Category: Best Practices

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

When Technology Fails: 5 Tips to Save Your Presentation

Posted on

When organizing a presentation, one must always ask the question, “What could go wrong?” The visions of worst-case scenarios in our minds can be frightening, hilarious, or both. Nevertheless, we have a job to do and a message to get across to our audience.
A lot of details often go into planning a presentation—from the content to the technology that supports it. While the presentation may be a one-person show, colleagues and partners play significant roles making sure things run smoothly. No matter how tight your set-up is or how prepared you are, there is always the possibility that something could go wrong.
Anything can happen during a presentation. You can never be too ready. However, with wireless presentations, you’re working with multiple devices and audiences from various locations and time zones. Technology is critical to support everyone across barriers because it’s the technology that brings people together. Therefore, there should be contingency plans to ensure not all is lost when technology fails.
Here are 5 tips to help you salvage your wireless presentation:

  1. Dress Rehearsal. Coordinate with IT on a date/time the day before or the morning of the presentation to run through your presentation set-up. This is an opportunity to perform system checks for Wi-Fi, security and network access to the wireless presentation. You may want to ask one remote colleague to also participate in the dress rehearsal to make sure external connections work as well.
  2. Communication Chain. Depending on the number of people and locations participating in the presentation, create a phone/contact chain. Should technology fail, you need to get in touch with everyone as to the next steps. Whether you’ll need to reschedule or change platforms, make sure you have at least a phone number for each person or team lead. This is especially important for those colleagues or partners who work remotely.
  3. Rain Date. When coordinating the presentation, be sure to schedule a “rain date” using the necessary resources, including the conference room and equipment. When you schedule the presentation date, also have this date set on the calendar.
    Should anything go wrong and you’re unable to bring participants back together, all participants will know there’s another meeting set. If all goes well, you simply need to cancel the “rain date” to make resources available to those who need it.
  4. Documents in Advance. If possible, share your slides or any necessary documentation with participants before the presentation. This could be in the form of a hard copy handout or electronic files. If there is a technical issue that prevents you from moving forward with the presentation, at least your team members will have information readily available.
  5. Record Presentation/Webinar. If you’re unable to reschedule your presentation for everyone, a great option is to record the presentation for team members to review on their own time. Invite them to join you live.

However, by recording and saving the presentation, you create a new document that can be archived and act as a reference. The interaction of a live presentation may be lost, but there are ways to make recorded presentations just as interactive.
Technology fails can be stressful for the host and the participants. Certainly, your IT team should be on hand to lend support. However, by having contingency plans set, you can be better prepared to handle the issues.
What are some ways you’ve saved your wireless presentation? Share your tips with us in the comments!

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

3 Mobile Apps for Productivity

Posted on

Did you know that the average person looks at their smartphone as much as 150 times a day? A few years ago, some businesses may have tried to prohibit the use of mobile devices in the workplace in order to keep employees focused and productive. Now, using mobile apps could be one of the keys to engaging employees and increasing productivity in the workplace. Some studies suggest that using enterprise apps can increase productivity by 34 percent.
More companies have or are considering implementing mobile enterprise apps. According to one report, over 128,000 enterprise apps were released in the iOS store last year. One consulting firm estimated that there will be close to 5 billion downloads of enterprise apps this year. In addition, 79 percent of organizations in a recent Gartner survey responded that they planned to increase their mobile spending by 36 percent in 2015.
As mobile apps become more prominent in the workplace, company leaders are trying to decide how to use these new tools and identify which ones will be most effective for their businesses. Below are some apps that could help you and your employees be more productive.

Focus Booster

Some experts believe that people are more productive when they break their work up into intervals. A study of one company even found that the top 10 percent of their high performers tended to work for around 50 minutes and take about a 15 minute break from their desks.
Focus Booster is an app that is designed based on this belief. The app is a sophisticated task tracker that separates tasks into time intervals and breaks to optimize productivity. However, it doesn’t just track time. It also collects data and compiles reports about how individuals work, giving them insights on how to improve their overall efficiency.

Charlie

When prepping for a meeting, there are dozens of variables that presenters often need to consider. For instance, creating the agenda, reserving the appropriate meeting space, or using wireless presentation software may all be on their to-do lists with dozens of other tasks.
The mobile app Charlie aims to cut down the time people spend preparing for meetings by syncing with their calendar, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites. The app pulls information about meeting participants and creates a profile of highlights for users to view beforehand, minimizing the time they devote to researching.

Trello

Trello mixes productivity and collaboration tools into one place. The interface looks similar to Pinterest but for business operations.
Individuals can use the app as a personal goal tracker or to-do list. Companies can use it as an internal system to organize and keep track of goals and tasks. Members or employees can be assigned cards or boards to collaborate and share documents and notes with other team members. Once a task has been completed, they can move it to the completed pile, so that the rest of the organization is notified. Also, the mobile and desktop versions sync together to allow users to view their boards from anywhere, on any device.
There are millions of mobile apps on the market today and thousands that claim they can increase productivity. The wave of available enterprise apps can make finding the right one for your needs difficult. When it comes to productivity, these three apps are some of the best. But, like all apps, their level of effectiveness depends on how you use them.

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

Do your Meetings Suck? 5 Ways to Make Them Better

Posted on

Meetings can be boring, exhaustive, and a down-right ridiculous waste of time if you don’t handle them properly. When you’re in a leadership position, meetings are a part of your day-to-day life. When you need to discuss important details about a project with your team, you need to plan the meeting carefully. You’re going to get nowhere if you’re not able to retain your team’s attention.
Some Tips
Here are some tips of how to make your meeting more productive and keep every participant engaged.
• Less is More – Before you even plan a meeting, consider whether it’s actually needed. Several leaders think that meetings need to happen regularly whether they’re needed or not. For example, you tend to schedule a meeting at the end of every month. Why schedule a meeting at the end of every month unless it’s absolutely needed? It’s best if you only schedule a meeting when you need it. To keep your team engaged and updated, you can easily schedule a meeting every quarter.
• Have a Meaningful Agenda- Just having an agenda isn’t enough; you need to have a meaningful agenda. There are some companies that schedule meetings regularly and discuss company policy and ethics for the lack of any other subject. That’s just a waste of everyone’s time and no one’s going to be happy about it. However, if you need to discuss an upcoming project, or a new client, or any subject that your team needs to know about, having a meeting is necessary.
• Planning Ahead– Plan the meeting carefully and well in advance. While you’re planning it, be sure to consider the following points:
− The number of people needed for the meeting. You need to limit this number to people who’re absolutely necessary.
− See if you can use remote conferencing tools to have meetings with people in other areas.
− Consider if it can be conducted remotely.
− Check in with everyone you want to call to the meeting. You need to make sure that the time is convenient for most people.
• Organize your Agenda- Now that you know you have a meaningful agenda to discuss; you need to decide how to go about it. It’s vital to deliver the information in a clear yet concise manner. You should use tools like presentations or videos, etc, to explain your point.
Visual mediums convey information more clearly and in a structured way. Organize all your information and explain it in steps. You need to make sure that there’s no room for ambiguity.
• No Open-Ended Statements to Conclude the Meeting- One of the best ways to make meetings successful and productive is to end it with a call to action. Essentially, you need to set clear goals during the meeting that every member of the team needs to follow.
For example, if you need to prepare a detailed proposal for a client along with design samples, give your team a timeline and assign individual duties. This will ensure that they have a purpose as they leave the meeting.
If you follow these points, you’ll have meetings that are purposeful, interesting, and that don’t suck.

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

How to Create Awesome Visual Content for Your Presentation

Posted on

We’ve all sat through them–presentations that feel like they go on for hours and at the end, you struggle to remember what they were about. Grabbing audience attention and keeping it the entire time is a common problem that many presenters face. In fact, a recent study found that humans only have an eight second attention span. To put that number into perspective, the attention span of a goldfish is nine–one second longer than a human.
Many factors–from lack of wireless presentation software and struggling with equipment set up to outside noise and lack of preparedness–can affect whether or not a presentation is a success. One of the primary reasons why some fail is simply because they didn’t engage with multiple senses, particularly visual. Visual content often increases understanding and engages people, because 90% of information is processed through visual means. On average, people process images 60,000 times faster than text.
When presenters use poor visuals or none at all, it can negatively affect the overall presentation. Deciding what types to use can be difficult, especially when talking about technical and complex concepts. Here are some creative ideas for your next presentation.

Infographics

Infographics take simple facts and statistics and make them more interesting by pairing them with appealing visuals. Although they are most commonly found on websites, they can be a valuable addition to presentations.
For example, when discussing the importance of tech-based employee engagement programs, pairing statistics about the success of these programs with graphics can keep the audience engaged. Showing a few parts of the infographic at a time, then showing the entire infographic can help reinforce the big picture–engaging employees to improve business performance. There are dozens of programs like Piktochart and Easel.ly that allow users to create infographics at no-cost.

Interactive Graphs

The technical term for pairing data with visuals is called data visualization, and it is a crucial concept for IT and other business leaders to learn. Graphs are an age-old data visualization tool that at first might seem like a stale choice for presentations. However, advancements in data and graphing tools continue to make them relevant and valuable. How presenters utilize them is more important.
Now, graphs can visualize information in real-time and can be used to interact with audiences. When proposing new strategy or other business changes, it is important to visualize the difference that those changes could make. Interactive graphs could be manipulated to display past, present, and predicted future data sets. There are a number of online collaboration tools like Google Charts and infogr.am that individuals can use to create interactive graphics cost-effectively.

Animated Slideshows and Videos

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video can be worth a million. At least, that is what many studies and statistics suggest. In fact, one study from Forrester research claims that a video is worth about 1.8 million words. Also, people are fascinated by video, consuming hundreds of millions hours of it on Youtube everyday.
As a visual aid, certain short videos can be powerful. Videos of user testimonials or demos of products help reinforce what the presenter is saying and add a human touch to simple data points. Of course, when used as part of a presentation, video should only be a supplement. The speaker should be the primary source of information and discourse. If you could present the same information in a video in your presentation, you probably shouldn’t rely on it.
Speaking to an audience can be stressful for even the most experienced presenters, and today, it can be more difficult to captivate an audience. However, incorporating creative, interactive visuals into your presentations can help improve understanding and keep your audience engaged from beginning to end.

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

Top 5 Books on Leadership for CIOs

Posted on

A little professional development never hurt anyone, even the most senior of your staff! Sure, taking classes and studying for advanced degrees/certifications are great to build your skillset and resume. However, a little knowledge from the printed word can change your perspective on how you lead your team and advocate for your employees.
Here are 5 top books that CIO/CTOs should have on their bookshelves!
Work Rules by Laszlo Bock (Twelve)
Laszlo Bock is the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google Inc. You may wonder why such a fancy title for someone that’s essentially in Human Resources? After reading Work Rules, it makes sense, Laszlo gives insights into how Google views Human Resources and how their goal is to promote growth and strength at all levels from senior leadership to the individual contributor. While all employers want the best quality employees, Google wants to bring in good people who connect with their mission with transparency and lifelong learning. The lessons learned from the book follow the humanistic approach that people are generally good, who want to do good and be good employees. Leaders should look into how their role not only is to harness that goodness but also promote it in and out of the office.
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek (Portfolio)
In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek introduces us the “Golden Circle” and how to connect people to our passions and our business. It’s about how to build trust and loyalty with your audience. In his latest book, Leaders Eat Last, he examines the team dynamic and the role of the leader in it. It discusses how trust and loyalty can grow internally within your organization. Leaders meant to set the tone, create the environment and provide guidance and motivation. In this digital age where works are both working in-house and remotely, this book explores how leaders can use their skills, drive and passion to create a positive work experience for all around them.
How to Look People in the Eye Digitally by Ted Rubin (Substantium)
If you’re not familiar with Ted Rubin (tedrubin.com), do a search on “Return on Relationship.” As leaders, we are all making investments in our company and our teams. To ensure the greatest return is communication. How to Look People in the Eye Digitally brings us back to basics in how we interact with each other offline as we should online. Successful leaders understand the art of conversation. It never hurts to brush up on style to better our interactions, whether one-to-one or one-to-many.
The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John C. Maxwell (Center Street)
John Maxwell shares stories of how individuals can unlock their potential to be leaders. The 5 Levels of Leadership gives insights into what makes for a good leader, focusing on the community surrounding him/her. The explanation of the levels explore how and why people connect to effective and successful people, which are noted as: 

  1. Position – People follow because they have to.
    2. Permission – People follow because they want to.
    3. Production – People follow because of what you have done for the organization.
    4. People Development – People follow because of what you have done for them personally.
    5. Pinnacle – People follow because of who you are and what you representLeadership doesn’t mean you stop learning. The professional development continues after the promotion or placement. Maxwell provides to the tools for everyone to understand what makes a leader and what it takes to grow as a leader.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey (Simon & Schuster)
This book is essential for anyone in a leadership/managerial role. Originally released in 1990, The 7 Habits… require the individual to change their perspective on the world, making the paradigm shift. It requires looking your personal belief system and actions and how they relate to the world in which you want to live. It’s not just about being your best self; it’s more about how you connect with the world through focus, direction and organization. Covey presents basic concepts that can help us make changes in small and big ways for personal and community growth.
These titles are just a few to add your personal library. There are many more to be read and shared to enhance and promote our skills to grow and improve as leaders, regardless of level. Have any titles you like to share? Post them in the comments!
Additional Reading
4 Huge BI Challenges Facing CIOs and IT Leaders
How CIOs Can Remaster Their Leadership In the Digital Era
 

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

How Simplicity Leads to Better Collaboration for Your Users

Posted on

Advanced technologies like cloud adoption, collaboration tools, wireless projection, and mobile devices are changing how organizations reach their bottom line. In working environments around the world, collaboration is becoming the norm. Instead of working alone in cubicles, more offices are adopting open floor plans or sharing coworking spaces.
According to Queens University of Charlotte, 3 out 4 employers view teamwork as very important to business success. Many companies are implementing technologies to make it easier for employees to work together on projects and increase overall efficiency. However, the question many face is how to get them to use it effectively.
Whether you’re deploying a new wireless presentation software, internal employee site, or interactive displays, simplicity is key. How can simplicity help foster collaboration in your organization?

Anyone can use it

The success of collaboration ultimately relies on end user usage. Tools should never get in the way of tasks. Most collaboration tools are designed to improve processes. They are meant to increase productivity and flexibility by allowing users to work together in real-time from anywhere, not just workstations and huddle spaces. If a new software or program is too complicated or has too many features, it could have the opposite effect. A product that is meant to make a process easier and more efficient can actually end up slowing individuals down.
Furthermore, a complex system often requires users to go through hours or days of training in order to use it effectively. Simplicity allows users to bypass any learning curve and jump straight into projects.

It encourages users

Having a high-tech device or expensive software available doesn’t guarantee that people will take advantage of it. The ultimate goal is for it to be a valuable resource that they consistently want to use. Part of successful adoption of any service is in realizing the value it provides, but another crucial part some organization forget is making it easy to use.
Simplicity helps make users more open to trying a new tool. For instance, collaboration tools should be able to integrate with other systems that they commonly use. This streamlines the workflow, saves time, and increases productivity.

There’s less room for confusion

In a study by Salesforce.com, 97 percent of employees and executives agreed that the outcome of a task is directly impacted if there is a lack of alignment or understanding within a team. As a project grows in complexity, the likelihood of all the team members understanding it often decreases.
When simplicity is at the core of any job function, it leaves little room for confusion. In other words, it helps to ensure that all members involved in a project or business know the objectives and goals and how to reach them.
Businesses that adopt a collaborative work environment can increase productivity and even improve the quality of end products. However, many organizations realize the value of collaboration to their success, but still aren’t sure how to implement it. This is where simplicity is crucial. In order to foster beneficial collaboration in your organization, simplicity needs to be the driving force behind it.

Contact Us!

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

4 Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

Posted on

Let’s be honest! Your employees don’t only work for you. They are your brand’s ambassadors. People talk about what they do and where they work. Those experiences give an impression to others as to whether they want to be connected to your brand.
It can be a challenge to motivate teams. Think about it how you integrate new technology and how quickly the company adopts a new system or process. It may lead to a shift in company culture to get employees more involved beyond their day-to-day responsibilities.
Here are 4 ways to increase employee engagement:

  1. Be the example. You cannot expect employees to engage, if you’re not willing to do it yourself. “If you build it, they will come” is not enough.
    • Ask honest and relevant questions to begin conversations
    • Set up a wireless presentation for teams to share work, ideas, etc.
    • Share your ideas and be open to others sharing theirs. A great opportunity to test new concepts and approaches to work
  2. Know your people. While employee feedback surveys and polls can give some insights, it’s what you do with that information that will show employees that you care about them:
  • Put faces to names, and learn what they do for your business
  • Create an employee social network and share contacts through your unified communication system
  • Host internal “focus groups” to understand your team members’ vision and future goals for your business
  • Promote professional development by coordinating classes and workshops, based on team interests
  1. Acknowledge efforts and successes. Take “a job well done” to the next level.
  • Create a team newsletter/blog to recognize team and individual achievements
  • Highlight your team’s work to executives and share the feedback with your employees
  • Say “Thank You”
  1. Developing incentives can increase motivation and productivity.
  • Reward employees with company-sponsored event, like free lunch or an early dismissal
  • Feature employees on company blog. For example, show how employees are using the latest presentation software
  • Develop employee referral programs to attract new talent

The common denominator will be authenticity. Employees are attracted to managers and colleagues who are genuine in their interests and work. That encourages motivation and helps employee feel like they are making a difference at work, and not just a hired hand.
It is extremely important to build solid and loyal relationships with your employees. To do that, you should engage with them from gaining feedback on a proposed campaign to developing new ideas to optimize your business. As your business grows, so will your employees.

Contact Us!

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

IT’s Impact On Your Overall Business

Posted on

Technology is constantly evolving with new products hitting the market daily. However, the latest hardware and software may not be the best fit with your company’s needs. Before undertaking any IT initiative, it is important to examine the impact of change on the overall business.

  • Company objectives and goals. Your executive team has a vision for the business that may cover a few years. A proposed IT change may impact timelines for approved projects and campaigns. It is important to understand expectations of the business and place them against the benefits of the proposed technology such as wireless presentation. You should explore if the change will help to reach goals more efficiently.
  • Business processes. Across the company, each team or individual may have its own way of doing business. If documented, standard operating procedures should help IT understand how changes can enhance or hinder existing processes. Business intelligence, systematic workflows and resource management need to be reviewed to get a clear picture of the current operational landscape. You should also include any third parties to limit any disruptions in services.
  • Employee satisfaction. Employees rely on technology for their performance. Changes in hardware and software will often require time for training, based on skill and comfort level. Therefore, it’s important to understand who will be impacted by the change, how they are currently working and why the initiative is necessary. By acknowledging the employee in the decision-making process, it will be easier to adopt new technology across the company.
  • Customer satisfaction. Your end-user may be outside of the company. Technology changes can impact your back-end processes as much as your front-end display. For instance, if your business has an e-commerce site, it is important to make sure those changes are seamless to the customer. A disruption in their access to your brand can be hurt your company.

Consider the following when creating a proposal for an IT initiative:

  1. Present performance data on current situation where a change may be necessary
  2. Speak with colleagues and partners about current processes to identify opportunities for improvement
  3. Review standard operating procedures and workflows
  4. Outline the potential benefits and disadvantages of proposed initiative
  5. Create a schema and timeline of implementation/integration


Contact Us!

Want to set up a wireless Conference Room?Try Now

5 Hacks To Boost Productivity In The Office Space

Posted on

The average rate of productivity in the workplace is said to have improved slightly in the past year, according to the Department of Labor (DoL). However, many organizations are still challenged in this area. For instance, another survey by Salary.com found that 89 percent of employees waste time each day, with some losing at least 30 minutes by doing non-related work tasks.
When it comes to increasing worker efficiency, several factors from health and sleep patterns to office design and desk plants have been said to influence it. Year over year though, a few hacks have continued to prove effective in boosting office productivity.
1. Take Control of Technology
Several studies have shown that technology can boost worker productivity, but only when used effectively. One example of effective technology usage is to save time. For example, implementing wireless presentation software can open up time that was once wasted on setting up meetings, implementing digital signage that sends your conference room calendar to all of your interactive displays can help increase meeting room attendance, and using video conferencing can save you from traveling across the globe.
The key is to guide and control how certain technologies are used to create engagement and avoid distraction. For example, online collaboration tools allow workers to share, proofread, and edit projects in real-time from anywhere, accelerating the entire process. However, relying on them too much or using them unnecessarily can decrease efficiency. Organizations need to find the balance that works best for them.
Blog 2
2. Set Performance Goals and Track them  
One basic factor that can hurt productivity is that employees simply don’t know what is expected from them. When organizations give their employees specific, clear and realistic goals, it can help boost motivation and competition. This is especially true when individuals are rewarded or recognized publicly for meeting and exceeding goals. In fact, not recognizing achievement is the number one reason that people leave their jobs. Companies can even increase engagement by tracking and gamifying performance milestones. Several online applications and programs like GamEffective can help track productivity and transform it into a game or employee engagement tools like OfficeVibe, that can engage your employees in less than 5 minutes a month.
3. Measure Productivity Consistently
Every business is unique, which means that not every productivity tool or policy will produce substantial results. This is one reason why establishing a consistent method of measurement is essential.
Another, perhaps more important reason, is that it creates the opportunity for company leaders to give employees meaningful feedback and to receive feedback from them. Measuring efficiency in your office should be designed in a way that helps employees grow personally and professionally.
4. Let them Work from Home, Occasionally
The Harvard Business Review published results from a study on Chinese travel company, Ctrip’s remote workers. The company compared the efficiency of employees allowed to work from home to in-office employees for a nine month period. It found that the at-home workers made 13.5 percent more calls per week on average than their in-office counterparts.
The study claimed that giving employees a break from the daily monotony of their workstations, meeting rooms, and huddle spaces can actually boost happiness and productivity. It wasn’t that the at-home group worked harder than the on-site one. It was all about having flexibility. Maintaining a healthy balance between on-site and remote options can increase overall performance.
Employees are the driving force behind every organization’s success. With so many devices and gadgets, they can easily lose focus and fall behind. Organizations that take control of their office environment and engage workers are the ones that will maintain increased productivity and growth year after year.

Contact Us!