Posts Tagged ‘Communication’

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Eyeful Labs are Go!!!!

Friday, May 24th, 2013

It would be fair to say that we are giddy as kippers here at Eyeful Towers and, for once, it’s not due to a sugar rush – Eyeful Labs is here!!!

We are proud to have created an immersive, innovative, imaginative environment which encourages our creatives, consultants and customers to stretch the boundaries of presentation possibilities (alliteration and exclamation mark tourettes are side effects of our excitement – sorry)!!!

We’ve flung open our doors and ordered extra teabags – stand by for a revolution….

Eyeful Labs is not about what works for our customers now, it’s about what will work for them in 5 years time, how they’ll stay ahead of their competition and why it’s important that they do.

We have one simple rule for each of the workshops, forums and webinars – forget everything you’ve been taught about business presentations.  Doing the same old thing is a situation with truly diminishing returns.

The Lab is an environment for presentation experimentation. Sometimes we’ll light up the room with inspiration, opening new presentation possibilities. Sometimes it will just go ‘pft’ – and that’s good too, because every ‘pft’ teaches us something new.

There are very few truly bad ideas – sticking your head in a lions mouth allows you to spot dental decay easily, it’s only a bad idea if you don’t live to ring the dentist. Eyeful Labs encourages our customers to take the risks that bring the biggest rewards, without fear of decapitation.

Many years ago we had a dream, a few weeks ago we had a mess and today we have Eyeful Labs.

If you think that you have what it takes (simple curiosity will do) to stand at the front as we race towards the future of presentations, drop us a line.

 

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Posted in Customer Stories, General information, Mobile Technology, Presentation Design, Presentation Skills, Presentation Technology, Presentation Tools, Sales Presentation, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dragons Den – Backstage Report Part 1

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Yesterday saw Simon complete phase one of his ‘Double Dragon’ experience.

As part of Henley College’s Enterprise & Employability Week, Simon was on hand yesterday to guide the young entrepreneurs in the art of presenting.

The syllabus was based on our proven Presentation OptimisationTM methodology and the students were keen to learn about the importance of message and the mistakes that can be made by over egging the cake (it becomes a floury omelette if you’re wondering).

They also discussed how best to visualise their ideas in a way that will engage the Dragons. The relative merits of PowerPoint, product demos and art boards were all debated along with the opportunities and dangers that using multiple platforms can bring.

The students were very enthusiastic to learn and interestingly they showed the same anxieties that we see every day with our business customers. We know that, to our customers, every presentation is THE presentation and the students felt just the same.

Encouraging the business people of tomorrow to think a little differently about how they present will help them to avoid the pitfalls associated with “Death by PowerPoint” that have given presentations such a bad reputation.

It’s a very Eyeful way of helping to raise the bar for business presentations.

On Friday, Simon will be seeing his work from the other side, as he unfurls his Dragon wings and judges the finalised presentations – we’ll let you know how he gets along.

College

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In Defiance of Gravity…The Apple Way

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Modern tech is, for the most part, beautiful. When we use smartphones and tablets to present they’re often more than a tool – they’re a statement of our techie credentials.

Sleek lines, intuitive interfaces and portability are all key features, but as many once proud owners know the fragility of design that we all seem to love results in, well, fragility.

Over the years this has been approached in two ways;

Some smartphones have taken the Mr T approach and bulked up .The Casio G’zOne Commando is rated for complete water immersion, driving rain, dust, falls (up to four feet), vibrations, humidity, -13 to 185 degree temperatures, low pressure, salt fog, and solar radiation. It can survive being run over by a truck, a trip to the zoo  and relaxing in a Jacuzzi – but , let’s be honest, James Bond wouldn’t give it pocket space.

Other attempts have been of a more aftermarket effort. Anyone hoping to make their smartphone or tablet look like it’s been wrapped in a recycled truck tyre has plenty of options and replacement screens (along with the associated embarrassing/hilarious/plainly stupid explanations) are a revenue/entertainment stream all by themselves.

Now Apple are doing it their way.

They currently have a US Patent Pending  for the tech equivalent of a cat. A device that will sit inside your smartphone or tablet, detect when it is falling and reorientate itself to land in the least damaging position.

Using the level of tech usually associated with a lunar landing craft (thrusters included) as an over engineered reaction to the weakest link in the tech chain, (Home Sapiens),  is undoubtedly as Bond worthy as it can be.

 

fly phone framed

Now to find a way to apply it to buttered toast…

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Simon takes on ‘Dragons Den’

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

Next week sees our very own Simon Morton lending a hand at Henley College’s Enterprise & Employability Week.

Simon will be undertaking the unenviable task of tackling the ‘Dragons Den’ – from both sides.

On Wednesday 22nd he will be maintaining his usually friendly persona and helping the young entrepreneurs prepare for their Den encounter by sharing his skills and knowledge on ‘How to present to a panel’.

In the Den, a great presentation marks the difference between an idea you’ve had – and a business you will have.  In life this can be translated as the job you really wanted and the job you got.

Most people are distinctly uncomfortable in front of an audience – it can feel like a test that you haven’t revised for.

Yet the rules for presentation success are simple and can be essentially summarised as ‘three knows making an ess’* – know your subject, know your audience, know yourself = success.

Bringing that to a life actually needs a little something extra and that’s the ‘secret sauce’ that Simon will be sharing with the students.

Then he’s back on Friday 24th – flying in and donning his incredulous face (practice ongoing) to take his place as a Dragon.

It’s unusual to see both sides of a pitch and Simon is hoping that his Wednesday masterclass will minimise his exposure to the type of cringe inducing umming, ahhing, panicking and fudging that we often see on the telly.

Dragon Morton

*feel free to insert a bad pun apology as required.
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Sharing some “Eyefulocity” – Transparency

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Technology has a way of getting in the way sometimes.  It’s all too easy to get tied to your desk endlessly e-mailing and IM-ing and, over time, losing the personal connection you used to have with customers and colleagues.  Yet, when harnessed intelligently and with one eye firmly on the people around you, technology can also dramatically improve your “connectedness” with the very same people.

In their wisdom, Microsoft have recognised this and thrown their weight behind a new forum and web community, Business Reimagined (http://www.businessreimagined.org/).  The question posed to leaders of businesses both large and small was a simple one – “If you started again today, what would you keep and what would you reimagine?”

We were mighty chuffed to be asked by our chums at Microsoft to contribute to the discussion.  The first topic on the agenda was building transparency into your business processes and culture…something we know quite a lot about.

Spoiler Alert: The following video makes reference to a very exciting new programme about to kick off here at Eyeful Towers entitled Eyeful Labs.  We’ll tell you more about it when the decorators have finished…

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The pleasure of working with your heroes…and a special (but limited to today!) offer

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013

One of the nicest things about running a business is when you get the opportunity to work with one of your heroes.

I heard of Andy Bounds many moons ago through a joint customer of ours, Experian.  They simply couldn’t get enough of his advice, ideas and no-nonsense approach to the point where everyone seemed to have a copy of his book and he became a regular speaker at their events.

Spurred on by their enthusiasm, I went out and bought a copy of Andy’s first bestselling book, The Jelly Effect.  In short, it’s great…and I became a fan.

Cut to 2010 and a call into Eyeful Towers from Andy asking about our services.  Blimey…an opportunity to work with the man himself…

They say never meet your heroes but I have to say working with Andy over the last few years has been a real inspiration and pleasure.  So I was delighted when he asked me to join an august group and contribute an article on the Perfect Presentation as support for the launch of his new book, The Snowball Effect.

A word of warning! Access to the insights from 14 people on top of their game is available today only so move quick!

Over to Andy to explain…

Today is the official launch of my new book The Snowball Effect (communication techniques to make you unstoppable).  The book has one main objective: to make a permanent improvement to how you communicate.I’ve been delighted by the reviews so far.  For example: business guru Brian Tracy said:  “this fast-moving, helpful and practical book shows how to develop instant rapport, connect with the basic interests of the other person, and persuade him/her quickly to your point of view in a warm, professional manner.” 

The book contains lots of simple, practical techniques, which I’ve split into four main sections:

  • Persuade people to say “yes” more quickly, more often
  • Enjoy your job more, because you’re calling the shots for a change
  • Remove the communication frustrations you feel all too often
  • Get more done more quickly, by getting people on your side faster

Click here to buy The Snowball Effect

Special offer – for today only

If you buy the book on Amazon today, I’ll send you a link to these fantastic insights from 14 top thought leaders:

  • ‘Transform your ability to market yourself and influence others’, by marketing legend Drayton Bird
  • ‘Raising your visibility with personal branding’, by Lesley Everett, the leading voice on Personal Branding
  • ‘An hour of insightful, engaging and humorous views on how to better ourselves, and the people around us’ by international best-selling authors Paul McGee and Andy Cope
  • ‘How to give impactful radio interviews and create compelling core messages‘, by Alan Stevens, an expert at helping companies enhance their reputation. Alan is currently President of the Global Speakers Federation
  • ‘Quick tips for the perfect presentation’, by Simon Morton founder of Eyeful Presentations Ltd
  • ‘A simple guide to successful reviewing’ by Tony Birch, who has 20+ years’ experience of preparing winning bids and pitches
  • ‘40 power questions to grow your business’, by Bev James, CEO of the world’s largest training centre for coaches, and bestselling author of ‘Do it! Or ditch it!’
  • ‘LinkedIn for Leaders’ and ‘The Three Click Myth’, by Phil Blything, co-founder of digital agency – Glow New Media
  • ‘How to network your way to more business’ by Charlie Lawson, who runs the UK arm of the world’s largest networking and referrals organisation, BNI
  • Excerpts from the book ‘OMG’ by Geoff Ramm – a multi-award winning international speaker, known as ‘the Billy Connolly of marketing’
  • ‘Top ten negotiation tips’ by Alan McCarthy, a sales expert who has helped his customers win $billions of new business
  • The e-book ‘How to achieve your goals’ by high performance coach Antony Stagg
  • Plus five short videos from me, showing how to improve your meetings, emails, sales, PowerPoint slides … and your ability to say “no”!

To buy the book, and get all this advice for free, you only have to:

  1. Buy the book on Amazon today
  2. Send your proof of purchase today to my colleague emmamerry@andybounds.com

And that’s it.

Amazon will send you the book; we will send you the advice.

This offer is open to anybody. So, please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think would be interested.

But the offer’s only valid if you buy the book today.  So why not make it the next thing you do?

Thank you,

Andy

Click here to buy The Snowball Effect, and receive all the specialist advice for free

The book is packed full of great content, the extra free advice is tremendous and Andy is an inspiration.  Need we say more..?

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Modern presenting – why designing for interaction matters

Monday, January 21st, 2013

It is an indisputable truth that technology is always changing.

Take the gaming industry as an example. From the beautiful simplicity of Pong, the first computer game to grab our attention, through to beautifully detailed role-play adventures available online and through incredibly powerful games consoles, the march towards immersive technologies goes on.

Underpinning all this fast paced evolution is the programmers’ drive to provide true interactivity between the technology and it’s users.  What was once seen as the madcap dream of a few is now commonplace as children, their parents, and their grandparents interact with smartphones, tablets and other interactive technologies with ease.

Being able to interact with a technology is no longer a nice to have – it is the way that we engage with technology at home and at work.

So if interactivity plays such an important part in our everyday life, why is this so remarkably absent in most business presentations? And what is the impact of presenters refusing to embrace this new interactive thinking?

We believe that the cause of the issue lies with a lack of forethought and planning at the initial development stage of the presentation (let’s face it – a lack of investment, consideration and planning at this early stage of development is to blame for all manner of presentation ills, most notably the scourge of death by PowerPoint).

Developing an interactive presentation that allows you to fully engage and inspire your audience, demands a different way of thinking.  It’s on this premise that the Presentation Optimisation methodology, employed by Eyeful consultants across the world, was developed to ensure that a full understanding of the audience and the best method by which to engage them underpins the process.

We’ve always maintained that taking the time to understand these requirements in detail is time well spent – without it, your presentation is built on a very fragile and shortsighted foundation. So it was with glee that we stumbled across the following short film that examines the importance of understanding and planning in interaction design.

Hats off to the team at Bassett & Partners for a job well done…

Understanding the importance and the method by which presenters interact with their audiences also underpins our Blended Presenting approach – the flexibility and increased level of engagement provided by this approach are only possible as a result of careful planning and the creation of a strong message and story early on in the process.

So in summary,

Poor planning = lack of understanding

Lack of understanding = low levels of interactivity

Low levels of interactivity = poor customer audience engagement

One final question – doesn’t your audience and your presentation deserve better?

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The Second (Working) Day of Christmas

Friday, December 7th, 2012

We are really proud of the creative bunch that inhabit our design studio. Not only do they WOW us at work, they go home and create little gems like this….

Created in After Effects (which isn’t a software package we use at Eyeful) we hope you enjoy Jack’s Christmas treat. We just wish that his desk was this tidy every day!!

You can visit the Eyeful Presentations YouTube channel by visiting www.youtube.com/user/eyefulpresentations

More tomorrow….

 

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Out of Office Presentations – Think Beyond Corporate

Monday, October 15th, 2012

When it comes to presentations most people think corporate. It’s true that presentations play an important part in many sales pitches, product launches, business meetings, training sessions and conferences but that’s not the whole story.

We’ve produced presentations for birthdays and funerals, challenging our designers to produce something that speaks to its audience honestly without betraying their emotional connection to the subject.

We’ve produced presentations for customers to use at job interviews, giving our customers something that they can rely on in a stressful situation and raising a cheer in the office when they are success.

But it isn’t just the occasion that varies, we also work with academics, explorers and authors and in the case of Kevin Dutton, all three at once.

Kevin is a research psychologist at Magdalen College, Oxford and has written a couple of the most thought provoking books available at the moment. ‘Flipnosis’ and ‘The Wisdom Of Psychopaths’.

Kevin’s books examine how we view and interact with the world by bringing together vast and disparate sources to explore what makes us tick and why. So when Kevin needed a presentation to support ’Flipnosis’ we had to get amongst the scientific studies, anecdotes and conclusions to make sure that we can tell the story as well as he can.

It’s a huge challenge to bring a book to life as something else (just looking at what filmmakers have done to some fantastic books over the years will give you a clue) but our specialist consultant Helen Beardsley rose to the challenge.

Helen has now worked to bring a little presentation science to both of Kevin’s titles and we’re really proud that Helens name appears in the acknowledgments section of ‘The Wisdom of Psychopaths’ (the 285 pages before that are well worth a read as well)!

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Eyeful on Film – The What, How & Why of Presentation Optimisation

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

Life travels fast here at Eyeful Towers.

It seems like only a few weeks ago that we were embarking on a new financial year and the release of our “Little Book of Big Ideas”* but the reality is that almost 12 months have passed and so much has changed…

So, in an attempt to capture the moment as well as further demonstrate the importance of the Presentation Optimisation model, we asked our friends at ID2 Media to pull together a film crew and spend a day with us.

Hats off to the gang at ID2 – the film does a great job in capturing what makes Eyeful tick which, contrary to common belief, is more than just a steady flow of coffee and biscuits.

Enjoy!

* We had no idea how popular the Little Books were going to be when we printed them and we’re almost completely out of stock BUT, if you’re quick, you can still get hold of one.  Simply ping us an e-mail or give us a call and we’ll pop one in the post.

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