Obama did it in his inauguration address. Guy Kawasaki has been preaching it for years. Ever notice at the 15 minute mark during a presentation that the presenter is pretty interesting but by the 30 minute mark you are confused? That’s apparently because there is real science behind “a 20-minute presentation always beats a 60-minute one! Carmine Gallo reported for Forbes that Dr. Paul King of Texas Christian University, a noted communications scholar, says “that cognitive processing—thinking, speaking, and listening—are physically demanding activities. If you pile on too much information, you create “anxiety”—cognitive backlog—and your audience will actually turn on you!”
If by chance you have made some career missteps, Jessica Kleiman writes it’s not too late to bounce back in her recent Forbes article. According to Jessica, the first step is to:
Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst.
- Go with your gut. When you see a red flag, pay attention. How many times in life have you kicked yourself for not listening to that little voice in your head that says, “Something is wrong here”?
- Have a plan and a back-up plan. In PR, we try to lay out a strategy and do our best to identify potential pitfalls and problems on the horizon. While we may not always be able to predict what’s coming our way, by doing the exercise and putting a solid plan on paper, you’ll be prepared to deal with it if the issue ever sees the light of the day.
Big Data
Have you been wondering what all the noise is about Big Data and whether you should even care? Well according to Techcrunch, Big Data and SaaS will become relevant for small business in 2013.Why the change? According to the author, “ this year is going to be a year of dramatic changes for small businesses because startups are finally giving them access to previously inaccessible data, delivering actionable visualization of data, and driving loyalty automation. It’s going to be an amazing year!”
Paying More
Prices are going up on a number of staple items Americans enjoy reports CNN Money. In 2013, Americans will be shelling out more for steaks, hamburgers, bacon, satellite television, mail, public transit, and taxes; you will also be paying higher airline fees. Melanie Hicken reports for @CNNMoney, “Many airlines now charge a range of fees for redeeming miles. US Airways tacks a $25 award processing fee onto any ticket. Redeem your miles within 21 days of travel and you’ll be facing another $75 fee on top of that. US Airways said the processing fees help support its mileage program.
Innovation
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 20 years, it should come as no big surprise that San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara lead the U.S. and the world in innovation as measured by the number of patents according to a new report by the Brookings Institution. But what may surprise you is how other cities fared. Burlington, Rochester, Corvallis, Boulder, and Poughkeepsie rounded out the top six innovative cities in the U.S. all beating San Francisco which ranked number 8. Curious how your city fared? You can see a full listing of the top 20 at Business Insider.