A unique new author blog helps business communication instructors spend less time preparing and more time teaching. The first authors in the field to write an instructor blog, Bovée and Thill share instructional insights, offer advice on incorporating social media and other technologies into the course, and provide compelling examples of good and bad business communication.
Meeting Skills
« Previous EntriesMeetings Are Stand-Up Jobs
Friday, May 4th, 2012Stand-up meetings are part of a fast-moving tech culture in which sitting has become synonymous with sloth. The object is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate, play Angry Birds on their cellphones or tune out. Via online.wsj.com
Everybody Hates Meetings, but These 5 Tips Will Make Them Less Painful
Thursday, April 26th, 2012Meetings can be like torture chambers. But they don't have to be. Web conferencing company SalesCrunch has created a guide to meetings. It's gathered the data from its management software, which tracks things like if people are really paying attention (looking at the screen or not), and if follow-up materials are opened. . . Via [...]
Don’t Fall into These 6 Traps If You Want Meetings to Be Productive
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012Years ago, I worked for a manager that was the poster child of buzzwords. He loved slipping “cones of precision” and “silos” and “drill down” and… well, let’s just stop there. Oh, he also bought one of the first Palm Pilots, so roomfuls of people often sat waiting while he laboriously entered timelines and schedules [...]
Getting Your Ideas Across in Meetings
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012Meetings are a great opportunity to present your ideas and become engaged in the decision-making process. Meetings often involve open-ended discussion among different types of people. For this reason, there is no easy formula that will guarantee success. Instead, you need to develop a range of skills and techniques that will help you express your [...]
For Winning Presentations, Be Steve Jobs, Not Mark Zuckerberg
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012You know the cliché: People are more frightened of public speaking than rabid dogs or even death. Yet your presentation skills are essential to being a success with employees, investors, partners, and customers. What kind of presenter are you? . . . Via www.cbsnews.com
How to Conduct a Virtual Meeting
Monday, January 9th, 2012Business bloggers at Harvard Business Review discuss a variety of business topics including managing people, innovation, leadership, and more. . . Via blogs.hbr.org
How to Avoid Being That Annoying Person at Your Next Conference
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011Jessica Lawlor (photo, left) recently attended the Pennsylvania Conference for Women and made some observations. She writes, "In the midst of frantically jotting down notes at each session and feeling inspired by the driven and successful women around me, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with my fellow conference go-ers. Instead of taking full advantage [...]
Meetings: The New Dysfunctional Company Picnic
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011There’s been a lot of talk about meetings lately. And a lot of push back. Not so much about the fact that they exist (well, yes, people are hating on that), but “how” they exist. Because all too often they are sources of dysfunction, rather than progress. Enter Al Pittampalli and his new book “Read [...]
How to Have Fewer, Better Meetings
Monday, September 26th, 2011Meetings can be the bane of corporate life. Senior leaders and managers typically spend more than half their time in meetings. In one survey, a whopping 85 percent of executives said they were dissatisfied with the efficiency and effectiveness of meetings at their companies. Yet meetings are essential to effective decision making and execution and [...]
Seven Rules for More Effective Meetings
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011Earlier this week, I attended a very productive meeting. It was long, but we accomplished what we set out to do. We made significant decisions, established accountabilities, and left the meeting knowing exactly what was expected of us. I think everyone left feeling that it was a good use of time. Unfortunately, too many corporate [...]
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