Ask the following questions:
- Who is your message for?
- What is its purpose?
- How do you want it to sound?
- Will they find and understand the information they need?
- Will they know what you want them to do next?
Tips:
Remember communication is both verbal and non-verbal; be conscious and try to ensure that your non-verbal and verbal messages are saying the same thing.
Listen and hear what is being communicated. Much conflict results from poor listening. Repeat what you hear to confirm the accuracy of the information you have heard.
Ask questions and let others talk. Asking questions allows you to hear the information in a different way or just hear it again. Dominating a conversation becomes a monologue, not a conversation .
Engage in Difficult Conversations When necessary. Not saying something doesn't make a situation go away and can cause more stress in the long run. Write down the important points in order to feel comfortable about what you have to say. Try to use a tone that is open and non-confrontational in order to encourage feedback from the other person.
Notes from a webinar by Tim Wackel on the 6 Greatest Mistakes of Presentations...
Mistake # 1: Not understanding the audience
- Who will attend?
- What do they really want?
- Why are they participating?
- Do you need to establish credibility?
- "Why you?" – Quotes, results, case studies, credentials.
- How much time do you have?
- Specific measurable benefit?
- Likely objections?
- Bake objections right into the presentation "If I had to guess, I'm sure you guys are thinking…"
Mistake # 2: Lack of a clearly defined objective
- What do you want?
- What is in it for the listener?
- What is my call to action, how is it going to benefit the audience?
- Let the audience know early on what the objective is.
Mistake # 3: Too much data!
Aim for no more than three or four big ideas, "chapter titles", pillars that support your objective and form a framework of the presentation…
...Why?
- Memory and impact
- Distil many ideas into few
- Lead with your best stuff
Mistake # 4: Failing to excite
Look for the hook to start with, should take less than two minutes. Forget platitudes. Pause and then launch with a "gee-whiz" fact, a powerful story. Focus attention on key issues and grab their attention. Make it engaging and fun.
Mistake # 5: Death by PowerPoint
- Should only be used to visualise ideas, create key points, impress!
- Should not be a script, handout or data dump
- Add more pictures that have meaning
- The "6 x 6 Rule - no more than 6 words across, 6 lines down to any one slide
Mistake # 6: Ending with inspirational deficit
- Work on a punchy close. "What, if anything is going to prevent you from taking the next step right now?"
Presentation blueprint:
Introduction
- Hook
- Message Objective
- 3 Talking Points
Body
- Talking point 1/evidence
- Talking point 2/evidence
- Talking point 3/evidence
Close
- Recap Message Objective
- Recap 3 Talking Points
- Ask for a commitment
A quick Google of "SPLA" will tell you that it stands for the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
While this is the top result, it is far from relevant to the SPLA that we deal with in the IT Industry. Microsoft SPLA (Service Provider Licensing Agreement) is a program that allows resellers or service providers to "rent" software licenses to their clients. It is aimed primarily at those wishing to offer hosted software and services to end user customers and who wish to include software licenses as part of their service offering.
Typically, a Microsoft license agreement in programs such as OEM, FPP and Volume Licensing are held between Microsoft and the end customer; known as a "EULA" (End User Licensing Agreement).
The SPLA agreement is different. This is held between Microsoft and the reseller/service provider. It grants the provider with the rights to lease Microsoft software to their clients. The most important consideration in this scenario is that the hardware upon which the software will reside cannot be owned by the end customer. It can be installed at customers' facilities, but it must be hardware that the provider owns or leases to the end customer.
The licensing is provisioned by the service provider on a "pay as you go" basis. Meaning they pay Microsoft (and bill their clients) only for the products that they authorise customers to use on a monthly basis. The service provider reports at the end of each month on the number of active installations and can "turn on" and "turn off" the licenses to meet any fluctuations in staff numbers, as required.
SPLA gives the ability for those offering Hardware as a Service to offer clients a monthly subscription to the most current Microsoft product versions, either per subscriber (SAL – subscriber access license) or per processor. This licensing model allows the provision of "TaaS"; Technology as a Service, as both the hardware and the licensing can be rented to the client. At the end of the hardware's lifecycle, service providers can refresh the hardware with whatever the most current software platform happens to be, thereby continuing to rent them a complete solution and a current platform.
This takes the focus away from simply selling a box and allows service providers to be more flexible with the way hardware, software and service is supplied.
The biggest hurdle for a client is to make the mental leap from "ownership" to a true rental scenario whereby they will never possess the equipment or the licensing, but simply rent it. It can have huge tax benefits for a company but some business owners are just that. They like to own the capital; renting is a paradigm shift.
As we move more and more towards "the Cloud" people will shift their thinking away from traditional models and start embracing concepts such as hosted, rented, and serviced. SPLA enables IT partners the ability to offer solutions that fit with this model, while still retaining control over the client's environment and adding value through services.
