Pecha Kucha; Tom Adams Rosetta Stone; 3 First Impressions

  "…keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Following are highlights (simple things I learned), including short 1 to 3 minute video interviews, from the Fortune Growth Summit hosted this week in Orlando:

What is Pecha-Kucha — Craig Morantz demonstrated a presentation technique that created a mini-buzz throughout the end of the conference…more below, but first.

Tom Adams, CEO of Rosetta Stone — I finally understand the economics of all those kiosks in malls and airports (since I never see any customers visiting the kiosks). Generating a mere 13% of revenue, they really function as self-funding (and inexpensive) billboards helping to build brand awareness. In my short interview with Tom, he mentions having a coach named Ed and now has he's surrounded himself with other mentors and advisors including Ted Leonsis.

Bob Bloom, Author of The New Experts — Bob describes the "new experts" in my short interview. He also outlines the three things you MUST accomplish in the initial "now-or-never" moment when a customer first contacts you, on or offline. You must immediately have them like you, feel trust, and get them to talk (share some information about their needs and wants). And what you DON'T want to do is immediately start selling. So think about the homepage of your website, entrance to your building/store, or your sales person's first meeting. Watch Bob's interview for details.

David Meerman Scott, Author of Real-Time Marketing and PR (out Nov 1) — from Oakley reacting quickly to outfit the rescued Chilean miners with sunglasses to Eloqua, maker of marketing automation software, stealing PR from their competitor's sale to Oracle, we're in a real-time media world — and you should take advantage of it. David explains in this interview.

John Warrillow, Author of Built to Sell — essentially told his business was unsellable, he received some key advice from a mentor. The most valuable businesses provide services that meet three criteria — they are teachable, valuable, and repeatable (TVR). He went on to revamp his business to meet these criteria and then successfully sold it. He describes, in his interview, how this criteria explains the success of JiffyLube.

Liz Wiseman, Author of Multipliers — the one question that caught our audience most by surprise was Liz's question about the key attribute of a multiplier. By a huge margin, the audience chose "listening." In fact, it's "intellectual curiosity" for which our audience voted least. Liz goes on to explain why this is at the root of those that make people smarter vs. dumber. Take a look at her interview.

Chip Heath, Author of Switch — there are two simple ideas every leader can utilize immediately. First, rather than focus on problems, it's much better to focus on what's working — what Heath calls "bright spots." Second, leaders must move beyond just articulating SMART goals, but give people a picture of the end result — what Heath calls a "destination postcard." He explains with examples in this short 1 minute interview.

Thanks to Nan Palmero — Chief Inspiration Officer of Austin-based Sales by 5, Nan shot and uploaded the videos while twittering the entire Fortune Growth Summit.

Pecha-Kucha — Craig Morantz with Leed's, a top supplier of promotional products (including our conference bags), created a mini-buzz by sharing a pecha-kucha style presentation. According to Craig "the name comes from the Japanese term for the sound of 'chit chat.' The basic concept relies on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds."

Concise and Rapid-Paced Presentations — Craig continues, "It's a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving at a rapid pace. I have seen it turn 20 — 30 minute presentations into 6 minute 40 second presentations that have more impact. Who doesn't want shorter more engaging presentations? You simply set your power point presentation to automatically move to the next slide every twenty seconds and do not exceed 20 slides. Additionally the use of copy should be eliminated (which really should be the rule for any PowerPoint). Just use images." Anyway, it was fun to watch.