Last night American Express (NYSE:AXP) reported (during their quarterly earnings call) a record corporate travel decline of 42%. This was well below analysts' expectations of 20-30% decline. Further, The Q2 corporate travel data also marks the fourth consecutive quarterly deceleration. The AMEX data referenced above is a dollar amount and does not equate perfectly to the quantity of business trips being taken; however, analysts believe the two will generally correlate directionally. Their takeaway is that "corporate travel is anemic with no convincing indications of stabilization". This should come as no surprise to any of us. As I spend time talking with our customers (Brainshark has over 1,000 customers representing nearly every industry) I am consistently hearing that travel is shut down. Managers are being told by their bosses to get creative and find new ways to communicate and get the job done.

This is not a bad thing. In the past we thought nothing of running to the airport at a moment's notice to go visit a client or prospect. There was practically no consideration to the excessive costs in terms of time and money (not to mention massive carbon emissions) - that was just the way it was done. But the deep recession we are facing changed all that fast. Luckily we have the internet and a number of very good collaborative technologies that allow businesspeople to communicate, share, present, sell, market, support and train - without the enormous cost and hassle of travel. On-demand presentation solutions like Brainshark, plus web conferencing, video, telepresence, mobile devices, social networking are outstanding tools to "get the job done" fast and efficient. It also lets us spend more time with our families, which is something we can all appreciate.

Don't get me wrong. There are instances when sitting face to face in a business meeting is essential. We just don't need to do that all the time.

I'd like to hear how your company is using alternatives to solve the challenge of travel restrictions.

Regards,
Joe

 

Below is a wonderful presentation created by Nancy Duarte of Duarte Design.  It appears in her slide:ology blogand the reason I share it is because it lives and breathes best practices.  Nancy uses rich media to tell an impactful story in less than 3 minutes.  The blog entry is about a unique story board method that helped Nancy bring the story to life.  The aspect I appreciate is the forethought of the audience impact of the design.  All too often, in business we skip this aspect.  Sales and marketing content can be designed around what we want to say instead of from the perspective of what our audience will likely hear.  Her presentation follow my 4C mantra of being clear, concise, consistent and compelling and that is because it is designed and delivered with the audience in mind.  Click on the image below and scroll a little bit the blog to watch the presentation - you will be glad you did.

Have a Sharktastic Day!

Did you know that 94% of people who participate in a webinar multi-task?

Brainshark is conducting a survey about how companies are adjusting their approach to live and on-demand webinars and web events in 2009. The survey which was released this week focuses on the relationship the live webinar and the replay have to each other.

If you have five minutes to respond, we'd greatly appreciate it.  In return, we'll share a summary of the results so you can see ways that your peers have adjusted their strategies to reduce costs and produce more effective web events.

To begin click on SURVEY

Thank you in advance. Your individual responses will not be shared, only aggregate data will be reported.  

 

Last week I wrote about using tone of voice to set the tone for your audience.  I thought an example might help.  So below are two presentations.  They are substantially the same with the exception of the recorded voiceover.  Take a moment to watch them both and then ask yourself which one is more impactful.

Bad

Better