by Ted Cuzzillo
Among the visarazzi— data visualization’s foot soldiers, scientists and evangelists—”chart junk” is a no-no. If you make a bar chart about trees, for example, don’t for god sakes actually show drawings of trees. That would be silly.
However, the visarazzi probably don’t mean to prohibit chart junk food.
by Ted Cuzzillo
Those of us in the tech world who shun jargon may forever remain an underclass. We may never rise to the mainstream, where today tech-centric vendors rule. So I’m delighted when I meet another one of our clan who declares proudly his rejection of tech-speak.
Don Farber, vice president of sales and marketing at KnowledgeSync, says that to reach business customers, you have to use words they understand. For many buyers in the mid-market, that means avoiding any jargon at all.
Here’s how he orders a steak: “I ask for ‘pink in the middle.’ When the waiter asks me, ‘Rare?’ I say, ‘I don’t care what you call it, just give me a steak that’s pink in the middle.'”… Read the rest “Does jargon sell tech products or not?”
by Ted Cuzzillo
Everybody’s talking about the recession, but that’s just theory at the buffet line. There, mini-recessions come and go. One day it’s not-too-bad pork loin, and the next day it’s lukewarm hot dogs.
Those hot dogs, served for lunch last Monday at Sage Summit in Denver, came on the slowest day. My last nourishment was from Southwest peanuts hours before. So I took not one but two hot dogs, but then found just mustard, catsup and relish. That’s a downturn.
Things picked up on Tuesday. Shoppers arrived. For lunch, some kind of tasty chicken. Several department heads who came by on Monday returned with good questions.… Read the rest “Upturn, downturn, hot dogs”