By Gail Zack Anderson on October 3, 2016
A recent workshop discussion led to this question: what kind of communicator are you, really? What are the best practices to adopt in order to be a great communicator? The class participants thought about what kind of attitudes we sometimes bring to communication, and came up with this list of best practices. As you read […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on July 5, 2016
How much time do you spend each day communicating person to person? You may be solving a problem with a customer, leading your team on a project, holding a meeting, or discussing performance issues. I bet this is a huge part of your workday. Yet most of us give very little attention to what kind […]
By Theresa Pojuner on June 23, 2015
As Technical Writers and Communicators, we have to communicate and collaborate effectively. If we follow some basic rules about interpersonal skills, then we can be sure that communicating verbally and in writing to individuals will be successful. How do we begin to do this? Build your relationships. Make sure that you are paying attention to […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on June 1, 2015
Have you ever walked into a meeting or joined in on a phone conference that went the wrong direction? Maybe it could have gone better with just a little pre-planning, specifically to set your intentions for that particular communication transaction. The power of setting your intentions before communicating is that it helps you to focus […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on April 6, 2015
Whether you are training, leading a meeting, or giving a formal presentation, effective speaking is more than just “telling.” It is also about making sure your listeners get the message you intend. To be sure your listeners understand and remember what you have said, select from these strategies, depending on the situation and your comfort […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on October 6, 2014
Listening is a huge part of our daily life, both at work and at home. How good a listener are you–really? Because we rarely if ever give it any special attention, we might not be as good at listening as we would like to think we are! Here are some pointers that can help you […]
By Theresa Pojuner on September 17, 2014
How do you interview for a technical writing position? It’s not only bringing samples of your work, it’s also being able to communicate about how you created your documents. Go through the following checklist to be prepared: Knowledge – Speak about: Tools or applications that you have worked with or that you are familiar with […]
By Theresa Pojuner on September 3, 2014
We have mentioned previously how to communicate priorities, but how do Technical Writers organize their own priorities? Prioritizing, listing items from the most important to the least important, can be a daunting task. Sometimes you can recognize and know right away what the priority is and sometimes not. When it comes to work priorities, how […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on April 10, 2014
Jack* is a natural born people person. And that makes him a natural born communicator. When you first meet him you’ll notice his calm, steady eye contact and his friendly smile. But as you begin a conversation with him, something special begins to happen. He asks a few questions until he finds something you have […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on February 24, 2014
Mary got nervous every time her manager started a conversation with her. She was worried she would forget some critical piece of information. That anxiety interfered with her ability to focus and remember what was said. As a result, she tried to write down everything that was said during every conversation. Since we speak much […]
Gail Zack Anderson, President of Applause, Inc., has nearly 20 years experience in training and coaching. She
provides individual presentation coaching, and leads effective presentation workshops and effective trainer workshops.
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Theresa Pojuner is a Documentation Specialist with over 20 years of writing experience and is skilled in many areas of documentation, for example, Style Guides, Training Manuals and Test Cases, wth a specialty n Technical Writing and Procedures.
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