Office Holiday Party Etiquette, ’08 Grammy Nods, Doing the Right Thing for Your To-Do List & PowerPoint 101

Office Holiday Party Etiquette

It’s that time of year again for Secret Santa drawings, mushy speeches about this past year, bad karaoke, finger food, Christmas carols and cocktails. Yep; its office Christmas party season and you don’t want to be like your co-worker who drank too much of “Christmas cheer” at last year’s party and ended up saying and/or doing something they would not do during normal working hours. So what do you do? How do you find the balance of being social, having a great time, letting your hair down AND being on point? No worries. I got you.

Erika Parkins over at Black Enterprise says it best. “Instead of approaching the office holiday party as a chore or a chance to party like its 1999, you should view it as another opportunity to make a good impression and network with colleagues you may not interact with on a daily basis.” Good to know. This Black Enterprise article {Yuletide Etiquette} has more great stuff that you or anyone you know should check out if you find yourself attending or invited to an office Christmas party.

In addition to proper behavior there’s also the issue of proper dress. Not that I’m against color but I wouldn’t wish a red and green outfit on my worst enemies. There are hundreds of people out there offering fashion advice to women so this one is specifically for the fellas. What do you wear to the office party? No offense but although you have a Santa Claus, Rudolph the Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman tie doesn’t mean you should put it on just yet.

David Boris {Be Better Guys blog} suggests men wear a nice suit- preferably black and if not a black suit wear something that tastefully incorporates bold colors and rich fabrics/textures. “For example, a cashmere v-neck sweater over a collared dress shirt, merino wool polo or turtleneck, or even a velvet blazer {in a deep tone, TI, not in scarlet red} are classy ways to send a professional message to the room.” This is a good look. Try wearing a pair of shoes that are more edgy than your normal work wear too. I’m always down for a nice pointed-toe to elongate the leg.

Not all office holiday parties are the same so keep in mind the nature of your employer, co-workers and the environment for the party. Make sure that you’re on point and adapt your style and behavior for the setting. The office holiday party is your chance to show everyone a side of you that is more elegant, stylish and charismatic than you may have the chance to be at work. Keep this in mind and I promise that you will enjoy this office function more than you expected.

2008 Grammy Nominations

I’m all for trophies and winning but when it comes to music I like to think artistic fortitude outweighs mainstream success…until Grammy time comes around and I’m glued to the TV and newspapers hoping that my fave artists received nominations. I’m in luck this year because two of my favorites have dummy {many} nominations.

Kanye West deserves every nomination he received and leads the pack with 8 noms which include “Album of the Year” and “Best Rap Album”. Shoutout and congrats to Ye’ on the nods. Let’s hope he stomps the competition at the upcoming Grammys.

Next is Amy Winehouse. Anyone who has eyes has seen the train wreck of a year she’s had {drugs are no joke}. On the other hand, anyone with ears who has listened to her music can tell that home girl is super talented. Her talent, unlike her behavior, is being recognized with 6 noms including one for Record of the Year for “Rehab”. If that ain’t an example of life intimidating art I don’t know what is.

Also, quick shout out to UGK on their Grammy nod for “International Players Anthem”. We at The Genius Syndicate {T.G.S} offer our condolences to Kanye West, UGK and Chad Butler’s {b.k.a Pimp C} family and friends.

Do the Right Thing for Your To-Do List

Anyone with two hands and more than two minutes to spare is busy these days. Kids are balancing school with extra-curricular activities, teens are multi-tasking hectic social lives with education and parents all over the world are wishing they had a clone.

There are a million organizational products on the market but whether you use a Blackberry or a plain old Day Planner {like I do} I came across some tips to make your To-Do list more focused.

The organizational geniuses over at ZenHabits.net say simplify your to-do list and reduce your tasks list to the bare essentials. By eliminating more trivial tasks, simplifying your commitments and knowing what’s essential to complete for the day you can maximize your schedule and maintain your focus. There are more great tips about tidying up your To-Do list over at www.zenhabits.net. Go check it out.

PowerPoint 101

For the “101” sessions I’d like to invite great people I admire and pass their knowledge onto you. I can’t wait to bring these Guest Geniuses on board but for today’s 101 installment you’re stuck with me as your Guest Genius…take it or leave it. Hopefully you’ll take it.

We’re talking about PowerPoint in today’s 101 session. I work in advertising and although PowerPoint may not be the number one tool of creativity it is essential to the communication process within and outside the agency. I used it today as a matter of fact. Let’s look at the essentials of making a kick-ass PowerPoint presentation.

1. Content: PowerPoint is only as good as the content placed in it. Before you think about layout, color and fonts first make an outline of the most important points you want to address. PowerPoint is a visual tool, not a reading tool, so keep text to a minimum.
2. Key Takeaway: Just organizing facts is a piece of the puzzle. When making a presentation in PowerPoint always keep in mind what your key takeaway is and tailor your presentation to support that point.
3. Layout Logic (text size, colors and pictures): This is a tip that I follow every time. When you want to develop a nice PowerPoint presentation think about your favorite magazine. Look at how they lay out text, quality of pictures, the styles of fonts they use, visual alignment, shapes and colors. You’d be surprised at how professional you can make your PowerPoint look by pulling inspiration from other mediums.
4. Visual Assistance: Use pictures to illustrate or support your points. For example, instead of typing the word “communication’ in a text box think of inserting pictures like “people whispering”, “a cell phone” or even a “mouth smiling”. Try not to use Microsoft clipart. That is the quickest way to make your presentation look dated. Try Google images, save the file or just copy and paste it directly onto the slide.

I hope these tips give you some direction on how to make the most of your PowerPoint presentation. Trust me when I say that slick things can be done in PowerPoint if you just open your mind and have fun with it.

-elbj

Quote of the Day

“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.”

-Victor Hugo