Business Communication Archives
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
It’s Halftime…Are You Ready?
How many times have you started a presentation or interview and thought, “gosh, I wish I had a better start?” Have you started down a line of ideas and then lost your train of thought mid-sentence and hoped for the hail Mary idea to get you back on track? If so, you’re not alone!
As an enormous sports fan and former physical athlete who still feels she has some sports psychology still left in her, I found myself thoroughly inspired by the message in the Chrysler Super Bowl ad narrated by Clint Eastwood. The concept that halftime can be a game changer, and if you persevere you can get through any tough time was a powerful message of both strength and hope. The same holds true whether you’re out on the gridiron, making your winning putt on the golf course, shooting the buzzer beater basket, or standing in front of an audience hoping to sway, motivate, inspire or move them to follow your lead.
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Words that May Hurt Your Image
I recently read an article highlighting 10 words that people commonly mispronounce that can make an individual appear less intelligent, professional and polished. There were some great words on that list, but I thought a few needed to be added, so I’m taking to the blog to share my thoughts to reinforce some, and introduce a few others.
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
Merry Christmas! Or is it?
Happy Chanukah? Merry Christmas? Happy Kwanzaa? Happy Holidays! What are we supposed to say in this time of year? The easy one is coming up…Happy New Year! As for the rest, we can debate that ad nauseum. I’ve decided to venture away from strictly communication tips this time, and work a little cross cultural communication into the blog.
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Campaign Crisis Communications
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
Winning Webinars
Planes, trains and automobiles, we’re all getting tired of traveling for every meeting and workshop, so webinars and teleconferences are becoming more common. I, myself lead a webinar this afternoon for the Association of Women in Communications on media interview preparation. We focused specifically, on ambush, walk and talk, and impromptu interviews. You know the kind of interviews where someone stops you on the street, or throws a camera in your face just after you walk off stage from making a speech, or leave a hearing room when testifying in front of lawmakers. Whatever the scenario, if you’re a newsmaker, there’s no such thing as an ambush or impromptu interview. Be ready at all times.
Monday, August 1st, 2011
Communication Skills: Make it Personal!
When was the last time you sat at dinner, in a movie, at an event, and the person joining you spent more time looking at their phone than looking at you while speaking? Sure they may have held up their end of the conversation to some extent, but how much of their energy did you really pick up? Did you get a lot of yeahs and uh-huhs? Or maybe you just got finished making a really interesting or important point, and they blurted out something completely irrelevant that they just read hot off the Twitter or Facebook-press?
If your answer is that this happens all of the time, or maybe you’re one of the offending communicators, think about these points before you pull out the phone while you’re on your next personal or professional outing.
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Less is More: Non-verbal Communication
So as I’m sitting and catching up on Facebook posts from friends, I saw a comment about how horrified an HR director was when a candidate showed up for an interview and thought that lotioning her feet while waiting to be called back was a good idea. Say it with me…taking care of personal hygiene while waiting for an interview is a really bad idea!
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Mandela Day of Service
Have you heard? It’s Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday!
The world renown leader and notable symbol of the civil rights struggle for all Africans, and African-Americans everywhere is worthy of a birthday party of epic proportions. Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and sentenced to life in prison for having the audacity to try and change the system that rendered him, and all others of his race powerless, second-class people, without hope of being able to earn a better future for themselves. He ultimately served 27 years in jail before being released. Despite this somewhat tortured past, his story and life inspired the nation to ultimately elect him President in 1994, this after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. If you’ve seen the movie Evictus, you saw the story of how he went on to unite a sharply divided nation through sport.
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
A funny thing happened on my way to the podium…
I have just returned from one of the most enjoyable facilitation experiences I’ve had in a long time. I conducted a brief workshop on crisis communication for the Cooperative Communicators Association Institute in San Antonio. The Annual Conference was packed with more than 130 communicators from coops around the country. Every industry from financial to farming, power to produce.
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the podium, so I couldn’t help but change my open:
“You know, when I lead presentation workshops, I always tell clients to ‘lead with sexy.’ Not the Congressman Weiner kind, but definitely something that grabs the audience’s attention so you start with a bang! Of course, I wasn’t planning to start a fire as my open, but how appropriate and convenient is it, when the conference is called Caliente! Hot Ideas for Cooperative Communicators, and the opening workshop is Crisis Communications: Staying out of the Hot Seat?! A little crisis, with a fast clean up is the perfect way for us to get started!”
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
Lothery & Associates Gets Radical!
Saturday, while most people were running errands before the basketball games started, Lothery & Associates, LLC was sponsoring the Get Radical! Conference in Washington, DC. More than 500 ambitious and upwardly mobile women attended to get pearls of wisdom from Jillian Michaels, Rhonda Britten, Niecy Nash, Ali Brown, and Doreen Rainey. Speakers covered everything from overcoming challenges, beating procrastination, better financial planning, and of course taking care of your body and health.
As a communication coach, I couldn’t help but watch all of the above for their information, but also their delivery and approach. If you missed this amazing and empowering day, allow me to point out some key communication strengths they all shared.