Hotel Bed Presentations – Advice on How to Achieve the Best

One of the wonderful things about staying in a nice hotel room is the quality of the linen and the bed making. Hotel visitors simply don’t apply the finer points of bed making at home, and so appreciate the skill of the professional that creates a cosy feel that shouts comfort.

Bed presentation is like any sort of presentation, as much as it’s about the practical considerations, the way the bed looks also has a significant part to play and can really add to the allure and comfort of a freshly turned hotel room.

Five Star Hotel:

There are a number of elements required when creating the professional feel of great five star hotel beds and cleanliness is always the first one. Clean laundered sheets are pivotal in the making of such a top quality bed.

The bottom sheet needs to be placed on the bed and pulled tight to the corners of the bed. This creates the base of the perfect bed and should be followed up with the top sheet. This can be added from the footboard and made to billow evenly over the bed edges. At the head of the bed lift the end of the sheet placing the hem along the headboard. Then pull the sheet at the bottom of the bed until it is flat and even on the bed.

This can then be done with the blanket, though in this case leave the blanket about two hands away from the headboard and fold the top sheet over it. This has the dual benefit of protecting the sleepers face and also preventing body oils getting on the blanket.

Hospital Corners:

These give the bed that professional look and are easier to achieve than you might think. To create hospital corners place the sheet and blanket underneath the foot of the mattress. When this is finished you will see that the left over fabric at the sides has made a U-turn back along the length of the bed. Place this between your fingers and pull it towards the headboard and then place the hanging corners of the sheet and blanket under the mattress. This should mean the left over fabric will fall over the tucked area.

Finishing touches:

Nobody wants oils on their pillows and this can be avoided through placing the pillows on the bed and rocking the case on with both hands. Vertically shake them until they are covered by the case and then fold the excess fabric inside to create a smooth pocket. This ensures the pillow looks tidy.

The bedspread is also very important and you must keep the sides of it even. You will also find that you have surplus at the headboard – this should be folded back and left a little short of the top sheet. Place the pillows on the fold of the sheets and place the rest of the bedspread over the tops of them. This will limit the amount of dust on the pillows.

Finally, add some towels, cushions and mints to create the authentic hotel feel.

Six Key Questions to Help You Get Your Presentation Absolutely Right

One of the key reasons many presentations or public speeches fail to hit the mark is because the presenter has spent insufficient time planning the content and structure. The tendency is to rush in to writing a script or preparing a PowerPoint presentation without first stepping back to analyse what’s needed and what’s going to work best.

This article outlines six key questions which, if carefully considered and acted upon at the planning stage, will improve the effectiveness of any presentation.

What

The first thing to clarify is what you are talking about. Whilst the subject matter is often clear from the outset, it isn’t always. Titles and expectations can be ambiguous and it’s important to clear up any ambiguity at the start.

Who

Before getting down to detailed planning, it’s important to understand your audience.

Who are you talking to? What is their level of knowledge and interest? What are their expectations? How many of them will there be?

Many people approach presentations back to front. Their starting point is ‘what do I want to tell them or want them to know?’ Effective presenters, however, put themselves in their audience’s shoes and ask themselves

  • Why are they here (and are they volunteers or press-ganged)?
  • How much do they know already?
  • How much do they think they know? (this may be different from how much they really know and need to be addressed sensitively)
  • Do they want to be informed? Persuaded? Entertained? Or is it something else? Or possibly a combination of some/all of these?
  • What’s in it for them?
  • Why would they be interested/what would catch their interest?
  • If there’s just one message I’d like them to take home and act on, what is it?

If you spend time considering and answering these questions, you’ll have some very useful information to help you decide on the detailed content and how best to present it.

Why

Considering your audience, while vital, is only part of the equation. Ask yourself ‘why am I giving this speech or presentation?’ Note, the question here is not ‘why is this presentation happening?’ It’s why are you, rather than anyone else, giving it. Having established that, ask yourself:

  • What is my objective?
  • What impression do I want to leave the audience with – of me, my product, service or company?
  • What action do I want them to take as result of listening to me?

Do you want to

  • Inform
  • Persuade
  • Entertain

them? Is there another purpose? Or a mix of some or all of these? What/s most important?

Now put this alongside the information you’ve already gathered – how do the two compare? What adjustments might you need to make to ensure that you take proper account of the needs of both your audience and your own objectives?

When

You’ll also find it helpful to consider some questions about time.

For example, when and in what context is the presentation taking place? If it’s straight after lunch (often referred to as ‘the graveyard slot’), for example, you’ll want to pay even more attention than usual to how you grab and keep people’s attention.

If it’s part of a conference programme, then you’ll find it helpful to consider how it dovetails with other elements of the agenda. If it’s an after dinner speech you may wish to keep it relatively brief and upbeat though this will, of course, depend on the wider circumstances.

And, of course, you’ll want to be absolutely clear about how long you’ve got, and whether that includes time for any questions/discussions that may follow.

Where

As part of your planning, it’s important to consider where you are giving the speech or presentation – its size, facilities and how much flexibility there is with regard, for example, to seating arrangements.

If, for example, it’s a large auditorium, then you’ll almost certainly need to use a microphone and, if possible, should ideally practise with this first. You’ll also want to consider how you use the stage – or whether you’re going to stand at a lectern and use powerful visuals centre stage, to help you tell your story.

If you want to include a demonstration, then you’ll need to be satisfied that everyone will be able to see/hear easily.

Whatever the size of the venue, it’s always wise to check what facilities they have and that any planned equipment or other aids are available or can be safely accommodated.

How

Once you’ve got clarity about the five previous questions you’re be in a good position to decide how to structure your content, and how best to deliver it. Would it be helpful, for example, to include a demonstration or some ‘hands on’ practice? What, if any, audio-visual aids would enhance your overall effectiveness – or can you, as is often the case, do just as well without?

If you keep these six questions in mind when planning your presentation you’ll find it easy to decide what to leave in, what to take out and how to deliver it for maximum positive effect.

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

From: The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling

What Kind of Background Should You Use When Delivering a Presentation Via Webinar?

Not too long ago, I was creating a webinar when I ran into a minor problem. I had to choose a new background because the one I had been using had a number of issues. It made me think about the problems involved when choosing your slide backgrounds.

In this article, I’m going to share five rules to help you select a background for your presentation slides when you deliver a webinar.

1. Keep it simple. I’m not referring to visually simple (at least not here) but rather physically simple. One of the most powerful techniques for creating backgrounds consists of layering flat colors, photographs and effects. This can create very flexible and visually stunning backgrounds. Unfortunately, some of the webinar hosting companies are unable to properly process these backgrounds. Remember that none of the hosting companies have access to the actual software used to create presentation slides. They are attempting to emulate it. That means that some effects at the edge of capability may not reproduce properly.

2. When creating your background go for high contrast colors without being garish about it. Colors which are opposite each other on the color wheel are considered high contrast. Black on white, white on black, red on green, orange on blue are all high contrast. As a result words are easy to read because lines stand out on them. Effectively, your audience won’t have to expend as much energy to read your slide. However, watch the colors and the intensity as some combinations may be too vibrant. The result will be just as exhausting.

3. Don’t let the writing overlay any pictures you use. To a certain extent you can overcome this by tinting the picture. This hints at a picture by using different shades of the main color as shadows or highlights. Unfortunately, this means that lettering may become lost in the shadow or highlight. Very few colors for the lettering will display clearly over multiple shades of a base color. If you are going to use a picture — and there are many reasons to do so — keep the picture to the corners where they will not have to have lettering placed on them. This applies equally to logos as well!

4. Don’t be too strong with your background color. Light shades and low intensity colors are more forgiving than high intensity or dark colors. Use the dark, high intensity colors for the lettering. That way your words will be much easier to read.

5. Remember that you don’t control the actual colors seen. The actual color seen will be interpreted by the hardware on the viewer’s desk. There is a great deal of variation in the colors displayed by different makes and models of terminal. Even one make and model may vary from unit to unit. So be careful when picking colors where precision is required. It won’t happen and your slide may be unviewable.