It was the speed that finally sold me.

I was reading an article titled, “Inside Chrome: The Secret Project to Crush IE and Remake the Web”

Three pieces in particular convinced me to download it and give it a try:
1) “… functions that previously could be performed only on the desktop — email, spreadsheets, database management — are increasingly handled online. In the coming era of cloud computing, the Web will be much more than just a means of delivering content — it will be a platform in its own right.”
2) “One key change they had in mind was something called a multiprocess architecture, the system that helps the computer keep going when an application crashes or freezes. Why not extend that idea to browsers, so if something crashes in a tab, the other tabs are unperturbed?”
3) This cartoon about their testing process:

4) The browser “JavaScript 10 times faster than Firefox or Safari. And how does it compare in those same benchmarks to the market-share leader, Microsoft's IE 7? Fifty-six times faster.”

My immediate impressions are:
1) It is simple and clean in design.
2) I found it fairly intuitive and easy to use with little instruction.
3) It is blazingly fast – much faster than Firefox, my preferred browser till now.

Here are some reviews.

Download it here:
www.google.com/chrome

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I ran across an interesting post over at Guy Kawasaki's blog called, "The Art of Admonishment." 

It's a great read in addition to our candid feedback material.  Guy highlights Nancy Ortberg's sermon titled 'Every Life Needs a Truth-Teller.' 

Nancy talks about how having the well intentioned, though hard conversations in pursuit of growth create transformational communities and powerful relationships over time; taking us to a new level.  In turn, she shares how avoiding the difficult conversation often equals sameness, artificial harmony and eventually, grudges, gossip and cynicism.  We've all experienced both of these phenomena. 

Check it out!  These are powerful concepts for transforming your relationships in the workplace, and beyond. 

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by Terry Gault

When I heard of a $253 million award, based on a "bullet-less" slide presentation, I was convinced. Convinced to take a client's suggestion and read Cliff Atkinson's book "Beyond Bullet Points"

Reporters covering a Vioxx trial in Houston emphasized that the 253 slides used in presenting the case (an equation of $1 million per slide) were the strongest, most convincing component in the multi-million dollar award to the family of a man who died while taking the drug.

A PowerPoint Revolution

Here is Atkinson's revolutionary method:

1. He uses absolutely NO BULLETS.

2. He uses few words, only evocative visual metaphors: an image and title.

3. He suggests NO logo or talking points on the slides, but instead, on the "Notes Master," which can then work as a handout.

4. He provides an outline, easily adaptable, to create your presentation and to fit your time slot, from 15-45 minutes.

5. His process begins with writing a script in a Word table template; the script then transitions to a storyboard by sending it to PowerPoint.

I used his book as a guide in a presentation for a group of Chinese engineers in Silicon Valley . Targeting that specific audience, I used predominantly Asian images. Even at the beginning of the presentation, with the opening slides, I was impressed by the immediate positive audience response. Then at the end: a standing ovation.

My Thoughts

1. The solid, time-tested three-act structure hearkens back to Aristotle and aligns with The Henderson Group's present-day philosophy about the Rule of Three.

2. Visual metaphors are what Power Point does best. Visual metaphors and central themes align with The Henderson Group's philosophy.

3. Crafting a presentation structure is easily done with Atkinson's templates.

How NOT to use PowerPoint >>

Artistic License with Stories

Don't feel obliged to report the facts exactly as the event happened.  Here's where artistic license comes into play.  The essential events MUST have happened to you.  Otherwise, the story will not ring true for the audience.  Should they later discover the story did not happen, your credibility will be damaged. 

However, there is no reason why you cannot combine two events in a way that makes them seem like one event.  Steal a character from another setting in your life and insert them into your story.  Feel free to expand or contract the timeframe, leave facts out, heighten the stakes!  Exaggeration is a time-honored element in good storytelling.  Make your story more dramatic and support your core message more fully.  It's all right to "massage" true stories so that they support the point you are striving to make.

As Mark Twain said, "Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please."  The writer Saki, (H.H. Munro) in The Square Egg said, "A little inaccuracy sometimes saves a ton of explanation."

Part I: Secrets of Storytelling>>

Lastly, an excellent excerpt on the function of story from Chief Learning Officer magazine.

Storytelling has 10 essential functions or roles, any or all of which have application in the world of business.  It can be used to:

1. Explain origins.
2. Define individual or group identity.
3. Communicate tradition and delineate taboo.
4. Simplify complex issues and provide perspective.
5. Illustrate the natural order of things.
6. Overview complex history in a concise way.
7. Demonstrate moral and ethical positions and transfer and preserve our core values.
8. Illustrate relationships with authority.
9. Describe appropriate responses to life or model behavior.
10. Define rewards and detail the paths to salvation (or success) and damnation (or failure).

 The obvious first step is to consciously decide on what role you want your story to serve.  The next is to choose the most appropriate plot vehicle or theme to tell your story.  There's a considerable debate among scholars as to exactly how many plot lines exist, ranging from a high of 36 identified by Georges Polti in his 1921 book, The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, to the more utilitarian (if less insightful) one theme identified by Cecil Adams: "Stuff happens."

I prefer to opt for the middle position, lumping all potential plots into five large thematic buckets; the hero's quest, creation stories, stories of transformation, fall from grace and redemption, and the crossroads of life (used more in the sense of facing a critical decision rather than undergoing a transformation).

-How to Add Storytelling to Your Toolkit by Ryan Mathews, May 2008 www.clomedia.com

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