An excellent way to prepare for the Fall Career Expo that will be held Thursday, November 5th, in the University Center, is to research the industries and companies you are especially interested in. Your research will give you knowledgeable “talking points” as well as help you formulate important questions to ask the on-campus representatives

Business Resource Center, Business & Company Resource Center, and Business Source Complete are just three databases containing important sources of information. Going the extra step of doing your research may put you ahead of the competition.

Do you have a presentation due for a business class project (or any other project, for that matter)?  Are you having a tough time designing a PowerPoint presentation that looks professional?  Are you struggling to find a way to add pizzazz to your topic?

There’s help available in Academic Search Premier, a database that has hundreds of articles on presentations.  There are articles with advice on choosing the best colors and font sizes, finding professional-quality stock images, using the 90-second rule, appropriate use of video, etc.

One quick way to find these articles is to do a subject search for business presentations.  Use the link for Academic Search Premier (below) and enter business presentations as a subject (see the screenshot below…you can limit to full text articles by putting a check in that box):

 Academic Search Premier (All Campuses)
on campus  |  off campus

By the way, if you’d like to see articles about speaking in public, use public speaking as a subject search.

Good luck!

William Ury is the author of several books on the topic of negotiation and is recognized worldwide for his negotiation and mediation skills. He is currently the director of Harvard’s Global Negotiation Project. His most recent book, The Power of a Positive No: How to Say No and Still Get to Yes, provides a three step process (Yes! No. Yes?) that allows the user to more effectively get what is desired through negotiation.

Step one of a Positive No creates the understanding that saying “No” is actually saying “Yes!” to yourself. The second step of a Positive No conveys the reality that saying “No” states what it is that you do not agree to. The third step of a Positive No bridges to a point of agreement and respect. Ury also explains the process as: the first step expresses your interests, the second step asserts your power, and the third step furthers your relationship.

The effectiveness of a Positive No allows one to stand on ones own two feet, create what is wanted, protect what is valued, and change what does not work. The key to using this technique is respect. Although this may sound like common sense, Ury contends that it is uncommon, as so often the Nos used in negotiation and life do not follow this pattern, and the results are far from productive.

The Power of a Positive No is a fairly quick read and may provide you with an effective life long communication and negation tool. Can you recommend other self-help type books that you have found to be helpful? Posting your thoughts to these blog entries is always appreciated. We invite you to share your thoughts with other blog readers.

First Research from Dun & Bradstreet offers In-depth industry research for over 300 industries.  The research reports are updated quarterly, and are given in a relatively simple, consistent format.  Each industry profile is broken down consistently into the following chapters/sections:

Industry Overview
Recent Developments
Business Challenges
Trends & Opportunities
Executive Insight
Call Prep Questions
Financial Information
Industry Forecast & Rating
Web Links & Acronyms

You can search for industry reports by NAICS and SIC, or you can browse from the main page under the following broad sectors:

Construction & Real Estate
Finance & Insurance
Food & Agriculture
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Public Services, Education & Recreation
Retail
Services
Technology & Communications
Transportation, Energy & Storage
Wholesale

As far as reports related to JWU programs, the reports for the retail industry are broken down into over 40 subcategories.  There is a Hotel and Motel Lodging report listed under the main sector of Services; there’s also a Bed and Breakfast Inns report in this same sector.  Also under Services you’ll see Advertising & Marketing, Direct Marketing, Trade Show & Event Planning, Security System Services, and Travel Agencies & Services.  Under Food and Agriculture, you’ll find reports for Bakeries, Breweries, Catering Services, Restaurants, and Wineries.

The Financial Information section includes benchmarking figures and financial ratios (and includes their definitions) for each industry.

The section for Web Links & Acronyms in each report offers links to associations and Web sites related to each industry, as well as a brief glossary for acronyms used in the report.

One useful feature from First Research is the Call Prep Sheets section of each report.  In this section, you’ll find “conversation starters” that are relevant to the industry.  The conversation starters are designed to be used for sales calls, but they could be useful when preparing for a job interview.

Another nice feature is the States & Provinces section.  It features a clickable map that lets you find monthly updates of industry, economic, employment, and real estate data & trends for each of the 50 states in the U.S.

To access First Research, go to the Databases section of our site, and scroll down to “F” in the alphabetical listings:

http://library.jwu.edu/research/databases/az.htm

Gourmet magazine announced earlier this month that the November issue will be its last.  Publisher Conde Nast has decided to pull the plug on the iconic magazine after months of falling ad revenues.

The magazine has been in publication since December of 1940 and has approached the subject of food as culture ever since.  The magazine has featured such writers as Junot Diaz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer  Prize for The Brief Wondrous  of Oscar Wao, David Foster Wallace and Anthony Bourdain.

The Johnson & Wales North Miami Library retains Gourmet magazine from 1964 to the last issue.

The library has purchased access to a fabulous new database: Global Road Warrior. Focused on countries and their cultures, this database is an excellent tool for looking up points of interest, travel essentials, business culture for women, and demographics. There are also maps and images!

Global Road Warrior (Charlotte, No. Miami, Providence Campuses)

on campus |  off campus

“Student by student, school by school, teacher by teacher, neighborhood by neighborhood, the American Re-Generation is growing and changing the culture around green, making it not only “hip” but also more central to our lives.” So states New York Times writer Thomas L. Friedman in his latest book: Hot, Flat and Crowded.

The warming of the planet, the “flattening” effect of technology on the global marketplace, and the spiraling world population growth, especially in nations that can least sustain overpopulation, are the trends Friedman identifies as the driving forces of the new Energy-Climate Era. It is in coping with and developing solutions for the problems generated by this hot, flat, crowded world, that Friedman sees America coming again to its role as the world leader. Furthermore, it is in the process of American leadership taking on the challenges of energy efficiency and environmental preservation, that America will renew its identity and self-confidence.

Each chapter reminds the reader of the importance of the topic and the necessity for change and leadership. In conclusion, Friedman uses the analogy of all of us sailing as pilgrims on the Mayflower, and arriving at a place where we have not been before. The nature of the decisions we make about sustainable development will define who we are as Americans, and, in a very real way, define a moment in history as a true turning point where the nations that develop the big solutions to the big problems will lead the new era.

What are your ideas for sustainable living and development?

The JWU North Miami Campus Library has been working hard to provide our students and faculty with Web-based and easy-to-access research guides. LibGuides is a content sharing system that acts as a gateway to specific research resources. These guides incorporate 2.0 tools such as streaming video, RSS feeds, and interactive polls…all geared towards your topic!

There are also LibGuides for specific courses with project and assignment resources just one click away!

Check it out:

Click this link: JWU North Miami LibGuides

-or- URL: http://jwuflorida.libguides.com/

The American History Cookbook by Mark Zanger covers a wide range of American history cookery from the pre-colonial to school lunches.  Many of the recipes were selected from historical cookbooks with the intention to illuminate techniques used by the people of the time, and thus history.  The book is arranged chronologically by time periods (50 Chapters in total) and each chapter opens with a brief historical background then gives a typical recipe of that period.   The recipes include detailed instructions on how to prepare the dish authentically with instructions for substitutes for hard to find ingredients and difficult techniques.

The American History Cookbook is available as an eBook through Greenwood Digital Collection database.  To access this resource go to the library homepage, select databases, then scroll down to Greenwood Digital Collection and choose your location (either on or off campus).  Once you are in the database, click on “American History” subject heading to expand your options, then expand “American History (General)” and you’ll see The American History Cookbook.

MarketResearch.com Academic offers in-depth reports for numerous industries.  In general, the reports contain info on demographics, market size, market trends, growth & shares, forecasts, analysis of major brands, new product introduction trends, industry forces, company profiles, and consumer trends & buyer behavior.

The reports in MarketResearch.com Academic are written by the following publishers:
Kalorama Information
Packaged Facts
SBI
Simba Information
Icon Group International, Inc.
Paul Budde Communication Pty Ltd

The content includes current and historical information on markets and industries, ranging from Consumer Goods to Life Sciences & Technology.  Some reports that cover industries related to JWU’s programs include the following:
Food & Beverage
Food Service & Hospitality
Retailing
Travel & Leisure
Technology & Media

You can browse through 40 categories of reports, or you can search by using keywords that are related to your industry.

The advanced search lets you search by keywords in the title of the reports, or you can search for keywords within the full text of the report.  The results are displayed with the name of the report, a brief summary, and the year of publication. 

Warning: there are some reports in this resource that were published over 10 years ago.  For your projects, be sure to use the reports that are the most current.

Note1:  If your browser is set up with a pop-up blocker, you may want to disable it before using this resource.  Another workaround for the pop-up blocker issue is to follow the dialog boxes (“If the report does not automatically open after a few moments, please click here.”) to open your report in a new window.

Note2:  Don’t be intimidated by the cost listed for each report; the reports are free for JWU faculty, students and staff through our MarketResearch.com subscription.

MarketResearch.com Academic can be found alphabetically with the other JWU market research resources by going to:
http://library.jwu.edu/research/databases/research.htm

If you have any questions, pleases don’t hesitate to call or IM us.

Happy searching!