Communication
[kuh-myoo-ni-key-shuh n]
1. the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.
2. the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing or signs.
Communicating clearly and effectively is key to meeting, even surpassing, attendee expectations. It's important to identify barriers to communication, while focusing your message to resonate with your audience. Communication is an art, not a science. In this Education Essentials, we'll provide you with some suggestions for communicating effectively with stakeholders and event attendees to create a successful and memorable event experience.
Tips and Tricks for Effective Communication
Meeting planning is all in the details. Yet, being awesome at taking care of those details doesn’t guarantee success. Without equally excellent communication skills to maintain positive interactions with diverse stakeholders, creating impactful events can be frustrating, difficult and sometimes nearly impossible. After all, meetings always involve people! Here are five vital, non-intuitive communication skills that will enable the best business conversations
Communication only exists if common understanding happens between two or more parties. It’s one thing to share information, it’s another thing to effectively communicate information. Clarity seeks to communicate information in such a way that everyone understands and is on the same page. In a new blog post on the topic, Crystal Neubauer suggests ways to avoid two communication clarity killers, ambiguity and complexity.
Recommended Book - Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less
The only way to survive in business today is to be a lean communicator. In Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less, author Joe McCormack tackles the challenges of inattention, interruptions, and impatience that every professional faces. His B.R.I.E.F. approach, which stands for Background, Relevance, Information, Ending, and Follow up, helps simplify and clarify complex communication. BRIEF will help you summarize lengthy information, tell a short story, harness the power of infographics and videos, and turn monologue presentations into controlled conversations.
The Out-of-the-Box Communicator
Effective communication is often the key to solving so many of our problems, and yet, it isn’t always easy. Forbes recently shared an article highlighting three TED Talks on improving communication skills. The videos provide a quick way to learn from experts and, who knows, you may just find a speaker to book for your next meeting!
Encouraging your attendees to interact and connect with one another can sometimes be an uphill battle. Get creative with communication and try out these icebreaker activities to help your attendees warm up.
FICP Shorts: Communication Pitfalls and Managing a Remote Workforce
This FICP short from Annette Gregg shares tips for improving your communication skills.
This FICP short from Wayne Turmel addresses the assumptions that many people make about remote workforces.
Ask Ed: Pick Up the Phone
Communication can be a bit of a weak spot for the Millennial generation. Kim Lear, a generational expert at BridgeWorks and past FICP speaker shares, "They grew up emailing, texting or instant messaging and as a result their one-on-one speaking skills can sometimes be a bit lacking. Luckily, Millennials love receiving feedback. It's as easy as sitting them down and having a simple, informal conversation."
Check out this past Ask Ed Q&A around techniques for engaging millennial employees and working with them on their communication. P.S. Kim Lear will be a featured speaker at this year's FICP Annual Conference, talking about workplace styles!
#TBT - Jon Picoult on Customer Experience
During the FICP 2018 Winter Symposium, keynote speaker Jon Picoult, founder and principal at Watermark Consulting, shared five principles for creating a great customer experience. This recap article reviews Picoult's method for managing the full attendee experience, refining every customer touchpoint and looking beyond facts to consider how people feel.
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