17 septembre 2009, “Return on Marketing Investment” présenté par Vanessa van Dongen d’Orangina Schweppes Belgium.

Un sujet intéressant pour le groupe actuel principalement actif dans le B2C. Avec une question à laquelle je n’ai personnellement pas encore trouvé de réponse: Comment appliqué cela au B2B, et plus particulièrement à un marché de niche.

J’ai noté 3 points pendant la présentation et les questions qui ont suivi, que je voulais partager avec vous.

1/ Mantra

Le mantra de Schweppes c’est “Premium Adult Softdrink”. Du coup, l’ensemble du positionnement se fait autour de ce Mantra, à la fois pour les produits, la publicité, etc.

De nombreuses sociétés, dont nombre de PME, ont tendance à oublier de définir ou à oublier tout court, leur Mission ou Mantra. Quand on pense à un Mantra, on pense à quelque chose de court comme Federal Express “Peace of mind” ou Nike “Authentic athletic performance”. Celui de Schweppes est parfait. Ce qui l’est encore plus, c’est le travail fait ensuite dans la communication, comme avec cette très récente publicité où les codes du parfum, du champagne sont détournés vers un softdrink “premium”.

Et votre mantra à vous c’est quoi? Comment la communiquez-vous? Connaissez-vous celui de vos concurrents?

2/ Qu’est-ce qu’un bon marketeer?

Réponse directe de la spécialiste lors du TTT

1. Esprit d’analyse
2. Coordination (des équipes, des sous-traitants …)
3. Ambassadeur de la marque
4. Expertise du marché

La créativité est un plus,mais souvent, elle vient d’autres personnes ou du groupe.

J’a trouvé ces réponses très intéressantes, et plutôt différentes du sens commun.

3/ Le Net Promoter Score

Concept que je ne connaissais pas (merci David), le Net Promoter Score mesure la fidélité à une marque. On pose généralement une question à ses clients du type “Conseilleriez-vous notre marque à vos amis/collègues?”. Les réponses de 0 à 10 sont séparées entre les Détracteurs (0-6), les Promoteurs (9-10) et les Neutres (7-8). La différence entre le pourcentage de promoteurs et de détracteurs donnent un pourcentage entre -100% et 100%. Apple a par exemple un Net Promoter Score exceptionnellement élevé à plus de 70%.

Un concept qu’on peut facilement mettre en pratique dans le B2B, sur sa base installée et qui sera certainement révélateur et indicateur de tendance si on le fait régulièrement.

Présentation
Pour finir, voici donc la présentation en 4 parties. Désolé pour les slides qu’on ne voit pas très bien. On demandera au prochain speaker de se mettre debout.

Finally I’ve linked the blog with my twitter account and I’ve created a Fan page on Facebook.

Now you can follow my tweets on this blog and/or on my twitter profile and, If you want, you can became a fan of this blog visiting the Facebook dedicated Fan page.

Here you can find the links to the pages mentioned above.

Cambridge Wireless, 3rd December

Next Thursday, 3rd December, I’ll be participating in a meeting of the Software & Open Source SIG (Special Interest Group) of Cambridge Wireless.  Cambridge Wireless is a community of companies in and around Cambridge with the following declared ambition:

Our objective is to establish Cambridge Wireless as the leading wireless community in the world and where we are at the leading edge of thought, leadership and wireless technology discussions

Symbian Software Ltd was one of the founding members of Cambridge Wireless, and the Symbian Software Ltd office on the outskirts of Cambridge hosted several Cambridge Wireless events over the years.  The ones I attended provided excellent networking and stimulating conversation.

Cambridge Wireless organise a series of SIGs – such as the one on Software & Open Source.  Next Thursday, this SIG will be gathering to review a set of presentations addressing the topic,

Open handset ecosystems – can they deliver handsets that consumers want?

My own presentation at this event has the title,

Open Ecosystems – a Good Thing?

Here’s the abstract for my presentation:

David will look at the various ways in which openness is changing the way that handsets are being developed through the use of open ecosystems, how developer ecosystems are transforming the way that applications and services are being created, and give his view on the impact of this on consumers. Openness brings challenges as well as triumphs. Done right, however, the open community approach will (over time) generate better solutions than any system of tight control – and consumers will reap the benefits.

The other speakers at the event will be:

• Alberto Bonamico of Symsource – talking on “Adapting to the Open Source Ecosystem”
• Andrew Savory of LiMo Foundation – talking on “Open Apps – Good, Bad or Ugly?”

There will be a panel discussion after the talks, with plenty of opportunity for Q&A from the floor.

Registration for this event is still open, via the Cambridge Wireless website.

Special thanks are due to Peter Montgomery of Ogma Solutions and Phillip Burr of Octymo, the champions of this SIG.

Forum Nokia Developer Conference, Bangalore, 7th December

The following Monday, 7th December, I’ll have the privilege to join another illustrious panel of speakers, at the Forum Nokia Developer ‘09 conference in Bangalore, India.  This conference has the theme,

Unlock Star within you

(Anyone familiar with the UI on Nokia phones will appreciate the double significance of this name.)

As stated on the event website:

Unlock possibilities!

A world of infinite possibilities is waiting for you. It opens up when you press the Unlock Star keys of a mobile phone!

Discover the amazing new ways in which Mobiles are simplifying life, helping people to connect, communicate and access information at Forum Nokia Developer Conference ‘09, the biggest forum in India for mobile application developers. See how everything anyone can imagine can be possible, at the touch of a fingertip and from the top of the palm.

Unlock Learning!

Get the right inputs, insights and network at Forum Nokia Developer Conference ’09. Access all the resources you will ever need to turn your ideas into reality. Get insights from industry leaders. Learn tricks and tips to create applications, faster. Explore the value OVI store has to offer to you as a developer. And more…

You and your mobile application is all it takes!

Your innovation can play a key role in shaping the future and enabling people. Create it to run on hundreds of millions of mobile phones and transform yourself into a global star.

Keynote speakers at this event include:

D. Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia Mobile phones and Vice President, Nokia

Purnima Kochikar, Vice President, Forum Nokia and Developer Community

On this occasion, I’ll be speaking on the topic

Winning habits of star developers

People interested to attend can register via the conference website.

Essential Oils Presentation Case and Portfolio 64 Review

Check Price Now!

This essential oil case is perfect – I have no complaints. When stored upright toward the handle all of your oils are facing cap up, (as long as you put them in properly, with cap facing toward the “binding” of the portfolio). It easily takes 1/2 oz bottles in all rows if you do this. I now have my 55 oils alphabetized so I can find them easily – no more digging through one case to find what I need. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT.

Essential Oils Presentation Case and Portfolio 64 Feature

• This essential oil presentation case makes a professional statement while providing a practical and convenient way to carry your essential oils. The portfolio binding will fold back and create a nice display.
• Aromatherapy portfolios custom-designed to hold up to 64 of your 5, 10 and/or 15 ml bottles. NOTE: Bottles are not included — image shown is for example only.
• The elastic strips that securely hold the bottles are positioned so that each label is clearly visible, making it easy to find the oil you want. This elegant case comes equipped with a convenient carrying handle on the binding to ensure that your oils are carried in an upright position.
• The inside of the portfolio is lightly padded and lined with black fabric, and even has a divider in the center with a zippered pocket on one side to hold your favorite pocket-sized essential oil book, and business card and brochure pockets on the other!
• Includes a convenient handle on the binding for easier carrying. The outside of the portfolio is covered with a luxurious leather-like cover and the whole thing is held closed with a zipper.

Essential Oils Presentation Case and Portfolio 64 Overview

64-Bottle Essential Oil Presentation Case

Essential Oils Presentation Case and Portfolio 64 Specifications

TheraPure Health Essentials

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 26, 2009 12:50:13
Great storage case – Chuck – Florida, USA
Received as advertised, very fast shipping. I really like this case, it holds all my essential oils. The presentation case looks great in my massage therapy clinic, and my clients love it. No more looking thru rows on a tray to find what I need. As long as you use 1/2 oz bottles they all fit. Would highly recommend.
Satisfied – S. Lempitsky – Northeast USA
Does not hold as many bottles as it claims to, but I knew this before I purchased via other reviews, so was not disappointed. Works well, and holds bottles securely.

32inch lcd hdtv

Marknadsplanen är klar och presenterad för kunden. Det har varit det roligaste projektet i utbildningen än så länge eftersom det är en utmaning att jobba med ett varumärke som Skåne. Var börjar man egentligen om syftet är att öka antalet svenska gästnätter i en region? Hur lockar man svenskar hit när hela Sverige har så mycket att bjuda på?

Här är presentation vi gjorde på Prezi.com som förresten är helt suverän om man är trött på PowerPoint-presentationer.

Salut !

Je m’appelle Rocco et je suis dingue d’oiseaux, enfin de certaines espèces d’oiseaux…

J’aime les moineaux du Japon, les paddas et les cailles de Chine et j’en fais l’élevage, à petite échelle quand même…

Grâce à ce blog, je vais tâcher de vous faire partager ma passion pour eux.

A tout de suite !

‘Agile Document Management, par Pierre-Alexandre Losson de Telio !

Some slides from yesterday’s thesis presentation. More images after the jump.

Its the mid way point of my thesis project and yesterday was the chance for Digital Fabrication Thesis Studio to present our current explorations and design processes. The panel gave a varied set of comments, it was good to run through the project with non tech based tutors from the urban and theory fields. Some questions were cast on the viability on the use of digital tools implemented, which was expected when one presents anything relatively new in design technology . All in all the critique was quite a confidence booster.

As a personal quest to distill ones communication techniques, i culled a large amount of detail since i figured that majority of the panel (the larger the more true) lose interest in the numbers game early on, therefore providing self explanatory images (or models) became a more powerful way to communicate your ideas rather than information overloading your audience.

Relating new processes with traditional linear strategies in design became a strategy itself to bring forward alternative ideas

Using a projector to blow up close up perspectives also gives one an advantage compared to the usual printed media. (As you can tell, i’m all for using technology to help)

Another aspect to the design were physical models, which were effective in giving the panel a sense of scale and space but also suggestive ideas on fabrication. 30-40 percent of the presentation went into giving a run down on the fabrication process of the models (which one inherently spends alot of time on whatever the architectural issue is, so you might as well display your effort)

also for a self confessed tech nut, it became a conscious effort not to overwhelm your panel with too much tech terminology, although lightly sprinkling some wordy terms like “finite element method linear static stress analysis ” threads the line between impressive and confusing.

All in all , there was positive feedback on moving to the next stage. Its been a long tiring month, but it was worth it. I’m quite excited now and after a short break its time to follow through with one’s ideas.  Execution and finishing is often much harder than the initial idea but always much more fulfilling as an end result.

On to the next stage of thesis work!

Just had my final project presentation on Monday and it feels great to not be worried about the final everyday and no more sleepless nights. It wasn’t that bad as I expected. At least no lecturers had squeezed eyebrows or frown expressions during or after they watch my mograph. They said they enjoy it. Good thing I suppose? I sincerely hope so. BUT I do feel that I still got a lot more to learn and catch up, what I have now isn’t enough for me to survive in the industry. I went to attend Animation class final presentation despite of the fact that I still have that bloody entrepreneurship report to complete by coming Tuesday. I enjoyed their presentation much more compared to my class presentation. I guess it’s because they all doing 3D animation and it’s very entertaining. Few lecturers used to tell me that I should have joined Animation class instead of Multimedia design because they like my animation work which I have done for previous semesters animation and 3D subjects. I wouldn’t deny I have some love for animation but I doubt I can cope with it? But a coursemate of mine proves me wrong. She chose to do 3D animation and every lecturers were amazed by her splendid work and it was said that she’s up to par with those animation students. Felt defeated, seriously. It just doesn’t feel good at all.

Great news, we’ve extended the application deadline for the Enterprisers course for 2 EXTRA WEEKS to 12th December 2009.

Newcastle University Staff and Graduates promote Enterprisers

This Enterprisers course runs from 11th – 15th Jan 2010 in Warwick. If expanding your horizons and tapping into your potential is something you would like to do, go to Enterprisers to find out how to apply.

Inspirational and intensive, the programme helps people with Newcastle University degrees to develop both their personal and professional skills and unlock their entrepreneurial potential.

Please remember that eligibility is restricted to Newcastle University graduates. To see our full eligibility statement go to Enterprisers and scroll down to ‘how do I apply’.

PowerPoint is not the cause of bad business presentations, but laziness, poor writing and presentation skills may be.

Slides are intended for images and visual displays of data, not for words, that’s what you’re there for! 

Surely the point is to create a well-written, detailed document/ presentation as the basis of what you say.  That can then be used to create handouts, where you need them;  to be distributed after the presentation.

You need to tell me a story and use slides like the illustrations in a book.  But what does the story need to do?

• Grab me by the ears
• Lay a foundation
• Engage my emotions
• Build up proof
• Answer my questions
• Help me to draw a conclusion…then get my feedback

Tick off these and you’ll be well on your way. 

I believe that presentation/ public speaking skills are one of the most under-valued and under-trained skills in business.  How many times do we get in front of a precious prospect and fail to tell them a compelling story that ensures that they want to engage with us.  How many times do we  fail to deliver a key message as a key speaker at a business event?

Make the most of every opportunity and respect your audience, after all, in listening to you, they have invested their most precious commodity in you, time!

Thanks to everyone who came along to the GoGetters presentation in Glasgow this morning. Video content and a full run-down will be posted over the next few days, but for those of you seeking something more immediate – here’s a wee recap:

What do you know about your business audience?

Do you know exactly who your business needs to be talking to?

Do you know what your audience really wants to hear?

Do you know how and where your audience wants to hear it?

You need to deliver the right message to the right audience through the right media. At the heart of an effective communications strategy lies the ability to speak to your audience in a language they can relate to and through the channels they are listening to.

For many businesses the challenge is made harder by variations across the business audience. Of course no customer is ever the same, but what about the customer purchase process?

Who is the ultimate decision maker?

What is their business pain?

How can you meet that need?

How can you let them know you have their answer?

But the probing really needs to go deeper than that:

Who is your decision maker influenced by?

Who do they charge with finding suppliers with solutions to their need?

Where do they look for the answer?

How do you let them know you have their answer?

How do you help the influencer sell your offer back to the decision maker?

We know from experience that understanding your audience is the best route to building an effective communications strategy for your business. From experience we know that your audience is influenced by channels beyond the traditional or conventional.

Surely everyone starts with a google search these days, right?

Sure they do, and of course you’ll have a website and hopefully it’s easily found by your audience.

But where else do your audience get informed?

What do they really listen to?

Regularly-updated blogs become a point of reliance: Robert Peston arguably drove the final nail into the coffin of the banking boom through his blog.

Twitter is a search engine too. And the content is posted by people your audience trust (or at least know or can relate to).

Linked-in has a similar dynamic:

Who are your contacts buying from?

Who are your competitors buying from?

What are their experiences?

And then there’s the media itself: Why read copy if you can watch a video or listen to a podcast?

More than 1/3 project managers log-on to youtube weekly looking for business content.

Why aren’t you providing the video content your audience would appreciate?

What’s the address of your youTube channel?

Most 16-25 year olds see their mobile as their primary touch-point with the internet.

Welcome to the age of media rich communications!

Of course there’s no point in charging your business into a new media age if there’s no clear ROI to it. For that you need a communications strategy. One that isn’t focused on a single media. And one that doesn’t eat up all of your revenue. (or marketing spend?)

You want to see signs that it is working for you: Build confidence through progressive implementations. Find out what works for your audience and build on it.

You need to build and deliver the right marketing tools to meet your audience needs with your business offer, and to suit your budget. With measurable milestones against which you can challenge your investment.

And to work in the long-run, your strategy has to reflect you – your business, not to just be what you think your audience wants to hear. Your audience will soon learn from experience and with the help of influencing channels such as social media what your true colours are. And if this turns off your audience it will be a much longer, harder, expensive job to switch them back on again to your offer.

And what does your brand stand for?

What does your audience interpret?

What do you want them to see?

You need to understand the underpinning values and vision upon which your business has made its success to date. Then understand where you want to be, and what that new horizon means and will look like to you – whether you need to build a brand from scratch or just give it a helping hand to keep things on track.

This is what lies at the heart of an effective communications strategy. …..what drives your ability to speak to your audience in a language they can relate to and through the channels they are listening to.

It’s the right message to the right audience through the right media.

More soon…

[Blog post originally on Brightfire Blog: Nov 24th '09]

Customer development methodology

Good product manager bad product manager

Customer development process

Minimum Viable Product

Project rifle

Research writing methodology

Conducting market research

Last month I did a presentation at SDDN in Melbourne on RIA Services and it’s in built authentication and validation features.

The code is posted here:

<Sample Code>

.NET Ria Services Authentication and Validation Demo Code

</Sample Code>

The talk started off by running through the UserDTO object – under Services/DomainObjects. This object is exposed through the UserRegistrationService under /Services.

Next you’ll want to familiarise with the LoginManager in the Silverlight project (under Model/LoginManager.cs).

I then added some custom validation to the UserDTO object.

Next I created a UserValitator.shared.cs file under Services/DomainObjects and applied a metadata attribute to UserDTO to connect the two. .shared.cs files will be automatically made available to Silverlight by RIA Services.

The login stuff is built using the standard ASP.NET membership SQL provider, and the built in RIA Services abilities around this.

Read through LoginManager.cs see how the forms authentication object is created, and how the system uses the AuthenciationDomainContext, which is created on the sever in Services/DomainObjects. AuthenticationDomainService on the server contains the goods to validate a user and also provides a User class, which you can extend.

There is also a UserRegistration context in LoginManager which allows you to create a new user. See UserRegistrationService.cs on the server (under Services/DomainObjects) to see how this works (by using the MembershipHelper class).

See the Web.config to note how the system is configured to use the SQL connection, and in the membership section note that it is configured to use this same SQL connection.
You’ll need to configure your SQL database as well – to create the ASP.NET membership tables… run aspnet_regsql.exe (in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727) from an elevated prompt to start the wizard.

This should be enough to get you started.

BTW, there is some great doco on this in the .NET RIA Services PDF file…

Enjoy!

Added a slide show (converted to .pdf) to the DOWNLOADABLES page. But you can get it here (Presentation) if you prefer.

It is a pleasure for me to work in something that I like to do. I love drawing, I love art. Being born in a family of artists, I grew up among paints, pencils, brushes, canvas, etc. My father, Pedro Ipiña, guided me from an early day into different techniques; these have made my learning and my work easier. It is the best gift that he gave to me and the one that I treasure the most.

I studied graphic design at the University Tecnologica de El Salvador.

I have had the opportunity to work at different projects; one of them is the illustration of children books. My more recent one is the illustration of a book that deals with the teaching of the alphabet for dyslexic children and has been published by the S & S Publishing, L.L.C. in Maryland.

As a final note, I want to Show several works in the 2 different ways: Graphic desing oriented at corporate image and Ilustration .

I invite you to know me through my art and my work.

Peter Ipina

Thursday, December 3, 2009
Both events will take place in the Center for the Arts, North Campus, UB

Lecture, 11:30am – CFA Room 232:
Lalya Gaye discusses her work which “explores potentials of ubiquitous computing for everyday life aesthetic activities, and focuses in particular on locative media and mobile music technology”.

Workshop – 7:00pm – CFA Room 246:
***Limited Space — Please RSVP to Erik Conrad at erikconr@buffalo.edu if you are interested in attending***
This hands-on workshop will demonstrate the creation of media for mobile phones using python.

Lalya Gaye is an HCI/interaction designer, researcher and teacher, trained in engineering, who works in multidisciplinary projects at the convergence of art, technology and design.

In her research, she is interested in the relation between people and new technologies, in the context of contemporary culture and society: how to design new technologies that can challenge and inspire people creatively, and what aesthetic activities people come up with when having access to them. This covers a broad range of interests, from mobility and urban space, to aesthetic computer-mediated interactions such as electronic music making or digital photography, to physical interfaces and the integration of technology into everyday environments, artefacts and behaviours, i.e. ubiquitous computing. Her research explores in particular the potentials of mobile and ubiquitous computing for everyday life aesthetic practices and creative behaviours, and builds on mobile music, locative media and physical computing projects. She approaches her
research question with a combination of user-centred, body-centric and culturally grounded interaction design, of physical prototyping and of user studies in context.

For more information about Lalya Gaye’s work, please see:
www.daonk.org/people/lalya/

Featuring work by current and former Media Study grads Ron Douglas, Loren Sonnenberg, & Diedie Weng
When: Sunday, December 6th, 3 pm
Where: Market Arcade Film & Arts Center, 639 Main Street
Suggested Donation: $5

On Sunday, December 6th at 3pm, Squeaky Wheel invites the public to the Channels – Stories from the Niagara Frontier premiere screening of newly produced films, to be held at the Market Arcade Film & Arts Center (639 Main St). Channels – Stories from the Niagara Frontier, now in its third year, is Squeaky Wheel’s production program that matches documentary filmmakers with grass roots initiatives and groups to collaboratively create documentary films about important (and often overlooked) issues specific to this region. This innovative collaboration results in a documentary film that the organizations can use to promote social awareness about their cause for years to come.

The participating groups are Preservation Buffalo Niagara, the Coalition for Economic Justice, Native American Community Services, and Read To Succeed. Participating filmmakers are Diedie Weng, Christine Zinni, Ron Douglas, and Loren Sonnenberg. This premiere screening is a great way to meet with these local organizations and filmmakers and learn how to get involved in your own community! Channels – Stores from the Niagara Frontier is supported by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

PROGRAM OF FILMS:

Building on the Past for Our Future by Diedie Weng aims to promote a conversation about low-income communities’ efforts and struggles in revitalizing neglected historical Buffalo neighborhoods by valuing the people and the place as assets.

<strong>Dawn ’til Dusk: Buffalo Workers and the Fight for Jobs With Justice by Christine Zinni focuses on 4 workers whose income from full time employment is well below the federal poverty level, showing how people are fighting back to bring about change.

Unseen Tears: The Impact of Native American Residential Boarding Schools in Western New York by Ron Douglas focuses on Western New York Native American communities who are attempting to heal the wounds and break the cycle of inter-generational trauma resulting from the boarding school experience.

The Ecology of Reading by Loren Sonnenberg shows the innovative and holistic approach the Read To Succeed coalition and other organizations in Buffalo bring to the field of literacy education.

Please contact Dorothea Braemer for further information and hi-resolution images.

There is now a PowerPoint Ribbon Add-In from QuantumPM that will take care of the problem, it’s called PowerAid.  One of the helpful features of PowerAid is the Select Objects function which allows selection of objects by their type.  PowerAid provides two ways to identify your selection criteria – a dropdown box accessed through the ribbon and a persistent dialog box.  Say you want to change the width of all lines on the slide.  With PowerAid’s Select Objects function you can easily select all of the lines on the slide with 1 click and change them to the style you want.

Once you have the lines selected you can use the easily accessible “Quick Styles” to find the line style you want.

Any type of object can be selected with the friendly dialog. No longer is it hard to select objects inside a group or hidden by other objects.

Check out PowerAid today at:

 http://www.qpmusa.com/Misc-Utilities.html

by Bob Potemski

Takeaway: As trainers, we sometimes need to get back to the basics—including the words we use. In the first of three articles on effective training language, Bob Potemski explains the importance of using audience-centered words.

Some of the most effective tools we use as trainers are words that are audience-centered, directive, precise, and powerful.  In this series, we’ll be looking at each of these qualities.  Part 1 will cover the first tool: audience-centered language.  In part 2, we’ll address directive language and the importance of precision.  In part 3, we’ll discuss some techniques and methods to keep your training language powerful.
What are my training tools?
I’m about as mechanically adept as a grapefruit.  My dad, on the other hand, has always been good at making things, fixing things, and otherwise working with his hands.  During a recent visit, as he and I perused some woodworking magazines, he made a comment about the quality and expense of the tools used by the pros.

Dad’s observation caused me to think about my job as a professional trainer, and it also made me look hard at the tools I use to do my job.  I realized that professional trainers have a distinct advantage over cabinetmakers, dentists, carpenters, mechanics, and other workers.  While many at the top of their fields pay top dollar to buy the best tools, and do so gladly, trainers don’t have to.  Our most powerful tool doesn’t cost a penny.

Words are free
As trainers, we deal with ideas, knowledge, and concepts.  These things are important, and we can’t train without them, but they’re not the foundation of our work.  To assemble these raw materials and build our training sessions, the tools we use are words.  And since words are free, it doesn’t cost us any more to use the best tools—the best words—for the job than it does to slide by with ones that aren’t up to standard.  What we say from the front of the room carries weight by virtue of our position there, so it’s imperative that we use the best possible language to communicate with our students.

Audience-centered language
Audience-centered language puts the audience first and directs all actions toward them.  Let’s say that you’re teaching a class on using a spreadsheet program.  It’s very common for trainers to demonstrate features in such a scenario by saying:

“If I want to select this cell, I put my mouse pointer here and click.”

You should take note of two features of this phrase:

1. The action is not directed toward the audience; it’s directed toward the trainer.  It’s the trainer who is placing the mouse pointer and the trainer who is selecting the cell.  While on the surface this may not seem to be a big deal, it really is, because your audience will always respond more favorably to language directed toward them.  It makes your training seem more relevant and geared toward their needs—and it gives the students a reason to invest themselves in what you’re saying.
2. The phrase is conditional, because it begins with “if.”  “If” constructions are weak because they imply a degree of doubt or uncertainty.  By saying ”if,”you’re diminishing the importance of your point by subtly lowering the probability of its occurrence.  A stronger construction would be:  “When you want to select this cell, put your mouse pointer here and click.”

   This gives your audience the message, again subtly, that what you’re telling them is important and that it’s something they’ll need to do again and again.  Some of the most effective tools we use as trainers are words that are audience-centered, directive, precise, and powerful.  In this series, we’ll be looking at each of these qualities.  Part 1 will cover the first tool: audience-centered language. In part 2, we’ll address directive language and the importance of precision.  In part 3, we’ll discuss some techniques and methods to keep your training language powerful.
    [Source:  http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5032631.html?tag=content;leftCol]

Välkommna hit imorgon klockan 10:00. Pernilla och jag (patrik) skall då prata om intervjuer och presentation. Utöver det skall vi presentera en ny medarbetare till oss som börjar här på måndag. Kan ni inte komma får ni gärna maila eller ringa oss och meddela det.

/Patrik