I, Spy. Camera: Olympus PEN E-P3. Lens: Panasonic 20mm f/1.7.

Stealthy self-portrait in a bathroom mirror. Anyone guess where this was taken?

Moved. Camera: Olympus PEN E-P3. Lens: Panasonic 14mm f/2.5.

The quadruplets moved. Around the corner.

Michael: Just a note to let you know that I was at a Chamber of Commerce Gov/Ed committee meeting this morning and your Business Program was saluted by [the Chamber director] for the fine graduates you are producing (including her last three assistants). Following our meeting, the director of our local CIEDA asked for your name/contact number for possible candidates; she is a former business prof. at ISU. Bottom line: Your department is getting rave reviews in the community. Thanks to you and Eric [my colleague] for your outstanding work!  It is making a difference in our community!

Quadruplets. Camera: Olympus PEN E-P3. Lens: Panasonic 20mm f/1.7.

They must be related to the twins.

So if you’re about to graduate from college, what should you read if you’re in the smarter 58%? Here are three recommendations:

• Linchpin by Seth Godin
• A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink
• Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Once you finish those, if you’re in business (or plan to be), then take a look at Josh Kaufman’s Personal MBA Reading List.

You may want to grab a Kindle and read some literature as well. Many classic titles are free and they will enrich your imagination, conversation, and creativity. I’m reading Moby Dick on mine.

How are you going to do that?

One way is with your business card.

No, not with a plain white card like everyone else’s. Something snazzy.

Fortunately for you, Moo–makers of some of the snazziest business cards ever–is offering a 20% discount to students through December 12, 2012.

Get your Moo cards here.

I use Moo MiniCards for both my photography and consulting businesses. Every time I hand them out, people say, “Cool–I’ve never seen a card like that.”

Exactly.

Every Women Needs a Bundle of Flowers. Camera: Olympus PEN E-P3. Lens: Panasonic 20mm f/1.7.

What do effective presentations look like in a college classroom?

Today I offered some thoughts on this to a group of adjunct faculty at the Hargrove School at Lincoln Christian University. The faculty development session was only 45 minutes so we were limited in what we could cover but here are the key points.

1. Don’t default to PowerPoint – You have lots of options for learning experiences: demonstrations, writing/drawing on the whiteboard, discussion, video, and more. PowerPoint is just one tool.
2. One idea per slide – The less that’s on the slide, the fewer distractions, the better the focus. Instead of using one slide with six bullet points, expand that one slide out to six separate slides.
3. Minimize text – Closely related to #2. Don’t type everything on the slide that you plan to say. Use just a word or two.
4. Use pictures – Images are powerful and emotional. We remember what we feel. When you use images, don’t feel constrained by the placeholders on the slide–let your photos fill the slide. See The Girl Effect for a good example of these points.
5. Stories for the win - Stories engage us emotionally and spark curiosity, an essential ingredient for learning. They can also be used to keep and regain attention (See Dr. John Medina’s notes on attention from his book Brain Rules).
6. Give cues - Many students take notes by writing what they see on the PowerPoint slides–nothing more. Give students verbal cues: “write this down,” “this is important,” “this will be on the test.” You can also build visual cues into your presentation that help them navigate your lecture. For example, create your main point slides in one color and subpoint slides in a different color.
7. Get inspired - Here are a few helpful resources: TED (and here are some of my favorite talks), Slideshare (here are my favorites), Compfight (great tool for searching images on flickr), Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath (give them your email address and they’ll give you some excellent teaching and presenting resources for free), and Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.

Last fall I wrote a couple posts to help students prepare better presentations for their end-of-semester projects. You might find those helpful as well:

• Students: How to Present to Grown-Ups
• A Few More Thoughts on Student Presentations

Thanks to Hargrove School leaders Steve Collins and Tom Tanner for inviting me to participate in the event and thanks also to everyone who attended and asked good questions.

UPDATE: Here’s a photo that Rick Champ, one of the attendees, took from the back of the room as we were getting started. Rick’s a smart guy and he’s on twitter–you might follow him.

The 411 on Lucretia. Camera: Olympus PEN E-P3. Lens: Panasonic 14mm f/2.5.

As I made the picture of Joe’s Pizzeria the other day, Lucretia (who happens to know my wife) stepped outside her office “just to bug me,” she said. In fact, if you look back at the Joe’s Pizzeria photo, you can see Lucretia’s reflection in the window. I asked her if I could make her picture and she said yes.

I’d like to say that the title and inclusion of the number on the door in the image were intentional but they weren’t. It wasn’t until after I got home and loaded the files on the computer that I noticed the door.

Creativity can be messy and generous like that sometimes.

Joe’s Pizzeria + Character’s Pub. Camera: Olympus PEN E-P3. Lens: Panasonic 14mm f/2.5.