Because you can doesn't mean you should

Technology today gives you so many different ways to talk to people. The two keys for you are to first realize that "talking" is NOT the same as "communicating" and then, secondly, to figure out which method of communication will be best for your message.

More and more often now, men are proposing marriage to women through text messages. Really. Perhaps thinking, "Since we text each other all the time anyway, why not?", they shoot off a little missive that says "OMG, IDK, want 2 get married?" or something like that. How romantic. Even Miss Manners says, "texting, which is a lightweight way of conveying instant thoughts, is unsuitable" for proposals. The technology may be at your disposal and may be appropriate for certain messages, but it isn't appropriate for all.

We've discussed examples, in the past, of companies handling mass layoffs through E-mail. In casual conversation, you'll hear of some "jerk" who ended a relationship by voice mail or text. As the title of this post says, "Because you can, doesn't mean you should".

You can "talk" to people how ever you wish. "Talking" simply means that you're telling people things. They may or may not be listening, may or may not be understanding, and may or may not care about your message. But, you're sending the message anyway, because you're just "talking".

"Communicating" is something more and something completely different. Communication is about reaching someone with your message, affecting him or her in some way, and often eliciting a response from him or her. When you need to communicate, consider which method will be most effective in reaching the other person. It may not be the most convenient way for you, or your preferred method, but if it is more likely to reach the other person than it is the method to use. If they need an address and they need it now, text it. If they need an explanation and they need it now, call them. If they need information and lots of details, E-mail it. And if you want to get married, ask them face-to-face. Any message that is going to affect the other person emotionally should be delivered face-to-face so that you can see the effect you're having on him or her and gauge the response you get.

This is the type of advice and discussion you'll get 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.

Phone calls passe`?

It may already be true. Phone conversations seem to be almost a thing of the past. Particularly when you're trying to reach a younger audience with your message, reaching out and touching someone just isn't your best strategy anymore.

Loud, annoying cell phone calls made in public are falling by the wayside, replaced by text messaging. On one hand, it's great to not have someone in a restaurant or airport lounge forcing everyone else to listen to his or her phone conversation. On the other hand, a brand new etiquette needs to be followed now in this day of individuals focusing on their phones and ignoring those physically in their presence.

What does this mean to you? Several things, including practicing Economy of Words, and utilizing the most efficient forms of communication possible. In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, you learn the importance of editing your message so that it has a better to chance to break through the clutter of everyday life. With text messaging, you have no choice but to edit. In your seminar, you learn how to decide what to keep and what to edit out of your message. The voice-mail and E-mail strategies covered in your "Break Through the Clutter" seminar teach you to even use "Subject" lines to convey key points of your message. This is even more critical today if you've reached the point where you need to text or E-mail someone just to find out when you can call them.

While it may seem "old school" to call someone when you need to communicate, there are subjects that are still best left to face-to-face, or at least phone conversations, so that you can explain complex issues and gauge your receiver's reaction. That's another skill you'll develop in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, information that's now even more critical for you in today's fast-paced world.

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.

OMG

The landscape of communication is changing with today's kids. Perhaps you spent hours on the phone with your friends when you were growing up. Or perhaps Instant Messaging on the computer was your generation's way of "talking". Texting is now the most dominant form of communication among those 12-17 years of age.

Here are survey results for you: nearly two-thirds text friends everyday while less than one-third talk on a cellphone with friends everyday; only 14% talk to their friends on a land line today while more than double that amount never use a land line to talk to their friends; and the median number of texts sent on a typical day is now 60, up from 50 in 2009 (for girls, the median is 100).

What does this mean for you and your communication style? Several things, beginning with editing your message. Abbreviations, such as the title of this blog post, might be handy. But you must be certain that your receiver understands what those abbreviations mean. You also need to focus on framing your message in a way that fits texting and will have an impact on your receiver.

These are among the communication skills you and the members of your group will develop in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar. It's information you need now and will need even more in the years to come. 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. You'll be a hero for doing so.

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.

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.

Reaching Your Audience

As you learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar, one of the keys to effective communication is to understand your target audience and tailor your message to reach that particular audience. You also need to consider which form of communication would be most effective in reaching that audience.

Recently, The New York Times mentioned a 14-year-old girl who sends and receives 27,000 text messages in a month. Whether this girl and her communication habits are typical or not, it's something for you to consider. If your audience is teenagers, then you really need to take this into consideration. If your target audience is an older one, know that these 14-year-olds are heading your way in the future. You may need to change your communication style, learn new behaviors and skills, and become comfortable with methods of communication that may seem strange to you. As the world changes, so must your style of communicating so that your message will have a chance to "break through" the clutter of today's world and have an impact on others.

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.

Privacy? No.

In June, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on whether an employer was reasonable to search employee text messages. Unanimously, the court ruled that the search in this case was reasonable. This was not an all-encompassing decision, but it is one that will serve as a precedent in the future.

What does this mean to you? If you wouldn't say it in public, don't say it in a text, E-mail, or voice-mail, either. The Electronic Communication and Privacy Act lets your boss go through your E-mail at work. As technology continues to develop into new methods of communicating, new legislation and litigation will be needed to sort out what can and can't be done by employers. But, you will do well with an overall philosophy of "when in doubt, leave it out".

In your "Break Through the Clutter" Communication Seminar you learn that a great way to think of an E-mail message is that it's like the back of a postcard - just about anyone CAN read it, and chances are someone, other than the person you sent it to, WILL.

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. You'll be a hero for doing something that really helps people in today's world.

When in doubt, leave it out

In your "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar, you're reminded that E-mail is not necessarily private. And that your boss can get into your E-mail at work, thanks to the Electronic Communication and Privacy Act.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the use of employer-supplied computers, cell phones and pagers may be reviewed by employers. If the employer has a policy that clearly tells employees that the use of this equipment can and will be monitored, then the content of E-mails, text messages, pager messages and the like, is open to review.

In your seminar, you hear that the best way to think of E-mail is that it's like the back of a postcard - anyone can read it, and chances are someone, other than the person you sent it to, will. Hence, when in doubt, leave it out when it comes to sensitive material of either a business or personal nature. Especially, when using employer-supplied electronic devices.

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.

E-mail only for appropriate subjects

Soon, it will be the anniversary of one of the worst uses of E-mail ever. And that serves as a reminder to you to use E-mail only in situations where it is appropriate.

You learn in your "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar that anger, sarcasm, and other negative emotions need to be gotten out of voice-mails and E-mails. Negative emotions like that are best left to face-to-face communication where you can see the effect you and your message are having on your receiver.

With all of today's methods of electronic communication, it's easy for people to hide when there's a potential for conflict. Things like ending a relationship by texting, breaking up through voice-mail, and the like, though, make you look shallow and callous. It's obvious that you didn't want to deal with the emotions in person, so you hid behind technology.

This was carried to another extreme nearly four years ago now, in August of 2006, when Radio Shack sent this E-mail to 400 employees - "The workforce reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated." Fired, by E-mail.

While it may be easier on you to hide, screen calls, and block E-mails, if you really want to communicate effectively, know when it is appropriate for electronic communication and when face-to-face is really the only option.

Call or E-mail today to schedule your own "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar, 913-631-2985, bkthrucomm@aol.com.

Clutter, again

To continue the discussions about "What is 'clutter'?" and how the clutter of today's world gets worse everyday - Mignon McLaughlin summed up the problem like this, "No one really listens to anyone else. Try it for a while, and you'll see why."

Humorous, yes. But it's sad, too, because it's true. So many messages are being sent today, often in a rapid-fire manner, that are centered on the person sending them. And the messages tell about important things like, "I just got a massage", or "I just had my nails done and now I'm going shopping", or "I'm having a latte and a bagel". While they might be harmless and even a bit of a diversion for people during their busy days, the messages are each another bit of "noise" or "clutter" that distract your receiver from more important messages. Like your messages, for example.

That's why it is so important for you to stop, as you compose your message, and to think about the person(s) you need to reach. What are they doing? What will they do just before getting your message? What will they do just after? In what environment will they receive your message? Take all of those things, and more, into consideration as you compose your message. For your message to truly be effective, it isn't about writing or saying what you want to write or say. It's about writing or saying what will mean something to your receiver for communication to happen.

And that's what you'll learn how 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.

Clutter

Part of your "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar includes a definition and description of the "clutter" of everyday life - the interference your message has to deal with, compete with, and break through in order for you to actually be heard. Thanks to text messages, tweets, Facebook postings and more, the level of clutter is higher than ever before. And, it seems to grow every day.

Your message has to be special in order to break through all of this clutter and that's what you learn to do in your "Break Through the Clutter" communication seminar - how to make your message special, how to frame it in a new way to make it more effective.

Donnie Deutsch, the advertising and business guru, summed it up like this - "...give people new information or entertain them - or else you're in trouble." It's that simple. You and your message have to fight to be heard today above all of the noise that is a part of everyday life.

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.

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.

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.

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.