remarkable | Margie Albert

Tag: remarkable

Today’s remark – random top 9

– Posted on Dec 04, 2012 by Margie Albert

I get asked a lot about how I keep up with Broadcast, television, digital and social media, what I read, where I get inspired, etc.

Here is my random top 9 list (in no particular order) of what I do to stay relevant:

2 lunches weekly with people who challenge me, know more than I do and, hopefully, make me laugh
Read a minimum of 2 hours daily 7 days a week – blogs and magazines from Fast Company, TVNewsCheck, SmartBriefs newsletters, Cynopsis, Spots ‘n’ Dots, Chris Murray at Varda Kreuz, Harvard Business Review are on my “must read” list
Maintain a facebook interest list of TV stations and visit this at least 2x daily. I look for quantity and quality based on engagement and I also look for ideas
Study TV – I watch as much as possible to see what sticks and pay attention to comments on facebook and twitter to get a better feel for viewer thoughts. Yes, I love my job!
Ask questions. If you know me you know I do this a lot!
Attend a webinar weekly to continue learning – SM, SEO, email ROI, trends, etc
Have several google alerts to keep up with TV Stations, Broadcast Groups, Broadcast industry and other favorites
Sign up and study TV station newsletters, mobile alerts and websites daily. Analyze, look for ways they could improve if they hired me!
Go for a 30 minute walk daily – great way to clear my head, think uninterrupted and good for the body and soul.

These are a few I am “religious” about. What about you? What do you do to stay up to date and fresh? How do you remain relevant and remark-able? Please share so we can learn from each other.

Today’s remark – PowerPoint RANT

– Posted on Oct 30, 2012 by Margie Albert

If you have attended any of my sessions you have heard my PowerPoint rant. Now, if you choose, you get to read it!

Why do so many TV Station AEs continue to think PowerPoint is a series of note cards?? I see it every day and so do you. The presentation is for your audience – they can’t read and listen at the same time. It is impossible and you are confusing them.

Well, actually, no you are not. They make a decision – they tune you out or they are reading (assuming they are interested in your material which is a HUGE assumption). If they are reading you have become completely dispensable. If that was your goal may I suggest another line of work?!!

As I say all the time – THE PRESENTATION IS YOU! Not the PowerPoint!!

Here are some suggestions:

Your slides should support your proposal, not regurgitate what you are saying.
Images are much better than words. According to a Harvard Business Review study, slides need to pass the “glance test” –no more than 3 seconds to completely process and comprehend the slide.
Your oral presentation must be the focal point – know your stuff, be prepared and rehearsed.
Use a simple unique template – not one of the standard templates included in the software.
White backgrounds!
And does your station logo REALLY need to be on every slide? The presentation is about them, not you, and they know where you are from. If they don’t you have another problem.
Avoid animation and transitions – they look like your 9 year old child created your presentation. If you use them they are to emphasize a specific point. Otherwise, they are a distraction.
ALL parts of the presentations must be visible to the back of the room. NEVER say “some of you can’t see this.” No eye tests allowed—EVER.
The PowerPoint presentation is not detailed or meant to be a leave-behind. If you need a detailed leave-behind put it in a separate Word document with all the details. That’s where you can include your station logo and your complete contact information.

The attention needs to be focused on YOU if using PowerPoint. Please stop PowerPoint abuse and make all your presentations remark-able!

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Today’s remark – you screwed up?

– Posted on Oct 23, 2012 by Margie Albert

Anyone else out there dwell on mistakes? I know I do and, oftentimes, they keep me up at night. No one beats me up better than I do! I’m working on realizing I am human, I make mistakes and so do you.

So how do we move on? Here are some quick suggestions:

Own up to it immediately – saying “I’m sorry, I made a mistake. Please forgive me” can be quite disarming. Then-
Find a solution as quickly as possible
Don’t assume it’s too late – even if you said something in a meeting and realize 2 days later you blew it find a way to acknowledge it and clear it up
Don’t ignore it and hope it will go away. Most often it doesn’t plus you will feel lousy waiting
Learn from the mistake – analyze it, how it happened, why you said/did it. Were you motivated by anger, power, fear, lack of knowledge? How can you prevent this from happening again?
If nobody died, lost their job or went to the hospital move on. The mistake won’t be significant in the long run
Be forgiving of yourself – when someone else makes a mistake don’t you forgive and forget? Be your own best friend rather than your enemy

Remember – we ALL make mistakes. It’s how we handle them that make us remark-able.

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