Content about Communication

August 23, 2012
Best Practices for Collaborative Software Training

Traditionally, software trainers have focused on how a particular software package works. But to be effective, training for collaborative software must extend beyond the how to also incorporate the who, what, when, where, and why.

By Ricky Spears, Senior Instructor and Director of Training, SharePoint Solutions

February 8, 2012
Conference Highlight: Daniel Pink Animation

This RSAnimate video illustrates the principles in Drive by Daniel Pink, a Training 2012 keynote speaker.

This RSAnimate video illustrates, literally, the principles in Drive by Daniel Pink, a Training 2012 keynote speaker. Want to know more about motivating your clients and co-workers? It's not too late to join us at the Training 2012 Conference & Expo!

 

 

November 23, 2011
World View: Focus on Italy

Italians generally like social interaction and respond better to training when their active participation and input are required. Role plays and on-the-job training encourage participants to assimilate the new information they have acquired by immediately putting it to use.

By Lyrae Myxter, Director, Executive Services, Aperian Global

Once an agricultural society, Italy has developed into one of the world’s leading industrial economies since World War II. It ranks eighth in nominal GDP, is a member of the G8, and a founding member of the European Union.

October 28, 2011
Mobile Apps and Training

We asked 2,793 recent training participants about the use of mobile devices and apps in the workplace. Of our respondents, 42 percent said they used mobile apps at least sometimes to very often with training. And nearly half of the respondents had downloaded a mobile app to improve their job performance—even though their employer did not require it.

By Mark Scullard, Director, Research, and Jeffrey Sugerman, President and CEO, Inscape Publishing

October 13, 2011
Supercompetent Speaking: The Value of Rehearsal

Off-the-cuff presentations aren’t impossible, but they’re hard to get just right; and that can limit their effectiveness. Rehearsal can boost the success of even the most casual presentations, and it’s essential for the big ones. Indeed, the more important the presentation, the longer and more often you should rehearse.

By Laura Stack, MBA, CSP

As a business professional, would you ever send the first draft of a report to your boss or client? Probably not; no doubt you’d want to smooth out the rough patches and check it over for typos first. Most of us don’t even let e-mails go without making sure we’ve done our best to communicate both cleanly and efficiently. Polishing our written work is accepted as a necessary part of doing business.

October 7, 2011
Last Word: The Electronic Brick Wall

Technology allows us to be more productive and, potentially at least, more profitable. The dark side of technology is the electronic wall that has grown brick by brick over the last 20 years. As more and more technical opportunities arise that allow workers to communicate without being “face to face,” people are learning less and less about how to communicate effectively.

By Peter Post, Director, The Emily Post Institute

It’s happened over and over again:

September 13, 2011
Supercompetent Speaking: Using Stories in Presentations

Stories help us process, visualize, and remember facts and raw data, giving complex information meaning. This makes them an invaluable part of any professional presentation, since all the bullet points and graphs might otherwise overwhelm the listener. Furthermore, because we all love to hear stories, they help us connect with people.

By Laura Stack, MBA, CSP

August 11, 2011
Supercompetent Speaking: 4 Tips to Maximize Vocal Skills

Your voice creates an immediate impression—and needless to say, that impression must be a good one. Among other things, it’s a powerful indicator of your emotional state, including how you feel about your topic and the people you deliver it to. It follows, then, that you must learn to use your voice as a musician would use an instrument, to deliver your message with precise, positive emphasis.

By Laura Stack, MBA, CSP

As a speaker, you communicate your message through your spoken words and your body language. However, the characteristics of your vocal delivery will have a tremendous impact on whether your message lands. The most brilliant message can come across as dry and boring if delivered insipidly, whereas a dull message can come alive if delivered with enthusiasm and energy.

June 14, 2011
Supercompetent Speaking: Using Body Language During Presentations

When you’re giving a presentation, youare your most important visual. Therefore, your body language has power: You can use it to bring life to your material and to indicate how you want your listeners to react to what you’re telling them. That being the case, you need to remain constantly aware of the image you portray, from the moment you stand up, until after your presentation is complete.

By Laura Stack, MBA, CSP

When you’re trying to get a point across, howyou say it can be just as important as whatyou say—sometimes even more so. There are two forms of language in play here: verbal language, which can be manipulated through inflection, volume, word use, and emphasis; and body language, which can be even more important.

June 8, 2011
The Lost Art of Face-to-Face Communication

Communicating meaningfully is becoming more difficult than ever before. While technology has created an ever-increasing number of ways to communicate rapidly over great distances, many people are now so well insulated and protected by these devices we use that we are losing the skills and abilities to communicating in the most influential way—face to face. Here are eight steps to communicating with impact and influence.

By Stacey Hanke, Owner, 1st Impression Consulting, Inc.

Communicating meaningfully is becoming more difficult than ever before. While technology has created an ever-increasing number of ways to communicate rapidly over great distances, many people are now so well insulated and protected by these devices we use that we are losing the skills and abilities to communicating in the most influential way—face to face.

May 2, 2011
Surviving Report Writing

Is writing a report a daunting task? Would you rather have a root canal? Do you dread writing a report for your boss? Do you need to teach others to write reports? Writing effective reports does not have to be intimidating. If you follow a few basic guidelines and view the task as manageable parts, your report can be completed without too much frustration.

By Dr. Rhonda Rhodes and Dr. Joyce Kupsh

Is writing a report a daunting task? Does the task seem terrifying and arduous? Would you rather have a root canal? Do you dread writing a report for your boss? Do you need to teach others to write reports?

Writing effective reports does not have to be intimidating. If you follow a few basic guidelines and view the task as manageable parts, your report can be completed without too much frustration. The manageable parts are: Organizing, Starting, Writing, Polishing, Producing, and Finishing.

April 6, 2011
Satellite-Based Training How-To

When pest-control firm Orkin needed to find a solution to better keep its 8,000-employee workforce well trained, it turned to a satellite-based interactive training network. As a result, the company was able to greatly reduce its budget for training delivery, avoid travel expenses, and slash time to competency by 40 percent.

By Margery Weinstein

When pest-control firm Orkin needed to find a solution to better keep its 8,000-employee workforce well trained, it turned to a satellite-based interactive training network designed, installed, and managed by Keystone Enterprise Services. The company was able to greatly reduce its budget for training delivery, avoid travel expenses, and slash time to competency by 40 percent, so it now trains about 3,000 employees annually without lost travel time, says Dan Loveless, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Keystone Enterprise Services.

March 24, 2011
How-To: Use Webinars for Training and Revenue

Many of you have been searching for ways to develop new revenue streams and expand the reach of your firms. What many are discovering is virtual training. Ready to take the plunge into the world of attendee- funded Webinars? Here are six success keys to get you started.

By Lee Salz

You are accustomed to using Webinar technology for virtual meetings, product demos, and infomercials. But there is a growing trend of using Webinar technology for employee training. The last few years have caused many companies to slash their training budgets as a strategy to restore profitability. But study after study reveals that the key to a healthy bottom line is investing in employee skill development. This has forced business executives to search for cost-effective ways to enhance employee proficiency. What they have discovered is virtual training.

October 11, 2010
The New HD-Face of Citrix

Citrix Online unveiled HDFaces, a high-definition video conferencing technology for its Web conferencing products, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, and GoToTraining. HDFaces features the new Citrix Multistream HD technology, which enables all participants to view up to six high-resolution video conferencing streams in a high-definition session for a total maximum resolution of 1920p x 960p, and allows participants to view video and the presenter’s shared desktop in the same screen.

Citrix Online unveiled HDFaces, a high-definition video conferencing technology for its Web conferencing products, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, and GoToTraining. HDFaces features the new Citrix Multistream HD technology, which enables all participants to view up to six high-resolution video conferencing streams in a high-definition session for a total maximum resolution of 1920p x 960p, and allows participants to view video and the presenter’s shared desktop in the same screen.

Other key features of HDFaces include:

October 4, 2010
The Professional’s Guide to Asking Questions

Asking the right kindof question at the right time can get people to listen to you, when they wouldn’t otherwise want to. Learn to ask the right questions, and you can turn a negative situation into a positive one.

By Michael Lovas and Pam Holloway

So the first question in this article about asking questions has to be: “Why Use Questions?”

You want to use questions because they work! Plus, the person who asks the questions controls the situation—and this is true whether you’re a trainer, a salesperson, a manager, etc.

October 1, 2010
Last Word: The Note

While writing thank you notes is one of the most basic pieces of business etiquette 
advice, it often is ignored, which can result in unfortunate consequences.

By Peter Post

The young woman suddenly raised her hand. I was giving a talk at the Penn Club in New York City. I had just mentioned the importance of writing a thank you note, and clearly I had struck a nerve.

September 17, 2010
Communicate for Action

Why do organizations encounter a corporate divide when it comes to communication? One reason is because communication often is seen from the communicator or presenter’s point of view. Unless the presenter incorporates the recipient’s needs and frame of reference in the message, the communication will remain ineffective.

By Kevin Sensenig, vice president and global brand champion, Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.

Ask a group of employees about the challenges they face in their organization, and most often communication issues are close to the top of the list—even though there is no lack of information, strategies, tips, and training available on the subject. In fact, a recent Google Web search using the key words, “communication articles,” revealed 77.3 million hits. So why do organizations still encounter a corporate divide when it comes to communication?

July 29, 2010
TechTalk - July 2010

Video communications designers now can benefit from the new VCE6467 Video Communications Engine from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) and RADVISION's Technology Business Unit (TBU). It enables a variety of two-way, live HD video communications applications, including video conferencing, telemedicine, digital signage, and set-top boxes. 

>> Video communications designers now can benefit from the new VCE6467 Video Communications Engine from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) and RADVISION's Technology Business Unit (TBU). It enables a variety of two-way, live HD video communications applications, including video conferencing, telemedicine, digital signage, and set-top boxes. This integrated video communications solution (pre-installed software on a video processor chip) reduces software integration time by more than 10 times the number of man hours normally required. 

July 24, 2006
Life is a Series of Presentations

8 Ways to Inspire, Inform, and Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (Fireside; Reprint edition, $9.75)

8 Ways to Inspire, Inform, and Influence Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime (Fireside; Reprint edition, $9.75)

July 1, 2006
Dial 1 for new-employee orientation
Call it "T-learning." FAMILY Dollar, a retail chain with 42,000 employees at 6,000 stores nationwide, is now providing part of its new-hire orientation over the telephone.

Call it "T-learning." FAMILY Dollar, a retail chain with 42,000 employees at 6,000 stores nationwide, is now providing part of its new-hire orientation over the telephone. Realizing many of its employees don't have access to the Internet at work or at home, the retail chain rolled out an automated phone line that enables new hires to register, order name badges, listen to training on company policy and receive company updates. In the system, the new employees confirm that they've received training, and that data is stored so Family Dollar can monitor the progress.

November 1, 2005
Whiteboard helpers

A number of software products are available to help people get the most out of their interactive whiteboards. Here are a few to consider.

A number of software products are available to help people get the most out of their interactive whiteboards. Here are a few to consider.

September 1, 2005
Are you self-centered...or audience-centered?

At what point do you become an experienced and effective speaker? It's not something you magically arrive at by speaking a certain number of times. You may have delivered 50 speeches, but that doesn't make you an effective speaker. The key to making that .⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷

At what point do you become an experienced and effective speaker? It's not something you magically arrive at by speaking a certain number of times. You may have delivered 50 speeches, but that doesn't make you an effective speaker. The key to making that .⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷

April 1, 2005
Before and After

An associate professor of Egyptian archaeology at the University of California Los Angeles, Willeke Wendrich, recently sent me some PowerPoint slides to "spruce up." Professor Wendrich's slides were not overly verbose, and they illustrated her presentatio.⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷䀹ퟤ૩欸/縨૩

An associate professor of Egyptian archaeology at the University of California Los Angeles, Willeke Wendrich, recently sent me some PowerPoint slides to "spruce up." Professor Wendrich's slides were not overly verbose, and they illustrated her presentatio.⻼皺欸/ࠃ暼療.帉痾Ѐ�涆醿焷䀹ퟤ૩欸/縨૩

April 1, 2005
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[hed]In search of the perfect coach

[hed]In search of the perfect coach

April 1, 2005
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[hed]In search of the perfect coach

[hed]In search of the perfect coach

[sub]How to find the right speaking coach for you

[body]

Sure, you're a good presenter. Who would doubt it? After all, you didn't become vice-president by resting on your laurels, did you? But have you ever wondered whether you could be even better - if you could make them laugh more, buy more, listen more intently, respect you more or shower you with even louder applause?