Dave Griffiths Articles

Writing Training, Business Communication Training, Presentation Skills Training And Instruction in Effective Communication - Click To Read Article
Writing or speaking in public, effective communication begins and ends with the "what" -- the content. Once writing training and presentation skills training help you gain confidence in that (and you will because you're an expert; otherwise, why would you be writing or speaking in the first place?), the "how" will begin to fall into place. To get there, you should take advantage of the fact that WRITING IS THINKING, learn to FOCUS ON YOUR READER OR AUDIENCE and EDIT YOURSELF SCRUPULOUSLY (quality control). Also, no matter how casually you may approach emails, that form of business communication is ubiquitous and requires the same writing skills as hard-copy memos or reports or letters. So the same three foundations of effective communication should apply when you start tapping away at the keyboard.

Writing Skills, Media Training Are The Key To Effective Communication - Click To Read Article
Writing skills aimed at effective business communication must take account of the busy reader, meaning that brevity and clarity go hand in hand. Write to edify. Otherwise, when it comes to effective communication in the professional working world, the only one impressed by your ponderous writing will be you. And if you want to turn a media encounter into a plus, it helps to understand what motivates reporters and their bosses. That's where media training comes in.

Writing Skills Training And Media Training Clearly AIMed At Successful Business Communication - Click To Read Article
• Improving writing skills won't happen without a firm grasp of the premise that "writing is thinking." The same goes for presentation skills. Whether preparing a speech or briefing or drafting a written communication -- an email, memo or report -- effective business communication is achievable only if you take advantage of the opportunity that writing, as opposed to a spontaneous conversation, offers. • Taking careful AIM (audience, intent and message) is the focus of media training for anyone who wants to make marketing-oriented business communication a success.

Writing Skills Atrophy Among Copycats, And Do-It-Yourself Business Communication Marketing - Click To Read Article
One of the best business communication marketing moves I ever made was sending out a monthly newsletter to current and prospective clients. I say that because it's a natural form of self-promotion minus obnoxious hype. You get your name out there -- with a lot of the keywords that attract search engines -- and you give readers an inkling of what you can do for them. Its value lies in an almost nonexistent "nag quotient." Far too often, I get insistent, "look at me!," "have I got an introductory offer for you!" emails from search engine optimization firms, online degree factories, "experts" in attracting government contracts, weight loss specialists, you name it. Not a one adds an iota to my knowledge of what they offer. Hype is what it is. But a newsletter that gives practical advice is truly effective business communication.

Workplace Communication And Management Communication Benefit From Writing Skills In Internal Newsletters - Click To Read Article
Newsletters directed at employee well-being, morale, cohesion and even an electronic flea market can be a very effective form of workplace communication and management communication. They can also be a forum for employees to show off their writing skills while they keep their colleagues informed about family news, recipes, social events and the business climate and official matters at work. You could announce business writing training or presentation skills training for employees who want to be more productive and position themselves for advancement.

Putting Business Communications On A Diet, and Media Training That Calls On Your Writing Skills - Click To Read Article
Business communications that forge a link between brevity and clarity are a crucial aspect of writing skills and communication training. It takes more effort to get to the point and support it in succinct fashion, but the payoff is business writing that honors the busy reader. Also, you can take advantage of media training and learn to be your own public relations agent -- at little or no expense. Just keep in mind that local newspapers need local news, and that could be you.

Presentation And Writing Skills Training Yields Effective Business Communication Skills - Click To Read Article
The key to effective business communication is getting to the point, what Navy SEALs I worked with in a seminar called BLUF -- bottom line up front. Whether trying to sharpen your business writing skills or presentation skills, the key is to tell your reader or audience what you want (or what you want them to understand) and then tell them why that's important. For any writer practicing effective communication, that starts with "five Ws and one H" -- who, what, when, why, where and how. The SEALs understood that all their hard-won knowledge has little value if they can't develop the communication skills to share it with the people who set policy, spend money and make far-reaching decisions. And those people are busy, so communication training, whether for writing skills or presentation skills, has to focus on brevity,

Presentation Skills And Media Training That Honor The Audience And Sharpen Your Marketing Message - Click To Read Article
The key to effective presentation skills-oriented business communication training is to respect your audience and shun, or at least de-emphasize, PowerPoint. Also, role-playing media training can help marketers of new products or services sharpen their message. In both cases, participants learn through role-playing to put a priority on good communication skills.

Media Training, Marekting-Oriented Business Communication Go Hand In Hand - Click To Read Article
In the business communication training I've conducted over the years, I've found that communication skills don't have to be limited to the obvious focus on writing training and presentation skills (public speaking) training. There's more to getting your marketing message out there, and it involves reporters, editors and producers and their never-ending quest for "the story." It's all about media training.

Media Training Stresses Effective Communication With The Press - Click To Read Article
When I run media training seminars, I stress that reporters need help from anyone with expertise in the topics that journalists cover. No reporter can prosper without sources. Even the rawest cubs know they must have authoritative quotes to back up both sides of any story dealing with conflict -- political, financial, zoning, hostile takeovers, executive compensation, you name it. Controversy puts their stories on the front page. Where you come in is that you offer to help the business writer at your local daily or regional business periodical, or a byline name you see in one of those niche publications that are prospering as part of the so-called "trade press." React to a story they write, and tell them they can call on you for on-the-record expertise or "background." Media training can help you reach out for that free publicity.

Media Relations Training Should Focus On Knowing What Motivates Reporters - Click To Read Article
Automatically distrusting reporters could be a lost media relations opportunity. Welcoming them to your place of business or nonprofit and feeding their curiosity and professional pride by offering to act as a source ("on background," perhaps) could be a lasting step in the right direction. Trust them until they give you a reason not to. If that happens, by all means fight back. Go directly to their editors or producers and tell them you've been wronged. That way, you're going after their only real agenda - themselves. When I run media training seminars for government agencies, nonprofits and companies, the first topic I address is "agenda." There's a misonception out there the media routinely pursue political or personal agendas in the way they cover stories. The real agenda is their professional success.

Effective Business Communication Connects Brevity and Clarity, and Media Training That Works - Click To Read Article
Just because you're practicing business communication doesn't mean you have to lean on cliches and hackneyed phrases. Effective communication training that stresses the link between brevity and clarity leads to business writing skills that honor your readers. A key element of media training is to learn the importance of "bridging" -- the technique of nudging aggressive reporters back to your message. That sort of effective communication is standard practice for successful politicians, and with media training you can learn to do it as well.

Effective Business Communication and Writing Skills Can Lead To Greater Productivity - Click To Read Article
Imagine workplace communication where expectations are clear and business writing skills are valued. That equates with productivity because the back and forth of editing and rewriting and revising is kept to a minimum. Effective communication should be an essential part of any business training aimed at improving efficiency.

Effective Business Communication Counts On Lean Writing Skills - Click To Read Article
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."

Effective Communication, Presentation Skills Are Stifled By PowerPoint - Click To Read Article
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.

Email Business Communication Is Convenient, But Still Demands Carefully Honed Writing Skills - Click To Read Article
Email has changed business communication drastically, putting pressure on nearly all of us to improve our writing skills. Taking advantage of its speed and convenience without paying proper respect to the needs of effective communcation can leave a harmful impression of you and your nonprofit, agency or company. Any business writing training should take account of certain rules, such as the need to slow down and edit yourself before hitting the "send" button. Rush that move, and your professional reputation could take a beating.

Demonstrating Presentation Skills Without Jitters, And SEALs Who Care About Effective Communication Training - Click To Read Article
Presentation skills training does not have to rely on PowerPoint. Make it conversational, maintain eye contact and LISTEN to your audience, and you'll see how effective business communication can be -- and how public speaking doesn't have to be intimidating. Trying to communicate with the Pentagon, Navy SEALs learn the importance of clear business communication and effective writing skills, presentation skills that are not dependent on PowerPoint, and communication training in general.

Communication Skills And Effective Writing Must Include Meticulous Self-Editing - Click To Read Article
No matter how clever and succinct you may be at business writing and effective communication in general, you risk blowing it if you don't edit yourself. By edit, I mean proofreading for grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., as well as revising or rewriting. You can do the latter as you go, or you can let your words flow, then give it several careful reads before hitting the "send" button or printing it out and offering it to your client, customer, boss, vendor, coworkers, etc. Why? Because that's you doing the business communications in the email or report. As such, assuming you care about your image or reputation, your writing skills should appear both professional and natural. Or, to put it more tellingly in the words of the great novelist Toni Morrison: "The language must be careful and appear effortless. It must not sweat."

Business Writing Skills, Media Training, Presentation Skills Training (Not PowerPoint) Count On Quality Control - Click To Read Article
• No matter how clever a writer you may be, failure to edit yourself carefully can harm your business communication and waste your improving writing skills. • The key to media training is building an effective communication bridge to the press. Accomplish that and you're on the way to marketing-oriented business communication that works. • Presentation skills training that succeeds stresses eye-to-eye effective communication and shuns PowerPoint.

Business Writing Skills Can Bring Out The Thinker In Us, and Presentation Skills Should Be Muted In Volume - Click To Read Article
Business communication works best when you keep the adage "writing is thinking" in mind. Effective writing skills depend on the creativity and analysis that the writing task allows, compared to the spontaneity often expected of verbal business communication. And the fact that you count on public speaking as a tool for business communication doesn't mean that you have to raise your voice like a carnival pitchman. Presentation skills rely on careful preparation and a conversational approach to your audience.

Business Writing Skills, Effective Communication Count On Process And Details - Click To Read Article
Writing skills and effective business communication are dependent on the writing process -- exploratory, draft, edit/revise and publish. At the heart of effective writing are two principles. They work in parallel, approaching the writing task from slightly different angles. One is "ideas and details" and the other is "show don't tell." So, to be successful any business writing training starts with a solid understanding of the business writing process and an eye for relevant details.

Business Writing, Effective Communication Skills Need Not Be Pompous - Click To Read Article
Phrases such as "due diligence" and "transformational change" are business writing at its weakest. Effective writing communication skills must emphasize plain English that shows respect for readers who are certain to be tired of -- and annoyed by -- paragraphs such as this one on the website of a large management consulting firm: "Projects are customized based on client needs. Due diligence services range from initial validation of targets to detailed on-site due diligence visits to the preparation of complete integration plans. Management consulting services, aimed at enhancing organizational effectiveness, are typically intensive studies that identify cost-saving opportunities and define appropriate actionable go-forward plans. Strict confidentiality is maintained for all engagements."


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