Size Matters and Shift Happens
By Brian Christopher

This came in an e-mail attachment as a PowerPoint from the Pennsylvania Department of Education today. The statistics are amazing. Viral communications at its best . . . .

Did You Know . . .
Sometimes size does matter.
If you’re one in a million in China . . .
There are 1,300 people just like you.
In India, there are 1,100 people just like you.
The 25% of the population in China with the highest IQ’s . . .
Is greater than the total population of North America.
In India, it’s the top 28%.
Translation for teachers: They have more honors kids than we have kids.

Did you know . . .
China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world.
If you took every single job in the U.S. today and shipped it to China . . .
China would still have a labor surplus.
During the course of this 8 minute presentation . . .
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s learner will have 10-14 jobs . . .
By the age of 38.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor . . .
1 out of 4 workers today is working for a company they have been employed by for less than one year.
More than 1 out of 2 are working for a company they have worked for less than five years.
According to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley . . .
The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004.
We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist . . .
Using technologies that haven’t been invented . . .
In order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.
Name this country . . .
England in 1900.

Did you know . . .
The U.S. is 20th in the world in broadband Internet penetration.
(Luxembourg just passed us.)
In 2002 alone Nintendo invested more than $140 million in research and development.
The U.S. Federal Government spent less than half as much on Research and Innovation.
1 out of every 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met online.
There are over 100 million registered users of MySpace. (August 2006)
The average MySpace page is visited 30 times a day.

Did you know . . .
We are living in exponential times.
There are over 2.7 billion searches performed on Google each month.
To whom were these questions addressed B.G.? (Before Google)
The number of text messages sent and received every day exceeds the population of the planet.
There are about 540,000 words in the English language . . .
About 5 times as many as during Shakespeare’s time.
More than 3,000 new books are published . . . Daily.
It’s estimated that a week’s worth of New York Times . . .
Contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.
It’s estimated that 1.5 exabytes (that’s 1.5 x 1018) of unique new information will be generated worldwide this year.
That’s estimated to be more than in the previous 5,000 years.
The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years.
That means for a student starting a four-year technical or college degree . . .
Half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.
It’s predicted to double every 72 hours by 2010.
Third generation fiber optics has recently been separately tested by NEC and Alcatel . . .
That pushes 10 trillion bits per second down one strand of fiber.
That’s 1,900 CDs or 150 million simultaneous phone calls every second.
It’s currently tripling about every 6 months and is expected to do so for at least the next 20 years.
The fiber is already there, they’re just improving the switches on the ends. Which means the marginal cost of these improvements is effectively $0.
Predictions are that e-paper will be cheaper than real paper.
47 million laptops were shipped worldwide last year.
The $100 laptop project is expecting to ship between 50 and 100 million laptops a year to children in underdeveloped countries.
Predictions are that by 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computation capability of the Human Brain . . .
By 2023, a $1,000 computer will exceed the capabilities of the Human Brain . . .
First grader Abby will be just 23 years old and beginning her (first) career . . .
And while technical predictions farther out than about 15 years are hard to do . . .
Predictions are that by 2049 a $1,000 computer will exceed the computational capabilities of the human race.

What does it all mean?
Shift Happens.
Now you know . . .

Manage Your Reputation

Reputation management must be part of your company’s comprehensive business strategy. It should be planned, managed and measure regularly. Researchers conclude that the beliefs of that company’s constituents, including internal and external, is measurable and should be assessed frequently. Here are some things to consider:

Integrating institutional brand strategies will favorably influence reputation and is required to achieve the desired results with key stakeholders. Trust and other value-based characteristics are also measurable items.

The ability to cast the brand relationships in terms of metaphors, anecdotes and your company’s story all become the basis for creating the language your stakeholders use in defining their relationships with your brand.

Maintain a focus on reputation to uphold a positive relationship among all investors, analysts, customers, employees and the community at large.

Translate your achievements into language stakeholders will respond to positively. In doing so, you can build a trophy case of awards and accolades that demonstrate third-party validation of your company’s reputation.

Easy PowerPoint Slide Navigation for More Effective Presentations

There are a lot of things that can make or break a PowerPoint presentation. To make sure that the technical side of things runs smoothly, it is important to familiarize yourself with the basic commands and keyboard shortcuts. If you feel confident and in control of your presentation, your audience will undoubtedly notice.

Before my tips, please let me impress upon you NOT to use PowePoint templates for your background (or master slide). Please personalize it. Brand it. Make it your own. There is always more impact when you do.

Now, here are some navigation tips to help you glide through your next PowerPoint presentation seamlessly:

• Use your own personal computer so that you’re not turning your back to the audience, to move through slides easily and to deal with unexpected technical glitches.

• Use the space bar to jump to the next slide. (Because it’s a big target, you can easily find it if nervous and flustered.) Likewise, use the backspace key to return to the previous slide.

• If you’re faced with a nonlinear presentation, jump to your slide of choice by first hitting the Alt key, followed by the number of your desired slide, and then press Enter. Undetectable to your audience AND looks much better than hitting the space bar a dozen times. With that said, it is important that you memorize the slide numbers. If you forget the number of the slide, simply right click on the mouse. Under the GoTo slide heading you’ll find a complete slide list including each slides title and respective number.

• If you’re running out of time but you want to skip to your last slide which sums up your presentation, simply hit the End key to jump to it. Hitting the Home key will instantly get you to the first slide of the sequence. This is helpful if you are referring to a summary or outline throughout the presentation.

• To prevent your laptop from shutting down or going to a screensaver in the middle of your performance, turn off or disable all power management features. To do this, click on Start to access your Control Panel. Then click on Power Options, then Power Schemes and be sure to select Always On.

• If your screen goes blank after hooking your laptop up to a projector it’s because your computer thinks you want to use another monitor. Notice that on the function keys there are markings other than F1, F2, etc. on them. One of these markings will be a little square or rectangle representing a monitor. By pressing the Fn key and this monitor key, you can turn the laptop screen and the projected image on and off. Repeatedly hit the keys to cycle through until both the laptop screen and the projected image are on.

Last but not least, remember to use PowerPoint wisely. Not all audiences are receptive and some presentations are more effective without the visuals. Visuals are meant to enhance and illustrate your story – not tell it word for word. Regardless, be prepared for a computer malfunction, missing extension cord or any glitch that would cause you to have to present without visuals. Now that’s the sign of a good presenter!

The Benefits of Personnel News Releases

The development and distribution of a personnel news release to announce the promotion or hiring of a professional is standard practice in public relations. It is part of the process of notifying targeted media and your audiences on company developments, and it serves several purposes. The announcement of the person’s career advancement creates internal good will and indicated that your company continues to flourish. It is not meant to land the cover of the New York Times – it is meant to generate local and industry awareness.

Personnel news releases help keep the company name in front of its publics, including potential recruits, prospective customers and other influentials. Here is what should be included in the release:

-The person’s name and new title
-If the person is new to your company, include the previous place of employment, his or her title, and the city and state where the company is located
-A brief description of the person’s new responsibilities
-Prior work experience and educational background (if not included in bullet one)
-Community and professional association involvement
-Any industry awards received or publications written by this person
-If desired, martial and family status as well as place of residence
-A quote from the subject’s supervisor or company leader commenting on the expectation for his or her future performance as it benefits your clients and customers

Issue the press release on company letterhead and include a brief description or your business’ mission, headquarters and contact information.

It is essential to send personnel news releases to all the media contracts who normally receive news from your company along with a 5 X 7 headshot in 300 dpi. The use of color or black and white photography will depend on the target media.

To expand coverage, personnel news releases can also be distributed to:

-The employee’s hometown newspapers
-The employee’s alumni publications
-Community associations (in which the company or the employees are members)
-Professional, church or nonprofit organizations (in which the company or the employees are members)
-Company clients and prospects as a direct mailing

Personnel news releases are extremely useful marketing communications tools in the quest for top-of-mind awareness. They subtly promote a company’s success, help make the most of frequency and timing and expose initiating companies to other publicity opportunities.