Smeal Alumni Career Corner: Communication

The Smeal Network often shares articles they have found useful in their careers. Since it is Smeal Alumni Career Services’ mission to help those in a job search or looking for advancement with work related tips, resume reviews, networking, etc., I wanted to share these articles which focus on communication.

Which one of these communication topics could you offer advice on?

• Delivering a presentation
• Networking at an event
• Talking one-on-one in an interview
• Being heard in a team setting
• Composing an email

Help us strengthen the Smeal/Penn State network and continue to make it the #1 College Network! If you are a Smeal alum, please join us on LinkedIn. Remember it should say "Official" on the title!

Communication: Does your company have a crisis communication plan?

How to Calm Your Nerves Before a Big Presentation shared by Robert Aldrich (‘84 Accounting) Chief Financial Officer at Zoomdata: “It’s not easy getting ready for a big presentation. The stakes can feel high, and in our desire for things to go well, the anticipation builds. Fear, anxiety, or even paralysis can kick in. What can you do to calm your nerves when this happens?”

These Buzzwords Make Smart People Look Stupid Shared by Jennifer Andrew (’96 Marketing) Employee Banking and Investments at Bank of America: “Most of us are so focused on what we’re saying and what we’re going to say next that we lose sight of how our words affect other people. So give these words a read, think of how often you use some of them, and see if you can catch yourself before you use them again.”

This Book Has Taught Millions of People How to Write Well shared by Sean Bannon (‘94 Operations Management) Digital Manager at McKinsey and Company: “The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third sentence, it's equally dead."

How a World Champion of Public Speaking Prepares for Presentations shared by Joel Beaton ('01 Accounting) Global Client Development - Strategic Sales Leader at EY: “The 2014 Toastmasters International world champion of public speaking Dananjaya Hettiarachchi reveals how he prepares for his award-winning presentations.”

Articles shared by Daniel Bena (Webinar Presenter) Senior Director of Operations Development at PepsiCo:

--Reseach-Backed Ways to Impress Anyone in Two Seconds: “Say you have a big pitch coming up. You make an impressive agenda, put together a killer deck, and practice answering hard questions. But there’s a problem. This is all focused on the middle and end of your pitch, and it skips over the most important part: the first two seconds.And if you don’t nail those, guess what? Your hard work is irrelevant.”

--Great Presenters Do 1 Thing That Most Of You Don’t, Science Says: “What if I told you that the thing you spend the most time on when preparing for your big presentation might actually be the thing that influences your audience the least? That's exactly what a landmark study by Albert Mehrabian, UCLA professor emeritus of psychology, found.."

--8 Fatal Body Language Mistakes To Avoid During Presentations: “Body language is one of the most crucial vehicles to interact. During presentations, you always use facial expressions and hand movements to explain and communicate your message. Using your facial expressions and hand movements or gestures can enable you to convey your content successfully and shows your confidence.”

--Three Ways To Write Shorter, More Effective Emails: “When everyone is busy, a key part of getting people to pay attention is being respectful of their time. In the context of composing an email this means being clear, concise, and actionable. You can achieve this by sticking to a few simple strategies for structuring the information you need to communicate.”

Ask This Question When You Want To Skip The Small Talk And Cut To The Chase Shared by Christine Coy (‘95 Management Science & Information Systems) Principal Consultant at Paragon: “As Marc K?hlbrugge points out in this short piece on Medium, “the majority of cases can be handled” with just one question. According to him, you only need these four words to take a conversational shortcut, skip to the good part and get things done.”

5 Communication Mistakes Leaders Make shared by Renee DeMay (‘89 Business Logistics) Vice President, WW Customer Excellence at ANSYS, Inc.: “Have you ever botched a communication situation with your team? Of course you have…we all have; some of us have a lot of experience with this! I’d bet, however, you didn’t intend to make the mistake when you set out, did you? What can you do to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future? The answer is to become more aware of potential mistakes that can impede your communications.”

8 Simple Phrases Smart People Always Use shared by Doug Dolfman (‘90 Management) Attorney at The Law Offices of Douglas L. Dolfman: “We often want to be the smart one. The go-to person. The expert...unfortunately, in that quest to be an expert, we often fall into a fool's trap. We start believing that we must know it all, be it all, and do it all to be smart.”

What Is An Appropriate Response Time To Email? shared by Craig Faragalli (‘94 Management) Owner/Principal Consultant at Faragalli Consulting: “Thanks to smartphones in our pockets, email is always with us. When it comes to email response times, "The expectation has gotten worse because of this availability at your fingertips," says Aye Moah, chief of product and cofounder of Boomerang, which makes email productivity software. When people can respond immediately, it raises the question of exactly how long it's okay to wait to respond to an email.”

Be a Better Public Speaker shared by Jeff Gibbard (Webinar Presenter) Founder at True Voice Media: “Let's start here. There seems to be two ways to becoming a speaker. One is that people ask you to speak somewhere, you say yes, and they ask you what your fee might be. The other is that you think about becoming a public speaker and wonder just how successful you might become.”

The Art of Thank You Letters, Alive & Well shared by Steve Goldberg (‘79 Accounting) Owner, Managing Partner, Exec. VP at Media Recruiting Group, Inc.: “After you have “nailed” the interview, you have to make the follow up set you apart. Thank you letters and emails are an absolute must, to state the obvious.”

Crisis Communication Planning shared by Jonah Gruda (Accounting) Tax Partner at WeiserMazars LLP: “Knowing what to do in a crisis and having a plan in place allows you to be proactive rather than reactive. Being proactive is the number one differentiator between those who handle a crisis effectively and those who do not.”

How to Make your One-on-Ones with Employees More Productive Liked by Jonah Gruda (Accounting) Tax Partner at WeiserMazars LLP: “One-on-one meetings with direct reports often feel more hurried and disorganized than they need to be. It’s important to check in regularly with each of your employees, but how can you make the best use of the time? How can you make the meetings more productive and collaborative?”

The Future of Email Marketing: 5 Tips to Create Better Emails in 2017 Shared by Erik Harbison (’93 Advertising) Chief Marketing Officer at AWeber Communications, Inc.: “A great welcome email can can prompt subscribers to engage more and unsubscribe less. And it may be one of the best performing emails in your automation arsenal.”

Articles shared by Matt Macnamara (‘16 Finance) Business Development Manager at Univest Capital, Inc.

--The Manley Formula for Leaving a Successful Voicemail : “The most effective way to sound personal, and say what best flows from your own tongue, is to break your message down into the 5 core sections of a successful voicemail, and use that as a guide to stay on-track and focused. Having 5 clearly defined sections will keep you from rambling on, or repeating yourself, and will ensure you do not miss any important steps or information.”

--5 minutes to a killer speech or presentation: “When we prepare for our presentations or speeches, most of us think—Write it/ Practice it. True enough, but there is more to it if you truly want to engage, influence, or even dazzle your audience.”

Reputation Savers: 8 Incredibly Simple Questions to Answer Before Every Communication shared by Tracy Mason (Marketing) Assistant Dean of Strategic Communications in College of Science at George Mason University: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a multi-million-dollar communications campaign or a single tweet, a professional communicator should know the answers to these 8 questions before touching that keyboard, mouse or computer screen.”

8 Ways to Communicate for Success shared by Rosalie Minovich (‘15 Accounting) Digital Manager at McKinsey and Company: “We, Benjamin Aspir, CPA, Eisneramper LLP, and Jeremy I. Kaye, Deloitte, recently attended Hatrak’s session ‘Communicating for Success: Watch Your Language.’ These eight takeaways will help you increase your communication success. No crying. Guaranteed.”

Making the Most of Direct Mail’s Popularity – Part 2 - IoM Post shared by Michael Plunkett (‘84 Economics) President, Chief Executive Officer Association for Postal Commerce: “It's vital that you differentiate your brand and products from the competition, especially the brand leaders, if you want your mailers to hit the mark. Your killer proposition needs to be strong enough to appeal to new or existing customers, while still being in line with your brand and the products you're promoting. Make your target customers feel that your product can change their life for the better and they will reciprocate.”

Flow of Information shared by Diane Schwarztrauber (Business Logistics) Director of Marketing at Rajant Corporation: “Adding to this list is yet another challenge that individual utilities are now experiencing firsthand: communications issues hamper access to real-time data, impacting a utility’s ability to realize full return on investment (ROI) in the technologies that rely on it.”

This CEO's Trick to Managing Hundreds of Emails a Day Is Absolutely Brilliant shared by Amy Williams (Health and Human Development) President at SageWorks Rx: “On a recent episode of the Radiate podcast, Tom and I commiserated on how, despite all these new messaging apps, the email tsunami continues. In the course of a year, he described how incoming emails went from 150 to close to 300 to 400 in a day as the business grew.”

Genuine Praise Is the Best Motivator of All Shared By Steven Witten (’78 Accounting) Managing Principal at Triage Solutions LLC: “If you're reading this, you already understand the value of positive feedback. But you might not yet be adept at when, where, why and how to deliver it.”

Trending on Pulse:

--Can You Read the Room? Social Awareness at Work: “Imagine you’re walking into a meeting with your work team or into the dining room at your extended family’s holiday meal. How well can you “read” the feelings of the people in that room? Who is happy? Who is tense? Who bristles with anger or glows with warmth at every comment made by one individual?”

--Microsoft Built Technology That’s Better Than a Human at Understanding a Conversation: “ Microsoft just set a record with the announcement of a system that can transcribe the contents of a phone call with "the same or fewer errors" than real actual human professionals trained in transcription.”

--3 Ways To Duck Out of Awkward Conversations With Colleagues: “According to a recent study by Beyond, 46% of job seekers feel uncomfortable talking about politics at work, yet 65% of them believe it’s totally okay to post political comments on social media or public forums. Basically, it’s not that people don’t want to have these discussions, it’s that they’d prefer not to have them in the office. So how do you politely shut down shaky conversations at work—without offending someone or telling him or her off? These three phrases should do the trick.”