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

Have you ever been in an audience and got the feeling the speaker was in the wrong room? You felt like they had no clue who was sitting in the chairs or what they needed or wanted to hear. I hope you haven’t been that speaker. Knowing your audience is fundamental to communicating effectively. Communicating Nutrition: The Authoritative Guide devotes an entire section of the book to this important topic. Tip Series #21 shares 5 tips for knowing your audience, focusing on the im

Are you looking to build an audience – not just a larger audience, but an engaged audience? As Abraham Lincoln wisely said, “If you would win a man (or woman) to your cause, first convince him that you are his friend.” An audience needs to feel a connection with the communicator before they are ready to attend, listen, learn, and act on a message. They need to feel understood. They need to feel like they share common ground with you. They must believe that you are going to me

This week at my local Toastmasters meeting I stepped way outside my comfort zone… I gave my first ever humorous speech. I shared the topic in last week’s blog – 10 contestants vying for the title of “Miss Communication.” Not only did my fellow Toastmasters laugh, and vote for the “winner,” they gave me a standing ovation (something we generally only do after “Ice Breaker” speeches), and made me promise to compete in a future humorous speech contest. Who would have thought!? I

Let’s meet 10 of them: Starting with Miss Understanding, when what you said and what I thought you said are NOT the same. Much like the classic Abbott and Costello “Who’s on First” routine. Or, Miss Perception, that pesky one that happens when a text or email message is not received in the way it was intended… you know what I mean? Have you heard of Miss Conception? AKA “contagious falsehoods” because they are so common. Like “sugar causes hyperactivity.” Nope. Miss Informati

Successful communication creates a sharing of ideas and feelings between the communicator and the audience. It results in an audience that attends to, engages with, and takes action on a message to achieve desired outcomes. Strategic communication design begins and ends with the audience. A communicator who knows their audience is able to design communication that accounts for what the audience already knows, what they do, and what they care about. Successful communication re