Afraid of Public Speaking?

by Linda Rosenblum

Public speaking scares me more than almost anything in this world.  Standing in front of a room filled with people staring at me with blank eyes while I stammer on about a random topic literally makes me want to crawl in a hole and never come out.  I fear their deadpan expressions; I fear their equivocal silence.  But most importantly, I fear their judgment.  My anxiety lies in a panic that my listeners are having negative thoughts about me.  However, I know that this fear is irrational and that public speaking is completely unavoidable.  Additionally, I realize that having good verbal communication skills is absolutely essential to succeeding in the professional world.  Therefore, I looked towards Robyn's teachings for advice in order to create a better presence for myself in front of an audience.  By implementing these simple techniques, I find it much easier to speak in public settings.

Playing in the Big League is Hard Work!

This has been a very exciting, challenging and anxiety producing Spring and Summer for my family. My son had an American Dream come true. He was drafted in the 11th round by the CincinnatiReds and became a professional baseball player.

But when dreams come true, you suddenly realize that that dream is not an end, but another beginning.

I hope you are all dreaming big and that you are at the same time preparing yourself to take on the new challenges that come when your big dream comes true.

I want to share two lessons I learned from my son’s experience. 

Y Txtng is NOT Communicating!

Sending text messages and emails are extremely helpful if you are quickly arranging social plans or catching up with an old friend.  They are fast, simple, and to the point.  In turn, they allow you to convey a straightforward message without all the small talk that comes with a face-to-face conversation.  However, while replacing verbal communication with texting and emailing, we are losing so much in the process. 

Between 80 and 90% of our communication is supported by nonverbal cues. Meaning, when we have a verbal dialogue with someone, a large portion of the impression that we make is based on body language, facial expression, intonation, and rate of speech.  We decide whether the other person is being sarcastic or humorous by analyzing their pitch and speech pattern.  Furthermore, we use these factors to decide whether or not we will trust the person we are speaking to.  Where is the presence of these elements when we text message and email?

Looking Your Best, While Still Feeling Your Best

by Linda Rosenblum and Robyn Hatcher

One thing I share at all my presentations and with all my clients is the 3 V's of effective communication. The Visual – what is seen, The Vocal – what is heard, and the Verbal – the actual words said. The most important element by far - the element that has the greatest impact- is the Visual element. When I speak about the visual aspect of communication, I usually talk about body language, posture, gestures, movement and facial expressions. However, one of the most obvious parts of our visual appearance is our clothing. One of my interns, Linda Rosenblum writes about what goes into creating an effective professional wardrobe.

  

Growing up, my mother taught me everything that she knew about dressing like a professional. "Don't show too much leg," "Make sure your shirts aren't cut too low and your heels aren't too high."  Because of this advice, I grew up dressing the way my mother would dress herself – which wasn’t exactly fashion forward.  On the first day of my first professional job, I walked through the front doors, confident in my outfit choice of a knee length skirt paired with an oversized blazer. I quickly, learned that this style was totally outdated.  Women in my office were dressed way more provocatively in tight, ill-fitting outfits and wearing their highest heels.  I was utterly shocked, so for my next day on the job, I tried to find a suitable middle ground between old-fashioned and inappropriate.

If you've been sitting at your desk pondering the effectiveness of your professional wardrobe, here are FIVE ways to impress your colleagues, while still making a statement:

Networking: If at first you don’t succeed…

Lessons Learned from Sticking it out When You Feel Like You Have Two Heads!

For a sole proprietor, marketing is always a challenge. Recently,  I closed an extremely lucrative deal to create and deliver a training workshop for a  large corporation.  I did not get offered this job as a result of Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter or any other media outlet. I got it through good old fashioned face to face networking. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, almost 99% of my work comes from networking. But this particular networking connection almost didn’t happen since I  almost left the event prematurely in an “I hate networking” funk.

I had really been anticipating this event. It was being hosted by a woman’s organization I had just rejoined and it involved shopping - one of my all time passions. But something felt off as I entered. I ran into two people I knew right off the bat but I felt like they both kind of dissed me.  And it went downhill from there. It seemed as though everyone I made eye contact with quickly looked away thinking they could find someone better to talk to. Had I had grown a second head or something? Was I wearing the wrong dress/shoes/makeup? I watched other people chat and exchange cards while I could only manage a few fleeting encounters.

I'm the Manager...Why won't they listen to me?

by Narmeen Iqbal and Robyn Hatcher

Since, I (Narmeen) am going to business school in January I thought it will be great idea to write a blog about effective communication skills as a future manager.

Communications skills are extremely important in any role in our lives whether it is as personal or professional level. Effective communication skills are essential for being a good manager. Within communications there are many sub-categories but I will focus on the category of oral communication with employees. The most important role for a manger is the ability to get his or her point across effectively.

Here are 3 tips to help managers achieve that:

Communication Itch

How many times do you sit at a meeting, have dinner with a friend or are on the other end of the phone with someone and feel as though you are sitting on what you REALLY want to say? I’m sure we have all done this to some extent. In today’s blog post, my intern Narmeen Iqbal, talks about how she dealt with this situation which she calls the “Communication Itch”

Surely, all relationship experts agree that communication is the key to a happy, healthy and long lasting relationship. Though I can’t help wondering how many of us actually use this powerful tool to transform our relationships.

I once suffered from what I would like to call a, “communication itch” meaning that I wanted to express my true inner feelings in some way but I always found non-constructive ways of going about it. For example, one of my best friends frequently would call me or wanted to see me whenever she needed help with something but never to ask about my wellbeing, for a while I let this behavior slide by thinking that she might realize it on her own. As time passed by I started to distance myself thinking that there is no point telling her that I feel used by her. One day she asked me if I wanted to hang out and I agreed, however, I didn’t make an effort to talk much. Basically, I was giving her the silent treatment thinking that I was punishing her for using me for her own purposes. This went on for quite some time.