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Better Meetings for Everyone Volume 10, Issue 2
Enjoy these columns from the Volume 10, Issue 2 Better Meetings for Everyone newsletter. Feel free to call (800) 701-9447 or e-mail publisher Jana Kemp
Table of Contents:
1. Meeting Product Review
2. Seen Elsewhere
3. Inappropriate Uses of Technology - article
4. Meeting Facilitation
5. Special Offer on DiSC Profile materials
1 . Meeting Product Review
By Jana M. Kemp
Looking for ways to jazz up your presentations? In the process of adding jazz, snazz, flash and flare, make sure to employ approaches that make you and the message more memorable rather than creating distractions.
For those of us who use PowerPoint and who are not graphic designers, tools are now available to provide backdrops that are more creative than what we might create on our own. I've seen products offering hundreds to thousands of backdrops and some with music too. The prices range from $30 to $300 (for 15 CDs) and you can find the offerings on-line, in Presentations ( www.presentations.com ) magazine, and in catalogs like Trainer's Warehouse (www.trainerswarehouse.com).
The tool I've spent time with is Gary Blue's POWERBACKS: Slide Alchemy ( www.powerbacks.com ) For $29.95 you get 2,000 - that's right 2,000 backdrops. The images and scenes range from geometric images, to people, to exotic beach scenes, to golf courses and more. The variety is huge, the time to sort through the options pays off if you're like me and not inclined to design your own backdrop from scratch.
Remember the presentation key to success: You are the show, your message is the take-away, and your presentation tools are the backdrop.
2 . Seen Elsewhere: Meeting Quotes
Quote:
"Eating in a group provides a nice boost to morale." - source unknown
Quote:
"Fix the most relevant problem, not the easiest problem. Meet a real need. Make the meeting, the activity, and every project relevant."
- Speaker at a Rotary District 5400 Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Quote:
"When making very tough, critical business decisions, the ability to sit around a table and look people in the eye is important." - Rob Clark, spokesman for ADC
Meetings@Work www.janakemp.com
Articles, Links, learning Products, and more await your browsing visit.
3 . FEATURE ARTICLE: Inappropriate Uses of Technology
Technology is not always the right tool. For instance, when working to sell me something why do companies insist that I go to their website to find their marketing materials? Companies need to make it easy for all potential customers to buy. That means providing web-based as well as hardcopy of materials so that each customer's buying style can be met.
The same can be said about meetings and dependence on PowerPoint for presenting information. When was the last time you saw an effective presentation? With or without technology?
Also consider the lack of respect being shown for people's time and money when your company insists on having the customer research and print out your marketing material or when meetings end up being the equivalent of a PowerPoint email attachment. Make it easy and clear to understand your offers and your messages.
Another inappropriate use of technology is using email as the sole means of contacting customers. Certainly email is appropriate for those customers, vendors and contacts who have said "only use email" to reach me. However, the number of sales and customer service people relying on only email eliminates the people contact that sales relationships depend upon. What's happening in your company?
When thinking about the appropriate or inappropriate use of technology, consider what Albert Erisman, co-founder of the Institute for Business, Technology and Ethics and publisher of www.ethix.org has to say. "I think of technology as inappropriate if it leads to poor business solutions. In other words it adds more cost than necessary, or more cost than benefit. Or if technology creates a poor environment for people such as creating mind-numbing jobs for employees, underutilizing the skills of employees, or causing frustrations for customers. And in the extreme, technology is inappropriate if it actually harms people."
Erisman adds to the inappropriate technology uses list the use of personal-digital-assistants and handheld tools when a paper calendar printout is faster to use, the use of on-site computer registration at meetings when it's not necessary, and constant checking of incoming emails.
Lest you think I'm anti-technology, I too depend on technology. Telephones, airplanes, PowerPoint for handouts, computerized customer contact software, invoicing, and bookkeeping systems all have roles in my company operations. I use email only with those individuals who have said that is their tool of choice. I have a website that serves as a support to the hardcopy marketing materials I use. In other words, there is a time and a place for technology. Is your company using technology in the best possible ways?
ACTION ITEMS: Review your organization's use of technology. Identify what can be improved. Streamline where possible. Eliminate dependence on technology where practical during the sales process.
4 . Meeting Facilitation
Are you ready to participate in a meeting and get someone else to move participants to action? If so, you are in search of a meeting facilitator or moderator.
Meeting & Management Essentials can help. For more information, click here .
And feel free to contact Jana Kemp:
Jana Kemp
Speaker, Facilitator, Moderator
Meeting & Management Essentials
www.janakemp.com
5 . Special Offer on DiSC Profile Materials
Purchase 50 of the Personal Profile Systems for understanding yourself and others and receive a copy of the book I'm Stuck, You're Stuck ($15.95 value) for FREE.
Call 1-800-701-9447 to place your order.
 Meetings@ Work
Stay connected to the world of day-to-day business meetings. Explore the Meeting & Management Essentials' website www.janakemp.com to learn more about the services Jana Kemp offers and to discover useful meeting skill development resources, tools and Internet links. At the site you can:
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Learn about Jana's speaking and facilitation offerings. |
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Discover what clients say about her work. |
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Read Better Meetings for Everyone current and past issues. |
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Find meeting articles and press releases that you can reprint in your publications. |
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Link to meeting-related sites. |
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Review meeting skill and meeting-related products. |
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Contact Jana via this site. |
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