It is so important to develop good listening skills in dealing with staff and students. It takes a great deal of patience to be a good listener, but it's a skill that really pays off. I think we should all strive to be good listenersl, not to make judgements and to encourage others to think through and make good decisions.

How do you make sure your audience never loses focus on what you're presenting?

By knowing the subject matter, establishing the purpose and basically knowing your audience will in deed give a good foundation to the delivery of the class. These are the basics for all of us to work towards and will give credibility to the subject matter.

As a former military combat pilot, we used to say it required at least 3 hours of preparation/planning to each hour of flight time. I find that in preparing for a new lecture or class ... at a minimum the “3 to 1” rule applies also.

Gunnysack? That's a new one to me.

Good information

I wish more people would reread what they have written prior to sending it out.

Great information!

Often times when there are 2 or more instructors involved in a class(BLS, for example) the instructor that is not speaking causes disruptions by continuing to set up equipment, going through papers, etc. We must remember to be respectful of speakers and our audience. Thank you for this discussion.

Working in an educational environment with many people who speak a foreign dialect, communicating in English is very challenging.It is effective to use basic language skills, present your communications via multi media emethods, and understand your student's learning styles so you can deliver information which accommodates their style of learning.

So, what can you do to improve the 'emotional climate' of your team? 1. Deal with the 'bad apples'. 2. Lead by example. 3. Don't be afraid to show emotion. 4. Even if you are not the boss, you can still have a positive influence on the emotional climate.

I have found that students are learn more and are more engaged when they experience a lecture with an interesting hook scenario.

As I went through this tutorial, I was very aware of the effect that technology has seemed to have on good writing skills. The information about what should be included in a memo was especially relevant to this idea because too often in the workplace, I see people sending a one-sentence memo as an email. This gives the reader little direction or guidance about what this memo is intended to provide. The use of acronyms has also become more widespread with texting and I am starting to see that same "language" in business communication, especially when sent from an I-phone or Blackberry. Dolores

The perspective of a presentation should be done in accordance with the presentation main purpose, by defining the objective of the presentation and its purposes. Builg on the fact ad deliver in accordance in an orderly manner that will satisfy the audience in the end.

To do a presentation Skilfully, one must be prepared, organize and practice what they are gong to present to the audience in order to be successful in the presentation

In my career I have learned that sometimes it helps to know the person you are communicating. For example, I wanted to try something that had the potential to save money regarding overtime with employees. However, I needed the acceptance and approval from an individual who was the head of the largest number of employees to make it work. In first approaching the department head I quickly learned that he was certainly in charge of his area and did not take kindly to someone trying something different on his turf. In backing off for about two weeks, my approach was entirely different when meeting with the department head once more. I first met with him to ask him some questions, which I already knew the answers, to get his expertise and advice. He was very friendly and open and we discussed many things. A week later, I approached him in the same way on the subject of overtime. By this time, we got to know each other and had some measure of trust and I received his approval. It was my approach that I had to change to match the personality to get the best results. Linda

I teach highly technical classes involving electronics. I have created a library of close-up high definition videos of the circuits we work on in labs. This allows the class to see the work piece very clearly and allows me to make additional points on top of the lecture I have recorded with the video. Does anyone else use video in a similar way?

When I critique my students artwork, I tell good point of view first and then give corrective corrective feedback..sometimes negative feedback. Giving a negative feedback is always bad or make them encouraged? What exactly the difference between corrective and negative feedback? I think, both the corrective and negative deliver the same ideas...just a different of expressing. For example, in art work critique, elements are well organized...however, you'd better think of different colors for this part..it is corrective. This color does not go well with other colors..it is negative. But these two delivers same meaning to change colors.

How do you decide on the right amount of time for what is to be discuss? It says as long as take but could you possibily go beyound the time needed trying to make sure your audience gets all the information needed? I guess my question is what is the max number of minutes without an "over kill"?

One of the quiz questions was how long should a presentation last. I put no more than two hours and the the answer was as long as it takes. The attention span of learnings today is generally 45 minutes to a hour. Can I get some feedback on this answer?