Use verbs? PLEASE?

When I checked-in, I asked the hotel desk clerk, and he couldn’t tell me what item #2 means.

smokingWhich do YOU think is the case?
A.) There are NO rooms in-which you are allowed to smoke, OR…
B.) There are rooms available in-which you MAY smoke?

(We’ll never know, because I don’t smoke, and the desk clerk apologized “I’m new.”)

Verb omission is common in radio news.
Here’s an example, from a station in Texas, a story about a love triangle shooting. Listeners heard:

“The woman’s husband arrested the wounded man taken to the hospital.”

Here are the facts the writer obscured:
• Police arrested the woman’s husband, the accused shooter.
• The person he shot was hospitalized.

As-is, the ear was told something different when half-sentences ran-together.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

FREE, as promised in my radio interview…

Download “Survival Speech,” the book (let)
Help yourself to 32 pages of tips, techniques, and several SLIGHTLY-sneaky tricks…critical communication skills for the way things are now. [PDF]

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

“OOPS” abbreviation? Product review? Both?

crackers

Image | Posted on by | Leave a comment

Marco Rubio missed save: THREE WORDS

They’ll only remember The Swig.

rubio-sipWhen you’re chosen to deliver the-other-party’s Response to The State of the Union address, your party is running-you-up-the-flagpole. How you look is more important than what you say. Ask Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Three words could have turned this unfortunate distraction into a thoughtful pause: When Sen. Rubio sensed that he’d soon need to take a sip of water to continue, he should’ve simply completed a sentence, and said “Take a moment, and think about that.”
Effective public speakers understand that…pauses…have impact.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

THAT’S a message that cuts-through-the-clutter!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

How NOT to annoy people you call today?

How to avoid what might be THE-most-annoying, most-common phone faux pas?
HC explains, on the KDWN/Las Vegas Heidi Harris Show.


Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Social Media Horror Stories

Chapstick social media faux pasBlogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. can be powerful marketing tools…or damaging to brands that misunderstand social media.

Read about the “Where do lost Chapsticks go?” faux pas and two other case studies.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment