The empty train crept down the track,
It slid into the station.
Eight coaches long, from front to back,
It raised our expectations.
It paused, then rolled reluctantly
Towards the eight-coach mark.
We raised our heads expectantly
But every coach was dark.
Unlit inside, unwashed outside,
A nightmare, not a dream,
The prospect of a grisly ride,
Unlike the age of steam.
It shuddered, squealed, then suddenly
It picked up speed once more,
And scorning us quite openly,
It opened not one door.
The people stood and watched it go
In silent resignation,
Their Monday morning spirits low –
Commuters know their station.
Sunday 28 June 2009
Friday 26 June 2009
10 Tips On Using Business Cards
1. Exchanging business cards should ALWAYS be done with respect and decorum, whichever country you are in. It is so easy to make a cultural gaffe.
2. In Asia, offering and receiving cards is a very formal ceremony and, in a formal meeting, the cards are kept on display during the meeting. It is a good idea to place the cards you receive in a pattern that corresponds to where each person is seated, so that you can use the correct name.
3. In Asia, never casually offer your card with just one hand. Hold your card with both hands when you give it, and bow slightly.
4. Always pass it the right way up so the other person can read it immediately. This shows consideration for the other person.
5. Show respect when you receive a card by using both hands. Especially in the Far East. Look at it, study it, then put it away or on the table carefully. Do not put it into your back (hip) pocket. (Equally, do not offer an Oriental a card taken from your wallet in your back pocket.)
6. Don't write on other people's business cards
7. The Japanese like photographs on cards. These are beginning to become common in the US and UK. It is worth putting your photo on your own card -- using the same photograph as you might have opn your website.
8. Many US/UK companies are dispensing with job titles, as they are considered unnecessary. However, titles are very important in most other cultures, so use them when abroad. They signify seniority and status, both of which are important in many countries.
9. Have supplementary information or a translation on the reverse side of your card.
10. Your card represents you, so don't use tatty or out-of-date ones. Your card conveys an impression of who you are, and is the main impression that remains when you have left.
2. In Asia, offering and receiving cards is a very formal ceremony and, in a formal meeting, the cards are kept on display during the meeting. It is a good idea to place the cards you receive in a pattern that corresponds to where each person is seated, so that you can use the correct name.
3. In Asia, never casually offer your card with just one hand. Hold your card with both hands when you give it, and bow slightly.
4. Always pass it the right way up so the other person can read it immediately. This shows consideration for the other person.
5. Show respect when you receive a card by using both hands. Especially in the Far East. Look at it, study it, then put it away or on the table carefully. Do not put it into your back (hip) pocket. (Equally, do not offer an Oriental a card taken from your wallet in your back pocket.)
6. Don't write on other people's business cards
7. The Japanese like photographs on cards. These are beginning to become common in the US and UK. It is worth putting your photo on your own card -- using the same photograph as you might have opn your website.
8. Many US/UK companies are dispensing with job titles, as they are considered unnecessary. However, titles are very important in most other cultures, so use them when abroad. They signify seniority and status, both of which are important in many countries.
9. Have supplementary information or a translation on the reverse side of your card.
10. Your card represents you, so don't use tatty or out-of-date ones. Your card conveys an impression of who you are, and is the main impression that remains when you have left.
Thursday 11 June 2009
Why Speaking Louder and Slower Does Not Work
"Every country has its way of saying things. The importance is that which lies behind peoples' words."
Freya Stark: 'The Journeys Echo'
To understand what lies behind the words of someone from another culture, you need cultural adaptability.
In some eastern cultures it is unsophisticated to show surprise. Someone raised that way will respond very coolly to dramatic news, let alone ordinary conversation. A westerner may well imagine that he is not 'getting through', or that the easterner has not understood. The westerner is used to his listeners responding with 'Really'? and 'Oh ah!' and nods of agreement throughout the exchange, and he is uncomfortable when his oriental listener merely nods at the end to indicate, 'Message received and understood'.
We all process information differently, and the way we do so is reflected in the language we use. However, it is important to remember which came first, the mental processes or the language. Clearly, language followed the mental processes. Or rather, the way a nation uses its language indicates how its people think. The English language, for example, can be used in more ways than one. Brits and Americans use the active voice, direct speech and action verbs. The people of Malawi tend to speak and write in the passive voice, third person, and indirect speech. The Arabs have a similar approach. Same language, different attitudes.
In communicating with other cultures, cultural adaptability is more important than language skills. You need a strong willingness to understand what it is that causes the people of another culture to think and behave the way they do. You need to 'tune in'. Cultural adaptability is about switching your communication style to facilitate understanding or to make it easier to work together. You may need to accept that other cultures need time to consider what you say before agreeing or accepting. It may strike you as resistance or even discourtesy, but it may only be the normal response in their culture.
Speaking louder and slower will only make things worse.
Freya Stark: 'The Journeys Echo'
To understand what lies behind the words of someone from another culture, you need cultural adaptability.
In some eastern cultures it is unsophisticated to show surprise. Someone raised that way will respond very coolly to dramatic news, let alone ordinary conversation. A westerner may well imagine that he is not 'getting through', or that the easterner has not understood. The westerner is used to his listeners responding with 'Really'? and 'Oh ah!' and nods of agreement throughout the exchange, and he is uncomfortable when his oriental listener merely nods at the end to indicate, 'Message received and understood'.
We all process information differently, and the way we do so is reflected in the language we use. However, it is important to remember which came first, the mental processes or the language. Clearly, language followed the mental processes. Or rather, the way a nation uses its language indicates how its people think. The English language, for example, can be used in more ways than one. Brits and Americans use the active voice, direct speech and action verbs. The people of Malawi tend to speak and write in the passive voice, third person, and indirect speech. The Arabs have a similar approach. Same language, different attitudes.
In communicating with other cultures, cultural adaptability is more important than language skills. You need a strong willingness to understand what it is that causes the people of another culture to think and behave the way they do. You need to 'tune in'. Cultural adaptability is about switching your communication style to facilitate understanding or to make it easier to work together. You may need to accept that other cultures need time to consider what you say before agreeing or accepting. It may strike you as resistance or even discourtesy, but it may only be the normal response in their culture.
Speaking louder and slower will only make things worse.
Monday 8 June 2009
10 Top Tips in Visual Aids
Having recently been exposed to a number of information-rich Presentations (PowerPoint) I think it might be useful to re-state some basic guidelines. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of illustrating everything, and putting too much detail into slides. The result is a confusing presentation that causes people to switch off.
The most important thing to remember about visual aids is that they should assist the message, not become the message. A visual aid may be a flip chart, a slide, or some other prop. Its purpose is to aid understanding and recall. That's all. It is not a substitute for the Presenter.
PowerPoint has seduced many presenters into overdoing the number of slides. They might as well put on a video! Here are a few simple rules.
1. Each visual aid should have a single purpose -- one message.
2. How many words? Follow the 7x7 rule. No more than seven lines and no more than seven words per line. Even better is the 5x5 rule, because you have five fingers on each hand, and each finger can be used to correspond to the five bullet points, as you present.
3. A slide must be a legitimate summary of what you will be saying in that part of the presentation.
4. In general, each slide must be a brief and clear summary that can be instantly understood. Its design should not send the eye in several different directions.
5. Projected slides are the brightest objects in the room. So beware of becoming subsidiary to the screen. Unless you are describing a graph or reading a quotation, do not face the screen and read the words of your slide. Your audience can read it faster, and will resent being read to.
6. Use the visual aid to make the point, then switch it off. If you are using PowerPoint, press letter 'B' and the screen will go black. When you need the visual to reappear, press 'B' again. You will then retain attention.
7. If you are using a flip chart, write in letters at least 2 inches (5cm) high. Do not write on a flip chart for audiences of more than 25 -- those at the back will not be able to read what you write, unless you write HUGE with a broad nib marker.
8. Make sure the type on your slides is large enough to be read from every part of the room. Check in advance. Do not rely on the tolerance of your audience.
9. Use pictures. A presentation with text-only slides is visually boring.
10. Practise the presentation, so that the slide changes are slick and unnoticeable. It helps to have a print-out of the slides in front of you, so that you know what's the next slide and can lead up to it.
Finally, please remember that your focus should be on the message you want to impart - a message that arises within you, and one that you could, if necessary, put across without any slides at all. What people want from you is your Wisdom, not your PowerPoint slides.
For more help contact phillip@pkpcommunicators.com
The most important thing to remember about visual aids is that they should assist the message, not become the message. A visual aid may be a flip chart, a slide, or some other prop. Its purpose is to aid understanding and recall. That's all. It is not a substitute for the Presenter.
PowerPoint has seduced many presenters into overdoing the number of slides. They might as well put on a video! Here are a few simple rules.
1. Each visual aid should have a single purpose -- one message.
2. How many words? Follow the 7x7 rule. No more than seven lines and no more than seven words per line. Even better is the 5x5 rule, because you have five fingers on each hand, and each finger can be used to correspond to the five bullet points, as you present.
3. A slide must be a legitimate summary of what you will be saying in that part of the presentation.
4. In general, each slide must be a brief and clear summary that can be instantly understood. Its design should not send the eye in several different directions.
5. Projected slides are the brightest objects in the room. So beware of becoming subsidiary to the screen. Unless you are describing a graph or reading a quotation, do not face the screen and read the words of your slide. Your audience can read it faster, and will resent being read to.
6. Use the visual aid to make the point, then switch it off. If you are using PowerPoint, press letter 'B' and the screen will go black. When you need the visual to reappear, press 'B' again. You will then retain attention.
7. If you are using a flip chart, write in letters at least 2 inches (5cm) high. Do not write on a flip chart for audiences of more than 25 -- those at the back will not be able to read what you write, unless you write HUGE with a broad nib marker.
8. Make sure the type on your slides is large enough to be read from every part of the room. Check in advance. Do not rely on the tolerance of your audience.
9. Use pictures. A presentation with text-only slides is visually boring.
10. Practise the presentation, so that the slide changes are slick and unnoticeable. It helps to have a print-out of the slides in front of you, so that you know what's the next slide and can lead up to it.
Finally, please remember that your focus should be on the message you want to impart - a message that arises within you, and one that you could, if necessary, put across without any slides at all. What people want from you is your Wisdom, not your PowerPoint slides.
For more help contact phillip@pkpcommunicators.com
Friday 5 June 2009
The difference betwen communicating in writing and in person
There are a few fundamental differences in the communication process when it is conducted in person, against written communication. They fall under three broad headings: language, attitude and feedback.
LANGUAGE:
The language that is written to be read is different from the language that is written to be said. The main differences are:
• Grammatical - spoken language is less correct
• Repetition - spoken language uses more repetition, while written texts let you go back and read again what you might have missed
• Sentence length - speech requires shorter sentences
• Directness - speech requires you to get to the point of a sentence quicker
• Vocabulary - written texts tend to have a higher level of vocabulary
ATTITUDE:
Written texts are usually read in the absence of the author, and their meaning is coloured by the reader, not the author. Spoken texts are always coloured by the author's delivery.
Spoken texts are more likely to be intended to influence the feelings as well as the thinking of the audience. They are therefore more likely to reveal the speaker's intentions. Written texts can be more subtle.
The speaker can use oratorical devices such as repetition and rhythm to stir the emotions. Sound adds much to the effect of words, especially if the words also make powerful pictures in the minds of the listeners.
FEEDBACK:
• The speaker can see how the audience is reacting, and adjust his/her delivery.
• The speaker can go back and explain in greater detail if necessary.
• The writer cannot take back what has been written. The speaker can (sometimes) take back what might have caused misunderstanding or offence.
The speaker can be influenced by the listener more readily than the writer by the reader.
Although there are rules in common (for example, in following the sequence of Persuasion), it is essential to treat these two forms of verbal communication differently, both in the preparation and in the delivery.
For guidance and/or coaching call me on 07768 696254.
LANGUAGE:
The language that is written to be read is different from the language that is written to be said. The main differences are:
• Grammatical - spoken language is less correct
• Repetition - spoken language uses more repetition, while written texts let you go back and read again what you might have missed
• Sentence length - speech requires shorter sentences
• Directness - speech requires you to get to the point of a sentence quicker
• Vocabulary - written texts tend to have a higher level of vocabulary
ATTITUDE:
Written texts are usually read in the absence of the author, and their meaning is coloured by the reader, not the author. Spoken texts are always coloured by the author's delivery.
Spoken texts are more likely to be intended to influence the feelings as well as the thinking of the audience. They are therefore more likely to reveal the speaker's intentions. Written texts can be more subtle.
The speaker can use oratorical devices such as repetition and rhythm to stir the emotions. Sound adds much to the effect of words, especially if the words also make powerful pictures in the minds of the listeners.
FEEDBACK:
• The speaker can see how the audience is reacting, and adjust his/her delivery.
• The speaker can go back and explain in greater detail if necessary.
• The writer cannot take back what has been written. The speaker can (sometimes) take back what might have caused misunderstanding or offence.
The speaker can be influenced by the listener more readily than the writer by the reader.
Although there are rules in common (for example, in following the sequence of Persuasion), it is essential to treat these two forms of verbal communication differently, both in the preparation and in the delivery.
For guidance and/or coaching call me on 07768 696254.
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