Thinkology Newsletter - Fall 2008
Fun Fact: Fortune cookies originated in California over a hundred years ago as a way to pass thank you notes.
Think Marketing Celebrates 5 Years!
In celebrating 5 years of Think Marketing, the most important thing I’ve wanted to say is thank you. To all who’ve been a part of our growing Think Marketing family – as friends, clients, partners, vendors, colleagues and supporters – thank you for the last 5 years. We’re honored to have you in our lives and our business and looking forward to many more years to come. Thank you for making Think Marketing possible and for your ongoing support, friendship and business!
Warm wishes for the season ahead,
DARREN’S DESIGN TIPS: How To Send Large Files
Here at Think we work on a lot of large scale graphic design projects including trade show and special event signage and outdoor media. This leads to the often overlooked but nonetheless important issue of figuring out how I’m going to deal with sending large art files to clients and print production firms located all over the country. So what’s the solution? Fortunately, there are a host of web-based, on-demand file sending options out there, with more popping up all the time. They allow you to send files up to 1GB immediately for a small monthly or one-time fee or even for free. Each company has various packages available, whether it’s for those who want to have all of the traditional functionality of an FTP site, or for someone who needs to send that mega-sized file a few times a year. Some also offer additional options for long-term storage, file backup service, file delivery tracking, return receipt, password protection, and dropbox options that allow others to leave files for you to pick up later. Now you’re probably asking yourself “what’s the catch”? There aren’t many and it differs by company but you may have to register to use the service or you may have to tolerate a pop-up ad while your file uploads. Also, most services set limits on the size of the file or to the aggregate file size that you can send per month. The best option will depend on the amount of files you transmit and their size. Here are a few links I’d recommend looking into:
How to Give More Effective Presentations
We’ve all been there. Sitting through an agonizingly painful presentation that is mind-numbingly uninteresting and tedious. Thinking it would be so much better if you could somehow wrestle the controls away from the presenter and get things going. Staring at a blizzard of complex and overly detailed PowerPoint slides and having your eyes cross at having to look at the ridiculous amounts of data being pushed at you. Well, we here at Think Marketing share your pain. In fact, helping our clients sharpen their presentations and presentation skills has become one of our pet crusades: “To rid the world of the painful, the unintelligible, and the just plain bad presentation!”
What many presenters fail to understand is that a presentation is first, and foremost, an interaction between a person and an audience. Too many people rely on simple reading through overly complex, poorly designed PowerPoint slides to relay information. And while it’s true that visual aids, equipment and other tools can significantly support core messages and the overall experience, it is in the end the presenter – not the PowerPoint deck – who will make or break the presentation.
With this in mind, here are a few helpful tips to improving your presentations:
Tips for Presenting
- Consider your audience when preparing your presentation and tailor content to their needs.
- How large is the audience?
- Why are they attending?
- What do they hope to learn?
- Make sure your goals are clear and the presentation of your information is logical.
- Tell your audience what you are going to do, do what you say and summarize what you’ve done
- If the presentation is long, summarize important points at the end of the various parts of the presentation
- Make sure your presentation includes:
- Opening – Why you are giving the presentation, core message
- Body – Key points or arguments and supporting information
- Conclusion – Summary of key points and call to action
- Provide a summary handout of key points after your presentation. Tell your audience you will do so. This way, they will be more likely to concentrate on your spoken words.
- Keep in mind that people learn best and stay attentive when they are involved in the presentation. If time permits, try to alternate between
periods where presenters provide information and periods where the audience members interact with the presenter and/or each other.
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