Client Presentations: Stand Up and Sell
Corrections or additions?
This article by Bart Jackson was prepared for the
October 3, 2001 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights
reserved.
New Interactive Publishing Forum Takes Root
We just don’t do it the same way anymore, states the
New York Times Survey. Within one short year, the majority of computer
use has shifted from net “surfing” to selective information
seeking. The public is booting up not to play with a new toy, but
to ply a familiar tool. For the interactive publishers this means
a shock and a switch to a new access style.
To solve this, and the myriad other traumas to which online publishers
constantly fall heir, Mark Feffer has launched The Trenton Forum
for Interactive Publishers. Feffer founded Tramp Steamer, a web
publisher
company, in l997 and early on saw the lack of any professional
association
for those trying to publish in the whirlwind pace of the net.
“There
are real problems and very real solutions,” he says, “that
need to be shared in an open experience like the Trenton Forum.”
Since this past June, www.TrentonForum.org has recorded the netswift
progress of Feffer’s brainchild, which is holding its first open
seminar
on Thursday, October 4, at 3 p.m. at Thomas Edison State College.
Speakers include Ellen Cannon, editor of Bloomberg Custom
Publishing;
Thomas Baker, founder of WSJ Interactive; and Darrell Delamaide,
manager of America Online’s Personal Finance Channel. Cost: $35. Call
609-394-1325.
Initially rooting his Interactive Publishers group in Trenton has
provided a host of mutual benefits for the Forum and the city.
Feffer’s
first move was to contact friend John Thurber, vice president of
public
affairs for Thomas Edison State College. With 8,100 students mostly
involved in technology-based, distant learning courses, it was a
natural.
But in addition, the college has strong financial links with the New
Jersey Public Library Association and, of course, its own ample
buildings
to house large seminars.
Thurber, seeing the Forum as a boon, quickly teamed up with Tramp
Steamer as co-organizer, noting that “the Internet has grown
beyond
all expectations and the Trenton Forum will serve to bring together
some of the top experts in the online field.”
By August, the Trenton Forum had lined up the city as a sponsor.
Enthusiastic,
Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer stated “It is an exciting opportunity
for Trenton to host this important forum. We are a city situated in
an excellent location, surrounded by numerous high tech publishing
companies.”
“Well, my own reason for building the Forum within Trenton,”
says Feffer, “is that Trenton needs it and it’s a good way to
serve my community.” He also agrees with the mayor, the locale
is surprisingly central. Such publishers as Weblications, Factiva,
Vertical Net, Peterson Publications, Tramp Steamer, and Bloomberg
Custom Publishers, all sit within a 45-minute drive of the city.
Scores
more cluster within the Garden State. And even for sponsoring company
Flywire, which designs its websites in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
the several hour drive seems not too far.
In fact, with this sudden flurry of online publishing,
the definition of client, consultant and publisher have become rather
blurred. The traditional print vision of a publishing house as a
labyrinthian
chamber filled with grumbling editors, each scowling over pages
destined
for an exact slot on some bookshelf or page of print no longer fits.
Feffer is quick to point out that interactive publishing encompasses
not just editors and writers and folks starting up webzines, but
designers,
those updating financial sites with stock reviews, corporate sites
addressing stockholders and clients, and even E-commerce firms, which
put forth extensive product reviews. This is the range of
professionals
the Trenton Forum targets.
“Even the oldest online publishing veteran feels a bit like a
pioneer slogging amidst the uncharted,” laughs Feffer. And as
pioneers go, Feffer came ashore quite early. Barely two decades ago,
Knight-Rider, Dow Jones and a few other firms began to establish
websites
and view the net as a true publishing medium. By then he was already
aware.
Growing up outside Boston, Feffer moved into town to gain a film and
broadcasting degree from Boston University in l982. His first job
was with ABC News in New York as a video tape editor. “`This is
a good start, son,’” he was assured. “`But if you really want
to be a journalist, you’ll go get some print experience. That’s the
future for real journalists.’” So off Feffer trekked to
Northwestern
University and by 1984, he returned east as a writer for Dow Jones
first News Retrieval Service.
“While writing business and finance, then developing projects,
I really began to see the power of this new medium,” recalls
Feffer.
In the early ’90s, he left Dow Jones to start his own company, United
Multimedia, online publishing firm, with partner Ronnie Fielding.
Then in l997, as the entire interactive technology surged forward,
he began Tramp Steamer Media, where he and his six employees publish
for Merrill Lynch, Fortune, Charles Schwab, and other clients.
Interactive publishing’s primary problem, as Feffer sees it, is a
surprising lack of concern about the actual content on the web page.
Board members will pore for hours over the upcoming annual report
just to soothe the savage stockholder. Yet these same folks give their
firm’s website a quick click and casually respond “My, those
graphics
look great.” Three major, common oversights, Feffer says, flaw
most websites.
Lack of initial planning. Exactly what do you seek fromyour website? Do you want to primarily enhance your firm’s image andattract clients? Do you want above all to tout your product? Wouldsetting yourself up as an information source within your field bea good approach? What are your competitors doing?Improper Updating. If you see your website as a statictool spieling the same old sales spiel, merely to a newer audience,your readers will steadily drift away. On the other hand, if youchangeessential data too frequently, readers get confused, unsure aboutyour site and product.Poor Writing. “What most designers fail torealize,”says Feffer, “is that the web is primarily text driven. Peoplecome seeking information, which they find mostly in words.” Agood site is assembled by not only writers, but also by editorsreviewingand trimming each piece. Feffer feels that writing for the web isin many ways tougher than print. Rather than cozying into a wingchair,your reader sits uncomfortably in front of an oscillating screen.Odds are he seeks only a few points of information. “Your writingis just hanging out there,” he says, “and you’d better grabyour reader’s attention with a brisk, Associated-Press style ofreporting,or he’s on to somewhere else.The Trenton Forum for Interactive Publishers hopes to have itsschedule of upcoming seminars in place by mid-October. With the secondgathering beginning in January, they hope to cover such topics aswhere does the Internet fit into marketing? Why do site visitors stayand stray? Case studies are also planned to highlight not onlysuccesses,but failures.”So far,” says Feffer, “we have had an astoundingresponse.We never expected interest to grow so large.” On the other hand,who would have expected online publishing to become an important partof all our lives so rapidly?— Bart JacksonTop Of PageGrowth Company ShowcaseAnalysts, fund managers, brokers, investment bankers,and other investment professionals are invited to the New JerseyGrowthCompany Showcase. Presented by the New Jersey Technology Council andSills Capital Markets Group, the showcase is set for Friday, October5, 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza in Secaucus. CEOs and CFOsbegin making formal presentations at 10 a.m. Cost: $100. Call856-787-9700.Four of the 12 companies represented are from Princeton:InsureHiTech.com Inc. , 100 Village Boulevard, Suite 200,Princeton 08540. Richard A. Maloy Jr., president and CEO.609-987-0221;fax, 609-987-0490. Home page: www.insurehitech.comInsurance Revolution Inc., part of InsureHiTech.com, is a full serviceE-insurance commercial property and casualty broker licensed in 48states. With 49 employees, it offers business insurance to the IT,environmental, biotech, and VC industries.Medarex (MEDX), 707 State Road, Princeton Gateway,Suite 206, Princeton 08540. Donald L. Drakeman, president.609-430-2880;fax, 609-430-2850. Home page: www.medarex.comThis biopharmaceutical does therapeutic product manufacturing,particularlyhuman and monoclonal antibodies. It has 18 employees in Princeton,plus 60 workers at its 37,000-square foot operations laboratory andoffice in Annandale.Princeton eCom Corporation, 650 College Road East,Princeton 08540. Curt Welling, CEO. 609-606-3000; fax, 609-606-3297.Home page: www.princetonecom.comWith the distinction of being the first company to present a billon the Internet, this company does remote banking and processing ofelectronic payments for bank clients.Songbird Hearing Inc., 5 Cedar Brook Drive, CedarBrook Corporate Center, Cranbury 08512. Fred Fritz, president andCEO. 609-409-4500; fax, 609-409-4510. Home page:www.songbirdhearing.com.This spinoff from the Sarnoff Corporation develops new hearing aidtechnology, including disposable hearing aids.Also participating are a photonic technology firm in Eatontown(Alphion Corporation), a service company for network service providersin Edison (Aplion Networks), a web-enabled time clock system inParsippany(CyberShift Inc.), a Piscataway-based biopharmaceutical (Enzon Inc.),a mobile broadband access company in Bedminster (Flarion TechnologiesInc.), a Parsippany provider of wireless services to banks (IncurrentSolutions), a networking service company in Somerset (LumetaCorporation),and a Flanders-based system for semiconductor device manufacturers.”This will offer analysts and brokers a close look at the futureWall Street stars,” says Maxine Ballen, NJTC president.Top Of PageClient Presentations: Stand Up and SellSpeech consultant Kathleen Achorn is a fan ofthe television show West Wing. “I will absolutely kill to seethe show,” she says. “I have left my husband flat in themiddleof dinner. I tell him `for the next hour, I’m married to MartinSheen.’”It’s not that Achorn finds Sheen devastatingly attractive. Notnecessarily.As a consultant who teaches executives how to make successfulpresentations,she is drawn to the way Sheen and his co-stars prepare to givespeeches,speak to the press, and win over legislative opponents. “It’show they train the president, how they prep CJ (the pretendpresident’spress secretary) to understand where they will meet objections,”says Achorn.Achorn speaks on “Getting a Yes: Tips on Making a SuccessfulClientPresentation” at a meeting of the Mercer chapter of NJAWBO onTuesday, October 9, at 5 p.m. at the Trenton Country Club. Cost: $40.Call 609-924-7965.Starting out in teaching, Achorn, a 1965 graduate of MisericordiaCollege, switched to public relations, first for a local hospital,and then for Xerox Learning Systems. “It was always the same setof skills,” she says. “It was all communications.” In1985, after 15 years with Xerox, she felt pressure to move intomanagement.Preferring to keep on working with clients, she started her ownconsultingbusiness. Communications Strategy, based in Fairfield, Connecticut,teaches presentation skills in seminars and through one-on-onecoaching.”Middle and senior managers,” says Achorn, “need to makepresentations to the executive committee, to investors on Wall Street,to international clients. They need to sell a new IT system, orexplaintheir engineering to a non-engineering client.” Career successdepends on making these presentations well. To do so, managers needto:Assess the situation. “Most clients say `I don’t knowwhat to say,’” Achorn reports. “That is not the issue. Theissue is what does the audience need to hear. The first job is toassess the situation, and the code word is `politics.’”Who asked you to speak? This person, or entity, is your firstaudience,says Achorn. You need to understand what it is that you are supposedto accomplish. Ask questions. Do research. Clarify the objectivesyour presentation is to meet.Look at the audience. Will the audience be three people,or 300? The style, the tone of voice, and even the vocabulary thatworks in a small group will not be right for a large gathering. Beyondsize, it is important to look at the culture of the audience. “Inlarge corporations, the culture may be to stand still behind alectern,”says Achorn. “That is what is expected.” In a conservativeindustry, presentations most often should be delivered while wearinga dark suit. In start-ups, she says, clothing is less important.There,the energy of the delivery may be the key element.Be clear and brief. “Talk to people,” says Achorn.The style of spoken language needs to be different from that ofwrittenlanguage. It should be natural, to the point, and free of jargon.”Every discipline has its jargon,” she says. “They talkabout `mission’ or `robust training.’ After a while, that is justbaloney. When you want to move someone, you have to get away fromjargon.”Set a tone. Achorn points to Rudolph Guiliani as a masterat making presentations. “He doesn’t pontificate,” sheobserves.”He’s in working mode, in a baseball cap. Even in a suit, he hashis sleeves rolled up.”Plan and prepare. When someone is especially skilled atmaking presentations, Achorn says onlookers often believe “`she’sa natural.’” But, she says, “the people who look most naturalare the ones who prepare the most.” In her opinion, Clinton wasa gifted speaker, but he was also a well-prepared speaker who wrotehis own speeches.Executives in all industries would do well to emulate thethoroughnesswith which the former president prepared to speak. Upward careerprogresscould depend on it. “Face time is so valuable any more,” saysAchorn. “When you stand to speak, your career stands withyou.”Top Of PageCorporate AngelsThe New Jersey Chamber of Commerce has set upa Disaster Fund for Children of New Jersey to provide immediateresourcesto children and their families affected by the events of September11. Chairman Brian Maher, CEO of Maher Terminals, announced that aninitial gift of $100,000 has come from Prudential Financialemployees and matching funds from the Prudential Foundation.Spouses and children of Mercer County residents who died inthe September 11 terror attacks are eligible for free tuition atMercerCounty Community College. The offer of a free education appliesnot only to children who are now ready for college, but to all ofthe victims’ children.Nycomed Amersham Imaging and Amersham PharmaciaBiotechhave established a Manhattan Disaster Fund to provide support to thelocal communities in which Amersham employees work. The company hasfacilities in Piscataway, Princeton, Lawrenceville, South Plainfield,and Livingston.Amersham will contribute $500,000 to the fund, which will offerfinancialassistance to individuals and local communities adjacent to thecompanies’sites in New Jersey. The company says it intends to work with localtownships, communities, and other relief organizations.Organization representing persons who suffered bereavement or personalinjury as a result of the September 11 attack may requestconsiderationfor a grant by calling 609-514-6443.The pastoral services department of St. Francis Hospitalis sponsoring a six-week bereavement support group for those grievingthe loss of a loved one, and those who care about friends who aregrieving. The lecture series will be held every Wednesday from October10 to November 14 in the chapel conference room at 601 Hamilton Avenuein Trenton. Call 609-599-5090.SueAnne Herrera and Stacy Glaydura, partners in Reflexions& Complexions , a Hamilton beauty salon, plan to hold an all day”haircut-a-thon” on Sunday, October 28 from 11 a.m. through7 p.m. to benefit the Red Cross. The salon will offer discount haircuts on that day — $10 for men and $20 for women. Herrera, anativeNew Yorker, says her entire staff of 11 will be on hand to help out.Stephanie Dunn, principal of A Personal Life Coach , aHunterdon company, is offering 30-minute coaching sessions for $20,which will be donated to the Red Cross. The offer is good from October1 until November 1.Holistic Life Center of Hightstown is offering griefcounselingto survivors and to victims’ family members on a sliding-fee basis.Call 609-448-7727.The New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountantshas announced that accountants in the state will offer pro bonoservicesand temporary office space to individuals and businesses affectedby the events of September 11. Call 973-226-4494 ext. 246 or visitwww.njscpa.org/recovery.The Tournament Players Club at Jasna Polana is holdinga commemorative event on Monday, November 5. The event, open tomembersand their guests, will raise money for “organizations in theforefrontof the recovery effort” through guest green fees, silent auction,and contributions.The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency isoffering borrowers affected by the events of September 11 reliefoptions,including suspending or reducing mortgage payments for a period oftime or establishing longer payback plans.Foreclosure proceedings will not be initiated against any affectedborrowers for at least 90 days. After the 90 days, all foreclosureswill be reviewed by the agency. Families can call 866-NJCRISIS orfrom www.state.nj.us.Greater Mercer TMA is offering free assistance tocommuterswho have been relocated to New Jersey in the aftermath of the eventsof September 11. In addition to rideshare assistance, carpool andvanpool formation, the TMA will work with employers to set upshuttles,corporate vanpools, and alternate work schedules.Arrangements already have been made for additional shuttle servicefrom the area’s train stations to local Merrill Lynch facilities.Call 609-452-1491 or visit www.gmtma.org.The New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commissionhas set up a toll-free hot line to help businesses whose offices weredestroyed or damaged and companies whose business has fallen off asa result of the events of September 11. Call 800-643-6090 from 7 a.m.through 7 p.m., or visit www.newjerseycommerce.org/njhelps.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
