But what about the antioxidants …?

Just when I was revelling in the little snippets coming my way that said chocolate was good for hearts – especially the dark variety, (of chocolate that is …) and that there were antioxidants there as well, I come across this little gem …

“Chocolate may deepen depression

Chocoholics can happily eat chocolate for pleasure but for those who are stressed and clinically depressed, the high is short-lived and chocolate may even deepen the downer, a review shows.”

You can read more …

What a wet blanket to throw over my hopes for the benefits of chocolate.

But then I hearken back to late teens when I was melodramatically “depressed” over some cad, and decided that other people used alcohol to “drown their sorrows” and that was what I could do too. Went out and bought a bottle of whisky. Didn’t work, did it? Made the miseries worse.

Further experimentation with alcohol made me come to the conclusion that whatever crutch you were using was just that – a support to whatever you were feeling at the time – happy, and the alcohol made you happier, sad and you drowned in it. So … maybe the same applies to chocolate.

Ah well – back to the attempts (mostly successful!) at moderation.

Tags:
chocolate

How to wow 'em like Steve Jobs


Steve Job is the charismatic, driven CEO of Apple Computers and well known for his dynamic presentations. Carmine Gallo has analysed Steve Job’s presentations in an article titled How to Wow ‘Em Like Steve Jobs “Jobs,” he says, “learned a long time ago that a leader must be a company evangelist and brand spokesperson.”

He has distilled Job’s success into five tips, and I include here just the skeleton of what he wrote.

Sell the Benefit

Steve Jobs … sells an experience… “It’s not about the technology, but what the technology can do for you.”

Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More

Jobs takes nothing for granted during product launches. He reviews and rehearses his material…. ‘Truth is, the sense of informality comes only after grueling hours of practice.’

Keep It Visual

… there are very few bullet points in a Jobs presentation. Each slide is highly visual. … Simple and visual. Take a cue from Jobs and help your listeners visualize the message.

Exude Passion, Energy, and Enthusiasm
Jobs has an infectious enthusiasm.

“And One More Thing…”
At the end of each presentation Jobs adds to the drama by saying, “and one more thing.” He then adds a new product, new feature, or sometimes introduces a band. He approaches each presentation as an event, a production with a strong opening, product demonstrations in the middle, a strong conclusion, and an encore — that “one more thing!”

It’s Your Turn

Gallo is the author of the new book, 10 Simple Secrets of the World’s Greatest Business Communicators. Visit him online at http://www.carminegallo.com/

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"Slideuments" and the catch 22 for conference speakers

Slides are slides. Documents are documents. They aren’t the same thing.

Attempts to merge them result in what I call the “slideument” (slide + document = slideument).

Much death-by-Powerpoint suffering could be eliminated if presenters clearly separated the two in their own minds before they even started planning their talks.

Read on …

tags:
powerpoint
presentations

The Selfish gene

“They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate rationale for our existence. They have come a long way, those replicators. Now they go by the name of genes, and we are their survival machines.”The words are from The Selfish Gene, by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. And the evening was a celebration of the thirty year anniversary of the publication of his classic book.

Listen to the audio of the event

Why use handouts?

Why Use Handouts?

They allow you to provide more detailed information than you would put on a slide. They give your audience something to take away from your presentation, to review later. They are one more way for your listeners to be reminded of you and your key messages.

tag:
public speaking

Is this a scary sign of the times or just another example of “Only in America”?

“When Homeland Security director Tom Ridge recently released anti-terror tips that included stocking up on duct tape and plastic to seal off a room against gas or biological attacks, the idea of creating a “safe room” in the home wasn’t just for America’s elite anymore. ..” Read more

Speaking to ESL audiences

 
— Resli Costabell(Resli@Costabell.com)
When speaking to an audience that includes people who speakEnglish as a second language, you may notice that some peoplekeep whispering to the person sitting next to them. They’reprobably not being rude or inattentive. Indeed, the whisperingmay be a compliment: it is likely that the whisperer istranslating for the person next to him or her. When severalpeople start whispering at once, it’s your cue to rephrase whatever you just said.
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catlovers with too much time on their hands?

Cory Treffiletti writing in Online Spin:
“I was surfing around a few sites I was made aware of exactly how much free time everyone else seems to have and the extent to which people will go to fill those lonely hours”

And this is one of his discoveries.

StuffOnMyCat.com. “As the title implies, and the tagline confirms, “stuff + cats = awesome.”

And just love the comment …
“This site provides hours of fun as you scroll through page after page of interesting photography, which of course leads me to thinking that it’s strange how many people can find new and “exciting” ways to embarrass their cats.”

But there’s more …

“At this point, as if I wasn’t already questioning the sanity of some of my fellow netizens, along comes CatsInSinks.com. Yes, the site is exactly what it says it is. The site provides page after page of cats… in sinks. I showed the site to a few other people and they confirmed that cats actually do like sinks, which I find strange since cats don’t like water.”

How much do you love cats?



Changing you – for the better

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What’s the hurry?

Are well-meaning parents over-scheduling their children’s activities with the possible effect of robbing young people of the joys of childhood?Education consultant and early childhood expert, Ms Kathy Walker, author of the new book, What’s The Hurry? argues that parents who enrol their children in up to three, four or more extra curricula activities a week are contributing to the US-dubbed phenomena, the over-scheduled child – a trend that is rapidly growing in Australia. Read the whole article