Category: Communication

Books that Shape a President

If we need any more inspiration for following in the footsteps of President Obama, we have no further to look than the books he reads. Educators of many stripes have long believed that there is power in reading–we explore new worlds, new paradigms, new situations, and new challenges and solutions to past / present / future problems and issues. What better way to do this than a new read for the New Year?

The NY Times recently had a story that listed some of the books that informed the President. Taking a queue from there, I went to one of the local independent bookstores, Three Lives and Company, and picked up one of the texts I have not yet read, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon.

Song of Solomon
Imagine the possibilities if we all read more texts of substance?

Barack Obama, the Hope We Need Today

Let us wish the best for today’s inauguration and for the new US President elect, Barack Obama (especially for those who have not drunk the Obama Kool-Aid). If ever we need hope for a better future, today is the day.

Barack Obama

Given the crowds and the almost unending positive attention today has in the media, workplace, and general conversations, I think the change Obama has promised is already happening.

Learning from Impromptus

I watched the impromtus during our final class last night, and it appears they were well-received.  I changed the format of how I handle these, as well as making the questions more open-ended and general than traditional business-related issues, and then used a Critical Incident Questionnaire to better understand the experience. There are a few things that stick out in my mind about this end-of-course activity:

  1. Speaking on your feet is not scary with practice.
  2. Seeing how things work well and then trying them out can be effective (such as asking the audience a question and getting their responses at the beginning to capture their attention).
  3. Humor goes a long way to engaging and maintaining audience involvement.
  4. Using a general communications model can be applicable to all communications situations.
  5. Using a personal story on a topic with which the audience can directly relate is engaging.

I am pleased with the results, and like the way it seemed to end the course on a positive note by taking what we learned and applying it to a larger context (life). I hope my students found it as useful as well.

Business Communication Impromptu Speech Topics

Today is the final class in my Business Communication MBA course at NYU Stern. While my students completed their final presentations during our last class on Monday, tonight they will have 2 minutes to prepare and deliver an impromptu presentation.

I thought it may be fun (and potentially useful for other business communication speech professors) to post the topics here. I gathered them from colleagues, online, and my own perspective:

  • Explain a business controversy you were part of and how you managed it.
  • Tell us who your hero is and why.
  • Describe how you responded to an unethical situation.
  • What one regret do you have from your college days?
  • Tell us about the most surprising thing you will take away from your experience at Stern.
  • Discuss your proudest moment.
  • What is the best book you ever read?
  • If you were tapped by the president to work with inner city schools, what would you do first?
  • Who has been your role model in your professional career?
  • Recall a time you were glad you listened to someone’s advice.
  • Tell us about a time when you discovered your leadership potential.
  • Tell us about the most valuable website you have visited.
  • Tell us about a time when you used your political savvy to push through a program or idea that you really believed in.
  • What was the best vacation you ever took?
  • What historical person would you most like to meet?
  • Tell us about a time when you had to sell an idea to someone who was not interested
  • Tell us about the most remarkable movie you have ever seen.
  • Discuss your idea of a perfect day.
  • If you can live anywhere, where would it be?
  • What is your most vivid childhood memory?
  • The expression / slogan / motto that best describes my view of life is…
  • What social cause means the most to you?
  • What management characteristic or trait would you most like to learn or improve upon?
  • Explain how a smart person might not be wise.
  • Tell us about the hardest thing you have ever done.
  • Tell us how to make a new friend.
  • Discuss a way you have helped a colleague.
  • If you sang performed with a professional musician, which one would it be with?
  • What is your favorite piece of art?
  • Do you prefer poetry, drama, or opera?
  • What would make the world a safer place?
  • What fear have you overcome?

Let’s see, choose a folder piece of paper, and you get one chance to toss it back in if your immediate assessment determines it does not feel right (I do not want this to cause any more stress than we all already have). 2 minutes to prepare. 2 minutes to speak. The rubric will include 5 elements:

Strategy:

  1. Gets audience attention
  2. Intent is clear from the beginning.
  3. Dynamic close leaves audience at high point

Delivery:

  1. Eye contact and Gestures
  2. Energy and engagement

I am really looking forward to this . . .

WordPress “Press This” via the BlackBerry

I have blogged several times about my desire and struggle to be able to create blog posts from my BlackBerry. I am not satisfied with Postie or the built-in emailable blog posting capability of WordPress. Too many delays and punctuation and formatting issues to make them reliable solutions.

However, I think I may have found a solution in the recently upgraded WordPress 2.7 “Press This” feature.

Press This is a shortcut bookmark feature to save on a browser for fast blog postings when on a web page of interest. Instead of saving it to my desktop browser, I saved the link to my BlackBerry browser. I opened the bookmark on my phone, was given the most basic posting options, and this post is the result. Press This allows me to post directly to my blog without opening my blog’s full admin screen (which does not open on my BlackBerry due to all the coding and features there).

This is my second post using Press This, and I wanted to share this success with anybody out there who is also struggling to post to a WordPress blog from a BlackBerry.