The Sykes Group's OnPoint Leading resource on leadership, motivation, and presentation skills. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 32 1087

Articles from The Sykes Group's OnPoint

International Make a Point Day! (Five Public Speaking Secrets for Getting Your Point Across) 2010-04-01 02:23:00 International Make a Point Day! Have you ever been in a meeting where the presentation when on and on. Have you ever asked yourself, "What's the point to this presentation?" Here are five public speaking secrets that will keep your message on point: Start with an End in Mind Ask yourself, "Why am I speaking?" "What do I want the audience to do after listening to my speech?" This will help you focus on the message you want to share with your audience. It will help you focus on who is your audience, the key points, and what you want your audience to do after listening to you. Keep It Simple Keep your presentation simple by learning to "speak to express instead of speaking to impress." What I mean by speaking to impress is when you see speakers using $5 words for $2 situations during speeches and they look uncomfortable doing it. Another example of this is when presenters overuse PowerPoint. Your audience will soon lose interest in what you are saying. Also keep i ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Motivating Millions with the "I Have a Dream" Speech 2009-08-01 10:00:00 January 21st is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. His “I Have a Dream” speech motivated millions to dream and take action to make the United States a better place. Many of my presentation coaching students think that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave that speech for the first time on the Washington Mall. My students are surprised to learn that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been practicing by giving different variations of that speech for over a year. He consistently made changes until the speech became the masterpiece that changed the world. Great presentations start with great preparation! Enjoy! Technorati Tags: presentation skills, motivator, motivational speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Day, "I Have a Dream" ...

Happy New Year and Let's Start Goal Setting! 2009-07-12 08:19:00 Just a quick note to wish each of you a Happy New Year. We sincerely hope that 2007 was the best year of your life, and that 2008 is even better! There have been a lot of changes at The Sykes Group in the past year, and we have many more great additions planned for the coming year. In the next week we'll announce the beginning of "Jump Out the Gate in 2008" program, so stay tune! P.S.-The following are some six quick tips to goal-setting: Put Your Goals in Writing - Your goals aren't real unless you put in down on paper. Make Your Goals Attainable - Realistic goals are attainable goals. Qualify Your Goals - What exactly do you want to achieve? Have a Time Frame - Forces you to keep track of your goals and allows you make corrections. Develop a Strategic Action Plan - What exactly are you going to do to achieve your goals? Make Achieving Your Goals Personal - Create meaning and passion for your goals. For additional goal setting and success ...

Create a Great Funeral Day! 2009-06-10 11:13:00 Today is "Create a Great Funeral Day!" Why would I be talking about this day? Well, about five years ago I had the pleasure of helping a client through a challenging situation. This client was a major university who was just starting a Funeral Services Management program and degree. The instructor, who was teaching the business side of funeral services, had other priorities come up and had to leave. The client asked me if I would step in and teach this course for the seminar. To say the least, I was quite surprised. The only information I knew about the funeral business was the men in the black suits, the open caskets, and the limousines. After great consideration, I accepted the challenge and took the course book and researched everything there was about funeral service management. My classes were alive (Ha! Ha! That's the joke) with interaction and involved the students as they were looking to jump into the business. I had guest speakers who were in the busi ...

The Secret to Living Your Dreams and Achieving Your Goals! 2009-03-09 05:31:00 The secret to living your dreams? Do what you fear most. Watch this very inspirational video, focus on your goals, and achieve your dreams! living+your+dreams the+secret goal+setting self+improvement self+help ...

Employee Motivation, Don Imus, and: Team Building: Five Secrets to Creating Successful, Motivated Teams 2009-03-04 03:27:00 Don Imus, a shock jock (someone who shocks their listening audience by saying outrageous statements), was fired from his jobs on WCBS radio and MSNBC television for crossing the line of decency and making racist and sexist remarks regarding the Rutgers University women's basketball team. From a team building and employee motivational point of view, there are tidbits of motivational wisdom to be learned from this situation. First, let me ask you, how many "Don Imuses" do you have in your organization, your team, or your department? You know what I mean, the employees, whether they are women or male employees, who continuously cross the line when it comes to behavior; perhaps being overbearing or the bully at work. They make insensitive comments without respect for other people's feelings, and then say the following when you discuss their conduct: "I'm just being me." "That's just the way I am." "I was just playing." "I didn't hurt anybody." "Oh, you're just too sensitive." " ...

Happy Holidays and Have a Good Laugh! 2008-12-12 12:24:00 We wish all of our readers and your families a safe, great, and Happy Holiday season and an even more successful 2008! In case you are wondering what we are doing over the holidays, please watch the following video: Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables! Technorati Tags: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season Greetings, Happy New Year ...

It's My Birthday and Thanksgiving All in One! 2008-10-11 03:27:00 I hope all is well and we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving today. Even if it's not a holiday in your part of the world... it's always nice to be thankful for the people, opportunities, and things we have in our lives. Take a moment today to call, e-mail, or text message the special people in your life and let them know how you appreciate them. Thank you for your continued interest and support in The Sykes Group. We hope our postings have made a difference in your lives and will continue to make a difference in the future. Also it is my birthday today. It's a big one (I'll let you guess which one). As a friend wrote in her card, "Nice that the entire nation has declared it a holiday." Have a Great and safe Happy Thanksgiving today! Giving+Thanks Happy+Thanksgiving Thanksgiving+Day Happy+Birthday ...

Develop an Attitude of Gratitude! Show Your Gratitude on World Gratitude Day! 2008-09-09 10:07:00 Take the time today to develop an attitude of gratitude. Take the time to do it not because you want to keep score, because it is the right time to do. Take the time to show your appreciation to someone in your life: your family, your friends, your co-workers. You will never know what a difference it could make in someone's life when you take the time to say "thank you," "job well done," or "I appreciate you and everything you do." Don't want till tomorrow or next year, do it today and make a difference in someone's life. World+Gratitude+Day Appreciation Gratitude Attitude+of+Gratitude Appreciate ...

We are Hokies, We Are Virginia Tech! 2008-08-04 03:19:00 Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia has declared that we observe a moment of silent and a statewide day of mourning for the fallen students of Virginia Tech University. As I understand it, many other states are joining Virginia in the moment of silent. Even though I am a Blackbird (Long Island University), since this tragic happened, I am a Hokie. We went to the gym early this morning and many people were wearing the Hokie colors. Afterward, we went to the supermarket and the grocery bagger was wearing a Hokie t-shirt that read "Hokie Hope." Hope is the common theme of today and every day going forward. We hope and pray that the families, friends, and community will find the strength to overcome the tragic loss of loved ones. We hope that our freedom to live life will not be eliminated the act of one troubled soul. We hope the heroic stories are not forgotten. We hope that we will learn from this tragic situation so that we become a better, stronger society by taking the t ...

So Much Reading, So Little Time, What is One to Do? RapidReader Increases Reading Speed in Minutes! 2008-07-09 03:01:00 "Help! I need to increase my reading speed now!" If you're like me, you have information coming at you 24/7 from a variety of sources: e-mails, books, special reports, magazines, training manuals, vendor information, etc. and it keeps growing. We are under pressure to quickly assimilate this information so that we can make business, career, and life decisions better and faster than ever before. I have tried various speed reading programs with very little success. I have learned the systems, scanned the pages, used the "index finger" to keep myself on track and not increased my reading speed at all. The problem with these programs is that they force us to learn a reading system that is not natural to us, thereby causing us to fail. Then it happened that I was exposed to the solution. A vendor, who wanted me to quickly read his product information, explained in his follow-up e-mail that he understands that I am busy a ...

The Secret to Living Your Dreams: Five Success Techniques to Achieving More Success in Your Life! 2008-06-10 08:58:00 How many times in our lives have we said the following? If I had more time, I would have acted on my dream... If I didn't need this job, I would have pursued my dream of... If only I had (you fill in the blank) ten years ago, I would have achieved my dream of... I am sure you can add a dozen more "If I" dream statements. There are people going through life everyday working at jobs they hate, in situations they tolerate, and living a life that they disown because they settled for an "If I" mindset. What is the secret between the person who is achieving his/her dream life and the person who is just wishing for a dream life? The following are five techniques for living your dream and achieving more in life: Understand Your Options and Live Your Dreams We have options in our life. Do we follow the road everyone else is taking or do we travel the road less traveled to achieve our dreams? We have the option to look at life's challenges as a way to find creative solutions ...

Are You Building Your Foundation of Success: Six Secrets of Motivating Yourself for Success 2008-06-05 02:55:00 Are you creating your foundation of success? Are you motivated to take on challenges that others are not willing to do? The following is a story of someone who did and achieved great success in his life and how you can, too! There once was a young man who grew up in Crawford, Mississippi. His father worked as a brick mason building home foundations. Everyday after school and during the summers, this young man would help his father build foundations. It's not the most glamorous job by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an honest, backbreaking, and low paying job that put food on the table and paid the bills. The father would start by throwing bricks towards the son in the area where they would build a housing foundation. Under the hot, sweltering Mississippi sun, his son would catch brick after brick with his hands, day after day. While most other kids were enjoying their summers or working in less strenuous jobs, this young man was motivated to work long and hard with ...

Take Time Out for Success in Life, Work, and Family! 2008-06-04 04:39:00 Today is Time Out Day! With the chain of recent events, we all need to take a time out of the "Rat Race" and recharge our mental and emotional "batteries." When you a take time for time out, you will find the right solutions, make better decisions, control stress, develop better relationships, and achieve a new level of success. Take a time out at least once a day. You can a take time out by doing the following: Meditate Turn off the noise Disconnect from technology Take a walk around the building Eat lunch in a park Try Yoga Listen to classical or other relaxing music Read a book Enjoy the clouds (I know what you are thinking) Take a long walk Take a time out to improve your life! Time+Out+Day stress+management control+stress rat+race meditate ...

Pay A Compliment Day - Take Time to Appreciate Someone 2008-06-02 03:57:00 What's the greatest investment you can make at work or in life? What is the one investment that doesn't cost you anything, yet you receive enormous benefits from it? What can you do to motivate a person to achieve a new level of success? A Sincere Compliment Take the time today, "Pay a Compliment Day," and everyday to "find something good" that an employee, a family member, a friend doing and compliment them on it. It may be the first time the person you are complimenting may ever have been complimented. On account of that special moment, you can make a real difference in their life. For information on how to give a sincere compliment and praise someone, go to Appreciation. ...