In most tea services today, a tea box or menu is used for presenting tea, but the consumer’s tea selection is often made by name recognition only. With the wide range of whole-leaf teas available today, the Tea Butler Presentation Chest makes it possible for individuals to examine and select teas based on color, texture, and aroma. The hardwood chests are simple, yet elegant, and the presentation process dignifies the traditions of the tea ceremony that have evolved throughout history.

Tea Butler Presentation Chest: The Tea Butler presentation chest is made of beautiful hardwood and has a series of see-through sparkling clear octagonal acrylic tea jars. Each chest contains one set of loose-leaf tea selections. The chest has an attractive velour faced foam insert with octagonal cutouts that hold the tea jars, while allowing them to be easily removed for closer viewing. This allows the patron or guest to easily open the tea jar to examine the tea’s texture, color, make-up, and scent.

A tea plaque, located in the tea chest cover, has a detailed description of each tea, and each block is aligned with its corresponding tea jar. The teas are organized by tea type to simplify the presentation. For example, herbal caffeine-free teas are located on the left, black and flavored black teas are in the middle, and green and flavored green teas are located on the right. The plaque can easily be customized for each tea blend selection and can include individual or organization names and/or logos.

Tea Butler Presentation Process: In a restaurant table service, for example, the server brings the Tea Butler to the table, describes how the teas are organized on the tea plaque, and then goes about other tasks while the patron takes a few minutes to read the descriptions, examine the teas, and make their choice. There is no need for extensive training about the individual teas.

Tea Butler Benefits: The Tea Butler offers patrons an opportunity to explore new teas and make an informed decision about their tea selection. Past experience has shown that patrons like it because it is interesting and informative, and adds a pleasurable dimension to their dining experience. Servers like it because it’s simple to use and their patrons enjoy it. Restaurant owners like it because the Tea Butler can be brought to the table with the dessert menu, thus encouraging patrons to have dessert, after dinner beverages, or both. The added benefit for owners is that their sales
generally double or triple in a product where gross margins are high.

Tea Butler Series Presentation Chests and Trays: The Tea Butler chests and trays come in a variety of sizes in either maple or cherry. The beautiful hardwood products are stained mahogany and varnished to produce an attractive display product. The presentation chests are available in 6 or 8 count maple; and 9 or 12 count cherry. The presentation tray is available in 6 or 8 count maple. There are 12 standard plaques and tea sets for the maple and cherry chests, and 3 standard plaques and tea sets for the tea trays. Custom plaques and tea sets versions can be implemented. Each of these products can be viewed with graphic detail on our website.

Specialty Teas and the Silken Tea Sachet: As interest in tea has grown, consumers are looking for even more variety. Specialty teas are now the most interesting and fastest growing sector of tea, and its growth is poised to continue over the next decade, according to the Tea Association of the USA. A fitting definition of specialty tea is tea that has been specially cared for in ways that allow the teas to achieve their highest level of quality. This care starts with the planting, cultivating, and careful timing of when and how the tea is harvested, processed, packaged, and shipped. This produces teas which are wonderful to taste, have great sensory appeal, are interesting to the eye, and are soothing and relaxing to drink. This tea deserves a presentation that is as carefully prepared as the tea it presents.

In the presence of such fine specialty teas, it became apparent that the ordinary tea bag, because of its limited space for steeping, would not allow the full-leaf tea to brew to its full potential. To meet this need, tea vendors began looking for alternative ways to package these full-leaf teas that would be easy to use and attractive to consumers. Harney & Sons, one of the finest tea companies in the world, offers a broad range of silken tea sachets that contains a generous amount of pre-portioned loose leaf tea that provides a full two-cup teapot with a single sachet, taking the guesswork out of brewing a wonderful pot of tea. The Tea Butler has partnered with Harney & Sons to offer their fine teas to restaurants, resorts, and hotels, as well as for retail customers at its online store.

Tea Butler Trays in Coffee Shops and Retail Locations: Traditionally, coffee shops have had a captive audience, with little interest in serving any but the most basic teas. In recent years, however, there has been a growing demand for healthier beverages and the interest in tea, especially high-end specialty teas, has caught the interest of well known coffee chains such as the West Coast chain, formerly known as the Coffee Bean, now renamed the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

Coffee shops of all sizes have a common problem: lack of display counter space. The Tea Butler tray was designed specifically to meet this need. The trays are made of hardwood maple, and are stained mahogany and varnished. They are longer and narrower than the tea chests, containing one row of 8 sparkling clear octagonal acrylic tea jars and are uncovered. The tea description plaque is placed on a beveled surface on the tray, in front of the tea jars, with each tea description aligned with its tea sample. The trays are attractive, draw attention, and encourage patrons to order specialty teas. Some shops are also selling Harney & Sons colorful retail 20-count tea sachet tins as well. A stepped 8-tin rack fits nicely behind the tray, encouraging patrons to purchase their favorite teas.

Conclusion: The presentation of tea doesn’t need to be a blind, uninteresting process. With Tea Butlers, it can be simple, yet elegant and informative, where both the presenter and their guests can enjoy the process!

As a speaker or company leader you will, at some time, be asked to appear on the radio. It may be the taping of a panel discussion. It may be a one-on-one interview about a topic for which you have expertise. It may be to answer some questions that have been asked about your business and/or one of your products. For whatever reason you are going to be heard over the air, you will want to sound polished, professional and knowledgeable. In this article, I discuss some of the ways to make it happen.

Remember that the radio audience can’t see you, so your voice, pacing, and words are all important. When we are presenting to an audience or leading a meeting, we have the benefit of our physiology — our breathing, eye contact, physical appearance, and movement. Recently, I listened to the taping of a panel discussion that had been presented by several of the leaders of IT (Information Technology) in our region. It was disappointing. The speakers, even though all are intelligent men, spoke so quickly and without any tonal variety, they were difficult to follow. It took all of my energy to stay focused on what they were saying.

Be prepared. The more prepared you are for any presentation, the more smoothly it will progress and the more professional you will appear. If you are going to be interviewed about a topic or happening, type out a list of questions that you feel your interviewer will ask, or you would like him or her to ask. When I have appeared on the radio, I have handed the person interviewing me a sheet of questions I would like to be asked, for which they are usually quite thankful. Then, there are few or no surprises for either of you. Of course, you are prepared with answers to those questions.

What if I am asked difficult or uncomfortable questions? It is necessary to be honest with our answers, but if someone asks a question that is damaging or confrontational, you don’t have to be so honest that your answer harms you and/or your business. If some of the questions are political and/or confrontational, avoid saying anything harmful to others or yourself.

If at all possible, try to inject some humor and lightness. Even if your topic is serious, make an effort to lighten up. This will help give you a “human” quality. A program is made palatable and more interesting to listeners by the addition of some light banter and laughter.

Avoid rambling. In an unfamiliar situation it is easy to be nervous and when we are nervous, we have a tendency to ramble. Remember to stick to the point, say what you have to say as succinctly as possible, and stop talking. Make sure, however, that you do get a chance to say the words that you feel are relative to the interview and/or presentation.

Know what your most important points are and be sure that you state them. I suggest having those answers that you feel are the most important written down on a 3 X 5 card, and even if you are not directly asked the questions you want to be asked, work those points into the conversation. Otherwise, the interview may be over without your achieving your reason for being on the radio in the first place.

Even though this can be serious business, it can also be fun and offer a big boost to you, your business, and your career. Enjoy it!

On his blog, Presentation Zen author Garr Reynolds gives well-deserved credit to Bill Gates for improving his presentations over the years. Being the master of gorgeous visuals, Reynolds of course addresses the tremendous improvement of Bill Gates’ slides. Gates slides now include full screen pictures, minimal text and greatly simplified data. Having attractive slides has an overwhelmingly positive visual impact on a presentation. And since sight is the sense we as humans seem to trust the most, improving slides is very important.

Reynolds also points out from the 2009 presentation by Bill and Melinda Gates presentation and the 2010 Ted presentation by Bill Gates, that Bill’s delivery has gotten better. As Reynolds notes, in 2010 Gates is no longer able to read his presentation so he make much better eye contact with the audience. The truth I suspect is that Gates never needed a script in the first place with either presentation. Gates knows this material well – it’s very much internalized. The improved eye contact helps Gates make a better connection with the audience and he even appears more relaxed as a result.

There’s one other improvement between the 2009 and the 2010 speech that Reynolds doesn’t point out but which deserves attention: In the 2010 presentation, Bill Gates skips what I call the “blah, blah, blah opening.” In the 2009 presentation, Gates starts by saying, “Well, good evening. It’s great to see all of you here. If you came for the hockey game…” which is what I would classify as the blah, blah, blah start. Gates spent 15 seconds saying trite, disengaging blather that was totally unneeded, did nothing to connect him to the audience, and provided no value to the topic on which he spoke. Contrast that with how Gates started his TED talk where his first words were, “I’m going to talk today about energy and climate.” Boom. There it is. No blah, blah, blah. He got right to his talk. Such a start is a vast improvement over lame references that get a nervous, uncomfortable laugh from the audience. It makes the audience sit up and pay attention – and don’t we all appreciate it when we know a speaker isn’t wasting their time.

But to get an even bigger improvement, I’d like to challenge Gates to do something that few executives dare to do – but when done, is extremely powerful. To improve even more, I suggest Gates start with a personal story.

The 2009 presentation started with a film, pointing to individual people who were “Living Proof” that financial aid to Africa is having a positive impact on real people. The film had the words “Living Proof” tagging individuals featured in the film. The film was very powerful. Now, imagine the impact Gates could have had if he’d started with a personal story about his real life encounter with one of these individuals who is “Living Proof” that financial aid works. It would be easy for him to tell such a story because he lived the event. Being more at ease would help him and his audience. In the 2010 speech on energy and climate imagine Gates really grabbing the attention of the audience by telling the story of seeing school boys studying under the street lights because they had no electricity. Audience members would be naturally more drawn in to such as story. While Gates dropped the blah, blah, blah start, which was a big improvement, a story would have been even better in engaging the hearts and minds of the listeners.

Executives and technologist are often reticent to include personal stories in their presentations. After all, many of them are successful because of their wonderfully logical brains. But all humans, technical and nontechnical, are wired by emotions. Tapping into that emotion makes for better connections and engagement.

Bravo to Bill Gates for being open to improving his presentation graphics and his speech style. I’d love to see him take it up one more notch, so that next year, I’m writing about his further transformation of audience engagement by telling a personal story.

(To see Garr Reynold’s post go to http://ht.ly/2vUsK.)

So how about you? Are you willing to get out of your comfort zone? Can you change your slides so that instead of bullets, you have full screen picture, minimal text and simplified data? Can you trust yourself to know your material and not rely on reading your notes when you address your audience? Can you resist the temptation of starting with the blah, blah, blah opening? Are you willing to be different and connect with your audience by telling a personal story? If you are, send me links to your speeches so I can praise you in future articles! If you need help, come see me at Communications for Everyone and let’s talk!