don’t always get to see specific skills such as conflict resolution, inspirational leadership, project management etc. Sometimes it requires a step away from the norm for talent to emerge.

A recession is a great time to invest in talent identification and training. If you can find the hidden gems amongst your team – those people with bags of potential, lots of energy and a creative approach to work – and then invest in them, they will stay with you because you have shown your commitment to them. And they are the ones who will drive your company forward and out of recession.

But don’t just rely on your impressions in the workplace. Think creatively about how you can get staff away from the office and performing so that you can see their true talent and potential emerge.

By Ruth Moody

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Well I have just got out of a meeting with a few different people that are involved with different aspects of my new role, a meet and greet occasion if you will. I have come to the conclusion that with yesterday’s conclusions, I have hit the nail on the head. It would seem that the client wants to develop themselves both technically, and professionally. It would also seem that they want taking to the cutting edge of everything, without having to spend any money or put any effort in. The more time I spend thinking about this; the more it begins to look like a big tick-box exercise.

It is all too common for clients to want wonderful things doing on a shoestring budget – this is something that anybody working IT & Project Management unfortunately must get used to. However, this time, they seem completely unwilling to help their own progression whatsoever. For a while it would seem they have drifted along, fire fighting some issues, ignoring others all together, and not planning or developing anything. This is not acceptable and is something I must make every effort to change, once I have figured out a way to do it quietly – after all if I just let them know that they may have to start working for a living, I’m sure I would have a revolt to deal with!

After a very quick drink last night, I began to outline, for my own benefit, exactly the areas that I think need the most attention. As I did this, I became glad that I am not working on this project to make friends. This I feel would be uneventful. Here is what I came up with:

- Procurement: The current procurement procedures (and I use the term procedures very lightly you understand), are a complete mess. Nobody seems to know who is responsible for what, how things should be correctly ordered, audited, or integrated into the existing system. Speaking only on behalf of the IT Systems, this has led to a very fragmented network, with no standardisation or automated management ability.

- Staffing Structure: Again, the current state of the staffing hierarchy is a complete mess. I made this point very clear this morning and nobody could think of e decent argument – so I think I got my point across. When something new has been bought in without consideration or consultation (due to the lack of procurement procedure), a new job role is normally created along with it. People are bought in on the cheap with the hope that they may have the beginnings of a clue what it is they are doing. Nobody, again, is aware of who is exactly responsible for what, or even who. I can see about a 30% overhead on staffing that could be eliminated immediately. This is going to be a harder point to put across. The meeting his morning was a prime example of both unorganised structure and organisation, there were at least 3 people present who had no need to be there other than to get out of doing something productive themselves. Ironically enough, I did note that these three were the only ones with any real input (albeit irrelevant).

- SLA’s: There is little or no sign of any service level agreements (SLAs) that may greatly benefit the department and company as a whole. I have worked closely with several companies forming and implementing SLA’s (including for educational establishments with the FITS Framework), so this is a key area where I feel I will be able to improve upon.

As I mentioned earlier, I am so very glad that I am not here to make friends, and although now only working through my second day, know that hard times are ahead in the not so distant future. I have another meeting this afternoon with a few advertising specialists. Quite what this has to do with my role and how much use it is going to be to me I will wait and see.

Well it’s day one of my new contract, and I have been presented with a Dell Inspiron 1750. This is used, not as an example of the amazing technology I get to have experience with, but one of exactly how much of a challenge I believe I will soon be facing. The laptop is reflective of the current procurement procedures and management, and hence, exactly why I have been bought in to advise the IT Services department on their decisions, management, and operational procedures.

Let’s start with a quick overview of the laptop, before we get into the business trivialities it presents. It is the first laptop with a 17” screen that I have ever spent any real time with, and as predicted, it is far too big. It’s perfect for home use and if you never plan to take it anywhere further than to the other side of your desk. For corporate use, the benefit of the extra screen size is far outweighed by increased size, weight, and decreased battery life and portability. I can see this machine either staying at my desk in London, or at home. I plan to continue traveling with either my 15” MacBook Pro, or even my smaller 12.1” Sony Vaio.

Now down to the heart of the matter. The Inspiron is a strange choice to have made for a large scale corporate network, regardless of how big the screen is. Dell does a fantastic line in business machines (with the less aesthetically pleasing, but fantastic to use Precision and Latitude range). This would be where my money would have gone if buying a Dell laptop for a business environment. The strange purchasing decisions evidently did not stop here either, with the lower end of the range being bought (coming pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Edition). Not only did whoever put the order in, pay extra to have Windows Vista installed, rather than Windows 7, but having the Home Edition of an operating system will all but stop the laptop interacting with the company network correctly. The first thing I did was make my life easier, by installing my copy of Windows 7, and joining the company domain.

The exact thinking that must have gone into this purchase mystified and intrigued me, so I did a little bit of investigation. The results of my investigations were not quite what I was expecting them to be. The company is currently running with a Windows Server 2003 based infrastructure. I knew this part already, as one of the things I am here to oversee and project manage is the transition to a Windows Server 2008 based system.  However, some of the IT Management have been arguing that because 2003 cannot properly support Windows 7 as a member of a domain (which it can; but that’s another matter), there was no point in bringing any of the new mobile equipment onto the network. For a start, even if this was to be correct, why pay extra for an antiquated operating system? And secondly, a network incapable of properly supporting Windows 7, will usually be in a similar state for Vista as well.

I can see that the next 18 months is going to be a very interesting and time consuming experience. I’m sure that I am going to deeply upset a few people very quickly indeed – things need sorting, and soon.

In his brilliant book on modern journalism, Nick Davies demonstrates how PR firms manage to get spurious stories reported around the globe as no one has the time to check them out. I found a case of flat earth news in action when Insurance Times asked me to write this article on the apparent threat of burglars using social networking sites to plan their robberies. Insurer Legal & General had released a report co-authored with a celebrity “burglar” which had been covered by national newspapers and websites around the world. But despite the fact that Legal & General’s director of underwriting had been quoted widely discussing charging householders with teenagers more for their insurance, he couldn’t provide any evidence of this actually happening. Neither could the celebrity burglar, a veteran of numerous PR campaigns since he went straight 20 years ago. (What exactly are the CPD requirements for burglars?) And neither were any of the police forces I contacted or the Home Office aware of it either. It turns out the whole thing was the idea of Legal & General’s PR company, Fishburn Hedges.