Webcast technology refers to the scientific method, material, and equipment that are used for the entire process from the creation of streaming media content up to a user's view of the content. There are four major roles, which are spread over its entire lifecycle and comes into the picture right from the time of content creation. It is then used to prepare the content for distribution and also aids it. Finally, webcast technology is used for consumption of the content by the consumer. The above four roles are discussed in detail in the paragraphs that follow.
Content Creation
What has to be distributed is known as content. The content has to be created first so that it can be webcast. For this, webcast technology such as audio and video capturing and editing equipment is used. The technology used at this stage includes cameras, microphones, other recording and editing devices and computer software.
Content Distribution
This is the stage in which webcast technology helps the preparation of content that was created in the earlier stages to make it fit for transmission. The technology used at this stage includes encoders and converters, which compress the content so as to make it suitable for transmission through the distribution system, without choking the bandwidth of the webcast provider or that at the consumers end. Since multimedia files are very large in size, this technology reduces their size through the removal of redundant data, as well as to leave out such details as would not significantly affect the quality of the webcast content in a negative manner.
The next stage is where the webcast streaming media server comes into the picture. This is in the form of streaming media, protocols of distribution as well as the technology which makes a connection to the webcast server possible. Thus broadband, dialup, GPRS, EDGE, WiFi, and HSDPA all take up their roles as webcast Internet connection technology and allow the transmission of a webcast to the consumer. You can read more about these at http://www.whatisawebcast.com
Content Consumption
Users, who want to consume the content provided through a webcast, can do this through the use of webcast technology in the form of client software, and sound and video processing subsystems. The user will connect to the provider through the use of any of the technologies used for distribution of content such as broadband Internet or GPRS or any other suitable mode. The client will then request to watch content from the webcast server, which will then be downloaded to the user's device, reprocessed, and presented to the consumer, who will watch it.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Making the Balanced Scorecard Presentation Simple
There are so many theories that have been emerging in the world of business today. This emergence of theories will not end any time soon because there will surely be more and more theories and business practices emerging. However, not all of them would be as effective as they claim to be. There will be successes, just as there will be flops. Still, the balanced scorecard would never be one of the flops because time and time again, this business tool has certainly proved itself. The sad thing, on the other hand, is that not too many people understand the balanced scorecard in full depth. This is why the balanced scorecard presentation is an important aspect to tackle as well.
The presentation of the balanced scorecard is very important, especially when you are presenting the tool to people who are not familiar with it at all. You might think the presentation of the tool should not really matter since you will be presenting this business aspect to people in the business industry as well. But the tool is not used by businessmen alone. In fact, professionals of various industries do make use of the balanced scorecard. This is the great thing about the scorecard, that you can use it in just about any industry, to get accurate and balanced measurement of performance. For instance, the scorecard can actually be used in the clinical setting. There are metrics to be implemented to check just how productive and effective certain aspects in a certain clinic are. Law firms also make use of metrics, to check productivity and effectiveness as well.
So, how do you make your presentation of the balanced scorecard friendlier, so to speak? This is quite easy. The key here is to make your presentation as simple as possible. Even if the tool is not too difficult to understand, the tool still comes with a lot of business jargon. This would be a breeze for businessmen, but for lawyers, this would be a little troubling. Thus, simplicity is the key here.
Present the aspects of the balanced scorecard in the simplest manner possible. The aspects that the scorecard contains should be quantifiable or measurable. This is because it would be difficult to interpret something that cannot be measured in the first place.
You also have to explain why it is necessary to stick with just a few metrics for your balanced scorecard. Many people think that it would be better to use a lot of metrics on the scorecard so that the measurement process would be made more thorough. This is not true at all. In fact, using numerous metrics would just make the process all the more confusing. There would be so much data to be processed that compiling all of these interpretations can leave people scratching their heads.
Lastly, you also have to explain the necessity of planning after the balanced scorecard is implemented. The measurement process would inevitably present certain areas in the business that need improvement. Planning should then take place to seek appropriate solutions for the different problems that would occur. This way, the scorecard, and your balanced scorecard presentation itself, would fulfill their purpose.
The presentation of the balanced scorecard is very important, especially when you are presenting the tool to people who are not familiar with it at all. You might think the presentation of the tool should not really matter since you will be presenting this business aspect to people in the business industry as well. But the tool is not used by businessmen alone. In fact, professionals of various industries do make use of the balanced scorecard. This is the great thing about the scorecard, that you can use it in just about any industry, to get accurate and balanced measurement of performance. For instance, the scorecard can actually be used in the clinical setting. There are metrics to be implemented to check just how productive and effective certain aspects in a certain clinic are. Law firms also make use of metrics, to check productivity and effectiveness as well.
So, how do you make your presentation of the balanced scorecard friendlier, so to speak? This is quite easy. The key here is to make your presentation as simple as possible. Even if the tool is not too difficult to understand, the tool still comes with a lot of business jargon. This would be a breeze for businessmen, but for lawyers, this would be a little troubling. Thus, simplicity is the key here.
Present the aspects of the balanced scorecard in the simplest manner possible. The aspects that the scorecard contains should be quantifiable or measurable. This is because it would be difficult to interpret something that cannot be measured in the first place.
You also have to explain why it is necessary to stick with just a few metrics for your balanced scorecard. Many people think that it would be better to use a lot of metrics on the scorecard so that the measurement process would be made more thorough. This is not true at all. In fact, using numerous metrics would just make the process all the more confusing. There would be so much data to be processed that compiling all of these interpretations can leave people scratching their heads.
Lastly, you also have to explain the necessity of planning after the balanced scorecard is implemented. The measurement process would inevitably present certain areas in the business that need improvement. Planning should then take place to seek appropriate solutions for the different problems that would occur. This way, the scorecard, and your balanced scorecard presentation itself, would fulfill their purpose.
Masterful Time Management
Its eleven o’clock and you realize that you didn’t get everything done that needed to get done for the day and you must be awake at six-thirty to be on time for work tomorrow at eight am. You go to bed and toss and turn thinking about all the things that you forgot to do during the day and are tired when you wake up the next day because of your lack of sleep. This is just another day in your life, looking like all of the preceding ones. When does it stop? It will stop when you decide it stops, hopefully after reading this article.
Why do some people accomplish more in a day than some of us do in a week? And some of us accomplish more in a month than others in an entire year? We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day, so how can some people do magic with these twenty-four hours while others watch in awe? The answer is masterful time management.
You must learn to tend to business, not to busyness. Place more value on results and less on putting in time or effort. If your goal is to produce x number of widgets in y amount of time, is your time most effectively spent putting together the widget, or can you delegate the assembly of the widgets and earn more money doing something else. You must focus on your highest pay off activities. There is the old story of jar and you have to put in a bunch of rocks, gravel, sand and water. In what order do you put them in the jar? Well if you put in the water first, then the sand, followed by gravel and finally the rocks, chances are you won’t be able to fit the rocks. If you reversed the order, everything would fit nicely in the jar.
What does this story have to do with time management, everything, if you do things in their order of importance (big rocks first) everything fits nicely into your day and the smaller less urgent and less important things tend to fit in just as nicely. So the story was great, but Louis, I need help, put it to me in English…right? OK, there are three important keys to masterful time management.
The first key to Masterful Time Management is to prioritize. Why do so many people say “Well, I would do that, but it is just not a priority now” or “When I find the time I will get around to that.” You must decide what is a priority and what is not. You must also not hope to find the time, you must make the time. To begin get out a sheet of paper and list all the things that you must do in the next year, month, week and day.
Under each place an A, B, C, or D next to each where A is the most important thing that must get done and D being the least important. Your list may have just a few items or be many pages long, however long it is, is ok. This will tell you what you must do and after a while of mastering your time, you will be able to do a lot more in less time.
Look at each item and write a plan on how each of these activities is going to get done. This will be like an instruction manual for your life or like the recipe for a great meal. Please make sure that the steps are spelled out, because if things are not done in the correct order, rarely can we run before we can walk.
This brings us up to our next step in the process which is delegation. Delegation is simply assigning a task to another to have completed. What do you delegate and what do you do on your own? I once heard someone say “The less I do the more I make.” Well if you do not like mowing your lawn and you make thirty dollars an hour and the kid down the street will mow your lawn for twenty dollars, I would suggest working an extra hour and give the kid his twenty to mow your lawn. Not only do you help the economy, but you are also helping yourself manage your time effectively.
Never step over a dollar to pick up a dime. That is why the wealthy can afford to have someone cooking their food, cleaning their clothes and taking care of their house. It is just not cost effective for them to do it themselves, they would be taking from the economy to do these things themselves. Support your local economy and figure out what is worth you time and what is not. How do you figure out what your time is worth? A good gauge is how much do you make per hour? A better gauge is how much do you want your time to be worth…and do the things that someone whose time is worth that much would do. Don’t forget, people are in business to serve you and those who think govern those who labor. Are you a thinker or a laborer?
You’ve prioritized your activities, you’ve delegated the things that are not worth your time to do, now for the third key to masterful time management…scheduling. “I have a date book” you say. Keep it in the drawer because the following will revolutionize your day to come. Go back to your list of things to get done for the next day, week, month and year. Begin with all the things that have A’s next to them and work on them until they are complete before you work on the B’s. Do the same with the B’s before you start the C’s and the same with the D’s.
Your daily must do list should be comprised of the working parts of completing your weekly must do list. The same goes for the weekly, being made up of the action steps for the monthly and in turn for your yearly things to accomplish. When you begin to plan you day, time becomes your friend. You must plan your work and work your plan, because if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. UPS drivers have 340 time saving movements when delivering packages from which hand buckles the seat belt to accelerating on the gas, how is that for micro management?
Sometimes working on the biggest rocks first is not as fun to knocking out some of the other gravel type tasks. If you are in an office and had to call back that one customer that you have been putting off for days, would you rather call him first thing in the morning or keep putting it off hour by hour until it is time to go home and you never make the call because the same thing happen day after day. If you called him first thing in the morning, the rest of the day is yours to enjoy without having to worry about making that call.
The same goes for a relationship would you rather marry someone and not really love them and stay married and have a miserable life, or would you rather address the issue immediately and enjoy the rest of your life.
Now that’s time management. People fear scheduling many things that they know must get done, but are comfortable knowing that they can do it later. Sometimes it doesn’t mater if you go over the fence or just jump back down, you just can’t stay on the fence for the rest of you life. When you decide to get off that fence, there are many more options out there for you. There is also the old saying of “Poop or get off the pot.” I find it appropriate to mention this only because too many people are comfortable not scheduling things because if they stay in their comfort zone, they cannot fail. In reality the longer they push things off, they are constantly failing.
Start with your next day and look at the activities that must get done. Starting with the A’s than the B’s through D’s set times to accomplish each task. Ask yourself, “How long should this task take?” Once you answer that question, get a day planner and write in that task in the appropriate time block. Make sure you have scheduled all you’re A’s before you work on the B’s through D’s. You may be asking what if I don’t get to all my C’s and D’s before the day is over. Every day, transfer them to your next day and eventually you will finish everything. There are many computer programs that do all this for you automatically. I personally use Microsoft Outlook and Act, there are many out there that work just as well. I suggest you find the way that works best for you, but you must implement immediately.
Every night before you go to bed you should know what the next day will look like and when you will be doing what.
These tasks should all be broken down into blocked time. Please don’t forget to schedule time for yourself to have some fun. A secret that I learned some time ago was to enjoy your work somehow by being creative with your activities. (Please check out my article, Balance In Life – No Longer A Balancing Act) The only time when we are bored doing something is when we lose interest in doing what is boring us, so find something exciting in all tasks and you will suddenly find energy. Maybe you can make a game out of what ever you are doing and challenge yourself. It is great to want to do a lot of things but never sacrifice quality for speed. If you put in a gallon’s worth of water in an eight ounce cup, you have wasted most of your water.
Don’t be like a Chinese dinner, initially feeling full and satisfied, but hungry again and looking for substance soon thereafter. Make sure you are doing things that are aligned with your values, beliefs and rules. Make many mistakes, but only make each one once. When you master the three keys of Prioritizing, Delegating and scheduling, you will be a master in time management.
No one is perfect, so anticipate problem in all of your tasks. Handle one thing at a time, because when your focus is not 100% on the task at hand, you are cheating yourself and not utilizing your energy to its fullest. Have you ever heard the phrase if you need something done, give it to a busy person? This is because busy people know the value of the three keys of masterful time management and know how to get things done. Bad habits aren’t done by bad people, just the unbusy. When you have a full schedule, you will not have time to waste and be unproductive. Time wasters will slowly realize that they have to schedule time with you to try and waste your time.
When you are working…work. When you are playing…play. If you are thinking of work at play, or play at work, you will not get the most abundance out of what you are doing and not be using your time as effectively as you should be. Is it in your best interest to pick up the phone when you are in the middle of things? Do you run your business or does it run you? If I challenged you to turn off your cell phone and computer for a week, could you handle it? Don’t react to things, plan for them. Yes I am suggesting that you schedule time to return telephone calls and e-mails. Do you read junk mail? Do you wish you had all the time you wasted reading junk mail back? What could you do with that time now? Here is you chance to decide, and schedule because you can decide not to read junk mail anymore.
I am also going to mention a few more things that may open your eyes to new possibilities of gaining a few extra hours a day for you. Do you watch sitcoms on television? Would you wait in line for over an hour to save five dollars? Have you ever arrived at an appointment only to find that the person you were meeting with had to reschedule? This is my pet peeve so I will give you some quick tips to prevent this from happening (for more on this topic see my article, Commitments If You Make ‘Em Keep ‘Em). Any time I set an appointment, I ask the person to call me the morning of to confirm and I ask if they can’t see me to call and reschedule. This is done when setting the appointment, so the responsibility falls into their lap if they can not see me. This will prevent 95% of your no-show’s, the other 5%usually have their heads in the clouds so high, you may ask if it is really worth you time to meet with them.
You have learned many things in this article about time management that should make you more productive and earn you a few more hours in your day to enjoy. In closing I would like to share with you some statistics I found rather surprising. Is there an area in the following list where you could free up some time for yourself? You should be able to make cuts of up to at least 50% in this list of wasted time. The amount of time the average American in life spends…
1,086 days “sick”
3 years in meetings
8 months opening junk mail
17 months drinking coffee and soft drinks
2 years on telephone
5 years waiting in line
9 months sitting in traffic
4 years cooking and eating
1 and a half years grooming
1 and a half years dressing
7 years in bathroom
12 years watching television
3 years shopping
1 years looking for misplaced items
24 years sleeping
Louis Lautman, he is a business consultant, life coach and peak performance expert. He is the president of International Sales University, a sales training company based in Miami FL. He runs extraordinary public and private seminars to create breakthroughs and transform your life. Louis can be contacted at 813-380-7467 or louis@InternationalSalesU.com. Check his website at louis@InternationalSalesU.com
Louis has been in sales his whole life, originally from New Jersey; Louis got his start in Professional Sales knocking on 50 doors a day in NYC. Louis has made over 10,000 cold calls in person and on the telephone. He has been a top sales rep, sales manager and sales trainer for the last 10 years.
Why do some people accomplish more in a day than some of us do in a week? And some of us accomplish more in a month than others in an entire year? We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day, so how can some people do magic with these twenty-four hours while others watch in awe? The answer is masterful time management.
You must learn to tend to business, not to busyness. Place more value on results and less on putting in time or effort. If your goal is to produce x number of widgets in y amount of time, is your time most effectively spent putting together the widget, or can you delegate the assembly of the widgets and earn more money doing something else. You must focus on your highest pay off activities. There is the old story of jar and you have to put in a bunch of rocks, gravel, sand and water. In what order do you put them in the jar? Well if you put in the water first, then the sand, followed by gravel and finally the rocks, chances are you won’t be able to fit the rocks. If you reversed the order, everything would fit nicely in the jar.
What does this story have to do with time management, everything, if you do things in their order of importance (big rocks first) everything fits nicely into your day and the smaller less urgent and less important things tend to fit in just as nicely. So the story was great, but Louis, I need help, put it to me in English…right? OK, there are three important keys to masterful time management.
The first key to Masterful Time Management is to prioritize. Why do so many people say “Well, I would do that, but it is just not a priority now” or “When I find the time I will get around to that.” You must decide what is a priority and what is not. You must also not hope to find the time, you must make the time. To begin get out a sheet of paper and list all the things that you must do in the next year, month, week and day.
Under each place an A, B, C, or D next to each where A is the most important thing that must get done and D being the least important. Your list may have just a few items or be many pages long, however long it is, is ok. This will tell you what you must do and after a while of mastering your time, you will be able to do a lot more in less time.
Look at each item and write a plan on how each of these activities is going to get done. This will be like an instruction manual for your life or like the recipe for a great meal. Please make sure that the steps are spelled out, because if things are not done in the correct order, rarely can we run before we can walk.
This brings us up to our next step in the process which is delegation. Delegation is simply assigning a task to another to have completed. What do you delegate and what do you do on your own? I once heard someone say “The less I do the more I make.” Well if you do not like mowing your lawn and you make thirty dollars an hour and the kid down the street will mow your lawn for twenty dollars, I would suggest working an extra hour and give the kid his twenty to mow your lawn. Not only do you help the economy, but you are also helping yourself manage your time effectively.
Never step over a dollar to pick up a dime. That is why the wealthy can afford to have someone cooking their food, cleaning their clothes and taking care of their house. It is just not cost effective for them to do it themselves, they would be taking from the economy to do these things themselves. Support your local economy and figure out what is worth you time and what is not. How do you figure out what your time is worth? A good gauge is how much do you make per hour? A better gauge is how much do you want your time to be worth…and do the things that someone whose time is worth that much would do. Don’t forget, people are in business to serve you and those who think govern those who labor. Are you a thinker or a laborer?
You’ve prioritized your activities, you’ve delegated the things that are not worth your time to do, now for the third key to masterful time management…scheduling. “I have a date book” you say. Keep it in the drawer because the following will revolutionize your day to come. Go back to your list of things to get done for the next day, week, month and year. Begin with all the things that have A’s next to them and work on them until they are complete before you work on the B’s. Do the same with the B’s before you start the C’s and the same with the D’s.
Your daily must do list should be comprised of the working parts of completing your weekly must do list. The same goes for the weekly, being made up of the action steps for the monthly and in turn for your yearly things to accomplish. When you begin to plan you day, time becomes your friend. You must plan your work and work your plan, because if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. UPS drivers have 340 time saving movements when delivering packages from which hand buckles the seat belt to accelerating on the gas, how is that for micro management?
Sometimes working on the biggest rocks first is not as fun to knocking out some of the other gravel type tasks. If you are in an office and had to call back that one customer that you have been putting off for days, would you rather call him first thing in the morning or keep putting it off hour by hour until it is time to go home and you never make the call because the same thing happen day after day. If you called him first thing in the morning, the rest of the day is yours to enjoy without having to worry about making that call.
The same goes for a relationship would you rather marry someone and not really love them and stay married and have a miserable life, or would you rather address the issue immediately and enjoy the rest of your life.
Now that’s time management. People fear scheduling many things that they know must get done, but are comfortable knowing that they can do it later. Sometimes it doesn’t mater if you go over the fence or just jump back down, you just can’t stay on the fence for the rest of you life. When you decide to get off that fence, there are many more options out there for you. There is also the old saying of “Poop or get off the pot.” I find it appropriate to mention this only because too many people are comfortable not scheduling things because if they stay in their comfort zone, they cannot fail. In reality the longer they push things off, they are constantly failing.
Start with your next day and look at the activities that must get done. Starting with the A’s than the B’s through D’s set times to accomplish each task. Ask yourself, “How long should this task take?” Once you answer that question, get a day planner and write in that task in the appropriate time block. Make sure you have scheduled all you’re A’s before you work on the B’s through D’s. You may be asking what if I don’t get to all my C’s and D’s before the day is over. Every day, transfer them to your next day and eventually you will finish everything. There are many computer programs that do all this for you automatically. I personally use Microsoft Outlook and Act, there are many out there that work just as well. I suggest you find the way that works best for you, but you must implement immediately.
Every night before you go to bed you should know what the next day will look like and when you will be doing what.
These tasks should all be broken down into blocked time. Please don’t forget to schedule time for yourself to have some fun. A secret that I learned some time ago was to enjoy your work somehow by being creative with your activities. (Please check out my article, Balance In Life – No Longer A Balancing Act) The only time when we are bored doing something is when we lose interest in doing what is boring us, so find something exciting in all tasks and you will suddenly find energy. Maybe you can make a game out of what ever you are doing and challenge yourself. It is great to want to do a lot of things but never sacrifice quality for speed. If you put in a gallon’s worth of water in an eight ounce cup, you have wasted most of your water.
Don’t be like a Chinese dinner, initially feeling full and satisfied, but hungry again and looking for substance soon thereafter. Make sure you are doing things that are aligned with your values, beliefs and rules. Make many mistakes, but only make each one once. When you master the three keys of Prioritizing, Delegating and scheduling, you will be a master in time management.
No one is perfect, so anticipate problem in all of your tasks. Handle one thing at a time, because when your focus is not 100% on the task at hand, you are cheating yourself and not utilizing your energy to its fullest. Have you ever heard the phrase if you need something done, give it to a busy person? This is because busy people know the value of the three keys of masterful time management and know how to get things done. Bad habits aren’t done by bad people, just the unbusy. When you have a full schedule, you will not have time to waste and be unproductive. Time wasters will slowly realize that they have to schedule time with you to try and waste your time.
When you are working…work. When you are playing…play. If you are thinking of work at play, or play at work, you will not get the most abundance out of what you are doing and not be using your time as effectively as you should be. Is it in your best interest to pick up the phone when you are in the middle of things? Do you run your business or does it run you? If I challenged you to turn off your cell phone and computer for a week, could you handle it? Don’t react to things, plan for them. Yes I am suggesting that you schedule time to return telephone calls and e-mails. Do you read junk mail? Do you wish you had all the time you wasted reading junk mail back? What could you do with that time now? Here is you chance to decide, and schedule because you can decide not to read junk mail anymore.
I am also going to mention a few more things that may open your eyes to new possibilities of gaining a few extra hours a day for you. Do you watch sitcoms on television? Would you wait in line for over an hour to save five dollars? Have you ever arrived at an appointment only to find that the person you were meeting with had to reschedule? This is my pet peeve so I will give you some quick tips to prevent this from happening (for more on this topic see my article, Commitments If You Make ‘Em Keep ‘Em). Any time I set an appointment, I ask the person to call me the morning of to confirm and I ask if they can’t see me to call and reschedule. This is done when setting the appointment, so the responsibility falls into their lap if they can not see me. This will prevent 95% of your no-show’s, the other 5%usually have their heads in the clouds so high, you may ask if it is really worth you time to meet with them.
You have learned many things in this article about time management that should make you more productive and earn you a few more hours in your day to enjoy. In closing I would like to share with you some statistics I found rather surprising. Is there an area in the following list where you could free up some time for yourself? You should be able to make cuts of up to at least 50% in this list of wasted time. The amount of time the average American in life spends…
1,086 days “sick”
3 years in meetings
8 months opening junk mail
17 months drinking coffee and soft drinks
2 years on telephone
5 years waiting in line
9 months sitting in traffic
4 years cooking and eating
1 and a half years grooming
1 and a half years dressing
7 years in bathroom
12 years watching television
3 years shopping
1 years looking for misplaced items
24 years sleeping
Louis Lautman, he is a business consultant, life coach and peak performance expert. He is the president of International Sales University, a sales training company based in Miami FL. He runs extraordinary public and private seminars to create breakthroughs and transform your life. Louis can be contacted at 813-380-7467 or louis@InternationalSalesU.com. Check his website at louis@InternationalSalesU.com
Louis has been in sales his whole life, originally from New Jersey; Louis got his start in Professional Sales knocking on 50 doors a day in NYC. Louis has made over 10,000 cold calls in person and on the telephone. He has been a top sales rep, sales manager and sales trainer for the last 10 years.
Child Safety Poster - An Essential Tool For Letting Very Young Children Explore
Do you want to develop your child without the risks? Child safety posters can alert us on the dangers lurking around us. Every parent has to come to a decision very often - to let your child explore in order to develop his senses, his concentration and his vocabulary while having lots of (messy) fun, or to shut them off due to the risk of exposure to accidents. The normal route is the first one. With the help of safety posters this can be easy.
Your home can become a learning experience for your little ones if you can remember some safety tips. Post up safety posters everywhere. Children love funny safety posters. Everyone gets to have fun in the process! You can also download free safety posters on the internet.
Pre-school children need plenty of time to feel, smell, think and explore. Putting up safety awareness poster is one good way to amuse them. You can ask them questions about the school safety posters and why they have to avoid some actions. Some of these health and safety poster are aimed at the adults. For example there is one about fire safety that illustrates why you must never leave children alone with matches or candles. With that kind of knowledge, adults can supervise the child more carefully at all times - because he knows the whys!
Do you know that there are hazards in some playgrounds?
Some 200,000 children are treated in emergency rooms every year for injuries they suffered on playgrounds. About 70 percent of the injuries are from falls. When you bring your child to a playground, you may be exposing him or her to new hazards.
Young children love playgrounds. They can play for ages with slides, swings and other climbing equipment. What risks are there when they play with these equipments?
In one child safety poster on playground safety for example, the illustration shows a child running after a ball while a car screech to a halt in time. Adults looking at this poster will be alert to the presence of fencing or hedges that can help prevent children from straying into parking lots and oncoming traffic. If it is just a set of words, the message is diluted. With the cartoon in the safety poster, the observer will understand the full impact of the situation.
Another humorous safety poster illustrates the danger of s-hooks on swings.
Many of the equipments at a playground encourage children to develop their coordination and balance. Because of this, many children are expected to fall while they are developing. But that is the problem if the surfaces of the fall are hard. The recommendation found on the safety awareness poster is to have at least 12 inches of soft material to break the fall.
Swings are another plaything that has to be inspected. There are certain minimum distances between the swings and the support structures. Run down and poorly maintained equipment are also dangerous. So are broken glass and trash bins. Illustrated poster safety sign can be understood by any adult supervising children at the playground.
Spend some time inspecting the equipment! Go for a walk and check them out before you allow your child to explore. Make sure that your child does not explore more than his or her boundary. Your tool is the safety poster download.
Your home can become a learning experience for your little ones if you can remember some safety tips. Post up safety posters everywhere. Children love funny safety posters. Everyone gets to have fun in the process! You can also download free safety posters on the internet.
Pre-school children need plenty of time to feel, smell, think and explore. Putting up safety awareness poster is one good way to amuse them. You can ask them questions about the school safety posters and why they have to avoid some actions. Some of these health and safety poster are aimed at the adults. For example there is one about fire safety that illustrates why you must never leave children alone with matches or candles. With that kind of knowledge, adults can supervise the child more carefully at all times - because he knows the whys!
Do you know that there are hazards in some playgrounds?
Some 200,000 children are treated in emergency rooms every year for injuries they suffered on playgrounds. About 70 percent of the injuries are from falls. When you bring your child to a playground, you may be exposing him or her to new hazards.
Young children love playgrounds. They can play for ages with slides, swings and other climbing equipment. What risks are there when they play with these equipments?
In one child safety poster on playground safety for example, the illustration shows a child running after a ball while a car screech to a halt in time. Adults looking at this poster will be alert to the presence of fencing or hedges that can help prevent children from straying into parking lots and oncoming traffic. If it is just a set of words, the message is diluted. With the cartoon in the safety poster, the observer will understand the full impact of the situation.
Another humorous safety poster illustrates the danger of s-hooks on swings.
Many of the equipments at a playground encourage children to develop their coordination and balance. Because of this, many children are expected to fall while they are developing. But that is the problem if the surfaces of the fall are hard. The recommendation found on the safety awareness poster is to have at least 12 inches of soft material to break the fall.
Swings are another plaything that has to be inspected. There are certain minimum distances between the swings and the support structures. Run down and poorly maintained equipment are also dangerous. So are broken glass and trash bins. Illustrated poster safety sign can be understood by any adult supervising children at the playground.
Spend some time inspecting the equipment! Go for a walk and check them out before you allow your child to explore. Make sure that your child does not explore more than his or her boundary. Your tool is the safety poster download.
How to Use PowerPoint Presentations to Put a Smile Upon Your Audience's Face
Many of you might be misunderstood that being funny on stage means you have to dress up as a clown or a court jester in order to please your audiences. It has to be ardently funny, elegant and professional when you present your business ideas to your clients as a method of seeking close rapport with your audiences.
Therefore, you are required to levitate your sense of humor by expressing it via your presentation slides. There is one pioneer in making laughter via PowerPoint in stand up comedy - Tim Lee; who is making use of his science background to twist abstract theory into thought provoking comedy.
It is indeed interesting to flourish your slides with this comical approach that can attract your audiences' attention in such a serious and intense condition. Sometimes, you need to create a stress-free environment in any business meetings - regardless formal or informal meetings.
Is it hard to become a talented stand up comedian like Tim Lee?
The answer is yes. But you do not have him to win your audiences. You can review his slides during his performances as your main reference.
Start with simplicity
In most of his performances, you will realize that his presentation slides are practically simple and clear in which he used simple slide layouts with plain white slide background.
Notice that he used the classic-black-and-white theme (plain white background with black colored fonts) in his slides.
In some certain extent, it takes a little effort to make people laugh due to simplicity of his slides. In addition, he used the same approach for displaying other visuals such as graphs and tables. In other words, he does not have to use additional visuals - videos, flash, and audios to mesmerize his audiences.
Normally, pictures are placed in the middle of the slides. If you are a serious type of person and persist in giving out conventional presentation, it is preferable that you include funny pictures that are related to the text-contents.
How to make yourself a 'stand up comedian'?
Being a comedian has no shortcuts. However, if you are a rigid person and you have a low sense of humor, being funny at suitable times able to develop a close and quick rapport with your audiences. These are the simple steps on how to put a smile upon your audiences' faces.
Step 1: Start to identify your own distinctive type of comic
There are several of well-known comedians that have their respective type of comic. For example, Jim Carrey is belongs to physical comics category whereas Jay Leno belongs to topical comics category. Other comic categories are character, observational, prop and gimmick comics; and impressionists and improvisationalists.
Step 2: Write and practice
After you have identified your type of comic, it is time to list out the points that you can make your audiences burst with laughter. Write every single point on your notepad. You will soon improvise these funny ideas in front of your family and friends before you start performing a stand up comedy in front of your audiences.
Step 3: Decide your distinctive stage persona
Once you have observed the behavior patterns of several stand up comedians, innately you will develop your unique personality onstage though there will be some resemblance of these well-known comedians. Eventually, it will definitely make your Powerpoint presentations more entertaining to watch.
Therefore, you are required to levitate your sense of humor by expressing it via your presentation slides. There is one pioneer in making laughter via PowerPoint in stand up comedy - Tim Lee; who is making use of his science background to twist abstract theory into thought provoking comedy.
It is indeed interesting to flourish your slides with this comical approach that can attract your audiences' attention in such a serious and intense condition. Sometimes, you need to create a stress-free environment in any business meetings - regardless formal or informal meetings.
Is it hard to become a talented stand up comedian like Tim Lee?
The answer is yes. But you do not have him to win your audiences. You can review his slides during his performances as your main reference.
Start with simplicity
In most of his performances, you will realize that his presentation slides are practically simple and clear in which he used simple slide layouts with plain white slide background.
Notice that he used the classic-black-and-white theme (plain white background with black colored fonts) in his slides.
In some certain extent, it takes a little effort to make people laugh due to simplicity of his slides. In addition, he used the same approach for displaying other visuals such as graphs and tables. In other words, he does not have to use additional visuals - videos, flash, and audios to mesmerize his audiences.
Normally, pictures are placed in the middle of the slides. If you are a serious type of person and persist in giving out conventional presentation, it is preferable that you include funny pictures that are related to the text-contents.
How to make yourself a 'stand up comedian'?
Being a comedian has no shortcuts. However, if you are a rigid person and you have a low sense of humor, being funny at suitable times able to develop a close and quick rapport with your audiences. These are the simple steps on how to put a smile upon your audiences' faces.
Step 1: Start to identify your own distinctive type of comic
There are several of well-known comedians that have their respective type of comic. For example, Jim Carrey is belongs to physical comics category whereas Jay Leno belongs to topical comics category. Other comic categories are character, observational, prop and gimmick comics; and impressionists and improvisationalists.
Step 2: Write and practice
After you have identified your type of comic, it is time to list out the points that you can make your audiences burst with laughter. Write every single point on your notepad. You will soon improvise these funny ideas in front of your family and friends before you start performing a stand up comedy in front of your audiences.
Step 3: Decide your distinctive stage persona
Once you have observed the behavior patterns of several stand up comedians, innately you will develop your unique personality onstage though there will be some resemblance of these well-known comedians. Eventually, it will definitely make your Powerpoint presentations more entertaining to watch.
Three KPI Examples
There are many ways to measure an employee's performance. However, the most popular tool of today that is also used by many managers all over the world is the employee scorecard. This scorecard contains metrics with specified targets and these are called KPIs. KPI means key performance indicator. As the term suggests, these are areas of performance and there is a specified target for each one. Many employers have a certain target set as expected performance. Any level of performance below these targets are deemed unacceptable, and anything beyond is something that exceeds expectations. There are hundreds and probably thousands of metrics around the world, but below are some most commonly used KPI examples.
CSAT
This stands for customer satisfaction. Definitely, companies need to hear the voices of their customers. Customers are the very bloodline of very business, without whom the business will not have any opportunity to expand. Before, many companies get their customers satisfaction level through surveys. In many fast food chains and restaurants, there are survey forms available in counter stations, and customers can pick up and fill out these forms as they please. Now, with the advent of the Internet, companies simply send these surveys through emails. The responses of the customers will then give the company a clear picture of the processes that they can improve on. These comments from customers can also provide adequate information on how to improve service down to the employee level, especially in customer service industries, like the BPO or Business Process Outsourcing industry.
Quality
There is no doubt that companies can only improve business by adhering to a set of standards called quality. Quality is very important in any business because this is an unbiased form of judgment and this is the method used for internal control. This is a means of ensuring that all products and services are at par with customer specifications and expectations as the company has promised. From time to time, human beings will have lapses at work, but any quality personnel will see to it that the same defect or mistake should not be repeated again by the same employee.
Attendance and Tardiness
There are many companies that do not have much bearing on attendance or tardiness, especially in the sales industry in which employees are sent out in the field to sell and reach a certain quota. Once this quota is reached, the employee has the option to stay at home as much as he wants to. However, attendance is a serious issue in many industries, especially in manufacturing since people are needed to operate the machines. This is also a critical metric in the call center industry because service is delivered to customers real time. There has to be a person manning the phones, so if a customer calls, someone will attend to his concerns.
These are only few of the most common KPI examples. There are many more out there and these metrics or key performance indicators vary from one company and industry to another. This is because one company has a different strategy and priority from the others.
CSAT
This stands for customer satisfaction. Definitely, companies need to hear the voices of their customers. Customers are the very bloodline of very business, without whom the business will not have any opportunity to expand. Before, many companies get their customers satisfaction level through surveys. In many fast food chains and restaurants, there are survey forms available in counter stations, and customers can pick up and fill out these forms as they please. Now, with the advent of the Internet, companies simply send these surveys through emails. The responses of the customers will then give the company a clear picture of the processes that they can improve on. These comments from customers can also provide adequate information on how to improve service down to the employee level, especially in customer service industries, like the BPO or Business Process Outsourcing industry.
Quality
There is no doubt that companies can only improve business by adhering to a set of standards called quality. Quality is very important in any business because this is an unbiased form of judgment and this is the method used for internal control. This is a means of ensuring that all products and services are at par with customer specifications and expectations as the company has promised. From time to time, human beings will have lapses at work, but any quality personnel will see to it that the same defect or mistake should not be repeated again by the same employee.
Attendance and Tardiness
There are many companies that do not have much bearing on attendance or tardiness, especially in the sales industry in which employees are sent out in the field to sell and reach a certain quota. Once this quota is reached, the employee has the option to stay at home as much as he wants to. However, attendance is a serious issue in many industries, especially in manufacturing since people are needed to operate the machines. This is also a critical metric in the call center industry because service is delivered to customers real time. There has to be a person manning the phones, so if a customer calls, someone will attend to his concerns.
These are only few of the most common KPI examples. There are many more out there and these metrics or key performance indicators vary from one company and industry to another. This is because one company has a different strategy and priority from the others.
6 Rhetorical Techniques To Help You Present Like A Pro
When it comes to preparing a presentation, most people devote the lion’s share of their prep time to putting together their Powerpoint slides. But think about the last presentation you attended, and tell me what you remembered. The slides? Nah. The presenter? Right. The best slideshow in the world can’t make up for bad delivery, but a good presenter can hold an audience without using a single slide.
In an increasingly commoditised market, a memorable presentation gives you an edge over your competitors. So forget about Powerpoint for a while, and let’s look at 5 rhetorical techniques that can help you deliver memorable, enjoyable and persuasive presentations.
1. Onomatopoeia
A long word, but a simple concept. Words like BANG! WHAM! WHOOSH! POW! KER-CHING! etc. are all great for emphasising key points, and also for waking up a drowsy post-lunch audience.
Examples:
• Our sales figures were pretty flat in 2005 but in 2006 we implemented a CRM solution and WHOOSH!!! they really took off!
• As soon as we started advertising online, KER-CHING! The money started flooding in!
2. Rhetorical Questions
Asking questions to which you already know the answer is a more engaging way of presenting simple statements as it involves the audience and gets them thinking. Compare these two ways of delivering the same information:
• Our software can save you as much as $50,000 in just one year.
• How much money can our software save you? As much as $50,000 in one year!
A pause after the question creates anticipation and ensures people listen to the answer.
3. The Rule of 3
Experienced public speakers – be they lecturers, teachers, politicians or comedians – all know the power of the Rule of 3 (how many jokes begin with three people – an Englishman, an Irishman & a Scotsman for example – walking into a bar?). Lists of 3 are more memorable than lists of 4 or more.
Examples:
• Our service is swift, efficient, and professional.
• How do we reach our goals? By building new factories, employing more workers, and reducing production costs.
• A good presentation should be concise, informative, and memorable.
4. Machine-Gunning
Machine-gunning is the opposite of the Rule of 3, in which you quickly run off a long list of items – you don’t care how many the audience remember, you just want to impress them with the number of things on your list!
Examples:
• Our product is cheaper, newer, faster, bigger, cleaner, safer and better than anything else on the market.
• We can supply software to handle accounts, reporting, POS, hospitality, web design, ERP, CRM and e-commerce.
5. We’re all in the same boat
…or ‘creating rapport’. This technique builds a bridge between you and your audience. Using words like ‘we’, ‘us’, or ‘all of us’ (instead of ‘you’) shows that you understand your audience’s pain points, as you’ve experienced them yourself.
Examples:
• And we all know what problems that can cause, don’t we?
• The importance of global marketing is clear to all of us.
• We need to ask ourselves what we can do about this.
• Like me, I’m sure you are often too busy to reply to all the emails you receive.
6. Turn Off/Shut Up
Want the audience to pay attention to you? Turn your slides off! Mute the projector or hit ‘B’ on your keyboard, and the screen will go black, leaving the audience with nothing to look at but you. Cast the crutch of Powerpoint aside and learn to stand alone!
When you want the audience to look at a slide, shut up! Silence is all too rare in presentations and it will indicate to the audience that you want them to pay particular attention to what’s on the screen.
So you don’t have to be a rock star, an actor or a stand-up comedian to present well – just use a few of these techniques during your next presentation and you’ll engage your audience, keep their attention, and make sure they remember you. And as with all presentation techniques, practice makes perfect!
In an increasingly commoditised market, a memorable presentation gives you an edge over your competitors. So forget about Powerpoint for a while, and let’s look at 5 rhetorical techniques that can help you deliver memorable, enjoyable and persuasive presentations.
1. Onomatopoeia
A long word, but a simple concept. Words like BANG! WHAM! WHOOSH! POW! KER-CHING! etc. are all great for emphasising key points, and also for waking up a drowsy post-lunch audience.
Examples:
• Our sales figures were pretty flat in 2005 but in 2006 we implemented a CRM solution and WHOOSH!!! they really took off!
• As soon as we started advertising online, KER-CHING! The money started flooding in!
2. Rhetorical Questions
Asking questions to which you already know the answer is a more engaging way of presenting simple statements as it involves the audience and gets them thinking. Compare these two ways of delivering the same information:
• Our software can save you as much as $50,000 in just one year.
• How much money can our software save you? As much as $50,000 in one year!
A pause after the question creates anticipation and ensures people listen to the answer.
3. The Rule of 3
Experienced public speakers – be they lecturers, teachers, politicians or comedians – all know the power of the Rule of 3 (how many jokes begin with three people – an Englishman, an Irishman & a Scotsman for example – walking into a bar?). Lists of 3 are more memorable than lists of 4 or more.
Examples:
• Our service is swift, efficient, and professional.
• How do we reach our goals? By building new factories, employing more workers, and reducing production costs.
• A good presentation should be concise, informative, and memorable.
4. Machine-Gunning
Machine-gunning is the opposite of the Rule of 3, in which you quickly run off a long list of items – you don’t care how many the audience remember, you just want to impress them with the number of things on your list!
Examples:
• Our product is cheaper, newer, faster, bigger, cleaner, safer and better than anything else on the market.
• We can supply software to handle accounts, reporting, POS, hospitality, web design, ERP, CRM and e-commerce.
5. We’re all in the same boat
…or ‘creating rapport’. This technique builds a bridge between you and your audience. Using words like ‘we’, ‘us’, or ‘all of us’ (instead of ‘you’) shows that you understand your audience’s pain points, as you’ve experienced them yourself.
Examples:
• And we all know what problems that can cause, don’t we?
• The importance of global marketing is clear to all of us.
• We need to ask ourselves what we can do about this.
• Like me, I’m sure you are often too busy to reply to all the emails you receive.
6. Turn Off/Shut Up
Want the audience to pay attention to you? Turn your slides off! Mute the projector or hit ‘B’ on your keyboard, and the screen will go black, leaving the audience with nothing to look at but you. Cast the crutch of Powerpoint aside and learn to stand alone!
When you want the audience to look at a slide, shut up! Silence is all too rare in presentations and it will indicate to the audience that you want them to pay particular attention to what’s on the screen.
So you don’t have to be a rock star, an actor or a stand-up comedian to present well – just use a few of these techniques during your next presentation and you’ll engage your audience, keep their attention, and make sure they remember you. And as with all presentation techniques, practice makes perfect!
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