“I think that bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy,” he said to a round of applause. “One estimate has put the drain at $250 million per day. That assumes half-hour presentations for an average audience of four people, with salaries of $35,000. It conservatively assumes that about a quarter of the presentations are a complete waste of time. Given that there are some 30 million PowerPoint presentations created every day, that would indeed add up to an annual waste of $100 billion.

“Of course, that’s just the time we’re losing sitting through presentations,” Bohannon continued. “There are other costs, because PowerPoint is a tool and like any tool it can, and will, be abused. […] It helps you “soften up your audience”. It distracts them with pretty pictures, irrelevant data. It allows you to create the illusion of competence, the illusion of simplicity, and most destructively, the illusion of understanding.”

Throughout the talk, Bohannon had dancers performing a visual example of what he was discussing.  When he discussed a complex scientific idea that would normally require a chemistry degree to fully understand, the dancers were able to make it easy to understand and remember. Rather than remembering complex ideas in formal language, it is easier to remember the movements and actions of the dancers.

While his ideas about conveying information using dancers were obviously meant to be tongue-in-cheek, his point is a valid one. Who among us has sat through a long, tedious PowerPoint presentation, only to wonder at the end what information the presenter was trying to convey? While it is true that this is a flashy way to present information, what if as much energy went into a presentation that offered the audience a more interactive or memorable way to digest the information?

The next time that you have a big presentation at work, take the time to watch Bohannon’s TED Talk, and take from it what you will. You can not only save time by not creating the anticipated (and dreaded) PowerPoint, but add a spark of energy into an otherwise monotonous day. In doing so, you can be assured that the information you present will be absorbed and remembered, rather than ignored or forgotten within ten minutes of the conclusion of your meeting.

This will, in turn, not only set a precedent for future presentations, but also show your employer why they hired you in the first place, namely because of your creative, proactive attitude and ability to think outside of the box. Considering the still shaky nature of the job market, this creates a win-win situation for you and your employer. So ditch the PowerPoint and dust off your dance shoes. There’s a lot of work to be done!

 Thomas Stone is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor at the SprightlyShopper.

Just like all-star athletes, booming businesses are made through big plays and going beyond what is expected of them.  Neither businesses nor athletes become well-known for their average results, but for what they do on the field that is beyond average. 

It is the exceptional moments that really make or break an athlete’s career, and it is the same in the business world. Making the big play on the football field is equivalent to producing amazing results and transformations for your clients.  

Yes, you may be able to get by through average work or by doing what you committed to doing like you said you would, but you are guaranteed more success if you strive to go above and beyond.  

People LIKE when they get what they hoped for, but they are ECSTATIC when the results exceed what they could have only dreamed of. 

In order to create a truly successful business, you should always aim to surpass your clients’ expectations.  It is not about just doing what you say you’ll do- that’s what’s expected.  That’s just business as usual.  

A potential client could go to just about anyone and be confident that they will get what they want.  Some places may take longer than others, and may need a bit more direction, but in the end they will probably create the desired results.

This is where the difference between first round draft picks and 20^th round draft picks come in to play. 

It is pretty much guaranteed that any football player that makes it through the cuts and onto an NFL team is pretty dang good.  After all, they only take the best of the best, and there are thousands of kids trying to make it pro.  However, there is a reason why some people get picked right away and others get picked much later on.  It is based highly upon the results that they have created for their team.  

Someone who has scored a lot of touchdowns will stand out as good.  However, someone who perhaps has a few less touchdowns, but who has run 98 yards to score any number of times is going to look a lot better because that is exceptional.  

There are a bunch of guys out there that can push through and run in a 10 yard touchdown, but not many that can make it almost the full length of the field and do the same.

There are any number of kickers who can make the extra point, but fewer who can make a field goal from the 50 yard line. 

These exceptional players, that cannot only be counted on to do what they are hired to do, but that also make big plays, are the ones that are most desirable.  They are the ones that every team wants to have and that everybody wants to work with.

Again, it is the same in business.  It is those businesses that go above and beyond and create truly exceptional results for their clients that everybody wants to go to. 

Of course you want to do what you say you will, that’s the staying on your feet, breaking tackles and running.

But being great at what you do, providing amazing solutions that they never imagined were possible – that’s those 98 yard touchdown runs that are going to get your noticed. 

Those are the things that your clients are going to tell friends and family about.

People will line up to work with you when you can produce those kinds of miracles for them.  And not just that, they will rave about you and the amazing results that you have created to their friends, which will bring in even MORE clients.  

Aiming to exceed rather than meet expectations is a great way to substantially increase the success of your business.  

And think about this…if you don’t, then someone else will. 

And where will you be then? 

Stuck on the bench watching as people who were willing to put in the time and effort to go the extra mile take your place. 

It’s the player who not only demonstrates that they are consistently the best – but that they are essential to the success of the people who hire them – those are the ones that continue to dominate the field and the headlines.  

They are the ones that make the money, and they are the ones who are in high demand.  

Same for you in your business.

Ready to stop being intimidated to talk about your prices and eliminate price resistance in your prospects at the same time? Get Your Free Training at http://www.ABetterYouCoach.com

Theresa Whiteside is the President and founder of Bizitioning™ (formerly “A Better You” Coach) Bizitioning™ is a coaching and consulting firm that works with heart-centered business owners and passionate service providers to position themselves as the obvious and automatic choice of consumers in their marketplace. She likes to say “If you’re ready to shed your invisibility cloak to step up to becoming the Oprah of your marketplace, then come with me. Because once you’ve positioned yourself to be the undeniable choice in your marketplace, people will be showing up magically to work with you…because you are resonating with your passion, and they are resonating with you.” Build Your Business Around Your Passion…Follow the Blog at http://www.DareAndDoGood.com

The world of retail has changed rapidly since the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1991. Developed as a way to allow people to link to and access information on the Internet, the Web was intended to be used first and foremost as a way to organize the pool of human knowledge. But it soon developed another aspect: a method of advertising and selling goods.

Search engines soon sprang up due to the rising complexity of the web, quickly followed by people dedicated to gaming those search engines to increase their website’s standings. Through this process, however, search engine optimization (SEO) was developed as a method of building a website and external links to raise a site’s standings legitimately. Today any online retailer that wants to be successful needs to be concerned with SEO because without it few people will visit their site and their sales will suffer. Though SEO, in some fashion, is required for any retailer it’s not the end-all of online marketing and should be accompanied by a good mix of online advertising.

SEO and online advertising are analogous to the physical world practices of finding an appropriate location for a business and putting up billboards and flyers in high traffic locations. Just as most businesses in the physical world can’t be successful without employing both tactics, online retailers have to make use of SEO and advertising to become highly visible and attract business. Unlike the real world, however, SEO and online advertising can be used to directly affect each other. Some SEO tactics benefit things like email marketing campaigns, while advertising deals on specific items is one action that can attract links which will, in turn, aid SEO.

What SEO Does and How to Get Started

SEO is a way of increasing the chances that a website will be ranked highly by the major search engines (Google and Bing). The algorithms controlling each search engine’s rankings are highly complex and entirely secret, so there are no hard facts about exactly how much any one action will affect rankings, but there are some general guidelines that can help ensure higher rankings. Because of the way Google’s algorithm works, your website should be built from the ground up to provide an excellent customer experience.

Google tries to match people with the best possible result for their query, so making sure your website caters to searchers will cause Google to regard you more highly. Have deep, valuable content in the form of a regularly updated blog to show both Google and searchers that you’re knowledgeable in your field. You can even incorporate snippets of your blog posts into your marketing newsletters, piquing the recipient’s interests and drawing them to your site. Monitoring your site and its traffic closely will give you a good idea of the ways people find your site and the terms they use in search which you can use to inform your advertising campaigns.

Why You Should Include Advertising

Proper SEO tactics will make your website easy to use, helpful and engaging while increasing its visibility on search pages. So what’s left after that? Most of the top results on search engine results pages (SERPs) are pay per click (PPC) ads, so even if your site ranks at position 1 for “checkered tablecloths”, your biggest competitor’s ad could show up above your result. Further, PPC results can be seen almost immediately, so you can use PPC ads to test copy for your SEO content. PPC ads can also help you overcome negative press by offering a link to an explanatory page and, with the benefit of being above any organic results, will be one of the first links searchers see. Further, sending out advertisements and coupons for various products on ad networks and through email messages can raise interest in your website and could result in more links, increasing your SEO.

SEO and advertising are both beneficial apart, but together they form a nigh unstoppable juggernaut of visibility and user experience that can take you from a small time web store to a major player in online commerce.

Carmin Wharton is a home-based business expert and the founder of e-BlackWomenNetwork.com, a membership community designed to take businesses owned by women from start up to prosperity. Carmin’s mission is to help women earn what they’re worth and make it big in their home-based business on their own terms.  Carmin is also the published author of a relationship memoir, Lessons Learned:  While Looking for Love in All the Wrong Faces.

How is Sports and Marketing Alike?
By Sharron Dark
“Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly.”
-Shaquille O’Neal

In today’s world both sports and marketing are alike keeping your head in the game at all times or risking the price of getting crushed. Marketing and sports have their unique attributions. Sportsmanship is like running a marathon without a cause or recognition, the same as marketing. However, football players try to score with a touch down and big plays occur swiftly.

Marketing is my field of choice to learn and grow with a company to promote their business for stamina and to turn a profit. Like players are born to run and marketers are born to succeed by staying focus. What is marketing? It’s one slice of the pie that is essential and significant. Consequently, the three ingredients of sports and marketing are awareness, effort, and conviction to kick butt and arise from the knowledge and preference to convince fans that you’re number one.

A situation analysis is including a plan for objectives to execute for players and in business. Nevertheless, there are components that must be addressed in marketing, sales promotion (like game tickets), advertising, personal selling activities.
Sports celebrities offer sponsorship marketing for good causes and marketing tactics on and off the basketball court and field. Leadership is a critical element in business markets.
Identifying your audience is an overall company success benefits like sporting events.
For example, there is a tie-in between product (nutrition) Gatorade and the athletes.

A slice-of-life of brand loyalty consumer purchases of a favorite hockey player. Practice makes a perfect common strategy for building and re-building a brand’s image.
A strong brand is the best way to make a sale and business-to-business expenditures.
Sometimes being passive like in sports in a pass rush strategy makes the game a winning success!

In today’s world both sports and marketing are alike keeping your head in the game at all times or risking the price of getting crushed. Marketing and sports have their unique attributions. Sportsmanship is like running a marathon without a cause or recognition, the same as marketing. However, football players try to score with a touch down and big plays occur swiftly.

Marketing is my field of choice to learn and grow with a company to promote their business for stamina and to turn a profit. Like players are born to run and marketers are born to succeed by staying focus. What is marketing? It’s one slice of the pie that is essential and significant. Consequently, the three ingredients of sports and marketing are awareness, effort, and conviction to kick butt and arise from the knowledge and preference to convince fans that you’re number one.

A situation analysis is including a plan for objectives to execute for players and in business. Nevertheless, there are components that must be addressed in marketing, sales promotion (like game tickets), advertising, personal selling activities.
Sports celebrities offer sponsorship marketing for good causes and marketing tactics on and off the basketball court and field. Leadership is a critical element in business markets.
Identifying your audience is an overall company success benefits like sporting events.
For example, there is a tie-in between product (nutrition) Gatorade and the athletes.

A slice-of-life of brand loyalty consumer purchases of a favorite hockey player. Practice makes a perfect common strategy for building and re-building a brand’s image.
A strong brand is the best way to make a sale and business-to-business expenditures.
Sometimes being passive like in sports in a pass rush strategy makes the game a winning success!

In dating you dress to impress. You get your hair and nails done for the big outing  for the big outing. The clothes you wear are pressed and have the smell like  you just picked them up from the cleaners. The car you drive is vacuumed out  with a great wax job before you pick up the special someone. Money is spent on  roses and a great night out on the town. In dating if you don’t look or act the  part on the first date you may not get a second date.

When you are dating you can’t say yes to everyone that asks you  out. A few dances are cool at first but if someone sees that you are desperate  they can really take advantage of you. Love sharks can see blood and they go in  for the kill. Sometimes it is hard to recover from a bad relationship and it  could of all been avoided if you would of took your time before making a life
changing decision.

In marketing yourself in person you dress for success.  Everything you say in your marketing you have to carry it out. Too many times people go all out on the first meeting but don’t have any future substance or  follow up. Simple mistakes that people make are not having any business cards  ready and when they have them the information is not correct.

There are too many other businesses that people can spend their  money with. With your business you can’t spend your marketing dollars with  every vendor that wants to take a walk down the street with you. It is easy to  spend all of your money and end up missing out on great marketing  opportunities.

Dating and Marketing are both a numbers game. The more people  you contact the better chances you have to succeed. Once you been in the game  for a while you will be mature enough to see the importance of taking your time  and looking for a quality relationships instead

Derrick Hayes is the Author of 1 WORD Is All It Takes, Creator of Derricknyms, Developer of the app Motivation
To Your Mobile, Nominator of Today’s Honoree, and blogs at the Encouragement Speaker.

If you desire to work on this, send a statement about your work and life goals to oshana2@yahoo.com.

For any entrepreneur to be successful, you MUST love marketing.  Marketing is almost 90% of the business.  So, as I’ve decided to be a super successful entrepreneur, I decided to hire a business/marketing coach.  Working with her, I see so clearly how marketing for your business has the same principles that I teach for finding love, you MUST love the process of finding love.

Here are great guidelines for you to become a success in your business and love life:

1.  If you truly want to be a successful entrepreneur or find the love of your life, you have to have CLARITY.  What kind of clients do you want to attract?  What kind of man or woman do you want to call into your life?  What kind of business do I want?  What kind of life do I want to create for myself?  Spend time getting to know YOU, so you know what you want to attract in your life.

2.  If you are having trouble with getting clear, ask yourself what does my heart DESIRE?   What does my heart desire in my business?  What does my heart desire with love?  Your heart does not lie.  Your own heart will guide you in the right direction.

3. Next, you have to decide that you are COMMITTED to making this happen for you NO MATTER WHAT!  Without commitment, you are telling the universe that you are unsure.

4.  Take lots of action…..if you want to meet clients or meet the love of your life, you have to put yourself out there.  Go to networking events to meet clients.  If you are looking for love, be where the person you are looking to be with is at, like a yoga class or wine tasting event.

5.  Have FUN!  Marketing your own business and finding your soul mate should be fun.  If you LOVE what you do, if you LOVE yourself, then the process must be fun.  Keep going back to your heart’s desires to motivate you if you feel like marketing and dating is a drag.  You are meant to have a life worth living and love!!

6.  Receive SUPPORT!  If you are going to be successful marketing, entrepreneur or in a successful dating life that leads to love, the fact is that most people fail in business and love because you are not able to see your own blind spots.  Your fears and insecurities will come up.  Am I good enough?  Will they reject me?  Does he/she attracted to me?  Are there enough clients that will pay for services?  Does the “one” even exist?  These are your fears and blind spots. Without support, then your FEAR will take over, and before you know it, you’ve given up on your dreams and being with the love of your life.

If you would like support in your dating life, I am Antoinette Cabral, Female Sensual Lifestyle & Dating Coach for Women. I teach powerful tool and techniques to love being a feminine woman, feel safe expressing her sensual nature, experience beauty, pleasure and bliss as her birthright to understand, believe and magnetize the right man to her. Please go to my website, http://antoinettecabral.com to sign up for my juicy sensual secrets for women on how to magnetize the right man to you.  For Deepak’s fans, I am offering a complimentary Man Magnet Sessions to the first 3 women who say YES to receiving.  Contact me at info@antoinettecabral.com.

Hope you enjoyed the article and have a beautiful day!

Antoinette Cabral

Timothy Thomas, Seattle-based Consultant and Speaker

There are very clear similarities between dating and marketing. Both rely on the same basic understanding – every interaction should improve the relationship.  If you focus your energy on making your relationship great with every partner, business or otherwise, you are bound to succeed.

Not everyone understands the basics of good dating (and marketing). To be an attractive partner it is very important to be perceived as someone who is in demand.

People who are in demand attract others to them and are seldom turned down for dates (or work opportunities) due to a concept coined by dating gurus called “pre-selection.” Pre-selection is a type of screening mechanism for determining if something is desirable and worth having.

Each holiday season, the media poses the same question– “What is going to be the in-demand product for the holidays?”

Why would this matter? If there is massive demand, there is “social proof” that something is desirable. If everyone seems to want it, it must be important to have, right? Marketing and dating are the same way – if you are able to cultivate a sense of desirability in your product or yourself, it becomes an honor to work with you, or to date you. When you have something desirable, people will approach you and be eager for the opportunity to work or date you.

It’s important to have a desirable image, however to get good dates or score great clients it takes more than just seeming desirable and in demand. You have to demonstrate it.

Everyone understands the basic concept of supply and demand. Earlier we mentioned the news frenzy that revolves around “hot products” at holiday time.  This “heat” is really the concern that demand might outstrip supply. We are wired by nature to attempt to collect things that are perceived rapidly becoming unavailable. So to be an excellent marketer or dater, you must be in control of scarcity. There has to be energy around the idea that you or your product might disappear; that the marketplace on your goods, services, or companionship might become unavailable at any time.

Here is a simple parallel – To be a good dater you need to be busy and when you are available you must deliver massive value – giving more in focus on your partner than you collect in return attention. This will ensure the relationship continues and that your partner will agree to additional dates.

To be a good marketer, you need to be busy and when you are available you must deliver massive value – giving more in service than you collect in dollars from your client. This will ensure the relationship continues and that your client will agree to additional engagements.

In my practice I engage with multiple clients throughout my workweek. Although the logistics are sometimes challenging, as long as I ensure I am giving maximum value and communicating clearly to each one, they stay happy with my services. By avoiding the constricting relationship of employer to employee, my marketing advice is valued more highly and my time is considered more precious.

If you hone your marketing skills in this way you will become great at dates, and if you become great at dates the same skills will allow you to create massive success in marketing and sales.

Remember to always be adding value to the interaction and the rest will take care of itself.