The first thing I say...

A woman scheduling a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for her group said that it had become an inside joke at her office's department head meetings that when they went around the room to find out what everyone had to say, the first thing she would say during her turn was, "We need to communicate better." Everybody in the room knew she would say it, and most said it along with her.

She said that people in her field really didn't communicate well and that's why she was scheduling a seminar for her trade association's convention. Sadly, people in most fields don't communicate well. The problem is this, if you'll pardon an indelicate but apt analogy - Communication is like sex, in this regard. Just about anybody can do it, and just about everybody thinks they're pretty good at it.

It's great that this woman realized that her office had communication problems and that people in her field had communication problems. What's even better is that she was willing to do something about it.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your business or group, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Redundant, or repeating yourself?

A radio commercial for a weight loss program encouraged listeners to "make today the start of a new beginning".

This is a fun line in so many ways - a beginning is new, or else it would be a continuation; a start is a beginning, not a middle, and a beginning is a start, not a finish.

Redundancies aside, it's a great example of how people can "clutter up" their own messages. Gotten a phone message that starts with the classic, "Sorry I haven't called before this, I've been meaning to call, but things have been really hectic lately and it seemed like every time I was going to call, something else came up and I couldn't. Then, when I'd remember to call, it was too late, so...I'm calling now to ..." and then ends with "Beep"? They used up all of their recording time.

Avoid creating interference for your own messages and making it harder for them to "Break Through the Clutter" of everyday of life to actually reach people in today's world. Proofreading, editing, practicing, and striving for Zero Defects are all ways you give your messages their best chance to "Break Through the Clutter".

In your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar you'll learn how to frame your messages for effectiveness and how to avoid the pitfalls that can clutter up your own communication.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, or bkthrucomm@aol.com. It'll be the dawning of the first beginning of the new day of you starting to communicate much more effectively. Honest.

"When feeling superfluous, leave."

We've been on a roll in the last few months finding ineffective wording on signs. This was in the blood center, in the area where donors get their juice and cookies.

"Please remain at the Revitalization station as long as you feel necessary."

When you start feeling superfluous, extraneous, or even unappreciated, you can leave.

Your reaction to these signs discussed in the last couple of months is a natural one, it's to laugh or snicker. The point is, you don't want anyone laughing or snickering at you.

Proofread your written messages, use spell check, have others proof your work, read your written messages out loud to yourself to make certain that they say exactly what you intend them to say, and check how your message actually looks on paper. Make it easy for your receivers to understand what the heck you're talking about, and you'll have a better chance to "Break Through the Clutter" of everyday life and make an impact with your messages.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, or bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Aren't they all?

A sign on the wall in a fast-food hamburger restaurant -

A serious tribute to Ms. Turner, turns ironic simply because of her name.

As you'll learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, review the CONTEXT of your written messages as well as the CONTENT. Unintended consequences of your message will cloud its meaning as the focus of your receiver goes off of your message and onto, in this case, the irony of it all. You're, essentially, creating interference for your own message. That will make it even tougher for your message to "Break Through the Clutter" of everyday life and make an impact on your receiver.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985 or bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Review your CONTEXT as well as your CONTENT

For written messages, it is critically important that you review the context of your message, as well as the content of it - how your message appears on paper, or your sign, or whatever medium you're using. Check it for errors, of course, but also check it for ways you may be misleading your receivers or perhaps not saying exactly what you mean to say.

A church was advertising its Sunday worship services on the sign in front of the building. People can easily assume that the services would be on Sundays. People would probably understand what the sign was intended to say. But what it read was

Sun Worship

8, 9:30 and 11am

What do they worship on cloudy days?

This humorous and harmless example demonstrates a much more serious point for the effectiveness of your message. A common and understandable abbreviation, to you, may be misleading or confusing to your receiver. So check the context of your message, as well as the content. Read your written messages to yourself to make certain that say exactly what you want them to say. Anything you can do to make certain that your receivers will understand what you're talking about is in your best interests in order to "Break Through the Clutter" of everyday life and make an impact on them with your messages.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, or bkthrucomm@aol.com. Let us help you communicate more effectively.

Do you read me?

That question's taken on a new meaning in communication. Texting, particularly with young people, has brought "clutter" levels to all-time highs. And each one of those texts is another piece of clutter that your message has to compete with and break through in order to be heard.

A study says that high school students send an average of 440 texts per week, including 110 while in school, an average of three texts PER CLASS PERIOD. You can assume that college students' texting habits are similar. As the technology becomes even more commonplace and as these young people age to become a part of the workplace, their texting habits and tendencies will come along with them.

Those texting secretly during class now will be texting secretly during meetings soon. Those texting now to cheat on tests, more than one-third of the high schoolers surveyed admitted cheating with a cell phone, might be leaking company secrets and proprietary announcements soon. Regardless, they WILL be distracted while you're trying to reach them in meetings, during sales calls, and through speeches and presentations.

That's why it's even more critical now for you to practice the keys to effective communication that you'll learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar. As the clutter (your message's competition) increases, your skill at breaking through it needs to increase.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985 or bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Verb-alization

More and more, words are being "verb-alized" today, meaning non-verbs are being used as verbs.

An "office" is a place. A "fax" is a thing, a shortened version of the word "facsimile" which is what you create when the document in your hand is printed out at the other end of the phone line. "Text" is what you're reading right now, it's a thing that you can see. "Offshore" is a place that is removed from the shore. You remember from grade school that a person, place, or thing is a noun.

Yet for years now, when you office at home, people can fax things to you, or text you. Each of those nouns has become a verb in common usage. This morning's paper had new one, "offshoring". It goes along with "outsourcing" and it's apparently when you outsource overseas. But no definition was given.

As you learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, for effective communication, you need to use only words, terms and phrases that mean something to the other person. So be aware of your level of verb-alization. Adding "-ing" to a word does not necessarily mean that you can use it as a verb and that your audience will understand it that way. For instance, you wouldn't scream at a telemarketer, "Not now, I'm dinnering!"

As our use of language continues to evolve with advances in technology and in society ("He Blackberried me with the details."), keep your audience in mind when composing your message. Whether a word or phrase makes sense to you isn't nearly as important as whether it makes sense to them. Often, you're more successful when you stick to the basics instead of trying to use the latest terminology.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Too wordy?

A business owner asked if the pages of his web site were "too wordy". He thought they were, but his ad agency told him that he needed to explain his services in great detail to his potential clients. He felt trapped between what his "experts" were telling him and what his gut was telling him.

It's always tough to know how much info is too little and how much is too much. You can have as little as three seconds today to make an impact on people. Due to the "clutter" of everyday life, people just don't have the time to really digest your message. The best solution is to tell just the basics of what you offer. Grab their attention. And then, as they get interested in you and your message, tell them your story and fill in the details.

In order to actually reach people today, you need to utilize what we call, in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, "Economy of Words". Edit, edit, edit. Attention spans and the volume of all of the other messages in today's world demand it. And as people get more and more used to services like Twitter, with a 140 character limit, they will be less and less likely to sit through a lot of information from you.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Double Trouble

A safety hazard also teaches you about the difficulties of communicating in today's world -

Yesterday, a young man driving a fancy convertible, top down, was swerving all over his lane. Why? His right hand was up to his ear, holding his phone, away from the wind noise on his left side, forcing him to reach his left hand past the steering wheel to shift gears on the right side of the steering column. Every time he shifted, he practically changed lanes.

Dangerous and foolish, yes. But it's mentioned here because that might have been you on the other end of that phone. Or, it might have been your incredibly important, to you at least, message he was listening to from his voicemail.

The environment in which your receiver gets your message is completely out of your control. Distractions, clutter, and your receiver's personal filters all affect your message. That's why it's so critical for you to do everything that IS under your control to make your message efficient and effective. And that's what you learn to do in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar.

Look around you. Everyday you see how difficult your receivers make it for you to be heard. It's time for you to equip yourself to fight back.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

And, watch out for the guy in the red convertible.

"Look at me!"

Now, more than ever, it is critical for you to to "Break Through the Clutter" and reach the person you're trying to communicate with by making your message mean something to him or her. With 80-90%, or more, of America's high school students, college students, and post-college adults now regularly documenting and sharing their lives on social media web sites, we are really becoming a society of "senders" rather than "receivers" when it comes to messages. People are talking about themselves, posting their pictures and videos, and tweeting about what they happen to be doing at that particular moment. It's all "me, me, me", and not necessarily in a bad way.

A professor at La Salle says that the rise of these social media sites feeds into two strong currents in the American nature, the need to be a part of a group, and the need to be noticed and be seen as special. So, there's nothing wrong or narcissistic about people always talking about themselves. And, it can make it easier for you when you need to communicate today.

When you practice what you learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar and make your message be about your receiver instead of being about you, your message will stand out from the clutter of everyday life. Yours may be one of the few messages they see or hear all day that isn't about someone else. Yours will fill their need to be seen as special, because yours answers their questions, informs them, or helps them accomplish something. When everyone else bombards them with messages of "me, me, me", your message of "you, you, you" is one that they will want to listen to. And that allows your message to break through all of that other clutter.

Now, more than ever, is the time for you to call or E-mail to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com. Learn what you need to know in order to effectively communicate in today's world.

Generation Gap

In the late 1960's, there was a lot of talk about the "Generation Gap". The only thing that's changed in forty years is that we don't hear about it anymore. The gap hasn't gone away but has become more like a box canyon as there are now four sides involved - "matures", "boomers", "Gen X", and "Gen Y". And they're not getting along, especially at work.

The differences between the four generations in terms of work ethic, what they expect and need from the company, and how they treat their work environment, have each "not getting" the others and it's leading to a breakdown in communication.

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn the importance of putting the focus of your message on the other person, understanding what he or she is doing, thinking, and feeling. And then framing your message in a way that will actually break through the clutter of everyday life and reach that person.

Whichever generation you belong to, it's critical to your success that you're able to get through to any and every one else. So, while they may not speak your language, or may be so last week that you can't talk to them about anything, stop and think for a bit. Utilize the keys to effective communication that you learn in a "Break Through the Clutter" Seminar, and bridge the gaps that you encounter.

To learn more, call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com. Thousands of people of all ages in all walks of life have already benefited from this material. You should, too.

Everyone's all a-Twitter...

With the 140 character limit on "tweeting", and the IM shorthand and text message abbreviations that have been around for a while now, it was inevitable that it would begin impacting schoolwork. It has, big time. A study showed that nearly 2/3 of young people aged 12-17 have used emoticons, text shortcuts, and informal language in their school assignments. But, the majority of teens surveyed said they don't consider electronic communications to be "writing" and that they think good writing skills will be important for success later in life.

This means a couple of things for you. First, as these young people grow up and become a major part of the workforce and of society in general, the shortcuts will become more and more accepted. If you're not used to them now, you may need to get used to them soon. Look how quickly "Casual Fridays" became "Casual Everyday" in many places of business.

Second, as you learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, in order to communicate effectively, you need to use words, terms and phrases that will mean something to the other person. If they are text-shortcutters, you may need to use that style to reach them, whether that's natural for you or not. Conversely, if you use shortcuts often, and they don't, you may need to keep your writing more formal in style. It's just another part of putting the focus of your message on the other person. And, as you'll learn in your "Break Through" seminar, that's one of the keys to effective communication.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com. OK? CU L8R.

Couldn't have said it better

Here's what some clients had to say following their "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminars...

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Either way works for me...but, spell check doesn't

Major league baseball teams allow you to make a contribution to their charitable funds and then have a message or greeting displayed on the scoreboard during a game. It's a great way to wish someone a Happy Birthday or Anniversary, propose marriage, or even welcome someone home. Perhaps this person being welcomed really is a "Brain". Perhaps this person's name is actually "Brian".

Regardless, the point here is that spell check won't catch your error when you type an actual word, just not the word you intended to type. For written communication, it is always critical to proofread your message. Read it out loud to yourself and listen to what you have actually written. Mistakes DO become distractions. The focus of the people who planned and paid for this message on the scoreboard went off of the message and onto the typo. Their special moment for Brian instead become a joke. It doesn't take long to proofread your message and it's pretty easy to do.

It's not like it's Brian surgery.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

What's In It for You

Here's what's in it for you when you book a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your seminar, keynote, or workshop, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

"There's no crying in baseall..."

Someone at a major university spent a lot of time creating this very clever and attractive piece of artwork that accompanied an E-mail sent to those who had bought tickets to the school's athletic events. As you see, the graphic features kids at play, a caricature of the school's mascot (blacked-out here to protect the school's identity), and photos of the school's softball and baseball teams, as well.

But, no one ran spell check on the text.

When you create your message, whether it's graphic art like this, an E-mail, a speech, a memo, whatever it may be, strive to be error-free in your communication. Everybody makes mistakes. The secret is to keep your mistakes from ever seeing the light of day. Mistakes do send a message about you, and it's not a good one. The effect of the creative piece shown here is diminished by a careless error. And it makes you wonder about the quality of this "major university".

That's just one of the areas of focus we'll cover in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar. Call or E-mail today to schedule a presentation for your group. 913-631-2985, or bkthrucomm@aol.com.

What is "clutter"?

So, what is the "clutter" that your message has to "break through" in order for it to be heard today? Watch this...

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

What the...?

Mistakes really do send a message about you, and mistakes in your message really do become a distraction. That’s why it is so critical to the success of your message for it to be flawless. A Midwestern state, which shall remain nameless, mailed out the test sheet for those renewing their driver’s licenses. Instructions at the top of the sheet tells renewers to read the handbook first, tells them how to fill out the test sheet, and reminds them to bring the sheet with them when renewing in order to get their answers graded. It then states, “A passing grade is five errors orgess”. Five errors OR LESS, perhaps?

One wonders how many of these test sheets are printed and mailed out at taxpayer’s expense each month. How many other errors might be on the test sheet? Is the answer to #12 really “C”, or is that just another typo?

Spell check will not always catch your errors, but use it anyway. Take the time to review your voicemail, E-mail, and written messages BEFORE you send them. Anything you can do to make it easier for your receiver to understand what you’re talking about is in your best interests. Strive for zero defects in your communication.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Txting K? NSM

A new study shows that 64% of kids aged 12-17 have used emoticons, text shortcuts and informal language in school assignments. In New Zealand in 2006, they already began accepting answers on national tests that contained shorthand like that. They didn't encourage it, but couldn't really say that the answer was wrong because of it. Here in the US, the head of the advisory board for the National Commission on Writing says basically the same thing you'll learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar. In certain contexts, this may be allowable, in others it's not. He says, "The most important thing about writing is to teach audience and purpose." We say, "Picture an actual person in your mind as you compose your message, and write or speak directly to that person."

Particularly when it comes to E-mail, if you, your family and your friends want to use the shortcuts, the emoticons, and the IM abbreviations that are popular now, fine. As long as everyone understands what they mean. But, outside of your family and friends, remember that E-mail IS a letter. And unless you know that your audience is up on the latest shorthand in communication, it's best to use only words and phrases that will mean something to them. If you do that, then effective communication is really NBD.

Call or E-mail today to schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Simplify, simplify

There's a great t-shirt/bumper sticker going around that says simply, "Eradicate Obfuscation!" If only we would.

Whether it's to sound more important and smarter, to obscure their actual meaning, or some other reason, too many today are using words and phrases that make it very difficult to understand what they're saying. TV meteorologists don't predict that it will snow anymore, instead they issue a "Winter Weather Advisory". Similarly, they no longer say that "a hard rain's gonna fall." Instead, they warn of a "significant precipitation event". Leave it to the Federal government to come up with the topper, though. An annual report that measures Americans access to food used to use the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. Now, they describe these people as having "very low food security".

To communicate effectively, remember to use only words, terms and phrases that will mean something to your audience. That's part of the difference between "talking" and "communicating". So instead of executing a nuclear socially and genetically-linked subgroup nutrition and sustenance ingestation event, just enjoy a nice family dinner. And talk to each other in words that actually mean something to others.