Today we have a guest post from Tom Drews. Tom is the CEO and Founder of What Works! Communications, a company that helps people to design and deliver effective virtual presentations. He is considered to be a leader in the field, and his clients include Google, Symantec, CLIF Bar, McKesson and Citrix Online. You can learn more about his programs at www.whatworks.biz.

Presenting and selling in the virtual environment is the wave of the future! It can be an incredibly effective means of communicating both your message and your value. That said, it will mean next to nothing if you can't effectively engage them. And that is the number one challenge we face when presenting online. What follows are ten best practices for engaging your prospect when using GoToMeeting, or any comparable platform.

Know Your Platform Well

In my early days, I inadvertently kicked 150 people out of a meeting, crashed my computer, and kept an audience waiting for eight minutes while I figured out how to push the start button. Learn from my mistakes and know your platform inside and out! Practice makes perfect. Make dry runs and call support when necessary, and be sure to look for an easy-to-use solution.

Present Value Throughout

The biggest mistake I see sales people make is not presenting value. You may have the greatest product or service in the world, but it will mean next to nothing if you can't effectively communicate your value based on your prospect's most important needs. The very small percentage of virtual sales presentations that hold prospects' attention are those that deliver genuine value based on the audience's most important needs. Connect with your prospect in advance to learn more about their situation, the problems they face, the impact those problems are having on their business, and their needs.

Grab Your Audience's Attention

Most people begin their presentations with an agenda, or by talking about themselves. This is painfully boring. We have to grab the prospect's attention right from the start, or else we may lose them forever. Start with a provocative question, a personal story, a quote, or an interesting fact. My favorite way to start is by presenting the number one challenge that my prospect faces, and then showing how solved the same problem for another customer. Be sure to add engaging visuals, photos or graphics to help support your point.

Keep Your Slides Simple

At least 95% of the presentations I see are crammed with text. Here's the problem with this: We are naturally designed to read what's in front of us, and while you're reading what's on the screen, you're not paying attention to what I have to say. I suggest breaking complex slides into several different slides, and adding visuals to support each point. You can also use a build, where you bring in points one by one. That way the audience isn't reading ahead. And if you absolutely have to keep your slides busy, then at the very least use the annotation tools to help draw attention to what you want your prospect to focus on.

Add Some Hollywood

Instead of designing a dull PowerPoint® presentation, imagine yourself as the writer, director, producer and actor of your own Hollywood production. An Academy Award-winning film consists of thousands of images strung together to tell a story. Apply this approach to your virtual presentations. How can you add photos and other visuals to help you tell your story and illustrate your points? For an example of how to present Hollywood, feel free to view our recorded webinar at www.whatworks.biz under the "event" tab. For stock photos, www.istockphoto.com is my favorite resource.

Make the Most of Your Voice

When presenting online, we don't have the luxury of connecting with eye communication, our bodies, and movement. All we really have to work with are our visuals and our voice. So we have to make the most of it. There are many elements of voice, including volume, tone, inflection, pace and articulation. Record your Web presentations, and then play it back for yourself or others so you can collect feedback and make an honest assessment of your voice. I don't recommend using a cell phone, but I do suggest using a headset connected to a landline.

Eliminate Distractions

I have polled literally thousands of people to learn what they find most annoying when sitting in on virtual presentations, and distractions rise to the top of the list. If someone in the audience is making unnecessary noises, such as coughing, heavy breathing or burping, don't hesitate to mute them. Be conscious of your own background noise, as well. I've sat in on webinars and heard people doing dishes, dogs barking and people snoring. You want your prospect to focus on you, your message, and the value that you have to offer, and that is it.

Use Annotation Tools

Most Web conferencing platforms, such as GoToMeeting, provide annotation tools, which include pens, arrows, boxes, circles, laser pointers and more. The highlighter is one of the most useful tools. It is essentially a pen that allows you to highlight text and other images. Using annotation tools throughout your presentation will help to keep your attendees engaged and focused on your most relevant content.

Interact Often

When presenting virtually, we can't see our prospect, and they "know" that we can't see them. So they're free to do whatever they wish. Social Media and Email are some of the most common distractions nowadays. In order to keep our prospect from wandering, it is absolutely essential that we interact often. Most Web conferencing platforms provide interactive tools such as Polling, chat rooms and white boards, which are ideal for keeping larger audiences engaged. Interact with smaller audiences by asking questions and fielding questions throughout. My No. 1 strategy for interacting and engaging with smaller groups is to address people by their first names, and ask individuals if you're on track and covering their most important needs.

Stand and Deliver

Wearing a cordless headset connected to a landline will allow you to have your hands free, as well as your body. If you use a remote clicker, as you would when presenting in person, you can move about the room while advancing your slides. If frees up your energy so you can be your most enthusiastic self. I've witnessed some of the most successful sales people walking around and gesturing enthusiastically while delivering virtual sales presentations.

In conclusion, presenting in the virtual environment can be an incredibly effective way of communicating your message and your value to your audience. Focus on your value, add some "Hollywood," and keep them entertained. By doing so, you'll be sure to more effectively engage your audience and leave them with a message they won't forget! Of course, you will also shorten your sales cycle, beat the competition, and close more business.

Photo Credit: ShashiBellamkhonda

This coming weekend, I'm taking some time off, to go on a mini-vacation with my husband. I'm both excited and nervous about it at the same time. Part of me is thrilled to be "shutting down" from my business for a few days. The other part of me is wondering if I can really do it.

I became a full-time workshifter 2 years ago, and I've never looked back. I adore the lifestyle - making my own hours and setting my own priorities is definitely the way I like to do things. I was never big on the workaday world. But there is a downside to my nomadic work life, and it's one that I have to work hard to control. You see, because our office is where WE are, instead of the other way around, we workshifters often tend to forget how many hours we work. We work until the coffee shop closes, or our flight arrives, or our spouse tells us it's time to go to bed. Our tendency is to work until the work gets done, and it's all too easy to lose track of time until we sit, brain-dead and bleary eyed, wondering where the week went. The risk then could get more serious - if we keep going and going without enough down time, we could burn out. And trust me, burn out is not pretty.

So what's a workshifter to do?

Great expectations.

We've all heard the saying "The best laid plans of mice and men.". Well, as workshifters, often our best laid plans, (you know, the ones where we'll take weekends off, finish work by 6pm, and travel less), wind up going out the window because we blindly check our email or voicemail at 8pm, and realize that we'll never sleep that night if we don't respond to that "urgent" client request right away.

One of the biggest traps we fall into as digital nomads is we forget to shut off our work at a certain time each day. We don't set boundaries for ourselves, and before we know it, we've been pulling 16 hour days 6 times a week. The only way to get out of the "always-on" trap is to start to manage expectations - not only those of your clients and colleagues, but your expectations of yourself, as well.

For me, setting a time limit on the day simply doesn't work. Sometimes, I have to be up and at it at 7am, and then on the same day, I'll have no choice but to be at a video shoot at 8pm. What does work for me is letting a limitation on my actual tasks for the day. When I'm planning my week, I make my To-Do lists based on what I know I can reasonably accomplish in any given day, and then I stick to it. I always leave a bit of space for the unexpected (and sometimes that means postponing certain things), but by not taking on more than I can chew at once, I'm ultimately more successful. Not only that, but if I've set my own expectations first, it's much easier to manage the expectations of my clients. If I've planned to have something done for Wednesday morning, I am able to clearly communicate this, and as a result, I'm a lot calmer and so is my client.

Manage your time, yes. But manage your expectations of yourself too. Set your schedule in manageable chunks. I guarantee you'll look back on your week having accomplished a lot more.

Photo Credit: cathyse97

I believe one of the most important character traits of a successful workshifter is self-discipline. While working remotely obviously gives us all a great deal of freedom and flexibility, it's up to us to put ourselves on a leash - figuratively, of course - in order to actually get things done and succeed.

Without adequate levels of self-discipline, it's likely your work and business will suffer. Here are some of the standards that I've set to condition myself and maintain the discipline that's needed on a daily basis when you're working outside of an office.

• Set working hours and stick to them. Whether it's 7 a.m., 8 a.m. or 9 a.m., make a commitment to start working at the same time every day and do not budge from this under any circumstances. This will help your colleagues and clients know when to contact you.
  
  
• Make yourself available to your colleagues and clients using chat and instant messenger tools, like Skype, Google Talk or MSN Messenger. By signing in you are signaling that you are "in the office," thereby holding yourself accountable. This tactic will also help prevent you from falling into the habit of hitting snooze and sleeping those extra 30 minutes.
  
  
• Set aside blocks of time every day to perform tasks that may not be related to specific work projects - for example, spend 15 minutes in the morning and late afternoon updating your Twitter account or surfing Facebook . Or, dedicate the last 30 minutes before you shut down your computer to checking the mail or paying bills.  Setting aside these blocks of time to allow yourself to perform these tasks will help you condition your brain to stay focused throughout the rest of the day.
  
  
• Spend some time at the end of your workday to prioritize the activities that need to be addressed the following day.  This will help you mentally prepare for what's ahead and give you an immediate starting point on the next day.
  
  
• Record your time to determine what you've accomplished throughout the day. I do this anyway, since I have to complete a timesheet, and I've found that this gives me a sense of achievement, or, a kick in the rear if I haven't been as productive as I should have been. If you don't work in an environment where you record your time, I highly recommend doing this on your own.
  
  
• Finally, don't get discouraged when you're having one of those days where you feel like you have the attention span of a lightning bolt. It happens to everyone - whether you work in an office or not.
  

What about you? Do you struggle with self-discipline from time to time? If so, what do you do to overcome it?

Photo Credit: suttonhoo

Okay, so I have returned from my workshifting train trip from NYC to Miami, and yes I am fully aware of how crazy that sounds.  I traveled on Amtrak for the duration of the trip using something that's called a USA Rail Pass.  Basically, you receive 8 segments in 15 days for just under 400 dollars, which considering how late I booked it, is a pretty good deal.  It was a total over over 60 travel hours.

Look, its no surprise that taking a train that distance will not be as time efficient as air travel.  However, I decided to take a train to mix things up a bit and investigate whether workshifting was indeed possible all the way up and down the East Coast.  

Now, for the question of whether I remained productive.  You know how when you get on a plane, you can just crank out work because there are no distractions?  Yeah, it was like that, except for 60 hours instead of six.  It was beautiful.

From a workshifters perspective, Amtrak trains are pretty solid.  They boast big, comfy chairs, probably the equivalent of First Class on most airlines.  They also have working outlets for each passenger so you can stay charged up at all times.  And of course, you can't beat the scenery.  No, the normal trains do not have WiFi, only some commuter trains do.  But I use Verizon Wireless broadband anyway which is built into my netbook.  I was very impressed with Verizon's service.  I had access to WiFi for the entire trip.  There were plenty of spots where I had no cell phone coverage on my T-Mobile Android device but was able to keep working on my netbook.

All in all, the trip was fantastic.  I was able to remain just as productive if not more so, while soaking up beautiful scenery, meeting some very interesting people and visiting some cool spots in the US.  I love experimenting and pushing the boundaries with workshifting because I believe we have reached a point (at least in most of the developed world) where work is truly what you do and not where you sit.  The ability to workshift is not just about productivity and connectedness, its about freeing yourself to take an adventure and bring your work along with you.  And that's exactly what I continue planning to do. :)

The silent "D" in workshifting stands for self-discipline. The freedom of "office anywhere" allows us to have is sometimes dangerous for the new workshifter. It is easy for the high productivity environment created by working outside the office to have the opposite effect. Not having the office to discipline us requires that we discipline ourselves. This can be hard (Remember the first time you left home on your own).  

Self-disciple is part of our character. It is not willpower or a set of activities. I used to believe I was disciplined because I had a planned calendar and kept to it. I now believe it is deeper. To develop discipline we must start with our thoughts. Our thoughts then determine our actions. Our actions develop habits and our habits form character.

Thoughts --> Actions --> Habits = Character

Simple (not always easy) ways to achieve self-discipline:

Remember what you want most, not now. Focus on your goal. Adopt long-term thinking as opposed to short-term thinking. Set up short range rewards along the way to get you to the next step. If you get this- You have won 75% of the battle.

Advanced decision making. Make your decisions ahead of time. When the choice needs to be made, it isn't as hard. For example, if I decide before I go to dinner that I am not going to order dessert,  when the waiter asks at the restaurant, it is easier to choose "no" because I already decided.  

Consistent action. Repeated actions lead to habits. Habits form your character. Start with a simple area to be consistent in. I have a friend who started making her bed each morning to develop a consistent habit. This small habit formed a character of discipline which has permeated into her professional life.

The freedom to workshift is a blessing or a curse. Discipline determines which one we experience.

What do you do to create a character of self-discipline?

Photo Credit: qousqous 

When organizations and individuals start having conversations about workshifting, the discussion seems to naturally gravitate toward how to manage a person who isn't sitting around an office all day. It's a reality and unfortunately, this is where the workshifting concept can often get stuck.

A basic tenet of workshifting is being able to manage yourself. That's not to say people who work in offices can't manage themselves, but I've heard from many people over the years that they need an office to visit each day. Because working from home or the local coffee shop can sometimes be a distraction. And having an office away from home keeps them focused.

So I thought it might be interesting to start a discussion on qualities of self-management. Obviously, they apply whether you're in a workshifting arrangement or not. But if you are considering asking for a workshifting arrangement, this might be food for thought. And even if you find these are qualities you need to work on, that doesn't mean you won't be successful in workshifting. It just means you need to reflect a little and perfect your ability to self-manage.

The first quality is knowing yourself. It's about understanding your strengths and weaknesses. Being very honest with who you are. Let's face it - we're not all rock stars at everything.

There are a few ways you can spend time learning about yourself. I always say there are three ways to learn - hearing it, seeing it and doing it.

1. Ask for feedback. Talk with people who have a sense of your working style and ask them for feedback about your strengths and areas for improvement. If you don't have anyone you can ask right now, think about prior performance appraisals you've received and use that feedback.
   
   Once you get feedback, take the time to process and evaluate it. I'd caution people not to immediately dismiss it. You might agree with all of it, parts of it, or none of it. But think it though, make the decision for yourself, and then decide what you will do with the information. Do you need to create an action plan to work on something that was mentioned?
   
   
2. Read books about developing strengths. One terrific book is called, "Now Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. In the book, there is an opportunity to take an assessment that can help you define your personal strengths. Great way to create your own path of self-discovery.
   
   If you have ever taken any assessments in the past, this is a good time to take them out and review them. Consider the results and, like the process above, evaluate what you need to focus on moving forward.
   
   
3. Step out of your comfort zone and do something you haven't done before. For example, if you're apprehensive about public speaking...go out there and volunteer to do a public presentation. Use the evaluations from the sessions to improve. Then do it again.
   

Stepping back to assess and evaluate our personal strengths and weaknesses is a valuable exercise not only for workshifting but anytime. It allows us to keep ourselves focused and positioned to adapt as necessary.

Next up, how self-management and our careers are intertwined.

Photo Credit: Valerie Everett

Since December 15, 2009, Melissa and I have been home for about 15 days.  Last week, we returned from a 91 day workshifting trip in Europe, and decided to ground ourselves in the East Village for a few weeks before our next adventure.  Problem: My little brother, who I call Boy, is graduating and he lives in Miami.

At this point, I am absolutely exhausted at the thought of another short haul flight.  So, I decide to do the only natural thing any workshifting nomad would do...take a train to Miami from New York City.

I just got a new netbook, and of course am rocking Verizon Wireless broadband card as usual.  I am actually curious to see if I can stay productive while traveling down the entire East Coast on an Amtrak.
P.S. The hashtag for this little experiment is #imonatrain.

I've been workshifting since before there was a term for it. I started back in the late 90s, when I convinced my office that I could manage most of my project details remotely. By the early 2000s, when the company where I worked acquired a new building, I even built workshifting (then called telecommuting) into the desk counts for the office space. Years later, I brought workshifting to my marketing company, New Marketing Labs , because my home is 67 miles away from my desk.

But recently, I picked up an office space closer to home because working out of coffeeshops was getting too disruptive. And in so doing, it gave me pause to reflect on the differences between being 100% nomad and having a desk. It also gives me a new way to workshift, so I'll share that, too.

The Immediate Stretch Out

The first thing I noticed upon getting an office is that I've stretched out my stuff again. I bought a second monitor right away (because living inside a laptop lid is restrictive). I had to buy all these "supplies" like an easel board and dry erase boards, so that I could have some "object permanence." When we're workshifting back and forth to different coffee shops, we can't do that kind of thing.



Oh, and I had to start thinking about refreshments and breaks, because when you're at a coffee shop, you're surrounded by things to snack on and drink, but in an office environment, especially if you've rented your own, there's nothing unless you bring it in.

New Benefits for Workshifting

One thing I noticed right away. The moment I had a desk in my office, I didn't want to be tethered to my cell phone all the time for communication. I turned on Skype right away (though I roll in invisible mode all the time). I'm also renewing my GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar usage (they're a client and the sponsor of this blog).

The benefit of having my office is that I'm not worried about all the loud noises and interruptions of others around me. It doesn't matter when the espresso machine runs, because there's not one in my office. So, I can use remote communications tools much more effectively here.

Having an office space away from my main office (but not a coffee shop) means that I can have more team-minded meetings again. Because I can use remote communications software, I can see everyone's frustrated heads more easily, and that sometimes helps (because nonverbal cues are important to better understanding).

Still a Nomad at Heart

I still have to leave this office behind sometimes. Not counting airports and hotel rooms, I still have to get out to coffee shops and bookstores sometimes. I can't stand too much silence. And hey, sometimes a change of locale helps the experience of thinking and understanding.

When all is said and done, there are benefits to having some kind of office space from time to time. Workshifting isn't about giving up offices entirely, nor is it about staying out there away from the mothership forever. What it is about are options. The more you can work in ways that best suit your role at work as well as your roles in life, the better it is for everyone.

Paper. The analog method. Call it what you will. In this age of digital, using something as 20th century as pen and paper sounds like a very strange thing to do.

It doesn't matter if you use a tablet, a pocket notebook, the other side of some printed paper, or the back of an envelope. Paper can be more than just a quaint way of going old school. It can be a useful and powerful tool.

Why use paper?

I'm definitely not harking back to the days when William Faulkner wrote his manuscripts with a pen on a legal pad. Instead, I'm advocating the use of paper for other tasks, which I'll get to in a moment.

The goal these days seems to be to go paperless. So you're probably asking why paper, and not ... well, something digital. A few reasons:

• No matter how hard we try, we're not always online or have our computers turned on
• There are situations -- when riding transit, for example -- when we can't just whip out laptop, tablet, or smartphone
• Sometimes you just can't be bothered turning on a computer or electronic device
  

There are times when the keyboard is a source of stress when I'm trying work. When I have distractions pummeling me, it's like the keyboard is taunting me and I don't have a good comeback for those taunts. That's when paper becomes a sanity saver.

And as someone told me, when the power goes down pen and paper stay up.

Using paper effectively

Doing that isn't as simple as pulling out a notepad and moving a pen across it. As I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, there are certain tasks that I recommend using paper for. With some of them, going the analog route can be more effective than using software or a Web app.

Like what? Jotting down quick notes, ideas, and quotes. I do that a lot. In fact, half of my notebook is filled with little snippets like that.

If you write for a living, dragging yourself away from the computer is a great way to focus on building an outline or even scribbling out that first draft that's been giving you trouble. Regardless of what my instructors in journalism school told me contrary, going this route actually helps me write faster.

Paper is great for brainstorming. Better, I think, than mind mapping software. Using paper and pen allows you to be a lot more spontaneous and gives you opportunities to immediately explore a tangent.

No matter how you're using paper, keep the old adage don't think, do in mind. Let your pen flow over the paper. Don't worry about mistakes or whether or not what you're putting down is any good. You can edit and excise later.

The drawbacks of paper

Yes, there are a few. The biggest one is the what does that say? problem. No matter how neat your handwriting is, if you're writing quickly then sometimes your nice flowing handwriting becomes a hard-to-decipher scrawl. If your handwriting is anything like mine, then this is a problem at the best of times!

If you want to move what's on paper to a digital repository like Evernote or Google Docs, it's going to eat up a bit more of your time. You've got to spend more than a few minutes typing up what you've handwritten. This can drag on you if you're facing a deadline.

Of course, running out of ink and of empty pages is a constant danger ...

Still, I believe that the advantages of using paper really outweigh the drawbacks. Paper is portable and flexible. And it's easy to use.

Do you use paper? If so, how? Feel free to share your experiences by leaving a comment.

Photo Credit: pyth0ns