Member blogs

I just finished reading this article on the BBC News web site. A study conducted by Carnegie Mellon concluded:

People will pay more for goods if a website does a good job of protecting their privacy.

Wow... so protecting information within your company is not only great to keep you out of the news for the wrong reasons, but it actually allows you to boost your revenue. Now who would have thought?

Hot on the heels of some ways in which PowerPoint should not be used, let's take a look at a really great innovation in using PowerPoint.

Dick Hardt is the founder and CEO of Sxip Identity and proponent of the evolution of Identity Management. He gave a now very famous presentation at OSCON 2005 in which he really used PowerPoint to make his presentation uniquely memorable.

Check out the presentation at the Identity 2.0 web site.

We've all done it... the PowerPoint presentation. That tool that takes mere mortals and turns them into presentation superstars -- or so we like to think. However, there are some definite techniques and approaches to making a coherent and valuable presentation with PowerPoint.

Before we can improve on our presentations, take a look at comedian Don McMillan's observations of what we should avoid...

Having worked at the fringe of marketing for many years, I am always interested in how that whole realm works. One thing I see frequently (especially amongst small business people) is the confusion between Marketing, Public Relations, Advertising and Branding.

To many, these are often interchanged. I came across what I think is the most succinct and easy to understand depiction of the differences between these disciplines: see what you think.

As a small business owner in the community I am happy to be supporting the Hope Spring Cancer Support Centre on Saturday May 5th. I will be conducting an interactive workshop on Saturday May 5th at Jacob Hespler Secondary School, Holiday Inn Drive, Cambridge. The workshop entitled "Window Dressing" promises to be a fun filled interactive workshop where you will learn which fabrics to use for the spring and summer months, and how to properly dress your windows for the season!

Early this morning as I was driving my daughter to her part time job we noticed a lone duck sitting in the middle of the road. The duck appeared to be looking around and I felt sorry for the duck because I wondered if he was lost. My daughter said goodbye, got out of the car and told me not to worry as she was sure the duck would be ok.

Did you know that industry compliance regulations exists for companies dealing with credit card and personally identifiable information? This article helps outline why security is important no matter the size of your business. Naturally, Solar Nexus Solutions is there to help you understand the risks to your business and how to protect your reputation on-line.

Article follows...

Whilst looking for some information to help me in my business planning for 2007, I came across this excellent article. It has some great tips and certainly helped me in my preparations for another year in small business!

--- article follows ---

For many people, the web browser is an almost transparent part of their computer. To most, it's "how they access the Internet", but it's really just another software application like Microsoft Word, or a database package.

The browser used to be nothing more than the application used to access information, but something as changed. It's now increasingly being used to access application-like functionality. The classic example of this is e-mail -- where once you needed an e-mail application, services like Yahoo! Mail, Google Mail and Hotmail allow you to access e-mail via the web. And so this trend continues. Google recently announced a word-processor and spreadsheet solution available on the web.

Today is Wednesay October 25th and I am struggling to keep up with my work and I know deep down I will feel guilty later on in the day if I give up and take a rest. As the founder of Motivational Steps I have faced many challenges in my business and personal life over the past few years. In fact, my business only came to be because I had made the decision to go back to school after having both my breasts removed due to breast cancer for the second time. Once at school I decide to persue my passion, speaking and here I am today not only a motivational speaker, life coach but an author of a published book!

On October 17, 2006 at the Bridges for Better Business Awards Reception the Outstanding Customer Service Award 2006 was presented to Platypi Designs.

In the photo above Tanya Riemann of Platypi Designs received the award from Frank Valeriote of Smith Valeriote.

Guelph-Wellington Business Enterprise Centre were the event organizers and Smith Valeriote was the Customer Service Award sponsor.

Platypi Designs would like to thank

The below article was recently published in Linda Ockwell-Jenner's Stepping Stone newsletter issue 39.

The "Remove before washing" tag on the inside of your new sweater, the
special key that is needed to start your car, and the dashboard mounted
device that lets you use the fast lane, these are examples of Radio
Tags. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Radio Tags, are an
automatic identification technology, used in similar applications as bar
codes, the lines and spaces that are scanned at the grocery store, and

Please do not get into the frame of mind that breast cancer only occurs in the month of October. There are so many awareness initiatives out there these days it is hard to realise that real people actually go through the challenges of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other such health challenges. Sometimes we get so tied up in al the initiatives out there to raise awareness or fundraise we forget why we started in the first place.

Awareness is vital every day of the year, recognizing you have a challenge whether it is a health related one, a business or personal challenge, early detection will help. As a breast cancer survivor and the founder of Motivational Steps I realised early on that talking about health & wellness, wearing some item of pink clothing all the time and being passionate about what I care about and believe in raises lots of awareness. Cancer can happen at any time, not just in October, remembering to lead a healthy lifestyle, practice prevention, moderation and not be scared to go to the doctor is an all year round habit. October does its bit to raise awareness but be aware every day of the year, it really will help!

Well I can sigh with relief, the fashion show I co-chaired with Melissa my daughter is over! What a success it was, almost 500 tickets sold, the first event Melissa and I had ever attempted and the praise in emails or telephone calls keeps coming. Obviously we did not arrange this fashion show for praise but I believe everyone likes a thank you or a pat on the back indicating a job well done. The Runway for the Cure: Our Vision of Hope was a new initiative bringing awareness about Breast Cancer to the publics attention during Think Pink Week here in Ontario ,Canada. We certainly raised awareness the t.v. and newspaper picked up on the story and I believe that even more men and women now know that prevention and early detection really does help. I was listening to a news story this morning and evidently Prostate Cancer statistics is not looking good, in fact it overtakes Breast Cancer. Men everywhere take note - there is a test for men over the age of 50. Here are some facts I found today:

Bear...yes he is. I thought to myself a few weeks ago I am always required to be motivational, and serious and know all the correct answers and, guess what? I too like to be silly and let my hair down, have a laugh. As most of you know who either receive my monthly digest, Stepping Stone, or who have read my book, A Life Like Mine, I am a two time breast cancer survivor. The second time I was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2000 I received the news with acceptance. The first time I was diagnosed in 1997 I was very scared, thought I was going to die from this terrible disease and, quite honestly, without the help of family and friends I dread to think how I would have coped.