You pull up in front of a school and the sign out front advertises an upcoming event as follows: Leteracy Night Dec 8th at 5:00 Would you question their teaching effectiveness? Misspelling is a common form of miscommunication. It is unintentional and therefore leads to unintended consequences. A major negative impact is leaving an impression of carelessness. The credibility of the communicator suffers. A misspelling on an application or a resume may prevent getting a job. A

Imagine sitting in your office concentrating on completing your latest project when the phone rings. It is the producer for your local television station. She saw a post on social media about the work you are doing and wants to know if you can come in to be interviewed on the noon news. Do you say yes, or no? Are you ready when the media calls? Chapter 32 in the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ upcoming book, Communicating Nutrition: The Authoritative Guide, encourages foo

If you want to learn something, what do you do? Do you… Look it up online? Watch a YouTube video? Go to the library and check out a book? Sign up for a class? In most cases, adult learning is on-your-own, self-directed learning. Much of it occurs through experience, often referred to as “The School of Hard Knocks.” What if you are in the position of teaching adults? How do they learn best? What motivates them to learn something new? What will motivate them to even pay attenti

Meet Miss Perception, also known as “did I hear or read that correctly?” Miss Perception is another contestant in my “Mis-Communication” Competition. You can meet all of the contestants in this post: https://www.nutritioncommunicator.com/single-post/2019/04/05/Miss-Communication-conquers-miscommunication You’ve encountered Miss Perception if you’ve ever received a text or an email and you weren’t quite sure how to take it. Or, if you’ve ever gotten “in trouble” for sending a

Think back to the last product you purchased. For me, it was a new planner from someone on social media. Did I truly need another fancy planner? Absolutely not! The woman shared how she once missed a client meeting due to having her schedule written in multiple places, and I totally connected with the organized chaos I call my life. There’s truth in the saying: ‘Facts tell, stories sell.’ She could have told me about how lightweight the planner was or how it had special space

What does it take to be compelling? To compel means to bring about something forcefully, but to be compelling has a much more desirable connotation. Synonyms include being persuasive, convincing, and irresistible. These are qualities that bring about a desired result without external pressure. Rather than being coerced into thinking, feeling, or doing a certain thing, a compelling message inspires us via internal motivators. The message is irresistible. It is compelling. As c

As communicators, we won’t be effective if an audience can’t remember our message. Being memorable is essential to successful communication. I recently surveyed food and nutrition professionals about which characteristics of effective communication they needed to work on most. They listed being memorable in a tie for third place with being compelling. Listed in first and second place were being concise and clear. You can read about all 10 characteristics here: https://www.nut

On the first day of class, when I asked the students in our Nutrition Communication course at Purdue to share why they had picked their major, the most common answer was a variation of “to make a difference” or “have a positive impact.” Good answer. The nutrition profession is in good hands. In the past, to make a difference, a nutrition professional would invest many hours meeting one-on-one or in small groups. That remains an immensely valuable investment. However, we now h

Recently, my husband had a medical test in which the result read: “The trachea bronchial tree and esophagus are grossly unremarkable.” In doctor-speak that means he has nothing to worry about. What? Aren’t “grossly” and “unremarkable” opposites – with the first implying something extreme and unacceptable, and the second something small and not worthy of notice? Who decided they made sense when put together? We use the word oxymoron to describe a phrase using seemingly contrad

Who is Mr. E and why shouldn’t I be him? Good question. He is the guest contestant in the “Miss Communication” pageant. In this pageant, 10 “contestants” vie for the title of Mis-Communication, including Miss Understanding and Miss Aligned, who have been featured in previous posts. Read about the other contestants and the Miss Communication pageant in these posts: https://www.nutritioncommunicator.com/single-post/2017/08/11/Sew-many-virgins-of-Miss-Communication https://www.n

When I ask audiences to select their top challenge in creating effective messages, what do you think they pick? Being more audience-centered? More balanced? More descriptive? It is none of these. Overwhelming, out of the 10 characteristics of “words that work” I describe in my talk, they select being more concise. To read about all of the characteristics, check out this blog: https://www.nutritioncommunicator.com/single-post/2019/04/12/How-do-you-craft-words-that-work It’s t

Communicating effectively is a challenge. Miscommunication is rampant – we misunderstand, misinterpret, misspell, mispronounce, and more. You can meet the 10 “faces” of miscommunication in this blog post. Can the formidable foe of miscommunication be conquered? Yes. We can beat miscommunication when we craft “words that work.” I propose “words that work” have these 10 characteristics: Audience-centered Speak your audience’s language. Address their needs. Meet them where they

Similar to creating a baby, books have a long gestation period before they “arrive.” In fact, this book will have taken longer than three pregnancies to make its appearance. Interestingly, among the 57 authors, 7 have given birth during the writing of this book. That’s a productive group! Similar to babies, books also need a name – something to help us identify and locate them. The Academy staff suggested two title options: Nutrition Communication or Communicating Nutrition,

On a clear evening as the sun sets over the horizon, you just might be able to experience a phenomenon known as the “green flash.” It is a rare occurrence I‘ve only seen a couple of times in my lifetime. The atmospheric conditions must be just right and it lasts no more than a second, so it is easily missed. A group of people watching the same sunset when one occurs will not likely all see it. The green flash looks like a flattened dot glowing bright green on the top rim of

What do you think is illustrated with the visual aid depicted in the photo? Did you guess BMI (Body Mass Index)? This visual aid can be used to illustrate that BMI is an imperfect proxy for body composition. Similar to underwater weighing, which is used to more accurately determine body composition, these two cans of soda demonstrate that because the composition of their contents is different one floats and the other sinks. This is how to use it with an audience: Get two can

When I launched NutritionCommunicator.com a little over a year ago, my goal was to guide and encourage other nutrition professionals on their journeys as nutrition communicators. I wanted the focus to be on all of us as nutrition communicators rather than create the brand: “Barb Mayfield.” I wanted to create a community of nutrition communicators, providing a platform to share our stories and inspire other nutrition professionals to communicate effectively. Through nutritionc

Presentation skills are essential in today’s workplaces, organizations, and via digital channels. Whether you present in person or online, the ability to deliver content clearly and compellingly is vital for success. Our 11th tip series covers 5 tips for achieving presentation excellence. You can download a free copy here: https://www.nutritioncommunicator.com/tip-sheets Whether your presentations are for lay or professional audiences, these same principles apply: Tip #1

The first chapter in the upcoming Academy Guide to Nutrition Communication introduces the foundation of nutrition communication, defines terms, and describes the vast application of communication principles to nutrition practice. I wrote the chapter with Dr. Ardyth Gillespie, retired professor of nutritional science from Cornell, where I completed graduate school and studied under Dr. Gillespie. In writing this chapter we worked together to create the “Framework for Planning

The Q&A can be one of the most dreaded parts of a presentation. Why? Because we fear we might not know how to respond to a difficult question. However, mastering the Q&A is not an impossible endeavor. By implementing and practicing these five steps, you can go from fearing this portion of a speech to embracing the Q&A. After all, the Q&A is a great opportunity to reinforce and elaborate on your main ideas and ensure the audience walks away with their needs met. Consider that

Did you know that the average consumer is exposed to as many as 10,000 brand messages each and every day? That’s what the American Marketing Association (1) estimated in 2017. Whew! That’s a lot! How can we create messages that stand out from the rest? More importantly, how can we create messages that make a difference? How? By following 5 proven steps. I have created a free downloadable tip sheet available here: https://www.nutritioncommunicator.com/resources listing the 5 s