Practice Makes Perfect Presentation

October 30, 2019 at 12:32 pm (communication, Marketing, Presentations)
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I am sure anyone reading this has had his or her fair share of PowerPoint presentations. After much feedback over the years, I thought that I was doing everything right, as you probably think too. I always figured you just need to add pictures, transitions, and make sure it looks well organized and not cluttered. However, after doing some research and watching this extremely helpful Ted Talk, I learned way more than I thought I would. Give it a watch:

To sum up the video, there are five key points David JP Phillips suggests we consider when making a PowerPoint.

First, make sure you only put one message per slide. This is because our brains are very limited on how much they can take in and concentrate on at a time.

Second, work the audience’s memory. To do this, only use short bits of text per slide and include images. If you find yourself using long sentences, then use that as the content you deliver verbally, but take away key words to put on your slide.

Third, watch your sizing. We often make the headline bigger than the content on the slide. However, the headline is rarely the most important part. The most important part of your PowerPoint should also be the biggest, because this is what your eyes will spend the most time on.

Fourth, use effective contrast. This will help show what needs to be focused on. A good tip would be not using white for your background. If you use black or a dark color, then the audience can relax its eyes and focus on the person delivering the presentation as well, and not only focus on the big white screen. YOU are the presentation. The PowerPoint is simply your visual aid.

Fifth and final, only put enough objects that can be seen. Do not put so many to where it takes the audience a while to count how many are on the slide. Personally, I think four or less objects per slide is acceptable. Otherwise, it causes the audience to use more energy, which also can exhaust interest in your content. Now, this may cause you to have more slides, but that is not an issue compared to having slides that are too content heavy.

Knowing how to present is very important in school and in many jobs. Practice using these five tips with every PowerPoint and I guarantee you will perfect each one. Hopefully you found this just as helpful as I did!

By Kamryn Cantu, Business Major-IUPUC

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Marketing

October 24, 2019 at 6:43 pm (Uncategorized)
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Marketing is a very broad subject when brought up. There are endless types of marketing in the business world. This ranges from Burger King’s famous slogan “Home of the Whopper” to a 17-year-old hanging up flyers at local restaurants and grocery stores offering work as a babysitter. That is what makes marketing so unique in many ways.

Any type of business heavily relies on marketing strategies and plans. These are where the unique ideas come into play. For example, many restaurants have one liner’s when they advertise their place such as “The best in town!”, “You’ll want to come back!”, or “Food with passion!”. These well-known slogans still work to this day and grabs the audience attention. Another great example is when it comes to movies. Trailers for movies are so dramatic and hyped up. In these trailers, they love to state, “Number 1 movie in America!”, or they will put numerous feedback quotes that are positive about the movie from famous movie critics.

If I were to create my own marketing plan, I would make sure to be very dramatic with the product I’m trying to sell or work I’m trying to offer. For instance, if I were to advertise a burger restaurant, I would make sure to be using a lot of adjectives that describes my burgers. Example words I would use could be juicy, sizzling, seasoned, slow-cooked, and fresh.

Marketing is the core of a business. Its what makes a business grow if done correctly or fail if done poorly. Marketing does not come just from big business you drive by daily. You see marketing everywhere. You may even use it without even knowing you did.

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HI, HOW ARE YA?

October 10, 2019 at 5:00 pm (Advertising, Big Moves, brand, career, communication, Cultures, Listening skills, Marketing, Motivation, Social Media in the workplace, Social Media/Technology)
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What really is a “brand” anyway? A brand, by definition, is a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.

If you really think about it, a lot of things/people have brands.

For example, Jeffree Star is well known in the makeup industry for the amazing makeup that he produces. 

Jeffree makes his money in multiple different ways,

  1. YouTube:  
    • Where most people are familiar with this big brand influencer
    • Not even where the bulk of his money comes from
    • 16.2 million subscribers on YouTube and growing
    • His views average from 4M-35M
    • His YouTube videos give him a 6 figure pay out each year, easily
    • He is the richest YouTuber
    • He is the 2nd highest subscribed person on YouTube in the beauty section
  2. Makeup:
    • His empire, also where most people know him
    • Makes $150 million a year, which 70 million of, he pockets
    • Profits 7.2 million for every product launch
    • Independent brand, not a large owned brand which means he profits more
This is Jeffree’s brand logo, if you notice his last name is Star, so for his logo it is a star.
  1. Real Estate/ Marijuana
    • These are side investments that Star has took interest in
    • These are basically backups if the makeup brand does not work out

Jeffree has a lot of things that come together to make his brand, and make it signature to him. His logo of a star, which is also his last name, and the intro to his YouTube video.

Star has three personal homes, and 10 businesses he is running besides his makeup brand.

How to Create a Brand

  1. Determine your brand’s audience.
    • Motivation
    • Pain points
    • Influencers
    • College students
    • Single moms
  2. Establish your brand mission statement.
    • “Just do it.” – Nike
  3. Research bands within your industry niche.
    • The goal is to differentiate from your competition
  4. Outline key qualities and benefits your brand offers.
    • A better way to support productivity
    • Reducing costs with more affordable options
  5. Create a brand logo and tagline.
    • Logo size and placement
    • Color pallet
    • Web elements
    • Photography/image style
  6. Form your brand voice.
    • Professional
    • Technical
    • Friendly
    • Self-oriented
    • Promotional
    • Authoritative
  7. Build a brand message and elevator pitch.
    • Who you are
    • What you offer
    • Why people should care
  8. Let your brand personality shine.
    • Telling stories about real experiences
  9. Intergrade your brand into every part of your business.
    • Visible and reflect in everything that you say/do
  10. Stay true to your brand building.
    • Consistency is key
  11. Be your brands biggest advocate.
    • No one knows your brand like you do, spread the word

Making a brand is not all that hard, once you think about it. Just follow these steps, stay true to you and your brand, and you’ll be on your way to having your own personal brand!

Zoe Chasse, Business Major IUPUC

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Brand YOU

October 9, 2019 at 6:45 pm (brand, Marketing)

Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of yourself. Your personal brand is never “finished.” Your life will always change, and you continue to better yourself. A good way to discover your personal brand is to ask an honest friend to describe you using three words. Most people aim to have a positive personal brand, especially celebrities. Ellen DeGeneres is a celebrity that most people are familiar with. She is a comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. But these titles are not her personal brand. This is:

In this short clip, it is easy to identify Ellen’s personal brand. Three words we could use to identify her personal brand (even though, there are more) would be humorous, genuine, and kind. Ellen closes her show each day by reminding her viewers to be kind to each other and in the YouTube clip, she elaborates to say be kind no matter what. For Ellen’s birthday, she didn’t receive a the newest and most expensive car or elaborate vacation. Instead, she received the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund which is also known as Ellen’s Wildlife Fund. This says a lot about who Ellen really is. Ellen often goes out of her way to display generosity to people who do good in the world. Most commonly, she has these people as guests on her show and surprises them with a large amount of money.

Personal branding is important for everyone, not just celebrities. There are so many possibilities you can reach (or fall short of) all depending on you carry yourself.

By Lauren Pauley, Business Major – IUPUC

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Communication in a Die-versity Workplace Won’t Kill You!

October 3, 2019 at 4:17 pm (Business Conflicts, career, communication, Communication Problems, Cultures, Diversity in the Workplace, Effective Communication, Working Well with Teams)

Image result for diverse workforce

When you google what diversity means it defines it as a range of different things, which is correct, but in the way that we are using it, it needs to be more specific. The way that I would define diversity is understanding that everyone is unique and recognizing our differences. Some examples of our differences are economic status, age, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and physical abilities.

 Working in a place where there are many diverse individuals makes for an inclusive workplace. When you have an inclusive workplace with many diverse employees the flow of communication will strengthen. Communication is described as the exchanging of information from one to another, when communicating you must always remember to be clear and concise between, your co-workers and managers so that the message isn’t decoded wrongly.

The benefits of working in a diverse workplace and having strong communication skills with one another are tremendously effective for your personal business. Here are some listed benefits:

  • Diverse employees can inspire creativity and innovation
  • Diverse teams are more productive and perform better
  • A diverse skill set in your business will offer a range of different products and services
  • Diverse employees can bring different ideas to the table

While there are benefits, there are also challenges that come with communication in a diverse workplace some of which are:

  • Co-workers from some cultures or economic status may be less likely to get their voices heard
  • When working with a diverse group it is likely to face prejudice
  • The language barrier might be hard to overcome

Although there are only a few benefits and challenges listed, communication in a diverse place can excel if those are remembering the basic communication process, which is:

  1. Having an idea
  2. Converting ideas in heads to convey a message
  3. Message travels channels
    1. For example, sending the message through an email
  4. Receiver translates the message
  5. Feedback travels to the sender of message
  6. Then possible feedback to the receiver

I hope in your place of work you excel in communication and use these simple steps in the communication process.

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JOCKO PODCAST “GOOD”

October 3, 2019 at 12:28 pm (Business Conflicts, career, Conflict, podcast, Uncategorized)

Everyday thousands of tech savvy people with a message attempt to dabble in the art of Podcasting. Their messages and purpose vary from giving a drunk history lesson with a little humor to the no non-sense investing and personal finance gurus hellbent on securing your financial future. Successful Podcasters have an almost disciple-like following comparable to that of a sports franchise. Anymore, it seems as though we are often judged by others based on what and who we are listening to. While I don’t consider myself a disciple to any particular Podcast, I do have my favorites. Of the various genres that I listen to, one that I find myself continually revisiting is leadership. One of my favorites is JOCKO PODCAST.

JOCKO PODCAST is hosted by none other than Jocko Willink. Jocko served as a Navy SEAL for 20 years before retiring in 2010. He started his career as an enlisted SEAL and worked his way into a command role during the Iraq war. Jocko is a decorated veteran who has been awarded both the Silver Star and Bronze Star, to name a few of his military accomplishments. Jocko also served as the Officer-In-Charge for all West-Coast SEAL operations following his last deployment to Iraq.

I first heard about Jocko through a friend of mine whom I myself served with. I won’t lie, I was a little skeptical at first. “Another SEAL writing books and claiming to be a subject matter expert” I thought, but I listened. To my surprise, he was pretty good. I liked his message, and while he may be a little over the top with his alpha-male, tough-guy persona at times, I agreed with most or all of what he had to say. Then I downloaded his book Discipline Equals Freedom Field Manual. It was a quick read with a basic message; stop making excuses and get off your ass and start doing. I could get on board with that.

The appeal of Jocko to me, is that he reminds us (veterans) that a lot more of the skills you acquired in the military are applicable to everyday life. Many of the guests of the Podcast are also veterans whom he discusses a variety of topics such as PTSD and veteran suicide, adjusting to civilian life, leadership principles, training principles, and overcoming adversity. While much of his audience are veterans, all of what Jocko preaches can be applied to any aspect of your life. As a high school football coach and small business owner, I find myself applying many of these principles to both myself and the team I coach. It’s not that it’s anything ground-breaking, but more of a reminder of things that we have already learned. This is what makes Jocko appealing to a wide audience, the fact that all of what he talks about can be applied to bettering yourself at just about anything.

Anyone who is looking for a motivator to get behind, Jocko is for you. Whether it be his near daily photos of his watch at 4:32 AM (one of his rules to live by, 0430 wake-up), or his to the point advice and perspective for dealing with stress and adversity, Jocko is relentless. Jocko stresses the warrior mindset in a way that is applicable to not only military operators and veterans, but anyone that is seeking personal growth. While his message may be simple, focusing on the positive in every situation, no matter how bad, is something that everyone should get on board with and to that we say, “GOOD.”



By: Ed Bohman, Former Green Beret and Business Finance Major @ IUPUC

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Serena Williams, Bumble, and Women’s Empowerment

October 2, 2019 at 10:46 pm (Advertising, Business Ethics, Marketing, Sports)
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Bumble 2019 Superbowl

Bumble is one of a seemingly endless list of online dating apps, but it has one primary unique quality, it requires that women be the one to initiate and lead the online communication. Dating apps have become more widely used and accepted as legitimate ways of forming a romantic relationship and with this broader acceptance we are beginning to see the advertising for these apps creep from seedier locations into more mainstream mediums.  The Bumble advertisement during the 2019 Superbowl is undoubtedly the most mainstream ad for a dating app thus far and presents an excellent example of some broader principles of advertising.

Creating an emotional trigger is one of the most effective tools in the toolbox of advertisers and this Bumble advertisement is flush with emotional triggers. The commercial begins with a clear shot of Serena Williams standing in a tennis court. In this shot Serena is immediately recognizable to even the most casual sports fan. Using such a recognizable figure is one of the ways that a commercial attempts to grab your attention. In the next few scenes you see a young and meek Serena contrasted against the mature and powerful superstar Serena. The voice-over is Serena herself as she describes what it took for her to stand out from others. This contrast is intended to make you think about the struggles that a young Serena must have gone through on her journey to super stardom. Thinking about the struggles of a child is a huge emotional trigger for many people and is another attempt at your attention. The commercial begins its close by showing a few shots of Serena, not as a tennis star, but as a successful (and married) businesswoman. Presumably, the idea behind this closing is to lend credence to online dating apps as a legitimate means of entry into romantic relationships. The commercial ends with a simple shot of the Bumble logo and where you would best find the app for download.

The individual scenes in the commercial hit on a few specific methods for hooking your attention, but the broader theme and tone of the commercial also are effective at grabbing your attention. Piggybacking on social movements is also an effective attention grabber, especially social movements that are in vogue. Women lead the conversation on the Bumble app and so the entire tone of the commercial is recalling the broader themes of Feminism. Framing the Bumble app in the wider context of women’s empowerment is intended to encourage use of the app by people who value this important social movement.

The commercial definitely grabs your attention and is wonderfully brief, but it suffers from the same problems many others commercials appear to suffer from. As you watch you find yourself wondering, “What the hell is this ad for?” While I find many of the themes found in the commercial important, I just cannot seem to reign in my skepticism. Can a Superbowl advertisement really be a part of a social movement? Maybe I am just being cynical but I am finding it hard to believe that the interests align.

By Carson Fleetwood, Business Major IUPUC

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