Special Speech

The state of the economy means that profit can most simply be improved by scrutinizing expenses, not a generating more income. This brings us on to the benefits of business performance management software.

Once you know the specialties of each of your members of staff are, it’s possible to customize your procedures to optimize their effectiveness and consequently get the most from the business as a whole. Identifying and collating this knowledge is often where things can become challenging, however.

Determining and tracking progress through employee evaluation on its own can turn into a huge task. You first put employee evaluation techniques into action so that you can appraise the work done by each worker. If this was done with established approaches, you will have to analyze all of this information by hand just to set objectives, goals, and track future advancement. Utilizing performance management software you can be confident that this assessment is taken care of and you need only examine the different metrics and factors to determine what an appropriate goals for this employee would be. It also makes keeping track of the employee’s development much simpler. With more precise information for less time invested, this is of course a major saving on its own. Should you wish to you can instead make your own assessment, merely using the software to produce and keep up a record to use as a basis.

And making your employees more efficient is only one of the improvements you can make using performance management software. Both suppliers and clients can be analyzed using the appropriate software, granting access to more performance management tools. It’s easy to check which suppliers stock products with the best quality, at the lowest prices and also distinguish those with high rates of loss or slow delivery times. Turning our attention to clients & affiliates, you can demonstrate who sells the most of each product if there are payment issues, which client experiences the highest loss percentage, and the solutions to other questions. This information is useful in minimizing expenses and boosting profits. In addition to this, marketing campaigns become much simpler to plan because you’ll have a deeper insight into your market and the location of your best target audience.

Performance management software allows you to keep track of your suppliers to save money and watch your market to customize plans and boost your profit margin. In tandem with a program of regular employee reviews this tool is guaranteed to simplify employee performance management extremely. It almost seems as if there’s no upper limit with performance management software backing you up!

Be sure you visit our brilliant webpage for risk assessment products…

It’s a frequent misconception in a lot of companies that, by giving each employee basic training in safety in the workplace, they are suitably prepared for an emergency. The truth of the matter is that, regardless your industry, employees should have much more than the basics in health and safety regulatory affairs. You need to provide your employees with an enthusiastic supervisor, not to mention equip them properly and give them the opportunity to practice.

A supervisor has a much bigger role to play than simply general supervision. The supervisor you employ needs to be a skilled communicator and see health and safety education as crucial. On top of following health and safety legislation, a supervisor’s role also often includes overseeing staff performance levels. This is not a easy undertaking. Good product knowledge is a must for a supervisory position not to mention an in depth knowledge of the safety legislation, risk assessment, and CPR.

It’s just not enough to provide your staff with health and safety instruction. To successfully discover a risk they need to put their new-found knowledge into practise. Employees need to know how to eliminate problems and how best to act if the worst happens. Your workers are only completely protected when their training and procedures have become routine.

Safety equipment is equally as critical to the your workers’ well being as training. If employees discover they are lacking the apparatus they need, or find out that gear is not working correctly in an emergency situation, the safety training they have undergone is in vain. You need to perform detailed checks frequently to ensure that you have all of the required apparatus and also that all the supplies are working correctly. If you have a issue with your safety equipment, ensure that it’s remedied as quickly as possible and put it back in the proper location. Health and safety training is vital to the safety of your employees, however they also require decent supplies, scheduled practise drills, and a supervisor who has infectious enthusiasm. If you take this advice you should find health and safety legislation will become part of the staff’s working habits rather than something challenging everyone has to attempt to remember.

The old Treasury Department building at Mosley Street in Manchester has finally been renovated and the office fitout complete, and is now up for lease. With 30,000 square feet of property and an addition of four new floors to the five floors that stood previously, the office design has been transformed the building into an ultramodern and swanky office compound by site developer Bilsdale Properties.

Touted as the quintessential 21^st century design, the modern offices inside the building boast of all amenities including a manned central reception desk in the lobby and an outdoor terrace space on the top floor. The business complex also has provisions for safe parking in the basement. The going rent per square foot for this place is anywhere between £18.50 and £22.50. Café Nero, the Italian coffee bar, is one of the occupants on the ground floor.

WT Partnership, a world-renowned property and consulting firm having offices all across the world, has entered into a 10-year lease with respect to luxurious office space measuring 1800 sq ft in this newly developed property. The firm has a total staff of 950, which it expects to easily accommodate in the new complex. With such a prestigious lessee like WT Partnership, Bilsdale Properties feels that more such leading companies will follow suit to relocate and rent office space at the Mosley Street address.

It is interesting to note that this building was one of the properties facing the crunch of recession, with construction halted due to lack of funds. However, by the turn of the year, construction was completed and the building is now ready for new leases.

It’s belief in many companies that, by giving each staff member basic training in workplace safety, they are suitably equipped for an incident. The truth is that, irrespective of the industry you’re in, an education in health & safety regulatory affairs just is not sufficient. Equipping workers, hiring the right supervisior and supporting regular practise are all essential factors.

Someone in a supervisory capacity has a much bigger function to play than simply general management. A supervisor needs to be a skilled communicator and additionally see health & safety instruction as essential.

As well as insuring compliance with health & safety legislation, the supervisor as well must ensure that each employee performs efficiently. Of course it’s difficult to accomplish all this at once. In depth business knowledge is an essential in a supervisory job not to mention an in-depth experience with current legislation with regard to safety, risk appraisal and emergency assistance techniques.

It’s just not adequate to send your staff to a health & safety course. Your employees need to gain practical experience of risk assessment and the identification of hazards. They additionally need to gain a firm grasp of the steps necessary to remedy the situation and understanding what to do if disaster strikes. Your employees are only properly prepared when everything has become second nature. Adequate safety equipment is equally as necessary to the your staff’s safety as any training. When staff discover they don’t have gear they need, or even learn that they’re damaged when they actually need them, the safety training your employees have completed will have been basically useless. It is important to perform thorough checks often to make sure that you have all the necessary equipment and also that it’s all being properly looked after. When your equipment doesn’t meet the applicable standards, make sure it is fixed or call out a service professional as soon as you can.

Health & safety education is critical to the well being of your personnel, but in addition they also require the correct equipment, scheduled practise sessions, and a knowledgeable supervisor who gets the workforce excited about being safe at work. If you implement these steps you should find that health & safety legislation will soon become part of everyone’s working habits and no longer something troublesome for the workforce to think about constantly.

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Effective people management is important for business success. You may succeed in developing these techniques. Having a innate affinity for dealing with people and building relationships is a plus, but you can do some things that will help the process.

Relationship Development: Begin by using the names of the staff. Encourage conversation; make eye contact as you’re talking. Develop a respectful attitude, and pay attention to what the other person has to say, even if you do not agree or have another viewpoint. The development of listening skills is among the best things you may do to better your human resources management skills. Be sure to show an interest in what they can give to the team. Live up to your word: Don’t make promises you will not fulfill. When you don’t deliver on what you have promised, the fragile bond of trust is fractured, and if they don’t trust you your staff won’t offer their best. Everytime you say something or make a promise, you are squandering your time and effort if you don’t act with integrity. You’ll discover, if your people can’t depend on your word, you can be certain they will act in a similar fashion.

Feedback is important: It’s a two way street. Keeping an open mind regarding other’s views is an important skill in effective people management. Being approachable and open demonstrates that your co-worker’s thoughts matter to you, and they will value your opinions. Frank discourse in addition boosts original ideas, ways of fulfilling goals, and develops the bonds of an excellent team. By giving the employees an input, the success of the company becomes important to every team member.

Communicating is the key: Communication is central to dealing with individuals with skill. Maintaining an open door policy, employ listening techniques, encourage feedback , and give all your staff an equal voice. Staff should be inspired to communicate with one another not just with you. The sharing of thoughts is critical in the creative process, and by listening to one another, it is simple to spot issues before they may present as problems, allowing corrective action to be implemented to prevent further problems. This may require some time, nevertheless the dividends achieved far outbalance the effort. By establishing the bonds of a good team and by listening to your team’s suggestions, you can accomplish the best in business success.

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

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!

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

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.

“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.