Latest posts

Below are the most recent articles or resources I’ve published. If you are looking for help on a specific topics, it would best to look at the topics in my Articles archive as I have grouped my recent and best articles by topic there.

  • 5 Insights from Top CEOs thoughts on the future of the way we work & the impact on meetings

    CNN asked 15 top CEOs what they think the future of work will look like. Here are five insights I gleaned from their answers that relate to the future of meetings. Hybrid will be the norm Almost every CEO shared that they expect hybrid work, where some employees are in the office and some are…… Continue reading

  • Comments on Toptal’s Hybrid Meeting Best Practices

    Toptal recently contacted me because they came across my page on hybrid meetings. They agree that hybrid meetings will be the norm in the future and recently published an article by Sacha Connor on hybrid meeting best practices. Sacha is one of the few people who have a lot of real-world experience participating in hybrid…… Continue reading

  • Showing variance to plan; Slide Makeover #103

    CPG sales, marketing, and product managers regularly report on variance to plan for sales in dollars or units. Because the reporting is driven from a database, often the table of numbers is copied onto a slide. This makeover shows how to visually show the variance using a diverging bar chart. Discussion of original Easy to…… Continue reading

  • 3 insights from the LinkedIn State of Sales 2021: United States & Canada Edition

    In May LinkedIn published its State of Sales 2021: United States & Canada Edition. There are three insights I’d like to highlight from the report summary. Virtual sales presentations are here to stay The first, and most important in my mind, is that virtual sales presentations are here to stay. As the report points out,…… Continue reading

  • Use Reading View to Show PowerPoint slides in a window instead of full screen

    (Click here for the Mac version of this article) What is Reading View Reading View is a view in PowerPoint that runs your PowerPoint Slide Show in the PowerPoint window instead of full screen. You can resize the window to be as big or small as you want. It runs all animations and transitions, links…… Continue reading

  • 6 ways to improve virtual sales presentations with content other than PowerPoint slides

    Virtual sales presentations on Teams or Zoom are here to stay. Not every sales presentation will be delivered virtually but sales professionals need to improve their virtual presentations to keep prospects and clients moving along the buying journey. The basic Teams or Zoom skills you learned in the past won’t be good enough in the…… Continue reading

  • Reporting related results; Slide Makeover #102

    CPG sales, marketing, and product managers report on metrics that are related to performance but measured in different units, such as dollars, cases, or percentage. Because the reporting is driven from a database, often the table of numbers is copied onto a slide. This makeover shows how to visually show the comparison using a scaled…… Continue reading

  • New Teams Presenter modes; Issue #497 August 24, 2021

    Microsoft Teams has recently introduced Presenter modes that allow you to put your video on top of or beside a screen or window that you share in a Teams meeting. This seems to work regardless of whether you share a window or a screen and the content can be slides, a browser, or any other…… Continue reading

  • 5 ways to use video clips to improve virtual sales presentations

    Virtual sales presentations on Teams or Zoom are here to stay. Not every sales presentation will be delivered virtually but sales professionals need to improve their virtual presentations to keep prospects and clients moving along the buying journey. The basic Teams or Zoom skills you learned in the past won’t be good enough in the…… Continue reading

  • Comparing values to a standard; Slide Makeover #101

    CPG sales, marketing, and product managers report on sales or margin for each product compared to the industry average. Because the reporting is driven from a database, often the table of numbers is copied onto a slide. This makeover shows how to visually show the comparison using a dashed line on a column graph. Discussion…… Continue reading