This series is an offshoot from my nationwide corporate workshop on “You Will Own The Room”.
If you want to see part one where I explain the who, what, where, when, why, and how, click here.
So . . . bar charts. We all use them. They are so simple and yet we go out of our way to make them complex and hard to read. Again, it’s not your fault — MS Powerpoint and Mac Keynote offer up so many features, you are lured into the world of 3D, colors, shapes and sizes!
I’m here to bring you forward — to easy to understand, easy to design, and effective bar charts.
Let’s step back for a second and review why we use bar charts:
They take a boring list of numbers and make them live on the page.
They allow you to make additional insights into the data which would be difficult with a list of numbers.
They are powerful. And they can be easily skewed by modifying the values, timescale, or other measures.
What is a bad, stinky bar chart? Here’s one (pulled from the web):
Honestly, I can’t read this (and I don’t want to read it either, it hurts my eyes). And I used to be a statistician.
What’s a good, simple and easy to understand bar chart? Here’s one: [click to continue…]
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My last post on interview questions focused on those questions you should ask your interviewer.
Everyone prepares for the basic interview questions — here are the ones that come out of left field and cause you to stumble. Or as I say, “The ones that bite you on the butt.”
This series is an offshoot from my nationwide corporate workshop on “You Will Own The Room”.
Powerpoint (PC) and Keynote (Mac) force the average user to use many of their various tools to supposedly make their presentations ‘better’. Unfortunately, they make them more colorful, complex, and hard to understand. Mix in the barrage of bad slides and presentations out there — and you get a real mess on your hands.
More colorful, more complex, and more stuff do not make a great presentation. Actually, just the opposite.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to present various elements I frequently run into when working with C-Level executives and their support staffs.
First up . . . Pie Charts. Let’s go to the image — here’s a typical slide you’ll encounter during a presentation:
You’re nervous, but be prepared — they are going to ask you a lot of questions. Your answers are going to play a major part in their impression of you.
Most interviewees don’t realize the questionsthey ask also play a major part in honing that impression. So you need to plan, make time, and ask them.
This is important — it’s not always their answers — it’s the impression you make asking the questions. It shows you are confident and in-control. That’s who they are looking for.
When you run your own business, it’s hard to keep the sales funnel healthy and moving with new referrals, prospect and hopefully, clients!
Most people forget about REFERRALS. Why?
You hate to ask for things from other people.
You don’t want to come off as someone who NEEDS referrals.
You know it sounds like begging for clients.
And many, many others.
Bottom line — to run a successful business, you need constant and regular referrals.
To get those . . . YOU NEED TO ASK FOR REFERRALS.
I’ve linked to one of my most requested articles: Get Referrals NOW™ — 13 simple steps to start a referral flood to your business. [click to continue…]
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If the the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it’s time to water your own grass.
Stop trying to compare yourself to others if you always make yourself feel inferior. Stop trying to yearn for a better job, if you don’t first try to make your current job better. Stop making the same mistake again and again because you focus on others and not on yourself.
Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses in your career. Here are some simple tips to help: [click to continue…]
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