Well better late than never, here is part 2 of my review of the National Student Enterprise Conference (NSEC) 2010, organised by NACUE.
Rounding off the first day of the conference was a break down of the ‘Perfect Pitch’ by Simone Brummelhuis (Founder of The Next Women) and a very entertaining talk on ‘innovation and creativity’ by comedian and brand consultant, Ayd Instone.
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In business, the ability to present and pitch an idea is key. Simone Brummelhuis is a serial entrepreneur and most notably, the founder of the internet publication The Next Women. Over her time as an entrepreneur, she has given countless pitches with success so it is only natural that she leads the talk on the very same topic. I have listed some notable points from her talk below…
- Non-verbal communication is just as important, if not more important than the verbal communication.
- On the same point, there are two sides to a pitch – content and delivery, both of which need equal consideration.
- Emphasis positive points and achievements. Stay positive, everyone has doubts but keep them out of the pitch.
- Always adhere to the 10-20-30 rule. Presentations should be about 10 slides, 20 minutes and have a font size of 30 pt.
Ironically, whilst this breakout session had some useful tips, it was probably the least interesting.
Left Brain vs. Right Brain
Moving on, the last session of the day was taken by Ayd Instone, a comedian and brand consultant. This talk was very refreshing and different. Rather than focusing on business issues, it was an entertaining session about psychology and the human brain. For example, Ayd Instone started the session with a discussion on our stance and how we stand. Taking a better stance makes us feel stronger and therefore strengthens our mind by improving our confidence. It’s quite simple really. How we walk and stand can affect our mindset and vice versa.
Ayd went on and talked about of alot of interesting things and by no means the least was his discussion on the human brain. As shown by this diagram and explained by Ayd, our brains have a left and right side which are responsible for processing different things.
The left brain is responsible for critical thinking such as dealing with truth, logic, features, facts and verbal communication etc. On the other side, the right brain is responsible for possibility thinking such as holistic thought, significance, meaning, emotions and visuals. If we relate this left brain and right brain concepts to web design, small text on websites require reading therefore using the left brain. However large text and images involves using the right brain, which is more appealing. It makes sense as we often enjoy flicking through newspapers and books looking at big titles and images to see what catches our interests before delving into the actual text.
Let’s apply this theory to two different companies: Apple and Microsoft. These companies are often compared for their obvious differences and these differences are also apparent in their websites.
Microsoft's current website
So here we have the Microsoft website which, apart from the banner at the top, mostly uses small text. Small text requires reading and therefore uses the left brain.
Apple's current website
In comparison, the Apple wesbite uses large images and text to display content. This requires the right brain and is therefore more appealing.
For a more in-depth critique and comparison of Apple vs. Microsoft web design, have a look at http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/apple-vs-microsoft-a-website-usability-study/
Also interestingly, the right brain has no concept of time, which explains why time seems to fly when we are having fun.
So, this concludes the first day of NSEC 2010. Look out for part 3 reviewing the second day of the conference with talks on the rise of social enterprise, an insight into the lives of established young entrepreneurs, the importance of social media marketing and a truly inspirational final speech from Penny Power, founder of ecademy.com.
The left brain is responsible for critical thinking such as dealing with truth, logic, features, facts and verbal communication etc. On the other side, the right brain is responsible for possibility thinking such as holistic thought, significance, meaning, emotions and visuals. If we relate this left brain and right brain concepts to web design, small text on websites require reading therefore using the left brain. However large text and images involves using the right brain, which is more appealing. It makes sense as we often enjoy flicking through newspapers and books looking at big titles and images to see what catches our interests before delving into the actual text.
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