The Business August 15th 2012, The "Karmel Coated Kinane" Edition

Our guests this week are so great we could just EAT THEM UP. Since we can’t literally devour them, here are some quotes about things they have eaten in the past:

Mr. Ian Karmel on delicious things enjoyed on recent travels:

“I had cheese steaks in Philly, BBQ in Austin, breakfast burritos in Austin and Panda Express in the Mall of America... but the best thing I had on the whole trip has to be the Juicy Lucy in Minneapolis, a hamburger with cheese INSIDE of it. WHAT!? HOW? Dark magics, only explanation.”

Mr. Kyle Kinane on accidentally eating a chocolate chip cookie with bacon in it:

“Yeah, it was disgusting at first, but it got better the more that I ate it.”

These two are making the Business their dessert after some seriously sexy Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction (http://

www.brownpapertickets.com/
event/263704) where they will be battling a few of your Business regulars for erotic supremacy.

We are happy to welcome Ian Karmel. Ian came from an improv background, which included time with The Groundlings and the Upright Citizens Brigade. Ian was honored as the 2011 Funniest Person in Portland, won the 2010 Portland Amateur Comedy Competition and has performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot, Portland’s Helium Comedy Club, Philadelphia’s Helium Comedy Club, Austin’s Cap City Comedy Club, Seattle’s Comedy Underground and Los Angeles’ Comedy Store. In addition to stand-up, Karmel has appeared on television, playing a character in IFC’s sketch show Portlandia and as a post-game analyst and commentator for the Portland Trailblazers.

Friend of the show and Iron Comic CHAMPION Kyle Kinane will join us as well. Kyle Kinane has been up and at it for almost half his life, mostly searching for what "it" might be. He has performed in the Leicester, Vancouver, Washington D.C., Portland, Just For Laughs/Chicago and the USCAF/Aspen comedy festivals, and has been on the TV via "Last Call with Carson Daly," "The Very Funny Show" on TBS, "Live at Gotham," "Comedy Central Presents" and "The World Stands Up" on the BBC. He was called "bleak and misanthropic" by the London Evening Standard, which he still feels may be a compliment.

We are also very pleased that Chris Garcia and Alex Koll have returned from their adventures to join us this week. There is still a Chris Thayer sized hole in our hearts, but he would want us all to enjoy the show even though he can’t be here.

Don’t miss this one! Get your $5 and print out a coupon so you can bring a friend.

The Business sells out. With this line up, the Business will SELL OUT. Get there on time and BYOBurrito.

Five Tips to Become a DataViz Wiz

Editor's note: We're starting a series where we share general tips for business owners. This post is written by Cole Nussbaumer from Google's People Analytics team, who has a passion for storytelling with data.

Communicating effectively with data is a challenge many businesses face. There are opportunities to tell compelling stories with data, yet the strategic advantage that can be gained through good communication is often missed. In some cases, data isn’t used at all when it could help make a stronger point, while in other cases the data that is included confuses more than it informs.

Why does this happen? No one really teaches us how to tell a story with data, so we end up relying on our tools to understand best practices. And our tools often lead us in the wrong direction. The next time you find yourself needing to communicate with data--whether as part of a business plan, to communicate to your customers or stakeholders, or for some other purpose, consider follow these five tips for success:

1. Keep your audience top of mind. Everything you’re doing is for your audience, so keep who they are and their needs in mind throughout the process, from figuring out what you want to communicate, to determining what data to show, to deciding how to show it, where to draw attention, and what story to form with it. Make it extra clear to your audience what’s in it for them, what you want them to know, and why they should care.

2. Choose a visual format that makes sense. Line graphs are great for showing trends over time and bar charts are good for comparing categorical data. Pie charts (and area charts in general) are hard for people to read because our eyes don’t naturally do a good job measuring angles and areas, so be cautious when using them. When choosing between a common chart type like a bar chart and something less common, my recommendation is generally for the common chart. It means less of a learning curve for your audience so they can more easily grasp the information you’re providing.

3. Resist the temptation to dress up your data. 3D, meaningless color, background shading: these distract from your data by adding clutter without adding informative value. When you’ve found the right angle -- the right way to make your data compelling for your audience -- there’s no need to dress it up because the data itself becomes inherently interesting.

Use this:

Instead of this:

4. Draw attention to the important parts of your visual. Color, size and position on the page are some of the easiest and most powerful ways to draw your audience’s attention to different parts of your visual. Don’t use color just to make things colorful; use it sparingly and strategically to draw your audience’s attention to where you want them to focus. If something is more important, make it big and place it in a higher priority place on the page (since in Western cultures most people read left to right and top to bottom, the top left of the page is precious real estate--make it count!). Also think of using color and size to create a visual hierarchy on the page. This is a way to let your audience into your head via visual cues so they know what is most important and where they should focus first, second, and so on.

5. Tell a story. Stories have a way of focusing your audience’s attention and helping them understand why the data you are showing is relevant and important. I think of stories in terms of plot, twists, and ending: the plot is the context that is essential for your audience to know, the twists are the findings and what make your story compelling, and the ending is the call to action--what you need your audience to know and do. If you have a recommendation, state it clearly in words in your communication.

When used well, data can add credibility where we lack it, impart new knowledge, persuade people to support your vision, demonstrate impact, or help convince someone to take action. But it is not enough simply to show data; rather, I challenge you to use the tips outlined above to tell a story with data.

Ready to try it out? Learn more about creating charts and graphs using Google Spreadsheets and how you can customize them based on our tips. For related info, check out www.storytellingwithdata.com.

Posted by Cole Nussbaumer, People Analytics Team

Help Desk Hangouts: Google Consumer Surveys

Editor’s note: Each week on the Google+ Your Business page, we’re putting you in touch with Googlers and users who can help you as a business owner get the most out of our products and features.

In our latest Help Desk Hangout On Air, we talked about Google Consumer Surveys with Product Manager Paul McDonald. We learned about how businesses of all size can have access to market research using Consumer Surveys. Paul answered questions throughout, and we went through a sample survey to demonstrate the data acrobatics available.

Miss the event? You can watch the whole thing on the Google and Your Business YouTube channel.

Check out the video description on the YouTube page for a minute-by-minute breakdown.

Some of the questions we answered during the Hangout:

How long until I start seeing responses, and how much do Consumer Surveys cost?
You can expect to begin seeing responses immediately, with full completion within 24-48 hours. It costs $0.10 per response for a representative sample of the U.S. population and $0.50 per response for demographic targeting.

How does the demographic targeting work?
Like many ads on the web, Google Consumer Surveys reports on the inferred age and gender of anonymous respondents based on the websites users visit and location based on IP addresses. Income, and urban density are then approximated using census data for particular geographic regions. To see what inferences are associated with your browser, visit google.com/ads/preferences.

All responses are anonymous and collected in aggregate. Read more information about Google’s privacy policy here.


Help Desk Hangouts are hosted on the Google+ Your Business page every other Wednesday. Don’t miss our next Hangout at 11a.m. PDT on Wednesday, August 22. Look for the topic announcement on the Google+ Your Business page.

Posted by Dori Storbeck, Hangouts Community Manager, and Jade Wang, Google+ Local Community Manager

The Essentials of Picking a Rancho Santa Fe Interior Designer

The Santa Fe Land Advancement Company acquired the bulk of the land and produced a tree farm. But simply because of drought, the business incurred losses on the tree challenge. To recuperate from the loss, they spearheaded the advancement of a local community of ranches with an architectural design and style exuding the Spanish era ambiance. Till now, Rancho Santa Fe has preserved the prosperous culture that was started off through the many years and the State of California designated the local community as a State Historic Landmark. Rancho Santa Fe residences preserved a good deal of its loaded architectural background for the reason that of the commitment of its elite and privileged citizens. The region is governed by the Rancho Santa Fe Association, wherein residents are held by the Association's Protective Covenant in creating or renovating their households. The Association handles all house exercise, these as managing of all home, evaluation of development jobs, maintenance of all member companies and services and standard administration. All those who want to modify their houses or have dwelling advancements need to adhere to all the demands and pointers stated therein. Even if a particular dwelling proprietor has an interior task in thoughts, if it doesn't get the approval of the Association, they can not push by way of with construction. In acquiring an interior designer for your Rancho Santa Fe property, you must not just contemplate its track document and its clientele base. Budgets and charges need to have minimum or no significance when you are eyeing to are living in this luxurious residential region. Specialized interior decorators specializing in residential interior structure really should be the favored decision in contrast to office interior designers. Undertaking home business with popular interior decorators could appear an simple solution, but if they do not have any practical knowledge with the Rancho Santa Fe Association protective covenant, you might come across it difficult to get your challenge approved. A capable Rancho Santa Fe interior designer must be ready to deal with each the historical component and the modern-day techniques mainly because of the problem each architectural project entails. As Paragraph 46 of the protective covenant states that the house design and style really should "insure a uniform and reasonable high regular of creative outcome and attractiveness in the exterior and bodily appearance of claimed residence and improvements," it is essential that you hire the providers of a superior stop interior designer. If you're setting up to make a residence in any of the subdivisions inside of this posh location, or if you are an existing proprietor contemplating remodelling or renovating your household, seem for a superior stop Rancho Santa Fe interior designer. One who can execute modern house interior structure options though considering the stringent conditions and specs that go together with it. On the surface, employing a specialized interior designer can look to be a considerably "optional" undertaking - awesome, but not essential. Soon after all, what's the major mystery in getting new drapes and hanging a chandelier? But substantially like plumbing or automobile fix, interior design is an individual of all those professions the place you don't truly value the worth of a pro right until your pleased tiny do-it-oneself task turns into a wildly high-priced, comedy of problems that has you in stitches (or else, you'll cry). It hits every decorator l'amateur in a different way. It's possible your realization will 1st come when you uncover all by yourself elbow-deep in faux end far more the colour of "little one poop" than "autumn mustard". Or the moment your "off the books" contractor's enthusiastic hammering splits your crown molding and leaves a giant crater in your wall. Or perhaps your grand epiphany will arrive with the custom upholsters, as they supply a five-foot couch for your four-foot area (no refunds, of program). When it does hit you, you'll come across yourself staring down the barrel of the realization that you would have saved so much time, money and exasperation had you just gone with a specialized.

New Learn with Google Webinars Help Make the Web Work for You

(Cross-posted from the AdWords blog.)

It’s almost back-to-school time, but students aren’t the only ones who are getting geared up to learn. Today, we’re announcing our next series of Learn with Google webinars, which will arm you with the tools you need to get the most out of Google’s advertising products and solutions. Over the next couple of months, 13 webinars will teach you tips and how-to’s to help make the web work for your business.

Join us as we kick things off this Thursday, August 9th with a webinar on multi-channel attribution and check out the full schedule below:

• Aug 9 at 9am PDT Multi-Channel Funnels: Attribution Across Channels
• Aug 23 at 10am PDT How to Kick Start Social with Google+ (Hangout on Air)
• Aug 28 at 10am PDT Optimizing your Video Ad Campaigns
• Aug 29 at 10am PDT Google+: Enhancing Marketing and Making Social Accountable
• Sept 5 at 10am PDT Go Bigger, Faster with AdWords Editor
• Sept 6 at 10am PDT Making the Most of Recent AdWords Updates
• Sept 12 at 10am PDT Driving Cost-Effective App Downloads with AdWords
• Sept 13 at 10am PDT Go Bigger, Faster with AdWords Scripts
• Sept 18 at 10am PDT Better Together: Combining Targeting Strategies in Display
• Sept 19 at 10am PDT The Importance of Search Advertising
• Sept 20 at 10am PDT Measuring the Impact of Online Advertising on Offline Sales
• Sept 26 at 10am PDT GoMo: Mobilize your Site and Maximize your Advertising
• Sept 27 at 10am PDT Optimizing Display Campaigns: Tips, Tricks, & Tools

Visit our webinar page to register for any of the sessions and to access past webinars on-demand. We’ll be adding new webinars as they’re scheduled, so check back regularly for updates. You can also stay up-to-date on the schedule by adding our Learn with Google Webinar calendar to your own Google calendar to automatically see upcoming webinars.

Whether your goal is to engage the right customers in the moments that matter, make better decisions, or go bigger, faster, we hope that you’ll use these best practices and how-to’s to maximize the impact of digital and grow your business. We’re looking forward to having you in class at an upcoming Learn with Google webinar!

Posted by Erin Green, Marketing Coordinator

The Business August 8th 2012, The "Yukon Ho to Sacramento!" Edition

There’s gold in these here guests! This week at the Business we welcome comics from lands of great riches. Two Canadians and two Sacramentans (Sacramentese? Sacramenti? Sacatomatoes?) will be joining us and presumably teaching us how to use a sluice box to get our own nuggets.

We happen to know Ray Molina is from Sacramento, but when asked he usually responds by saying a "Random City." When asked for a bio, he will tell you "A bio won't make me funnier" but added "my favorite food is mermaid." W

e have fresh mermaid on the grill just for him.

Also coming to us from Sacramento but starting from a humble beginning in Parts Unknown, Johnny Taylor has fought against the struggle and has emerged as an amazing stand-up comedian, humanitarian, and incredibly nice guy. If you asked most people, they would agree with the part about him being a nice guy. He is also attractive and loves cats.

And now the Canucks!

“Julia Hladkowicz is not only pretty, but super funny!”-indiscover.net. This blonde dynamo is a rising star at YukYuks and just landed a US National commercial for Lindt Chocolate with tennis icon Roger Federer. This year she showcased at LAFF (Ladies are Funny Festival) in Austin, Texas, was a semi-finalist in The Great Canadian Laugh Off, and performed with Comedy Records at NXNE.

Matt O’Brien is one to watch in the Canadian comedy circuit. In 2010 he was named Canada’s Next Top Comic by XM Radio and was featured at the Global Comedy Festival in Vancouver. In 2011, he filmed his first Comedy Now! special for the Comedy Network at the legendary Masonic Temple in Toronto. He has headlined and performed across North America, selling out shows at Yuk Yuk’s, The Improv, The Punchline, The Comedy Store, The Comedy Mix, Absolute Comedy, and Second City with his brand of high energy story telling.

Your Business regulars are still all glowy after an EXCELLENT Business LA with Guy Branum and Bobcat Goldthwait. Chris Garcia, Chris Thayer and Alex Koll are still off in the wild. Sean Keane, Bucky Sinister and Caitlin Gill will be there holding down the funny fort.

Come join us! $5 gets you in.  BYOBurrito cause we probably won’t share ours.

Wrapping up your intern’s summer experience

August means that the summer is almost over, and if your business had interns, they are likely about to head back to school. Unlike a general student employee, an internship may not continue into the fall and your intern may end up somewhere else next summer. In short, as the summer wraps up you’ll want to make sure that your interns got the most out of their experience at your business.

Let your interns share their work
A great culmination of an internship is letting interns showcase everything they’ve been working on and what they’ve learned. Set up time where interns can present their projects not only to their manager, but also to other employees at the business. This lets interns receive valuable feedback on their work and communication skills from people with varied career experience, and creates a final product to help capstone what they learned.

Help craft an intern’s portfolio
Sometimes internships involve working with confidential projects or data, and it can be difficult to know how to describe the amount and impact of the work an intern accomplished without revealing anything. Tell interns what numbers and information they can share externally.

Suggest that interns record all of the projects they completed over the summer so they remember them in the future. If an intern already started updating their resume, review what they wrote to help make sure they’ve pitched their work well. If they haven’t, share what you think some of their most impressive accomplishments were and what they might want to highlight.

Provide a formal evaluation
If your business has an evaluation tool for your employees, use the same one for interns. Being evaluated lets interns know what their strengths and weaknesses are so they can improve moving forward, and also provides a taste of what they’ll encounter with a real job. Plus, it will be helpful to have performance documented so you can easily remember someone’s work if you’re asked to be a reference later on.

Be a resource for the future 
If your intern did a really great job, make sure to let them know! If you’re willing to write a letter of recommendation, tell them--knowing they already have a supporter is a lot less stressful for them than asking for a recommendation cold.

Even though your intern may not be returning to your business next summer, you’ve already invested time into teaching them. Offer to answer questions they may have in the future about your industry, interviewing, job searching, etc. You’ve spent time working with your intern and are familiar with their interests and strengths, so by drawing on all your personal experience you can offer a lot of beneficial insight into a student’s career even after the summer ends.

Posted by Jacinth Sohi, Google and Your Business Blog Team