Booher BanterBusiness Communication Consultant

Communication expert Dianna Booher offers tips on how you can turn negative reactions into appropriate responses.

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Posted at 4:50pm in Communication—Interpersonal | Permalink | Add Comment » |

The subject came up again this week with an executive group who briefs “up on the hill.” Their “up on the hill” references meant, of course, briefings in Congress and the executive branch. So you’d think the people receiving their deck of slides would consider them important enough to review before attending meetings, right? Wrong—or at least that was the conclusion of those gathered in front of me.

It’s a situation that surfaces often:  A presenter prepares slides, sends them to his audience prior to his formal presentation for their review, and then shows up to deliver the thirty-minute presentation in person. The problem? The presenter thinks the real job is over once he hits the Send button. He walks into the meeting two days later prepared only to answer questions rather than give a structured presentation.

Weak approach—particularly when you discover that many have not reviewed the deck.

Sending slides ahead makes it no less critical to plan and structure your message for the intended purpose. You are more than a live FAQ dispenser. Otherwise, they could, or would, automate you.

To paraphrase a cliché, never assume that “the information sent speaks for itself.”

As with any briefing, summarize the essence of the information clearly. Emphasize what’s important. Illuminate the relevant but complex. Establish credibility for the information. Provide depth on the details of interest.

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Posted at 10:50am in Communication—Oral | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Dianna Booher shares several suggestions on building rapport to establish authentic, lasting connections.

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Posted at 3:46pm in Communication—Interpersonal, General Communication | Permalink | Add Comment » |

To pose a frequently asked question:  Does size matter? Document length, that is. Do more details lead to more definitive answers? That question was debated about the healthcare bill and is now being batted around regarding the new financial regulatory legislation.

What’s the link between words and worth? Take, for example, the new financial reform bill. Here’s how Becky Quick, anchor of CNBC’s Squak Box put it in the Opinion column of Fortune magazine (August 16, 2010):

The legislation weighs in at 848 pages (at least the electronic version does). Compare that with, say, the Constitution of the United States, which founded the legal principles of our nation nearly 223 years ago. That original document (handwritten naturally) clocked in at just four pages. Granted, the Founding Fathers wrote in small print. But come one. Four pages to run a country vs. 848 pages to run a bank? Really? And in its 800-plus pages, the Fin Reg bill manages to create even more questions than it answers. Like what defines “risky” behavior for the banks, when an institituion is too big to fail, and what the competetive field will look like in the new financial world.

So I repeat my basic question:  What is the link between word count and worth? Very little.

In our business writing and technical writing workshops, we hear comments and protests such as these: “My boss insists that I ‘put it on a page’–do you agree with that?” Or, “It’s department policy that these monthly reports can’t be longer than 3 pages.” Or, “Our proposal has to be uploaded to a website template, and we’re limited to 4,000 characters. How can I possibly list all the benefits in those few words?”

Do more details lead to more definitive answers? Not necessarily. Words can be used to illuminiate or obscure—your choice.

Abraham Lincoln said it best:  “He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I ever met.”

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Posted at 10:34am in Communication—Written, General Communication, Technical Writing | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Abstract words can mean different things to different people. Watch Dianna’s communication quick tip video on the importance of using concrete words rather than abstract ones.

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Posted at 10:25am in General Communication, Uncategorized | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Don’t you just love it when some expert or authority in another field agrees with you—proves your point? So what’s the issue in question? You can’t write an email, tweet, enter data, read a text message, listen to music, and talk on the phone at the same time—accurately, that is. Multitasking is a myth; it’s just rapid attention switching.  Psychologists tell us that every time you switch from one task to another, you lose something. That’s right—you leak concentration and brainpower.

This discussion frequently surfaces in our writing training programs. Participants are asked to bring with them writing samples from their on-the-job writing tasks. During various exercises, they have to rework some of those documents. Frequently, during critiques, we hear them ask themselves, “What was I thinking here?” The instructors wonder the same thing.

Consider how many times you get an email, report, or proposal with a missing word or a nonsensical phrase. The writer’s thought pattern “switched” from one track to another and got ahead of itself.

The issue also rears its head in our presentation skills workshops—about the time we start to discuss delivery and the proper use of technology. Trainees often comment, “I’m having a hard time concentrating on my presentation content when I’m having to think about my hands or my posture.” True. Back to my basic point. Multitasking breaks your concentration. Of course, in a presentations training program, we’re coaching participants to know their content so well that they can focus on delivery.

But you get my point:  In real life, important communication—whether writing or speaking—deserves your undivided attention and concentration.

A new book released today, SuperCompetent®  by productivity expert Laura Stack, amplifies this same idea. Check out the third of her six A’s on becoming a supercompetent employee:  Attention (focus and concentration).

What Stack says in her latest book “stacks up” with what I’ve discovered in my own communication consulting practice: Competence doesn’t cut it anymore. She has coined the new word “SuperCompetence” to describe the expectation for those who plan to make it to the “high potential” category in their organization.

The structure of the book lends itself to the productive reader. If you have only a few minutes to read yet another book, no worries. Each chapter begins with the bottom-line distinction between the mindsets and habits of the merely competent and the supercompetent. Cleverly labeled “ Hero-Thinking” and “Zero-Thinking,” her brief opening summaries give you the pithy idea. Read them and move on. Or dig through the details for quick, specific tips to accomplish the change in mindset or habit.

If you plan to be a SuperCompetent® communicator and use all the technology available, focus rather than multitask.

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Posted at 9:36am in Books, Personal Productivity, Recommended Reading | Permalink | Add Comment » |

Guest Column

With more than a billion presentations given in one month, it’s no surprise some are really quite boring. After all, it’s much easier to recite information than to make an interactive presentation. If you truly want to connect with your audience, you can choose to make your presentations more engaging and interactive. 

It’s as simple as… 

1. Engage Early 

Your presentation starts the moment the meeting is announced—with your name on the agenda.  Pick up the phone and interview a few participants, email a simple survey, open discussion with a blog, post a question to a group on Linked In or Facebook, start a unique wiki about your presentation, etc. There are a ton of technologies out there to enable you to start the conversation before your presentation even begins. 

2. Involve the Audience 

When you ask an audience member to do something for you, she feels special.  She morphs into a participant while sending a subliminal signal to the rest of the audience that you are reaching out for help, and she might be more wiling to cooperate when you ask her to do something later.  It can be something as simple asking someone to be the timekeeper or a “runner.” Demonstrations, skits, competitions and role-plays are more complex interactions that take more thought and deliberate consideration, but have HUGE payoff because they are HUGELY memorable. 

3. Embrace Technology 

If 90% of your audience has a cell phone, then let the audience know how they can use it to respond to a poll or feed questions to you. If you are brave, project the feed onto a screen behind you (This is called a “twitterfall.”) so all can participate in the “back channel” discussion—the conversation going on in the room while you are speaking. Can’t make it to the meeting due to a volcanic dust cloud covering European airspace?  Skype it in—but only if you are extremely comfortable using the technology. 

When you prepare to be engaging and interactive, you go from boring to bravo in no time.
 

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 Kristin Arnold, president of the National Speakers Association, is on a mission to make all meetings more engaging, interactive and collaborative through her new book, Boring to Bravo. Visit her website for more tips and techniques and to order your copy. 

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Posted at 10:55am in Books, Communication—Oral, Recommended Reading | Permalink | Add Comment » |