About a month ago, I listened to Paul Randal’s Pluralsight course entitled Communications: How to Talk, Write, Present, and Get Ahead! I consider Randal a top-notch communicator, and so I was definitely interested in hearing what he has to say. This is a short series at just 2 1/2 hours, but definitely worthwhile.
My biggest take-aways from this were:
- Keep e-mails short and succinct. Have one or two questions and make it clear if you expect an answer. I used to be terrible about writing novellas to co-workers, but I eventually realized (before this course reinforced the habit) that I need to write concisely.
- Do not have a meeting without an agenda, and stick to your agenda. Don’t waste time in meetings, and don’t be afraid to move a topic to its own meeting if necessary.
- Practice for presentations and expect anything to happen. I’ve had my PC reboot in the middle of a presentation. This is a talk that I’d given a couple of times, so I was able to continue with my “lecture” portion, and by the time the machine was back up (thank goodness for solid state drives!) I could pick right back up where I’d left off. Whatever happens, don’t panic.
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