Restroom Iconography X: Big Basin Showers

YES!!

Just a simple graphic, but one that makes me very happy.
I'm a man of simple pleasures (really...).
A convertible car, a pepperoni pizza, and a long... hot... shower...

You can even take away the first two, but don't deny me my shower.

Anyway, I am always delighted to see this icon, even if I don't need it.
It's a symbol in the best way.

Hoopla in the Redwoods

Tricky Dick via hues

Angie and I were out in the Redwood Forests this weekend - hiking, drinking wine, playing with fire, and making Hoopla.

It was a good weekend.

I have to recommend Hoopla to anyone who is looking for a boardgame that demands multiple skills and is not overly competitive. It's just plain fun.

Hoopla combines pictionary with password with charades and more.

The picture above is from my clue for Angie to guess, "Richard Nixon".

For a game that tests verbal, visual, and kinesthetic skills - I have to recommend Hoopla.

How to Make a Stakeholder Map

Last week, I helped a team create a Stakeholder Map.

I've had this idea in my head for awhile, and have done a few on my own - but this was the first time I had a team create one for a presentation.

We presented it today, and it was really effective. The one above is an example:

• Lines indicate relationships (solid = strong, dotted = weak, none = none).
• Size equals relative size of the client.
• Color equals the client feeling about the product or service (green = good, yellow = medium, red = bad, black = no feeling).

The idea is that you can sell a so-so product to a customer with a great relationship, or a great product through a so-so relationship; but anything red puts you at risk... so you need to fix it.

In our meeting today, an executive said, "Why is the customer disconnected?"
Because, this is an internal product, we replied.
The image stuck in his head, because he later said, "No. Internal = External. We need to start thinking about the customer."

A connection that could have easily been buried in a table or text spoke to him through the picture. And gave us an important insight.

This is, I think, a good idea with a mediocre execution. I give it a 8/10 for utility (it communicated its point very well) and a 3/10 for aesthetics.
I'd love to see someone build a stakeholder map template with a strong design sense.
If you do, please send it to me!

Restroom Iconography IX: La Concha, La Paz

If you've been following this blog (and, let's be honest, you probably haven't been... you've probably ended up here by some freak accident - it's okay, I welcome you...) then you know that I'm a bit of a restroom icon geek.

I love the surprise of finding a restroom that uses a non-traditional icon for males and females toilets.
Sure, it takes a minute longer for me to find the right one, but I'm engaged.
That's a plus!

This is an icon from La Concha Resort in La Paz, Mexico. You may have noticed that it's not a Mexican motif. In fact, it's Thai.
La Concha Resort is filled with art and sculpture from South East Asia. I'm not sure why, but I enjoyed it while I was there.

Regardless of origin, even I could figure out that this identified the ladies restroom. I turned around and went to the mens room. But only after I snapped a picture. I like the colors. I like the woodgrain. Most of all, I like the fact that someone took more than five minutes to think about what image would mark the restrooms...

Training Hall of Fame

Last year, KLA-Tencor's was inducted into Training Magazine's "Training Tiop 10 Hall of Fame".

It's a pretty cool honor, putting us in the company of IBM, Pfizer, Booz-Allen Hamilton, Ritz-Carlton, and Ernst & Young.

Recently, we hung our plaque from Training Magazine, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Stephanie (official title - training goddess) took this photo of me with the plaque in my office.

While I wish it were a cup or glass (like the Stanley Cup), so I could drink out of it... it's still cool.

Situational Leadership II Brochure

In the past four years, I've learned two tools that changed my perspective on management - DISC Profiling and Ken Blanchard's Situational Leadership II (SLII).

If you have any interest in development, you find the SLII model invaluable.

Do yourself a favor, go to this link right now and download the brochure.

Read it, read it again, sleep on it, and then read it once more.

There is not a day that passes where I don't use the SLII model.

Download it now and thank me later.

The Modern Art of Presenting: Presentation Reboot

Nancy Duarte shows the power of design grids

Last week, I attended "Presentation Reboot" - an event that featured Nancy Duarte (author of Slideology) and Garr Reynolds (author of Presentation Zen). Nancy and Garr are the two leading proponents of a new and quickly growing school of presentation design.

If you don't own their books, you should buy both immediately.

Nancy discussed her passion for story before having us do an audience analysis and then determining our story arc. Story is the root for most design decisions, in Nancy's view, and I agree.

Cognitive science show us that the brain loves story. In fact, the brain loves story so much that it will make one up if it doesn't exist. 

Think about that - if you don't determine your story, your audience will... and it might not be the story you want!

Garr Reynolds models Presentation Zen

One look at Garr Reynolds' slide set tells you that he isn't your usual business presenter. Garr lives and works in Japan and has clearly embraced the aesthetics of the culture.
Having spent 8 years in Japan myself, Garr's work resonates with me. I've read his blog for a few years and loved his book. Seeing him model the principles he preaches energized me and the rest of the audience.

While Garr isn't an ideologue, he definitely comes from the "Tee-shirt" school of presentation.

The "Tee-shirt" school says that a slide should look like a tee-shirt - one sentence, one picture.

My table mates practice the art of contrast

The folks at the workshop were buzzing from the start and kept buzzing to the end.

We did a number of exercises that allowed us to practice some of the principles that Nancy and Garr covered.

My key takeaways:

• Any presenter can connect with any audience, if they try (as our exercise showed - yes, even Richard Simmons with Mafia hit men).
• That slides, like billboards, should be a 'glance' media.
• Slides are slides - not 'slideuments'.
• A grid system will add power and coherence to a presentation.
• The importance of 'naked' presenting - both Garr and Nancy share themselves on the stage, and their presentations are much stronger for that.
• See more at presentationzen and duarte design.