Twitter and Linkedin

I've been posting more on Twitter these days. It's very addictive. You can follow my shanghai ramblings here

http://www.twitter.com/andrewpickett

I'm also a big fan of Linkedin.com, I'm an linkedin open networker: LION so feel free to add me, I will accept your invitation.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpickett

NPV and Christmas

Having just learnt the NPV concept I was interested to learn of Amazons recent patent of NPV for delivery dates. Techdirt published the new that Amazon has patented the idea of assessing delivery dates (expected times) based on the future profitability of that customer. So if you are a good future prospect for Amazon you can expect speedy delivery of goods. Bad news if Amazon decide you have a low NPV as a customer. Read the article here. So would santa have a low or high NPV?

Top tip for presentations

The Chicago outfit 37 Signals writes a great design blog. In a very timely fashion that have posted a great tip for presentations. As any MBA student knows presentations are our bread and butter. But they can often be a very daunting task, required at short notice.

37 Signals recommend speaking first. Sounds obvious huh! But actually when did you write all your points out and then retrofit what you were going to say;

I used to build my presentations first and then talk them out second. I’d
make an outline or create some slides to get started. I’d try to think logically
about how to begin, how to fill the middle, and how to end. Then once I had all
the slides done I’d talk through them for the first time. I usually wasn’t happy
with the outcome. I’d over-think and under-deliver. This process churned out
clinical, sterile presentations. Yuck.

When I do this I find that I end reading a transcript and my presentation becomes the reading of a to-do list. For my next attempt I'm going to try their technique and speak the presentation first, then fit my presentation to that.

Too much information

Just what does the future hold?

The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive. - John Sladek

Study techniques

It's been quite a few years since I have had to study formerly for examinations. Being in the business I am continuous education is par for the course however this tends to be in areas with direct and immediate application of new knowledge. Studying theory and internalising that knowledge for assessment is another story.

We've been introduced to new learning techniques to help us get started. Mind maps being a keystone concept. These work by creating associations of ideas and it's the associations that serve as foundations for deeper knowledge.

There is a wealth of information about mind maps on the internet with even free software tools to facilitate them.

On a seperate tack the Book "One L" by Scott Turow gives some excellent tips on how to study when faced with a huge volume of texts to get through. His experiences are taken from his first year at Harvard Law school and I think that any MBA student will be familiar with the situation of facing the volumes of work described here. Turow develops a system that works for him. He simply triages information into new, mastered, needs revisiting and information that he doesn't understand. By sticking to this system he is quicker able to get through a dearth of new data.

Starters for ten...

Want to be a fresher (freshman) again? Tempted back by the experiences of the first round? There are undergrads that are lovin' it, freebies, parties - it's all happening. And then there's grad school! I'm sure most of my colleagues are under no illusions, we are once again freshmen. We're here to work and don't we now know it! I've met some great people already and I can tell this is going to be a great year! A great year! But the clock is already ticking...tuesday the work starts in earnest. Let's get to work.