Nicholas Bate

Michael Sampson..

..continues to offer fantastic value

The Presentation Surgery is Open

Yeah-the reason I'm back is I've been following the 'less PowerPoint' mantra and YES I'm enjoying it more and YES people are clearly more engaged in what I am saying but now I have problem with those who want a complete record of what I say....in the 'old days' I could just give them a copy of my PowerPoint slides. What do I do?

Firstly-good news on breaking out of PowerPoint and glad to see that broadly the new approach is working. Let's step back a minute. When you present you actually need to provide for three variants on the main stream of communication:
Variant 1=what you are going to say. Effectively your notes, not for public display.
Variant 2=what you will show to the world e.g. a slide, a prop.
Variant 3=your handouts. The record you might like them to take anway.
And of course that is why many people use PowerPoint-it does all three of these functions in one-but badly.

A suggestion. Write your 'script', then turn it into your public presentation. Then create an 'executive summary' in say word and make it available at the end of the presentation either as a hand-out or perhaps a down-load via your blog. Hope that helps.

The A to Z of Moleskine. O is Organisation.

Once you own a moleksine notebook, you feel organised. Simply breaking the cellophane and the paper wrapper suggests here's someone who know what they are doing. And it allows that feeling without 'selling out' and losing our artistic heart and soul, our inate spontaneity which is not there to be judged or caged.

Yep, maybe the odd list or tabbed page. But no more: our freedom and integrity is vital.

How to Think Like: The British Bus Driver

1. Sorry-correct change only.
2. Sorry-you didn't put your arm out.
3. Sorry-timetable changed.
4. Sorry-that's not valid, it's 28 days not a month.
5. Sorry-only if you are a student.
6. Sorry-that's management for you.
7. Sorry.

So many good things on..

..culturaloffering. Check it out.

Monday is a surprisingly good day to be a little radical...

Digested these? Then time for action.

How to Think Like: The guys from Innocent Juices

1. Be friendly
2. Make great juice
3. Be witty
4. Make great smoothies
5. Be welcoming
6. Don't be frightened of the big boys
7. Make great drinks.

Monday's 14 Rules for Radicals

Get ahead of the game: read them now. Sleep on them. Implement no later than 0800 Monday Morning. Hey, do you want to change the world or what?

1. Do it; apologise later.
2. You can see it; you need to say it.
3. Chase challenge, not comfort.
4. Build your brand; you run your own business now.
5. What legacy do you want: 'my boss wouldn't let me'? I don't think so.
6. Measure yourself by results not departure time from the car-park.
7. Become a Radical and change the World.
8. Don't work on being liked; decide to be respected.
9. 'isms' (race/sex/age..) will always exist: step above and around them.
10. Skip the melodrama.
11. If it isn't working, try something different.
12. Be loyal.
13. Be greater than the daily bull**it.
14. JFDI! Just fu**ing do it!

Great bloggers: they try harder 1

The best blogs and bloggers are not necessarily the obvious ones. For those of you new to my blog who haven't discovered Michael Wade, he's here. This is a blog which achieves that rare quality of quantity PLUS quality. When I discover a great blogger, I want more (unfair, I know). Michael provides, but never loses quality. Check out his book on leadership which I really enjoyed here.

Great bloggers: they try harder 2

The best blogs and bloggers are not necessarily the obvious ones. For those of you new to my blog who haven't discovered Matthew Cornell, he's here. This is a blog full of insight into that strange topic of productivity. Matt will take you deeper and consequently leave you feeling a whole lot more insightful.