Killed By Powerpoint

August 25, 2009

Have you ever had the sensation of being killed, slowly and mercilessly, during a boring presentation? No need to raise your hand, we all have been there.

Why is it that such a poweful tool can be so deadly? An interesting article sent to me (thanks, Z.) talks about the birth of what we know today as PowerPoint. Happy 25th birthday!

The article from BBC News UK can be seen here: The Problem With PowerPoint

Over the years I’ve read a number of books on effective presentations, listened to podcasts, and attended some presentations and webcasts. It all boils down to:

1. Know your audience

2. Know your subject

3. Create a story to tell

4. Rehearse

5. Rehearse once more

Although no magic bullet exists, we can all do better next time we are putting a slide deck together. Simply remember the last presentation you attended and how boring it was, and swear you will not put your audience through the same experience. That’s a good start!

What has your experience been with powerpoint?

2 Comments | Communication | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Daniel Kuperman

Are You Paid Enough? New Salary Survey Released

August 14, 2009

We all like to complain about how much we make, so here’s another reason for you to either shut up or have that awkward conversation with your boss about getting a raise. Exhibitor Magazine’s July Edition showcases their annual salary survey with interesting results.

You can see the results online on their website, but here’s a summary of average salary for selected titles:

  • Advertising and Marketing Managers: $61,451
  • Communications Manager: $72,606
  • Corporate Event Manager: $66,581
  • Marketing Communications Manager: $67,852
  • Marketing Director: $75,870

Some interesting findings from the survey are:

  • Women earn on average $13,134 less than their male counterparts
  • 70% of respondents said they are happy with their current jobs
  • Those with industry certifications enjoy an average of 18% higher salaries than their non-certified peers
  • 94% of respondents reported working more than 40 hours per week, which is not very surprising but they slice this number based on pay level and find that those who earn more than $80K put in 60 hour or more per week than those earning around $57K who work 40 to 49 hours per week

The survey also breaks down salaries by industry and region, so it is worth checking it out and comparing your own salary with the results. This is also a good resource for ensuring your staff is being compensated according to the market and for negotiating salary with someone you are hiring.

Other sources for salary comparison can be found at:

And I would be negligent not to mention the always thought-provoking posts from Seth Godin, this time about the myth of big salaries. Although his criticism was towards Wall Street financial companies that complain they need hefty compensation packages to attract talented employees, you decide whether it applies to your company as well.

Happy salary negotiation! 😉

Leave a Comment » | Hiring, Marketing Planning, Marketing Strategy | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Daniel Kuperman

What’s Your Marketing Approach?

July 29, 2009

An interesting post by Steve Johnson talks about marketing not being a list, but rather an approach to solving customers problems and helping buyers to buy.

As marketers, we sometimes fall victims of the routine day-to-day tactical activities and forget why we are doing them. Create this email here, prepare a webinar there, and send the artwork for publication in that magazine. Do you ever stop at some point during the week to rethink your actions, rethink your role, rethink your strategy?

Being tuned to the market and being able to notice patterns is only possible if you do your job with eyes wide open. You don’t necessarily have to keep looking for this with everything you do at every minute (it would drive you crazy and slow you down considerably) but just recognizing the need for it does help.

Here are some actions you can take that might help:

  • After you create a presentation, review it thinking not only on who you will be presenting it to, but now thinking about whether more people in your market (customers and prospects) would find it interesting/educational
  • When you wrap up things for the day, think back at everything you created (collateral, presentations, copy, etc.) and make a note to revise it and expand it to become a piece you can repurpose for another audience
  • Make a point to touchbase with the sales reps every month and ask them what they are seeing in the market and what questions they are being asked
  • Schedule a couple hours per week (Friday afternoons are usually great) to review the week that passed and to plan for the week ahead, with the idea that what you will be working on, producing, and publishing should be solving a customer problem

How are YOU tackling the challenge of noticing patterns and solving customers problems?

Leave a Comment » | Communication, Marketing Management, Marketing Strategy | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Daniel Kuperman

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