Does it capture the imagination, or is it just a vehicle for your contact information?

Take a look at these and see if these capture your imagination:

• http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs
• http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs_part_2

Picture yourself receiving one of these business cards.  Would you pay more attention to it?  Would you tell other people about it?

Is your business card working for you, or just being thrown in the recycling?

Stuck for ideas on how to make your business card exciting and compelling?  Add a comment to this post with your email address (it isn’t displayed to the public) and I will get back to you.

John Kinde answers the question:  Why Enter a Toastmasters Speech Contest? and no, the answer is not for the silverware!

Reason #4 hits home especially for me: Better Feedback.

I would like to add to what John wrote.  It is essential that you record your speech and review it to make use of audience feedback.  It is very difficult to deliver a contest speech and also pay attention to the audience feedback in the moment. Don’t forget to request a written evaluation from an audience member.  Every speech can be a manual speech.  At higher level contests, seek out more experienced evaluators. In addition to your home club giving you more intense and focused feedback, I recommend visiting other clubs to get new perspectives.  Contestants who wish to win at higher levels need variety in their feedback.

I love being the General Evaluator at a Toastmasters meeting.  Today, I seized the opportunity.

I asked a simple question:

Who learns from an evaluation?

The answer is that everyone does:

• The speaker is obviously a direct recipient of the information.
• The evaluator learns by giving the advice.  Hearing it come from their own mouth reinforces the message.
• The audience learns from hearing both the speaker and the evaluation.

Starting off your general evaluation in this way does two important things:

1. Prepares everyone at the club to listen to the evaluator, relating what they hear to themselves.
2. Orients the evaluators to the fact that they are teaching everyone.

See Also:

• Who learns from a Toastmasters speech?

Get a feedback loop and listen to it…it can be one great man who tells you what you need to hear.

The hard part is the listening to it. Anybody can get chewed out. It’s the rare person who says: “Oh my God, you were right.” As opposed to, “no wait, the real reason is…”  We’ve all heard that.

When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.

Randy Pausch – The Last Lecture

Dear Philips,

I recently bought a Senseo coffee maker and am very happy with it.  It makes great coffee very quickly.  Quite often I want just a single cup of coffee and the convenience cannot be beat.

There is one problem that plagues me though.  I keep forgetting to change out the old coffee pods.  I end up wasting milk, sugar, and time because I then have to remake another cup.  Would it be possible to have the container for the pods “pop up” when a cup has been made?  This would prevent the coffee maker from making a new cup without closing the lid.  This would remind me to change coffee pods when I next use it.  I cannot imagine anyone wanting to make 2 cups of coffee from a single pod, so I don’t see a down side to this.

The Senseo coffee maker is so simple and easy to use and creates great coffee.  I am going to see if I can get them into my workplace.

Thanks,

John.