By Gail Zack Anderson on February 10, 2014
John was a great manager, good at his job and easy to get along with. But every now and then, he had days when his patience was thin, and he seemed distracted. His team knew when he was having a bad day, even before interacting with him. How did they know? Chances are, they noticed […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on January 27, 2014
Whether you are presenting or training, long lectures can be a drag. To engage your audience, to add life to your presentations, and to increase recall, consider these ways to get information across without lecturing. Demonstration. Show, don’t tell, or show and tell. Bring in the item you are discussing and pass it around. Have […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on December 18, 2013
Quick—who is the most effective communicator you know? Why did you think of that person? I am guessing that this person provides a consistently positive experience when they communicate with you. Let’s think about the experience you provide when someone comes into contact with you. It doesn’t matter if they work in the next cubicle, […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on December 4, 2013
A few years ago I worked with an individual who came to me because she seemed to have trouble listening to her boss. As we spoke, it turned out she was anxious about remembering everything he said, and so she would furiously write copious notes as he spoke. But the anxiety and the distraction of […]
By Theresa Pojuner on October 31, 2013
You are gathering notes at a meeting for a group of documents that need to be produced. Are you listening to the individuals as they speak? Are you really hearing what they are saying? Not only that, are you writing down what they are saying? What is the meaning behind what they are saying? Are […]
By Theresa Pojuner on September 8, 2013
Not knowing your audience and stakeholders – not knowing your audience could mean not only presenting unnecessary and non-essential information, but possibly also presenting it in a manner that the audience does not understand. If a document presents unfamiliar or foreign terms to the audience, then the material is not helpful nor constructive. Ignoring your […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on November 19, 2012
Think back to the advice you received before you delivered your very first presentation. Your supervisor probably said; “There is nothing to it. Just get up there and be yourself.” That was actually pretty good advice, but you might have discounted it because it sounded so obvious, and because it seemed so difficult to be […]
By Theresa Pojuner on April 30, 2012
With social media connecting us to more people globally, technical writing was sure to follow the same path. What does it take to be a global technical writer? How much the global clients need and what they need has to be clearly defined. The key will be in understanding the local culture and language. But […]
By Gail Zack Anderson on January 31, 2012
We continue describing effective presentation skills by the alphabet. C is for Courage. It takes a certain amount of courage just to get up and speak. It takes even more to be authentic, or to take a risk in front of your peers. Tap in to your courage like the cowardly lion in the Wizard […]
By Theresa Pojuner on January 9, 2012
I’ve come up with the following tips to follow when creating a document. You can think of it as a checklist. Hope you find it helpful. Know your SME (Subject Matter Expert) – find them and collaborate; create relationships and work with them and inform them of why you’re there; use any opportunity to gather […]
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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