The Practical Communication Blog is On Vacation
If you’re shocked, appalled, or offended, please read last week’s blog post… again. We’ll be back next week!
Smartphone Ruling Your Life? 5 Tips for Unplugging and Why You Should
I’m one of those people who fought getting a smartphone for a long time. My excuse? I didn’t want to be THAT connected or accessible. I already feel like I’m a slave to my laptop. Although I have an office, my laptop and phone live on my kitchen table. It’s difficult to walk by and see emails […]
25 Things You Should Never Say to Someone You Love
When I teach workshops on communication, I always mention that it seems most people use their best communication skills with strangers and and their worst communication skills with those they love. There are many reasons, but it mostly happens because we feel it’s “safe” to do so. My boss might fire me for telling him he’s […]
Hate Networking? 10 Reasons to Try a Different Approach
If traditional networking leaves you feeling like a circling vulture, or the roadkill being circled, here’s a different approach that helps achieve the same, or even better, outcome.
20 Things You Should Say Today (Not Tomorrow)
We often wait to say things we should, thinking “there’s always tomorrow.” What if there wasn’t?
Four Steps for Conducting Challenging Conversations
Last week, I posed some questions you should ask yourself before initiating a challenging conversation. Now that you’ve had some time to prepare yourself for the conversation, here is a four-step process that will help you navigate through the most difficult conversations to a successful conclusion. However, keep in mind, no conversation will be successful if both parties aren’t […]
20 Visual Presentation Guidelines I Try to Follow
Many people say PowerPoint is dead, killed off by the new generation of online presentation tools such as Prezi. However, in most corporate, education, and other environments PowerPoint is still the tool of choice. I don’t think PowerPoint is going away anytime soon and having attended several presentations over the past few months that fell under […]
Six Tips for Better Nonverbal Communication
When I started the Practical Communication Blog, my second post was entitled, “What You Don’t Know About Nonverbal Communication Can Hurt You.” In it, I discussed the importance of understanding the powerful role nonverbal communication plays in our interactions. Today, I want to share five nonverbal communication tips taken from my book “Practical Communication: 25 Tips, […]
Stop Beating a Dead Horse: 5 Reasons You Should Stop Using Cliches (and Idioms)
At the end of the day, the bottom line with communication is to create a win-win situation between you and your audience. In a nutshell, you want to communicate your message clearly. Okay, how many clichés have you counted so far? According to Dictionary.com, a cliché is, “A trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, […]
The First Step in a Successful Job Search: Believe in Yourself
Whether you’re a first-time job seeker or a seasoned, professional job hunter, the first step toward getting the position you deserve is believing in yourself. My friend and colleague Monique Solomon Spence, Executive Recruiter and Business Coach, and President of Spence Staffing Solutions (www.spencestaffingandcoachingsolutions.com), offers the following tips for job seekers. Believe in Yourself “This is […]