Recollections

“I did not have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one instead.” – Mark Twain

Brevity must be difficult to achieve. Many hour-plus seminars I’ve attended seemed like they could have delivered their intended message in about 10 minutes. I could have learned a lot more in that hour. Why is it organizations require 60-to-90-minute sessions to qualify for continuing education credits? There are actually very good reasons for the 60-to-90-minute model. Assuring that professionals are keeping up with the latest trends and practices, for example.
But suppose not every educational session is intended to accumulate annual continuing education credits but is only an intermediate situational presentation, a case presentation, an update on a new rule, a customer service practice review, or a product update. Those can be given in 10 minutes.
I happened upon an interesting article in Cath Lab Digest called “the 10 commandments of a 10-minute talk.” With much respect to authors Dr. Jeannie Yu and Dr. Morton Kern, I share their 10 Commandments.
1. Create a clear roadmap for purpose and content.
2. Remember to introduce yourself and the objectives.
3. Let the information be transformational.
4. Know thy stuff.
5. Speak slowly and clearly. Practice helps a lot.
6. When it comes to slides and most other things less is more. Make what you have count.
7. Actively engage the audience.
8. End on time, every time. Trust me.
9. Don’t be afraid of questions.
10. Be prepared for Murphy’s Law.
Imagine listening to six 10-minute topics as opposed to one 60-minute topic? Would that format hold your attention? Would you learn key points about six unique but related topics? Does that sound like a fun hour? The presenter would have to be purposeful and unwavering.

People ask who is the visionary leading the Identimap business personality survey and related products. Robert J. Sherwood has authored 14 books. He hosted his own radio program, taught at KU, MU, and Stanford graduate schools of business, earned MBA and MS degrees, received an honorary Doctorate, founded 2 Silicon Valley technology companies and directed businesses in South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He was president of a venture capital firm and was profiled in Fortune and Business Week. He was winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award and has presented seminars on Leadership and Technology to more than 3000 executives. He has been engaged as an expert witness by Google, Facebook and Yahoo! on Internet-related litigation.

Mr. Sherwood partnered with Dr. Randy Shepard to address what their research determined to be flaws in then-current assessment surveys. They set out to develop a more efficient, economical, and intuitive method to administer and understand a survey.

Have you ever been alerted to the craftiness of the shy and silent type of person? Well, it's true. From 5 to 5:15 a.m. today on Makin' $ in the A.M. we talked about the Listener trait. A Listener is someone you want on your team. My early morning audience will "make $" with that knowledge. Tomorrow at Zoom ID 610 979 0422 we will talk about important behavioral training going on in the workforce.