Renovation vs Innovation: Confuse These At Your Peril!

First, some basic definitions:

1) in-no-va-tion n. the introduction of new things or methods.

2) ren-o-va-tion v.t. to bring back to an earlier condition by extensive repair.

Creating a meeting outline for client review? Great. But watch out for words such as: new, novel, unique, different, original, distinct, and innovative. It's okay to use them. In fact, it's mandatory to use them. But don't confuse proposal rhetoric with presentation reality.

Your first job is to get the job. Your second job is to help the client forget about all those exotic new ideas you promised to get the job in the first place. Experienced meeting pros understand this. Those just starting out often get burned. And the reason is quite simple:


Sales meetings reflect the same rules that sustain most aspects of American commerce. In actual practice new, novel, unique, different, and original usually mean one thing: creative revision of the status quo, i.e. the brand extension. New and improved! This is not as cynical as it seems. Renovation has a proud and profitable history. Just ask George Lucas, Bill Gates, or Procter & Gamble.

Renovation is: - comfortable - friendly - convenient Renovation: - expedites approval - facilitates acceptance - usually costs less. And, most important, renovation saves time! It cuts the comprehension curve that new concepts (of any kind) require.

Example: Star Trek parodies have been used at sales meetings for 30 years. Audience get-up-to-speed time is reduced to zero! Everybody gets it, immediately! Company problems and products can then be dealt with at warp speed. Coming up next: Marvelous Meeting Machines (And other Heimlich meeting maneuvers.) A nostalgic review of third-party meeting devices often used to energize weak presentations. So old, they're new!

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About the Author

John Mackenzie is a combat-qualified, self-employed, corporate communications writer/director. A 30-year veteran of conference-room script changes, he put two kids through college while underwriting dozens of Prozac prescriptions. He is one of the few writers that IBM honored by destroying 1,200 of his film prints. More can be learned by visiting his website at http://www.thewritingworks.com/