The New Generation of Presentations: SlideRocket

Presenting to potential clients is a huge part of my daily activities. The days of delivering the same agency design ed static presentation to everyone are long gone.

Each situation, each client and each opportunity requires elements of customization - especially when you are selling ideas and services.

So what are some of the challenges for business development and sales professionals when crafting that all important sales preso?

• How do I customize my presentations quickly and easily, while maintaining the integrity of my company's brand?
  
  
• With travel costs skyrocketing (along with the cost of just about everything these days), how do I leverage the web to conduct truly effective "virtual meetings"?

• When I send a prospect a presentation, or they are viewing from a remote location, how can I tell they are engaged? What metrics can I use?
  

To date, subscription services such as WebEx have provided desktop sharing solutions which allow parties in various locations to connect via conference call, while the administrator (i.e. the sales person) shares their desktop.

I'm willing to bet that if your a professional, you've sat through these types of meetings. With all due respect to the good people at WebEx and other desktop sharing applications, these solutions are simply...well...clunky.

A New Breed of Presentation Software

Enter SlideRocket! This innovative application has yet to be fully launched, but in my opinion, will change the way that sales presentations are delivered across the globe. From what I can tell, it deliverers on all of the questions listed above, and much more.

In the company's own words:

SlideRocket is a web application that provides everything you need to design professional quality presentations, manage and share libraries of slides and assets, and to deliver presentations in person or remotely over the web.

You can view the product demo here. (Which, might I add, been created by using the SlideRocket software)

Here, SlideRocket CEO Mitch Grasso dives deeper into how this SaaS application can be used.

I can't wait to use this one!

Unplugged

I have an iPhone now. My laptop is usually within reach. Email. Text Messages. Safari. Oh my.

How many of you are also victims of connectivity? The corporate world fosters an addiction to technology. I call it an addiction because for may of us (myself included), if technology and communication tools are accessible, the option to ignore it all but disappears.

For the holiday weekend, my trusty dog Ruger and I will once again journey into the woods. Our scared spot lies halfway between a field and a lake, and is conveniently out of range for any wireless signals.

Surround by a group of old and true friends, we'll cook our own food, cut wood and build fires. We'll play Frisbee and softball and tell stories of years past. We'll laugh out loud at comedy that only we understand. We'll sit in silence, simply being in the present moment. And we'll listen. Listen to the Whipper Wheels as they sing to the passing moon. We'll listen to the wind as it flies past the leaves. We'll listen to the coyotes and cows in the distant night. And we'll listen to each other.

For all of this, I am filled with gratitude...

Put On Tilt

Do you play Poker?

Over the last five years, popularity of the game has spread through American culture like a super virus. That may sound like a negative connotation, but there are good lessons to be learned when stacking your chips.

It wasn't until recently that I was able to figure out my poker strategy. It feels great to win. Losing is terrible. Even when you're clear and focused, the cards can still fall against you. Now you've been forced on tilt.

Tilt is state of mental confusion or frustration in which a player knowingly adopts a sub-optimal, over-aggressive strategy.

Placing an opponent on tilt or dealing with being on tilt oneself is one of the most important aspects of poker. It is a relatively frequent occurrence, due to frustration, animosity against other players, or simple bad luck.

Experienced players recommend learning to recognize that one is experiencing tilt and to avoid allowing it to influence one’s play.

Real Life
Unless your Chris Moneymaker, poker is simply a pass time activity. But the concept of tilt applies to daily survival.

Everyday we deal with outside forces which we cannot control. Plans change, commitments fall through, great ideas crash and burn. We get frustrated - but the game continues and we are dealt our next hand.

So what's your plan for the next time you get put on tilt?