Jon Moon
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Online FAQs
Below are Frequently Asked Questions. As a quick overview, the first word of every answer is 'no' or some minor variant on it (e.g. 'not particularly', 'probably not' or 'not if I can help it').
The dos and don'ts of the Courses
- Do I have to do a Course in one sitting?
- Do I have to start all over again if I log out part why through?
- Can I screen the Course at our Annual Conference?
- Can I circulate handouts to my staff?
- Can my team use my password within its 4-day period?
- Can I copy the Course and view it later?
- Can I login for only one Course at a time?
Seen Jon's book or talk?
- Does a Course cover everything on that topic in Jon's book?
- If you've read Jon's book, do you need these Courses?
- His full-day talk must surely cover all these online Courses?
What are the Courses like?
- Will I have to read lots of bullet points?
- Will I have to listen to a dull voiceover?
- Will I learn lots of new computer skills?
- Do Courses have lots of cheesy 'business' photos?
- Do I need to understand business-speak to do the Course?
- Are the Courses complex, pedantic or typical dumb advice?
- Will I be constantly waiting for screens to appear?
- If I've exited a Course, will I have to wait a long time to download it again when next logging in?
- Is there a test at the end?
- Will the handout be a copy of slides and a voiceover transcript?
And afterwards
- Do I need new computer skills to apply the Course learning?
- Will I struggle to implement the Course ideas quickly?
Do I have to do the Course in one sitting?
No. You can log in as many times within 4 days of first launching the Course.
Do I have to start all over again if I log out part why through?
No. When you next log in, use the menu in the Course to start again from wherever you wish.
Can I screen the Course at our Annual Conference?
Legally, no. Before you do a Course, you tick a box which says you agree not to do anything like this.
Can I circulate handouts to my staff?
Legally, no. Before you do a Course, you tick a box which says you agree not to do anything like this.
Can my team use my password within its 4 day period?
Legally, no. Before you do a Course, you tick a box which says you agree not to do anything like this.
Can I copy the Course and view it later?
No, copying is a serious breach of copyright and the licence agreement.
Can I login for only one Course at a time?
No, you can log in for as many Courses as you have passwords. You don't have to finish one Course before starting another.
Does a Course cover everything on that topic in Jon's book?
No. My book contains stuff that isn't relevant to everyone because it's easy for readers to skip bits if they wish. With an online Course, it is not as easy to skim and skip, so these Courses mostly limit themselves to core parts of the topic.
If you've read Jon's book, do you need these Courses?
Not unless you need a reminder of things or unless you want to learn about Decision Trees - its online Course will include much that is not in the book. For all other topics, nearly everything in the online Courses is in the book.
His full-day talk must surely cover all these online Courses?
No. Or - at least - it didn't. I developed lots of new ideas for the book and for these Courses, so if you attended my Course before October 2007, you won't have seen them. But let's not overstate things - you'd still have seen 75% of the content of these online Courses. If you want the other 25% - and a reminder of the other 75% - then sign in.
Will I have to read lots of bullet points?
No. There's very few bullet points in the Courses. These topics are perfect for on-line training because they are visual.
Will I have to listen to a dull voiceover?
No. You'll be listening to a fantastic voiceover done by one of the UK's top voiceover professionals, Gary Terzza - and we recorded him in a professional recording studio. Which means the voiceover sounds great! But don't take my word for it - each Course has a "try-before-you-buy" two-minute Taster, so click on it and have a listen.
Will I learn lots of new computer skills?
No. The Courses are about what you should do, not about how to do it on a computer.
Do Courses have lots of cheesy 'business' photos?
No. There are no arty photos of beautiful business people standing in front of a PowerPoint slide or earnestly staring at a computer. For great parodies of such photos, visit www.huhcorp.com.
Do I need to understand business-speak to do the Course?
No. I don't say that businesses must achieve clarity to survive in the 21st century, that it's the major challenge facing Boards today. I don't say clarity leads to huge profits and a unique sustainable competitive advantage. Rather, I show how to achieve clarity so you influence, inform and impress - and if that gets you a sustainable competitive advantage, I'm pleased for you.
Are the Courses complex, pedantic or typical dumb advice?
The Courses aren't technical nor complex. There is no glossary of terms nor complex mathematical or computing formulae.
The Courses aren't about pedantry. The 'Graphs' Course doesn't remind you to always label your axes, and the 'Tables' Course doesn't remind you to state the currency of your numbers. Such thoroughness is necessary but on its own doesn't achieve clarity and certainly justify an online Course.
The Courses avoid much of the dumb advice that is out there. Many places give seemingly informed rules, e.g. 'for pie charts, start with the biggest slice at 12 o'clock, then run clockwise in decreasing order'. Or they go for frippery and suggest 3-D exploding slices and swinging-in bullet points for your slides. Here, you instead get useful advice, e.g. I quickly tell you why bullet points often aren't that effective, then tell you what to do instead.
Will I be constantly waiting for screens to appear?
No, there's no download delay between screens. There will however be a delay when you first download the Course - Courses are typically 30 Mb in size, so, on an average domestic broadband connection, they will take between 15 and 25 minutes to download. During this time, you'll see a download progress bar so you can see how it's going.
If I've exited a Course, will I have to wait a long time to download it again when next logging in?
Hopefully not, assuming the Course has been "cached" on your computer when you first downloaded it. If it has been, there shouldn't be a delay when you next log in and reload the Course.
Is there a test at the end?
No. These aren't technical topics and don't merit end-of-Course tests.
Will the handout be a copy of slides and a voiceover transcript?
No. You will get a selection of the memorable and important ones. As for voiceovers, they don't make good transcripts.
Do I need new computer skills to apply the Course learning?
No. Most Course ideas are simple to do on a computer. Very occasionally, my voiceover flags if something needs a bit of computer trickery. The handout or web download then tells you the trickery.
Will I struggle to implement the Course ideas quickly?
Not if I can help it. Most ideas are simple to implement. And to help you further, quite a few Course examples are on this website. Download them, then adopt and adapt. The Course handouts tell you which examples are downloads.
