2:40 PM

Part II: Be Memorable! Rock Your Presentation with a Profile Infographic

Last week I wrote about a great presentation tip I picked up at the annual CMO Council Summit in San Jose: a biography puzzle.You can read about it here. For those who have waited with abated breath for me solve my bio puzzle - the wait is over! 


To all the aspiring Double Jeopardy presenters who took a run at solving my Biography Puzzle, I had a good laugh at some of the responses. And yes, there were a couple... concerning ...interesting... suggestions, “you think I’ve done what??” Thanks for the emails and a big thank you to Chris Hummel for providing his puzzle details.

This week I stumbled upon - but not on Stumbleupon.com - an online tool that creates a personal profile Infographic and allows you to save the output. Before I crack the code of my bio puzzle, I'm wondering if anyone has an Infographic? Has anyone tried this? Seen anyone? Anyone? …..Bueller? 

I love infographics. And I mean LOVE them. The good ones, of course. I would characterize a good one by
  • a clear and focused narrative (even better if it has a unique point of view)
  • Addresses one topic and has done its homework with finding, verifying and providing good data and information.
  • Creatively and often genius - marries design and data to visually represent and communicate the story – and deliver knowledge. For me, when I find a good one –  I feel like I’ve absorbed an entire chapter from a school textbook within seconds and can retained the information with ease.


I like the clever and savvy use of visuals. Especially the combination of rich media and interactive design. I’ve got a few links at the bottom that you can check out - there's a great one for the sports fans. As I searched for other tools, I found a a series of Infographic resumes which were super creative, informative and could be used as an introduction (a lighter, less detailed version).  I have a few links below you can check out.

The online profile infographic tool took me about 2 minutes to sign-up and complete their template and then another 5 minutes to format using the options provided. The information isn’t that spectacular but it looks impressive for a <10 minute effort.  In fact, I’m pretty optimistic that a color copy would wildly impress my parents and likely be showcased on their fridge next to my niece and nephew elementary school art projects.

Here are two versions. Let me know what you think and if you’ve come across anything better.
the horizontal layout

itzCorinne Profile Infographic: same tool used as above, but with the vertical layout and different background.
 
BIOGRAPHY PUZZLE
As for the biography puzzle:
  1. It’s all German and Greek to me
  2. T •
  3. 000010001100011 x 15
  4. BI, CPM, ABM, APM, SOA, ITIL, BPM, BBIM
  5. ECMM
  6. CMO and/or Wired
  7. Sat Nam

Answers:
  1. I’m half German (half British) and my name is Greek. Most people assume it originated in France.
  2. I live in the Tdot – aka Toronto.
  3. I’ve worked in the software industry for 15 years
  4. Some of the specific software areas include Business Intelligence, Corporate Performance Management, Activity-based Management, Application Performance Management, Service-Oriented Architecture, Information Technology Infrastructure Library, Business Process Management
  5. I’m currently in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and you can call me a ‘Master’… at least that’s what the ECMM stands for – it’s a certification from the AIIM organization.
  6. My big hairy audacious goal in life is to become a CMO or make the cover of Wired Magazine… best magazine ever!
  7. Sat Nam: No - it's not a sandwich! I’m into Kundalini yoga and yoga therapy. Sat Nam is the Kundalini equivalent to Namaste.
 
 The links to the online Infographic tool and resume examples:
  • The Infographics I created above are from http://ionz.com.br/
  • Seriously amazing Interactive NFL Sports Stats: NFL stats "spike chart"
  • There's a great collection of resume infographics - which are far more advanced than the template I used above and illustrate very clever visuals.Check them out at Cool Infographics

If you have any to share, I'd love to see them.

8:47 PM

Be Memorable! Rock Your Presentation Intro with a Biography Puzzle

How many presentations did you attend in 2010? 

My answer is…. no idea. A lot? Think back for a moment: all the travel, conferences, obligatory meetings, the webinars you signed up for…Nope… I still couldn’t tell you how many presentations I attended. 

I can recall the good ones - like John Mancini at AIIM's annual conference or Jess Schell's DICE 2010 keynote (WOW!). But it's rare to land the Double Jeopardy presentation: great speaker and great content.

Far too frequently, I witness the audience succumb to the relentless Blackberry itch that compels attendees to check for anything that will hold their attention or maintain a semi-conscience state (especially during the dreaded post lunch time slot).

Let’s flip it around: how many presentations did you deliver in 2010? Were you memorable? What about your content? Let’s be honest – there's one Steve Jobs. For the rest of us presentation mortals, we can use some tips and tricks. Especially when we're one of umpteen speakers in an all day line-up of back-to-back presentations – we can use a little help to up our game.

But how?

I hit Double Jeopardy last week at the annual CMO Council Summit in San Jose.

I didn’t know Chris Hummel, CMO & President of North America, Siemens Enterprise Communications prior to the CMO Council Summit. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t anticipating any life changing revelations during his keynote, How the Operationally Savvy CMO Can Become a Valued CEO Asset.

I’ve never been happier to be so wrong.

I’ve never seen a keynote delivered by a mortal in 8 slides. And with an introduction I’d call genius. Yep, Hummel is my new reigning Double Jeopardy presentation champion. The bar has been raised: compelling content and speaker with 8 slides. Actually:
 - 7 slides if you remove the title.
 - 6 if you overlook the bio.
 - 5 if you don’t count the Agenda.

In this instance, his intro was the highlight. Chris called it a “Biography Puzzle”, he captivated an entire room with 7 bullet points:
  • The Martinellis & the Walshes
  • RS – C – P
  • 14 + 8
  • Здраствуйте!
  • FSO
  • 3
  • ?
His DaVinci code approach had everyone’s attention. The next day I caught myself telling a friend about this great speaker who was part Irish, fluent in Russian, has a German last name, lived overseas for nearly a decade, in 8 countries, did a stint somewhere as a Foreign Service officer and is now the CMO of Siemens Enterprise Communications.

I’ve never seen this approach before and based on comments from the other CMOs in the room – they won’t forget Chris either. I figure if I can remember that level of detail on someone I just met - in a line-up of 20 other speakers, he's on to something. And I love that he came up with the concept just to keep the presentation interesting.

I decided to give it a try and came up with my own biography puzzle:
  • It’s all German and Greek to me
  • T •
  • 000010001100011 x 15
  • BI, CPM, ABM, APM, SOA, ITIL, BPM, BBIM
  • ECMM
  • CMO and/or Wired
  • Sat Nam
I suppose I could simply tell you what it means…. Nah! I’m interested to hear your interpretation, see your biography puzzle or find out what other interesting presentation tips you've seen. 

Any takers?

3:29 PM

1 Minute on Marketing 3.0: Values-Driven Marketing

I came across this video ages ago and it stuck with me. Now I know why.
"You can do anything. So go do it."


Sadie has a pretty clear and compelling message. More remarkable, she expresses and personifies all things marketing 3.0 – in a minute! The same principles that have many corporations flummoxed. The simple breakdown:

Medium
She uses rich media -  video, to tell her message. A future in Content Marketing looks bright for Sadie as she also showcases some of her artwork.

Message
She’s authentic – from the pink room with all the stuffed animals to the Coldplay poster pinned up on the wall, Sadie is real. Full stop.

Mission
From an academic perspective, if you compare this with Philip Kotler’s Marketing 3.0 approach, she’s also got it covered: she’s got Mind, Heart and Spirit and she certainly exudes her Mission, Vision and Values.

This isn’t dismissing the notion that we need values in the sense of value-based selling and value messaging and value this and value that – sometimes a gentle reminder that we need just plain VALUES.


Kotler calls it ‘Values-Driven Marketing’ and I don’t disagree. And this takes Mind, Heart and Spirit to communicate and express your mission, vision and values. Kotler and Hermawan Kartajaya have a great article I found on Scribd at
Funny that you can learn all that in 1 minute from Sadie. What's your view on Sadie or Kotler's approach?