by Alan | Sep 10, 2006 | Communication skills, Content, Delivery, Efficiency, public speaking
I hear this one all the time. After an introduction or three, a speaker gets up and says something along the lines of “before we get started…” or “Now, as we’re getting started…” Trouble with this is, they’ve ALREADY...
by Alan | Aug 27, 2006 | Communication skills, Customer Service, Delivery, Efficiency, Leadership
Was helping some members of a large organization whose higher echelons call the shots pretty exclusively. One area manager remarked that other than some blanket directions, specific responses from the CEO were not a possibility, so his area had to assume, act, and...
by Alan | Aug 26, 2006 | Communication skills, Content, Delivery, Leadership, Parenting
Went to a niece’s softball game today and also watched a short part of the Little League World Series. A ball field is a funny place with regard to communication. I noticed long ago that just about everything that is said is repeated or stated in pairs. ...
by Alan | Aug 24, 2006 | Communication skills, Delivery, Flying
In my training classes, I teach a lot of people whose native language is not English. Save for a few years of High School German (nur ein bisschen!), I only speak English, however. While I LOVE listening to the accents I am exposed to, it does pose a problem in...
by Alan | Aug 8, 2006 | Communication skills, Content, Delivery, Efficiency, PowerPoint
Walked in to teach a class today to discover that the handouts I had requested were not present, two of the notebooks had the wrong cover sheet (and were thus not distributed correctly), and the printed roster was not accurate. A prop I had used the last time I...
by Alan | Jul 15, 2006 | Communication skills, Customer Service, Flying
Got a flyer/magazine/catalog today. One of those vendor rags that’s made to look like a magazine tailored to something I love (flying). I don’t know how I got on the maillst, and because it’s a topic I care about, I’m only partially miffed...