The Communication Blog

Someone likes this

In keeping with the current state of publishing and marketing, I’m having to make sure that this little bit of good news about my book pops up everywhere, so for those of you who have already seen this news somewhere else, or everywhere else, my apologies.

Radio host Maryanne Comoroto has a popular Internet radio show, MaryanneLive, with, according to Maryanne’s and HealthyLife.net’s site, five million listeners. Through a quirky, “Really?” set of circumstances, she interviewed me for almost an hour last week about my book and told her audience, “Mike Harkins has written a book that everyone should read.”

Nice to hear someone who doesn’t know me from whoever not only talk about the book, but really understand the core concepts of The Way to Communicate‘s methods and insights. The show even included a ‘surprise’ (to me) communications makeover on a guest…and it went well.

From me, and for all those writers whose work reaches a wider audience through your efforts, thanks Maryanne.

Books, writers and sun in Wine Country

That’s where I’ll be tomorrow, downtown Santa Rosa, Wine Country, in the Portsmouth Publishing booth, signing a precious few copies of The Way to Communicate. The weather will be great for the 5,000 attendees and the exhibitors, authors, and publishers.
And there’s food!

It’ll be a long but fun day for me. Hope to see you there.

The bible for anyone who writes

It seems that many otherwise stellar professionals and career-oriented people have trouble with the correct forms of titles, and the use of the possessive apostrophe vs the plural of a word. Here’s my unsolicited guidance, to serve as a general rule, accompanied with all the usual love and respect.

Titles by themselves aren’t proper nouns and aren’t upper-case unless they are part of the full title:

She was the manager of human resources.

Pamela Goodword, Manager of Human Resources

Sam is vice president of the club. (no hyphen)

Sam Shepherd, Vice President of Western Whatever

(a related aside: the title isn’t hyphenated, but if the phrase is used as an adjective, it is, because it’s a descriptor: That task is included in his list of vice-presidential duties.)

Now, for that confusing apostrophe. If the sentence describes something that is yours (oh great, there’s one of the uses where the possessive doesn’t actually apply…give me a minute and I’ll get to the exceptions), then think of the apostrophe as a hook, to connect to its owner:

They found the robber’s wallet on the floor.

The company’s 401k match is great.

Here’s the plural: There are too many footballs on the field. (also, as demonstrated by the first word of the sentence, the apostrophe in the word “Here’s” is the contraction, “Here is…”)

Where the possessive apostrophe can be a little confusing is in the different forms of pronouns, and forms of ‘it’:

An apostrophe with ‘it’ is used only for the contraction of it is: It’s late. When the usage is referencing something that belongs to it (hold on, I know it’s close to confusing), there is no apostrophe…which is the opposite of the previous hook analogy:

That animal eats its young.

The book’s cover may be cool, but its story sucks.

And the same confusing issue occurs with forms of their and your:

It’s not mine, it’s yours.

It’s not mine, it’s theirs.

If I can get everyone to just understand the titles thing and the possessive vs plural stuff, I’ll be happy enough.

I know it’s confusing.

Everyone should own and read, at least once every couple of years, Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. That’s it; no description, no link, just go get it, order it, whatever, just go get it, read it, and you’ll be a much better communicator for it. It’s a little book, but it’s a big help.

I’m doing the very last edits and proofing of my forthcoming book, The Way to Communicate, best described by its own slug, to wit: an enlightening method for effectively communicating in public speaking, presentation and conversational situations.

Well, what the heck, the jacket copy says it so well, here’s more: “This unique, entertaining, and personal guidance benefits anyone who wants to develop greater confidence and effectiveness in any kind of communication environment, from a one-on-one conversation to a presentation in front of packed auditorium. While many of the book’s examples take place within a business related environment, The Way to Communicate encourages development of greater awareness and empathy as a way to connect with anyone, in any situation.”

 Although it won’t be released until later this year, I’ve posted a downloadable excerpt on Scribd, with another to come next week. The current excerpt, Be Normal, is about challenges faced by executives who, as the ‘face’ of an organization, tell the organization’s story  so many times they begin a misguided effort to keep the story fresh, and end up moving away from the personal qualities and attributes that made them effective storytellers in the first place.

Hope you find something in it that resonates for you, clients, or friends.

More to come.

Steve Jobs revealed the iPad (it’s still happening as I write this), the world’s worst-kept secret.

I’m watching live picts and comments via Endgadget.

Bottom line: it is waaaaayyyy cool.

Got word from a professional friend about his work being aired on PBS tonight.

Jim Iacona is one of the best shooters (video and film) in the Bay Area. Recently, he allowed me to post a great first person piece he wrote on spending time with guitar legend Les Paul. Tonight, PBS airs a documentary about Sam Cooke, and Jim’s work is all over it. Here’s the descrip, via Jim:

Soul, joy, tragedy

“Monday night (January 11th) PBS will air a show on its American Masters Series that is near and dear to me. Sam Cooke: Crossing Over was directed by my friend John Antonelli; I shot all but one of the interviews. The show is about the life of the amazingly talented singer/songwriter Sam Cooke and his musical transition from Gospel to Pop. Cooke was a powerhouse in the music industry in the late 1950′s and the early 1960′s. He wrote and sang many, many popular music songs including: You Send Me, Wonderful World, Another Saturday Night, Chain Gang, Twisting The Night Away, Only Sixteen, Cupid, and A Change Is Gonna Come. Cooke’s story is compelling and it is beautifully told by John and Editor Eli Olson through historical footage, Danny Glover’s narration and interviews with James Brown, Billy Preston, Smokey Robinson, Lou Rawls, Herb Alpert and others.

The show took over ten years to complete. The production went on so long I can see the evolution of my career through the lighting styles for the interviews. I know how hard it is to complete a film, and Sam Cooke: Crossing Over is a great triumph for John.

Please sit down Monday night and watch the show on PBS or Tivo it for later. The broadcast times will vary depending upon your market. I’m sure you will enjoy seeing the well told story of a true American music legend.”
Sam Cooke was an embodiment of talent and soul, and his influence on singers continues. This should be a great show.”

And, about another friend:

Saturday I dropped by the Charles M. Schulz museum in Santa Rosa, where friend and professional colleague Brian Fies spent several hours as the museum’s Cartoonist in Residence. Brian is an award winning graphic novelist. His first book, Mom’s Cancer, about his family’s experiences coping with his mother’s illness, won several awards and has touched people’s lives around the world.

His recent book, Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow, is a multi-decade story about a father and son’s relationship, and our technologically evolving world. The book has received great reviews. Personally, I am awed by Brian’s mastery and integration of illustration, story, and technology, and envious of the support he received from his publisher, which is clearly evident by the unique physical structure of the book itself — from the die cut jacket cover to the integration of old-school comic book paper within the book’s pages.

Great story and great ideas. If you haven’t picked up a copy, do it; it’s a great package.

And, the dude spent quality time with Jeannie Schulz. Doesn’t get much cooler than that.

The Book

Welp, it’s all on me, but the advance reader copies of The Way to Communicate won’t go out until February 2010. I am lucky enough to have a publisher that has allowed me to design the book I’ve written (no small feat, usually, but it’s a little different for me, since I actually do design books and publications), and I needed to work out some additional layout issues, plus there’s still some editing to do. I am, as someone once aptly described a looming deadline, right up against it.

Bar Charts

Let’s look at a pie chart.

Kidding. Let’s not.

How ’bout this bar chart then?

Nope.

No charts. Say it with me: “No charts.”

I had discussions with a few clients recently, working hard to explain that the data of a bar chart is not as important in a presentation setting as is what the bar chart should be conveying. There is a difference. It’s a huge difference, and that difference is about simplifying a message to get the message across. There is nothing simple about bar charts and graphs and pie charts. Their data points and levels of data explained and compared can indeed be as complex or as basic as needed, but the charts themselves are of little interest to people who don’t create nor use them on an ongoing basis.

Use a simplified representation of data to make your point, instead of an x-and-y axis and multiple lines of different colors and little tiny numbers of dates and years and…

It’s simple, really — just show me the two or three important periods of time, say, with blocks of color and of varying height, and put the ‘data’ on top of each block, f’rinstance: Sales in 2008, $10 million, and, Sales in 2009, $11 million. If there’s something important about the time and money between those two, okay, show me that too.

REMEMBER, it’s the information that’s important, not the chart.

Move with me now

“Just act natural.”

Bite me. That advice, first proffered by gosh only knows who, is as helpful as “don’t be nervous, when you look out there just imagine that everyone in your audience is sitting there in their underpants…”, which is to say, not helpful at all. Relaxed, natural movement is something I help clients with all the time. Watch enough low-budget commercials or infomercials, and you can get a sense of how unnatural some movements can really be.

For years, I’ve stressed how hard it can be for someone who’s overcoming presentation anxiety to also be aware of how they move (or how they don’t move) as they ‘try’ to act natural, even though it’s very, very important to seem relaxed and appear normal.

Here’s a report about the connection between how we think, what we think, and how we move:
Our Bodies, Our Brains
Recent studies have shown that moving our body in certain ways can improve our ability to think. Christie Nicholson reports. In fact, body movement can become so strongly connected to the accompanying thoughts that the mere movement itself can elicit associated feelings, according to studies.

The end of my season

Last Friday was the last day of my thirteenth hawkwatch season. This is a teaser for my next post, which will be on…thirteen years of a wonderful thing.