Merlin Mann on "Inbox Zero" (Google Tech Talks)

Here's a good presentation you will enjoy. Merlin Mann, a well known productivity guru and creator of the popular 43 folders website talks about getting things done, the importance of getting your inbox to zero, and strategies for dealing with high volume email. Merlin spoke at Google earlier this summer and he told me (last night in fact) that Presentation Zen was an inspiration for his slides. The simple vector images Merlin uses are available at iStockPhoto. You do not need a drawing app like Illustrator since iStock provides you with a very large jpeg for each set of line art.

I think this video is very good and I'm inspired now not to let email rule my work life (which it clearly does all too often). What would have made the video even better is if they showed more closeups of Merlin and Merlin in front of the slide. Since the slides are so simple it is not really necessary to keep them on full screen that long. Google has asked me to come in to do one of the Google Talks as well. I'l try to do it just before Christmas or when I am in California again before Macworld in mid January. The video of the presentation — like Merlin's and Seth's, etc — will be recorded and put online. I'm really looking forward to presenting at Google (hope I don't suck!).

Below are the slides from Merlin's Google talk.

If you can't get enough Merlin, then checkout The Merlin Show starring Merlin Mann

Comments

[ssp]

When I saw this film a while ago, I wasn't too impressed. To me Mr Mann seemed to make a lot of effort to be 'relaxed' and claim everything he said is trivial. Which contradicts the fact that he thinks it's worth to make people sit through half an hour of him talking about it.

I also wondered why he needed slides at all, there really wasn't much of a point to that.

[Shawn]

Right on about the camera shots. I've noticed that with other Google talks, too. I wanted to see the speaker, but the camera was almost constantly on the slides. If you present, please prod them to work on that aspect of the production.

[lilalia]

I found Merlin's talk very interesting because so much of the full inbox syndrome is just white noise overlaying any creative effort. Of course we all know this, but it is important to hear.

His premise of turning the white noise off, keeping the slate clean, making rapid specific decisions relates so well to other aspects of my life. He told one of the people in the audience to start using his method immediately by placing all the emails in his inbox into another folder to be sorted, if ever, at another point in time. I followed Merlin's advice and my inbox has been empty since.

Now I am tempted to use this method at home with our finances: pitiful piles (mountains) of unsorted papers to be dealt with. Maybe, instead of trying to attack the arduous task, I'll just set up a good filing system and work from there.

[Moses]

I honestly didn't think the talk was all that great. I kinda skipped around listening to him talking about how to "process" email instead of "check" email, then I switched to another Google video cause I wasn't getting anything out of it.

[Claudio]

I found the talk also very interesting. The slides were great: Reduced to the maximum. But also the content that was presented was great. One has to overthink his own strategy with “checking” email. And that's what I've done: I completely cleaned my gmail archive.
And it's what lilalia says also: It doesn't work just with emails. Everything is “just” advanced common sense but it's helpful to see again in a great presentation.

[David Marsh]

Here's a tip if your presenting with a lapel mike and it's being recorded: learn where the "mute" button is and use it when you have a drink or have to cough.

The live audience won't hear these noises, but if it's being recorded it's heard, especially by people like me who use headphones. This is one thing that Steve Jobs gets wrong, and every time I watch his keynotes it bugs me.

[Rich...!]

Very rad find, I really enjoyed this preso, and the visual aids.
It's interesting to see how the google editors seem to feel that the visual is more important than the speaker though - this s the reason that so many people over-populate the slides, they feel the sildes are the preso, not the speaker...!

[CASINO]

┏──────────♥────────┓
┃*┌━┐┌━┐┌━┐┌━┐┌━┐┌━┐ ┃
┃*│심││의││통││과││게││임│ ┃
┃*└━┘└━┘└━┘└━┘└━┘└━┘ ┃
┗─────♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡───┛

┏━━ ♤ ┏━━ http://www.meania.com ━━┓♤ ━━┓
┗━━ ♤ ┗━━ 추 천 인 I D : race1234━━┛♤...

* 포커! 바둑이! 맞고!
* 현존 최고 인기 절정 합법카지노!!
* 동시 접속자 800백명 돌파!!
* 베팅으로 인한 딜비 50% 게임머니 충전!!
* 입금/출금 1만원부터!!
* 24시간 콜센타 운영!!

http://www.meania.com
http://www.meania.com
http://www.meania.com

회원가입시 : [race1234] 입력하셔야 가입됩니다!!

* 돈벌기에 관심있는분들!! 지금 확인하세요!!
* 색다른 회원님들과 한번 도전해보시죠!!
* 당신의 라이벌은 바로 도전입니다.
* 수많은 사이트 중에서 어떤걸선택할까 고민하십니까?
* 수없이 터지는 책팟! 안정된서버! 현존 최고의 동시 접속자!
* 한번 게임해보신분들은 매니아가 됩니다!!

☞ 게임방법
1. http://www.meania.com 입장
2. [race1234] 입력후 회원가입
3. 게임머니 충전
4. 게임장 입장
5. 게임머니 선물하기에서 출금합니다.

* 매니아에서 새로운 경험을 할수 있습니다 ~

* 많이 많이 와서 놀아 주세요 ^~^

☎ 게임문의 : 0 1 0 - 4 7 9 9 - 2 0 0 3 [24시간]

─ ─ ─ ─ ,. -'"　;' 　.,,,.. - ;.
　　　　　|　　　 ,.-''" 　 　 :'
　　　　　| 　 :'" 　 　 　 , , ,:
　　　　　| , "　 　 　　　 　 ″: ,
　　　　　|;' 　 　 *, ,　○ 　 　 ″:,　　　,.. - ;
　　　　　|:　　　　　　" 　　　　　 ″:-''" 　　;'
　　　　　| ″:　　　　 　 　　　 　 　 ″　　　,:'
　　　　　|　　　　　 　 ＼　　　 ○　　 ,:'
　　　 ㅣ 　　　　　　　　"'' 　　, :
　　 ㅣ　　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 , :'
　　　,:'"　″:,　 ,:　　 ″″;' - , , ,.. - '
″:,　　″'' - ;　 　 ;″
　 　 　″ :,　　 　 　 ,:'
　　　　 |″: , , 　,:'
　　　　　|　″ - "
　　　　　| 절대 후회없이 당신을 모시겠습니다 ~! ⌒⌒γ

관리자님! 허락없이 등록하여 죄송합니다!
게시판성격에 맞는 않는 글이라면 kss_3864@hotmail.com으로
게시판 주소를 보네주시면 24시간이내 수신거부처리 하겠습니다.
번거럽게 하여 죄송합니다. [삭제:bbbbb]