The year of the Trues!

Truly, it was the years of the shoes shown above, TRUE Linkswear. A terrible pun, but the best new shoes on the market!

These are shoes you can actually use straight out of the box without getting blisters and they feel like your old slippers from the first tee to the eighteenth green. I've been a Footjoy Classics (now Icon) user for 25 years, but 2011 has changed all that.

First came Freddie at the Masters and the Ecco Street shoes. I bought them, I liked them but the white suede "tips" proved to be a nightmare to keep clean. I hoped someone could do better and they did! I had high hope for TRUES as I know Rob Rigg from his great efforts to encourage golfers to get walking again through thewalkinggolfer.com.

The TRUE booth at the January PGA Merchandise Show was a zoo which augured well for them in 2011. So, I tried the black and white version and they were a revelation. Comfortable right out of the box and allowing me to "feel" the golf course. I swear my bunker play is better now I can actually feel (that word again) the sand.

I just returned from 5 days golf and wore my TRUES every day through rain and shine - including 36 holes at Winged Foot in 5 hours and 40 minutes! They were perfect, so much so that I ordered a white pair (above) for the last couple of games of the year and next season. At $159 they are exceptional value.

So good on you Rob (and Sean), you have created something very special. The fact that all the big boys are jumping on the bandwagon and creating "me toos" confirms you have a success on your hands. 

Let 2012 be the year of continued walking in TRUES! ....And my Classics? Gone....all of them to goodwill or into the trash, anywhere but on my feet! You can read more here on their website.

How Not To Present Using Powerpoint

I have just returned from a conference where I was blown away by the quality of the powerpoint presentations used by sane, successful, well respected, professional people. The wind was more hurricane, than zephyr! None and I mean none of these folks knew how to present effectively using the standard powerpoint application.
The most common error was simply reading the information on the slide, even though everyone knows humans read quicker than they speak (so the audience is always ahead of the game). Second was using font sizes so small that 90% of the over 50s audience found it impossible to read and third was the usual array of nervous mumbling, lack of clarity and simply straying off the point of the slide.

There are many great articles about how to use the ubiquitous PPT, none in my opinion more relevant and on point than the one written by former Apple and now Enchantment evangelist, Guy Kawasaki.

Kawasaki's 10, 20, 30 rule is simple

10 - No more than 10 slides.
20 - No more than 20 minutes.
30 - Font size no smaller than 30 points.

The poor chap has sat though literally thousands of pitches, so he know what he's talking about.
Watch Guy Kawasaki's 2 minute video here - the investment will pay dividends and yes, when we present, we stick to his guidelines. There's also a great book on the subject, which you can get at amazon called Presentation Zen. You can buy it here.