99 ways to improve business communication

Click here to read a very interesting article on 99 ways to improve your business communication. The tips I like most are:

Resist the temptation to finish other people's sentences.
Stand up if everyone around is standing and sit down if everyone is seated. Be on a level playing field.
Watch for cultural differences in communication styles.
Use smiles as positive reinforcements.
Understand the importance of making small talk.
Connect with human emotions by using real-life examples and sharing stories.
Stay on message.
Turn off your technology at professional business meetings and events.
Avoid criticizing, complaining, and judging.
Listen to what is not being said.
Look for similarities, not differences. This bridges communication gaps.
Ask the question. Then be quiet.
Follow the 5 Ps: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance (public speaking).
Focus conversations on other people, not yourself

And last, the most important one: Choose your words carefully.

KLM answers every tweet and post in person

KLM launched KLM live reply; a service whereby every tweet and post will be answered within the hour, 24 hours a day. To promote this service, KLM switched for one day from normal Facebook and Twitter replies, to "living" replies with their own staff. In 12 hours over 60 questions were answered by 500 KLM employees. See the video below to get an impression!



Interested? Click here to see more.

What would the president say?

It may seem like they do, but often CEO's, presidents and prime ministers do not write their speeches themselves. Mostly, a team of speechwriters is able to "translate" complex economic and policy issues into a clear message for the general public.

Writing a speech involves several steps. A speechwriter has to meet with the executive and the executive's senior staff to find out the broad framework of points or messages that the executive wants to cover and put forward in the speech. Then, the speechwriter does his or her own research on the topic, to flesh out this framework with anecdotes, news and examples. The speechwriter will also consider the audience for the speech, which can range from a town-hall meeting of community leaders to an international leaders' forum. Then the speechwriter blends the points, themes, positions, and messages with his or her own research to create an "informative, original and authentic speech" for the executive.

The speechwriter then presents a draft version of the speech to the executive (or the executive's staff) and makes notes on any revisions or changes that are requested. If the speechwriter is familiar with the topic and the positions and style of the executive, only small changes may be needed. In other cases, the executive may feel that the speech does not have the right tone or flow, and the entire speech may have to re-drafted (speechwriter - federal government job profile).

We know that Obama is famous for his speeches. Curious who writes them? Click here to view the profile of one of the best speechwriters at this moment.

Luxury goods... Brands!

Do you like to show your luxury goodies to the worlds? Do you think that your social status depends on your new Gucci, Mercedes or Louis Vuitton? It might be that you are being influenced by the so called "haves"; people who have enough money to buy expensive luxury products. The European Institute for Brand Management published a reasearch about the social status that people (like to) gain by showing their new and expensive goods (2010).

The research showed that the value of luxury goods is related to the amount of social status that one needs. Society can therefore be divided into "haves" and "have-nots". "Haves" are the people who are able to buy the most expensive products and are trendsetting. "Have-nots" are people who are not able to buy expensive brands, but are definetely willing to.

The rich and famous as well as the people who cannot afford expensive luxury, are relating their social status to brands. Some like to show their expensive goods, others do not. The "haves" - for example (some) reality stars, actors, or singers - can influence the "have-nots" - for example (insecure) teenagers who are watching reality shows or people that like to associate themselves with famous movie stars. The last group of people will buy luxury brands anyway, save for it or will buy fake ones.

Fake products, such as the fake Louis Vuitton handbangs or the fake Rolex watches that can be bought on every street corner in for example Thailand or Turkey, are very populair with the "have-nots" group. For this group their social status is so important that they rather buy a fake handbag, than buy no handbag at all. What this group does not realize, is that an enormous criminal network is behind the production of fake products and that they are contributing to that network as well.

Rather wear fake than no brand at all or like to show off your luxury goods? See what kind of type you are: http://www.eurib.org/bibliotheek-kenniscentrum/kenniscentrum/strategisch-merkenbeleid.html

Using Hyves, Twitter and Facebook in Politics

During the 2008 elections in the USA, a lot of youngsters voted in comparison to previous elections due to the use of Facebook by politicians. Obama was the king of social media. He gave young people the chance to participate and communicate actively. Besides this, Facebook was the ultimate way to reach thousands of young people. Dutch politicians thought: if Obama can do it, we can do it too. The most popular Dutch politicians on Twitter are Alexander Pechtold (D66) and Maxime Verhagen (CDA)(http://politiek.twittergids.nl). The most popular politician on Hyves are prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA) (http://jpb.hyves.nl)

Research have shown that the youth is sceptical about the populistic way politicians are trying to reach them. Today a special twitter and hyves debate is going on in order for politicians to keep up with the trend of social media. Both debates were a fiasco, it was impossible to have a debate going where it is only possible to type in not more than 140 characters on Twitter and on Hyves the messages were processed so slowly, that no one could follow what was actually said. Job Cohen (PvdA) even switched on his Caps Lock, which made all his comments come in capital.

It is known that youngster do not have many interest in politics. Only 20% of the Dutch youth says to have enough knowledge about Dutch politics and 25% of them thinks that politics have an actual influence on their daily life. Although a lot of young people are making use of social media, the question is if the use of social media by politicians is related to the voting behaviour of youngsters. My research has shown that when youngsters between 12 and 18 are using social media and are interested in politics they use social media as well in order to gain information about political issues. If they are not interested in politics but are using social media for personal activities, they will not use social media to gain information about politics and they will not be persuaded to do so as well. We can say that the use of social media by politicians in the Netherlands might have a slightly effect on the youngsters who already are interested in politics, but probably not as much as politicians would hope for.