This gallery contains 8 photos.
What better time than the present to look back at the past two months, spent caroling with an amazing group of vocalists, encoreatchristmas(dotcom). Singing with this group has given all of us opportunities during these interestingly challenging times to use … Continue reading
Why the heck do we communicate information? Answer that question correctly and you win. Win your audience, that is.
But waste their time by creating useless, inaccurate, wordy, muddled, ugly, purposeless, and hard-to-find content and you will have bought a ticket to unemployment. So how can you ensure you don’t waste your audience’s time?
Follow these ABCs of good communication:
A is for accuracy – Research every fact and conclusion you make. Rely on SMEs (subject matter experts) and check sources.
B is for brevity – Be brief. Edit ruthlessly. Make every paragraph, every sentence, and every word earn its right to be.
C is for clarity – Eliminate misunderstood words. Write phrases that can be understood by a 5th grade-level reader. (You’re not “dumbing it down.” You’re making sure all levels Continue reading
Blackboard posted in New York prompted passersby to write theirs.
Then, you see the common word in all of them.
Every day is a clean slate. Go reach even further.
October 15 is White Cane Safety Day. So what’s the deal with the white cane?
I collaborated with the Society for the Blind to understand.
See what’s possible at vspblog.com 
Convergence (n) – the point at which objects meet.
On May 15, 2011, my hometown of Sacramento became the convergence point, and I could only be at one place at one time.
So, I shot photos at the Amgen Tour of California as it blew into my hometown.
Wrapping itself around the state capitol for its final leg of this “opening” stage, the race finished just blocks away from where I also wanted to be, the Sacramento Community Center.
For it was at that precise time and place that my other true passion was converging.
The technical communicators’ annual conference!
Schwarzenfeld Photography guest-posted a great entry at Digital Photography School’s site on tips for shooting conferences.
Tips include knowing the agenda, changing your point of view, and taking the must-have shots.
I happen to agree with many of the points, and engaged in some conversation regarding the topic.
Read the entry at DPS.
Kat Neville writes on Smashing Magazine “The Art and Science of the Email Signature.”
Nice work. Too many of my friends and coworkers have loaded down their signatures with every number, every tagline, every graphic logo of the company, in every color in the company-approved brand palette.
Brevity. Clarity.
That’s all recipients want.
Also, if the majority of your email is sent inhouse, then create an internal signature that’s your default.
Name, Extension.
Period.
No need to tell your coworkers the name of the company you both work for, your own Web site, and monthly Marketing tagline.
Speaking of company brand, the pastel colors some companies include in their palette are instant turnoffs. Try reading this: andy gee, communication specialist
Hey gang, another 1612-week session of our GetFIT Wellness IQ program starts in a few weeks, and I’m returning to captain a team for the 12th straight session. This session will be slightly different from past ones: I want to lead a new team of losers. I’m forming a team of “first-timers or failed-returners.” If you’ve never joined a Wellness IQ GetFit team in the past, or have tried a team but failed at your personal goals, this year choose me as your team captain.
I’m not creating a team that’s going to win first place in the team competition and take home the cool prizes. Those teams already exist and I applaud them. Please don’t sign up for my team if… Continue reading
On my other blog, read a teaser about our first full-cast run through.
behindthescenes.wordpress.com
Friends who aren’t on Twitter often ask me how to get beyond their “get started” phase. Other friends tell me of the frustrations with Twitter that drove them away. Still others remind me that their busy lives don’t allow them to engage with Twitter as often as they’d like.
To all of these friends, I may have found an answer. Read this helpful list Continue reading
eye-to-eye with a lens
For those who haven’t heard that one, photography is a balance between two parts, science and art. The science : light, equipment, and mechanics. The art: composition, timing, light, balance and contrast, and story. My point? Too often, people concentrate on Continue reading
(updated 6/2009 with new link to Grammar Girl’s podcast)
Have you noticed how complicated the world can be? Tired of reading legalese? Confused by complex tools crammed with complicated directions to confound you and stake claim to your cranium?
It’s time to do your part. Learn to simplify what others read. Think Readability. Simplicity. Clarity.
Start with Grammar Girl’s post of Adam Friedman’s “Simplify Your Writing.” As author of “The Party of the First Part”, he knows the topic. (And, I just love Mignon Fogarty’s podcasts!)
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