My Three Tips to Help You Give Better Presentations

Practice — and technology — makes perfect!

Having the right tools to give great presentations is one huge key to success in the small biz and entrepreneurship world. Getting the right slide deck and presenting it effectively in front of key players in your industry can make a huge difference for your brand AND your business. But not everyone is a natural at giving presentations, and that’s okay — I’ve got some great tips to make it easy!

By applying all three tips below, hopefully you can make the whole process seamless.

1. Practice public speaking.

If you’re having trouble with the actual part where you stand up and give the presentation, that’s okay—a lot of people are uncomfortable with public speaking, even when it’s just in small groups or one-on-one with strangers. But there are tried-and-true methods to get better at it, some of which I’ve covered in a previous article.

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Show Your Small Business Cares: Help A Local School By Pledging Not to Text and Drive

my business cares AT&T It Can WaitWe all know that texting and driving is dangerous: according to the National Safety Council, over 100,000 accidents each year involve drivers who are texting. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 3,000 people were killed in 2011 in distracted-driving related accidents, and texting while driving is the most dangerous distraction of all. That’s why the “It Can Wait” campaign was launched to remind people that no matter how important a text might seem, it’s not more important than safety!

texting while driving crash statistics from My Business Cares, AT&T and It Can WaitAs an extension of the “It Can Wait” campaign, AT&T has created a way for small businesses to show that they stand against texting and driving while helping their communities. They’ve created a “My Business Cares” sweepstakes so that small business owners and employees can take the pledge not to text while driving. When they take the pledge a local middle or high school (of the business or employee’s choice) will be entered to win $1,000, plus an in-school assembly educating students on the dangers of texting while driving. Given that 75% of teenagers say that texting while driving is common among their friends, that’s an important lesson for students to hear.

AT&T My Business Cares It Can Wait Pledge

Many small businesses rely on the benefits afforded by mobile devices. But when those devices are used while driving, employees can put themselves and others at risk. “My Business Cares” is a great opportunity for small businesses to send a powerful message to employees about the dangers of texting and driving, and gives individuals an opportunity to show they care while encouraging others to do the same.

Small business owners and employees can enter the sweepstakes via the “My Business Cares” tab on AT&T’s Facebook page. Simply take the pledge, enter your contact info, and select the local school you’d like to help.

Is Your Ecommerce Site Vulnerable to Fraud?

How PCI Compliance Helps Protect Your Business from Breaches

Sam Farraj at&t networking exchangeSam Farraj is AVP-Content Delivery & Security Platform, AT&T Global Business Services. You can find more blog content from Sam and other experts on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog, where this article originally appeared. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.


Next time you are enjoying the ease of shopping online, remember this: Studies estimate that online retailers lost $3.5 billion to fraud in 2012. On top of that, add the cost of inconvenience to legitimate consumers who either had to notify their credit card companies, or who may not have even spotted the fraudulent charges when they paid their bills. Blogs and social media are cluttered with stories of people whose credit cards were used to make fraudulent purchases, leaving the victims to clean up their accounts.

PCI data security AT&TPCI DSS protects against fraud

How do online retailers work to prevent this fraud? Well, one way is to rely on technical partners who achieve compliance with the Payment Card Industry Standard – Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS.

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The App Culture That’s Affecting Today’s Business Environment

 The use of smartphone apps by enterprise employees is not an isolated or passing trend. Overall, the rising app culture is seen as good news, but how do you avoid the pitfalls and what does the phenomenon presage for the future of work?

Consumerization of corporate IT is having a profound impact on workplace culture and business models. Employees are energized by greater freedom and flexibility while enterprises are rewarded with efficiencies and enhanced services. While this new app culture brings security risks, privacy issues and employee productivity concerns to address, by and large, it’s regarded as a positive shift.

How The New Normal Is Changing The Conventional Workplace

In fact, according to a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, four out of five organizations believe app culture will have a net positive effect on their business, although the adoption of app culture is far from uniform.

Read the report to learn what sets the early adopters apart, why the C-suite are the chief cheerleaders for app culture, and what this cultural shift could mean for your business.

Read the complete report at AT&T’s Networking Exchange Blog.

This is a sponsored post from AT&T. 

4 Ways To Reach New Customers, Wherever You Are

Lisa Durrett at&t networking exchangeLisa Durrett is Lead Marketing Communications Manager, Small Business at AT&T. You can find more blog content from Lisa and other experts on emerging technologies on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

 

I’m in awe of my yoga instructor. She takes the word flexibility to a whole new level. This mother of five owns four yoga studios, manages a staff of instructors, has a blog that she updates daily, writes a fitness column for the local newspaper, and even has time to volunteer at her kids’ school.

I’m equally impressed by her ability to keep her classes consistently full. She always finds time to reach out to new customers, whether by responding to inquiries in between classes or posting offers to her website through her smartphone while on the treadmill. An expert multitasker? With today’s need for speed, entrepreneurs don’t really have much of a choice. Small business expert and entrepreneur Bill Rancic says it’s imperative to always take advantage of technology, so you are able to work smarter, not harder.

If you’re not as innately flexible as my yoga instructor, here’s how being fully connected in the wireless age can help you grow your business:

reach new customers for your small business1. Don’t miss a lead.

Respond to prospects anywhere. Yes, you can say you’ll carve out time to do nothing but respond to customer inquiries, but, the reality is, something always comes up. If you have a smartphone that allows you to easily monitor and respond to email, your social channels, and consumer review sites, you can get this off your to-do list while also better serving your customers. If you network your team’s devices wirelessly, you can share Internet access, files, printers, and more, which can help you to delegate some of these important tasks.

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End of Summer Sweepstakes: Enter to Win a Free New Smartphone from AT&T

Enter to Win: AT&T Samsung S4 Giveaway
Happy end of summer! To celebrate, AT&T is giving away 10 free smartphones before 9/2/2013, including two Samsung Galaxy S4, 2 Samsung Galaxy SIII, 3 LG Optimus G Pro and 3 HTC First.

Entering to win is easy – just go to AT&T Premier’s page and enter your email. Plus you can improve your odds by sharing with your friends: for every 5 friends who enter using the link you share you’ll get another entry.

AT&T #RefurbFriday: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for $9.99

samsung galaxy note 2 refurbished
Samsung Galaxy Note II

If your looking for ways to cut costs, refurbished gadgets can be a great way to stretch your tech budget. Refurbished units are just units that have been returned to the manufacturer and reconditioned so that they work properly: think of it like buying a certified used car.

Our sponsors AT&T have developed a program for refurbished devices tehy’re calling #RefurbFriday: each Friday they highlight device at a super cheap discount. While there are always great deals available on AT&T’s refurb microsite, this week for one day only they’re selling the Galaxy Note 2 for only $9.99 with a 2 year agreement. The Galaxy Note 2 usually retails for $299.99 with a contract, so that’s a pretty amazing deal!

If you’re looking for more refurbished phone deals, follow @ATTPremier on Twitter and look for their #RefurbFriday hashtag. But if you want the deal you have to act fast, because RefurbFriday deals are only good on Friday.

3 Best Cloud Apps for Mobile Small Business Users

Cloud Apps for Small Business ProductivitySmartphone Apps That Help You Get Faster and Smarter Online

Last week I discussed the best cloud apps for managing your contacts and business cards, but what about everything else you do while on the go? Can you use the cloud to be more productive in other areas? Of course you can! There are apps that leverage the cloud to do almost everything you do online, and they can help you do it smarter (and faster!). Here are a few of my favorites:

1.   Cloud file storage

No matter what line of business you’re in, there are surely dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of files you need to manage. Wouldn’t it be great to have access to them everywhere you go? Thankfully, the prices of cloud storage are falling every year, and it’s becoming simpler than ever to point an app to your documents folder and let it sync to the cloud and across your devices.

Stop carrying around flash drives and never be caught in a meeting without access to a crucial document ever again!

If you’re a small business or entrepreneur, one great solution I like is to switch your business over to Google Drive, which provides both document storage and editing of all your docs, spreadsheets, and presentations in one place. Fully compatible with other office suites but available on every device you can think of, Drive is a great way to promote team collaboration on important documents and make sure your company has all of their important docs in one place.

But larger companies that may be more resistant to switching over to Google for all their document needs, either Dropbox  or Box.net can help. You can get several gigabytes of storage on either service for free so you can try them out, and since both offer apps for every mobile device out there, you can have your documents, pictures, and more easily synced across all your devices and never be caught without a crucial file again!

Continue Reading This Post at the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog –>

 

Samsung Galaxy S4 Available for Pre-Order from AT&T

samsung galaxy s4
Samsung Galaxy S4

As of today AT&T is the first and only carrier taking pre-orders for the brand-new Samsung Galaxy S4. Right now pre-orders for the S4 are scheduled to start shipping on April 30th, so if you’ve been waiting for the new device you’ve only got a couple more weeks left!

The 16GB model (available in black or white) will run you $199 with a two year contract that includes data. That seems to be the price of top-of-the-line smartphones, and is the same price as the HTC One and an iPhone 5.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is a hotly anticipated new phone: the S3 was a best-seller last year, and the S4 promises new updates to keep things interesting: the new Air View feature can tell when you’re finger is hovering over the screen, and will call up supplementary information about what you’re looking at. Think of it like a standard “mouseover” feature on your laptop or desktop.

The display is also beautiful on the S4: it’s a five inch “Super AMOLED” screen that displays 1920×1080. For the non-technical, that means the picture is sharp and crisp, and colors look really good. Samsung has also promised that the S4’s bigger battery will mean improved battery life, even with 4G LTE running.

We’ll be talking more about the Galaxy S4 in the coming weeks, but if you already know you want one you can go to AT&T to pre-order now.

New Flagship HTC One Phone Available For Pre-Order from AT&T

 

HTC One
the new HTC One

HTC is betting big with their new flagship device, the HTC One. It’s a top-of-the-line smartphone designed to compete with the new Samsung Galaxy S4, the iPhone 5, and presumably whatever device Apple launches later this year.

The most remarkable thing about the HTC One has to be the design. It’s thin and light, but still manages to have a large, almost oversize, screen at 4.7″. The phone itself measures over 5″ tall, continuing the trend of the larger and larger smartphone screens without being completely awkward. But it’s really the look and feel of the phone that sets it apart: the design manages to look different from the current crop of smartphones (no iPhone clone here) but still looks refined and well, pretty. The screen too is ultra-sharp, with great colors, and features 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. That’s full HD, with a denser pixel count than Retina Display.

HTC has totally revamped their smartphone camera: instead of just adding more pixels, they’re investing in something called “UltraPixels.” It’s a non-scientific term for larger pixels that HTC promises will capture more light than the standard pixel, hence the camera’s seemingly low 4MP spec. Initial reviews have been positive, though it remains to be seen how everyday users will feel.

The HTC One is available in sizes: 32GB for $199.99 or 64GB for $299.99, both with 2 year contract. That’s competitive pricing for this flagship device that manages to distinguish itself from an increasingly crowded field of available smartphones.

For more information or to pre-order from AT&T, visit their website.