If you’ve read The Gold Mine over the months, you know that we believe that it is possible to use Powerpoint well.  Earlier this month, I used Powerpoint to enhance a talk I gave to a group of colleagues in my professional network.  Valuable lessons were learned—by me.  And now, I share them with you.
Get Ready
I mapped out the overall message, and the component sections, of my talk. Then, I got it ready on Powerpoint. That part was so much fun! Too much fun! What a monstrous time suck!

I’d start searching through istockphotos.com. Let’s find photos of typewriters. Oh, goodie, …

Philanthropy today is not just about the merit of your cause but also your credibility, your visibility, and the ease of giving.

According to the Giving USA Foundation, 2008 charitable giving was estimated at over $300 billion, roughly 2 percent of the US economy. 2008 was also the first time in over 20 years that inflation-adjusted donations dropped relative to the year before.

While the 2009 figures will not be available for another month, earlier this year the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that the current recession’s impact on charitable giving seems to resemble that of the recession of …

Aaron -

I am the Executive Director for Development for the world’s largest YMCA Conference Center and we operate a $29 million dollar budget. Our rich 104-year history is something we treasure and work to improve the future for everyday. With over 250,000 guests staying at our two properties in Colorado, it is vital for us to turn those great guest experiences into valued members and future donors. Our online giving options have proven very successful and something our prospects have been very happy …

“E-Commerce… consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet….” - Wikipedia
Since the underlying principles of the digital and physical marketplaces are the same, there are a number of lessons you can take from one to the other.

Here are four key elements of e-commerce drawn from the needs of brick-and-mortar businesses and enhanced by technology.

Online Storefront - The Product Manager

The online storefront is your digital place of business.  As with any business you want to customize it to fit your customers’ buying habits, your chosen branding, and the logistical needs …

Much of what I advocate in the way of presentation development involves simplification. Simple messages and simple slides make it easy for the audience to enjoy your talk and understand your point.

One could argue that the mere presence of slides adds undue complexity to a talk because the audience is faced with making a choice between focusing on the presenter or the slide. There is truth enough in this argument to make you pause and think - should I even include slides with my next talk?

Between a talk with no slides and one with a heavy slide emphasis, there is …

This week’s vein of Online Ore can be found at https://addons.mozilla.org/

Firefox Add-Ons let you customize your experience using the Mozilla Firefox web browser.  From adding toolbars and artistic flourishes, to investigating code, to generating interactive utilities that allow you to keep informed on what’s going on in the wider world, one of the 5000+ Add-Ons designed for Firefox is bound to help.

This breadth of field is wonderful because everyone’s needs are different.  However, if you ever have any questions about which Add-ons to use to fit your requirements, we’d be glad to lend …

This week’s vein of Online Ore can be found at http://google.com/voice

Google Voice is a free online service that allows you to use a single telephone number to connect with every one of your phones (or any portion of them that you choose).  It also has voicemail functions that allow you to create custom messages for known callers and will automatically transcribe incoming voice mail so that it can send a copy to your in-box.

There are, however, limits to what Google Voice can do.  Google Voice will not automatically disconnect from a phone when you …

Call them memory crutches or call them mnemonic devices, they can help you remember to turn right at Maple Street, and which planet is closest to the Sun. Don’t we all need that?!

Most mnemonics are verbal—a word, phrase or rhyme—but they can be visual, auditory or kinesthetic: I still move my right hand if I want to double-check left from right.
Why do mnemonics work?
We could just learn the order of the planets:  Mercury Venus Terra Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto.  But it was easier for me to learn them by remembering: Mother Very Thoughtfully Made Jelly Sandwiches Under No Protest.

That …

I’m sure you’ve heard it - a business acquaintance refers to a talk or presentation he or she is soon to give as “a PowerPoint”. Perhaps you’ve done the same. Although I am not so rude as to express it outwardly, when I hear someone refer to his or her talk as “a PowerPoint”, I experience a fight-or-flight response as my blood pressure spikes and I get the urge to run for the door.

PowerPoint:  Microsoft Office product that provides users with an interface to design multimedia slides to be displayed on a projection system or personal computer.

I like to …

This week’s vein of Online Ore can be found at http://drop.io/

Drop.io is a free online file sharing service with visual twist.  It has all the speed of an FTP transfer, but you can view images, share files and add comments directly from your web browser.

Quick sort options let you view lists by date added or type of file, and drop.io comes with easy to select pre-built templates optimized for sharing through twitter, presenting material in presentations, working in collaboration, or make the content exclusively available to friends or paying clients.

Wendy Wentzel, one of MB/I’s crackerjack designers …