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In the competitive world of business, the ability to present a compelling business proposal is paramount to success. Whether you’re vying for a new client, seeking investment, or aiming to secure a partnership, a well-crafted proposal can make all the difference. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take you through the process of creating an impactful business proposal, step by step. We’ll explore what a business proposal entails, discuss its important elements, and show you how Prezi, an innovative presentation platform, can help you create an engaging business proposal that leaves a lasting impression.
To begin, let’s establish a clear understanding of what is a business proposal and why it holds significant value. A business proposal is a formal document that outlines a solution to a client’s problem or presents a business opportunity. Its primary objective is to persuade the recipient to take a specific action, such as approving a project or entering into a partnership. By effectively conveying your ideas, expertise, and value proposition, a business proposal can help you win lucrative contracts and drive business growth.
A business proposal serves as a powerful tool for establishing credibility and showcasing your capabilities. It enables you to communicate your understanding of the client’s needs, propose a tailored solution, and demonstrate how your offerings can address their pain points. Additionally, a well-crafted business proposal showcases your professionalism, attention to detail, and commitment to delivering exceptional results. It sets you apart from competitors and positions you as a trusted partner in achieving your client’s objectives.
A well-structured business proposal consists of several essential components that work together to create a persuasive narrative. Understanding and effectively incorporating these elements can significantly enhance the impact of your proposal. In order to understand how to write a business proposal you need to understand all areas, so let’s explore each component in detail.
The executive summary is a vital part of a business proposal, providing a concise overview that captures the reader’s attention. It highlights key points and conveys the unique value proposition of your proposal. To make it compelling, clearly showcase the benefits and advantages your proposal offers, addressing the client’s specific needs. Keep the summary concise, well-structured, and organized to ensure a quick understanding.
Prezi’s dynamic presentation features can enhance the impact of your summary in a presentation format with captivating visuals and effects like zooming and panning. Incorporating interactive elements and embedding videos or clickable links can further engage the reader. Crafting a strong executive summary, leveraging Prezi’s tools, sets the stage for a successful business proposal presentation.
To craft a compelling business proposal, it’s essential to articulate the client’s pain points and challenges clearly. This showcases your understanding of their needs and positions you as the ideal solution provider. Thorough research and analysis of their industry and competitors will provide valuable insights to tailor your proposal effectively. Be specific and provide examples that resonate with their situation, emphasizing the potential impact on their business. Outline your proposed solutions and explain how they address their pain points, showcasing your expertise and past successes. By effectively articulating the client’s challenges and demonstrating your understanding, you build trust and establish yourself as the preferred partner. This strengthens the overall impact and persuasiveness of your business proposal.
When presenting your proposed solutions, it’s crucial to convey them clearly and in a structured manner. Begin by clearly outlining the precise actions you’ll take to tackle the client’s challenges and help them achieve their desired goals. Break down the process into manageable phases or milestones, highlighting the key actions and deliverables at each stage. Clearly articulate the benefits and advantages of your approach, explaining how it uniquely positions the client for success. Focus on the value your solutions bring, whether it’s increased efficiency, cost savings, improved productivity, or any other relevant benefits. By emphasizing the positive impact of your approach, you make a compelling case for why the client should choose your proposal over others.
When creating your business proposal, you need to ensure the timeline is realistic. This not only demonstrates your ability to meet deadlines but also highlights your efficient project management skills. By clearly outlining the key milestones and deliverables, you show the client that you understand the project’s scope and have the necessary resources to ensure timely delivery. Transparency and effective project management are highly regarded in the business world, and by emphasizing these qualities, you build trust with the client.
Meeting deadlines is crucial, and by showcasing your track record of timely completion, you position yourself as a reliable and dependable partner for their project requirements. Your commitment to delivering on time speaks volumes about your professionalism and dedication to client satisfaction.
When presenting your business proposal, it’s crucial to introduce your team members and emphasize their relevant experience and expertise. This not only establishes credibility but also builds trust with the client. By showcasing the qualifications and capabilities of your team, you reassure the client that you have the necessary resources to successfully execute the proposed project.
Highlighting their expertise in relevant areas demonstrates your commitment to delivering high-quality results. It also instills confidence in the client that they are partnering with a knowledgeable and skilled team capable of overcoming challenges and achieving desired outcomes. Introducing your team members adds a personal touch to the proposal, allowing the client to connect with the individuals who’ll be involved in their project. This human element fosters a sense of collaboration and increases the client’s confidence in your ability to meet their needs effectively.
To establish trust and foster transparency, it’s essential to clearly communicate the cost of your services in your business proposal. Provide a detailed breakdown of pricing, including any available packages or options that align with the client’s specific needs. By being transparent about the financial aspect, you demonstrate your professionalism and commitment to open communication.
Additionally, it’s crucial to outline the payment terms, such as deposit requirements and invoicing schedules. We’ll clearly state the upfront deposit amount, timing, and the frequency and method of invoicing for your convenience and peace of mind. This level of clarity ensures that both parties are on the same page regarding financial expectations and facilitates a smooth and mutually beneficial working relationship. By addressing the cost of services and payment terms in a transparent manner, you instill confidence in the client, showcasing your reliability and commitment to fair business practices.
Including testimonials or case studies from satisfied clients is a great way to show off your track record of successful projects. It’s like having happy customers vouch for you and share their positive experiences.
When potential clients see these testimonials, it gives them reassurance and confidence in your abilities. They can see that you’ve helped others just like them and delivered outstanding results. It’s real proof that you’re reliable, trustworthy, and capable of meeting their needs. These success stories are like a seal of approval, demonstrating your expertise and commitment to delivering excellent service. By sharing these testimonials you’re letting your satisfied clients do the talking for you.
Now that we understand the key components of a business proposal, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of creating an impactful proposal.
In order to write an effective business proposal, start by conducting thorough research and analysis of your client’s industry, market trends, and competitors. Dive deep into their specific needs and pain points to gain valuable insights that’ll allow you to tailor your proposal accordingly. By demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of their business landscape, you can showcase your expertise and position yourself as the ideal solution provider.
Clearly defining the objectives of your business proposal is crucial. Determine whether you aim to win a new client, secure funding, or initiate a strategic partnership. Aligning your proposal with these objectives ensures its relevance and effectiveness. By explicitly stating your goals, you can craft a persuasive proposal that directly addresses the needs and desires of your target audience.
When structuring your business proposal, consider the appropriate format and layout. While there are no strict rules, a well-organized and visually appealing design significantly enhances readability and engagement. Break down your proposal into clear sections with headings, use bullet points and subheadings for easy navigation, and incorporate visuals or infographics to convey information effectively. By presenting a professional and polished document, you create a positive impression and increase the chances of capturing the reader’s attention.
One size does not fit all when it comes to business proposals. Tailor each proposal to address the unique needs and challenges of your clients. Personalize the content by referencing their specific situation, pain points, and goals. By showcasing your understanding of their individual requirements, you demonstrate a genuine interest in their success. This personalized approach sets you apart from generic proposals and builds a strong connection with the client, increasing the likelihood of a positive response.
Invest time and effort into crafting a compelling executive summary for your business proposal. This concise section serves as the gateway to your proposal, capturing the reader’s attention from the outset. Summarize the key points of your proposal in a clear and impactful manner. Highlight the unique value you bring and emphasize the benefits the client will gain by choosing your solution. A compelling executive summary entices the reader to explore the proposal further and sets a positive tone for the rest of the document.
Effectively articulate the pain points and challenges faced by the client in a clear and concise manner. Show your understanding of their specific situation and make them feel heard and understood. By accurately identifying and addressing their problems, you establish credibility and build trust. This clear problem statement lays the foundation for presenting compelling solutions that directly tackle the client’s concerns.
Present your proposed solutions in a logical and persuasive manner. Outline the specific steps you’ll take to address the client’s challenges and explain how your approach will deliver tangible results. Use persuasive language to highlight the benefits and advantages of your solutions. Incorporate relevant case studies or examples to demonstrate your track record of success with examples of previous business proposals. By presenting a well-structured and compelling plan, you instill confidence in the client and increase the likelihood of them choosing your proposal.
Highlight the expertise and experience of your team members that are relevant to the proposal. Provide brief biographies or profiles of key individuals, showcasing their qualifications and accomplishments. This establishes credibility and demonstrates that you have the necessary knowledge and skills to execute the proposed project successfully. By showcasing your team’s expertise, you instill confidence in the client and differentiate yourself from competitors. Clients are more likely to trust and engage with a proposal backed by a team of capable professionals.
When crafting your business proposal, don’t underestimate the power of visual aids in capturing attention and delivering your message with impact. Incorporating charts, graphs, and infographics strategically throughout your proposal can make complex information more accessible, memorable, and engaging. By leveraging visual representations, you enhance the clarity of your ideas and increase the chances of resonating with your audience.
Visual elements act as persuasive tools, helping you illustrate the value and potential of your proposal in a compelling way. They provide a visual framework that supports your written content and makes it more compelling. Whether you’re presenting data, illustrating processes, or showcasing benefits, visual aids serve as a powerful complement to your narrative, making your proposal more compelling and persuasive (view the Prezi presentation example below).
Remember to keep your visuals clean, organized, and aligned with your brand. Choose colors, fonts, and imagery that reflect your professional image and enhance the overall aesthetics of your proposal. By embracing visual communication, you not only make your business proposal visually appealing but also increase its chances of standing out and leaving a lasting impression.
Before you finalize and submit your business proposal, invest time in meticulously proofreading and polishing its content. Take a thorough look at the entire document to identify and rectify any grammar, spelling, or formatting errors. Ensuring a consistent tone, style, and formatting throughout is crucial for presenting a polished and professional proposal.
Proofreading goes beyond error correction; it helps you refine your message and ensure clarity and coherence. Use this opportunity to enhance sentence structures, rephrase complex ideas, and improve overall readability. Carefully evaluate the flow and logical progression of your proposal, making necessary adjustments to enhance its effectiveness.
Polishing your business proposal involves fine-tuning the language and presentation to make a lasting impact. Pay attention to word choice, sentence structure, and writing style, aiming for concise and precise communication. Remove any redundant or ambiguous content and ensure each section contributes meaningfully to your proposal’s objectives.
Also, make sure to watch a video on creating a business proposal presentation, where we cover 5 key steps in crafting an impactful presentation for success:
When it comes to presenting your business proposal, engaging visuals and seamless delivery can make a significant impact. Prezi, an innovative presentation platform, offers a range of features and tools that can elevate your business proposal presentations to new heights.
In a business proposal presentation, leverage the dynamic and non-linear capabilities of Prezi to captivate potential investors and stakeholders, showcasing your ideas with immersive zooming and panning effects that leave a lasting impression.
Prezi will allow you to break free from the constraints of traditional slide decks, enabling you to think beyond linear narratives and instead craft a visual journey that seamlessly flows from one idea to another. By zooming in and out, panning across the canvas, and navigating through a virtual space, Prezi adds a new dynamic dimension, making your business proposal presentation more engaging, memorable, and impactful.
When preparing your proposal presentation, consider incorporating a variety of interactive elements to elevate audience engagement and create a truly immersive and memorable experience. By seamlessly integrating videos that showcase your product or service, embedding clickable links to additional resources or relevant websites, and incorporating interactive charts that allow viewers to explore data in real-time, you can effectively communicate your ideas and capture the attention of your audience in a way that leaves a lasting impact. These interactive elements not only enhance the overall visual appeal of your presentation but also provide an opportunity for your audience to actively participate, interact with the content, and gain a deeper understanding of the value proposition you are offering.
With Prezi’s collaborative features, you can streamline the process of creating a proposal presentation by seamlessly working together with your team members. Gone are the days of sending multiple versions of the presentation back and forth via email; instead, Prezi enables multiple contributors to work simultaneously on the same presentation, fostering efficient teamwork and saving valuable time.
By leveraging Prezi’s real-time collaboration tools, team members can collaborate on different aspects of the proposal presentation, making edits, adding content, and refining the overall message concurrently. This collaborative environment encourages creativity, idea sharing, and collective input, resulting in a more comprehensive and polished final presentation.
Once your team has finalized the proposal presentation, Prezi makes it incredibly easy to share your work with clients or stakeholders for review and feedback. With just a few clicks, you can securely share a link to your presentation, allowing others to access and view it from any device or location. This streamlined sharing process ensures that your audience can conveniently review the proposal at their convenience, eliminating the need for cumbersome file transfers or scheduling multiple meetings.
Creating a business proposal presentation from scratch can be made easy with the correct tools. To simplify the process and ensure a professional presentation, utilizing templates can be a game-changer. With the help of Prezi, an innovative platform offering a wide range of templates, you can effortlessly create impressive business proposal presentations that capture attention and showcase your ideas effectively.
A business proposal template serves as a framework for organizing your content and guiding the overall structure of your proposal. It saves you valuable time by providing a pre-designed layout that incorporates essential sections. By using a template, you can focus on customizing the content to suit your specific needs rather than starting from scratch.
Prezi offers a diverse collection of business presentation templates, catering to various industries and business requirements. These templates are professionally designed, visually appealing, and customizable, allowing you to make them your own with ease.
Using a business proposal presentation template not only saves time but also ensures consistency and professionalism throughout your proposal. The templates are designed with attention to detail, incorporating best practices for layout, typography, and visual elements. This consistency enhances the readability and cohesiveness of your proposal, leaving a positive impression on your audience.
With Prezi, you have the flexibility to customize any template to suit your unique brand identity. You can easily modify colors, fonts, and images to reflect your company’s visual style and create a cohesive presentation. This personalization adds a touch of professionalism and uniqueness to your proposal, making it stand out from generic, cookie-cutter proposal presentations.
With Prezi business presentation templates and editing tools, you can confidently create professional and visually stunning proposals that leave a lasting impression.
Crafting an outstanding business proposal requires careful planning, strategic thinking, and effective communication. By following this step-by-step guide and leveraging the power of Prezi, you can create business proposals and business proposal presentations that capture attention, differentiate you from competitors, and increase your chances of success. Remember, a well-crafted proposal is a powerful tool to convey your expertise, showcase your value, and win over clients. Embrace the possibilities offered by Prezi and take your business proposals to new heights. Start creating impactful proposals today and open doors to exciting opportunities in the world of business.
A compelling sales presentation can be the key to capturing your audience’s attention and closing deals successfully. One powerful tool that can help you deliver an engaging and persuasive sales pitch is a sales deck. In this article, we’ll explore what a sales deck is, discuss its essential elements, and demonstrate how you can effortlessly create a remarkable sales slide deck using Prezi’s innovative platform.
A sales deck, also known as a sales slide deck or sales presentation deck, is a visual representation of your sales pitch. It serves as a concise and persuasive overview of your product, service, or solution, designed to captivate and persuade your potential customers. A well-crafted sales deck can convey your value proposition effectively and leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Sales decks play a crucial role in modern presentations by providing a structured and visually compelling format for delivering your sales pitch. Here are key reasons why sales decks are useful and why incorporating them into your presentations is essential for sales success.
Sales decks provide a framework for organizing and presenting your sales message in a clear and coherent manner. By following a well-defined structure, you ensure that your presentation flows smoothly, making it easier for your audience to follow along and understand your value proposition.
In today’s visually-oriented world, sales decks offer a visually appealing approach to captivate your audience’s attention. By incorporating compelling images, graphics, and charts, you can make complex concepts more accessible and memorable. Visual elements not only enhance engagement but also help convey information more effectively.
Sales decks enable you to maintain consistency in your messaging across different sales interactions. By creating a standardized deck, you ensure that your sales team delivers a consistent brand message, emphasizing key points, benefits, and features of your offering. Consistency builds trust and reinforces your brand image.
Sales decks encourage conciseness by presenting information in a condensed and focused manner. With limited space on each slide, you are prompted to distill your message down to its core components, ensuring that every slide adds value and supports your overall sales narrative. This concise delivery increases the impact of your presentation.
While sales decks provide a structured format, they also offer flexibility for customization and personalization. You can tailor your deck to specific prospects or industries, highlighting relevant case studies, testimonials, or data points. This customization demonstrates your understanding of their unique challenges and positions your offering as the ideal solution.
Sales slide decks serve as valuable reference materials for your prospects. After the presentation, they can revisit the deck to review key points, reinforce their understanding, and share it with other decision-makers. A well-crafted sales deck, with clear and concise content, becomes a powerful tool that continues to work in your favor even after the presentation concludes.
Incorporating a sales deck into your presentation strategy is essential for maximizing the impact of your sales efforts. It ensures a structured, visually engaging, and consistent delivery of your sales message. With a well-designed sales deck, you can effectively convey your value proposition, establish credibility, and leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Remember, a sales deck isn’t just a collection of slides but a strategic tool that helps you articulate your value proposition, address pain points, and ultimately close deals. By utilizing Prezi’s platform to create compelling sales decks, you can elevate your sales presentations and increase your chances of success in today’s competitive business landscape.
Grab your audience’s attention from the start with a compelling opening that highlights the problem your product or service solves. The opening of your sales deck is your opportunity to make a strong first impression and generate interest in your offering. Craft a powerful and attention-grabbing opening that resonates with your target audience, and you’ll set the foundation for a persuasive and impactful sales presentation. Take inspiration from this Prezi presentation example where the presentation opening features a video that immediately captures the viewer’s attention.
Clearly articulate the unique value your offering brings to the table. Focus on the benefits, features, and advantages that set your solution apart from the competition. By crafting a clear value proposition that resonates with your target audience, you’ll highlight the specific benefits and advantages they can expect from choosing your offering. This will reinforce their confidence in your solution and increase the likelihood of conversion.
Incorporate storytelling techniques to create a narrative that resonates with your audience. Connect emotionally and help them envision how your solution can solve their pain points. Consider structuring your sales deck around a storytelling framework, incorporating elements such as a relatable protagonist, a problem or challenge, and a resolution that showcases the benefits of your offering. Use storytelling to humanize your brand, make complex information more relatable, and create a memorable experience that inspires action.
With Prezi, storytelling becomes easy and effortless as the open-canvas format allows for a highly engaging narration. You can use seamless transitions with zooming effects and take your audience on a captivating journey, effectively conveying your message in a memorable way. The following presentation illustrates how you can utilize zooming effects to create a highly engaging storytelling experience.
Utilize visually appealing graphics, images, and charts to enhance the overall impact of your sales deck. Visuals can help simplify complex ideas and make your message more memorable. When designing your sales deck, consider the strategic placement of visuals to complement and enhance your key messages. Ensure that your visual elements align with your brand identity and support your overall narrative. By harnessing the power of visual appeal, you elevate the quality and effectiveness of your sales deck, increasing the likelihood of success.
Discover the following Prezi presentation about Eagle Copters that score in visual appeal and engagement. What’s more, you can make a copy and create a similar, attention-grabbing presentation for your audience.
Keep your text concise and avoid information overload. Use bullet points, short sentences, and key phrases to deliver your message effectively. When designing your sales deck, focus on brevity and clarity. Avoid overwhelming your audience with excessive text and information. Instead, use bullet points, short sentences, and key phrases to convey your message effectively. This approach ensures that your key points are highlighted, understood, and remembered.
For inspiration, take a look at the following Prezi presentation that provides clearly structured content, where you can choose to go in-depth about each topic or provide a brief overview.
Include testimonials, case studies, or success stories to demonstrate the positive outcomes your solution has achieved for previous clients. Social proof builds credibility and trust in your offering. Make sure to include relevant details such as the industry, specific challenges, and measurable results. By presenting social proof, you create a sense of trust that resonates with your audience.
To further enhance the impact of your sales deck, it’s important to incorporate data and analytics that support your value proposition. By presenting concrete evidence and statistics, you can provide a factual basis for the effectiveness and success of your solution. Here’s how you can leverage data in your sales deck with the help of Prezi.
Use charts, graphs, and maps to present complex data in a visually appealing and easy-to-understand format. Prezi offers a wide range of customizable data visualization tools that enable you to create compelling visuals that highlight key metrics and insights.
Showcase real-life examples of how your product or service has benefited previous clients. Include data-driven results, such as increased revenue, improved efficiency, or cost savings, to demonstrate the tangible impact of your solution. Prezi allows you to seamlessly integrate case studies into your sales slides, making them an integral part of your persuasive narrative.
Leverage Prezi’s interactive features to provide an engaging experience for your audience. Incorporate interactive analytics that allows potential customers to explore data, adjust parameters, and visualize the potential impact of your solution on their specific business needs. This interactive approach not only increases engagement but also helps potential customers see the value of your offering firsthand.
By incorporating data and analytics into your sales deck, you strengthen your arguments and establish credibility and trust with your audience. Prezi’s platform provides the necessary tools and flexibility to seamlessly integrate data visualization and interactive analytics, enabling you to create a data-driven sales deck.
In addition to the essential elements mentioned earlier, incorporating interactive elements into your sales deck can further enhance audience engagement and create a memorable experience. By leveraging interactive features, you can encourage active participation, personalize the presentation, and strengthen the impact of your sales message. In this section, explore how you can leverage interactivity to make your sales deck even more impactful.
Integrate interactive quizzes or assessments that test your audience’s knowledge or highlight pain points related to their challenges. This approach not only keeps your audience engaged but also allows you to showcase your expertise and demonstrate the relevance of your solution.
Utilize Prezi’s zooming and navigation capabilities to create a dynamic and immersive experience for your audience. With zooming, you can emphasize important details, guide the audience’s attention, and create a sense of exploration within your sales deck. By allowing the audience to navigate through the content at their own pace, you empower them to engage with the information that resonates most with their interests.
Enhance your sales deck presentation with the integration of relevant videos that complement your message. Whether it’s a product demonstration, customer testimonial, or an animated explanation, videos can provide a multi-dimensional experience and increase engagement. Prezi allows the seamless integration of videos within your presentation, providing an immersive experience for your audience.
Take storytelling to the next level by incorporating interactive elements within the narrative. For example, you can use clickable hotspots or branching paths to allow the audience to choose their own adventure within the presentation. This approach not only creates a personalized experience but also increases the level of engagement and emotional connection with your audience.
Remember, interactivity adds a layer of excitement and involvement to your sales deck, making it more memorable and impactful. By incorporating interactive elements, you create an immersive experience that keeps your audience engaged, fosters a deeper understanding of your solution, and increases their willingness to take the desired action.
Utilize Prezi’s interactive features to elevate your sales deck and deliver a presentation that stands out. By engaging your audience in a two-way conversation and providing a personalized experience, you can build stronger connections, address individual needs, and ultimately increase your chances of converting prospects into loyal customers.
While sales decks can be powerful tools for delivering impactful sales presentations, it’s important to be mindful of certain pitfalls that can diminish their effectiveness.
One of the biggest mistakes is cramming too much text onto each slide. Remember, the purpose of a sales deck is to provide a visual representation of your sales pitch, not to act as a script. Keep your text concise and focus on using visuals to convey your message effectively.
Consistency in design, messaging, and branding is crucial for a cohesive and professional sales deck. Avoid using different fonts, colors, or styles that may distract your audience or create a disjointed experience. Maintain a consistent visual identity throughout your sales deck to reinforce your brand image and build trust.
While a standardized sales deck is beneficial for maintaining consistency, it’s important to customize and personalize your presentation for each prospect. Avoid using a one-size-fits-all approach and instead tailor your sales deck to address the specific needs and pain points of your audience. Incorporate relevant case studies, testimonials, or data points that resonate with their industry or challenges.
Even with a well-designed sales deck, poor delivery can undermine its impact. Failing to practice your presentation can lead to stumbling over words, losing track of your message, or appearing unprepared. Take the time to rehearse your pitch, familiarize yourself with the content, and ensure a confident and engaging delivery.
If you struggle with public speaking anxiety or simply are feeling nervous before the presentation, make sure to follow the helpful tips on how to not be nervous before a presentation in this video:
While incorporating data and analytics can strengthen your value proposition, it’s important not to overwhelm your audience with excessive data. Select key metrics and insights that support your message and present them in a visually appealing format. Focus on the most compelling data points that directly relate to your audience’s needs and priorities.
Sales deck presentations should be interactive and engaging to maintain the attention of your audience. Avoid delivering a one-sided presentation without any opportunities for interaction. Incorporate quizzes or navigational options to encourage active participation and make your presentation a conversation rather than a monologue.
A well-crafted sales deck doesn’t end with the presentation itself. After delivering your pitch, it’s crucial to follow up with your prospects, answer any questions they may have, and provide additional information if needed. Failing to follow up can diminish the impact of your sales deck and hinder your chances of closing the deal.
By being aware of these common mistakes, you can maximize the effectiveness of your sales deck and deliver a persuasive and memorable sales presentation that drives results. Remember, a well-designed and delivered sales deck can be a powerful asset in your sales arsenal, so take the time to refine your approach and unleash the full potential of visual storytelling with Prezi.
Prezi offers a dynamic platform equipped with a variety of tools and features that empower you to create stunning sales decks with ease. Whether you prefer to start from scratch or utilize professionally designed templates, Prezi provides the flexibility and resources to bring your ideas to life and make a lasting impact on your audience.
Begin by outlining your sales deck using the sales presentation outline provided by Prezi at which guides you through the essential components and structure of an effective sales deck. This outline ensures that you cover all the necessary aspects of your pitch, from the attention-grabbing opening to the compelling closing. Once you have your content organized, Prezi’s intuitive interface makes it seamless to add visuals, transitions, and zooming effects that enhance engagement. You can upload your own images, graphics, and videos to create a visually captivating and interactive sales deck.
If you’re short on time or seeking inspiration, Prezi offers a wide range of customizable sales presentation templates. These templates are professionally designed by experts and cover various industries and presentation styles. By choosing a template that aligns with your brand and message, you can jumpstart your sales deck creation process and save valuable time. The templates provide a solid foundation for your presentation and can be easily customized to match your branding guidelines, ensuring a professional and cohesive look. With Prezi’s templates, you can create a visually appealing sales deck in minutes, without compromising on quality or impact.
Prezi’s platform goes beyond traditional slide-based presentations by offering dynamic and engaging features. You can leverage Prezi’s zooming and panning capabilities to create a fluid and immersive experience for your audience. Zooming allows you to emphasize important details, guide the audience’s attention, and create a sense of exploration within your sales deck. With Prezi, you can incorporate cinematic transitions that seamlessly transition between different sections, enhancing the flow and storytelling of your presentation.
Prezi offers collaborative features that facilitate teamwork and enable multiple stakeholders to contribute to the sales deck creation process. You can invite team members or colleagues to collaborate on the presentation, allowing for seamless coordination and feedback. Prezi’s cloud-based platform ensures that everyone involved can access and work on the sales deck simultaneously, regardless of their location. This collaborative approach enhances efficiency and allows for a more comprehensive and refined sales deck.
Once your sales deck is ready, Prezi provides various sharing options to ensure seamless distribution. You can share your presentation directly from the Prezi platform, send it via email, or generate a link that can be accessed by your audience. Prezi presentations can be viewed on any device with internet access, making it convenient for your prospects or clients to access the sales deck at their convenience.
In conclusion, Prezi offers a powerful platform with intuitive tools and features that enable you to create impactful sales decks. Whether you choose to start from scratch or utilize pre-designed templates, Prezi’s flexibility and customization options empower you to deliver visually stunning and engaging presentations that captivate your audience. Remember, a compelling sales deck supported by a well-delivered pitch can be the key to unlocking new business opportunities. Explore the possibilities with Prezi and revolutionize your sales presentations today.
Your department or college may be able to pay for your participation in ANY Professor Is In work, including our formal programs, as well as editing of your professionalization/job search/tenure documents. What follows is context and scripts for asking your department to fund your participation in Unstuck: The Art of Productivity and The Art of the Academic Article, and/or The Professor Is In Pre-Tenure Coaching Group, but you can use it to ask for any kind of professional development or program improvement support. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at [email protected] for more help!
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Your department might pay for your enrollment in this course, and the only you will find out is to ask. Don’t be afraid. Department heads get requests for funding all of the time. There is nothing shameful about it. In fact, learning how to ask is great practice for the rest of your career.
The best way to loosen the departmental purse strings is to show the money is going to solve a problem the department head considers worth solving.
So what problem does the course solve?
You also have to show the stakes of not solving the problem.
Stating the problem and stakes is not enough. You also have to show why this particular thing you are asking to be funded will solve the problem.
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Here is an example email that you can use to approach your dean, department head or PI to make the request that the course be funded. NOTE: IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO NOT USE THESE EXAMPLES VERBATIM, AS WE HAVE THOUSANDS OF READERS AND CLIENTS, MANY IN THE SAME DEPARTMENTS. WE SUGGEST YOU SLIGHTLY REPHRASE THE MODELS BELOW IN YOUR OWN WORDS.
>Dear <administrator>
I have an opportunity to enroll in a coaching program designed for academics to
//produce a full draft of journal article in 10 weeks
//support my success on the tenure track
//help me complete my research and writing for tenure
>and I am requesting departmental support to cover the costs. The course is being offered by The Professor is In, a career services organizations with well-documented and unparalleled success since 2011 in assisting academics in all phases of their careers.
>The benefit of
// The Art of the Academic Article, over other programs, is not only the extensive experience of the two coaches offering guidance but also the ongoing access to the online material. I will be able to use the course material for not just this article, but all future ones as well.
//The Professor Is In Pre-Tenure Coaching Group is that it provides individualized, confidential small group coaching as I confront the challenges of mapping out a publication trajectory, establishing an effective writing schedule, managing a sustainable balance of research, teaching, and service, managing the demands of conferencing and networking, and grasping the elements of a successful tenure case (including the role of external reviewers) to support my success in that arduous process.
>As we have discussed,
//I have XX articles in progress that are necessary/would improve my third year review/tenure review/post doc production/chances of success on the job market. This course would assure that I produce xx articles in the next year. It also increases my chances of publication in the mostly highly ranked journals because it includes instruction on positioning both in terms of discipline and journal rank.
//I have an active research program underway, while also being dedicated to effective teaching and productive service to the department. This coaching program will give me the support of Dr. Karen Kelsky- who has not only been a dedicated academic development coach since 2011, but is also a former R1 department head who in that role mentored 5 junior faculty to tenure – and a small group of peers who can together serve as a sounding board for decisions I need to make about publishing strategies, writing timelines, teaching dilemmas, and work-life balance – to name just a few topics the group covers. The program will assure that I avoid common pitfalls and focus my time and effort most effectively toward eventual tenure success in a way that is *individualized* for our specific field, department and campus expectations.
>The next session of the course starts on XXXX. Please let me know if you are willing to support this effort and I will purchase and submit the receipt for reimbursement/contact accounting to arrange payment.
OR [another style of approach- adapt as you see fit!]
As we have discussed, one of the critical components of raising the profile of our department is to increase faculty publications and the quality of those publications. This course would assure that I produce xx articles in the next year. It also increases my chances of publication in the mostly highly ranked journals because it includes instruction on positioning both in terms of discipline and journal rank.
It is no secret that balancing research, service and teaching is a challenge for all junior faculty here at xx. With this course, I will have the resources to achieve the balance required for success. With your support, I will be able to avoid common problems like false starts, writer’s block, and perfectionism, while assuring I choose the best journals to target, and submit a draft to a strong journal in an efficient time frame.
The next session of the course starts on XXXX. Please let me know if you are willing to support this effort and I will purchase and submit the receipt for reimbursement/contact accounting to complete the registration/ xxx
The post How to Ask Your Department To Pay for Professor Is In Help appeared first on The Professor Is In.
Crafting a well-executed multimedia presentation can be the determining factor between success and failure when delivering presentations. The impact of a multimedia presentation is undeniable, but what exactly does it entail, and what are the essential considerations to keep in mind when creating one?
In this article, we’ll explore the key components involved in creating compelling multimedia presentations and delve into the strategies that can help you assemble these elements to craft the perfect presentation. We’ll discuss the importance of content structure, visual design, and engaging storytelling techniques that capture your audience’s attention and leave a lasting impact. Additionally, we’ll provide insights on leveraging Prezi’s features to enhance your multimedia presentations, making them more dynamic and interactive.
A multimedia presentation is a computer-based presentation that uses various forms of media to effectively communicate and engage an audience. In today’s fast-paced world, multimedia presentations have emerged as one of the most powerful and impactful means of communication. Complex ideas and information can be challenging to convey using only traditional tools. However, by harnessing the potential of visually engaging images, high-quality audio clips, and captivating video content, you can deliver a wealth of information that isn’t only clear, but also interesting, easy to understand, contextual, detailed, and engaging.
To facilitate the creation of multimedia presentations, Prezi offers a user-friendly and intuitive platform that empowers presenters to transform their ideas into attention-grabbing visual stories that move. One of the standout features of Prezi is its dynamic zooming capability. With this feature, presenters can seamlessly navigate between various levels of content, zooming in to emphasize critical details and zooming out to provide a comprehensive overview. This interactive zooming functionality not only adds visual interest to your presentation but also enables you to guide your audience’s focus and create a fluid and engaging storytelling experience. Furthermore, the presentation canvas allows for more creativity and freedom as you don’t need to be limited by the traditional slide-based presentation format.
Multimedia presentations have come a long way from the relatively simplistic options of the past. Now a whole range of different elements can be used to ensure your stand-alone presentation wows your intended audience. Some of the examples of what you can add to your multimedia presentations include:
For any professional who wants to stand out from the crowd with multimedia presentations that truly dazzle and inspire, Prezi’s multimedia platform brings you everything you need.
When creating a multimedia presentation, it’s crucial to select the appropriate multimedia elements that align with your presentation subject. By choosing the right multimedia, you can effectively convey your message, enhance understanding, and captivate your audience. Consider the following factors when selecting multimedia for your presentation:
Evaluate the relevance of each multimedia element to your presentation subject. Determine how each element contributes to the overall message and supports your key points. Choose multimedia that directly relates to your topic and enhances the understanding and engagement of your audience.
Visual elements play a significant role in multimedia presentations. Assess the visual impact of different multimedia options such as images, videos, and animations. Opt for high-quality visuals that are visually appealing, clear, and reinforce your message. Balance aesthetics with substance to maintain a professional and engaging presentation.
Determine if your presentation would benefit from audio elements such as background music, sound effects, or voiceovers. Audio can evoke emotions, set the mood, and reinforce key points. However, use audio sparingly and ensure it complements your content rather than overpowering it.
If your presentation involves data or statistics, explore options for effective data visualization. Choose charts, graphs, or maps that you can find on Prezi and incorporate those into your presentation. These elements will help you present complex information in a clear and digestible format. Visualizing data will also help your audience grasp the main points quickly and facilitate better comprehension.
Aim for a cohesive and seamless integration of multimedia elements into your presentation. Ensure that different multimedia components blend well together and create a unified visual and auditory experience. Avoid using too many diverse multimedia elements that may distract or overwhelm your audience.
Keep accessibility in mind when selecting multimedia elements. Ensure that any visual or audio content you include is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Provide captions or transcripts for videos and ensure that any audio content is accompanied by text summaries. Consider the needs of all your audience members to ensure an inclusive and engaging presentation.
Assess the technical feasibility of incorporating various multimedia elements into your presentation. Consider the equipment and software requirements for displaying and playing different multimedia formats. Test the compatibility and functionality of multimedia elements in the presentation environment to avoid any technical glitches during your actual presentation.
By carefully considering these factors, you can choose the right multimedia elements that enhance your presentation’s effectiveness and engage your audience. Remember, the key is to strike a balance between informative content, compelling visuals, and appropriate interactivity to create a memorable and impactful multimedia presentation.
An effective multimedia presentation is like a good book you can’t put down or a catchy new song you hear on the radio that you can’t stop humming to all day long – it has your audience instantly engaged and wanting more.
Gone are the days when we were limited to presentations that only featured text and basic graphics. Nowadays, using a combination of audio, video, and images can help anyone effectively communicate their message to any audience.
Prezi enables users to create attention-grabbing presentations that move their audience. You can create your own presentation from scratch or start out with a template that you can find in Prezi’s template gallery.
Creating a multimedia presentation can be very straightforward. It just requires some basic planning and preparation and the correct tools to implement those plans. Follow these steps when enhancing a presentation with multimedia.
What exactly are you presenting, and what key messages do you wish to communicate to your audience? Take time to thoroughly think through these questions before constructing your multimedia presentation.
You must understand who exactly your audience is. After all, there is likely a huge difference between what might work best with 20-something IT specialists or a group of senior management. Are you hoping to sell a product to potential investors? Delivering a quarterly report to your bosses? Or preparing a presentation for a job interview? Be very clear about who your audience is.
Preparation is vital, and with it comes research. You can’t wait to get started creating your new multimedia presentation. And the temptation is often to begin without first investigating fantastic examples of other people’s work for ideas or not taking advantage of Prezi’s awesome customizable presentations that are freely available to you, the user. Simply head over to Prezi’s Gallery and get inspired!
What content do you wish to include in your presentation? Once you have decided, it’s time to create a content outline for your multimedia presentation. You can begin building the structure of your presentation by splitting your topic into separate ideas that run in a clear, logical sequence. If you want to learn more about how to create an effective presentation structure, watch the following video:
There are literally dozens of visualization mediums to choose from. The hard part sometimes is deciding which of these works best for you. Options include GIFs, short animation clips, audio clips, TED Talk video clips – the list goes on and on. The great news is that you can easily integrate all of these elements into your Prezi presentation. What’s more, Prezi has an extensive library of different multimedia elements like GIFs, stickers, images, icons, and more that you can pick and choose while creating your presentation.
You might start entirely from scratch, building the presentation from the bottom up, which is great if you already have a clear idea in your mind. However, if you’re still trying to figure out what you want the end result to look like or want to spend less time on presentation design, explore the numerous tried and tested templates available on Prezi. You’ll discover various templates that are great for multimedia presentations.
Don’t overdo the types of multimedia content you use in your presentation. Why? Because using too many different kinds can feel overwhelming and a little too ‘show offish’. Focus on 2-4 types of content that will work best with your target audience. Try to hit that balance between simplicity and style. If you are using video or animation, use it occasionally.
If you need to present online, take advantage of Prezi Video’s option to share your content next to you on-screen during your presentation. This will engage your audience and keep them hooked throughout your multimedia presentation even online.
Your multimedia presentation is ready. Or is it? Invest some time reviewing your presentation. Is it clearly structured and cohesive? Do the multimedia elements you have added achieve what you wanted them to achieve? Be honest with yourself and trust your intuition. If something doesn’t feel right with your presentation, don’t be afraid to make changes!
Delivering a multimedia presentation requires careful planning and execution to effectively engage and captivate your audience. Follow these best practices to ensure that you leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Familiarize yourself with the content of your presentation to make sure you can confidently deliver it without relying too heavily on notes. Thoroughly understand the key points, supporting evidence, and transitions between different sections. This will enable you to maintain a natural flow and deliver a confident presentation. Also, consider using Presenter Notes. They serve as a reminder of important talking points and additional information during your presentation. Only visible to you, the presenter, the notes remain hidden from the audience. This allows you to effectively communicate your points without any interruptions.
Time your presentation to ensure it fits within the allocated time frame. Practice transitions between different multimedia elements, such as slides, videos, and interactive features, to maintain a smooth flow. Keep in mind that pacing is crucial, so allocate sufficient time for each part of your presentation while maintaining an engaging pace.
Visual aids are a powerful tool for conveying information and enhancing understanding. However, it’s essential to use them strategically to support and highlight your message, rather than distract from it. Use visuals sparingly and ensure they’re clear, visually appealing, and easy to understand. Avoid cluttered slides and prioritize concise and impactful visuals that reinforce your key points. If you want to learn more about good presentation design practices when it comes to adding visual content, watch the following video on the topic:
Effective communication is key to delivering a memorable presentation. Project your voice to ensure everyone in the audience can hear you clearly. Maintain eye contact with your audience to establish a connection and demonstrate confidence. Speak with clarity and conviction, emphasizing key points and using appropriate pauses for emphasis. A confident and engaging delivery will help your audience connect with your message.
Storytelling is a powerful way to engage and captivate your audience. Incorporate storytelling techniques to create a narrative structure for your presentation. Begin with a compelling introduction that sets the stage and grabs attention. Use storytelling elements such as anecdotes, examples, and personal experiences to illustrate your points and make the content relatable and memorable. A well-crafted story can evoke emotions and leave a lasting impact on your audience.
Familiarize yourself with the multimedia tools and technology you will be using during the presentation. In particular, get to know the endless features and capabilities of Prezi, the powerful multimedia presentation tool. Take the time to explore its features and understand how it can enhance your presentation. Familiarize yourself with the different templates, transitions, and interactive elements available. By mastering Prezi, you’ll be able to create attention-grabbing presentations that move.
Tailor your presentation to resonate with your specific audience. Consider their demographics, interests, and background when delivering your content. Use language that is accessible and appropriate for your audience, avoiding jargon or technical terms that may be unfamiliar. Incorporate relevant examples and references that relate to their experiences. By adapting your presentation to their needs and preferences, you can create a stronger connection and enhance their overall engagement.
Use interactive features to involve your audience and make the presentation more engaging. Incorporate audience polling, where participants can vote or provide feedback on specific questions or topics. Additionally, include dedicated Q&A sessions to encourage active participation and address any queries or concerns. Engaging the audience in this way promotes interaction and makes your presentation more dynamic.
Remember, a well-delivered multimedia presentation is a combination of compelling content, effective visuals, and confident delivery. By following these best practices, you can create an engaging and impactful experience for your audience.
In addition to the essential components and best practices we’ve discussed, incorporating interactive elements can take your multimedia presentations to the next level. By engaging your audience in an interactive experience, you can captivate their attention and create a memorable presentation. Let’s explore some strategies for incorporating interactivity into your multimedia presentations:
Instead of static images, use interactive charts to convey data and complex information. Allow your audience to explore different data points, toggle between visualizations, and interact with the content. This hands-on approach enhances understanding and engagement.
If applicable, consider incorporating VR or AR elements into your multimedia presentations. These technologies provide immersive experiences that can transport your audience to different environments or allow them to interact with virtual objects. VR and AR can be particularly effective in fields such as architecture, education, and product demonstrations.
Introduce gamification elements to make your presentation more interactive and enjoyable. Create quizzes, challenges, or interactive scenarios that require audience participation. Offer rewards or incentives for active engagement, such as badges or prizes.
Foster collaboration among your audience by including interactive activities. For example, you can divide your audience into small groups or pairs and provide specific tasks or discussions related to your presentation topic. Encourage participants to share their insights or findings with the larger group afterward.
If possible, incorporate live demonstrations of software, tools, or processes directly into your presentation. Showcasing practical examples in real-time can enhance understanding and engage the audience through active participation.
Remember, interactivity should align with your presentation goals and content. Incorporate interactive elements strategically to support your message and keep your audience engaged throughout the presentation. Prezi offers various interactive features and templates to help you create dynamic and immersive multimedia presentations.
By embracing interactivity, you can transform your multimedia presentations into memorable experiences that leave a lasting impact on your audience.
Your audience will immediately lose interest if all you offer them is a traditional slide deck. Instead, take advantage of Prezi’s Gallery and get inspired by dynamic, interactive, and engaging presentations that include various multimedia elements.
Below are a few examples of attention-grabbing and creative multimedia presentations that you can get inspired by or even reuse as templates for your own presentation topic.
The summer plans presentation inspires and captivates. The template is perfect for delivering a story, sharing an experience, or presenting a plan. It features multiple media elements, such as animations, images, and data visualizations.
This presentation grabs our attention with its visually appealing design and strategic use of visuals. The simple yet engaging layout divides the presentation into four parts, creating a well-defined structure that is easy to follow. You can reuse this presentation as a template for delivering a topic that you need to unpack in a certain order.
This multimedia presentation engages and captivates with animations, images, icons, and more. As a template, it’s perfect for creating and delivering informative presentations, where you need to dive into the details of certain topics.
The Earth Day presentation is a great example of how one can create a timeline presentation with Prezi. It includes various media elements that make this multimedia presentation highly engaging and informative.
In conclusion, crafting a well-executed multimedia presentation is crucial for achieving success in delivering presentations. This article has explored the key components involved in creating compelling multimedia presentations and provided insights on how to assemble these elements effectively. By considering the importance of content structure, visual design, and engaging storytelling techniques, presenters can capture their audience’s attention and leave a lasting impact. Furthermore, leveraging Prezi’s features can enhance multimedia presentations, making them more dynamic and interactive. By incorporating these strategies and utilizing the right tools, presenters can elevate their presentations to a new level and increase their chances of achieving their desired outcomes. Ultimately, mastering the art of multimedia presentations opens up opportunities for effective communication and successful presentations in various professional and academic settings.
In today’s fast-paced world, learning is no longer limited to a traditional classroom setting. With the rise of technology, distance learning has become increasingly popular, allowing individuals to access education anytime, anywhere. One of the most significant trends in distance learning is asynchronous learning, which has gained significant popularity in recent years. In this blog post, we’ll explore what asynchronous learning is, its benefits, and how it differs from synchronous learning. We’ll also provide some tips on how Prezi can help you to practice it successfully.
Asynchronous learning is a form of distance education that occurs when students learn at different times and locations. In asynchronous learning, students are not required to be present in real-time, unlike synchronous learning, where students must participate in classes or sessions at scheduled times. Asynchronous learning can be delivered through various means, including online courses, email, message boards, video lectures, and pre-recorded lectures. The primary objective of asynchronous learning is to provide students with the flexibility to learn at their own pace, based on their schedule and availability.
What is synchronous and asynchronous learning? While both approaches share the common goal of providing education to students outside of a traditional classroom setting, they differ in how learning is delivered.
Synchronous learning is a real-time, instructor-led approach to distance learning, where students and instructors participate in classes or sessions at scheduled times. Synchronous learning can be delivered through various means, including video conferencing, webinars, and chat rooms.
Asynchronous learning, on the other hand, occurs when students learn at different times and locations. With asynchronous learning, learning materials are pre-recorded, and students can access them at any time, allowing for a more flexible approach to learning.
The choice between asynchronous and synchronous learning depends on individual preferences and circumstances. When deciding whether asynchronous or synchronous learning is best suited for you, there are several factors to consider. If you have a busy home life or other commitments that prevent you from attending virtual lectures at specific times, asynchronous learning may be a better option as it allows you to complete coursework on your own schedule. Additionally, if you work better in your own time and space and prefer to study at your own pace, asynchronous learning may be a better fit for you.
On the other hand, if you thrive in a structured environment and benefit from real-time interaction with instructors and classmates, synchronous learning may be a better choice. Ultimately, it’s important to evaluate your individual needs and preferences when choosing a learning format.
Asynchronous learning offers numerous benefits over traditional learning methods, making it an attractive option for students and educators alike. Here are some of the significant benefits of asynchronous learning:
Asynchronous learning provides students with the flexibility to learn at their own pace and convenience. This flexibility is especially beneficial for students who have other commitments, such as work or family obligations, making it challenging to attend traditional classes.
With asynchronous learning, students can learn at their own pace, spending more time on complex topics and less on concepts they are already familiar with. This allows for a more personalized learning experience that meets the individual needs of each student.
Asynchronous learning eliminates the barriers that can limit access to education. Students can access learning materials from anywhere, anytime, using a device with an internet connection. This opens up educational opportunities to individuals who may not have been able to attend traditional classes due to geographical, physical, or other reasons.
Asynchronous learning allows students to revisit content multiple times, which can lead to better retention of information. Students can pause, rewind, and re-watch lectures or review course materials as needed, allowing for a deeper understanding of the material.
While asynchronous learning offers a lot of noteworthy benefits, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Here are some of the common challenges that students may face when practicing asynchronous learning and some strategies to overcome them:
Asynchronous learning requires students to be self-motivated and manage their time effectively. Without a set schedule, it can be easy to fall behind on coursework. To overcome this challenge, students should create a schedule and stick to it. They should also break down assignments into smaller tasks and set deadlines for each task to ensure that they are making progress.
Asynchronous learning can be isolating, and students may feel less motivated to complete assignments or engage with course material. To overcome this challenge, students should set clear goals, as discussed earlier, and establish a routine. They should also take regular breaks and find ways to stay connected with their peers and instructors.
Asynchronous learning relies heavily on technology, and students may face technical difficulties that can disrupt their learning. To overcome this challenge, students should have a backup plan in case of technical difficulties, such as saving work frequently, using multiple devices, or contacting technical support when necessary.
By understanding and addressing these challenges, students can practice asynchronous learning successfully and achieve their academic goals.
Asynchronous learning requires students to be self-motivated, disciplined, and organized. To practice asynchronous learning successfully, here are some tips and tools to keep in mind:
Creating a study plan can help students stay organized and on track with their learning. A study plan should include a schedule of when to study, what topics to cover, and deadlines for assignments or exams. Without a study plan, it can be difficult to prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively.
To create a visually appealing and organized study schedule, use infographic, poster, or other templates available in Prezi. You can either choose from the selection of templates in the gallery or simply create a study schedule from scratch. Afterward, you can print it out and put it in a visible place for you or have a digital version available to you anytime. Here’s an example of a study plan you can create using Prezi:
Setting clear goals can help students stay motivated and focused on what they want to achieve. Students should set both short-term and long-term goals for their learning, such as completing a specific assignment or mastering a particular topic. One helpful strategy is to write down a list of your goals and regularly review and update it as you make progress. This not only allows you to keep track of your accomplishments but also provides a sense of satisfaction and boosts your confidence as you tick off each goal.
And having your goals visualized right in front of you will make you more motivated and organized in achieving them. Use a Prezi template visualized in the video below to illustrate your goals.
While asynchronous learning may not involve real-time interactions, it’s still important for students to communicate with their instructors and peers. Students can use email, discussion boards, or other communication tools to ask questions, seek clarification, and collaborate with others. Instructors can also provide valuable feedback on your assignments and offer guidance on how to improve your work, while staying connected with your peers can help to foster a sense of community and support.
If you choose to check in with your instructor or students using a video conferencing tool, make sure to make the meeting even more productive and engaging using Prezi Video, where you can easily showcase your content right next to you on-screen. Or you can choose to record a video of yourself and send it to your instructor or students, where you present your visual material or simply share an important message. Staying connected, while keeping that face-to-face interaction will create a much more engaging learning and teaching experience. See what you can do with Prezi Video and check out the first of the Prezi Education Team’s 7 Tips for Engaging, Effective Instructional Videos featuring Paul Teske, a teacher in residence at Prezi.
Plus, you can also share your Prezi presentation with teachers or students and let them go through the content at their own pace. This is also a great way to stay connected and present content and feedback to each other. You can share a presentation like in the example below, where others can zoom in and out of topics they’re more interested in and view it in whatever order makes sense for them.
Asynchronous learning often provides students with access to a variety of resources, such as online textbooks, videos, and other multimedia materials. Students should take advantage of these resources to deepen their understanding of course material and enhance their learning experience.
As mentioned, with Prezi you can easily present and share your findings, learnings, and course content asynchronously. You can either choose to share a presentation, a video recording of you presenting your content right next to you on-screen, or create and share other learning materials, like infographics, reports, dashboards, and more. Discover everything that Prezi can offer to enhance your asynchronous learning experience and begin a more engaging learning chapter.
In conclusion, asynchronous learning offers many benefits for students, including flexibility and convenience. By being self-motivated, disciplined, and organized, students can successfully navigate this learning format and achieve their academic goals. However, it’s important to note that asynchronous learning requires a high degree of personal responsibility and accountability, and students must be willing to put in the effort to stay engaged and connected with the learning community. Additionally, synchronous learning can provide opportunities for students to interact with their peers and instructors in real-time, facilitating immediate feedback and promoting a sense of community and collaboration. However, it may not be as flexible as asynchronous learning and can require strict adherence to a schedule.
If you opt for asynchronous learning, you can elevate your experience using Prezi. With Prezi, students can create visually engaging presentations that incorporate multimedia elements such as images, videos, and audio. This can enhance the learning experience by capturing students’ attention and making the content more memorable. Additionally, Prezi offers collaboration features that enable students to work together on presentations, even if they are not physically present in the same location. This fosters collaboration and encourages peer-to-peer learning, which is beneficial in asynchronous learning environments where direct interaction with classmates may be limited.
Moreover, Prezi’s cloud-based nature allows students to access and present their presentations from any device with an internet connection. This flexibility is particularly advantageous for asynchronous learners who may have varying schedules and need to access their materials at different times and locations.
I’m equal parts excited and trepidatious to announce that I’ve started a new publication on Substack called Better Team Habits. As I mentioned in my first post there, the intent is to create a more focused and fresh space for content and conversations about teamwork, leadership, strategy execution, and organizational dynamics.
I’ve long resisted separating team topics and conversations from individual topics and conversations. Since the early days of Productive Flourishing, it’s been a both/and conversation in my mind. Since most people work in teams and many of our readers start as or inevitably end up in leadership and management positions, it’s made the most sense (to me) to keep it as one global conversation.
A few different forces came into play that prompted me to think harder and make the different and harder choice to split the spaces:
I often say “When in doubt, choose the simpler option.”
The far simpler option compared to all that repositioning, shoehorning, rebuilding, and segmenting was to let Productive Flourishing be what it’s become — a site that helps creative types thrive in their individual work and lives by focusing on foundations — and to build another space focused on thriving with and in your team.
In another post, I’ll talk about why I chose Substack over some of the other options, but as soon as I made the decision that this was the next step, I felt a relief I hadn’t felt since 2015. I don’t have to hold back in either space. I can go full-in to my body of work in the team, leadership, and org space on Better Team Habits and I can go full-in to my body of work in personal foundations here.
Better Team Habits is new and doesn’t yet have much content. Between the book, content from here that I’ll revise, and what’s coming up from my fieldwork every day, I have a lot I’m looking forward to sharing. If you like watching things evolve and don’t want to feel like you’re catching up, you can join the journey now.
And, as far as what’s going to change here on PF, expect more resources that will help knowledge workers, creators, and entrepreneurs do their best work. PF has always served the creative class and we’re going to get better at doing that.
It’s too early to tell how it’s all going to work out and whether I’ll wish I had done this a long time ago or if I’ll wish I’d never done it. But I’m most engaged when I’m actually exploring and figuring it out rather than wondering, hedging, and holding back. So it’s time to experiment. And I’ll be sharing what I’m learning along the way here and on Better Team Habits.
The post Launching Better Team Habits on Substack appeared first on Productive Flourishing.
Unless you’re a fantasy fan, you likely haven’t heard of Brandon Sanderson — which is odd, because the man has written more words and sold more books than just about any living genre author not named King or Rowling. Even so, you’ll enjoy this curveball of a profile, in which Wired‘s Jason Kehe tries to distinguish between the man and his wor(l)ds.
This story has an ending, I promise, and I’m sprinting toward it, as if to a vacation. Like the best of Sanderson’s endings, my ending should surprise you. Because, you see, Sanderson actually did say one thing to me, one miraculous thing, that stuck, that I remember, these five months later, with perfect clarity. Just seven words, but true ones. You’re not ready for them just yet. You need more story first. For now, there is only Sanderson, both wordful and wordless, the best-selling writer no writer writes about because writers only know how to talk about words. Sanderson’s readers—loving, legion—care about something else.
I’d like to float the idea that self-worth is a fundamentally different thing from self-esteem or confidence.
People talk about these ideas as if they were each one and the same. But self-worth, I would argue, is our essential value as humans — our internal sense that we’re good enough no matter what happens on the outside. Ultimately, we need to be looking at our self-worth — our inherent value — if we want to fuel our best work.
This is also relevant when it comes to teams, even if folks may think self-worth is always a personal development discussion. Teams can also struggle with the gap between their abilities and the level they’re achieving at as a result of invisible floors and ceilings.
Over the years, in all the time that we’ve been running the Monthly Momentum Calls, I’ve often used the floors and ceilings metaphor for this catch-22 about our self-worth and ability to achieve at the level of our potential.
Ceilings are false limits that are imposed on us from outside, which we eventually accustom ourselves to, and which limit our ability to rise to the natural level we might belong at.
But the floors part is where things get interesting.
Floors equal our stabilizing force. We’re talking about the base of the house or structure you have built for yourself to live inside. That’s to say, what you built to keep you safe and comfortable, also limits you. (That’s a different take than the typical one on confidence, self-worth and limiting beliefs.)
It’s good to have stability, and to have safety, and especially if you had an experience where you lacked that, it will seem reaaally appealing to stay where you are rather than take any risks — except when that structure also starts to limit your growth and ability to do your own highest value work.
The problem with remaining just safe and comfortable is eventually, we forget that we’re the ones determining the confines of our lives. We wonder why we aren’t living and working at the level we are dreaming of.
Sometimes those limits are built for us by others, and sometimes we are the ones responsible for them. That can be a tough pill to swallow.
In a lot of cases, people have outgrown certain limits but still abide by those earlier limits without noticing.
Our issues with self-worth, and trust — and how this impacts our floors and ceilings — can arise no matter what stage or level of success we’re at in life.
Some people would probably call this “imposter syndrome.” Essentially though it’s all the same thing, where we haven’t done the necessary work to develop our sense of our intrinsic value.
Issues with our self-worth often show up especially when we run into big challenges.
Our courage to break through our floors and ceilings often shows up in relation to whether we let ourselves be seen and heard.
Big challenge moments, or leading through a turnaround, can change your life if you’re willing to embrace those challenges, rather than balking and backing down out of fear, and/or the desire for ease and security.
Those challenges can arise for us in different ways over time, depending on the point we’re at in our career, whether that’s as an individual employee, freelancer, leader or business owner. It can be uncomfortable to push your boundaries — which is usually a good thing — but the resistance comes when you don’t want to break the stability you’ve created within certain parameters.
For introverts this might become about protecting their privacy, or for many folks, we end up resting on the financial stability we’ve worked so hard to create — and in the process we end up having difficulty pushing beyond our comfort zones.
The point of course is that sometimes it’s the externally imposed ceilings that are holding you back, but other times it’s you that’s holding you back — out of fear of unmooring yourself from your stable ground.
If you’ve recognized that these forces influence you, and you’re ready to push outside your comfort zone (but maybe still encountering resistance), it may be worth asking yourself some questions:
What is hiding protecting you from? Is it a fear of burnout? Of being unmasked?
In order to break out of this pattern, we have to remind ourselves that there’s also pain or frustration — and often an even greater, deeper, and longer term sense of disappointment — in knowing what you’re capable of, but not ever reaching for it.
If you’re aware of what you don’t want to compromise on, it becomes a question of creating better boundaries.
You can think of your new boundaries as a new house, or structure with floors and ceilings YOU have chosen, rather than ones that have been chosen by other people or by your subconscious.
You’ll want to create boundaries in terms of how much space you want to give other people’s thoughts about you. You might not want to live within their idea of you anymore.
If you work in a particular industry, or with a particular type of client, for example, you might not immediately want to quit what you’re doing.
But you’ll want to ask yourself: What’s the floor? That is, what is the minimum amount of time or energy I can keep spending on X? What’s the ceiling? What is the maximum amount of energy I’m able to spend on it?
When you’re clear on your floors and ceilings, and you know you want to attend to all the things, you can also rest in the knowledge of what the limits are for the amount of time or energy that you are going to be able to put forth.
You’ll also need to know when to let it go and walk away. Knowing when to walk away is different than never standing up, and never letting your light shine.
For a lot of people I’ve worked with, the floors and ceilings we’ve grown accustomed to can be really difficult to shake, because they operate on autopilot. Even when you’re trying to change your behavior around self-worth and your boundaries, you might only realize two hours later, “Oh shoot, I did the thing again!”
Or sometimes you know in the moment that you’re playing it safe.
Sometimes you might be able to rely on someone else — a trusted friend or advisor — to see these dynamics with more clarity than you can yourself. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an adult you trust either.
Kids, for instance, are incredibly intuitive. If you have them, you’ll know that to be the case. And they pick up on everything. That means that when you’re planning and leading in your life, and through your work, you want to be thinking about what you’re modeling for them on the day to day.
Modeling often means showing them how they can live their hopes and dreams. So when you see the ways you’re modeling, try to consider shining as you really are. You don’t want to just pass down the stories that we got when we were kids, which might have been limiting — whether about our abilities, creativity, abundance.
When teams run into their floors and ceilings in terms of their performance, managers often look at what or who on the team is broken and needs to be fixed or replaced.
In my forthcoming book, Team Habits, I take a long hard look at that knee jerk reaction within companies. One of my basic assumptions is that people are not broken, incompetent or lazy.
Teams have the same capabilities as individuals when they dig deeply and help transform their floors and ceilings. If you have a rapport and trust with the four to eight people you work with on a daily basis, this is a conversation you might want to consider having.
Human talent can shift quickly when it’s given space to thrive. You teammates can rise to the occasion in ways you, and they, individually, could not.
The primary way you can start to shift your team’s floors and ceilings is through team habit shifts. Probably the first habit you might think about is how to increase team belonging and performance.
Belonging is the habit that most closely links to trust, which is the foundational issue when it comes to floors and ceilings.
Many teams will need to learn how to trust each other before they can perform. Their ability to excel beyond expectation will mean breaking through floors and ceilings that have been imposed from outside, or higher ups — or as a result of their individual doubts.
But trust and belonging is the key that will get them there. Once we start to figure that out, the bonding starts happening more, which means the performing starts happening. Then you get a reciprocal spiral in action. And that’s how you get on the road to having a great team.
Team Habits is coming this August and now available for pre-order at your favorite bookseller. And if you’re curious about identifying your team’s strength areas, growth areas, and challenge areas, take our Team Habits Quiz, a free, customized report to help you understand how your team works best together and how together your team does its best work.
The post Self-Worth and the Floors and Ceilings Metaphor appeared first on Productive Flourishing.
Recently I joined my friend Eric Zimmer on his podcast, The One You Feed, to discuss how to focus our lives on what’s most important to us, and what blocks us from achieving that.
Too many of us are still stuck looking for a way to really see and access the possibilities right in front of us. So that’s the first opportunity. How do we start where we are now?
We focus far too much on what we don’t have (instead of what we do), or on things that hold us back and dampen our spirit. We know our thought patterns are a huge piece of the puzzle, and that working on our negativity, and transforming it, has huge dividends to pay. But it’s not just about thinking, our actions matter, too.
“The One You Feed” makes reference to an old Native American tale in which a grandmother tells her grandson that two wolves are at battle within every person: a good wolf and a bad wolf.
“Which one wins?” the grandson asks.
“The one you feed,” she replies.
Whenever I personally find myself in a situation of uncertainty or discomfort, especially when it comes to other people, a question I often ask myself is: What’s the most abundant possibility we can co-create together?
If we start there — by focusing on the most abundant possibility of our co-creation, it gets us out of zero sum games. It gets us out of the cycle of feeding the bad wolf. Considering the most abundant possibility we can create moves us into a sense of partnership. It’s a way of guiding myself towards the good wolf, as it were.
Some of our readers may know that I am an avid motorcyclist. In motorcycle riding, as in driving, there’s a rule: You always look first at the place you want to go. You don’t look at what you’re trying to avoid, because that’s the best way to crash into it. When you ride a motorcycle, you look through the curve.
When I’m steering and navigating through life, I hear and feel the bad wolf. But I’m looking at the good wolf and say to myself, “How do I steer towards that?” And I might get it wrong. But in my experience, I don’t know that I have ever regretted steering towards the good wolf. I’ve never regretted at least trying to build the most abundant possibility with other people.
Ideally you end up in the place where you don’t have to ask the question anymore. You’re just always steering in that direction. It’s one reason to think positively about the future. Ultimately we don’t know the outcome, really, so why not imagine it in a way that’s empowering, versus a way that keeps me looking at the obstacles I don’t want to hit?
I’ve said it elsewhere, but it bears saying again: your planning and your schedule needs to include your dreams. If we don’t dream about what’s possible, instead we stay stuck in the world of: what’s the least bad thing that can happen to me right now? And how do I avoid the least bad thing?
So much of the work necessarily involves envisioning, and saying to ourselves: “This is what life could look like.”
You can’t just endlessly settle for what you know isn’t enough — instead, you’ve got to move to “it’s possible” first, and then “it’s plausible”. There’s a pathway to there.
More importantly, that shift does not need us to employ hustle culture to get there. It doesn’t require burnout and maximum effort or Dunkirk Spirit.
There’s a way for us to move where we want to go, but it involves first identifying what the story is that’s keeping us from seeing what’s possible. What can be actualized is often right in front of us, but that’s exactly where a lot of people get stuck.
People get blocked by all kinds of head trash. That’s why giving ourselves permission is such a struggle: it’s okay for us to have the abundance we’ve dreamed of. It’s ok to live in that world, and hope others can live in a more abundant world, where they allow themselves to dream, too.
If you get to that point of fighting the head trash, you may be on the right track. That’s the hard inner work that you have to get through to prioritize your dreams.
This came up with Eric, who, despite success with his podcast, has been wrestling back and forth with the idea of whether he can take a month off and travel when he’s got his own business.
There’s this sense for a lot of folks, when it comes to rest or time away: “That’s not something that someone like me does.”
My thought was, “Oh really? Let’s unpack that.”
If you fundamentally think you don’t deserve rest or a break, or that it’s not possible or not relevant for you, there’s a likelihood you’re going to keep creating a cycle of burnout and frustration. And it’s not because you can’t take a break, or that things would actually fall apart if you did, but it’s because you’re unwilling to permit yourself to take that break. That’s where a lot of the work to be done lies.
For Eric to be able to give himself that permission involved moving away from hustle culture: the idea that more is inherently better, that we need to go bigger, and earn more money constantly.
Instead he tried asking himself, in the context of his life, “What do I really want?” That’s how he realized what he wanted most was to take time off. That’s the one thing he had never felt he had time in his life to do.
I’ll also say that for some folks who may be reading this, it’s not in every case quite as simple as, “I give myself permission.” Yes it’s about acknowledging, “this is what’s possible.” But it’s also about: “This is what’s possible for me.”
Those two words, “for me”, become really powerful. Together knowing it’s also possible “for me” makes the difference in whether you might just start taking whatever your aspiration is, and turning it into a real project, that is central in your life — where you devote real time and energy to it.
When you start talking about something as a priority, or as a project, it has to live on your schedule. A lot of people might be thinking about an idea for years without it ever taking up space on their schedule.
But it’s those projects you’ve dreamed of that are going to create your future self. That’s what we’re talking about here — what really lights you up in a way that only uniquely you can do. Our best projects, as I wrote about in Start Finishing, are mirrors, and bridges. Mirrors reflect your internal landscape: what you think about yourself, what you believe as possible, who you think you are, but they also mirror what’s happening in your external world.
“I’m gonna do the thing.” And we decide to do the thing. But immediately we’re confronted with head trash, limiting beliefs, competing priorities. And thinking… I can’t do this new thing, I was already overloaded with the old thing. How am I going to do the new thing?
But the project is simultaneously the bridge towards your future self, that future work that you’re going to do. The great part about it is, the bridge you’re building can take you a whole lot further than you thought you were going to go.
You can’t imagine, when you really do this type of work, where it’s all going to take you. When you really commit to the path, it can take longer to get there than you thought, or a lot of people get there faster than they had originally considered possible. That’s part of why we created the Start Finishing Field Guide to help you along that path.
We need that spaciousness not just in our individual work and paths, for leaders or entrepreneurs, but in our team work, too. For Eric, when he finally allowed himself to take a break, he came back with a renewed spirit – where rather than dreading getting back to work, he was amazed out how much unfolded that had previously felt stuck or impossible.
So many clients and people in different contexts come up to me saying, “I want to do more, bigger, better.” Mainly because that’s the priming we’re getting from just about everywhere. I hesitate, since I don’t want to say, “sorry, I cannot help you do more.”
Instead, at Productive Flourishing, we’re more interested in helping you focus on the best and right things first, which mostly means doing and committing to fewer things. That’s the reason we have the five project rule. It doesn’t make sense to overburden yourself with more than you can feasibly do in a given time period (day, week, month, or year). If you really focus within limits, that level of commitment does a lot of the groundwork.
The worst case scenario is we end up constantly stuffing things in, and micro-crunching our days and weeks so much that it’s a highway to burnout. We may be ‘getting things done’, but we’re so stressed out about it, that we can hardly enjoy it. The question I always ask is: How do you structure this in a way so that you can actually breathe and enjoy it as you’re doing it?
If it’s always just about crunching it, and doing it in the minimum amount of time and getting the maximum return — all those things that we hear — that becomes really, really unsatisfying.
Like imagine this scenario about your favorite dessert: I say, I’m going to make your favorite dessert for you. I put it in front of you, then I pull out a stopwatch. You get 15 seconds, go. Enjoy it, maximize it. Get it right. That makes no freakin’ sense. We want a certain amount of savoring when it comes to so many things that truly matter to her life.
If you have a bit of autonomy in your day, which is actually many of us in the post-pandemic hybrid work world, there’s not necessarily someone standing over your shoulder observing your work.
But what I’ve seen time and time again, across our audience, is that work can still be too stressful. In that burnout environment, we end up in this state of distraction, with time wasters and fillers, just to give ourselves a bit of emotional reprieve.
If work wasn’t so stressful to start with, we likely would not have need of that reprieve, meaning there would be substantially less chance of ending up in time sucks on social media or email — or whatever it is for you.
More spaciousness, whether on teams or individually, opens up new possibilities in our work and in the range of possibilities for our (or our team’s) success. If you actually take a step back, the likelihood is, your chances are substantially higher to come back recharged and able to really think through whatever problem it is that’s facing you. Slowing down often leads to novel insights. We can quite literally be better humans with the people we spend our days with — our team members included. We wind up not so compressed and snippy.
When taken as a habit, as a practice, that sense of space dramatically changes the quality of your work day in and day out. It means not holding on through an endless slog of painful work — instead it’s about going to work, engaged, energized, filled with a sense of meaning and purpose. Let’s face it, that’s a win no matter what happens.
The chief issue with working on a team (also co-located teams) is that when we’re working with other humans, we end up with some amount of social overhead. You end up in negotiation with others. If I block off my schedule, that impacts you, because now I’m not available for different things.
At most companies, unfortunately, there are the stated values and priorities, and then there’s shadow values and priorities. There’s this other game that you’ve got to play to be successful.
In really well-aligned organizations and really high performance ones, high-performing teams know there’s not so much of the shadow game, like it’s just all on the table. People know how to win. Regardless of the dynamics in specific organizations, the first question in any kind of workplace ought to be: How do I ship the most valuable work that pushes my team forward?
There are two axes of approach here. One is to really reclaim the time, or consider the time you do have and use that more purposefully.
If you’re faced with too much stress, or too many projects, the usual management tip is that you ought to bring the matter to your boss’ attention, and ask, what do you consider the priority is, or where should I start? In the 21st century, because of the way self-managed work has evolved, I would add a slight tweak here.
Rather than saying, “I can’t do these in this timeline,” I would take ownership: “I think these are the five most important. Do you agree? Am I correct about that?” And if they agree, it shows you’ve done that work of translation of your reality to make it legible for them — you’re not just like, “It’s too many things, pick for me.”
It’s the same when it comes to managing something like performance reviews. You get to take the ownership, and say: “Here’s what I’ve done over the last six months. Here are some of the things I know I need to work on.”
Ideally, the lines of communication have already been open with you and your team members or leader on these points. So you can suggest, “Here’s my plan of action for doing that.” And that means you get to have a very short performance conversation. Unless you’re just wildly misreading things. But even if you are misreading things, it’s better to know that sooner rather than later, right?
On the team side of these issues, let me first get a few core concepts out of the way. When I say team, I’m talking about the four to eight people you work with, day in and day out. Most teams are about that size. If you’ve heard me talking about my forthcoming book, Team Habits, it turns out you have an incredible amount of rapport and influence with that smaller core you work with.
The nuance I’m talking about can really be seen when the team as a whole moves and operates in a certain way. That’s just how the team rolls. Then you have a team habit. This is where a lot of the magic unlocks.
But the interesting thing about our team habits is they’re often implicit or unconscious agreements we make with each other. Then we just sort of do them, like any habit.
When I’m out talking to people in the field, leading a workshop for a company, for instance, I might ask, “Hey, did you at some point choose that when the team has an open schedule, that means a team meeting automatically gets scheduled?” The general answer is, “Ah…” and if you go down the list, no one agreed out loud that’s the way things should be.
In a small team, let me give you a scenario for how it can work (especially if we’re wanting to create new habits of highly effective teams), and cover down on a task that keeps slipping. Take managing cc: threads. We can decide that Tim will be the person to read the cc: threads, and he’ll let us know if there’s actually something relevant in that jam. He can also speak on the team’s behalf, like, hey, my team is doing X, Y and Z today. He is the liaison for the team. Maybe Charlie will do it tomorrow.
That gives the entire team of four to eight people freed up capacity. That means only one person has to read this thread to figure out what’s going on, so that the seven other people on that team can get to work. It’s an easily available solution. But we just don’t think of these kinds of solutions often because of the unconscious way team habits work.
It turns out, and maybe this is a fact a lot of us intuitively know: Most change management programs have abysmal success rates. Especially when it comes down from the top down, between two thirds and three quarters of change management projects don’t work, they fail.
When’s the last time from high up, someone’s created a policy that’s actually made your life better? There’s a saying in organizational development, recruiting and workforce management that people don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad bosses.
The fact is that your small team is frequently better equipped to take better care of each other — to build that trust and belonging that can lead to improved performance and results.
As an individual I may love or really dig the people that I work with, but hate working with them. That’s a fixable problem.
What we have to do in that scenario is stand up and feed the wolf. Be better at identifying bad team habits, and creating better ones — actively thinking, what’s it going to take for us to not show up and have the same setbacks day in day out?
In the course of this conversation on how to focus on the most important things with Eric, we touched on the subject of productivity. There are a lot of words in the broader industry that we’re in that I don’t love. But there are useful ideas too, which can play out in how we move on successful team goals. For instance, a crucial insight we might take and apply directly to team performance, is about being proactive versus reactive.
Being proactive takes courage. You might pick wrong, you might spend three months or six months working on the wrong damn thing. But having that courage with your team and as an individual to really say, “Here’s where we’re trying to go, let’s organize ourselves to get there.” It makes such a dramatic difference, because you don’t end up in this place of resignation and quiet quitting.
With bad team habits, and with a lack of courage or purpose, that’s what happens in the workplace. When we disengage it creates an add-on snowball effect, and we disengage again, then others do, too. That’s the path that leads to bad cultures from bad bosses. I get that. I’ve done this work long enough to know that some of us, leaders included, have just not gotten to the place where we see the possibility that’s right in front of us.
Ultimately I’m a team guy. Because when we’re part of a good team, that’s where we have great performance and great belonging, it’s just one of the most sublime human experiences that hits us so hard, and is hard to beat. It’s for that reason I get nostalgia about being in the Army sometimes.
That’s the reminder I’d like to leave us with here — it’s the whole reason I wrote Start Finishing, which is now being played out in Team Habits in a different way. (P.S.: If you weren’t already in the know, Team Habits is coming this August and now available for pre-order at your favorite bookseller.)
And it’s that we’re here to help people get on a pathway to a way of working that makes work a sublime experience. That’s possible with teams, for any team, and we all have the ability to get there.
The post How to Focus on What’s Most Important appeared first on Productive Flourishing.
The real estate world is highly competitive, so those who pursue real estate investing must work hard to stay on top of their game. News events, market shifts, financial technology, and a host of outside factors can change the investment terrain seemingly overnight.
Real estate investing also offers investors tax benefits. Investors can take advantage of depreciation deductions and capital gains exemptions, which can provide a significant tax advantage. Additionally, investors can use a 1031 exchange to defer capital gains taxes on the sale of a property by investing the proceeds in a new property.
Done right, real estate investing can be (and often is) an incredibly lucrative endeavor. However, making a career in real estate sustainable and consistently profitable is also a complex and time-consuming process. Maximizing your efficiency is essential to ensure you get the most out of your investments, especially if you are working as a team of one.
Listed below are eight practical tips to help you do just that. These tips will help you get the most out of your real estate investments, from creating a well-defined investment strategy to taking advantage of automation tools.
Whether your preferred niche is in the residential market, wholesale real estate, property management, or elsewhere, adhering to these guidelines will help you save time and make more informed decisions to maximize your returns.
Investment strategies are the blueprints for your real estate ventures and are crucial for maximizing efficiency. Before investing in any property, you must have a well-defined investment strategy.
In what kind of properties do you want to invest? What is your target return on investment (ROI)? What are the acquisition costs? How much cash flow do you expect from each property? Answering these questions will help you better define your investment strategy and make better decisions in the long term.
If you’re just getting started with real estate investing, start by building a property finder. In the property finder, list all the types of properties you want to invest in and the reasons why. By doing this upfront, you’ll save time when looking for deals later on since you’ll know exactly what you’re hoping to find.
Automation is one of the best ways to save time while investing in real estate. Whether researching properties, managing your finances, or scheduling meetings, automation tools can make your life much easier.
One of the best ways to save time while investing in real estate is to automate your financial processes. If you’re managing all of your own finances, you’ll want to find ways to automate as many tasks as possible. Targets for automation include routines like paying bills, tracking your spending, and setting up automatic transfers to your savings account. These tasks can be extremely time-consuming, especially if you manage more than one investment property.
If you’re managing more than one property, you’ll want to automate as many financial processes as possible to save time. For example, you can set up automatic bill pay to pay all your expenses, such as property taxes and maintenance fees, consistently.
When it comes to real estate investing, the amount of data you have at your disposal can make a huge difference. You need access to the correct data to make the best decisions when investing in real estate.
You can tap many different sources when it comes to market research data. One of the best market data sources is the National Association of Realtors’ Market Data section. Here, you’ll find a wide variety of data, such as average home prices, inventory data, and historical market trends.
For data on a specific city or neighborhood, sites like Trulia and Zillow can help you find what you’re seeking. These sites offer tons of data, such as average home prices and rental rates, and can make it much easier to make informed decisions.
While it may seem like you’re competing against other real estate investors, it’s also essential to network with them. By networking with other real estate investors, you can gain access to deals that may otherwise be off-limits to you.
In addition, you’ll likely find other real estate investors who are also trying to discover great deals. Working together with other real estate investors is a great way to pool resources, share information, and get access to deals you may have yet to see on your own.
Real estate investors can also partner with other investors or developers to invest in larger projects. Partnerships are a great way to gain access to larger investments with lower levels of risk. Investors can also invest in real estate investment trusts (REITs), which allow them to invest in large-scale properties without having to manage them directly.
While there are plenty of online groups for real estate investors, nothing beats the value of networking in-person. If you’re interested in meeting other real estate investors, join your local REIA chapter, attend meetups, and find different ways to connect with like-minded individuals.
Networking has its pitfalls, though. The real estate market has a reputation for volatility, and any alliances you form could cause regret later on. Assuming you’ve clearly defined your goals, it will become much easier to identify partnerships that make sense for your long-term objectives. Similarly, you’ll develop a keen sense of when to walk away.
Real estate investing is an incredibly competitive industry, and finding a “great deal” is one of the most critical aspects of the process. You’ll want to take advantage of different resources, such as the MLS, to find these great deals.
When looking for deals, it’s essential to be as efficient as possible. Instead of browsing through every property listed in the MLS, use different filters and search criteria to narrow down your options.
For example, you can search properties with low equity or cash-flow properties to find deals that are likely to close quickly. While searching for deals, it’s important to remember that not all of these opportunities are created equal.
Depending on your investment strategy, you may come across tasks that don’t require your expertise. For example, you may need to hire a property management company to manage your rental properties, or you may need to hire an attorney to help you close on a property.
While these tasks are necessary for real estate investing, they can be competently accomplished without your expertise. As such, you should outsource these tasks to specialists who are more qualified than you.
For example, property management companies have access to plenty of data that helps them make better decisions, such as average rental and tenant turnover rates. By outsourcing these tasks, you’ll save time and get access to data and expertise that you don’t have.
Real estate investors are a data-driven bunch, so it’s no surprise that many rely on real estate software. Real estate software allows you to manage all aspects of your business, including tracking your finances, managing your team, and finding new deals. Plenty of different real estate software solutions are available, so it’s crucial to find one that best fits your needs.
When selecting real estate software, ensure it’s compatible with your devices, such as your phone or computer. It’s also a good idea to choose a real estate software solution that integrates with other tools you use, such as Google Sheets or accounting software, such as QuickBooks. Selecting a real estate software solution that integrates with other devices can save time by automating some of your processes.
As with any other business venture, it’s vital to set clear goals and objectives with real estate. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s almost impossible to get there. By setting goals and objectives, you’ll be able to make better decisions, reduce risk, and increase ROI.
When you start investing in real estate, you’ll have all sorts of ideas about what you want to achieve. With so many goals to achieve, it can be challenging to stay focused and make progress. By creating a checklist, you can easily keep track of all your goals and see how close you are to achieving them. Checklists are also a great way to stay focused and help you keep track of all the things you need to do by a specific date.
As you embark on your real estate adventure, keep a recurring reminder in your calendar software to chart progress and revisit your initial work. The real estate market is in a constant state of flux. Interest rates, market upswings (or downturns), new technological advancements, and a veritable legion of other factors outside your control ebb and flow. Even just six months ago, what seemed like a great idea may no longer be appealing to you or unprofitable.
Overall, real estate investment offers a variety of opportunities for investors. From buying and selling property to financing businesses and generating passive income, real estate investing can provide a steady income for those willing to commit to a strategic plan. With the right resources and a sound investment strategy, real estate investing can be a great way to generate wealth.
This article was originally published on Calendar.
Creating an effective sales presentation outline is crucial if you want to impress and persuade potential customers to purchase your products or services. Whether you’re part of a small startup or a large corporation, a well-crafted presentation can help you make a powerful and convincing case for your offering.
Crafting a successful sales presentation can be a challenging task. With the right knowledge and tools, you can create a winning presentation that communicates the value of your product or service while saving time in the process. Whether you’re giving a presentation in person or online, the key is to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say. In this article, we’ll go over the basic structure of a sales presentation, offer tips for making as effective a sales presentation outline as possible, and provide some great sales presentation templates and examples you can use for inspiration.
The introduction of your sales presentation should grab your audience’s attention. It also should give them a sense of what they can expect from the rest of the presentation. Start by introducing yourself and your company, and then provide a brief overview of the product or service you’re going to be discussing. This is also a good opportunity to establish a connection with your audience by finding common ground or addressing any pain points they may be facing.
After the introduction, it’s important to clearly define the problem or challenge that your product or service is designed to solve. This will help your audience understand the need for what you’re offering. It’ll also set the stage for the next section of the presentation.
Now that you’ve clearly defined the problem, it’s time to introduce your solution. This is where you’ll provide detailed information about your product or service, including its features, benefits, and any relevant case studies or testimonials. It’s also the time to address any potential objections or concerns that your audience may have.
If possible, include a live demonstration or visual aids like images, videos, or diagrams in your presentation. This will help your audience see how your product or service works in action and will provide a better sense of its value.
The final step of your sales presentation is to ask for the sale. This can be as simple as asking for the order or booking a follow-up meeting. Be sure to remind your audience of the benefits of your product or service, and make it easy for them to take the next step.
When crafting your sales presentation outline, there are a few things you have to keep in mind to make the presentation a true success. Take note of the following sales presentation structure tips that’ll help you create a presentation that stands out and makes an impact.
The first impression is everything. Grab your audience’s attention with a compelling start of the presentation – introduce a shocking statistic, tell a story, or display a capturing visual. This way you’ll catch people’s interest right from the start.
Use data and customer testimonials to support your claims about the key problem or pain point your product or service tackles.
Add interactive visuals such as graphics and charts to display statistics and other data in an engaging manner. Use Prezi Design to create these visuals. Also, use dynamic visuals, images, and videos – that’ll make the presentation more engaging and interactive.
Make sure to use a clear and consistent structure throughout the presentation, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. You want your presentation to feel like a story that’s well-formatted and thought-out.
Clearly define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and highlight it throughout the presentation. Emphasize your USP using bold statements, impactful data, and eye-catching visuals.
Make your presentation more engaging and memorable by applying storytelling techniques. Swap your slide-based presentation for a Prezi presentation that elevates the storytelling experience. The non-linear format allows you to jump between topics instead of going through slides. This way your presentation will feel more like a conversation rather than a speech, making it a much more engaging and interactive experience.
Practice your delivery and timing to ensure that you stay within the allotted time and keep the audience engaged. This will help you define your sales presentation structure as you’ll notice what presentation parts take longer to discuss and where you need to add more content or context.
End your presentation with a clear call to action that leaves a lasting impact. Apply visuals, like images, data visualizations, videos, and animations to catch people’s attention. Also, remember to include contact information so the audience can follow up with you.
By incorporating the tips outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to creating an effective sales presentation that’ll help you close more deals. Remember that each presentation is unique and needs to be tailored based on the audience and context.
Developing a powerful sales presentation from scratch can be challenging. Seeking inspiration from existing successful examples can assist in creating a presentation that’ll leave a lasting impression on your audience. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of great sales presentation examples that score in presentation design and structure.
This presentation examines how to better define the purpose, vision, mission, values, and key business metrics. It’s a great example of a visually appealing and engaging sales presentation structure that scores in presentation design. It’s easy to navigate the presentation as you can zoom in and out of topics. Also, the visualization of a table as topic placement creates a compelling layout. The overall structure of the presentation has a natural and logical flow, going from background information to an action-based plan.
If you’ve ever wondered how to turn your workforce into salesforce, this presentation provides a clear guide that makes it easy for you to dig deep into this topic. The visual format clearly represents the topic and captures attention with the highlighted title and topics.
Also, when viewing this presentation, you can zoom in and out on topics, deciding what you want to read about first. The layout is simple and straightforward, leaving no room for confusion. The presentation is structured to introduce the topic first, then go to 3 main talking points, and finally lead to tips that leave the audience with an action plan in mind. The presentation design also helps to navigate and understand the content better.
What makes a good sales kickoff? This presentation provides a step-by-step guide to having a great sales kickoff using powerful visuals and a well-defined structure.
The steps are visualized as American football icons and illustrate the order in which they should be discussed. This provides an engaging viewing experience with a clearly defined outline that navigates the audience throughout the presentation
Creating an effective sales presentation outline is crucial for impressing and persuading potential customers to purchase your products or services. Crafting an effective sales presentation involves understanding your audience’s needs and customizing the presentation to suit them. The basic structure of a sales presentation includes an introduction, problem statement, solution, demonstration, and call to action. To make your presentation a success, it is important to start with a compelling introduction, support your claims with data and customer testimonials, use data visualization to make an impact, and have a well-defined structure. By following the tips and using the examples provided in this article, you can create a winning sales presentation that effectively communicates the value of your idea, product, or service and keeps your audience engaged and interested.
Learning a new language is a challenge. Learning how to sing in a new language is another story.
Allison Upshaw, Assistant Professor of voice at Stillman College, a trained opera singer, and professional actress, uses Prezi Video to teach voice auditions and help her students pronounce foreign language words. Having the lyrics on screen as she talks through the pronunciation and allowing students to see her mouth as it moves, makes it easier for her to teach, and for them to learn.
If we take a look back at her journey, Allison was first introduced to Prezi in 2014, when she began using Prezi Present for teacher training content.
As she’s not a “PowerPoint girl,” she was drawn back into Prezi when she started working on her second doctorate in instructional technology and had to create more formal presentations.
“That fell right in with using Prezi for what I needed to submit, and I was able to keep all my work in one place, which is really important to me,” Allison said.
But the one product that she uses the most is Prezi Video. She’s participated in the Voices from the Field webinar series with our education team on how video can deepen the impact of blended learning, she’s been listed as a Staff Pick (which is a list of our favorite videos of the year), and frequently shares her teachings with the public in all her videos.
Additionally, educators have a list of accessibility standards that they must incorporate into all their teaching content. When it comes to Prezi’s template library, she appreciates those that are in high contrast because it quickly addresses some accessibility requirements.
Allison says that she’s not a linear thinker, jumps around a lot in her thought process, and struggles to go from A to Z. But when she uses Prezi Present, she likes to choose from our template library because it forces her “to think in a way people can follow” and easily structure her ideas.
She’s always thinking about her process as a facilitator and how she can engage her audience, which is why she became a Prezi Certified Educator Trainer in 2022. For a long time, she was very reliant on face-to-face interactions. She liked getting back into Prezi because it was familiar enough, and she found that she was able to effectively use it to interface between her and her audience while using Prezi Video for video lessons.
Given that her first doctorate was in arts-based research methods and critical auto-ethnography, Allison is committed to incorporating STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) into her teaching. This is something that she believes she can showcase by teaching with and having students use technology like Prezi.
“All of this tech and science is important, but you also need the creativity of an artist,” Allison said. “The functional designs are great, but you want something that’s creative as well. If you can think creatively, then you can build new knowledge.”
The challenge for Allison is that most of STEAM tends to center around visual arts, and she wants to understand how performing arts can fit into tech.
“In the world of screens, there can be a flatness with technology,” Allison said. “It makes it more difficult to have an energy circle between the presenter or performer and the audience, where the performer can understand exactly how the audience is feeling.”
Using Prezi Video has enabled Allison to better tap into the energy of her audience even when she and her students are divided by the screen.
Allison also considers herself an arts-based storyteller, and she works to share stories of other black women who may not get the chance to tell themselves. She has just written a grant that will look at Black female landowners during slavery and Jim Crow. She’s planning to share the stories of these women and what it means to be a female landowner in a time when women weren’t allowed to own property and had fewer rights.
“So what are their stories? I want to find out and share these stories and summarize what they went through,” Allison said. “I’ll be sharing them in conference presentations, and using Prezi has helped me focus my ideas. I will use it to sum up their stories and share them in a concise way.”
That’s just another way that Prezi’s engaging tools can help bring meaningful stories to life.
Most people were not taught about conversational presenting — a different approach to delivering a presentation that allows room for audience interaction — in school. Often, we were tasked with creating linear, static slide decks for assignments and projects, but not how to create powerful presentations that will be memorable for our audience.
“Presentations are for listeners, not for the people talking,” said Davide Luzzati, founder of presentation consultancy Luzz Presents. “You have to build the slides for the people that are listening to you, not for yourself. This is the main issue and even today, people haven’t understood this.”
After working in the tourism industry for more than 30 years, Davide realized that he needed to create a space for people to improve their presentation structure, design, and delivery. This is why in 2017, he founded Luzz Presents in Genoa, Italy.
“When you look around, most people have pretty average presentations, so I was dedicated to starting a company around helping people improve theirs,” Davide said.
Luzz Presents is a full-service consultancy agency, offering presentation, graphic design, and training services centered around Prezi. He thought about also offering services for PowerPoint or Keynote to his clients, but he chose to dedicate his services to Prezi because of how it shook up the presentation space.
“It’s changed the way that I was looking at presentations. Thanks to Prezi, I learned that I need to be asking ‘What’s the most important part you want to transfer to your audience?’” Davide added.
Davide’s interest in wanting to learn how to create the most compelling presentations and advancing his experience with Prezi is what prompted him to become a Prezi Certified Educator Trainer, which is a part of a certification program that aims to help educators and trainers learn how to effectively use Prezi tools to support instruction.
However, it’s more than just knowing the software. It’s also about how you use it.
“You could easily add 30 lines of text on a slide, but once you understand that that’s not effective, you can move to the next step of using a unique presentation software, like Prezi,” Davide said. “When you use Prezi, it’s a big help because you can organize your thoughts into topics and subtopics, use the zoom effect for emphasis, etc.”
Davide sees Prezi as a canvas, and has even designed a Prezi presentation using Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Vitruvian Man” as the framework for an anesthesiology presentation.
While Prezi has three different products, Davide stresses the importance of knowing Prezi Present.
“The baseline, I would say, is Prezi Present,” Davide stated. “That’s the most important because if you don’t know Prezi Present, you won’t get the most out of the other products.”
This year, Davide already has big plans with Prezi. In March, Davide will be using Prezi to teach an online course about presentation tips. He is also creating a 140-slide training presentation for an international food company, and is going to use Prezi Video to create TV spots for a local company in Italy.
“Prezi Video is astonishing,” Davide said. “It makes such a difference because you actually can still keep eye contact with your audience.”
His biggest plan for this year is to become even more in tune with Prezi. In Italy, Prezi is not that well known and Davide aims to become the “Prezi person in Italy” to help everyone there with their presentation needs and advance their presentation skills.
“I believe that Prezi gave me, and many people, the possibility to change the way you approach a presentation,” Davide added. “It’s so simple to build in, but so revolutionary.”
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