Like most knowledge workers, my friends and co-workers struggle with tremendous email volumes and balancing heavy workloads.  In my spare time, I developed a presentation that provides describes how I use Lotus Notes and GTD to become my productive.

Since 2006 I have delivered this presentation many times to very diverse audiences within IBM.  I’ve spoken to new employees as well as managers and executives.  I’ve explained my approach to software engineers, market intelligence researchers, consultants, and human resources specialists – just to mention a few.

Sometimes I’m able to speak in person.  However, most of the time, I deliver the presentation via webcast and audio conference because the audience is spread across North America.

I don’t have much time to actively seek out speaking engagements.  (Remember, this isn’t my real job.)  Instead, I usually receive a request to speak from an IBMer that I have never met.  They usually have heard of my presentation (or received a copy of the slides) via the internal “grape vine”.  I have received many of these “out of the (big) blue” requests – some from IBMers as far away as Moscow.

Last week, I delivered the presentation to my largest audience yet.   925 people registered for the webcast and 441 attended the live call.  In the post-event survey, 25% of the respondents rated my presentation as “Inspiring” (5 out of 5).  60% give me 4 out of 5.

I have always enjoyed public speaking – especially when I get to help people.  However, the biggest highlight is reading the personal “thank you” emails that land in my inbox after the presentation.

A couple of courtesy reminders that (based on my current experience) deserve repeating:

1. When you leave your number on someone’s voicemail or answering machine, speak it slowly, and then slowly REPEAT it. Put yourself in the shoes of the person listening to your message. They may not have pen and paper quite yet. They have to hear it, understand it, and write it.
2. And take the time to edit subject lines in replying e-mails.  Most folks have huge e-mail volume, and being able to scan for the thrust of relevant communications on the fly makes a difference.

Brett, a fellow IBMer and the creator of the GTD For Lotus Notes tool, passed allowing a link to the Productive! Magazine.  It’s a free magazine that features the best posts from a variety of productivity bloggers.  The magazine is available in Adobe Reader (PDF) format.

The first edition was just published.on November 20, 2008 and contains an interview with David Allen.

If you’d like to get a taste of the concepts without opening your wallet, check out this video of David Allen speaking to Google employees.

In my presentation, I point out that a poorly defined task can lead to procrastination.  One simple way to increase the likelihood of getting something done is to actually articulate the physical action required to perform the task.

Coincidentally, I just ran across an article, entitled “Dear Me: Get to work“, that discusses this in more detail.  In a nutshell, the author suggests:

Write your tasks as if you are delegating them to someone you actually know.

He offers some examples to bring it home.

Coincidentally, I have a very similar presentation that I have delivered to teams at the IBM Toronto Lab.  I’ve got to hand it to Merlin, his slides look nicer.

If you’re having problem seeing the embedded video, try this link.

Thanks to Karen for sharing the link!

Michael Dolan, a coach with the David Allen Company, gives some advice on properly defining your next actions: Defining Your Work

• Separate your emails from your to-dos
  http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/separate-your-email-from-your-to+dos-272590.php
• The art of the doable to-do list
  http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/the-art-of-the-doable-to+do-list-270404.php

Enjoy!