After my post PowerPoint Don'ts, where I showcased Don McMillan's funny, but too close to home video portrayal of what NOT to do when using PowerPoint, I've received a number of e-mails, tweets, phone calls, notes, telegrams, carrier pigeon cannisters, and thoughtful responses on Linkedin, offering some terrific insights for how we, together, can stamp out Bad PowerPoint.
Since the content is already too voluminous to share in a blog, or an embedded PowerPoint slide show, next week I'll offer a synthesized post of the best of the best solutions, cures if you will, for how to stamp out Bad Powerpoint in your work environment once and for all.
Until then remember: Powerpoint, like spontaneity, has its time and its place.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
PowerPoint Don'ts
This week, we've been sharing stories and talking about the power of storytelling. Today's Fun Friday video should be all you need to convince your organization or client that they don't need Powerpoint to make their point. If you can't convince them, then at least pay close attention to these PowerPoint don'ts presented by comedian Don McMillan! Have a great weekend!
My All-Time Favorite Story
On Tuesday, I posted a few stories that offered some simple lessons, and I asked others to share their stories as well - which they generously did. Stories provide a powerful means for us to connect with people and ideas. We remember them because of the emotional and intellectual impact they tend to have on both ourselves and others. There's just nothing quite like a great story. That said, I thought I'd share my all-time favorite story and one that has served as a guiding principle for my point of view on our business.
Over 25 years ago, I read an article as part of Dr. Sharon Scholl's Humanities Class at Jacksonville University. The anecdote contained within this article has stood the test of time as the greatest PR/Client Service lesson I've ever received. The piece has nothing and everything to do with Client Service. Here is the article in its entirety:
It’s not easy to understand how the “Third World” thinks
One of the difficulties in the so called “dialogue” between the industrial nations and the “Third World” is that the two simply do not speak the same language ― in far more than the surface meaning of that phrase.
This holds true at all levels ― whether individual to individual or government to government.
Fortunately, however, the gap is beginning to be breached. In part this is the direct result of increased person-to-person contact, in recent years, through the Peace Corps and similar programs “giving people” instead of merely giving money.
In many parts of this globe today there is poverty; there is widespread hunger which often approaches starvation; there is human suffering and misery.
There is, to begin, a natural humanitarian desire to help suffering fellow human beings.
But, even entirely aside from this, it is simply good international politics to remove the sources of unrest. For unrest can explode into open revolution which can spread.
However, to help someone, the would-be helper must understand the way the proposed recipient thinks, or the effort may flop.
The World Development Letter (Oct. 29 issue) cites an excellent example of such inter-society misunderstanding.
A development consultant (with a scientific background) observed, when touring an African village, that the yolks of eggs from the village chickens were white.
Ah, he reasoned, clearly a vitamin A deficiency.
His solution:
Simply let the villagers grow marigolds; feed the leaves and seeds to the chickens; the chickens will no longer have their vitamin A deficiency; and the eggs will be more nutritious.
Only, it didn’t work.
Why?
The development consultant, unfortunately, knew more about laboratory science than the psychology and mores of the native villagers he tried to serve.
A seasoned observer, who understood the people of that village, gave three reasons why the “bright” idea failed:
1) Eggs are taboo to most Africans. Villagers won’t eat them because they believe that, if you eat an egg, you eat what might have become a meal for an entire family. Therefore, eating eggs is like stealing food from other members of your family.
2) Most Africans never feed chickens, because chickens can forage and survive (albeit poorly) on the termites they find. This saves money (no chicken feed) and helps keep termites down to boot.
3) The women (who do such chores) refused to grow the marigolds. They would have had to carry water, for the plants, from distant wells.
The Old African Hand concluded:
“They won’t carry extra loads of water for flowers they don’t want in order to feed chickens that don’t need feeding so as to produce nutritious eggs which they aren’t going to eat anyway.”
Moral: The bridge to mutual understanding and cooperation needs more spans than merely “speaking their language.”
Over 25 years ago, I read an article as part of Dr. Sharon Scholl's Humanities Class at Jacksonville University. The anecdote contained within this article has stood the test of time as the greatest PR/Client Service lesson I've ever received. The piece has nothing and everything to do with Client Service. Here is the article in its entirety:
It’s not easy to understand how the “Third World” thinks
One of the difficulties in the so called “dialogue” between the industrial nations and the “Third World” is that the two simply do not speak the same language ― in far more than the surface meaning of that phrase.
This holds true at all levels ― whether individual to individual or government to government.
Fortunately, however, the gap is beginning to be breached. In part this is the direct result of increased person-to-person contact, in recent years, through the Peace Corps and similar programs “giving people” instead of merely giving money.
In many parts of this globe today there is poverty; there is widespread hunger which often approaches starvation; there is human suffering and misery.
There is, to begin, a natural humanitarian desire to help suffering fellow human beings.
But, even entirely aside from this, it is simply good international politics to remove the sources of unrest. For unrest can explode into open revolution which can spread.
However, to help someone, the would-be helper must understand the way the proposed recipient thinks, or the effort may flop.
The World Development Letter (Oct. 29 issue) cites an excellent example of such inter-society misunderstanding.
A development consultant (with a scientific background) observed, when touring an African village, that the yolks of eggs from the village chickens were white.
Ah, he reasoned, clearly a vitamin A deficiency.
His solution:
Simply let the villagers grow marigolds; feed the leaves and seeds to the chickens; the chickens will no longer have their vitamin A deficiency; and the eggs will be more nutritious.
Only, it didn’t work.
Why?
The development consultant, unfortunately, knew more about laboratory science than the psychology and mores of the native villagers he tried to serve.
A seasoned observer, who understood the people of that village, gave three reasons why the “bright” idea failed:
1) Eggs are taboo to most Africans. Villagers won’t eat them because they believe that, if you eat an egg, you eat what might have become a meal for an entire family. Therefore, eating eggs is like stealing food from other members of your family.
2) Most Africans never feed chickens, because chickens can forage and survive (albeit poorly) on the termites they find. This saves money (no chicken feed) and helps keep termites down to boot.
3) The women (who do such chores) refused to grow the marigolds. They would have had to carry water, for the plants, from distant wells.
The Old African Hand concluded:
“They won’t carry extra loads of water for flowers they don’t want in order to feed chickens that don’t need feeding so as to produce nutritious eggs which they aren’t going to eat anyway.”
Moral: The bridge to mutual understanding and cooperation needs more spans than merely “speaking their language.”
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Barack To The Future!
I haven't always been the most reliable prognosticator, but on the day after Barack Obama announced his campaign for the White House, I wrote the post you'll find pasted below. Though there's still a general election to be waged, the country seems poised for change. Now whether the change will be as dramatic as depicted in the video Todd Defren shared, I guess we'll have to wait and see!
Public Service (February 11, 2007)
Yesterday was such an extraordinary day in U.S. history that it warrants a Sunday departure from client service to public service. At the old State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois, U.S. Senator Barack Obama electrified a crowd of several thousand to declare his candidacy for President of the United States. At the same place where Lincoln spoke of America as a house divided and challenged its citizens to recall the values of the nation's founding fathers, Obama asked America to join a collective campaign to unite us once again. To join a campaign for hope.
Though there are many political lifetimes between now and November of 2008, we may have witnessed the announcement of the next President of the United States. The prospect of winning is daunting to say the least. Obama has only been in the U.S. Senate for two years. If he were to win, he'd be the only Senator other than Warren Harding and John Kennedy to be elected to our nation's highest office.* What's more, he'd be the first African-American president in our country's history.
I'm sure there may be countless other reasons why Obama's prospects for victory are improbable. That's why his courage is so compelling. Yesterday, he invited America to get to know him better. To join his journey of hope. To share his vision for an America that can regain a positive standing in the world. To offer average voters a voice in Washington, and to unite a country that has been carved and divided between red states and blue states for too long.
The reason I think he'll win is because of what has shaped him. I'm not talking about his parents, mixed race background, political experience, or his time at Harvard Law School. Obama's greatest asset is his experience as a community organizer. It should be required duty for anyone who plans to run for public office. Grassroots community service promotes people who listen, people who care about the challenges that face average Americans, and those who truly understand that one person can make a difference.
Obama is a once in a generation candidate whose commitment to public service is actually greater than his personal ambition. He's a powerful combination of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Whether one is a Republican, Democrat or Independent, we owe it to ourselves as a country to listen as Obama makes his case for hope.
I'm ready to listen and maybe even get involved. In another lifetime, I was very engaged in political campaigns at the national level, but the changes that have occurred in how Presidential campaigns have been run since 1988 caused me to walk away from a process I once loved. If nothing else, we should applaud Obama's candidacy because we're likely to see a positive shift in how candidates and the news media conduct themselves in a Presidential campaign. We can only hope.
*For historical clarification, I should have been more specific, as there have been 15 U.S. Senators who have served as President, but only two elected directly from the Senate to the Presidency.
Public Service (February 11, 2007)
Yesterday was such an extraordinary day in U.S. history that it warrants a Sunday departure from client service to public service. At the old State Capitol Building in Springfield, Illinois, U.S. Senator Barack Obama electrified a crowd of several thousand to declare his candidacy for President of the United States. At the same place where Lincoln spoke of America as a house divided and challenged its citizens to recall the values of the nation's founding fathers, Obama asked America to join a collective campaign to unite us once again. To join a campaign for hope.
Though there are many political lifetimes between now and November of 2008, we may have witnessed the announcement of the next President of the United States. The prospect of winning is daunting to say the least. Obama has only been in the U.S. Senate for two years. If he were to win, he'd be the only Senator other than Warren Harding and John Kennedy to be elected to our nation's highest office.* What's more, he'd be the first African-American president in our country's history.
I'm sure there may be countless other reasons why Obama's prospects for victory are improbable. That's why his courage is so compelling. Yesterday, he invited America to get to know him better. To join his journey of hope. To share his vision for an America that can regain a positive standing in the world. To offer average voters a voice in Washington, and to unite a country that has been carved and divided between red states and blue states for too long.
The reason I think he'll win is because of what has shaped him. I'm not talking about his parents, mixed race background, political experience, or his time at Harvard Law School. Obama's greatest asset is his experience as a community organizer. It should be required duty for anyone who plans to run for public office. Grassroots community service promotes people who listen, people who care about the challenges that face average Americans, and those who truly understand that one person can make a difference.
Obama is a once in a generation candidate whose commitment to public service is actually greater than his personal ambition. He's a powerful combination of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Whether one is a Republican, Democrat or Independent, we owe it to ourselves as a country to listen as Obama makes his case for hope.
I'm ready to listen and maybe even get involved. In another lifetime, I was very engaged in political campaigns at the national level, but the changes that have occurred in how Presidential campaigns have been run since 1988 caused me to walk away from a process I once loved. If nothing else, we should applaud Obama's candidacy because we're likely to see a positive shift in how candidates and the news media conduct themselves in a Presidential campaign. We can only hope.
*For historical clarification, I should have been more specific, as there have been 15 U.S. Senators who have served as President, but only two elected directly from the Senate to the Presidency.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
What's Your Story?
Yesterday, I took a few minutes to look for a story I had once read from an article by Peter Senge about building a shared vision. I didn't find the precise reference, but essentially, it's about someone walking up to two stonecutters and asking, "What are you doing?" The first stonecutter replied, "I'm cutting stone." What's it look like I'm doing? The second exclaimed, "I'm building a great cathedral."
Of course during this pursuit, I discovered that in the original version there were three stonecutters. But apparently, given our ever decreasing attention span, one of our other stonecutters either quit or was let go.
While the stonecutter story inspires us to take a broader view of the significance of our respective vocations, I actually found another tale that you're going to love called the hole story:
A man looks out his window and sees two men with shovels, one walking behind the other. The first man digs a hole and moves down the street about 20 yards. Meanwhile, the second man fills up the first man’s hole. Then the whole process is repeated, again and again: the first man digs a hole, the second fills it up. Puzzled the onlooker yells out to the first man, “Why are you doing this?” The man replies, “Oh. We’re part of a three person team. The third guy is sick today. He plants the tree.”
My first thought was that metaphorically speaking I use to work for that company - or at least it seemed like it. Lots of work, no tangible results, and always a man or woman short.
You want to provide great client service? Keep your eye on the big picture and make sure you have everyone on the team you need to be successful!
Now share your favorite story!
Of course during this pursuit, I discovered that in the original version there were three stonecutters. But apparently, given our ever decreasing attention span, one of our other stonecutters either quit or was let go.
While the stonecutter story inspires us to take a broader view of the significance of our respective vocations, I actually found another tale that you're going to love called the hole story:
A man looks out his window and sees two men with shovels, one walking behind the other. The first man digs a hole and moves down the street about 20 yards. Meanwhile, the second man fills up the first man’s hole. Then the whole process is repeated, again and again: the first man digs a hole, the second fills it up. Puzzled the onlooker yells out to the first man, “Why are you doing this?” The man replies, “Oh. We’re part of a three person team. The third guy is sick today. He plants the tree.”
My first thought was that metaphorically speaking I use to work for that company - or at least it seemed like it. Lots of work, no tangible results, and always a man or woman short.
You want to provide great client service? Keep your eye on the big picture and make sure you have everyone on the team you need to be successful!
Now share your favorite story!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Great Scott? Hardly.
So what did happen? Well, it would appear to be a case of Scott McClellan trying to serve two masters and failing to serve either. Though I've never visited the West Wing, I understand that the Press Secretary's Office is located at a (more or less) equal distance between the press room and the Oval Office - symbolic of the Press Secretary's responsibility to serve the President and the citizenry.
What I find interesting of course is that we somehow accept the notion that serving both parties represents competing rather than complementary interests. The President and the Press Secretary should be serving the true client here - the American people. You know, the people who pay the taxes, elect our leaders, and send their sons and daughters to war. Yes, those people.
When I was a little kid, I remember waiting for a haircut when a fight broke out between a mother and a petulant little brat who was screaming about how he wanted his hair cut (like it really mattered). Finally, the barber, who was ready to give both of them a crew cut at this point said, "who's paying for this?" The kid continued to scream, but the barber took his instructions from the mom who was paying the bill. Simple barber shop wisdom.
Future press secretaries would be well advised to consider that while the government may sign the check, the American people are the ones paying the salary. There's only one client here, not two.
What I find interesting of course is that we somehow accept the notion that serving both parties represents competing rather than complementary interests. The President and the Press Secretary should be serving the true client here - the American people. You know, the people who pay the taxes, elect our leaders, and send their sons and daughters to war. Yes, those people.
When I was a little kid, I remember waiting for a haircut when a fight broke out between a mother and a petulant little brat who was screaming about how he wanted his hair cut (like it really mattered). Finally, the barber, who was ready to give both of them a crew cut at this point said, "who's paying for this?" The kid continued to scream, but the barber took his instructions from the mom who was paying the bill. Simple barber shop wisdom.
Future press secretaries would be well advised to consider that while the government may sign the check, the American people are the ones paying the salary. There's only one client here, not two.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Relentless Thanks!
It's been a busy May, not only here at CSI/Season 2, but I was involved in kicking off a new team blog at Mullen called relentlessPR. If you haven't visited yet, please do and let us know what you think.
As part of my monthly thank you to those who so generously contribute to our conversation, I'm also including the people who supported relentlessPR and kindly helped us kick things off. (You all received some relentless recognition over there as well). Thanks again for all your support, and I look forward to a great June!
Jim Anderson, Larry Bodine, Tom Kane, More Partner Income, Rjon Robins, Jenny Love, Michelle Golden, Kevin O'Keefe, Jim Calloway, Dr. Alan Freitag, Stacia, Boyd Neil, Eric Eggertson, Marc Rapp, Liza Jones, Dan Hull, Todd Andrlik, Maria Palma, Martin Lynch, Ed Lee, David Mullen, Chris Brogan, Scott Baradell, Sherrilynne Starkie, Amanda Chapel, Lara Kretler, Susan Iskiwitch, Kelli Matthews, Matt Kucharski, and Kami Huyse.
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