I was approached by the company I worked for in Tampa, Florida. I would have hired on with company had I stayed in Florida - that’s how much I enjoyed working with them. So, about two weeks ago the company called me to say that they had finally opened their Buffalo office and would I like to take a position with them as a “Field Sales Asst/Office Manager”? I would have the office basically to myself; no one looking over my shoulder all the time. This company offers great benefits and pays well too. I could not pass this up.
So - as soon as I say “OK” - I get two PC’s calling me to setup phone consults and possibly signing a retainer contract. Go figure!!!
I am taking the position for the company and I may end up with two more clients, giving me a total of 3. Things are definitely looking up for me and my family.
I attended a NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) event again last week. I had so much fun! It’s great to gather with so many successful women and have the opportunity to learn and share with them. This will be my second time attending this group’s event so I will need to join if I plan on continuing the relationship. It will be an investment on my part and I plan to join by Mid-March.
Making the decision to join a networking group is not an easy task. It’s important to be sure they are worth the time and money. As a small business owner, and a fairly new one, I don’t have “extra” funds and have to ration out where every dollar goes. The conclusion I keep returning to though is that I need to meet other small business owners and I need to get my name out there. There really is no better way than face-to-face.
What I have decided is to join NAWBO now and choose another group in September; maybe BNI. One tip I can offer is to research, research, research any group before you decide to invest in it. Visit a meeting and see how many people attend and how active they are within the group.
At NAWBO, becoming a member doesn’t mean only investing money and attending the networking events, it means being active in the various committees and offering up my services. The other businesses will begin to see what it is I do and how I can assist them in their businesses. I think I can call it an act of “goodwill” and that can go a long way towards building my contact list and my credibility within the small business community in Western New York.
I love PowerPoint! It is by far my favorite Office program. It is a “Power” program that if used with creativity and purpose can produce enjoyable and informative slideshows. I believe because I have such an affinity for PowerPoint I bring a nice perspective to client ideas when it comes to putting a presentation together.
I have had such an interesting PowerPoint journey that I want to share some ideas that I have come to rely on when producing a client presentation. This series of posts will focus on how you can utilize PowerPoint to achieve the slides you envision.
1. Think Outside the Box
If there’s one thing that can be a determining factor as to the level of creativity you can bring to PowerPoint it’s to Think Outside the Box!
I want to offer two examples of this idea.
1. Templates serve a great purpose for many MS Office users. Most users are simply trying to make a presentation with few slides and no frills, bells or whistles. However, if you want to really “Wow” your audience you need to move beyond the barriers of the template.
Starting with a template can be a good jumping-off point. That should be all it is though – a place to begin. The mind is very capable of creating a presentation with a personal touch that can scream “This was MY idea. I thought of this design, brought it to life and was able to move the audience with its message!” This can be a very rewarding experience.
2. You can do a great many things with PowerPoint - import graphs, charts, images, etc. However, if you have a graph or chart that your client faxes to you in handwritten format, you must rely on your “outside the box” creativity to produce that graph/chart.
I once worked for a company that relied heavily on PowerPoint presentations to convey their message to clients, co-workers, vendors, government agencies and others. When I arrived for my job interview it consisted entirely of creating 5 PPT slides from scratch. They consisted of text, clipart, graphs, charts, symbols and more. There weren’t any additional documents from which to gather the data. So I quickly went to work making my graphs from rectangles, lines, arrows, text boxes and more.
One slide needed a red to green shaded bar to show a gradual progression towards an end. I could not, for the life of me, find that bar in the clipart. I was having a hard time creating this. I finally decided to create the bar on my own. I made three rectangles and filled them with a two-color shade that made a gradual red to green fade.
Finishing, I completed the 5 slides, printed them and gave them to the interviewer. She was very happy with the results. I personally wasn’t so impressed because they could have been much better if I wasn’t pressed for time. Suffice it to say, I got the job and ended up making countless PPT’s from hand-drawings that my bosses would fax and mail to me.
When I left the job I discovered why my boss was so impressed with the slides I created. The possible replacements for my position could not even get through 3 slides. As I watched each of them working on the 5 slides I noticed how automated their movements were. That’s the thing with Microsoft – all the MS programs are so similar and the toolbars so uniform that you can practically perform each function the same way you would in the other office programs - Word, Excel, Publisher, etc.
This integration can be a great thing, but it can also stifle that urge to Think Outside the Box. You get caught in the cycle of moving through the toolbars and processes that seem natural but in the end you can’t make a chart or graph without having the data to import. You can’t create an image that isn’t located in the Clipart Gallery.
You have to be able to build from the ground up any element you want on a PPT slide. This can be done if you Think Outside the Box.