Anna S. E. Lundberg

Coach, Speaker, Writer

Ch-ch-changes: What I love most about rivers is…

By Leave a Comment

“You can’t step in the same river twice,” said Pocahontas. Or was it Heraclitus?

Everything changes, even you, despite what Take That may have had to say about it.

We must change or become stagnant, says my dad.

But not all change is good. Change for change’s sake is unlikely to be effective. Don’t change a winning horse. If it aint broke, don’t fix it, as my mum says (- sometimes even if it is broke! Hehe…). Conventional wisdom, it seems, can’t quite make up its mind.

I recently completed a psychometric questionnaire for a job interview, which placed me off the chart in terms of embracing change, adapting to change, driving change – so it seems I’m more in my dad’s camp when it comes to valuing change over stability. I’m at my most creative in situations that are rather unstructured, I enjoy new challenges, and I have zero tolerance for dogmatism. Who wants to do the same thing over and over? Been there, done that, written the tweet.

Digital marketing, then, is a pretty good fit for me. Technology is constantly advancing, consumer behaviour changing, best practices evolving. It’s incredibly stimulating: a never-ending learning curve, an opportunity to evolve along with the changes in the field.

But it’s exhausting! You’re always in flux, working towards a moving target, devouring news across a gazillion platforms to stay on top of the latest developments, always ‘on’.

And, sometimes, the old approach may still be the best one. Building further on the fundamentals you’ve already put in place may be more effective than jumping on the latest #bandwagon.

I think the same is true in life. Being constantly on the lookout for something better is exhausting, too. Life is not always greener on the other side; and, even if it is, what happens when you get to that other side? Is life even greener on another other side? You can get stuck in an ever-continuing spiral of raising the bar, setting your sights ever higher, dreaming new and more ambitious dreams.

Such is human nature. Our desire to innovate, to learn and adapt, has allowed us to survive, and thrive, where other species have faded away. We need only look at the well-documented cases of Kodak and Blackberry for evidence of this phenomenon in the business world.

So to change or not to change, is that the question? Well, a certain amount of change is inevitable. That river is going to change, whether you want it to or not. In fact, you’re going to change whether you mean to or not. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to accept it. And, as with most things in life, the sweet spot is most likely to be found in some balance between stability and change. Yin and yang, consolidation and expansion, continuity and evolution. Such is the delicate seesaw of life.

 

This post was inspired by an article from The Shrink & The Sage in the FT Magazine, Should we embrace change?; as well as by recent discussions with my parents.

Lessons from a marketing conference: 5 tips for effective presentations

By Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, I went to the Digital Marketing Show in London. I didn’t have any big ahas that I can share unfortunately… (Did you know that content was important?) To be fair, the organisers had explicitly said that the show was for marketing professionals and not digital experts, but I went anyway, what a rebel I am…

Instead, I focused my attention on the style and format of the presentations, rather than the message.

It’s really not the easiest environment for a presenter: 30-minute slots in a big noisy hall, faced with an unfamiliar audience. But there are some things you can do to make it more effective for both you and your listeners. Here are my five tips for effective presentations at a conference like this:
  • Create the right setting – As our friend Maslow will tell you, people are not going to be concentrating on your great conceptual debate if their basic needs are not being met. In this case, there weren’t enough seats and so most of us were more concerned with back pain and manoeuvring into prime position when seats were liberated between presentations, than with listening to the speaker. It also meant that a lot of people couldn’t see the screen. This is really down to the organisers but it’s something you at least need to be sensitive to.
  • Know who you’re talking to – This is such a fundamental requirement of tailoring your presentation to your audience. Normally, as a presenter, I would try to get a detailed list of attendees from the organiser with information on their function, their seniority, their business focus. While such detail isn’t possible at a large conference, you can at least get a basic overview of the type of attendees. You can also ask a few quick questions in the session: Hands up if you consider yourself an SEO expert. Who has heard of Google’s Venice update? How many of you work in B2C?
  • Get the tech working – Such an obvious one, especially in digital (- it’s particularly embarrassing when you’re presenting on online marketing and you can’t get the presentation to work). Find out about the set-up and test everything in advance. Will you be presenting directly from your own computer or do you need to put it onto the main PC? Is there an internet connection? In a noisy hall like this, you probably shouldn’t rely on videos where the sound is important. Better to keep it simple than to plan lots of fancy stuff that doesn’t work.
  • Choose a clear title – At a big conference, where attendees can choose among different presentations that are happening in parallel, you need a catchy headline that will make them choose you. Catchy, but also meaningful: you may come up with a sexy-sounding name but it’s useless if it doesn’t give your potential audience an indication of what you’re going to cover. And then you actually need to cover it! The title must reflect the content of your presentation, or the audience will be left disappointed and confused. And you don’t want that, now, do you…?
  • Focus on a key message – Half an hour is not a lot of time but the solution is not to speak quickly and click through text-heavy PowerPoint slides in order to cram as much into the slot as you possibly can. It’s both exhausting and counter-productive, as your audience will never retain it all. Decide on three key points, or even better one, that you want people to walk away with. What should they do when they get back to their desks? What should they change in their marketing plans? Why should they remember what you said over all the other things they’re being told today?

Now I don’t think these presenters were chosen for their public speaking skills, rather for their technical expertise. And we’re not talking about an inspirational keynote speech in front of thousands of people here. But it’s still in the presenters’ interest, and in that of the companies they represent, to package that expertise in a way that it will be understood and remembered. Something to think about for next time…