When I was in college, I competed in a lot of debate tournaments. I never went on a tournament without my boots. My debate coach called them my “butt-kicking shoes” and he always knew that I was going to do well when I wore them. There was just something about them that made me feel confident. Anytime you do a presentation, it’s always about confidence. You know your subject inside and out but that doesn’t mean that you can’t struggle with the idea of speaking in front of a group of people. If you want to make yourself feel a little confident, here are some things that you can do. They are very easy and will only take a few extra minutes.
 
Familiarize yourself with where you are going to be speaking. If you’re on a conference call, find a quiet place away from the bustle of your office to give your presentation.  If it’s not a room you’ve used much, take a look around, know where things are.  You never know when you might need to know where an extra outlet is located and knowing the layout of the room will make you feel much better.
 
Wear something you love. This sounds so trite, I know, but if you are wearing something that makes you feel great, you’re going to feel great. That’s how it was with my boots. Some women might have a lucky skirt or a man who has a lucky tie. Even if no one is going to see you on the presentation, it will make you feel a little more “take on the world”.
 
In case you were wondering, no, I didn’t always win my tournaments, but I always felt good while I was doing them. Do you have any silly things you do to get yourself feeling confident in the face of a presentation?

 

Happy St. Patty's Day!

 

Not too long ago, I was working on a blog post and was jotting down my notes on a legal pad, to which I was asked, “Are you actually writing… with a pen?” Why yes, yes I am. Some people still do this. I didn’t think much of it until this morning when I was talking to my friend Rachel. She didn’t have her computer today and she was trying to write, but she gave up.  Why?

“My brain was on the second paragraph but my hand was still on the second line. I just can’t keep up with my thoughts.”

Are we really that spoiled? Is it really that our brains have been trained so much by the computers in front of us that we can’t create without them? I can’t be the only person who appreciates the idea of putting pen to paper. There’s something about the way my hand is in perfect coordination with my brain, like I’m writing a symphony instead of a blog post.

I suggest anyone who considers themselves a writer, the next time you have a flash of inspiration, instead of reaching for your laptop or cell, grab an actual pen and start writing – on paper. Yes, they still make paper.

Let me know how it goes.  

Speaker phones are one of the greatest things ever to someone who holds a lot of conference calls. Even if you don’t conference much, there are still times when you are eternally grateful for your speaker phone. However, as convenient as a speaker phone can be there are times when it can cause a bit of distraction. Rather than spend an entire post telling you what you shouldn’t do, let’s talk a little about some good speaker phone etiquette on your next conference call.

The current temp outside is 68 degrees! Considering the fact that at the beginning of Feburary, we had a foot of snow, I must say that it's very welcome around here to have some Spring time weather.

The first day of Spring is on March 20th so it's just around the corner. Don't forget that Daylight Savings Time Begins on March 14th! Spring forward everyone. 

 

I spent all day today trying to figure something out. It was a long process and not the first day I’d spent making calls about this particular issue. Just as I was about to throw something at the wall or start screaming at people, I took a deep breath, let my patience take over, and now here we are. Five hours after I started, I’m pretty sure we finally have a resolution.

How did I get through?  I kept digging. There was an answer to my question .. somewhere.  Even if I was getting frustrated, I had to just keep digging through it. Someone I spoke to was going to be able to help me. Someone was going to understand what I was saying and be able to infer what I needed and tell me how to fix it. It only took three people, I was like the Goldilocks of customer support.

The first person I talked to was unable to help.
The second couldn’t help, but she got the number of the people I needed to talk to.

And the third person I talked to was so helpful, I could have fallen at her feet and worshipped the ground she walked on.  Now, some would think that I was just trying to get a different answer from the same company. This wasn’t the case. I was trying to dig through the clutter of a problem that, honestly, I didn’t fully understand. There’s a difference between getting clarification and trying to get a different answer.

The second person that I talked to, she was very helpful, but gave me no different of a response that the first guy, but she did go the extra mile to help me dig out of my confusion. Sure, I had to make a third call to get it handled, but without the second rep, I never would have gotten to the third.

No matter how many calls you make, it can feel like you just get stuck. But don’t get discouraged.  Just keep digging, eventually; you’ll get to the right place. Can you dig it?

Have you ever watched a press conference? All of the journalists are sitting in neatly filed rows, crowding around clusters of microphones, notebooks and smart phones at the ready to catch every moment. The press conference begins, they listen patiently, waiting for the most wonderful words in the world – “We will now take a few questions.”

Everyone wants to be first. What happens when everyone is trying to get that first position? It turns a press conference into a bit of a circus. The same thing can happen on your conference calls. When the presentation finishes, most of the time, there’s an opportunity to make a comment or ask a question. Even on a conference call with three or four people, when you drop the green flag, everyone takes off at once.

A lot of people skip the queued Q&A session on a small conference, but I would suggest that you take advantage of it.  Not because you have too many questions or because it’s too “formal” but simply because you’ve seen Robert Gibb’s face when he opens the floor for questions. There’s a little bit of fear there. He knows he’s about to be standing in the middle of the raceway when the flag comes down for lap one.

Don’t be that guy. Use the queued Q&A features for your next call and take one question at a time. It’s still first come, first serve, but you don’t have to pick who got their hand up a split second before. It’s a race to see who can raise their hand faster than the person beside him.

That's right, it's National Pistachio Day and in celebration of this nutty holiday (Haha, I love the pun) Amber brings you a drawing in celebration.

First, here are some fun facts about the pistachio.

California is the major US producer of the pistachio. 

Red or green dye is only added to the nut because the consumers like the coloring - it doesn't affect the flavor. 

According to legend, the pistachio adorned the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Pistacho's are related to mango fruit and the spice sumac.

In the blogging world, we talk a lot about engaging our audience (Twitter, fan pages, comment threads) and how that’s going to make for a more rewarding experience for both you and the reader. How can you take the ideas of reaching out to an audience with written words, and make them feel the same closeness with spoken word?

Many times when you’re dealing with a conference call, you’re going to be speaking to people who may not necessarily want to be there, but have to be there. How do you engage an audience that isn’t really keen to listening to you right now?

Games. Conferences that involve training are easy. Anything can be more fun if competition is thrown into the mix so set up a contest for your teams and include it as part of the invitation. It can be a simple game, but it’s best to make it tie into your conference topic somehow. There’s always a way to start a game and have some fun, even if it is business. For example, if your conference is a safety meeting, find or take a picture that has a lot of unsafe situations, and have your different participants figure out the things in the picture that are unsafe. The person who gets the most, gets to leave an hour early on a Friday.

Ask Questions. If you’re having a recurring conference, you should always leave your participants with something to think about between the last conference and the one now. It can be any kind of question that will help to lead you into the next conference. Any time you can make people think at the very end, you’ll keep them wanting more.

Be passionate. You’re a part of the company you are with for a reason. No matter what the conference topic is about, you should believe in it with your full heart, no hesitation or second guessing allowed. When you speak, speak emphatically. Explain to your participants why this is an important topic and how it affects them. If you want your team to get behind what you’re talking about, you will first have to prove to them that you are.

Humor, passion, and questions are used on many blogs to keep the audience excited about the topic at hand.

How do you keep your audience engaged on a conference?  

So here’s something that you may not think about.  

Mostly, conferencing – all kinds, video, audio, and desktop have been used as an alternative to stuffy board room conferences for a long time. But there are many parts in the world where conferencing is a brand new experience.

One thing that is very exciting is seeing the applications of conferencing in smaller, poorer countries. I once had the pleasure of recording a conference between a school district and some “adopted” students in Africa. With a simple web camera and a telephone, the school district was able to cross a cultural divide that stretched from the North Pole to the South Pole. I didn’t listen in on things, just monitored to make sure that the recording of their video was going well, but I could see looks of joy on the faces of the adopted students.

Many programs are popping up to use some form of conferencing for education. The world is such a melting pot now, that it’s almost necessary to be able to understand the cultures of the world in order to succeed.

How will you immerse yourself in another culture and world today?

So here’s something that you may not think about.  

Mostly, conferencing – all kinds, video, audio, and desktop have been used as an alternative to stuffy board room conferences for a long time. But there are many parts in the world where conferencing is a brand new experience.

One thing that is very exciting is seeing the applications of conferencing in smaller, poorer countries. I once had the pleasure of recording a conference between a school district and some “adopted” students in Africa. With a simple web camera and a telephone, the school district was able to cross a cultural divide that stretched from the North Pole to the South Pole. I didn’t listen in on things, just monitored to make sure that the recording of their video was going well, but I could see looks of joy on the faces of the adopted students.

Many programs are popping up to use some form of conferencing for education. The world is such a melting pot now, that it’s almost necessary to be able to understand the cultures of the world in order to succeed.

How will you immerse yourself in another culture and world today?