by Linda Dunlop
Can introverts ace presentations? You bet we can! Case in point: Susan Cain, author of the runaway bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. As a studious introvert, Cain spent seven years in her element, quietly working on her book. Then came the hard part—selling her ideas to audiences. Read more →
by Jody Bruner
Have you noticed that everyone is telling stories lately? Google “storytelling in business,” and you’ll find marketers telling brand stories, trainers using stories to drive their points home and structure learning events, leaders telling stories to inspire and motivate, and presenters telling stories to bring dry content to life and engage their audiences. Read more →
by Brittany Moor
In a Building Your Own Brand workshop I recently facilitated, a participant told me she wanted to apply for a new role in her organization. She is currently an administrator and now wants to move into project management or marketing. She applied for roles outside her department before and was unsuccessful. Read more →
by Jody Bruner
If you’re like most people, the thought of giving a presentation is terrifying. All those eyes on you. Here are five tips that will help you get over your reluctance and learn to enjoy public speaking. Read more →
by Brittany Moor
I studied science in university, and I had to write a lot. My university experience was filled with lab reports, research papers, formal and informal scientific presentations, proposals, essay questions… the list goes on. To achieve top marks, I was taught that my writing method should mimic the scientific method: present my conclusions and recommendations at the very end of my document. When I started working in the real world, I began to realize this method didn’t work as well as I thought, and I struggled to present myself as a credible professional. Read more →
by Leigh Geraghty
Most of us understand the benefits of branding our business-it helps build recognition, credibility, customer loyalty and a competitive edge. But what about branding yourself? What is personal branding, and why is it an increasingly important area of employee development?
Personal branding is how you define and portray yourself as a person and a business professional. Your brand expresses your interests, talents, personality, and expertise. It portrays the person you are and the person you want others to see. You want to make sure that you are using a custom SEO for your brand to hone in on the target customers that you ideally need for your business, for example, if your brand was of luxury items like furniture, then you would look into seo for luxury brands and how it can help you. Read more →
by Rachel Eidan
We can all be more effective communicators by using our ears more than our mouths. Be honest, how much have you ever learned listening to yourself talk?
We often think that good communicators are good speakers; however, the most powerful communicators have excellent listening skills. Of course, there are some tips of effective communication that extend beyond simply listening, although this element is absolutely crucial. Many people take the skill of listening for granted. You have ears, so you listen all the time, right? But you need to ask yourself how well you listen. Read more →
by Leigh Geraghty
Whether you need to refuse a customer’s insurance claim or decline an employee’s request for vacation, delivering bad news is one of our toughest writing challenges. How do you deliver a clear message, without damaging your business relationship?
If you’re faced with delivering a bad news message, an indirect approach can help to ease your reader into the bad news.
Follow these 5 simple steps to write a difficult message using the indirect approach: Read more →
by Sarah Maloney
Howsitgoin? Wanna grabba cuppa coffee? Have you heard colleagues speak this way? Have you spoken this way? Probably, we all have. Let’s step back for a moment and ask ourselves: what is our first impression of the speaker? Let’s put these casual contractions under a corporate magnifying glass.
As communication skills consultants, we work consistently with our learners to help them improve their professional images through their business communications. Recently, we’ve noticed that many of our learners are sabotaging their professional images when delivering presentations by using “informal contractions”.
We aren’t talking about contractions like “don’t” for do not or “we’ll” for we will. When you use a few of these contractions in your speech or your writing, you sound quite personable. However, some contractions can make you sound sloppy and unprofessional—like these examples:
by Amanda Bergen
In this digital age, video is king. It promises a more engaged audience and faster, more effective delivery of your message. But are you and your team making the best use of video capabilities when you turn on your webcams? Surveys and statistics show that most employees are allergic to their webcams, but if they use video conferencing effectively when communicating virtually, they can increase engagement, build trust, and speed up decision making. It’s not enough to know how to turn the webcam on—you also need to develop a new skill set to present yourself, and your ideas, in the best possible way. After all, if it came naturally we would all be vying for the anchor desk on Good Morning America.