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.

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.