When the new term begins, we often tend to get some new ideas on how to make our school activities such as academic activity or administrative activity go better and better. Here I am going to tell you something which can improve your school activities like training, teaching, conference, speech, school ceremony, etc with PowerPoint and DVD player.

Love it or not, Microsoft PowerPoint is widely accepted and used, epically in school. We all know that PowerPoint can only be played on computer with MS PowerPoint installed. But things have been changed all the time, PowerPoint is such a wonderful presentation tool, we are always expecting more. For example, when we made some excellent slides, we often want to share or enjoy the information that contains in the slides with others, and sometimes, we must tell someone something, like training, speech…school requires more. But if you are skilled in PowerPoint, you know it’s often not very convenient to show your PowerPoint Presentations, there must be a computer with MS software installed.

We want to find an easy and convenient way to Bridging the gap between the presenters and the viewers!

Ok, then why not play your PowerPoint presentations on TV with DVD player, the cheapest DVD player costs only $20, maybe less than that!

First, let’s have a discussion on what we will benefit if we play PowerPoint presentations with DVD player.

DVD player is cheap, but it’s not that easy, I am sure you care more about how to show your presentation in an efficient and effective way! We can take some examples to make this clear.

Training:

At the beginning of each term, school administration department need to arrange training for new teachers, sometimes including old staffs, it’s wonderful to show training courses with PPT, but often need to prepare too many things. How about DVD presentation, you only need a DVD player which cost $20, then you can held your training anywhere with a TV, of course, there are almost one TV in each class room, and more than one set in the hall. Another reason is that school often different from other organizations, maybe the whole training need no instructor, school only want to show PowerPoint to teachers and let they learn themselves, Play PowerPoint presentations on TV with DVD player will be the best choice, school can also burn PowerPoint presentations about the training to DVD and give the DVD Disc directly to teachers, so they can learn at home!

Advertisement:

Does School need AD? Are you kidding? The answer is yes! Every school want to be more famous, set up a good reputation both in parents and society! They also need to publicize their newest policies so that more students will enroll, and positively apply for expenditure from the government. So AD is important to school, at the beginning of each term, it’s very important to make a Presentation about school, with pictures and audio insert, then present to places (such as spot for enrolling) which will let parents of the students who often come to school at this time know something about the school. It is wisdom to burn your PowerPoint presentations to DVD disco and play on TV which we call it DVD Presentation! The school can do the same thing when any other organizations or individuals come to have a visit, besides, they also can take their DVD presentations to other school or use in any other activities(such as School Ceremony)! The most advantage of the DVD presentation is that the presentation can play itself and very convenient for delivering. In my opinion, each school should make a completely DVD presentation disc just like each school have a website. In a word, improve the quality of AD to make school famous with lowest cost!

Teaching and Academic activity:

It’s a fact that more and more teachers are tending to use PowerPoint in the class to make their courses more attractive, the same thing happened in Academic activities. As a teacher, are you tried of open the computer and click the PowerPoint Program to show your presentation once and once again, why not sit down with your students and watch your excellent PowerPoint slides on TV, just like watch Spider Man or Harry Potter?you can also explain your slides while it’s playing with no need to click your computer, everything is your hand with a DVD remote controller! During Academic activities like Speech, Proseminar, we have the same application! Maybe more than that, that’s your problem, I am sure you have more imaginations.

Here I only list a few of the applications in school, there are more than that, and you’d better try yourself! Now I’m going introduce the tool which will help you burn your PowerPoint to DVD/Mini DVD.

A $99.95 product called Wondershare DVD Presenter enables you to burn PowerPoint presentation to DVD/Mini DVD, or save it as DVD quality video formats (MPEG). You won’t get bothered with the 3-Click simplicity. With this tool, you can make a DVD copy for the PowerPoint slides with DVD menus, keeping the exact timings, transitions, sound and movies embedded, all in sync with the presentation.

It’s better for you to learn more about the product to have a better understand (http://www.sameshow.com/powerpoint-to-dvd.html)if you want to work in an efficient and effective way.

The following is an excerpt from my new book, “MORPHING INTO THE REAL WORLD – A Handbook for Entering the Work Force” which is a survival guide for young people as they transition into adult life. The book offers considerable advice regarding how to manage our personal and professional lives. As a part of this, I found it necessary to discuss some basic management concepts and philosophies.

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

Within any organization, be it commercial or nonprofit, there is always a chain of command that dictates how the organization will be governed. To this end, there are basically three types of organizational structures:

* Hierarchical – representing a classic tree structure (top-down) defining administrative relationships between people. The hierarchical organization, as depicted by an organization chart, expresses superior, subordinate, and lateral relationships within an organization. It also suggests the scope of activities within an organization.

* Matrix – represents a pool of people serving different capacities in an organization. For example, on one business function a person may represent the leader, on others he may be a follower. Under the matrix approach, one person may serve more than one leader.

* Project Team – is similar to the Matrix except as performed on a project-to-project basis. In other words, a person’s tasks are prescribed by the project for which he is assigned. He will serve in this capacity until the conclusion of the assignment, after which he will be assigned to another project in perhaps another capacity.

Regardless of how companies organize themselves, either in a multi-tiered hierarchy or in a flat organization, there is always a superior/subordinate relationship between personnel for administrative purposes. The notion that an organization runs as a pure democracy is a myth. There will always be a need for leaders and followers.

THE FIVE BASIC ELEMENTS OF MASS PRODUCTION

There is basically two ways of producing any product, either one at a time or in mass production. Mass production affords us the ability to produce more products at reduced costs. As such, industrial engineers have long known that in situations involving voluminous work products of the same type, an organization needs to observe the five basic elements of mass production:

1. Division of Labor – to break the production process into separate tasks performed by workers with different skills.

2. Assembly Line – defining the progression and synchronization of work.

3. Precision Tooling – for mechanical leverage in the assembly line.

4. Standardization of Parts – for inter changeability and assembly by unskilled and semiskilled workers.

5. Mass Demand – the impetus for mass production.

You will find these five elements in every company who offers repetitious work products, be it an automotive manufacturer, a restaurant, a bank or insurance company, an engineering firm, etc. Actually, more organizations operate in accordance with these five elements than those who do not.

These five elements lead to the need of standard and reusable methodologies representing the business processes needed to perform the work. Such methodologies define Who is to perform What work, When, Where, Why, and How (I refer to this as “5W+H”).

UNDERSTANDING PRODUCTIVITY

Productivity = Effectiveness X Efficiency

Too often people fallaciously equate productivity with efficiency. Efficiency simply represents how fast we can perform a given task. For example, an industrial robot on an assembly line can perform a task such as welding very precisely and quickly. But if the weld is being performed at the wrong time or wrong place, then it is counterproductive, regardless of how efficiently it performs the task. Effectiveness, on the other hands, is concerned with the necessity of the task itself or as I like to say, “Do the right things.” Under this scenario, the manager should consider effectiveness first, and efficiency second. By being conscious of both effectiveness and efficiency, the manager can avoid the “Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic” phenomenon whereby people work on the wrong things at the wrong time.

Undoubtedly, you will meet salesmen who will offer products promising improvements in efficiency. But if they cannot be implemented into your operation effectively, it will be counterproductive.

Just remember, 100% efficiency multiplied by 0% effectiveness equals zero productivity.

In terms of delivering a quality work product, the manager should understand the relationship of quality to the time necessary to produce the goods.

The faster the product is produced, the more likely it will contain defects in workmanship; conversely, the more time allowed in production, the greater the chances for producing a high-quality product. Although everyone stresses the need for quality, the reality is the manager must be able to balance development time against defects in workmanship and that a suitable development time needs to be devised to match the level of quality desired. This also means the level of precision in production is proportional to the level of quality desired, all of which will greatly influence a manager’s style of management. For example, in a high pressure situation, the manager may exercise more supervision and a little friendly bullying in order to get the job done. Under less pressure, the manager will allow more worker freedom and participation in developing decisions.

NEXT WEEK: We will conclude this three part series with a review of some important Laws and Rules to observe in the workplace.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more depth, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For both small and large businesses, video conferencing is becoming one of the leading tools for communication. Video conferencing is a form of telecommunication that utilizes both audio and video for a virtual meeting. This basically involves either two people having a simple conversation referred to as P2P or point to point or it could be multi-point involving several different locations with many people linked together for the virtual meeting.

As technological advances continue to improve in the field of video conferencing, more and more businesses are trying to integrate this communication tool into their communication systems. But some may be hesitant to upgrade their system especially if they are not too familiar with how this type of system works and on whether or not it brings numerous benefits to their specific type of business. Your business’ particular situation though may benefit from the advantages that video conferencing has to offer.

Businesses that have multiple offices at various locations both locally or worldwide can benefit from video conferencing. In such a scenario, it is not uncommon to have regular regional meetings where office or department managers may have to travel to a particular location to take part in such. Apart from the travel expenses, pre-meeting preparations such as the paperwork to be distributed, emailed or post mailed can cost money as well and have to be considered too. Both time and money are saved if meetings are held via video conferencing with all the pertinent information needed to be taken up being displayed on the screen and all parties involved being able to interact even without being physically present in one room.

Video Conferencing can assist as well in your dealings with business partners, investors and those who you potentially think will be interested in doing business with you, most especially if they are located abroad. Important business matters can be easily discussed without having to schedule a meeting that requires some partners or associates to travel. You not only get full access to all of your business materials, you save money on travel and lodging expenses.

Many businesses are beginning to incorporate this technology and so you should consider installing a video conferencing system as well. Video conferencing equipment prices are starting to decrease and as more businesses are using such a technology to conduct regular virtual meetings, sooner or later you may have to upgrade your communication system as well.