Has this ever happened to you? Emma arrived at work early, got a cup of coffee and settled into tackling her highest priority task of the day. When, out of nowhere, her boss Bob approached her cubicle and asked the question that strikes fear in the hearts most employees, ‘Hi Emma … you busy?’
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Network With A Strategic Plan
With most businesses, failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s the same simple paradigm for networking like a pro instead of an amateur. And it all starts with the reason(s) why you’re networking. Whether you want to learn things to help you do your job better, look for a better job or grow your business, network with a Strategic Plan. Here’s how:
Reject Redundancies!
Let’s continue challenging your word use habits in workplace writing and communication. Effective word use is the same, whether the medium of communicating those words is spoken or written. And remember, the responses ‘That’s the first word I thought of’ or ‘That’s the word I usually use’ don’t work very well with reader-centric messages.
Start Strong with a Power Intro
We all learned about the three parts of a speech in high school: the Introduction, Body and Conclusion. You remember … ‘Tell ‘em what you’re gonna say, say it and tell ‘em what you said.’ Nothing new here.
Just Say ‘No’ to Note Cards
Given my commitment to Life Long Learning, I regularly review presentation skill-oriented books to keep what I share with my clients current and relevant. I recently encountered two different authors who recommended using 3×5 inch note cards for preparing speaker notes. Whoa! Couldn’t disagree more. So, please allow me to respectfully disagree and rerun one of my favorite rants.
Presentation Anxiety Revisited
My colleague Steve Petti runs New Image Media here in Cleveland, specializing in effective video for the web. As part of his content marketing strategy, he’s inviting local experts to create two-minute video bites on interesting and useful business-related content to post on his website under ‘Grow Your Business/Cleveland’.
Challenge Your Networking Habits
Many ‘Communicate Confidently!’ readers recognize the power of effective networking as a key information-gathering, relationship-building and business-generating strategy.
But, if you fall into the trap of networking out of habit, driven by some outdated mindsets, you might be networking like an ineffective amateur. And, ‘if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got’.
Harness the Power of the Pen
Many small business owners and entrepreneurs are frustrated and bewildered by the ‘Marketing Paradox’. We all recognize the critical need to do more and better marketing of our products or services to survive and thrive. But, few of us have the knowledge and skills to do it ourselves. Yet, we hesitate to – or can’t – invest the money to have other people do it for us. The result is that we often do nothing. Bad idea.
Get My Point?
A reader just asked me what I thought of using a laser pointer with his slides. I started the conversation with ‘Don’t let the technology tail wag the presenter dog’. The rest of my comments:
One major downside of using this tool is the need to look at the screen when using it. I’ve already ranted about avoiding turning your back on the audience to read a slide to them. Using the laser pointer has the same effect – loss of eye contact and connection.
Handouts vs. Slides
A client recently asked for some advice about a common practice with handouts. He noted that presenters often give audience members hard copies of their slides so they can take notes or use as a handout. My comments: