If you are looking for an interesting marketing promotion, check out the one by the Golden State Warriors during the playoffs.
They put shirts on the back of every seat in the arena for fans to wear. During the contest, the color shows a huge base of support and since they keep the shirts and presumably wear them afterwards it shows support around the town, too.
If you run a stadium, this is worth looking into.
Macular Degeneration is an age related deterioration of the retina resulting in loss of vision. There are a number of factors that contribute to developing it as one ages including gender, ethnicity, genetic predisposition, smoking and obesity. While the first three are not modifiable, the last two are. Maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking can dramatically reduce the risk of developing it.
There has been some research looking at nutritional supplements to delay the progression of the disease. Following a healthy diet and getting adequate micro nutrients may help to prolong eye health.
Eating foods with a higher glycemic index can increase the progression of the disease while a low glycemic index can delay it. Due to the oxygen content to the eye, consuming foods rich in anti-oxidants have been proposed to delay the progression. Consuming Omega-3 fatty acid functions to support overall eye health. The derivatives of fish oil (EPA and DHA) taken separately are also effective in protecting the eye from degeneration. Lutein has been found in the retina and high levels in the blood have been associated with a decreased rate of degeneration. Alpha and Beta-carotene were both found to be ineffective in delaying the process of macular degeneration.
Vitamin supplementation has been mixed; Vitamins A, E and C have been shown to both have and not have a positive effect on macular degeneration. Anti-oxidant supplementation appears to help. Patients that took a combination of beta-carotene, Vit E, Vit C, Zinc and Copper had a 34% decrease in progression compared to patients who took a placebo.
A combination of vitamins and minerals has shown positive effects, so using a multivitamin or eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and anti-oxidants is advised. In general, I am not a big fan of vitamin supplementation, unless there is a known deficiency. Given the current information regarding future eye health and the positive impact of a sound nutritional diet, it makes the most sense to not smoke, eat a variety of fruits, vegetables and fish and use a supplement if your diet is insufficiently meeting nutritional needs.
Schleicher, M., Weikel, K., Garber, C & Taylor, A. (2013). Diminishing risk for age related macular degeneration with nutrition: a current view. Nutrients, 5(7). 2405-2456
Athletes who tear their ACL and want to return to their sport usually opt for surgical reconstruction. This is primarily done with either using the patient’s patella tendon or hamstring tendon to graft a new ACL. After surgery, patient’s need to perform rehabilitation in order to regain their range of motion, strength and function. Some reviews have been performed that can help guide the rehab and return to sport process. Interestingly, even though there has been a lot of research performed on ACL’s in general, there is not a lot of information on return to sport criteria.
For rehabiliation, the following has been recommended:
1. Forgo the brace. Post operative bracing is not effective for improving pain, range of motion or preventing a potential re injury and is not necessary.
2. An accelerate rehab is safe for patients and they can begin early weight bearing exercise, range of motion from 0-90 degrees and close chain strengthening exercising. Adding in eccentric quad strengthening after 3 weeks was also beneficial in recovery.
3. Focus on strength and range of motion. Adding neuromuscular strengthening is somewhat helpful, but the focus for rehabilitation should be on improving strength and range of motion. Once this is restored, neuromuscular training can be helpful to relearn movement patterns.
4. Single leg cycling can be performed in order to maintain cardiovascular fitness.
Returning to sports?
1. Many athletes do not return to their previous level of sport participation, in fact, only 50% may return.
2. The decsion to return is multifactoral, but there is a general lack of evidence to determine the best testing criteria to signal return to play. In general, the decision to return is based on the following;
a. Higher quadricep strength
b. Less swelling
c. Less pain
d. Fewer episodes of instability
e. Low kinesiophobia (fear of moving)
f. Higher athletic confidence
g. Higher motivation
3. Part of the challenge is the psychological componenet of returning to sport. The fear of moving (kinesiophobia) may prevent some patients from returning. Patient’s that have more confidence have a greater chance of returning to their sport.
The current research shows plenty of gaps in following a standard program for rehabilitation and return to play, but patient’s and their providers can use what we do know to customize a plan.
Patient’s should start moving as tolerated shortly after surgery. They can walk as they are able and perform range of motion exercises and strengthening as tolerated progressing the intensity as they heal.
When their graft is healed and they have regained strength and motion they can add in neuromuscular training to improve movement patterns. This is also a good time to work on building up their confidnce in a controlled setting. Allowing them to get into a position can improve their confidence as the speed and force of the movement is increased.
Consistently working on the psychological aspect of rehab should not be ignored. Rehab is a chance to control the environment so that patient’s can gradually tolerate the load. As they improve, their rehab should adjust to mimic the functional tasks they will need to perform in life and on the field. Once they have reached their healing, they should re-integrate into their sport (once again in a controlled setting) and progressively increase their activity.
While there is a lot of flexibility in these guidelines, this can serve as a framework for the rehabilitation and reintegration process. Discussing the steps with the patients, their support groups and providers can help to get everyone on the same page and understand the steps required to resume their active lifestyle.
Czuppon, S., Racette, B., Klein, S. & Harris-Hayes, M. (2014). Variables associated with return to sport following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48 (5). 356-364.
Kruse, L., Gray, B. & Wright, R. (2012). Rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Journal of Bone Joint Surgery, 94 (19). 1737-1748.
The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports published a new consensus piece on training and competing in the heat that discusses practices for athletes, coaches, organizing bodies and event organizers.
The article makes it a point to say that the ‘most important intervention one can adopt to reduce physiological strain and optimize performance is to heat acclimatize.’ This is achieved through exercise in similarly hot climates to competition for 1-2 weeks, with more time necessary for less fit individuals. Exercise should be done for a minimum of 60 min to get proper acclimatization. It is not necessary for shorter duration activities to spend as much time training since their events are finished sooner. But, for longer duration activities in the heat, acclimatization is a must.
Prior to pre-season, athletes can work on adapting to the temperature by exercising on their own. This gives them the ability to go at their own pace in the weather they will be forced to exercise in once pre-season begins. The onus is on the athletes to take control of their fitness and lay the foundation prior to the season beginning.
In order to maintain thermoregulation, the body needs to have adequate hydration. Prior to exercise, the recommendation is to drink 6mL of water per kg of body mass every 2-3 hours as well as 2-3 hours prior to activity. Heavy sweaters can also supplement their hydration with salt to replenish sodium lost in sweat.
Once exercise is undertaken in the heat, time should be spent trying to cool off to prevent overheating. Different options are available and can be either internal via ingestible solutions or external. Internal strategies include drinking cold beverages and slushes while external involve cooling vests, fans or cold water immersion. A strategy that employs a combination of cooling mechanisms may be the most effective. It is important to note that these are for maintaining exercise and performance, but once an athlete shows signs of heat stroke the treatment is immediate cold water immersion and activation of the emergency response plan.
One of the potential risk factors for heat illness appears to be a recent viral infection that results in nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Individuals that have experienced those symptoms may not have enough time to recover and rehydrate and thus be in greater danger of having a heat related illness. Warnings should be included in racing materials that warn athletes not to participate if that is the case. Event organizers can also adjust the start times of events to avoid the hottest part of the day and to allow for longer cooling and rehydrating between innings, matches or sets. These proactive efforts can give athletes the opportunity to recover out of the sun and heat and minimize chances for illness.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sms.12467/full
New media, which includes social platforms, the internet and blogs, have changed the way that consumers access content. Understanding how they consume content is important for engagement and marketing to increase brand awareness.
73% of internet users actively engage on social media with the vast majority of the younger demographic being active. A research review on social media use was published in Sport Management Review and they describe three impacts that social media has: brands use social media strategically to build relationships with customers, brands seek to cultivate and sustain relationships operationally and users co-create content.
When brands use social media strategically they are seeking to engage with fans, communicate and develop relationships in order to build the brand. Brands use social media to promote the sport, rather than market promotions. By engaging in conversations with fans, brands can generate more ‘likes’ and increase users. Twitter can be used as a tool to disseminate information and promote messages and different platforms have different values: twitter is used for real time information and facebook enriches the consumer experience. While the platforms may differ, the use is to create relationships with users.
Opportunities and challenges exist through strategic social media use. The opportunities are enhanced knowledge of consumers, advanced interaction, effective engagement, and efficient use of resources. The challenges include lack of control, concerns about credibility, concerns of effectiveness, difficulties identifying true consumers and allocating organizational resources. I have written previously that activity on social media is expected among users, but may not transfer into direct revenue.
Operational use of social media consists of how brands utilize differing platforms on a day to day basis. Athletes posting about their personal lives allow fans to connect with the person behind the player and leads to more engagement. Brands engage their fans by offering behind the scenes looks into the daily routine of the players and staff. Social media use allows for a personal connection between the brand and the fan.
Users of social media vary depending on the brand. NCAA users are predominantly male, educated, affluent and older. Younger fans of the NCAA used facebook and youtube to connect and that twitter is not heavily used by college sport fans. Fans use social media to gather information regarding their favorite teams, players and organizations. There are gender differences in fan consumption based on the sport with women more likely to pay more attention to informational, commercial and social functions of the team’s social media. Fans are also more likely to follow those teams and programs that are more successful.
This article leaves us with some increased knowledge regarding social media use and allow brands to use these platforms more effectively. Strategic use allows the brand to communicate with fans, build relationships and promote activities. Operational use of social media by brands shows that they use social platforms to interact daily with fans, share behind the scenes footage, share news and information and promote the brand. Users of social media tend to be younger, educated and more male than female. Information that they are interested tends to be gathering information, entertainment and connecting with other fans. These conclusions are useful when evaluating your social media presence and content development.
Filo, K., Lock, D & Karg, A. Sport and social media research: a review. Sport Management Review (18) 2015. 166-181
Working in the health and wellness field, I have been exposed to evidence based decision making. This is the concept of basing decisions on well controlled research studies that seek to identify the best practices. Now, there is information that this can be applied to other fields, including management. Pfeiffer and Sutton have written articles and books on Evidence-based management that take the concepts of evidence based medicine and apply them to management.
The general concept remains the same, base decisions on research. However, as they note, this is not as easy as it sounds. In order to ascertain how useful the research is, it has be read, understood and examined. Conclusions of a study may not be applicable to all fields. The reader needs to know their field and evaluate how accurately the research represents their field and individual needs. It is a start, and a very good one, for researching prior to making decisions.
Decision making has historically been done in flawed manners; using past, outdated information, relying on vendors, placing higher trust in known entities and mimicking high performers. This way of making decisions may be neglecting current concepts and scientifically backed conclusions. So, the question remains, how can we alter this?
We can start by being curious and open to new ways of doing things. Instead of adopting a new approach because it was presented, seek to know more. How will it be done? Who has done it before? Will it fit our current structure and culture? If the answer is yes, then pilot it. Evaluate the new strategy against the existing one to see if it is better. Continue to do this process with new ideas to determine what the best way of doing something is. Try new programs and seek to do things better. Learn from others. There is a plethora of research available, read it. Search online journals (open access does not involve a subscription fee) to learn what researchers have discovered on various topics including human resource management, staffing, compensation structure, evaluations, etc. If the information is out there, try to get a hold of it. Then read it and see if the conclusions match what you are currently doing. If not, is there a way to try it? Will it fit your organization?
Research looks to minimize the variables in order to determine a cause and effect relationship. In reality, things work in many more complex ways. Research is a great starting point for learning what is already known then piloting a program to incorporate that information can be done to see how it interacts in your own processes.
There is not a one way works best. But, rather than faltering and foundering, constantly seek to know more. Being curious, reading and discussing with others, can improve your ability to make sound decisions. Decisions based on best practices can help you get to the top and stay there.
Pfeffer, J & Sutton, R. Evidence-based management. Harvard Business Review. On Point Article. January 2006.
I have a broad set of interests, and one of those interests is financial management. I recently (re)read The CFA Institute Text Wealth Management and learned a few new things.
1. Wealth management is not synonymous with wealth growth. Building wealth involves taking risks and having an end goal of increasing monetary value. Wealth management is building a portfolio that focuses on real world returns after taxes. It is about managing money in a way that leads to maintaining quality of life in retirement.
2. In order to achieve this objective, wealth management focuses on optimized asset allocation and modern portfolio theory. This theory stipulates that clients want maximum returns for the lowest level of risk on the efficient frontier. The Optimizer used will determine what that allocation is across the different asset classes (domestic and international stocks and bonds of different company sizes, growth vs. value stocks, real estate, etc)
3. Developing a strategy takes time and the cornerstone is understanding the client and their needs. There is not a one size fits all strategy and each person has unique risk tolerances that need to be considered.
4. Have a 5 year plan of cash flows in a safe haven. This allows clients to sleep at night and provides the cash necessary to meet short term goals without being worried about what the market is doing. A dip in the market will not affect this cash.
5. Markets will go up and down, plan accordingly. Being diversified will decrease the overall exposure, but when the market is down the portfolio is affected.
6. Having diversification can be achieved with relatively few stocks. 10-12 stocks in different sectors and classes can actually diversify the entire portfolio. The weightings of these stocks make a difference, though.
7. The choice to use active or passive funds is not an easy one. Research has not definitively closed the argument on what is better. When deciding, factor in manager success, asset turnover, and fees. If the fees and the risk the manager take do not offset the alpha in the actively managed fund, stick with passive.
8. Along this line, there is no rule that the advisor cannot use both. The strategy can, and often should, have money in different tax efficient accounts, different classes and different funds. Having a core asset allocation can be augmented with smaller satellite funds to target specific sectors to enhance growth.
9. Growth and value funds change in their success over time. Value has greater upside potential over the long term, but both can be used in the construction of a portfolio.
10. One of the real risks that needs consideration is that clients will outlive their portfolio. The past rule of thumb is that clients decrease their spending as they age, but that may no longer be the case. Many clients are living longer and have need of more money well into their retirement to enjoy travel, trips and the pursuit of the hobbies.
11. The other rule of thumb that the older the client is the less they should have in stocks means that they are losing the potential to make money through capital gains. Optimizing the portfolio should include stocks in order for clients to maintain their standard of living. Many bonds are not delivering enough return to fund retirement and clients need exposure to the market for additional capital requirements.
Reading this text helps to understand the process of wealth management, and to a smaller extent, wealth accumulation. Knowing how advisors make decisions helps understand the process so that when you deal with your own finances, you are more informed. Wealth advisors should be chosen who understand the principles and work for their clients, not themselves.
