"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.