When people sniff blood, they dig. And they dig deep. Check out this this conversation between a statistician and a company PR guy: (more…)

There’s a rule I learned in my operations management classes that apply in real life. It’s called the 80/20 Rule. The rule goes to say that 20 percent of your activities likely create 80 percent of the significant achievements.

Take a step back and ponder on all the big stuff that happened to you. Did you notice that some small tweak in your plans often drove it to amazing completion? Or how one small decision brought about earthshaking rewards? (more…)

Being nice is nice. It gives you a warm glow inside helping out your fellow man. Sometimes, however, you feel that you’re too nice. A friend calls you, asks a favor, and despite the pile up of obligations, you say yes. Of course, it was nice that you came to his rescue, but you feel depressed that you failed to stand up for yourself.  So, when is the right time to say no to someone? How do you know what moment to assert yourself?

(more…)

That may sounds like Zen weirdness but for me, it’s actually an unbeatable way to win a debate. You see, the moment you agree with someone, you take away their resolve to fight. Argumentative folks thrive on resistance. Take away resistance and you take away the fight. Easily. (more…)

Fighting is actually healthy. Remember the last debate you indulged in? It helped you and your spouse air issues and reach compromises. Sure there was a bit of yelling and sobbing- but that’s better than keeping quiet and boiling in resentment. (more…)

Jesus Christ was the ultimate self-help guru. He may not have worn the flashiest robe nor ridden a high horsepower donkey, but he did amazing things. Who else in man’s history healed the blind, turned water into wine, and gave us the Golden Rule which revolutionized the way we treat each other.  Remember that sublime piece of wisdom, so utterly beautiful in it’s simplicity? The Golden Rule exhorted:

Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You.

It works well… most of the time. (more…)

If you’ve just graduated college, you’ve probably begun hiding away all those books and papers. Finally: freedom!! It’s time to get really rich and make a name for yourself. Career. That’s the real world, right?

Wrong.

Graduation is no excuse to stop the learning process. Failure to study is folly! The new information your constantly process determines your edge in life. School learning is static and often decades out of date.

Here’s how to grow your IQ by 50%- after college. (more…)

Someone cuts you off. Do you holler?

The last parking slot is taken. Do you scream?

The boss fires you. Did you jump the building?

If you said yes to any, I’m sorry to say, you’re a weakling. You simply react to events instead of choosing your own response.

The real movers and shakers chose proactively. The decide on positive behaviours that serve them well. In other words, they choose to be the cause of events. Not the effects.

Here are some tips you can use to rule your reality.

1) Before you react to something, ask yourself: does this serve me well?

2) Take the initiative. If you know you’ll be fired, resign.

3) Pretend you have just 30 minutes to live. How’d you do it?

4) Take ten seconds before acting on something. This prevents brash moves

5) When you’ve made your decision, don’t look back. Be consistent! Remember: never excuse your decisions. It’s your right!

Public speaking is said to be rank higher in the global list of fears than - guess what? - death! Why? Beats me. I just know that when I stand before the audience and pretend I’m talking one on one with a single person. And you know what? I lose all fear in a second.

Do you want a standing ovation the next time you deliver your speech? Try the following

1) Focus on the crowd, not yourself. Think of entertaining them. Don’t imagine them criticizing you.

2) Walk around. A lot. Act like you’re just bantering at the water cooler. This loosens you up.

3) Crack jokes. Smile. They’ll smile back. And you create rapport.

4) Tell stories. Everyone loves a great story! Watch how their eyes stop glazing over.

5) Finally- encourage audience participation. Ask them questions. Throw them opinions. Banter. Debate. Keep it quick flowing!

Now I came across a cool blog with great tips on the subject. You’ll want to check this out:
Standing Ovations

You can sell Benzes to refugees during war time.

You easily part a nun from her vow of chastity.

No doubt- you’re the greatest at influencing people one-on-one.

But can you conduct killer power point presentations?

If you’re like 99% of all the presentors out there, I bet you ‘re a veteran at observing the MEGO Syndrome in audiences.

MEGO?

“Mine Eyes Glaze Over”

That’s right. Three minutes into the powerpoint presentation, the audience is restless. Some begin sneaking out the door. The more polite ones just pretend to listen behind dark spectacles. But you know where their minds went.

The MEGO Syndrome arises from five monumental presentation mistakes. Do the opposite and you’ll deliver utterly drool worthy power point presentations- and influence the socks out of your crowd.

1. Keeping Them Guessing. Many speakers fail to give a roadmap of their speech. So throughout the presentation, the crowd is asking ‘huh? What’s his point? Where’s this leading to?’ Guide them by the hand. Before the actual presentation, outline exactly what you’ll cover and let them know when you’ll finish.

2. Failing to Connect At the Beginning. Audiences don’t like to be preached to. They’d prefer to be talked with. Keep your style interactive. Open the talk by asking a rhetorical question, launching an anecdote, or saying a shocking statement- then invite a comment! You’ll draw them in like Pirahnnas to a pork buffet.

3. Looking at the Floor and Closing Your Body. I’ve seen it so often. The speaker assumes a closed body language. Guilty of this? Hands in pocket. Arms crossed. Legs tight together. Look stiff, and you alienate the audience. To invite the audience to appreciate your power point presentation, move around. Gesture. Smile!

4. DataDumping. I’ve attended hundreds of business presentations where the speaker fills the slide with size 9 font text crammed to the margin. Then they read each line. Good lord! We’re attending a presentation, not an online reading course! The best slides follow the 4 by 4 rule. Four words across, four bullets down.

5. Forgetting the Call of Action. At the end, the speaker jumps to “any questions?” without giving the audience a specific command. Is it to buy? To invest? To visit a website? Without the call to action, the audience is left wondering what you yammered about for the last 20 minutes of their valuable time.

So here’s my call to action for you: create drool worthy powerpoint presentations. Right now.
Your audience deserves it