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An inspirational inventor

Not all innovation has to involve amazing new inventions. But we do need at least some people who are capable of conceiving of and building things most of us could barely imagine.

Here is a video of one such person:


I was particularly struck by the humble and clunky beginning of his innovation process - a disassembled computer mouse, and a data projector strapped to a bicycle helmet! Don't be fooled by the slightly quirky beginnings, and be sure to watch through to the end.

Management shortcomings hinder innovation

According to a recent report by Accenture, "Innovation is a top priority for companies seeking to grow in (the) aftermath of the economic downturn, but flaws in managing innovation may hinder their progress”.

The cited 5 flaws in the corporate management of innovation, namely:
  • failure to learn from mistakes
  • widespread risk aversion
  • insufficient collaboration
  • too much emphasis on making incremental improvements, and
  • inability to leverage new technology (33% of respondents).
According Accenture's research:
  • 89% of respondents said that innovation is as important, if not more important, than cost reduction to their company’s ability to achieve future growth.
  • 50% of respondents in the U.S. and the U.K. reported that their most successful innovation has been development of a new product or service.
  • Yet, 74% of the respondents said their companies pursue incremental improvements, such as line extensions, and 66% said their organizations have made short-term financial results a priority over long-term investments.
  • 73% of U.S. respondents and 30% of U.K. respondents said their organizations failed to learn from their mistakes.
The reasons given for the failure of new product or service launches included:
  • 57%: inability to meet customer needs
  • 54%: being late to market
  • 52%: incorrect pricing
  • 50%: the lack of a new or unique customer-perceived value proposition
  • 43%: supply chain issues, and
  • 43%: incorrect forecasting.
Source: Vanguard

Powerpoint: presentations versus pitchbooks

I hear a lot of commentary about the use and misuse of Powerpoint. Not all of it is helpful.

The fact is, the best way to use Powerpoint depends on your purpose.

In my work, I usually distinguish between presentations and pitchbooks:

Presentations are usually projected onto a large screen, and delivered to a large audience. Slides should contain few words in large fonts, clear and simple charts or emotive images. Signpost slides may be repeated to re-enforce key messages and structure. The notes area is best used for speakers notes as an aide-memoire.

Pitchbooks, on the other hand, are delivered in printed format to smaller audiences - usually no more than a dozen people sitting around a table turning pages together. As such, they typically contain more words, in smaller fonts (typically as small as 12 or even 10 point), and more complex and detailed charts, tables & figures. Page size is typically optimised for print (i.e. A4). The notes area is best used for more detailed data references, derivations and calculations.

The point is to know what you're trying to achieve, and use Powerpoint to help you best achieve it.

Footnotes:
  • I've seen many people use MS Word for their pitchbooks. It seems more sensible as a pitchbook is more like a document than it is like a presentation. However, Powerpoint offers a number of advantages over MS Word, such as slide sorting, more control over layout, and the enforcement of 1 slide 1 idea.
  • All of the above is as true for most presentation and word-processing software as it is for Microsoft Powerpoint and Microsoft Word.
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