What THEY say after you're done talking.

After my presentation last Saturday a woman came up to to comment on something I'd shown the group about peeling a banana. It was just a little thing, really. But this woman was moved... by something I didn't do to move people but to illustrate a point. You just never know.

She said that her sister had cerebral palsy and the woman believed her sister could learn to peel a banana using the trick I had demonstrated in my session. She was moved to have learned something that might help her sister be just a little bit more independent.

I just opened and peeled the banana from the flower end rather than the stem end. (Try it sometime. You just squeeze the tip and the banana opens right up.)

I was inspired to share this by a post in Darren LaCroix's blog here http://www.humor411.com/blog/2008/03/what-do-people-say-after-you-give-a-presentation/

Chance vrs. Skill

Much as I hate to bring up baseball, especially with the Tigers in a losing streak, but chance rules all short series.

According to baseball statistician Pete Palmer the average difference in major league baseball due to skill is about 1 run per game. This plays out against a background of 4 runs per game due to chance. Over time skill rules.

But oh, in a short series or a single game, well, anything can, and will happen.

In a 5 game series (again according to Palmer) the "worst" team in the major leagues will beat the "best" team 15% of the time.

So, in the playoffs, with two relatively evenly matched teams, well, superstition rules! May the luckiest team win.

Does this mean that the Patriots may have been better than the Giants after all?

(Yes, I used to be a baseball stat geek. I bought Bill James abstract every year. Note to Jamesian nay-sayers... It took Bill James joining the Red Sox organization to finally break the curse of the Bambino.)

So, I recommend trying new activities. You never know when chance may lead you straight into something wonderful.

Way to Promote Your Business!!

My wife and I have a water garden and keep koi. We belong to a club of other people who do likewise called the Capital Area Koi and Water Gardening Club.

Last night a fellow from a Michigan gardening business called Grass Roots, that deals in water gardening supplies and pond fish gave a presentation on how to open and clean one's pond in the spring. Given the matter-of-fact subject we could have been in for a llllooooonnnnggggg night.

But Scott was interesting, imaginative, and funny. How do you get funny out of cleaning the guck from the bottom of your pond?

Well, I don't know how but he did. He looked and sounded like someone from The Sopranos. He was chewing gum. He read from his notes.

Was it a polished, perfectly articulated, presentation complete with PowerPoint?

No. It was better! It was REAL! He was REAL!

He earned Grass Roots a lot of goodwill with about 40 folks who buy a lot of supplies and fish.

That means business.

Speak Up! Promote your business, your career, or your community organization by speaking to groups who can, and will, buy.

"Choice"

Watch this video.

Are the visuals you use in your presentations this powerful?

What pictures do your stories evoke in the minds of your audience?


Thanks to Dan Heath and the Made to Stick blog.



Do something...Different!

Different Worlds

When it comes to getting NEW ideas, there is nothing quite so useful as OLD ideas.

Huh?

Well, it has been said that "There is nothing new under the sun," but as Ambrose Bierce pointed out "there are lots of old things we don't know".

The trick is to look in different worlds for NEW old ideas.

Different worlds. Worlds outside of your organization. Worlds outside of your industry. Worlds outside of -well- your world.

I believe in the C.A.S.E. method of creativity... Copy And Steal Everything!

Now, don't get all up in arms. I'm not talking about stealing from colleagues, or plagiarizing, or some form of corporate skulduggery.

Let's take Howard Schultz as an example. One day in Italy, Schultz noticed all the espresso bars dotting the urban landscape. He thought wouldn't it be great if there were places like this, places to relax with friends, have a cuppa joe, write, a place outside work or home.

The result was Starbucks.

Have an open mind.
Pay attention. (Focus)
Capture.
Break away.
Connect back.
Refine.
Implement.

As Timothy Leary said, "If you don't like what you're doing, you can always pick up your needle and move to another groove."

Take an idea from a different world and use it in your world.

Comedian

Thanks to Darren LaCroix and the Champions Edge program, I learned about a documentary of Jerry Seinfeld perfecting an entirely new act after his TV show ended. It's called Comedian.

I swear I will never feel bad about stumbling and mumbling again when I am developing a new speech... and you shouldn't either.

Even Jerry Seinfeld used notes, forgot what he was talking about, said um and ah and er all the time when he was developing his new routine.

He got better... way better and was eventually wowing audiences again after working, and working, and working on his new routine in front of live audiences, refining every word and every bit until... he was Seinfeld again.

Carrot or stick?

Many organizations are faced with situations where they can take a carrot or stick approach with members or employees.

Too many choose the stick and then wonder why they meet resistance.

Let me ask, if you a dealing with customers or clients would you make the same choice? Would you even consider punishing customers? (Well if you were really considering your policies mindfully that is.)

Yet, often, organizations choose to punish members or employees who don't follow "the rules". For example, in requiring training or during a hastily conceived change.

What might be gained if organizations enticed members and employees to attend needed training or to embrace a change?

Treat your members and employees to a carrot more often than a stick. You may be pleasantly surprised at the results.