When Mintel Americas President Ben Dietz prepares a sales pitch deck for customers today, he knows he has about five slides to get his message across. Any longer than that, and hes lost the buyers attention and their business.

Its an adjustment Dietz has had to make as more buyers work from home due to COVID-19, and the patience for a lengthy virtual presentation has dwindled.

But the days oflengthy, detailed pitch decks have long been over, he said. The pandemic has simply accelerated the trend.

All we want is a next step out of that conversation.

Most companies incorporate four or five stakeholders before making a purchasing decision. The goal is to elicit a fear of missing out for the customer and set the stage for another meeting.

All we want is a next step out of that conversation, Dietz said. We want that person to agree theres something here, lets bring in a bigger group meeting.

An effective pitch deck today should still include visuals, key data points and customer use cases, but it should serve primarily as a backdrop to the salespersons pitch.

We spoke with Dietz, Duarte Director of Sales Strategy Dave DeFranco and BurstIQ CEO and Founder Frank Ricotta about how to build an effective sales pitch deck tailored to earn that next meeting.

Every effective sales pitch deck starts from a solid foundation of customer research. It doesnt matter how crisp the slides look or how evocative the brand story is the customers eyes will glaze over if the slides arent immediately relevant to them and their needs.

All of that context that you might have about who they are and the reason for your meeting should be the genesis of how you look at your sales presentation, DeFranco said.

As director of sales strategy at Duarte, DeFranco consults with clients to help them craft their messaging and figure out how to present it.

In order to start building a pitch deck, a salesperson needs to be able to answer a few basic questions about the customer, he said. They should understand the companys mission, who its core competitors are, what issues it is facing in the industry and what issues are most relevant to the point of contact.

All of that context that you might have about who they are and the reason for your meeting should be the genesis of how you look at your sales presentation.

They can gather that information from the company website, blogs and any thought leadership the point of contact may have participated in.

Its also important to take the context of the meeting into account. Does the customer have an existing relationship with you? Are they looking to buy or just gather information?

The answers to all of those questions help ensure that the presentation gets right to the heart of the customers issue and makes the case for why the product is relevant to them. Even if a company uses a main pitch deck, customer research can inform what use-cases to include, what slides are irrelevant and even what story to tell in the pitch.

Building a sales pitch deck is like structuring a story with the customer as its protagonist. Each slide should build off what came before to help a customer learn more about the product and why they would want it.

When outlining a presentation, DeFranco said, the best place to start is with an objective slide that clearly states the outcome you want from the presentation, whether thats another meeting or a technical evaluation.

If you put that up front, youll know whether the audience or buyer is aligned with that being the next step, DeFranco said.

From there, the early slides should focus on the customer, not your company or product. Often, salespeople make the mistake of trying to build credibility through their companies valuations or product strategies, DeFranco said. Since buyers conduct most of their research online and already have that information, doing so will only cause them to tune out.

The slides should present specific challenges the customer has spoken about in discovery. That sets the stage to discuss how the product approaches those problems, why it can solve it better than competitors and then proof points that tie the value of the product with the results the customer desires.

The last slide should be reserved for a return to the call to action and next steps. By structuring the presentation that way, the salesperson takes the buyer on a journey relevant to them and theres a clear decision to follow.

More on SalesHow Successful Startups Avoid Selling to People Who Arent Buying

When it comes to length, a helpful rule of thumb is to prioritize simplicity over anything else.

The biggest mistake DeFranco sees salespeople make is to try to cram 100 slides worth of information into 10 slides because thats how long they think a sales pitch deck should be. For all he cares, a pitch deck can be 100 slides as long as each one isnt crammed with information.

You dont have the time and luxury to create a real detailed pitch deck.

Ricotta, whos the CEO and founder of the blockchain-enabled health data platform BurstIQ, agrees that the slides need to be simple, but he suggests aiming for no more than eight to 12 slides. The pitch deck needs to be the purest distillation of the salespersons pitch.

Its getting down to:What problem are you solving? Whats the impact on their business? Whats your secret? Why should they pick you? And are you a credible team? Ricotta said. You should be able to convey those messages in eight to 12 slides.

For virtual pitches, Dietz suggests limiting the presentation to five slides and spending no more than a minute or two on each one.

You dont have the time and luxury to create a real detailed pitch deck, Dietz said. Its: What do you know about me? Then, in a few minutes, Im out.

Building on the theme of simplicity, DeFranco believes sales reps should include no more than one idea per slide.

When theres too much information on a slide, it takes the attention away from the salesperson and puts the focus on the presentation. Instead, the visuals and information should operate more like a backdrop and a supplement to the conversation.

Still, it can be difficult to figure out what information to include and what to exclude from a slide. After all, Mark Twain is famous for his quote suggesting that he could write a 30-page story in three days, but a three-page story would take him a month.

To that end, Dietz encourages reps to think about what information they want to discuss in a slide and distilling it down to a three- to five-word headline. This helps to convey the theme and allows the rep to drive the points home in conversation.

Ultimately, the slide shouldnt stand on its own, Dietz said. If a customer would prefer to just read the slides, odds are, they arent interested in a deal.

When Ricotta builds his slides, he skews toward more abstract visuals and text than detailed flow charts or bulleted lists. As a blockchain company, BurstIQs message is focused on creating connections with information and how that can change business processes in medical care.

To tell that story, he might use an icon of a doctor, a hospital, an exercise bike and a lab that are all connected. In keeping the visuals abstract, it allows the customer to project themselves into that situation, and for Ricotta to ask questions and adapt the story hes telling based on what resonates most with the customer.

The purpose of a slide is to engage the person youre pitching to in conversation.

When slides are too detailed and specific, theres less flexibility to have a conversation and engage with the customer.

The purpose of a slide is to engage the person youre pitching to in conversation, Ricotta said. You want to get them talking more, to the point where youre listening more than youre actually talking.

Most buyers dont care about company stories or customer logos anymore, Dietz said. Spending time on a logo slide even onethat features major names like, Microsoft, IBM or Slack wont do much to convince a smaller company that youre the right product for them.

Instead, the best way a salesperson can build credibility through customer use-cases is to be hyper-specific about which ones they include. If the rep is selling to a local bank in Cincinnati, they should have examples of how the company has helped their competitors or other firms in the area, Dietz said.

Ultimately, those examples help the customer relate to the solution they are being sold, and it signals that the seller has done their homework on the customer. Thats what builds credibility, Dietz said.

Sometimes the best way to convey information about the product or service is through a complicated flow chart. However, presenting all of that information at once on a slide is a quick way to lose the customer.

One of the easiest ways to make the chart engaging and simple to navigate is to show one section of the chart at a time, DeFranco said. The salesperson can do this all on one slide. All they need to do is format each section to appear and then either gray out or fade away when theyre ready to discuss the next section.

In doing so, the rep can methodically walk the customer through the flow chart so that they understand what it represents when they see the full scale.

This strategy can also work with data and text. Bar graphs can be an effective way to present information, but its still on the rep to visually highlight the information they want the buyer to focus on.

For text, Ricotta likes to bold key words he wants the customer to home in on. Its a simple trick, but it can help him get his message across without requiring the buyer to read all of the information on the slide.

The first image Dietz uses in his sales presentation is a boat sailing straight ahead under clear skies. The next slide features that same ship enveloped in fog, lost at sea and uncertain where to go. The final image is that of a beacon. The high-resolution visuals often take up most of the screen.

Dietz admits that its a cheesy analogy, but those photos help him evoke an emotion in the customer and hammer home his point. The point in this case is that the world is changing every day due to COVID-19, but that Mintel and its data can serve as a beacon or guide for the customer.

The images allow us to bring someone through a story with us, Dietz said.

A company doesnt need a marketing team or a deep marketing budget to put together engaging visuals, either. Free photography and illustrations from websites like Unsplash are just as effective as anything the marketing team might provide, Dietz said.

As long as the visuals evoke an emotion and tell a story, they will work, he added.

When Ricotta built his earliest sales pitch decks for BurstIQ in 2015, he included slides that shared his personal story about healthcare data and a detailed explanation of what blockchain was.

At the time, blockchain was new to the healthcare industry, and most prospective customers didnt understand what it involved. They needed a personal story and a detailed explanation to understand the product he was selling. That information would be redundant in his slides today, Ricotta said.

His buyers now know what blockchain is, and he has other customer use-cases to rely on that are more effective in building credibility, he said.

A pitch deck is far from a static resource. It needs to evolve with the company and its customer base, Ricotta said. While the deck should be continuously tweaked to reflect feedback from customers, there are a few benchmarks that a sales leader should consider when revamping the pitch deck.

In the early stages, the deck should spend more time selling the vision of the company. The slides will be more consultative and evolve with each customer. After the company gains some customers, the sales leader will update the deck to shape and adapt the messaging to the customer base.

The sales leader should continue to tweak and adapt the core slides until they get into a groove and sell more consistently. At that point, the company is in a growth stage and should have a deck of core slides that it can repeat with each customer.

For larger teams, it may be helpful to use a main deck to create a unified sales approach. Still, that doesnt mean the salesperson should use the same slides for every customer DeFranco said. For reps with less room to build their own presentations, DeFranco suggests creating custom decks that are arranged to meet the needs of their most common buyer personas.

Using the 80-20 rule, a rep should be able to figure out who the majority of their buyers are and create preset presentations. If they spend 80 percent of their time selling to pharmaceutical companies and CIOs, then the salesperson shouldrearrange the slides so that it meets their needs.

If [a sales rep] could just take the time to do that, I think theyd be much more satisfied with the outcome, DeFranco said. Because the closer you get to the audience, the easier its going to be to move them to act.

More on SalesBest Open-Ended Questions to Ask on Sales Calls

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While the district had been working hard to plan for in-person learning for every student, the decision in August to follow a hybrid model may be providing the school with more space to spread out and socially distance. Under the hybrid model, students from seventh grade and up will attend classes virtually. Students in grades K-6 will attend school in person every day.

Virtual classes will see those older students following a regular class schedule and watching their teachers give lessons while livestreaming, so they'll be able to answer and ask questions much like in a real classroom. The difference is, while doing classroom work, students don't necessarily need to be planted in front of their computer.

The hybrid system will allow the school district to open up space on buses to allow for social distancing.

In-person classrooms for students in grades K-6 will also follow social distancing, which requires those students to be divided into smaller classrooms. To make this a reality, it was all hands on deck for teachers who usually would tackle classes of a different sort.

Because some physical education, music and STEAM classes are being put off this year, those teachers are being asked to help teach general education classes. The start of the school year will have its challenges, but Superintendent Jon Clark believes the district is in a good position to start the semester.

"We're so lucky we have the support we have here," Clark said. "Talking with other superintendents and listening to networks and stuff I know there's a lot of places that are really struggling. We have our struggles, but I think we have a pretty good vision of where we want to go."

Parents who do not feel comfortable with in-person classes have the option of having their children participate in distance learning. The district learned from its distance learning experience during spring semester and plans to offer a better, more consistent experience. Some parents have opted to start home schooling.

"We have seven students - five families - that have opted for the home schooling option," Clark said. "For distance learning, I don't know the exact number because it keeps changing. We had a lot of families that first decided to distance learn, but as they learned about the options and how we're doing things, they decided to come back to us for in-person learning."

During the Aug. 17 school board meeting, the number of students opting to distance learn was approximately 50. Since then Clark and the school district have worked hard to educate parents on the how the district will operate this fall. That has given some confidence for young students to return.

In addition to buses and classrooms, dining will also be a different experience. Students who are present in K-6 classrooms will eat at their desks rather than crowding into the cafeteria. In addition, the district will continue to offer lunch shipments for students who are taking classes from home.

Students in grades 7-12 who need to meet with their teachers for any reason will have the option of making an appointment to come to school on Fridays. There will not be enough time slots for all students to come to school every Friday, but the district is working on a system to make it work for students.

For those students, the district is working on bus routes that will allow them to come in in the morning and leave before the end of the school day, possibly in conjunction with lunch deliveries.

Some students identified by the school's leadership will also qualify for in-person high school classes.

Travis Grimler may be reached at 218-855-5853 or travis.grimler@pineandlakes.com. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/@PEJ_Travis.

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It's all hands on deck for start of classes at PR-B - Pine and Lakes Echo Journal

The first place Chicago Cubs and Anthony Rizzo will visit the St. Louis Cardinals and Paul Goldschmidt back-to-back nights on ESPN. The teams will face of on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Taco Bell this Sunday, September 6, at 7 p.m. ET, and on Holiday Baseball Presented by Hankook Tire this Monday, Labor Day, at 4 p.m. The classic rivalry will also be the MLB game of the day on ESPN+ on Friday, September 4, at 8 p.m.

The Sunday Night Baseball team of Matt Vasgersian, World Series Champion and analyst Alex Rodriguez and reporter Buster Olney will provide commentary for both telecasts on ESPN. Sunday Night Baseball is ESPNs exclusive, full national game of the week. Mondays game is subject to local blackout restrictions in the Chicago market.

Jon Boog Sciambi and Chris Singleton will describe Sundays action on ESPN Radio. Ernesto Jerez, Luis Alfredo Alvarezand reporter Guillermo Celis callSunday Night BaseballonESPN Deportes.

Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown will precede Sunday Night Baseball beginning at 6 p.m. on ESPN. Karl Ravech will host the show from ESPNs Bristol, Conn. studios alongside World Series Champion and analyst Mark Teixeira as they break down the storylines of the week and preview the game ahead. They will be joined remotely by analyst Tim Kurkjian, Senior MLB Insider Jeff Passan and Olympic Gold Medalist and analyst Jessica Mendoza. During the show, Mendoza will catch up with Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty, who will discuss his involvement in the ongoing social justice movement.

BBTN Live, ESPNs digital pregame show, will stream on theESPN AppandESPNsTwitter from 6:30-7 p.m.Clinton Yates hosts with Joon Lee and Gary Striewski.

Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., the first place Cleveland Indians and Francisco Lindor host the Milwaukee Brewers and Christian Yelich on ESPN2. Ravech, Eduardo Perez and Rick Sutcliffe will call the game, which will be subject to local blackout restrictions in the Milwaukee and Cleveland markets.

AllESPNMLB games, shows and content are also available to stream via theESPN App.

Upcoming 2020 MLB Game Schedule:

ESPN Radio: Jon Boog Sciambi, Chris Singleton

ESPN Deportes: Ernesto Jerez, Luis Alfredo Alvarez, Guillermo Celis

*Blackout restrictions apply to local market

Upcoming MLB on ESPN+ Schedule:

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On Deck: First Place Chicago Cubs Host St. Louis Cardinals on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Taco Bell and Labor Day Edition of Holiday...

Below Deck is unequivocally the best thing on Netflix right now, and if you dont agree with me you need to seriously reevaluate your life. But while youre watching the show have you ever caught yourself wondering how the shows filmed, and what the production secrets of Below Deck are?

The show may be packed to the brim with drama, but its literally all happening on a boat. The cast of Below Deck have given us loads of the shows production secrets in interviews and on their social media, answering all our burning questions: Are the crew even real stewards? How is Below Deck filmed if theyre all crammed in the boat? Is Captain Lee actually in charge???

The cast are obviously actual stewards who are working on the yacht, and have to work hard. Kate, who joined Below Deck in season two, tweeted saying the crew work on the boat for 16+ hours a day. She also said Below Deck is one of the most difficult shows out there for cast members.

Kate obviously likes giving us Below Deck production secrets: She tweeted saying every night after their shift, crew would get into our tiny bunk and have to wave to the camera so theyd turn our lights off. She included a video of her in her yacht bunk, waving to the camera to get it to turn off.

While filming, cast members arent allowed to interact with the production team and cameramen, or even acknowledge their presence.

The stewards arent hired by the charter company, but by the shows producers. Before being cast, crew members have to show they are all licensed and certified.

Captain Lee told Reality Blurred this involves a two-week course. He said: Each of the crew members has to have an STCW, which is a standard set by the maritime industry for watch-keeping and just being on boardits basic first aid, firefighting. Its a two-week course and a certification they have to have before theyre allowed to work on yachts.

Even though the production company hires the yacht crew, Captain Lees still in charge and can fire anyone at any time, as is shown in the series.

The captains also in charge in terms of the actual boat, where they dock and when they sail, depending on the weather. For example, the boat cant sail in high winds, and even though its annoying they cant leave the dock, production cant influence the captains decision about this at all.

The form to apply to work as a steward on Below Deck is online!! You have to give them your details, experience and upload a short video to show your personality. But there are some rules beyond just being licensed: You must be over the age of 21, have a passport and any necessary visas. You also have to sign a contract, a waiver and release form for being on TV, and go through a background check.

Crew are filmed 24/7 while theyre working on the boat. Theres a camera crew on board, as well as hidden cameras around the boat including in their cabins. The bathroom is the only place on board without cameras, so the only place cast can get privacy. However, if more than one crew member is in the bathroom at once, the cameramen are allowed to follow them in.

Each season is made up of six weeks worth of footage, obviously filmed constantly during that time. The cast have to make sure theres enough drama in these six weeks to fill a season, because the production cant be extended beyond the six weeks, due to the expense of chartering the yacht.

The cast get three days off in the six weeks of filming. On those days, theyre given their own hotel rooms and told not to communicate with each other, so storylines dont change while theyre not being filmed.

Below Deck season five cast member Malia posted the contract to her Instagram. It says stewards can be drug tested at the discretion of the Company, and also says they have to disclose their prescribed medications before filming begins.

As we see in Below Deck, one of the key rules for all crew members is to not drink while theyre on charter. Malia wrote on Instagram this is part of Maritime law. She said: We as crew have to be ready at ALL times to fight a fire, rescue a man overboard, deploy life rafts, launch rescue tenders, administer aid, etc. because we may be a long way from help and be each others only chance for survival. Meaning when we are at seaeveryone must be sober.

The charter company pays each cast member a base salary, that changes depending on their role and the size of the boat. Cast are also paid an appearance fee by production. On top of this, they obviously get tips from the guests.

According to Refinery29, yacht crew members who dont live in one country for more than six months at a time have a tax-free income.

One of the chefs main jobs is cooking food for the crew, not just the guests. All food is provided to crew by the boat.

As well as being paid by two different companies, getting tips and not paying tax, the crews cost of living is covered. While filming the season, cast dont have to pay any bills or expenses for living on the yacht.

A key part of the show is the cast interviews, where clips of whats happening on the yacht are played alongside members of the cast talking about whats happening in the show. These interviews are all filmed at once, right at the end of each charter.

According to Distractify, the yachts featured on the show are worth around $15 to $20 million. The most expensive Below Deck yacht was the one featured on Below Deck Mediterranean season six, which has a weekly rental cost starting at $300,000. The guests would then also pay a tip on top of this.

Guests spend their actual money to be on the boat, and whatever they tip is completely paid for by them. Below Deck producer Mark Cronin told BravoTV: They spend their real money to be on the show. And then the tip they leave, they decide what it is.

However, guests featured on the show are given a 50 per cent discount, and their airfare is covered by production, too.

Two seasons of Below Deck are available on Netflix now.For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memeslike The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

Below Deck: We asked real luxury yacht stewardesses how accurate the show really is

Where are the crew of Below Deck Season 1 now?

I hate to break it to you, but theres a lot of evidence Selling Sunset is staged

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Doomed romances are a dime a dozen on reality T.V., and judging by the status of some of our couples on deck, the fifth season of Below Deck Mediterranean is no different. But this season, were also turning our attention to a romance that currently teeters on will they or wont they territory between chief stew Bugsy Drake and lead deckhand Alex Radcliffe.

From the minute Bugsy stepped aboard the Wellington as the original replacement second stew, Alex seemed especially into the South African (her eyes and teeth, apparently). And thanks to a recent preview for an upcoming episode, it appears there are, indeed, sparks between the two. While the status of other couples on the boat seems unclear, its leaving fans curious about the status of our two possible lovebirds.

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Since the season's still airing, we can't know for sure where their romance is headedbut we do have some ideas. For one, they're both actively posting on social media from opposite sides of the world, which leads us to believe that basic geographic distance made their relationship impossible. Still, on Instagram, they're both commenting on one another's photos (so at least we can say things didn't end all that badly).

Among the personal photos with friends and family, Alex's got quite a few flirty pics with the chief stew, the latest one from July 27. I think its time @bugsydrake and I start our own fashion line, he joked in his Instagram caption. But Im just hoping I can get Bugsy to start liking me already on tonights episode of #belowdeckmed on @bravotv.

While it doesnt necessarily mean anything other than a flirty quip, it could mean hes still holding a tiny flame for her post-Below Deck Med. And if theres any couple the fans would love to see make it through to the end of the season, its these two.

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Written by Sandeep Singh, Sunny Verma | New Delhi | Updated: September 4, 2020 7:46:18 amThis activity is expected to move to Gift City with the Finance Ministry last week relaxing Rule 9 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that deals with Know Your Customer compliance and client due diligence. (File photo)

In a move that could catalyse a significant scale-up in financial services in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift City), the government has eased regulatory norms to a proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will bring onshore trading activity on SGX NIFTY, a derivative of the NSEs NIFTY index traded officially on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

The SPV is between Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) and NSE IFSC the international exchange of NSE. Currently, several overseas investors trade in security contracts at the SGX with the underlying NSEs NIFTY 50 index.

This activity is expected to move to Gift City with the Finance Ministry last week relaxing Rule 9 (2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that deals with Know Your Customer compliance and client due diligence.

Under this, KYC and due diligence will be subject to applicable laws in Singapore and when such details are required by the Indian regulator or investigative agencies here, these will be provided by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This will help faster on-boarding of overseas clients who currently trade NIFTY contracts at SGX.

Since liquidity in a stock exchange is a key driver for the financial services ecosystem, once SGX starts routing the liquidity in SGX Nifty from Singapore to Gift City, it is expected to attract international banks, brokerages, investment firms, mutual funds and insurance companies among others to set up their operations and develop Gift into a vibrant international financial centre.

In August 2019, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and MAS approved the proposed structure for the SPV. The two exchanges, NSE IFSC and SGX, were waiting for this PMLA-related approval from the Department of Revenue.

While an NSE spokesperson declined to comment, sources said that with the final clearance through, NSE IFSC-SGX should be able to move Nifty liquidity in Singapore to Gift City by middle of next year.

SEBI and MAS are signatories to the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) multilateral memorandum of understanding by which both can share KYC-related information with each other.

Market participants say that once operations move, international banks, brokerages and investment firms will start setting up their operations in Gift City and develop it into a vibrant international financial centre. This initial liquidity kicker is a great move to get all international banking liquidity in one shot, said a market participant.

The benefit of the SPV structure is that orders of international markets would get routed to Gift City. For major global investors who tend to work with a set of international brokerages who take them to various markets this makes it easier to come through an existing set-up and trade in Gift City.

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With every drama-filled season of Below Deck Mediterranean, viewers can always expect a hot and steamy boatmance to come from it. This season, fans were not disappointed when third stew Jessica More and deckhand Robert Westergaard fell for each other early on, and since their initial kiss, their relationship has been going quite fast (even for Below Deck standards).

It was clear from the get-go how attracted the two were to each other, given how Jess outgoing personality was the yin to Robs quiet, soft-spoken yang. While the two flirted and had a few makeout sessions on-camera, viewers quickly found out that Rob was casually seeing someone at home, making Jess nervous for what would happen between them.

I really like him, Jess told then-chief stew Hannah about the predicament and where she stood with him while aboard The Wellington. I dont need another broken heart.

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After Rob confirmed (in front of the entire crew, no less) that he was indeed single, the two immediately coupled up, moved into the same cabin, and later made promises to travel to Bali together after the charter season concluded. Rob even professed his love to the third stew. Unfortunately, it looks like the relationship might not be all smooth sailing.

Sorry to tell you, folks, but Jess and Rob are no longer together. While fans of the series will see the demise of their relationship play out on TV, the twosome confirmed their boatmance fizzled out once they reached land.

The last time either of the two showed signs of a romance happening was from a photo Jess posted to her Instagram back in October 2019. Given the photos location, chances are she posted it while filming, back when they were an item.

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We dont really communicate, Jess told In Touch Weekly about the current status of their relationship. He has a really good heart, you know, down in there somewhere. I wish him the best of luck, but I dont think well really be communicating in the future.

In a July interview with People, when asked if he was on good terms with Jessica, Rob described it as a "grey area." Looks like we can safely put yet another Below Deck relationship to bed.

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CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) --Another holiday weekend is upon us and the Chicago Police Department saidit will be "all-hands-on-deck" as it prepares for whatever arises, whether it be violence, civil unrest or looting.

Last year over the Labor Day weekend, 41 people were shot,seven killed, and this year, police are also dealing with the potential threat of looting.

"Labor Day celebrates the hard work of individuals across this country and the city of Chicago was built on organized labor. Hard work is in our DNA. No one works harder than the brave men and women of the Chicago Police Department, who have taken over 7,000 guns off the streets of Chicago this year," Chicago Police Superintendent DavidBrown said.

The Chicago Police Department has cancelled regular days off for the holiday weekend and officers are working 12-hour shifts.

"At the same time...we are also coordinating with other city services, we are executing the Mayor's five-point protection plan in not only our retail corridors, but also in our downtown retail as well; so we have an all-hands-on-deck approach to protecting our city. And I encourage everyone to relax this weekend, and have a comfortable and safe Labor Day," Brown said. "Meanwhile, Chicago PD will be protecting you, while you enjoy the holiday weekend."

RELATED:Supt. Brown Asks Media To Share More Positive CPD Stories

Brown said retail corridors are getting special attention, which includes the use of barricades.

"...It makes some of our streets in our downtown area more pedestrian, less vehicular. If you recall, caravanning of cars to looting was a significant challenge a few weeks back. This helps us not only protect our downtown from a barrier feature standpoint, as a component - if you don't have to have an officer standing at a post, but we also not only patrolling in our neighborhoods and all of our retail corridors...we are using our departments, our water, streets and san, all their vehicles help us create the same kind of barricades for ingress and egress to those corridors, so we can protect it, if we get any kinds of looting," he said.

Also, Supt. Brown said they are monitoring social media for signs of organized looting.

"In addition to that, we are also monitoring open-source social media for any signs of anyone trying to encourage people to loot. It's like reading the paper. Social media is not an invasive thing. There is no expectation of privacy on open-source social media. It's no different than reading the paper or watching the news to see if there are any clues of anyone trying to organize any kind of looting throughout our city anywhere," he said.

For now, he said, the downtown bridges are not being lifted.

"That is a feature that we would like to keep in our hip pocket if we have to, if we get any type of intelligence, but right now we don't have any intelligence lead us to believe there is any planned looting or any type of civil unrest being planned. But again, we hope for the best, but we plan, obviously, for anything that might go awry," he said.

Bridges have been raised in the past to restrict the movement of people.

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'We Have An All-Hands-On Deck Approach': Supt. Brown Says CPD Is Prepared For Whatever The Labor Day Weekend Brings - WBBM NewsRadio

Despite the crowds jubilation in Bamako, the arrest of President Ibrahim B. Keita, Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, the minister of finance, the president of the National Assembly,and other government officials seems unlikely to result in fundamental change. An estimated half of Mali's population lives in severe poverty, ethnic divisions are chronically unaddressed, and Islamist jihadisroam much of the northern half of the country. Those realities are unlikely to change as a result of a coup. Subsequent to their success, the coup makers are justifying themselves by citing the corruption, nepotism, and all-around bad governance of the Keita regime.

Initial media accounts tied the coup to popular discontent spearheaded by civil society and a charismatic imam and linked it to fall-out from corrupt elections earlier in the year. But, rather than a popular revolution, this coup appears to have been carried out by five colonels, calling themselves the National Commission for the Peoples Salvation. This entity is led by Gen. Cheick Fanta Mady Dembele, whom some local commentators see as the real leader of the coup, though he remains in the background. The coup makers likely have the support of the broad political class, based in Bamako, dissatisfied by the Keita government's response to popular unrest. The military and the political class, based on past performance, is uninterested in the fundamental social and political change that would be necessary to address the country's dysfunction.

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Once falsely viewed by Western commentators and policy makers as the poster child of African democracy and good governance, Mali's current descent into unending crisis is usually dated from the 2012 military unrest and Tuareg efforts to establish a separate stateAzawad. (Tuareg separatism reflects unresolved ethnic differences dating from French colonial times.) Then, radical jihadiscaptured the Tuareg separatist movement and were soon seen as threatening the destruction of the Bamako government. French intervention forestalled that outcome. Since then, the Malian and French militaries, African regional forces, and a UN military presence has failed to defeat the Islamists, and security has continued to deteriorate. (The United States has provided significant financial support to the anti-jihadieffort and provides logistical and other support to French forces.) Insofar as this latest coup highlights the dysfunction of the Malian state, it will likely benefit the jihadisthat have been expanding their area of operation in the wider region.

Thus far, international reaction to this latest coup has been hand-wringing.The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has denounced it and called for sanctions. The French and American governments have issued statements condemning the coup. The UN Security Council is expected to discuss it and will likely denounce it.

France has the largest modern military force in West Africa, with some 5,000 personnel. Successive Paris governments have viewed the Sahel as the "near abroad" and of vital national interest. But, French military intervention in the past has been denounced as "neo-colonial;" some local commentators are suggesting that Gen. Dembele is staying in the background because of fear of the perception that he is backed by France. The Macron government is saying that France will remain engaged in Mali, but for how long and under what circumstances remains to be seen. The French public appears increasingly fatigued by the seemingly never-ending fighting in the Sahel, "our Afghanistan." It is also unclear what the restoration of the Keita regime or new and likely flawed elections could accomplish. Nevertheless, a possible, perhaps likely, outcome will be a dealamong the military and the political class that leads to new elections and another "rearrangement of the deck chairs on theTitanic."The coup makers have already announced that they will establish a "civilian" government to carry out new elections.

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Mali Coup: "Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic" - Council on Foreign Relations

Magic: The Gathering has plenty of well-established decks and strategies, but there's fun to be had in creating something completely unexpected.

At any given time, Magic: The Gathering has a set of popular deck archetypes, metas and staples that show up game after game. On some level, they're comforting; you can never go wrong with Modern Burn, and your Commander deck will always have a slot for a Sol Ring. Seeing the same archetypes over and over can get a little old, though, and following trends is rarely a path to innovation. What brings so manyback toMagicagain and again is the vast, ever-growing number of possibilitiesfor any given format, so that even when the meta seems rigid, some clever upstart can always crack it open again.

One doesn't need to change the world when building aweirddeck, however, and what makes a deck weirdcan vary. Does the deck showcasean unlikely synergy? Does it use an old mechanic in a new way? Does it include obscure or underused cards? A weird deck isn't constrained by concepts of"good" or "optimal." It just needs to do something interesting. And if that interesting thing wins you a game or two, the victories will be all the sweeter for it. Like with any creative project, challenging yourself with unorthodox methods means you're bound to learn something new and improve your skills along the way.

Related: Magic: The Gathering - Double Masters' Artifact Cards Are Powerful in Any Deck

The first step to building a weirddeck is always research and exploration. Be curious about eachMagicset. Older sets can reveal cards that were ignored or overlooked at their release but may become relevant in the future.By the same logic,keeping up with the latest sets can reveal new possibilities in relation to your knowledge of Magic's "backlog." With all this information rattling around by taking careto notice which cards and mechanics pique your interest the most,it's only a matter of time before something clicks.

For example, the mechanic "Morph" wasn't well supported in Commander until the release of Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer. Previously unsupported tribes like Unicorns, Bears, Satyrs and Devils have all gottentheir own tribal Legendaries over the last year,and Morophon the Boundless can make just about any creature type a tribe. Zirda, the Dawnwaker has some infinite mana combos, but it also makes cards with otherwise far too costly activated abilities cross the threshold of viable into great value.

Related: Magic: The Gathering - Double Masters' Multicolored Cards Boost Various Archetypes

This all depends, of course, on your favored formats. Magic's "backlog" won't really apply to Standard, for instance. But for Commander and Modern, knowing some of the older, weirder cards is productive. Commander in particular has a great starting place for finding inspiration in the form of EDHRec, a database with statistics for every Commander released so far. Finding a Commander that's particularly strange is just a matter of browsing through each color combination and scrolling down to the lesser-used ones.Many arejust plain bad (like a five-cost 3/3 with no abilities), but others do something unique, and the cards often used in conjunction with unusualCommanders are often unusual in turn.

Above all, keep an eye on the spaces others ignore, and question the status quo. Reject the prevailing metas, and believe in whatever "brain bugs" you catch during your research. Be preparedfor your trails to go cold and to find yourself rushing back asa newreleaselights the way.If you do this, you may just happen upon something no one else has ever thought of.

KEEP READING:Magic: The Gathering - How to Build Your First Modern Jund Deck

Animal Farm: What to Expect From the Next Game From the Makers of Reigns

Daniel Lindsley is a writer, a Seattleite, and a UC: Santa Cruz graduate with a Bachelor's in Literature and Creative Writing. His degree taught him how to tell a story, and it turns out games have a lot of that sort of thing. Conveniently, so does news writing. The overlap makes for a guy who knows his way around TTRPG systems, keeps up with the latest, and can write about both. He spends his spare time working on personal projects, playing games, and drinking frozen-banana-and-chocolate-ice-cream protein shakes.

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Magic: The Gathering - How to Build the WEIRDEST Decks (And Why You Should) - CBR - Comic Book Resources