June 28, 2008
A standard is something we can all benefit from. The world around us has been standardized. We all drive at the “right” side of the road. We all have a DVD that can be used in any player. We use a standard credit card. The barcode on the cornflakes is also standard. The electricity plug you use for shaving (your legs) are also standard. The decimal system is standard. The articles are interfaces by a standard XML protocol. If you are serviced by your bank you pay a standard commission. The software in your company runs on a standard server and if we are ill we all go and visit the doctor. That is the standard.
But behind the standard is the exception. There are a few countries where they drive left. You cannot use a video from the US in Europe, if you travel you need an adapter for the electric appliances, besides the decimal systems there are other systems in use, one server appears to support to a different standard. If your portfolio is exceeding the standard limit you will benefit a special cut on your commission. The financial world uses another XML than the industrial world and if you do not agree with the diagnosis of your doctor you can visit an alternative therapist.
A standard is set by majority voting; the standard doesn’t have to be optimal, if it is broadly accepted, it will be de facto the standard.
In line with this, a standard solution is one that is commonly accepted by most people. But this is not easy, especially in business where there are many flavors and preferences.
A manager would more easily accept and even propose a standard solution because it serves efficiency. At the other end, there is the specialist which is normally not served with a standard approach. This (conflict) is most visible in hospitals where the medical staff and management must agree on this issue.
Finding the right balance is the solution. Negotiating is the means to get there.
© 2006 Hans Bool
Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account
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May 27, 2008
Every industry has a lingo. Whether you’re an engineer or a
firefighter, verbal shortcuts, acronyms and slang pepper our
workdays. The graphics world is no exception. Here are a
few terms you might hear while working with a graphic artist
or a program producer on your PowerPoint presentation.
Aliasing:
This technical term is also referred to as “stair-stepping” or
“jaggies.” It can occur on the rounded edges of lettering or
placed objects, particularly those with diagonal lines.
Aspect Ratio:
The area of your projected or viewed image. Referred to as
a width-by-height ratio such as 4:3 or 16:9. A standard US
video monitor is 4:3, widescreen is 16:9. These ratios
translate into pixel dimensions, which then translate into
inches when setting up your presentation document.
Banding:
On graphics saved with less than one million colors, large
areas of color may become defined as colored sections
rather than one continuous field. A photographic sky may
split into light blue, medium blue and dark blue, for
example.
B-A-T:
B-A-T stands for Big (Blank) Text. The “A” is interchangeable
with a few different words, so we’ll leave the most common
three-lettered one up to your imagination!
The B-A-T slide is simply a slide with a few words or
perhaps a short quotation in big, bold text. It could be a
“chapter” header like “Economics” or “Summary.” There is a
current trend to use more B-A-Ts than bulleted slides. Many
communications experts believe these types of slides have
more impact and retention potential on the audience.
Build:
The presentation process of starting with a title or headline,
then introducing other elements to the slide such as bullet
points, artwork or photographs.
Bullets or Readers:
The standard bullet point slide is more simply referred to as
a bullet or bullets. Older graphic artists and producers,
particularly those with backgrounds in video production, may
refer to bulleted slides as “readers.” This term comes from
the use of a device called a character generator (CG) that
“reads” text over a camera shot or background artwork.
Bump:
Making the type size, charts or other objects bigger to
improve readability.
Deck:
A common alternative term for a presentation.
Foils:
Another term for slides, often used by European
presenters.
MTL or Cover:
MTL stands for Meeting Theme Logo. The MTL is typically
your first and last slide in a presentation. It may have your
corporate logo, the name of your presentation, artwork that
matches your conference or meeting signage, or a
combination of all of these things. The MTL may be part of
an opening loop of material as the audience arrives in the
staging area.
The MTL may also be referred to as a “cover” within the
presentation, and appear as two presenters hand off to
each other or any other place where there is a change in the
show flow.
On shows using cameras for image magnification (I-Mag),
the video director will usually freeze an image of the MTL to
use onscreen when there is not a suitable camera angle.
Points and Picas:
These two “P” words all have to do with sizing. Points and
Picas refer to the height of lettering. You may hear an artist
discuss an increase in “point size” to make a slide more
readable to the audience.
Pica (pie-kah) is a printing term and heard less often. It may
come up if creating handouts is part of the presentation job,
but most artists stick with points these days.
Pixels:
As many digital photographers already know, Pixels are the
tiny squares making up your presentation. Creating a
presentation for 16×9 widescreen monitors will require your
artist to translate pixel dimensions into inches in the
PowerPoint page setup.
Pings:
With the newer versions of PowerPoint,
ping
(.png) files are supported. Graphic artists may use pings for
placing logos or other special artwork into the presentation
because they include a transparency channel allowing the
artwork to “float” over the background.
Power Prompt:
In some lower budget productions, a second computer may
use PowerPoint as a makeshift TelePrompTer. The
operator will create high-contrast slides - bright yellow
letters over black for example - and enter large bulleted
points to keep the presenter on track with key points.
The second computer is wired to a video monitor that only
the presenter can see.
Rollout:
Spoken more often by producers, the
rollout
is any plan for distributing your presentation to audience
members or other interested parties after your show is
completed. It could be via e-mail, duplicated CDs, print or
many other electronic methods.
Safe Action and Safe Title Areas:
These are
technical video terms and refer to the area within
10% and 20% of your screen edges, respectively. It is a
safety measure to ensure your graphics will not be cutoff on
any edge due to a poorly adjusted video monitor. Not as
applicable when using projection, although scrims and
drapes may block portions of the full image.
Walk-In Look:
This may be as simple as your MTL, or it could be
something more complex like an animated, timed loop of
moving art and images. The walk-in look is what your
audience will see while being seated prior to your
presentation.
PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft
Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Gary Lewis is a graphic designer with over twenty years of
experience in television production, post production and
presentation design.
For creative, Royalty-Free backgrounds and stock photos
(and plenty of free samples!) visit Pro Background
Art today!
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May 25, 2008
The most important tip…EVER!
Make sure that you always think of your audience - when preparing your talk, writing it and presenting it. Put yourself in the audience’s position at all times and your presentation will go with a swing. Remember your audience does not want to know how marvellous you are, or how brilliant your product is. What they do want to know is something that will help them. Find out what your audience needs to know first and your presentation will be bound to succeed.
The second most important tip…EVER!
When you prepare your presentation do not include any bullet points or text whatsoever. All your slides should be pictures, illustrations, charts, cartoons etc. That way your audience does not have to read anything and can concentrate on what you are saying. Equally, if you lose your way in your presentation it is not obvious - with text, the audience knows you’ve made a mistake!
The third most important tip…EVER!
MOVE! Whenever you are presenting make sure you move. Animation helps your audience and it helps you. Movement stops your muscles from tensing and also puts extra air into your lungs. When you move you relax. When you relax you perform better. So don’t be static, get moving!
Use flow charts
If you need to demonstrate the way a project is proceeding or how you plan to achieve something, use a flow chart rather than a list of bullet points. This way you can make the flow chart visual, using icons and symbols.
Avoid too much colour
Try not to make your slides loo like an explosion in a paint factory! Too much colour will be distracting. Try to use ‘complementary’ colours which you’ll find opposite each other on the ‘colour wheel’ found in most software packages that can produce slides. For instance, you’ll find that yellow is opposite red on the wheel. Never use colours that are next to each other on a colour wheel as they will clash.
Prepare different handouts
Many people give printed copies of slides as their handouts. This is next to useless as the slides rarely make sense without the accompanying spoken words. So, the best handouts are those which are a written version of your talk - simply write a summary article with plenty of subheadings and bullet points. That way your audience will be able to review what you said more easily. True it takes more time to do this, but it is considerably more effective. Top presenters never give handouts of their slides.
About The Author
Graham Jones B.Sc.(Hons) B.A. (Hons)(Psychol) is one of Britain’s leading public speakers and presentation educators. He is a member of the Professional Speakers Association and runs The Presentation Business (http://www.presentationbiz.co.uk)
info@presentationbiz.co.uk
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May 22, 2008
The words ” business proposal ” are expected by any sales representative, marketing or public relations person. Even if writing a business proposal doesn’t represent a very pleasant activity, marketing reprezentatives are happy to do it as they see a potential business opportunity.
The best business proposal is made by having direct contact with the client. However, there are situation in which direct contact with the client is not possible. In this case, some suggestions are required.
Things you need to take into consideration before sending a business proposal :
1. Start by writing a business proposal by creating a short and convincing summary of the document in question
2. concentrate more on the results rather than process and methods. A client will buy tools and methods only when they are convinced that you can obtain the results they want.
3. Be generous with your ideas and show your inventivity.
4. The length of the business proposal doesn’t matter much. What matters is quality! Business proposals are accepted based on their quality.. not quantity.
5. The contens of the business plan needs to reffer to the client and solving the client’s problem.
6. Check and recheck if all information written in the business plan are valid and to the point.
7. Pay attention to the smallest details, stay away from stereotypes, use good quality paper and make sure you send your business plan on time.
8. After you write the business plan, wait on day and pay more attention to it, read it again and again until you are satisfied.
9. Write a real business plan based on what you actually can offer to the potential client. This will help avoid having unsatisfied clients and unpaid bills!
Writing a business plan is necessary. A well written business plan can play a decisive role in winning a project, while a bad written business plan can lead to failure, even when everything concerning your sales activities went excellent.
This article was written by Stefan D. the owner and developer of Afaceri and Firme.
You can reprint and/or republish this article at your own will as long as you keep the links above.
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April 6, 2008
“You don’t get points for predicting rain. You get points for building an ark.” Louis Gerstner, former Chairman and CEO of IBM
It’s that time of year again: time to reflect back on the past year and evaluate relationships; examine areas where you spent your valuable time, money, and energy; ponder goals set last year and revise new ones accordingly; and count your many blessings.
As I spend time these next few days looking over notes from years past, I will make every effort to draft goals for the New Year that will help me move further down the path. To becoming more of the person whom I hope to become. My goal every year is to become more saint-like, and many areas in my life need to be addressed in order to help me evolve–step by step–to that end.
I will not suppose that what works for me will work for you. I
will only share what I do in the hope that it might help you as
you prepare for the coming New Year.
I rely on my Filofax, where I write all of my goals down in
colored ink on colored paper. Over the years I have called my
goals various things, but as of last year they became known as
the “6 F’s.” Here goes…
1) FAITH
How can I get myself further down the spiritual path and become
more saintlike? Specific steps I might record to get me closer to my goal would include: disciplined and consistent reading of
scripture, journaling, reading books on spirituality, plugging
into a charitable organization whose vision fits that of my
family’s, taking a mission trip, maintaining a “bloom where
planted” attitude about life, etc.
2) FAMILY
How can our family–including my husband, our four kids,
myself, and the dog–become the strongest and happiest group of
people as we share life together? And what things do I need to be pro-actively instilling into our family’s structure to ensure
happy childhoods for each of our four kids? What is my vision for each child? What gifts and talents does this child have and what do we need to do to help him develop them for other people’s benefit? Specific steps might include: planning a family summer vacation, replacing TV with a family reading night, investments in music lessons, commitment to sports teams, scheduling weekly date nights, etc.
3) FRIENDS
How can I maintain the many friendships that I have formed over
the years given the great physical distances that separate us,
and how can I form new friendships with people who cross my path? Specific steps would include scheduled trips to visit
girlfriends, frequent long-distance phone calls, celebrating
birthdays with gifts and cards, continuing Christmas gift-giving
traditions, etc.
4) FINANCIAL
How do we become more financially independent? How do we reduce
debt and increase wealth? Steps would include my making a list of a realistic number of books to sell, seminars to schedule,
articles to write, investments to make, savings goals to meet,
tithing commitments to keep, etc.
5) FITNESS
How can I maintain a health and fitness regimen that keeps me in
optimal physical and emotional health–while maintaining kids
who are too young to maintain themselves? Specific steps would
include scheduling a realistic number of trips to the gym per
week, weekly commitments to swimming and tennis, and to weight
training, etc.
6) FUN
What things would I enjoy doing personally and with my family
that would help me enjoy life to its fullest? I would include
specific trips and dates with Ernie, plans for vacations with the kids, Broadway shows, season tickets to the philharmonic, oil painting classes, etc.
Studies show that people who record their goals IN WRITING have
a much greater chance of accomplishing them. Spend quality time
thinking about specific goals that you’d like to make in your
life. Begin the process now. Let your sub-conscious absorb the
goals and let it help you figure out ways in which to make these
goals realistically attainable. Consider your life stage. A trip
to the gym might be quite realistic for me but a pipe dream for
you if you have a newborn or a couple of toddlers underfoot.
Don’t fret that your goals seem out of whack or not grand
enough. Go easy on yourself and resolve to come up with goals
that fit where you are and where you’d like to be by the end of
the year. And remember to have fun with the process. Enjoy a
glass of red wine and sit by the fire while you doodle your
thoughts. Dream. Imagine.
ONE FINAL THOUGHT: Remember to count your blessings of this past
year. Make a list. We are each coming to the dinner table New
Year’s Eve night with our individual Top Ten Lists. Consider
making this a New Year’s Eve tradition in your family, too.
Nothing makes one feel better about the world than counting all
the ways in which you have been uniquely blessed.
Please let me know if I can help you in your journey.
Have a blessed New Year. PEACE!
Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; homeschooling for ten years provided fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is available on Amazon.com, in bookstores everywhere, or by calling 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via parenting classes and radio and TV interviews. Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com to subscribe to her free ezine and get a weekly shot of inspiration.
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April 3, 2008
Often we see over achievers and wonder how on Earth they do it? Well, do you want to know a secret to the over achiever club? Interestingly enough being the best in the world at what you do only takes a little more preparation and goal setting than being at the top of your field. Being at the top of your field only takes a little more effort than being in the mean average of your field. It only takes a little more insight and hard work to go from the bottom of an area of expertise or having lousy skill sets to being average.
So if we look at this from a logical standpoint we can break this into three stages, which take someone from Lousy or a beginner rather to an average player or average participant in an industry. Really that only takes practice and a meaningful set of goals to get there. Now then, going from average to the top grouping is not so tough really, that only takes proper planning, strategic objectives and goal setting. To go from the top group to the number one slot takes a very sharp focus, discipline and strict adherence to a set of goals.
Now then, let us look at the break down. In each step it requires goal setting. In my life I have always worked hard, committed myself to a set of goals and always become number one in my endeavors. Always! It is not magic, but it involves never giving up, perseverance and strategic goal setting. You can do this too.
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