Putting together a new presentation for a conference/meeting can be stressful. What do you say? How do you say it? How do you structure it? What’s first? What’s last? How do I pull it all together?

I used to build my presentations first and then talk them out second. I’d make an outline or create some slides to get started. I’d try to think logically about how to begin, how to fill the middle, and how to end. Then once I had all the slides done I’d talk through them for the first time. I usually wasn’t happy with the outcome. I’d over-think and under-deliver. This process churned out clinical, sterile presentations. Yuck.

Last year I tried something different. I just started talking (out loud, to myself) about something I was passionate about. Maybe I’d look at a screen from Highrise and just talk about it. Why did we do that? Why did we make this decision? Or maybe I’d just stat ranting about my aversion to functional specs or meetings. Or maybe I’d just go off about collaboration and productivity. Or maybe I’d gush on about VC investments or the state of small business software.

Whatever it was, I’d just talk first and write second. I found that going off on an unstructured rant would expose all sorts of fresh ideas. In 30 minutes I could churn out four or five solid directions instead of spending 30 minutes outlining just one.

I also found that the ideas developed more naturally this way. I made better points and the persuasion was more powerful. Talking without a plan mined thoughts I didn’t know I had.

I encourage you to give this technique a try sometime. It works really well for me. I hope it helps you.

In case you haven’t visited the Job Board lately, there’s a handy live search tool there that makes it easy to filter the listings instantly. It’s a great way to narrow your search down to jobs in your area (or area of expertise).

This is the second in a series of posts showing how we use Campfire as our virtual office. All screenshots shown are from real usage and were taken during one week in September.

In the first “Behind the scenes” post, we showed how we use Campfire for design. Now let’s take a look at how it helps us code. To the examples…

Offer code advice
Ryan sees a couple different ways to code an element and asks Sam for advice. A few things to note here: 1) They enter the “Small Talk” room that we use for sidebar discussions. Chatting in a separate room eliminates distractions and keeps the main room clear for the rest of the team. 2) Sharing images inline makes it easy to see what’s being discussed. This is superhandy for both design and programming issues. 3) The “View paste” feature makes it easy to share snippets of code (and clearly differentiates code from regular entries).

Keep code clean and clear
We always strive to keep code clean. Here, Ryan writes a method and shares it with the wizards who guide him toward a simpler solution.

I’ve always been fascinated by factories. The automation, the assembly, the highly specialized single-purpose machines, the absolute precision. Discovering how things are put together is a great way to learn about how things work.

I’ve long been a fan of the How Stuff Works website, but recently I stumbled upon the How It’s Made TV show on the Science Channel.

How It’s Made is simply narrated, sparsely produced, and puts the spotlight on the factory process. Each episode usually focuses on about four different items. So far I’ve seen segments on tape measures, book binding, steel wool, umbrellas, cotton yarn, padlocks, violins, self-inking stamps, and synthetic leather. It’s fascinating stuff. I especially love when they break down lightning fast mechanical processes in slow motion.

If you get the Science Channel (it’s in the 200s on my Comcast cable service), check out How It’s Made. You’ll learn a lot and have a new found respect for those every day items you take for granted.

“Millennials” is the nickname for people born between 1980 and 1995. Last week, 60 minutes ran a story about this generation in the workplace. Here’s what viewers learned about this group from the story:

1. Many Milennials think anyone over 30 can’t be trusted and can’t be counted upon to be coherent.

2. Milennials want to “roll into work with their iPods and flip flops around noon, but still be CEO by Friday.”

3. Milennials need someone to teach them that they should cover up tattoos in the office, “especially if you are going to be meeting clients.” They also need to be taught how to eat with a knife and fork and how to work.

4. Milennials think living with your parents while in your mid 20s is “a very smart, wise, economic decision.”

5. Milennials’ parents sometimes phone HR and say, “But my little Susie or little Johnny didn’t get the performance evaluation that I think they deserve.”

6. The best way to keep Milennials as employees is to offer goofy parades, snoozing in the nap room, and plenty of happy hours. Also, managers should shave their head when a goal is reached. Or be in the dunk tank at the summer picnic. “When a senior manager’s willing to do that is, it says we’re all in it together.”

7. Milennials want employers to send a letter to their parents saying, “You know, Ryan did a great job. Yeah, I just wanted to let you know you raised a fantastic son.”

What a crock of shit.

Are you really telling me that 20 somethings don’t know how to use a knife and fork? (Are they potty trained yet?) And they really want managers to write gold star notes to their parents? And they really want to see their managers in the dunk tank at the summer picnic? Dunk tank at the summer picnic?! Yeah, that’s totally what kids are into these days. What on earth is this story talking about?

The unfortunate part: 60 Minutes is like catnip to old people and many of them probably bought into the whole piece. More fuel for the “these darn kids today” fire that older generations seem to love so much.

I guess it’s a constant cycle. “The greatest generation” is always the one that’s about to die. (Really, who can debate them? There’s no one around to argue that the greatest generation was actually those born between, say, 1620-1650.)

And this older group always thinks the latest generation is made up of lazy do-nothings who don’t understand hard work or discipline. It’s like that old Bill Cosby line: “We had to walk to school, ten miles, in the snow, uphill. Both ways!”

Too bad a respected media source like 60 Minutes is pushing this hokum though. I guess they have to sandwich all those Cialis ads with something that demographic will enjoy.

Book: "Testify! How Remarkable Organizations are Creating Customer Evangelists"

“We asked organizations to tell us how they’re creating evangelists for their cause, product or service. From the submissions we received, we selected examples from companies that represent software, sports, education, non-profits, training, and free agents.”

Don’t outsource your user support

“On the contrary, put your best people on it. People love getting a personal response from somebody that knows what they’re talking about. You’ll reap the benefits in trust, patience and tremendous value in terms of feedback to the process of continually improving the user experience.”

The evolution of MSNBC.com's redesign

“It helps to have design buddies. In this case, we called on Cameron Moll, Greg Storey and JD Hooge to clean up our latest sketch. Solve this problem. Keep that. Make this work. Explore. Each influenced our final design.” Cameron chimes in on his involvement.

Profile of “The 4-Hour Workweek” author

“just pull the plug. Crawl out from beneath the reams of data. Stand firm against the torrent of information. HIS methods include practicing “selective ignorance” — tuning out pointless communiqués, random Twitters, and even world affairs (Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters). Work crisis? Pay someone else to worry about it — ideally in Bangalore. On a bet, [Timothy] Ferriss even hired low-paid, high-skilled workers abroad to find him dates online. (It worked.)”

The power in revealing unpleasant truths

“My fish monger in Grand Central has started placing signs in front of each fish. They describe exactly where the fish came from, whether it’s healthy and how endangered it is. You’ll never see fine print saying ‘previously frozen.’ They don’t have any fine print. The first few times you visit the stand, it’s actually off putting. It takes the romance and pleasure out of buying the fish, because you realize that there’s a cost to it. The meat guy across the way doesn’t have pictures of cows being slaughtered, does he? But after a while, because the information is out there, because smart fish buyers already know some fish is endangered, the signs give you power. They allow you to make smart choices. They send a message to the customer about the honesty and intent of the seller. They build trust.”

“Browsing for new internet experiences” (Financial Times article that mentions 37signals)

“Some argue these developments are moving faster than users really want. Mr Fried at 37signals says they are a product of the competitive race among technology companies, not a response to customers’ needs. ‘I think that to say you should work everywhere is a sad notion,’ he says. ‘You should work at the office, or at home.’ Eventually, internet access will extend everywhere, turning all applications into ‘live’ services – but for now, he says, enjoy the freedom while you still can.”

Programmers are usually inherently logical people. We get the job done by breaking down big problems into small chunks that we can wrap our heads around. This gives us a feeling of being in control and in command of our environment. I think that feeling is a large part of why programmers enjoy what they do. But our reliance on this sense of control is also exactly why we can become so distraught when we lose even a sliver of that control.

Panic gives rise to supernatural self-pity
And losing control is mostly associated with the onset of bugs. Those pesky little critters that we infuse with a sense of drive and intent when we can’t pin them down. They’re out to get us, aren’t they? They’re like hobgoblins lurking under the bed, just waiting for us to doze off and then they’ll take over the room. Only the room is your mind and when they do take over, panic turns it straight to mush.

This panic usually manifests itself as self-pity: Why me? Why now? Why can’t this just work? Those are the questions of capitulators, someone who has given up on logic and succumbed to the supernatural belief that the universe is out to get him. Hogwash, of course, but extremely common none the less.

Bugs are always about a lack of good information
What keeps the panic coming back is that programmers fail to internalize the outcome of every single bug they’ve encountered in the past. There were never any hobgoblins, there was always a logical explanation, and it was usually just a lack of good information. You didn’t think that A would result in Y, but was convinced it was Z.

But somehow this fails to seep in unless you make an explicit point about it. So please do that. The next time you think something is bizarre or impossible, remind yourself that it is not. That the universe is way too busy to concern itself with mocking you. You’re just not that special. Then roll up your sleeves and find that bit of missing information that’s causing things to work counter to how you’d like or expect.

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Highrise refinements and improvements
We pushed a series of refinements and improvements to Highrise we think you’ll like. 1. The daily digest email that lists your tasks for the day now includes contact information. 2. We’ve added a “Skype” option to the phone number data type. 3. You can now enter the “About this person” text as part of the new person creation process. 4. You can reveal more of the “About this person” text in the sidebar without having to go to a separate page.

Inspiration for customizing the colors on your Basecamp account
If you’re looking for some color inspiration, check out COLOURlovers.com which breaks down interesting palettes by HTML color codes (you can also download as a palette for Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.). You can view the site’s top palettes of the month. Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting features palettes from Da Vinci, Picasso, Monet, etc. Other idea starters: Colors of the Top 20 Magazine Covers, Autumn, and Color in Science: Microscopic Photographs.

One year in Basecamp with Seventh Degree and Full Sail
“We’ve used Basecamp to manage the Online Classes project for Full Sail. The collaboration has been awesome between the IT, Education, Curriculum departments and many others. The video below shows about a year of use of the messages tab of the LMS Development project, one of over a dozen other projects related to this same effort.”

Element Fusion uses Basecamp to manage its line of web-based products and client projects
“One unexpected way Basecamp has helped us has been in front-end sales. Our sales team demonstrates our ‘project portal’ to prospective clients during the sales process and it has really turned out to be a major selling point. Clients are very impressed with the system which reinforces our commitment to communication and customer service. So, Basecamp adds practical value to our company which, in turn, drives revenue to our business. If anyone out there has not considered using Basecamp as a selling point for their services, we highly recommend it.”

Flare: A site-specific browser for Windows/Campfire customers
Windows users: You can now download Flare 0.4, the first self-updating, stable release of Flare, the site-specific browser for Campfire. Flare lets you stay logged into a room in your Campfire account and notifies you of any new messages.

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Dave K. asks:

A follow-up question to “Is formal education important”... How does a “beginning” programmer/developer/designer gain the experience that you guys, or any company for that matter, want to see? I’m assuming that you want to see a portfolio of a someone’s work…but how do they go about building up their portfolio? I guess the general question would be, how does someone get started?

A great way to build a portfolio without clients is to make up fake clients. That’s how I got started.

Designers have it easiest

If you’re a designer you’ve got it easy. Design a few screens for your own fake online shoe store. Or online bank. Or cell phone company. Or grocery store. Show the world what you would do if you had the chance. I’ll guarantee your fake client portfolio will look better than your future actual client portfolio too.

Programmers: Go open source

It’s easy to show the world what you can do visually, but if you’re a programmer you’re going to have a tougher time making the quick sell. So what I would suggest is to get involved in open source projects. Find a project you’re passionate about and lend a hand. You’ll learn a lot, be exposed to different approaches, and be able to pitch in on something real. Everyone we’ve hired at 37signals has contributed to an open source project. It’s a great way to show an employer what you can do.

Just do it

No one is going to give you a portfolio. You have to build it. Make up your own clients. Fill in your own portfolio pages. Show people what you can do given the chance. That’ll get you started.

A couple of years ago my dad introduced me to a friend of his he met at the local coffee shop. The fellow’s name was Darryl.

Honestly, what I noticed first was what was wrong with him: He walked with a severe limp, his speech was slurred, his face distorted, his motor skills were affected, and he couldn’t hear that well. Our hands missed on the first few handshake attempts.

But what I noticed next — and will always remember — was everything that was right about him. This guy was incredible. He had troubles, but they didn’t seem to trouble him. His life-is-wonderful outlook was piercing. His optimism became his defining trait. The guy was a fighter and didn’t let anyone tell him he couldn’t do something. He shared his inspiring story at schools, businesses, and prisons. He volunteered his time at his church and local hospital.

Darryl was about 39 when I met him. At 24 he was diagnosed with malignant, terminal brain cancer of the cerebellum and brain stem. The surgery would knock out his memory, movement, and speech. If he survived at all they said he probably wouldn’t walk or talk again. He was told he’d spend his time in a nursing home. But somehow about 15 years later I was meeting him at a coffee shop.

As these rare but amazing stories go, he had the surgery and beat his prognosis. He persevered through grueling rehab, dealt with demoralizing setbacks, but pushed on. He eventually regained his independence, the ability to move around on his own, speak, and live a mostly-normal life.

He wrote a book called Force a Miracle about his experience. Mike Ditka, a personal hero of Darryl’s, got ahold of an early manuscript and was so moved he wrote the foreword.

The book is pretty amazing. You’ll empty your eyes reading it.

Unfortunately about six weeks ago his tumor returned. It grew rapidly and was inoperable. On October 31st Darryl passed away (guestbook). We’ll miss everything about him. He was a great man. Donations in his memory can be made to the American Brain Tumor Association.