More and more, people come together to watch online webinars, talk to clients in important meetings and attend training workshops. They're more accessible, affordable and convenient, particularly for those who live far from the big cities.

The challenge with these kinds of events is that we cannot know for sure if the experience will meet reasonable expectations, even if the topic is of our utmost interest. Maybe the speaker struggles with the slide deck, maybe the sound quality isn't optimal.

If you're speaking at such an event, how do you increase your odds of success? How do you prepare for that great webinar or that great meeting with key stakeholders?

In this episode we're exploring posture; what it means and how to effectively show good posture.

Before 2020, most people would go to the office and work together. They would gather by the watercooler and chat, have important meetings with clients and partners, visit other coworkers' workstations to discuss design work, perform pair programming, or simply exchange ideas creatively.

Then the pandemic hit, and everything changed. Most of the world has switched to ways of working that required them to talk through a screen most of the day. What was once a super natural thing to happen turned into a chore. Up to this day, there are still people who want to benefit from technology without jumping through the hurdles every time.

How will you ensure smoother, distraction-free calls and meetings? How do you get up and running for those with less effort and waste?

In this episode I am suggesting 3 essential components of a good setup for online calls, and I will also be suggesting a budget setup to improve it.

References

* Logitech H390 headset: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UXZQ42

* Samson C01U microphone: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HXE4BYW

* NexiGo N660P camera: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L7ZLNHB

* Logitech StreamCam: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W4DHNBF

Natasha Wellington-Hillsman is a Human Resources Business Partner and Leadership Coach with 25 years of experience in manufacturing and healthcare. Her focus is on Nonprofit, Career Development, Conflict Resolution, and Facilitation.

She is currently a Director of Human Resources at Luminis Health, Leadership Coach at Wellington-Hillsman and Professor at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland.

Reference material

Every time I record a podcast, or sometimes when I have prepare any sort of presentation to my clients or my team, I always use the same procedure:

Today's focus is on point 2: frame the topic well.

Good preparation elevates your message, your confidence and your audience's engagement.

When you start to develop your idea, you might realize that you might have holes you need to fill. For example: Is this idea too vague? Does my audience really understand the points I'm making? Can they keep a clear picture of the whole thing? How will they respond?

Here's my one question to you at this stage: how do you reduce the odds of misunderstanding and indifference? Think about how you already do that: the techniques, the experience you have, what others tell you to do. What does it look like?

Here's how I came up with the MoSMoS framework to solve those challenges.

References

Preparation is a crucial skill to have. While most people praise posture, confidence and tone of voice, only a few appreciate the prep work under a powerful presentation or a productive meeting. Today we'll explore the impact of preparation with a couple of examples and, after that, how to do so regardless of the situation.

Start 2024 on the right foot! If you want to become a successful communicator, make the difference amongst your peers and leaders, and boost your career, learn the 5 essential components of communication.

In further episodes we'll explore each of those elements in practice so stay tuned!

In a military operation, communication is not just important; it can be a matter of life or death. Clear, accurate, and concise communication can be the difference between success and failure on the battlefield.

However, in the chaos of a mission, miscommunication can lead to disastrous consequences. Orders misunderstood, coordinates confused, and critical information miscommunicated can jeopardize the entire operation and put lives at risk.

How can the military ensure that every message is accurate, every instruction is clear, and every communication is brief yet comprehensive, especially in the high-stakes environment of a mission?

We explore the ABCs of communication – Accuracy, Brevity, and Clarity.

Knowing the reasons why certain people take certain positions breaks barriers of potential conflict and increases the quality of collaboration, from coworkers and teams to the tougher stakeholders like customers, clients and directors. Let's explore the topic in three segments: what is conflict, its five levels, how to resolve it, and some practical examples.

Understand the Thomas-Kilmann conflict resolution model: https://www.mtdtraining.com/blog/thomas-kilmann-conflict-management-model.htm

Our workdays are filled with different activities: making decisions, talking about the solutions we're building, building them, planning, writing email, meetings... It's 2023, and it becomes more and more valuable to grow out of our specialty by understanding a little bit of everything others around us do, as well as developing human skills that help us collaborate better and be more productive.

When we have so many things to do and learn, it becomes increasingly more difficult to find time to focus deeply in our work; whether we're writing code, designing a marketing campaign or a webpage, analyzing data, etc.

What can you do to increase the amount of time to perform deep, focused work, and manage your time better? Talk less. Be concise.