Think, before you send

Unthinking people do foolish things all the time. But today's technology too often lets you take your faux pas "to 11", to use the line from "This is Spinal Tap".

In the U. K., a job seeker E-mailed a note and his resume to 4,000 head-hunting firms. He's "Unthinking Person #1" in this story. They each got the same note. The E-mail had the names of all recipients visible. Each recipient could tell that no effort was put into the job search.

"Unthinking Person #2" is the head-hunter who took exception to being included in the mass E-mail. He wrote an expletive-filled reply that included "it's nice to know you are taking this seriously and taking the time to make us all feel special and unique", and told the applicant that he was too stupid to get a job in banking. Further, he attacked his competitors at head-hunting firms, calling some of them obscene names. Then, he hit "Reply All".

As you can imagine, both #1 and #2 are looking for work now.

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn the importance of striving for Zero Defects in your messages. You learn that proof-reading is critically important. You learn to check your emotions when creating your messages. And, you learn to put the focus of your message on the other person, understanding what he or she is thinking, feeling, and doing when receiving your message. This story shows two individuals who would have benefited from putting that knowledge to use. Don't let this happen to you.

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. You'll be a hero for doing it.

Twenty-five words, or less

Several college and universities have begun having admissions applicants answer essay questions using only twenty or twenty-five words. That's right, your chance to make an impression and to be accepted to the college of your choice can now hinge on 25 words, or less.

The questions can be a little off-beat, too, which perhaps lends itself to such short answers. Questions such as, "Best movie of all time?" are giving the schools new and more personal insight into a candidate's make up.

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn the importance of editing your message for length and time. You learn that you may have as little as three seconds to make an impact on the other person with your message. And you learn how to put the important (to them) information early in your message. Now, it appears that this might be a skill you also need to develop to get in to college. And, if that proves to be successful for schools, you can imagine that such questions will be used in job interviews of the future, too.

Real-life communication skills and the tools you need to master in order to communicate effectively, all presented in a humorous and entertaining fashion. That's what you get when you schedule a "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business. Call or E-mail today, to schedule your own seminar, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com. You'll be a hero for doing it.

"Clutter" in today's world

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn about the types of "clutter" that your message needs to break through in order to reach the people you need to reach. And, you get a sense of just how much clutter there is today and how quickly it is increasing.

Educators are finding that when they utilize digital communication devices in the classroom as the great learning tools they can be, those devices also bring a number of new distractions to students. The same is true with the people you need to communicate with. You used to have to compete with your audience daydreaming, sleeping, doing other work while you're talking, or doodling on a sheet of paper. Now, your audience could be surfing the web, texting, tweeting, looking at photos, watching a movie, or any number of other things instead of paying attention to you and your message.

That's why it is so important for you to frame your message in a way that makes it most effective. In order to get people to listen to or read your message, you need to make them WANT to listen to it or read it. And that's what you learn to do in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar.

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. You'll be a hero for doing it.

Two words - Anthony Weiner

Wow. Sometimes blog posts write themselves. In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn that, when it comes to E-mail (and nowadays text messages, tweets, Facebook posts, and other text messages) remember this phrase - "When in doubt, leave it out."

That also applies to photos of you with your drink raised, doing duck lips, with your mouth open, or with your tongue sticking out. In the moment, it may seem like the thing to do. In retrospect, or when seen by an unintended audience, it may come back to bite you in your photographed and texted bulging undershorts.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business. It will not only help your organization and its members communicate more effectively, it could keep their careers from going down the drain. 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com. You'll be a hero for doing it.

The times, they are a-changin'...

Some new trends that will impact the way you communicate in the future - smart-phone sales surpassed PC sales recently. And, by the third quarter of this year, smart-phones will outsell all other kinds of phones. What does this mean for you?

• E-mails will be shorter or disappear all together. People will be reading E-mails on smaller screens, perhaps not while in a desk-top situation, and will be typing their E-mails and replies on smart-phone keyboards.


• It's more likely that people could be surfing the web while listening to your voice-mail messages, dividing their attention.


• Texting could become the preferred form of communication

How do you succeed in communicating under these new circumstances? Simply by focusing on what you learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar. As you learn, no matter what form your message takes, the basics of effective communication apply. Utilizing "Economy of Words" makes certain that your message gets through to your receiver BEFORE his or her attention is diverted. Giving them important information early and clearly in your message gets the most out of the 3-or-so seconds you have to actually reach them. And, making your message different from every other message they will see that day, helps yours break through the clutter of everyday life and make an impact on him or her. Particularly since ALL messages will be seen and heard on one device in the future.

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. Since this information is so critically important to future communication, you'll be a hero for doing it.

Importance of Communication Skills

Kiplinger's Magazine advised college students, in a recent issue, to improve their communication skills before entering the job market. A reader, seconding that advice in a subsequent letter to the editor, said that verbal self-improvement is a wise move for everyone. "The ability to give a good presentation or run meetings is a highly marketable skill, and verbal expertise makes you an asset in any organization," the letter-writer stated.

That's why "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminars have been so beneficial to so many groups and businesses over the years. Organizations have encouraged members to begin using, right away, the knowledge and new communication skills learned in their "Break Through" seminar. The president of one group, Kiwanis International, told his International Board of Governors that he wanted them to immediately begin writing E-mails that followed the new guidelines they had just learned. The president of another group, the National Association of Residential Property Managers, said that their entire conference would have been a lot different had the "Break Through" program been the opening program instead of the closing program.

Communication is something that most everyone feels they do very well. Sadly, they are mistaken. And sophisticated and forward-thinking leaders of groups and businesses realize that fact. That's why it's so critical to the success of your organization for you to make this information and training available to your people.

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. You'll be hero for doing it.

Yes, it DOES matter

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn that the words you choose and use DO say a lot about you. And you're cautioned to, therefore, choose wisely. An advertising agency and one of its now former employees learned that same lesson the hard way recently. He "dropped the F-bomb" in a Twitter message while signed in to a client's Twitter account. He not only lost his job, the agency lost the client. The fact that he thought he was using his own private Twitter account at the time is immaterial. If he simply didn't use that word in any communication, he would have never made that error.

Profanity has crept into more and more common usage over the years. Depending on the intended audience for your message, perhaps you can get away with some mild usage of offensive words to make a certain point. But profanity, and other offensive terms and phrases, is often "in the eye of the beholder". It is simply best, for effective communication, to use only words, terms and phrases that you know will mean something to the other person. Avoid anything that might be offensive to him or her. When you draw attention to the words you use, you draw attention away from your message's content. Use your intelligence and advanced vocabulary to find another, non-offensive way of saying the same thing.

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. You'll be a hero for doing it.

Watch It!

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you'll learn a couple of good rules to keep in mind regarding E-mail and other text messages.

First, if you wouldn't say it in public, don't say it in a text message. The other rule is similar but perhaps more direct. When in doubt, leave it out.

It's easy to accidentally send a message to the wrong person, or at least to people you didn't intend to send it to, like clicking "Reply All" instead of "Reply Sender". A recent survey in Britain showed one-fifth of those responding had sent a "racy" text to the wrong person. Oops. Try explaining that one to your Aunt Hilda.

The best way to think of text messages, especially E-mail messages, is that they are like the back of a postcard. Anyone can read them. And chances are, someone other than the person you sent it to, will.

Call or E-mail to day to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com. You'll be a hero for doing it.

The times, they are a-changing

In your "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar, you learn that putting the focus of your message on the other person is one of the keys to communicating effectively today. That involves many different things, including the method you use to deliver your message to your audience.

You may find yourself needing to change your ways of communicating, especially when trying to reach a younger audience. Writing, addressing, stamping and mailing a letter gave way to E-mail years ago. Now, E-mail is losing ground to Instant Messaging, texting, and social network web sites. Since November of '09, use of E-mail web sites has steadily declined. With teenagers, it has dropped dramatically. In some respects, E-mail has become the tool of "old" people - you know, like parents, teachers and bosses. Young people report that they have to regularly check their E-mail simply because it is used by people in authority.

As these young people age and go out into the workforce, your communication styles may need to change. You may need to adopt texting, tweeting, and IMs as your preferred method, depending on your intended audience. As you hear in your "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar, "It is simple, but it isn't always easy."

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar for your group or business, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aool.com. You'll be a hero for doing it.