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Effective Communication, Presentation Skills Are Stifled By PowerPoint
Every time I sit through a PowerPoint presentation, my distaste for this domineering technology grows. The speaker interrupts eye contact repeatedly, most of us more than one table back from the screen can't make out much of the lettering, and the give-and-take that should enliven any such presentation takes another nosedive -- offering nothing but the illusion of coherence. It's technology as a crutch, standing in poorly for the good old-fashioned display of public speaking skills that we have within us. It's business communication gone awry. We can all interact with an audience directly and demonstrate our presentation skills in well-prepared fashion. Well-prepared means a presentation that you've laid out in logical form, as if writing an email to an intelligent friend or associate. Rehearse it in front of a mirror. Be yourself.
Effective Business Communication Counts On Lean Writing Skills
In a business communication world saturated with near-instantaneous electronic messages, I start with the premise that the people you're writing for are too busy to absorb massive clots of verbiage. I'm talking about numbers of words as well as the length of the words themselves. Any thesaurus can give you a multisyllabic replacement for a lean word that hits the spot. Likewise, any bureaucrat or consultant can pile jargon-choked paragraph on top of ponderous paragraph. But to what end? In a way that might not have occurred to you, effective written communication is really about tone. The best advice I ever got about business writing skills can be summed up this way: "Be yourself, warm and personal. You're writing to real people, not an organization." Another take: "Write as if you're conversing with an intelligent friend."

Other intelligent friend Related Articles

\"You\'re an idiot if you don\'t start an Internet company right now\"
The following comes from my friend James Altucher's latest TheStreet.com Internet Review (subscribers-only) newsletter. He quotes a highly successful non-Internet entrepreneur friend recently saying to him as follows:
Market Research: Living in the Real World of Business Depends on Comments from the Real World
In the feature film Sliding Doors, I found myself fascinated by a conversation between two friends. Gerry had just been discovered by his girl friend as he was having an affair in their bedroom. Gerry's friend laughs at him and reminds Gerry that he had told him weeks ago that the affair would end without Gerry having to do anything. Gerry's friend asks him, "Do you want my opinion?" Gerry replies, "Am I going to like it?" With a chuckle, his friend responds with, "No. It's based on reality."

The Ultimate Mompreneur: Julie Aigner-Clark Gets Her Start
She never wanted to run her own business; she just wanted to be the best mom she knew how to be. But today, what began as a single children’s educational video that she filmed in her basement with a friend’s camera and her cat as a prop, has morphed into a billion dollar company that continues to be an industry leader. Julie Aigner-Clark might not have predicted her own success with her Baby Einstein series of videos, but she was certainly happy to roll with it. Today, mothers the world over know this entrepreneur’s name, and love her for the intelligent videos she has brought to the market.

To know yourself, know your shadow
It is a common experience. You speak to a friend about some strong negative feelings you have about someone else. Your friend, being a true friend, says, "but aren't you a bit like that too?" You of course don't like to hear this, but it gets you thinking. Maybe you can be a bit like it too. That's a useful admission since it then helps you to manage that characteristic in yourself. This is the sort of self-awareness that is crucial to our growth, to get that the people in our lives are in some way a mirror of ourselves. The concept of the shadow, from Carl Jung, is one of the great insights from 20th century psychology that is invaluable to those of us who seek to build effective relationships with others.
Everything Starts With A Conversation (Including Your Next Sale!)
Picture this. You're out having a coffee with a friend. An acquaintance of your friend happens to walk in and sits down for a few minutes to chat. After you finish talking about the weather and last night's sports scores, the inevitable question comes up: "So, what do you do?" You've got 60 seconds. What do you say?

Effective Communication, Presentation Skills Are Stifled By PowerPoint
Every time I sit through a PowerPoint presentation, my distaste for this domineering technology grows. The speaker interrupts eye contact repeatedly, most of us more than one table back from the screen can't make out much of the lettering, and the give-and-take that should enliven any such presentation takes another nosedive -- offering nothing but the illusion of coherence. It's technology as a crutch, standing in poorly for the good old-fashioned display of public speaking skills that we have within us. It's business communication gone awry. We can all interact with an audience directly and demonstrate our presentation skills in well-prepared fashion. Well-prepared means a presentation that you've laid out in logical form, as if writing an email to an intelligent friend or associate. Rehearse it in front of a mirror. Be yourself.
Office Space by the Hour
Recently Intelligent Office had an article written in the Financial Post discussing our services and how it is complimenting and supporting the growing trend for telecommuting. With more and more people working from home, from employees working for fortune 500 companies to new business start ups, professionalism and image has never been more important. For the fraction of the cost of leasing an office and having a full time receptionist, Intelligent Office provides traditional office services to support the home based business model.
Needed - One More Friend
Somebody once said that a stranger is simply a friend you haven't met. The dictionary says that a friend is one who is attached to another by affection which leads him to desire his company, or one who has sufficient interest to serve another.
Happy At Work – Want Professional Success? Ignore Negativity
It is difficult to work in an environment where people are negative. Everyone is responsible for being happy at work. What do you do when a friend wants to vent? How can you protect yourself from the negativity while being helpful to your friend?

Our Fate is in Our Own Hands
A few years ago a friend had Ned, a small independent contractor, do extensive renovations to his home. Being a very fussy craftsman and cabinet maker, Ned did an especially superb job on the extensive woodwork involved in the renovation. About a year after completing the renovations, Ned bumped into my friend at the local hardware store. "The recession finally caught up to me," Ned told my friend. "I've had to lay off my crew and try to wait out this slow period."

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