SlideIdea Demo Video

SlideIdea is a presentation tool for iPad.  The one feature that puts it ahead of other presentation tools for iPad ,”  is its “smart widget” platform, which lets users add interactive elements to presentations in order to better engage and solicit feedback from the audience”(Taken from http://ow.ly/oVLkj ).

The theme of how traditional marketing has evolved into a two-way conversation between a company and each individual consumer is also transitioning its way into the world of PowerPoints and presentations.  It used to be that large companies would work really hard on a marketing plan and share it with their customers.  This style of one way marketing was disrupted by social media, which facilitates two way communication.

The idea of engaging your audience (customers) in an individualized two way conversation is now moving into the office.  Now with presentation software such as SlideShare, presenters can engage users like never before by getting live feedback from the audience as a whole through live polls and interactive forums using their smartphones.

So what does this mean for the future of live presentations?

I believe that soon a flipped classroom type of presentations will emerge. Audiences of every size will be empowered to give direction to a conversation and direct it towards the area that they are most interested in.

Much like multiple ending novels, Choose Your Own Adventure series, members of the audience will give choices that lead to multiple endings.  Presentations become more fluid.  Presenters will have to assemble presentations in a way that allows them to be flexible and directed in the direction that best engages the most audience members.

This will create more value for audiences by making the material more targeted and relevant.  In particular SlideIdea may be useful for large conferences where it is hard to interact with each individual member of the audience.

How would you like to wait in a lineup of 1,417 people? A recent article published by TechCrunch (http://ow.ly/p5h6K ) states that 1,417 people waited at Apple’s 5th Avenue NYC flagship store to get Apple’s iPhone 5s and 5c during the first day they went on sale.

Some may say this is because Apple’s iPhone 5s and 5c are so good people couldn’t wait to get their hands on them. However, I think large line up at the store shows how loyal and willing apple consumers are go out of their way to engage with the brand. Ultimately, Apple customers are willing to invest large amounts of time, money, and other resources to get the newest iPhone.

Moreover, the Apple has done an excellent job of communicating the announcement of its new products creating buzz and excitement around the launch. Apple is focusing in on customers who are actively listening to what the company has to say and are early adopters of their products. Many of the customers are also bloggers and influencers that can create positive social media buzz for new product releases by telling their friends and positively influencing their followers to buy more Apple products.

Apple customers wait in line for Apple’s iPhone 5s and 5c.

For example, a picture like the picture above creates buzz and gets people talking about the product release and the Apple brand a whole. The more this picture is shared and talked about the more brand recognition and prestige is created for Apple. Moreover, this type of publicity is does not cost Apple additional costs.

Pictures like this show that Apple’s iPhone 5s and 5c are popular, prestigious, and exclusive. These are attributes Apple strives to be related to. Moreover, these messages of positive attributes are being reinforced and spread by apple consumers, giving the messages more validity than if Apple tried to spread the same type of message through traditional marketing channels like television or paid advertising.

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

There was considerable outrage online when news came out that suggested that McDonalds used “mechanically Separated Meat” in its chicken nuggets.  I don’t know about you but the “pink slime” looks less then appetizing.

This caused a lot of negative media for McDonalds as “mechanically Separated Meat” is not made out of the most appetizing parts of animals.  As Fooducate writes:

“Someone figured out in the 1960s that meat processors can eke out a few more percent of profit from chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows by scraping the bones 100% clean of meat. This is done by machines, not humans, by passing bones leftover after the initial cutting through a high pressure sieve. The paste you see in the picture above is the result”.

Michael Kindt continues:

“There’s more: because it’s crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia… Then, because it tastes gross, it will be re-flavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color. But, hey, at least it tastes good, right?”

McDonalds recently attempted to combat this negative publicity during their McDonald’s Canada “Our Food, Your Questions” program.   McDonalds combated the negative online comments (Earned Media) it was recieving by creating a website through which McDonalds representatives answered consumer’s questions about the company (Owned Media).

While no one has been able to prove definitely whether the image shows mechanically separated poultry or pork, a McDonald’s spokesperson insists, “We [McDonalds] do not use mechanically separated meat.”

Do you think the picture of “mechanically Separated Meat” is less then appetizing?  Are you going to keep eating McDonald chicken McNuggets?  Post your answer below!