Does anyone ever nod off while you’re giving your power point presentation? They don’t in most of the best meetings because power point isn’t used unless it’s a unique situation. Don’t get me wrong, I love putting presentations together and delivering them. It’s how I earn a living. But, there is a certain posture and response that most people assume once the lights are adjusted and screen projected. It is not an attentive or engaged posture!

Replacing power point with visual aids and action is how these meetings succeed. Perhaps this could make your meetings more productive by engaging the attendees more actively. Sure, you won’t have an ‘on screen’ script to follow and you’ll have to memorize the material or use a printed script. And the benefit of that is people won’t say,

For those in the Philadelphia viewing area you can see the Productivity Cafe’s Susan Sabo organize the morning news anchors’ cubicles by tuning to 6abc (WPVI 6abc – Philadelphia) at 6:50 on Tuesday November 28 (the before story) and Wednesday November 29 (the after story). We filmed the before shots in early November then did the work and finished filming on Monday, 11/20. While we didn’t have to dig through mountains of papers, there is a great transition in the look and functionality of the desks. We added some useful new furniture and desk accessories.

It was fun being in the newsroom as Tamala Edwards’ and Matt O’Donnell’s neighbors reacted with ooohs and aaaahs.

If you can’t watch it in person, set your recorder to start at 6 just in case things get moved around. If they post the pieces on the web we’ll put the link to the video on the Productivity Cafe.

Thanks for all your support!

Do you find yourself wishing you had more time to do the things at the ‘top of your list’? When I lead workshops we do an activity where the participants write down what they’d do if they had an extra 30-60 minutes per day. Time after time these activities are most popular (maybe they’d be on your list too):

• exercise
• visit with family and/or friends
• delve deeper into a hobby
• read – a book, magazine or newspaper
• take a walk (often with dog)

If you eliminate a few time-wasters I guarantee you’ll find 30-60 minutes per day. However, you are going to have to critically examine what you do because you like doing it versus that which you need to do. For example, it’s the catalog season.

In the Business Section, section E, of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer you can find the follow-up article to a popular series written in the spring by Jane Von Bergen. These articles can also be found on Philly.com – the companion to the Inquirer although the telling photos are missing. The client I helped can be read about at: Jamie Joffe & Susan Sabo article. Jane’s current article is at: Past the Mess by JVB.

Best to you this holiday season!

Susan

If you dread trips to the post office for mailing your holiday cards and packages consider these mailing tips! Yes, it’s that time of year many of us amp up our use of shipping services. Christmas cards are written and ready to send. Holiday gifts need to be delivered to our favorite family, friends, and clients. And there are 100 other things we could be doing that are a lot more fun than standing in line in the post office where some workers are starting to get overworked and have the resulting ‘less cheery’ disposition of season.

The USPS has really stepped up to meet our needs. On the postal service website USPS Holiday Link you can learn how to take care of a myriad of mailing activities from the comfort of home. You can request package pickup and print your postage at home. If you like to have those seasonal stamps they can be ordered from the USPS and delivered right to your mailbox. You can even check on the deadlines for mailing (December 18 for 1st class mail to be delivered by December 24).

The Clutter Diet article titled ‘Top Four Post Office Avoidance Tips elaborates on Holiday mailing ideas.

You could also consider sending electronic greetings (egreetings).

Some people say OHIO (Only Handle It Once) when helping others become more productive and organized. I say that’s bunk! Handle it as many times as makes sense because handling things only once is like channel surfing – you get a glimpse of a lot of things but never get the full picture.

Two times you definitely want to handle an item or email or document is 1 – when it arrives and 2 – when you use it. For example, when an email arrives you must take a look at it. Immediately skim the message and a – delete it or b – put it in a folder with like items. Like items relate to the same topic or project. The result of this first handling organizes you for action.

When you’re ready to work on a particular project you will handle the document a second time. You are really ready for productivity because all of the related documents are in one spot. You will then

Why are you working at the job you’re doing? My friend Ray just decided to leave a job where his performance is described as enviable success. He makes plenty of money to pay his modest mortgage and have fun-filled family vacations. His cars are paid for and he’s confident about being able to afford to put his 3 children through college starting a decade from now. So why is he leaving the role as VP of Sales to be CEO at a smaller company? It’s because the new role gets him jazzed, starts his engine humming like a 525 horse power sports car and pays the bills. He’s got the best of both worlds. Do you have either one? You might.

Sometime we don’t even know that we’ve arrived at the place that fulfills our definition of success.

The Productivity Cafe focuses on office and professional life. If you want a guide for de-cluttering your home, Lorie Marrero at The Clutter Diet has a plan for you! Launched just hours ago ClutterDiet.com offers a low-cost and high-value aid to getting your house in order. Lorie explains her program clearly in a video here: TCD Sample Lesson & Video Tour.

The features of The Clutter Diet program include:

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Back from a networking event or trade show? Cleaning up your desk? How do you handle a bundle of business cards that you want to input into your database? Well, you could type all the info into your computer. Or, you could automate the process using Dymo’s Cardscan. You feed the business card into this little device that resembles a mini-copier and it reads the card and places the information in the appropriate spot on the capture screen. Then, you can import the info into Outlook or other contact management programs.

Beyond the speed, a CardScan makes few ‘typing’ mistakes – especially compared to someone racing to enter 10 or 100 cards! The software that comes with CardScan allows you to categorize contacts, eliminate duplicate contacts, print labels, and more. See the details at CardScan website.

If you want a book that gives you ideas for home and office, this one is worth considering. While part of Julie Morgenstern’s popularity comes from her association with Oprah, the content of this book warrants a read. What most of you will like about it is that somewhat short chapters deal with one topic at a time. I appreciate that she uses the same format for each chapter so you can get in synch with her thinking. She gives her favorites and uses the acronym S.P.A.C.E. (sort, purge, assign a home, containerize, equalize) in each space.

Written nearly a decade ago, in 1998, the portion of the book that addresses technology is out-of-date. Still, her ideas for office layout, filing mindset, and general approach will give disorganized people some ideas for getting started.

A final benefit of this book could be to encourage you to hire a local professional organizer – if you’ve tried unsuccessfully enough times on your own, a professional organizer might be your key to success. Find one at: National Association of Professional Organizers. Be sure to ask a lot of questions about their area of expertise (most are residential specialists) and experience.