Today I received the following Infographic from the good folks at bestcollegesonline.com. Although the Communi-keys community is worldwide and the graphic looks only at the U.S., I saw two interesting communication dynamics here. Take a look at the Infographic first and then see if you agree with me.
Via: BestCollegesOnline.com
Here are the two thoughts I had about communication:
1. Given the number of languages being spoken in just one country on a daily basis, this adds yet another layer of complexity to everyday communication both at work and socially. Multiculturalism and multilinguism add richness to our society, so it’s important that we don’t let them become barriers. It takes a level of awareness and willingness to make the effort before we can reap the benefits, which are many.
2. The Infographic itself is a fascinating new, and growing, medium for communication. We are becoming increasingly a visual society, so having the ability to show information visually using this tool opens up all sorts of possibilities. I think I’ll look a bit more closely at this to see if I might develop the ability to use it myself.
What do you think? Are we aware of the challenges many people have in communicating in a language that’s not their own but that is dominant in the country where they now live? Does an Infographic paint a thousand words?
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Tags: General Communication · Just for fun
Maybe you blinked when you read that headline. Well I quote it from an online newspaper article this week. The writer was a marketing specialist discussing what he called the “comeback” of print magazines.
Of course there have been huge changes in the publishing world because of technology, and it’s true that some magazines have either gone digital or disappeared altogether. But a quick look on the shelves of my local magazine store reassured me there are still plenty around.
But the writer’s point of view made me think of how we use digital vs print communication in the business world and in the workplace.
A few years ago, when email became easy to use and available to everyone, it wasn’t long before it took over the lion’s share of our written messages. After all, why print a letter, put it in an envelope, stamp it and put it in the mail if you could simply type it into your computer and send it immediately on its way via cyberspace?
Today, we often send even legal documents by email, not to mention normal everyday correspondence. Not surprisingly, it has also taken over our personal correspondence and telephone contact. My friends still call me, but they usually send an email first to set a time to call!
One result of all this is that our mailboxes — actual rather than electronic — are all but empty. Where in-trays used to overflow with incoming mail, now they languish in dusty emptiness. So what do you do when an envelope, a card or some other item suddenly appears there? Well of course, you open and read it!
So-oo…if I want my message to have a better chance of being seen, maybe I’ll go back to print! In that sense, I agree with the writer of the article. I’ve been sending handwritten postcards to people for years, sometimes for business purposes and sometimes just because I felt like it. I can’t tell you how many people have thanked me for them — when was the last time someone thanked you for your email?
Is print the “new digital”? Of course not. Both are simply media for a message, and you should choose the medium based on the importance, urgency and nature of the message. Just remember, if you want it to stand out, print might be the best option.
What do you think? Do you ever receive printed mail (other than bills)? When you do, do you pay more attention? Are YOU sending print mail any more? I’d be interested in your comments.
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Tags: Email · General Communication · In my opinion... · Writing
Have you ever noticed something was working really well in your life — and then you stopped doing it? If you run your own business, maybe you stopped blogging regularly even though people were buying your product or service as a result of it. If you’re a manager, maybe you stopped your weekly staff meetings, even though they usually brought out useful suggestions from your people. If you are parents of a household of several, maybe you stopped having a date night with your spouse once a week, even though it gave you precious “together” time.
Why do we sabotage ourselves like this? Sometimes it’s because we don’t really enjoy the activity even though it’s working for us. Sometimes other things in life just get in the way.
But whatever the reason, the result is predictable: we lose the positive results we were achieving — and we usually don’t even realize why.
I address this troublesome topic in my new motivational keynote, Feet on the Pedals. In the video below, I introduce the idea that life is like riding a bike, and if you take your feet off the pedals the results are predictable. Please watch the short video, and if you’d like more information about the keynote you can find it on my MHW Communications site. If you or anyone you know is looking for a dynamic keynote for an upcoming conference, do give me a call and let’s explore whether Feet on the Pedals is a fit.
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Tags: Feet on the Pedals · General Communication
I haven’t written about presentation techniques for a while, but I’m writing today about three mistakes I’ve seen in recent corporate presentations. Here the mistakes, with an easy fix for each.
Mistake #1: Putting the whole speech on the slides
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: they’re called visual aids for a reason. They are supposed to aid or support your presentation — they are not the presentation itself. If you put up a screen full of words, you’ll immediately lose the audience because most of them will be too busy reading the screen to listen to you. The others are those whose brains are more attuned to sound than words (and that would include me), and they are stressed because they can’t process what you are saying because of the distraction of the words on the screen.
Another problem with having so much information on the screen at once is that you must leave the same screen up for a long time while you talk about the information on it. People’s attention will drift between you and the screen, and settle on neither.
How to correct it
Break up the information into shorter chunks and put each one on a separate screen. Give the audience a few seconds to read a single point before you begin to speak about it. Then, when you are ready to move to the next point, move to the next screen. This holds the audience’s attention on what you are saying, and breaks up the action by having more screen switches.
Next week I’ll address a related, but different, problem in illustrating statistics or other numerical information.
Mistake #2: Walking in front of the projector
The light from the projector is what make the words and pictures appear on the screen. If you walk in front of the light, you’ll interrupt the projection and the words will appear on your face or clothes. This is, to say the least, distracting.
How to correct it
Find the place you plan to stand during the presentation, and for the most part stay there. The best place is “stage right”, or to the right of the screen as the audience sees it. The reason for this is that our eyes are trained to “read” from left to right, so the audience will look first at the screen and then move to the right — where they’ll land on you.
If you must point out something on the screen, use a laser pointer so that you won’t have to walk in front of the projector.
Mistake #3: Using a copy of the slide deck as a handout
The purpose of a slide deck is to support your presentation as you make it. The purpose of a handout is to provide information that can be used to review the material afterwards, or to make additional notes as you speak. Don’t try to make them both serve the same purpose.
If you hand out a copy of your slides, people will flip through them randomly before you are ready for them to see that information. That can lead to questions you’re not ready to address, side conversations between people in the audience and general loss of interest in what you have to say. In short, you’ve lost control of your presentation.
How to correct it
Create a separate handout, and hand it out when you are ready for them to have it. You might tell them they will receive, for example, a full set of financials after the presentation, but for now it will be more useful for them to simply follow the information on the screen as you present it. As long as they know they’ll get the information later, most people are fine with that.
These are three simple adjustments:
1. Put less information on the screen
2. Stand where you won’t interrupt the light from the projector
3. Hand out the right thing at the right time
If you put them into practice, you’ll raise the level of your presentation by several notches.
Do you have an important presentation coming up? If you’d like to dazzle your audience, drop me a line by email or give me a call and let’s talk about how I can help you do that.
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Tags: How to... · Persuasion and Influence · Presenting · Selling
I stayed away from Twitter until recently for a couple of reasons. First, it took Twitter a long time to evolve beyond a place where people who had nothing interesting to do would tell the world about the uninteresting things they were doing. I know many believe that’s still what it is, but bear with me and you’ll see that’s not true.
The other reason I stayed away from Twitter was I could see myself frittering away (or should that be twittering?) time I should be spending on more important things — like earning a living.
Both of these have turned out to be untrue, and that’s why I’m now a devoted Twitter lover. Is there a word for that? I’m not sure, but please submit your suggestions if you feel so inclined. But let me explain.
As soon as a new social media platform emerges on the scene (as they do at an alarming rate), wily marketers begin thinking about how they can exploit it for business purposes. I remember, way back in the nineties, when it was forbidden to use the Internet for commercial purposes — dare to mention your product or service even in passing and you would be ‘flamed’. Times change. So diehards who would like to keep Twitter as the place to share the minutiae of their lives have lost the battle, as they are drowned out by mini-marketing messages, inspirational quotes and the occasional cheer for the Toronto Blue Jays (that would be mine).
By the way, before next week I am committed to adding social media buttons to Communi-keys so that you can more easily spread the word. In the meantime, in case you want to follow me on Twitter, I’m HelenW35.
I doubt any business could survive with Twitter as its only marketing strategy, but it certainly is one legitimate channel for getting the message out. Some of my readers know that a few months ago I made a decision to reintroduce writing as a client service into my business mix, and I’ve been using Twitter to draw attention to my copywriting site at HelenWilkie.com — and it’s working.
“But Helen,” you may be saying, “how on earth does Twitter save you time?” Well, I’ll tell you.
I am a self-confessed information junkie, and for years I’ve subscribed to more ezines and newsletters than anyone could possibly read and still have a life, and it’s often been a source of stress for me. But I’ve found a solution. On Twitter I follow people who have the same interests as I have, and when they Tweet about interesting blog posts and other gems they’ve found on those topics, I click over and read them on the spot. As a result, I’ve been able to unsubscribe from dozens of ezines I never have time to read, and still get the information I want or need. That’s a huge time saver and stress reliever.
Part of this Twitter-as-time-saver strategy is the timing of my Twitter sessions. I take an early morning walk every day, finishing up at my local coffee shop for half an hour or so. I used to take a book to read, but now that’s become my Twitter time (thanks Second Cup for your free WiFi connection). I make notes of anything I want to get back to, but most of it I read once and move on. So 30 minutes on Twitter first thing in the morning saves me time and stress, and keeps my mailbox less cluttered.
I recently published a Kindle book called Time and Space Management for New Managers. Maybe I should revise it to include this strategy.
Twitter as time management tool. Who knew?
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Tags: General Communication · Just for fun
