Tips for Creating Successful Executive Presentations

Tips for Creating Successful Executive PresentationsTips for Creating Successful Executive PresentationsAn invitation to present your ideas or your proposal to the executive management team is a great opportunity to make a positive impression on the people who have a voice in your future. If this is your first time presenting to this group, it pays to know your audience and set yourself up for success with proper planning. 6 Things You Should Know About Executives They appreciate well-prepared presentations Executives appreciate discovering anspruchsvoll new voices in the business and they will be paying close attention to you. Come prepared to deliver.Youre always on the clock when you are in front of executives While theyre interested in what you have to say, their attention spans are short. Use your allotted time carefully.Dont assume youre pitching to a team We tend to think of them as the executive team however, they are better described as a collection of smart, successful functional experts who come together from time-to-time to engage on the big issues facing the business. Roughly translated, if youre selling them on a new proposal, you will have to sell them one at a time. Know their hot-buttons Executives focus on costs, returns, and trade-offs. While you might be excited about the incredible benefits your new program offers for customers, theyre thinking How much will this cost? Or, What will I have to give up to support this initiative?Executives love data-driven discussions and recommendations Theyll descend upon your numbers outlining costs and returns like a pack of hungry wolves. However, if you bring questionable or confusing data to the meeting, it is possible you will lose an extremity. Executives are always hunting for great talent Emphasis on always. Work hard to make a great impression. Tips to Making a Great First Impression Put these tips to work to improve your odds of making a good impression Carefully construct, support, and p ractice your katecheseA simple exercise for distilling your message down to its component parts is called message mapping. Heres how you do it Draw a circle in the center of a sheet of paper. This is your core message. It should be no longer than one or two sentences. Yes, its difficult to distill your message down to a few brief sentences, but you must. The time invested now will pay dividends in your live presentation.Surround your core message with three or, at most, four additional circles. Fill these in with the primary data points that support your core message. This might be market research, customer feedback, competitor data, or your own projections. If needed, go just one layer deeper and attach supporting data for the supporting data.Learn to use this message map in both directions. Describe your core message and supporting points, or describe a supporting point and connect it to your core message. The map works in both directions. Practice it like a politician preparing f or a debate. Ensure your message focuses on opportunity development or burden relief Executives are interested in strengthening their ability to compete for and retain customers and reduce costs. Make certain your value proposition is tight.Do leid sugarcoat risks in your presentation On the contrary, a well-developed list of potential risks and a risk mitigation strategy show the executives that you are thinking about everything.Carefully prepare meaningful, simple visualsHave several people- including your boss- review them for quality, clarity, and completeness. Now is not the time for animation magic. Make certain that the visuals use text sparingly and numbers carefully. Mentally divide your time allotment in half Know how much time you have been allocated and plan to use only half of it.Bring itExecutives look for confidence, clarity, and completeness of thought when listening to the ideas and proposals from employees. Your message and your body language must support the notio n that you are confident about your ideas.The harder you work, the more relaxed you will be Practice your presentation until it is natural. Your confidence will be contagious.If you are uncomfortable presenting, fix-it in a hurry Chances are its too late to seek formal training or coaching, so recruit a buddy you trust to offer critical feedback and run through the presentation with him/her. Avoid this in the future by signing up for speaking training or joining a local Toastmasters group. Leverage a subtle power move If possible, grab a marker and get to the whiteboard. This is a presentation power-tip. By doing this, you involve and engage the audience and showcase your confidence and expertise.When it comes to questions, remember the message map If you put the time into crafting a thorough message map, it is the go-to source for answering questions. Reiterate supporting data and always tie the data to the core message.If you do not know an answer to a question, do not make the an swer up. I dont know, is perfectly acceptable, especially when it is followed by, But I will find out and loop back with the team immediately. Passion for your topic is positiveExecutives love to hear and feel the passion in your presentation. If you believe in something, make certain you use all of your faculties to communicate your commitment. Your passion for your project is impressive and contagious.No surprises pleaseIf your request involves resources or budgets from multiple groups within the firm, the executive presentation is not the time to spring this as a surprise. Work ahead of your presentation to line-up support from your counterparts in other departments. The Bottom Line We all know you only get one chance to make a first impression. When it comes to your first invitation to present to the executives, it pays to work overtime to prepare.

Learn What Exempt Employee Status Means

Learn What Exempt Employee Status MeansLearn What Exempt Employee Status MeansExempt employees are employees who, because of their positional duties and responsibilities and level of decision-making authority, are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).Whether an employee is exempt or non exempt depends on how much money the employee is paid, how the employee is paid, and the nature and responsibilities of the work they do. Exempt employees are expected, by most organizations, to work whatever hours are necessary to accomplish the goals and deliverables of their exempt position. Thus, exempt employees should have mora flexibility in their schedules to come and go as necessary to accomplish work than non exempt or hourly employees. Exempt employees also expect to have more opportunities to telecommute or work from home since the requirement to accomplish a whole job is not always dependent on the employees working location. They expect less supervis ion than a non exempt employee can expect, too. Exclusions from the FLSA Coverage According to the FLSA, Particular jobs may be completely excluded from coverage under the FLSA overtime rules. There are two general types of complete exclusion. Some jobs are specifically excluded in the statute itself. For example, employees of movie theaters and many agricultural workers are not governed by the FLSA overtime rules. Another type of exclusion is for jobs which are governed by some other specific federal labor law. There are strict criteria for meeting the exempt qualification. A manager cant just decide to make an employee exempt for ease in calculating salary, even if the employee agrees to it. To meet the conditions for exemption requires that a job meets specific criteria. Here are some of the jobs for people who do meet the strict criteria for classification as exempt employees. Outside sales If you go out and meet with customers,you qualify for theexemption. This does not app ly to inside salespeople, such as call center employees. Even though these people may earn a commission, they are still eligible for overtime pay. Only sales people who actually leave the building qualify.Managerial EmployeesThese are people whomanage two or more employees and have hire/fire/evaluation authority over them. The manager must also perform managerial tasks. In other words, a fast food restaurant manager who spends 90% of her day running a cash register and making hamburgers does not qualify as an exempt employee. A fast-food manager who spends 60% of her day handling employee issues, scheduling, hiring and firing, and doing other managerial tasks and 40% of her time running a cash register and making hamburgers does qualify as exempt, as long as she also meets the salary basis test. An employee is paid on a salary basis if the employee has a guaranteed minimum amount of money that he can count on receiving for any workweek in which the employee performs any work. This amount doesnt have to be the entire compensation the employee receives, but some amount of pay the employee can count on receiving must be received for any workweek in which he performs work. Learned professionalsIf you work rather independently (not completely, of course), and are a knowledge-based worker, you can qualify as exempt. Accountants (but not accounts payable/receivable clerks), doctors, lawyers, registered nurses (but not licensed practical nurses (LPNs), teachers, consultants, and similar jobs with independent responsibilities are considered exempt employment status.Administrative professionalsThis sounds like administrative assistants, but people in those jobs are almost always non-exempt because of the nature of their job duties. These exempt jobs refer to the people who keep the business running and are generally members of the white collar workforce. Marketing, IT, Human Resources, Finance, and other administrative personnel who require a high degree of knowledge a nd work independently qualify as exempt. Minimum salaryIn order to be exempt from overtime, your company must pay you a minimum salary level. Currently, that is $455 a week or $23,600 per year. However, the Department of Labor is considering raising that salary threshold from $455 a week (set in 2004) to$679 per week. Thats a new qualifying salary level of$35,308 per year, around $15,000 less than had previously been recommended during the Pres. Obama administration. So, stay tuned to how this legal situation plays out. If you are a manager doing managerial tasks and earning only $35,000 a year, you will become eligible for overtime if this law goes through. It does not, however, make positions such as teachers eligible for overtime, although some of them, especially starting out, earn less than $35,308 per year. As an employer, note that any position that pays the employee more than $100,000 a year is very likely classified as an exempt position. More About Exempt Employees To summarize a few specifications about the classification of an exempt employee, consider the following. Exempt employees must receive the saatkorn amount of pay every pay period, regardless of how many hours they work. (Bonuses are allowed, but salary deductions are not except in special circumstances.) This means if an exempt employee leaves an hour early on Tuesday, you cant dock her pay except in six specific situations. You can deduct it from her PTO bank and you can fire her, but you must pay her the full salary regardless. If an exempt employee is consistently working less than the usually expected forty hours per week, you can consider these actions. Managers can require strict schedules from exempt employees, but its generally better to allow exempt employees flexibility in completing their jobs. Remember, with an exempt employee its all about the accomplishment of the job and not about the hours worked. The rules for exemption are quite complicated and often companies make m istakes. If you feel like you should be eligible for overtime pay, ask your Human Resources department to re-evaluate your job. They should be able to justify your exempt status. If they cant, then youre eligible for overtime pay, going backward and forwards. As a last resort, you can file a complaint with your local Department of Labor. Exempt Employees Are Often Full-Time Employees The FLSA does not define what is a full-time employee or apart-time employee. What is counted as a full-time employee is generally defined by the employer policy. The definition of a full-time employee is often published in theemployee handbook. A full-time employee has traditionally worked a 40 hour work week with the expectation that exempt employees will work the hours necessary to accomplish their jobs. A nonexempt employee must be paid overtime for time worked in excess of 40 hours. Today, some employers count employees as full time if they work 30, 32, or 36 hours a week. In fact, fewer requir ed work hours is considered a non-standard benefit in some organizations. In many organizations, one differentiation between full time and part time employees is eligibility forbenefitssuch ashealth insurance,paid time off (PTO),paid vacation days, andsick leave. Some organizations enable part-time employees to collect a pro-rated set of benefits based on their hours worked. Hopefully, you are clear about the classification of employees in requiring exempt employment status as a result of this information. DisclaimerPlease note that the information provided, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. The site is read by a world-wide audience and ?employment lawsand regulations vary from state to state and country to country. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources, to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct for your location. This information is for guidance, ideas, and a ssistance.

How to Support an Unemployed Partner

How to Support an Unemployed PartnerHow to Support an Unemployed PartnerTheres a difference between encouraging and enabling. Read on to uncover the nuances and effects of both ways partners support each other.I am known as the tough love workplace guru. (Which is why Im hosting the upcoming TV series The Headhunter From Hell - a Millionaire Matchmaker meets Chef Ramsey from Hells Kitchen, if Ramsey were a headhunter.)My advice is, Tell it like it is.The stress of losing your job is a nightmare. Even today, when the specter of unemployment is touching everyone you know, it is notlage any easier to go home and tell your spouse or partner or loved one, I just got fired.As bad as it is for the partie getting fired, it is worse for the loved one. After a health issue or family crisis, nothing is worse than seeing the person you love and cherish going through a career search.The longer the unemployment lasts, the worse it gets, and the situation has destroyed many relationships. Yet, I have seen first hand the silver lining It has made many relationships better and stronger.Today, marriage rights are in the news almost every day. Straight or gay, the semantics of the word marriage may be less important then the vows that word represents - in particular, richer or poorer, which to some is code for employed or unemployed.Support dont enable Here is the deal There is no set formula. The one rule I have is if your spouse has become unemployed, remember you need to emotionally support them - not enable them.Where as I dont think it is helpful for you to nag your partner about a job search, it is wrong to enable someone. Enabling your partner means that you never talk about the position of the search. It means letting them get out of the routine of getting up with you in the morning. After all, finding a job is a full-time job. And, yes, they may be able to have dinner on the table when you get home now - and that is nice - but that does not make up for them not hav ing a job.I personally am not a subscriber to the philosophy that this down time is a time to go on vacation. Or live at the gym. And remember, misery loves company so while it is important to network, hanging out with a bunch of other unemployed friends feeling sorry for one another is not going to help.If you think your spouse has become clinically depressed, encourage them to search for professional help and even go together.Sometimes, saying less is really saying more. Your unemployed spouse feels bad enough that you are supporting them.Encourage dont become their career coach You are the spouse, the partner encourage them to set realistic goals, but do not conduct the job search for them.And under no circumstances should you think you should become their career coach or that you are suddenly their outplacement specialist.Now, you should certainly act like theyre unemployed. No sense in avoiding reality. Change your financial lifestyle, even if you do not have to maybe even chan ge some of the chores around the house.I am a believer that any job is better then no job at all. Volunteer or per-project jobs will lift the unemployed persons spirit. The bottom line Say you live in an area where the real unemployment rate is 25 percent - that means that 75 percent of people are still working.These are all things a supportive spouse or partner can mention.Just dont turn in to a career counselor. If you have a loving relationship, this trying time should only make it stronger. Do not point out how patient you have been while your spouse is looking for work they will only resent it once they find work.And sooner or later, they will find work. They will climb back up that ladder. Right now, your job is to hold the ladder for your spouse and keep it steady while they work to climb back up.Let me know what you think. Happy holidays, and Happy New Year to all.