…and now I am relaxing with a cup of decaf. I am going to tentatively deem my presentation a success, as I received a number of compliments and have retained all of my limbs.
Last night I was concerned that I wouldn’t have enough material to fill the allotted time; as it turned out, I ran a few minutes over. I did my best to acknowledge it, though, and to hurry up and finish, so I hope no one was terribly upset.
If I had to do it over, I would spend a bit more time explaining what I wanted to talk about and introducing myself professionally. I’m afraid that in my eagerness to get to the content, I might not have made it 100 percent clear that the point of the content was to help businesspeople pitch themselves and their businesses as interesting subjects for newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations to cover. And I rushed through my own qualifications and background (although I don’t really think I needed to dwell on them, as long as what I had to say spoke for itself).
The other thing I would change is kinda funny: Before the meeting started, I told another MABC member it was my first time using PowerPoint and that the only thing I didn’t want to do was just read verbatim everything on the slide show, because isn’t that just the worst, when all you’re doing is saying aloud what a roomful of perfectly literate adults can read and comprehend for themselves? Naturally, I then proceeded to read much of the slide show verbatim. It’s very hard not to! I believe I provided some added value with my presence. Certainly the questions and input from other members were really fantastic. (On that note, many people chimed in with useful info, but Diana Mahaffey specifically mentioned Help a Reporter Out, a resource I’m linking to here and in the previous post.)
If all goes well, when this goes up, I’ll be in the middle of a presentation at this month’s Madison Area Business Consultants’ meeting. It’s about the benefits of getting news coverage of your work, and how best to go about doing that.
For anyone who’d like a copy, I’m posting a PDF of the PowerPoint document here—and of course, even if you’re not in MABC, you should feel free to take a look at it. (I can’t guarantee it will all make sense if I’m not standing in front of you, speaking and gesturing, however. The 300 graphic, for example, might be confusing.)
Update: During the presentation, Diana Mahaffey mentioned Help a Reporter Out, a website that lets you offer yourself as an expert source to reporters in need of sources. It’s a great resource, so thanks for the tip, Diana! And thanks to everyone who was at the meeting for lending me your ears, and for your kind words, thoughtful questions, and great feedback.
In case you ever thought doing weird pop art was more a matter of “weird” than “art,” this video of Ke$ha on SNL more or less falsifies that notion. This Jezebel post says, like, exactly what I would say, which is convenient. Flags and spacemen don’t automatically make something interesting. (Although on the other hand, here it is getting blogged about, so.)
Update, 4/21: The manager of the East Towne JCPenney ended up seeing this blog post, and left a message for me yesterday. I just got off the phone with him. He let me know that the employee we had a problem with was typically a very good staff member who just had a bad moment. I believe it, having been there myself a few times when I was in customer service. Anyway, the issue has been addressed, and I really appreciate how quickly and how well Penney’s handled it. All companies should be so good about this sort of thing.
There are two Penney’s in Madison, and we shopped at both of them this weekend, and had pretty disparate experiences:
On Saturday, I went looking for a suit. Now, I work out of a cave for the most part, and it’s a great cave (thank you, in-laws and previous owners of this house, for furnishing it so nicely), but the dress code is less “casual Fridays” and more “I am probably in just my underwear right now.” (Apologies if you are eating.) So while I need a suit occasionally—for instance, I’m going to a business event in Chicago this weekend—it’s mostly going to hang in the closet.
As a result, I wanted to spend as little as possible and still end up with something nice. I headed to Men’s Wearhouse, where I was helped by Iven (his title is “Assistant Manager II”), who was quite personable, but who heard that my budget was around $300 and immediately showed me a $400 suit. He showed me some other options, but they weren’t really tenable. I told him I’d think about it (thought: My wife will kill me if I buy this suit) and scooted over to Penney’s across the street at the West Towne Mall.
Oof. This AP story by Pauline Arrillaga about a former Army member fighting to make sure discharged soldiers get the medical help they need is a good, partly depressing, partly inspiring read. [Archived PDF version]
Hello! I'm Josh Wimmer—a freelance writer and editor who lives in Madison, Wisconsin. You can find out more about what I do or see some samples of my work, or, if you're curious, learn other things about me. And if that's not enough for you, I also keep a blog.
If you'd like to get in touch, please write me at joshwimmer@gmail.com or call me at 608.318.3348.
