100 Lives of Flash Drives

Are you an employer looking for creative ways to reward employees who have exceeded expectations? Successful salespeople and those with many potential business connections should be compensated appropriately for their time and effort. A company should recognize employees who show loyalty and dedication to the company’s success. If you’re a boss, you’re probably thinking of unique ways to acknowledge the hard work of your employees.

There are plenty of well-worn ways of rewarding successful salesmen or saleswomen. Engraving their name on a plaque above the break room microwave is a typical method, as is handing out trophies for being an “Outstanding Salesperson.” These trophies are always useful as paper weights, or for sitting on a shelf collecting dust for years on end. Maybe the employee can even be mentioned at your next employee meeting! He or she will be sure to love the applause of colleagues. But, aside from these age-old rewards, you can offer him or her something that will be appreciated and used often. continue

It is presentation day and you are feeling a little nervous. You have worked very hard for months to design a presentation that will promote your company’s new line of environmentally friendly products. Every aspect and slide of the Powerpoint has been purposely placed and designed to give the optimal exposure.

As nearly 100 prospective business owners and clients enter into the auditorium, you prepare yourself to get up on stage and deliver a powerful speech. As you clearly explain and outline each product and their unique features and options, you see many clients nodding their heads in the audience. You begin to feel more confident and assured that you will get a lot of business after this presentation. continue

It is finally your child’s first birthday. You want to take them to get pictures that you will be able to cherish for a lifetime. You consider Walmart, Sears, JCPenney, and Boscov’s Studios. These studios usually have your prints to you within a week or two. There are also other professional photography places such as The Hourglass that offer you prints an hour after your photo shoot is completed (though, be aware they are much more expensive than a department store studio). There is also the option of going to a professional photographer that has his own office.

You may consider price when choosing a photographer. You may also consider distances, hours, and availability. However, one thing that first time parents often forget to consider is what exactly will be offered. They may not be aware of how many clothing changes they can have, the choices of backgrounds, and most importantly, the package and print choices. continue

When attending freshmen orientation, a first-time college student is often overloaded with paperwork on a lot of useful information and even a good bit of useless information. It is shoved into a folder with the college’s logo, name, and information printed on the front. It is probably also going to be shoved somewhere in their dorm room serving no purpose. Most students don’t want to deal with searching through pages of paperwork to find the one, simple thing they were looking for.

Another alternative for colleges and universities would be to organize all of the information into folders on a flash drive. Information that would be important to a new student could include a directory listing of all offices, a campus map showing buildings and student parking lots, a class schedule, and even course information. Students also want to know where different restaurants, vending bars, and soda machines are located. This could perhaps be some of the most important information to a college freshmen. Lists of foods offered and even their prices could also be provided. continue

Background music adds a pleasurable element at a conference. Music played over speakers soothes people, helping them to focus and relax. At a wedding reception, the hosts often hire someone to play an instrument, or they play music over speakers. Some buildings do not have enough space or are not built suitably for musicians to perform live. They might not have room to haul in a double bass and a keyboard and guitars and any other instruments. Sometimes the hosts do not have enough money to pay a performer.

A powerful sound system lets people still hear and enjoy high quality recorded music. The hosts don’t have to concern themselves with finding guest performers and making room for setting up instruments. They might play music from a computer, a CD, or an mp3 player. continue

Having trouble getting customers to take your surveys? Customer feedback is valuable to marketing, but it’s hard to get people to respond. Sometimes writing a few lines on the bottom of a receipt about entering a contest to win a gift card just isn’t enough to get people to leave feedback. Some people want to go for any chance to win something for free, but many others are skeptical about offers that they know they may be entering along with hundreds of thousands of other people when only one or two will win. continue

Everyone either is a student now or has been at some point in his life. Everyone has sat through hours of boring lectures, doodling in a notebook, surfing the internet on a laptop, texting friends across the aisle, or actually half trying to pay attention and remember what the teacher is saying. Once in college, tests and quizzes become more and more difficult, and students have to remember all kinds of minute details from the textbook or the teacher’s lectures. continue

After I received a box of clothes I’d ordered recently, I cut through the packing tape and flipped up the cardboard top. I reached inside, thinking to find my new shirts, only to find a catalog. I pulled that out, only to find a brochure that promised free shipping on any order I completed within the next month. Underneath that brochure was a catalog for the kids’ branch of the store. Finally, I waded through the pile of catalogs and brochures and saw that my clothes were indeed sitting in the bottom of the box. continue

With products like smartphones and e-book readers like Amazon’s Kindle, people increasingly read on little electronic devices instead of from paper books. Many websites also make books available for people to read on their screens. As people move away from print materials gradually but steadily, publishers have to adapt to the changing market. Paperback and hardcover books still sell millions but not as well as they used to. With today’s information age, people find a hoard of information competing for their attention. continue

College students who want to put their vacations to good use often take a correspondence course. They might take this course through their own college or might find a local community college that offers the same course. They can get a few credits out of the way and also find something to occupy their time if they don’t have much to do with their vacation time. Plus they can dress in pajamas and lounge on the couch as they listen to the lectures, being as comfortable as they want. They can work on the class on their own time, listening to a lot of lectures all together, or spreading them out over several days. continue