091111 Five Must Reads (and a Bonus)

• 21 Secrets Your Customer Service Reps Would Never Share (until now)
  It’s ridiculously hard to explain what conversation really means. The corporate managerial mindset is so used to one way (unidirectional) communications that it is nearly impossible to cause actual listening to happen. This piece showcases something you never consider…what it’s like to be the guy on the other end of your customer service call. Listening is just like that. You have to consider the person you’d never consider. Read for your morning dose of humble pie.
• Why Most Screencasts And Online Presentations Are Tedious (And How To Fix It)
  This is a review of a new presentation product called Camtasia. But in the meantime, you get great pointer about livening up your presentation and how the brain works. It’s the lack of movement that makes so many powerpoints so awful. We’re used to television and there, something changes every seven seconds.
• Prezi
  Extremely cool new presentation tool that starts with the notion that you’d get your whole idea into one image. Check out their tutorials.
  Wake your next audience up with presi.
• Two Simple Rules For Better Job Descriptions (via Michael Specht)
  1. Use Simple Words
  2. Use Simple Sentences
• 7 Ways To Get More Out of LinkedIn
  Sharlyn Lauby (the HRBartender) pulled together an amazing piece that appeared on Mashable.  The tips have the feel of telling your old neighbor that she’s still got some juice left in her: “But with the more mainstream platforms like Twitter and Facebook being used for business purposes, some professionals are neglecting their LinkedIn profiles. While LinkedIn is certainly not as dynamic as other social media sites, it still provides a lot of value.” The tips are useful. The message to LinkedIn…shape up.
• Are Women Picky?
  Overcoming Bias looks at a study that seems to demonstrate that women are picky because men prefer to put them in institutions that make them that way. Really.