Management Craft

What Keynote Presenters Know - Their Special Sauce

Most of us need to do presentations of some kind.

• Speeches to persuade.
• Talks to inform.
• Review meetings.
• Project plan communication meetings.
• Inspirational workshops.
• Training sessions.
• And Henry V "all things are ready if our minds be so" talks to get people ready to go forth and conquer.

I like this post from Presentation Zen. It shares strengths of three popular speaking pros - Tom Peters, Guy Kawasaki, and Seth Godin. I have seen Peters and Kawasaki in person, but not Godin. If you have never seen these fine fellas in action, click through to the Presentation Zen post because it contains links to see clips of each.

Sure - they are big time pros who make lots of money to present. What's interesting, and it goes beyond these three guys, is that the better they are, the less formal they are.

The better they are, the less formal they are.

When I see someone sitting on the corner of a table who cares enough to have an authentic conversation, I take notice. I look for the nearest exit when subjected to a slick over practiced roadshow.

Not that these guys don't practice. They do. They practice being real and compelling.

What should we learn from this? The special sauce in presentations is:

• Bringing ourselves to the conversation
• Authenticity
• Informalness
• Great information

Good sense of humor and ding your homework helps a lot too. I did a presentation earlier today. It was fun. I enjoyed it because it was like having a conversation with friends (I did not know these people). Sure, I prepared and gave them information and inspiration. I had a PowerPoint presentation. I had a handout. AND it was like having coffee with a friend. I could be me and they could feel comfortable being themselves - that's the definition of intimacy.

Check out the videos from Tom, Guy, and Seth and then think about your presentation style. What do you like about their approaches?

One more thing about Tom Peters. I love his fascinating facts and wonder how he gets them. Does he have a research assistant?

Focus Book Winners!

Congratulations to David, Wayne, Frank, Christopher, and Sebastien who won signed copies of Focus Like a Laser Beam. They correctly reported my embarrassing ex-hobby from the focus webcast and then were drawing winners.

You can still check out the approximately 30 minute webcast here.

And my hobby? Let's just say that John Travolta and I were tight. We go way back.

Monk-e-mail - You gotta try this!

A pal of mine sent me a cool and funny monk-e-mail. You gotta see this and send your own monk-e-mails. It's a new tool from Career Builder and it is free and irresistible.

See my message and then make your own!

86ing the "In the Weeds" Recurring Dream

I was spending a few hours in the Chicago O'Hare Airport in between flights and got a bite to eat at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant there. Watching the servers buzz around reminded me of a recurring dream.

In the dream, I am a waitress and I am in the weeds, big time. In the weeds is a term servers use to mean WAY BEHIND. In the dream, I have several tables of people waiting for food and drinks and I can't seem to get their stuff to them. The computer doesn't work, the supplies run out, and I forget things. I am in service quick sand.

I have this dream when I feel really behind. My dream is set in a restaurant because I was a server for TGI Friday's for a few year while going to college. I had almost forgotten about the dream, but I had it again a couple weeks ago.

This is a wake up call. My mind is trying to tell me something. It's shouting, "listen up!"

The last few weeks have been very busy and this next week is as well. All great projects, but perhaps too many things going on at once. After this week, I will be back to a better project load for me. I had a pretty good project plan, but things got a bit backed up due to the two weeks I was out of commission due to my mother's death (and then a couple more weeks being in a fog from the shock). That's just the way things go sometimes.

If your mind were going to scream a message to you, what would the message be?

The good thing about being a server in the weeds is that every shift comes to an end and you get to start over. It's not quite the same when you run your own business. That said, we can take a couple days to get organized and renegotiate deadlines if needed. We can start fresh.

Do you have any recurring dreams (or daydreams)? Listen up!

My First Webcast - Free and Available with a Click!

I've tried something new. Well, new for me. A colleague of mine helped me record this approx. 30 minute webcast using a PowerPoint presentation and audio, brought together by Camtasia. I want to thank Leigh for being my conversation partner and for helping me plunge into this new (for me) technology.

It's raw, unedited, and unscripted. We did it once. The only structure was the images I selected to illustrate interesting concepts related to Focus. I did not want to create something too polished or slick - I wanted it to be real.

Yes, this is related to the launch of my book, Focus Like a Laser Beam, but it also stands on it's own as a webinar about focusing in a social context (work). Check it out and let me know what you think! It would make for an interesting brown bag conversation starter, too. Forward the post or webcast link to your training manager.

Click here to see the webcast.

It requires Flash 8.0 and you will be directed to download it for free if you don't have it. One note: if you don't want to download a Yahoo toolbar at the same time, be sure to uncheck that before you download Flash.

P.S. I will select five people to receive a free signed copy of my book from those who send me an mail and tell me the potentially embarrassing ex-hobby that I revealed in the webcast. Your email needs to get to me by the end of day this coming Monday, June 19th. I will print out all emails with the correct answer, put them face down in a pile, and pick five winners. If you win and already have ordered my book, you can give the unsigned one to a pal! Send your guesses to me at lhaneberg AT gmail DOT com. Include your mailing address in case you win (I won't use the addresses for any other purpose, rest assured). Anyone in the world can participate and win.

Erich Fromm - The Art of Loving

The Zinger on Strength-Based Leadership blog offers this cool post about Erich Fromm's classic book, The Art of Loving, which is celebrating it's 50th year.

David Zinger is going to do a series of posts about this book and the nature of love and strength-based leadership. Should be a great series of posts. Here is a quote from this first one:

I believe this is a very important key to the love in strength based leadership. We must understand ourselves, others, and the art of leadership. When we practice this love we notice and see (essential components in appreciation and recognition initiatives). And as our knowledge of leadership grows so to does our love expand. The last line could be written by Marcus Buckingham as it acknowledges a strong focus on individual differences.

David mentioned Marcus Buckingham, who is a big evangelist for strength-based leadership. I saw him speak in Dallas last month. He has a cool new DVD available for a reasonable $99 called Trombone Player Wanted.

Here's an interesting and TRUE story about this DVD. Buckingham spoke at the International ASTD conference. They had stacks of his books and this DVD for sale at the conference bookstore. They brought in a TV and played the DVD on a loop for a couple days. The guy running the bookstore, Mark, happened to be the manager of the ASTD press, for whom I have written two books. Mark told me that he hired a few local temp employees to help out at the bookstore. These temps performed basic stocking and inventory duties. One temp was a guy who had done a lot of temp and odd jobs. As he worked at the conference bookstore, the DVD played again and again. It is very inspiring heard once. Heard again and again, it seeps deep into the brain. After hearing the DVD for a couple days, this temp told Mark that he had a new lease on life. That he realized that he DID have strengths and could better his life by focusing on them.

Pretty cool, huh? Well there's more. Mark, a successful publisher, had a similar experience. He was once a writer but had put that aside for a "real job." Listening to the DVD again and again inspired Mark to commit to writing again. As he told me this, his face lit up.

Focusing on strengths is powerful juice for managers and leaders.

Cranky Middle Manager Gets Focused

You all know the Cranky Middle Manager Show, right? That weekly podcast by witty host Wayne Turmel (he is very witty, in an intelligent way). I have linked to the show several times.

I am thrilled to announce that this week's show features ME! I chatted it up with Wayne about the topic of my latest book, Focus Like a Laser Beam. Check out the podcast here.

You know how you always think you sound weird when you listen to your recorded voice? I usually think I sound like a chipmunk, but this time, my vocal tone had a bit of a stuck-up aristocrat-ness to it. Let me assure you, I am no aristocrat. I think my voice is aging at bit and there was a slightly mothball sound to it. Funny. Let me know what you think. Perhaps if I refine this quality I can be like an American Julia Child (except I can't cook).

Over the weekend, Amazon started shipping Focus and now lists it as available. That's a full week early (pub date is officially this coming Friday) but I'm not complaining!

Tortoise-Hippo Love

Check out this post on travel expert Scott Ahlsmith's blog. The pictures and story are wonderful. Involves a Tsunami, a baby hippo and a grand old tortoise. So cute.

Belated Blog Tipping - Collective Genius

I was late to the party last month and am arriving fashionably late again. The first of the month is the day to share new blogs (that's blogtipping). Well, here it is the 9th!

My blogger pal and fellow Seattlite Curt Rosengren has started a new blog concept called Collective Genius. On Collective Genius, he invites several people to post on a theme. He started with the theme of advice for graduates. I just put up my post and you can see all the others.

Collective Genius is an interesting idea and I am looking forward to seeing what grows there. I encourage you to plop the address into your aggregator and check it out. Heck, why not play and be a part of the conversation!

Curt's main blog is Occupational Adventure and is a must read for people interested in creating careers they love. That should be everyone except those under the age of ten or happily retired, right? If you feel stuck in a rut or in need of an infusion of career passion, Curt's your guy. He is also a regular contributor to the Worthwhile Magazine and blog.

Let me know if you agree with my advice for graduates. I am taking my own advice right now - twenty years late, but NEVER too late. Loving every minute!

Pet Peeve - Paper Toilet Covers

I am sorry to bring up such an unsavory topic on this otherwise generally savory blog, but I have to vent. I don't go into enough men's rooms to know if this is a problem for both genders, so for now I will say it is a female thing.

Many women choose to use those paper toilet covers. That's great. That's fine. If you want to separate your rear from the toilet surface with the paper, that's your choice. You obviously care about hygiene, the question is, whether you only care about YOUR hygiene.

When I go into a women's restroom, I would say that there is about a 30% chance that I will walk into a stall where the paper toilet cover has been left on the seat. Yuck!

I realize that these things are supposed to flush, but they do not always go. It amazes me the number of women who do not wait the 10 seconds it would take to ensure that their paper cover flushes.

My request: If you are going to use paper toilet covers - stay to make sure they flush. And if you are a mother teaching your children to use them, make sure they do the same. I don't want to handle your tush protector.

Thanks. Venting done.