Number one is a killer, IT spending cut in half.  But good news like cloud, online economy and others.  Frank Gens is a good guy.

video here

ZD reported it, but I see Netbooks as a boon for anything but Microsoft.  Both the Android and Linux version will eat into the Windoze monopoly on the desktop.

I’ve seen the one from Lenovo, and they are cool, cheap and will be a hit.  I love the instant on option and they are easy to carry.

So 2008 was probably less that great for most.  So were a lot of years and most had it worse than we did.

What can you do about history?  Can’t change it, but you could learn from it.  I came across a motivational email from Michael Masterson who brought out why most don’t become all that they can because of what holds them back.

• Lack of Confidence: People who haven’t yet been successful in life don’t believe they can be, even if they are fully prepared to succeed.
• Fear of Pain: Some people see taking action as work and work as a form of pain. These are usually people who have never experienced the pleasure of working on something they value.
• Laziness: Besides the fear of work, human beings are programmed to be lazy. Being lazy means trying to get what you want with the least amount of effort. Some people don’t take action because they want to find an easier way.

I’m having conversations with my son about life and work and it seems like I’m talking to myself also.  It goes like this:

- Be your own boss

- If you do something you love, it won’t seem like work

- Don’t give up at the first setback, find another solution or way around it

- Learn from your mistakes.

Common sense I know, but sometimes the simplest advice is the best.

2009 will be a tough year, there will be layoffs and it will be tough so both analysts and analyst relations will have to offer more.

Some things that were a specialty (to some) will be expected, like social media connectivity or coverage.  Some things will suffer due to economic priorities - the market will decide these.

As for me, I’ll do my best and play whatever hand is dealt.  The other thing I told said son was be perspicacious, and be better than the next guy.  Be the best that you can (kudos to the Army) After all, build a better mousetrap……

I don’t really care about others who blog about their favorite teams, so I expect the same treatment.

Nevertheless, the Miami Dolphins went from 1-15 to 11-5, tying the record for the biggest turnaround in history.  What made it better was that the J-E-T-S not only stopped the Titans from having a perfect season….still a Dolphins only, but that the quarterback (Chad Pennington)who was cut by the Jets beat his old team for the division title and the record. Note that Brett Farve’s last pass was an incomplete illegal forward pass that likely ends his career.

Speaking of records, Pennington became the only quarterback other than the best in history, Dan Marino, to pass for over 3500 yards in the Dolphin record book.

Speaking of Dan Marino, Drew Brees fell short of his record of most yards per season, stopped by my other home team, the Carolina Panthers, who also clinched a division title.

Even if neither teams makes it through the playoffs, yesterday was a good day.  If they both make it to the Super Bowl, I can’t lose.  This is a great country and I had a good football day.

As the coach has always said, “Good football teams play the type of good football that wins football games”.

Leroy, the redneck reindeer

Despite the attempts by some to deny it, the spirit of Christmas keeps shining through, and it’s a good thing.

I wish the best to each of you and your families.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  Let us not forget and take every precaution not to let another attack happen on home soil.  We’ve made it since 9/11, but there are those who think that the time we are most vulnerable is after a change in leadership.  I pray that this is not the case.

I follow trends.  I’ve seen much about this platform recently that has caused me to think about it. I use it sparingly and don’t post that much as I’ve always maintained that no one cares that much about what I’m doing with my time.

As an Analyst Relations Best Practice, I find that it is good to know what the analyst is doing to be on familiar terms with what they are doing.  Additionally, when I can’t reach them, I direct message an analyst as a back channel and it is very reliable.

The first article I noticed though was by Zach Whittaker who wonders “Twitter, is there any point”?

I often wonder this as Twitter follows Sturgeon’s Law.  If you look at the comments of this blog, it laments that many talk about lunch, flights and bowel movements.

On the plus side, he notes: “Twitter is what we call an “Enterprise 2.0″ application; not only a web application which tells the world what you’re doing, but is highly influential in the way businesses run, keeping customers and partners informed and gaining feedback on services. ”

On the negative is: “Whilst it may be a next-generation application, I still struggle to see the point it makes, or the impact it has. With the API and development opportunities, it’s certainly made an impact in developing technologies such as Adobe AIR, but besides this I fail to see why I should continue to update mine; something I haven’t done in months.”

The next thread was the Mumbai terrorists following Twitter.  I’m not so sure it’s a good thing to tell them where you are if they are trying to kill you.  It is not as bad though as CNN ratting out citizens trying to hide.

Recently TPTB declined $500 from Facebook to buy Twitter, so I’m wondering if they know something I don’t about it’s value.  The jury is out for me other than as a tool to reach certain people, but I know that the hunter in me instinctually says look for cover, not expose yourself.

Update: Sarah Tobis says Twitter is dominating

1) Blogs and media are one and the same. A lot of blogs can now be categorized as media, and many are forced to post more frequently in order to generate $.

2) Twitter is dominating. Blogs are becoming less relevant as people leverage other media (Twitter, etc.) to get their news more quickly.

3) Blogs have lost their cutting edge. Despite changes in other online content, blogs still use the same format they did when they first started.

And he poses a few ideas around how to make blogging more relevant in a muddled, information-overloaded, fast-paced world:

1) Create better social network connections: Allow comments you post to be tracked by those in your social network, not by the social network of the blog you’re commenting on.

2) Bridge the content gap. Use platforms like Tumblr to make content more flexible, shareable and manageable.

3) Generate re-usable content. To increase your blog’s value, create content that can be shared and repurposed by readers.

Update 2:  10 types of people to unfollow on twitter example…

7) Ideologue - The ideologue is not really on Twitter to discuss anything.  His mind is already made up and he’ll show you how wrong you are with copious links to extreme blogs and YouTube “proof.”  The Ideologue is usually an extreme hater of one thing or another.

amerika: @mekkey It’s the Republicans and their “Commander in Thief.”

Here are the Categories and the link.

Here are their rules:

About The Weblog Awards

The Weblog Awards are the world’s largest blog competition with over 545,000 votes cast in 2007 edition and nearly two million votes cast in all editions since 2003.

For The 2008 Weblog Awards open and public nominations in 48 categories began on November 3, 2008.  Voting for selected finalists is expected begin in early December 2008.

The first thing I read today was by Carter Lusher on this subject.  He calls it getting them to Change their presentations.

As always it is a good read and of importance to Analyst Relations.  After talking about this subject to analysts before, during and after presentations and conferences, I’ve developed my personal pet peeve list.

His example was an executive using a sales presentation for a deck which happens about 387 out of 365 days a year.

With that lead in, here is the list of issues I’ve thought about having done or been a part of close to 1000 analyst presentation decks (likely over that number).

1. Carter is right, don’t bring your sales presentation to the table, instant credibility loss.

2. If you can’t get your message delivered in 15 charts or less, you likely have clarification issues.

3. Analysts (most people) look at the number of charts and immediately judge what point they are going to listen to before they check email.

4. Send it in advance and ask what is clear and what is important to them to get to the point.  If you have to get through a couple of set up charts fine, but say that in advance.

5. No chart is golden, (many) could (should) be sacrificed.

6. Discussion about strategy and technology is a much better use of time than chart after chart preaching.

7. Don’t take offense in chartsmanship, most people aren’t that good at it.

8. If the analyst wants to go off the charts, be willing to go as long as you stay on topic.

9. Use A/R to speak to the analyst before the briefing/discussion/meeting/conference to see what is the analyst goal and actually make charts to answer the issues, not pound your chest on what your end of year rating is based on.

10. Accept criticism where appropriate, the analyst is right.

11. Never fail to have a chart to say, what do you think or are we on topic, message, right course or other to let the analyst offer advice or opinion.

12. Consider using web conferencing if your audience is over 10 people.

13. Personal opinion here - I hate powerpoint, it’s been used as a crutch for too long and we were able to get our job done well prior to it’s invention.  Please someone invent the next tool.

14. A presentation deck has a life.  Don’t recycle charts too long.  I’ve seen analyst eyes glaze over with “I’ve seen this before blaring in neon” on their face.

15. Be aware of your audience.  We at IBM run more conferences than months in the year by at least double.  I’ve seen the same charts at multiple conferences where I knew their were the same analysts (this is a similar comment to 14).

16. Leave time for questions at the end.  Don’t look at the time and gauge the number of charts you can cram into it.

17. Give the analyst a copy if you haven’t sent it to them upfront.  Sometimes there are circumstances that prevent one from sending early (the executive didn’t finish until 5 minutes before the presentation, been there and done that double digits).

18. If there are multiple executives presenting, have them compare notes prior to the briefing so they don’t conflict or aren’t redundant.