What You Ought to Know is a video show on YouTube.  This one shares some tips for speaking to locals when traveling abroad.  Too funny!

Another fun way to learn about communication skills brought to you by your friends at Art of Eloquence.com

Extra!  Extra!! Read all about it!

The 5th Annual Say What You Mean Convention is coming to a computer near you!

Say What?

Dateline ABC…DEFG…Mark your calendars for this amazingly FUN and FREE event!

When? February 3rd beginning at 8am PST/11am EST

Where? Right from the comfort of YOUR OWN HOME…COMPUTER! http://www.SayWhatYouMeanConvention.com

What…to expect? LOTS!

Keynote Speakers: Christian Comedian, Micheal Jr. interview on Faith and Humor! AND…Talk-A-Latte’s Cindy Rushton’s seminar on Marriage!

Live Seminars:
Most of the live seminars will also be recorded for later, but if you’re listening in live, you can win bonus gifts. Plus, you won’t want to miss the Michael Jr. live interview, which will NOT be recorded at all.

•    8am PST/11am EST – Interview with Christian comedian Michael Jr. on Faith and Humor
•    10am PST/1pm EST  – JoJo Tabares  of Art of Eloquence “The Three Flavors of Communication: Writing, Speech, and Conversation”
•    12pm PST/3pm EST – Cindy Rushton of Talk-a-Latte ”Building a Passionate, Forever, Happier, and Happier-Ever-After Marriage”
•    2pm PST/5pm EST Joan Rudder-Ward of Girl Nurture “The Heat is On: Techniques to Protect You and Your Daughter from Becoming Culture War Casualties.”
•    4pm PST/7pm EST Kim Kautzer of WriteShop “Writing Skills: More Important than Ever!”
•    6pm PST/9pm EST Prayer Chat

Pre-recorded Audios:
Read the descriptions of each talk here.

•    How to Tailor Your Writing for Effectiveness
•    The Lazy Student: What’s a Mom to Do?
•    What Good Is a Speech Course If Your Kids Won’t Use It?
•    How to Write a Speech
•    Conversation: The Most Important Communication
•    Speak the Truth in Love
•    What Most Apologetics Courses Don’t Teach You
•    Talking vs. Communicating
•    Listening: THE Most Important Communication Skill
•    Humor: A Powerful Communication Tool
•    Avoiding, Reducing and Healing Conflicts
•    What It Takes to Be a Great Communicator

Even More FUN!
•    Contests
•    Freebies
•    Free Admission
•    Visit the Say What You Mean Convention for more details.

Don’t forget to sign up for our drawings on the home page of the convention site!  We will draw a name to win a prize at EACH LIVE event!  You don’t have to be present to win, but you do have to enter by signing up!  If you are present in the live event and your name is called, you will win TWO PRIZES!

Have FUN!  And bring a friend!

I came across two true stories about miscommunication over email that ended up leaving the writers with egg on their faces.  Be careful not to inadvertently (or on purpose) send a private email to a list.

According to snopes.com, in June of 2003, an intern at a prestigious law firm inadvertently sent a fairly unprofessional email intended for one party to about 40 employees including 20 partners.  The email in question used foul language and seemed to indicate that the intern was intentionally goofing off at work.  His mistake was immediately noticed which necessitated a formal apology.  He apparently was eloquent enough in his apology to remain gainfully employed at the firm.

Snopes.com confirms another email mishap which occurred in June of 2005.  It seems a secretary in a law firm in England somehow got ketchup on her boss’s pants.  The day she returned to work after her mother’s funeral she found an email from her boss asking for four pounds in cash, the cost of his dry cleaning.  As her salary was about a fourth of his lawyer’s salary, she sent a sarcastic reply suggesting that the office take up a collection for him.  Apparently she copied several people in the office in on the correspondence when someone leaked it to the newspapers who demonized the lawyer and made the two of them a household name.  The attorney had planned to leave the firm just prior to the publicity and the secretary was said to be thinking over her employment after feeling isolated her former boss’s supporters who felt he was unfairly victimized.

These two incidents give us a glimpse into how important it is to be careful about even our informal communication.  Take care to choose your words wisely, respectfully and carefully.  You  never know who might be reading.

A word of communication caution from your friends at Art of Eloquence.com!

I cannot believe it is the end of January already and time for Mailbag Monday here at Communication FUNdamentals.  This month we found MANY questions and comments in our mailbag–mostly feedback on all the changes we have had here at Art of Eloquence.com and the newsletter.

Say What You Mean Convention

1. Several of you asked how to register for the event and enter the drawings.  The sign up form is now on the home page.  This not only enters you in the six live drawings but allows you to receive What’s New at Art of Eloquence, our monthly newsletter with freebies, special offers and info JUST for our subscribers.

2. A few of you emailed asking about the events at the convention.  I have recorded a welcome audio you can access from the home page that will give you a quick overview of the site and events.  To see all of the events, times and descriptions, click on the Schedule of Events page. We also have an audio of our preview show with my guests Kim Kautzer from WriteShop and Cindy Rushton from Talk A Latte and Mom to Mom Radio who is one of our keynote speakers this year!

3. Many of you emailed in or posted on my Facebook page about how much you are looking forward to this year’s convention and how much fun you had last year.  Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.  Here are a few of the things folks had to say about the convention:

“Sign me up, please. Thanks. I CAN’T WAIT!!!! It sounds so good. I’M DYING to listen to the preview.” -BeckyJoie

“I ‘attended’ this convention last year and it was fantastic! Informative, professional and just plain fun! I highly recommend this to all home educators who desire to learn to communicate for Jesus’ glory =)” -Brenda

“I can’t wait for your audios. They are always outstanding.” -Susan

“Looking forward to the SWYM Convention once again!” -Christine

Newsletter Feedback:

1. So many of you emailed in about how much you like our new format.  Many of the comments we received were like this one:

“SWEET! Love the new format. . . especially ART OF ELEPHANTS.  ROFLOL” -Carla

2. We had another wonderful review this month.  This time by two homeschool moms who run a website and have written a book for homeschool group leaders.  Check it out here.

Then we had some really great questions about our communication studies.

1. Karen asked what the difference is between Say What You Mean: A Creative Speech Course and Say What You Mean For Teens.   In case you were wondering the same thing…

Say What You Mean for Teens is a general communication study teaching basic communication skills and why communication is so important for every day life.  In week eight, the student begins preparing to give a speech he will deliver in week 18. The study takes him through this step by step in a fun and creative way while teaching him the skills he needs to deliver such a speech.

Say What You Mean: A Creative Speech Course is a full speech course.  Each week your student will prepare for and give a speech on a different creative and fun topic alternating between impromptu and prepared speeches.  This is not your typical speech course where the students have to do a lot of research of the same old topics.  This study puts the emphasis on honing the skills needed to give a great speech while using fun topics such as Cats vs Dogs and 101 Uses of Duct Tape!

2. Leslie asked when Say What You Mean for Preschoolers would be available again.  Well Leslie you are not alone!  I’ve had someone ask this question at least once a week since we took it down for revising.

I am actually almost done revising the study as I type this.  It should be out this week!  Since I stopped my weekly podcast, I’ve been working hard on all our new studies you all said you wanted.  In fact, we will have a few more studies out shortly and some more following that.  We will be taking pre orders for some of them so watch our newsletter for details.  We will be offering our newsletter subscribers an opportunity to pre order at a lower rate so if you are not a subscriber, you’ll want to be soon!

3. Roberto asked if Art of Eloquence had anything that would help him specifically with getting his point across in conversation.

Well, we are just about to!  I am also currently working on my notes for a new study called Say What You Mean in Conversation and one called Say What You Mean: Persuasion and Public Speaking.  Either of these will help you a great deal.  Keep watch on the newsletter for details on how and when you can pre order these two!

Thank you all for your fabulous questions and comments this month!  If you have a question or a comment for Art of Eloquence, send it to jojo@artofeloquence.com!

Victor Borge was a fabulously funny man and a talented pianist.  I’ve posted his bit “Phonetic Punctuation” before here on Communication FUNdamentals, but I just found this related video with Dean Martin.

The two do “Musical Phonetic Punctuation” where they punctuate the phrases of the following songs.  At least Dean Martin tries.  Victor Borge is so funny, Dean Martin has a hard time keeping a straight face!  Enjoy!

More Friday fun with communication from your friends at Art of Eloquence.com!

My dd was practically born with a book in her hand.  She LOVED reading and was reading on a college level when she was in 3rd grade.  My son actually taught himself to read using the computer and DVD subtitles when he was about 2yrs old.  So I was shocked that he didn’t want to read anything that wasn’t computer game instructions!

It was like pulling teeth to get Chris to read back then.  I tried covering up most of the page so he could only see a line at a time.  He knew words that were well beyond his years but he just didn’t want to read.  Then we found a series of books that were well below his reading level, but that he really thought were fun!  I allowed him to read them to his heart’s content because I was sure he would blossom as a reader if I could just get him to understand how much fun reading really was.

It worked wonders!  He is now reading things much higher than his grade level IN HIS SPARE TIME and loving it!  He just finished reading a book that is almost 400 pages and is asking for more! I always knew that reading equals a larger vocabulary, but you know what else?  I noticed that his spelling has improved dramatically as well!  In fact, I have noticed that his ability to describe things and to understand things has also drastically increased.

Get your kids into reading even if they don’t like reading. Find something they do–even if you don’t.  That’s another reason to check out Foot in Mouth Man.  My 10 y/o son loves reading FIMM!  If you don’t know FIMM, he’s the Art of Eloquence mascot and resident MIScommunicator.  Each month is a funny story many kids love to read!  Reading helps communication and communication skills are powerful!

Last week my dd had to return a blouse she received for Christmas from a relative.  It didn’t fit so we took off for another one of our mother/daughter excursions.  We had several of these special days when she was home from college over the Christmas holiday.  It was quite a little drive to the mall.  It’s not a place we frequent as it’s too far, hard to park, crowded and rather pricey.  But it was a mother/daughter adventure and so off we went.

We walked up to the Nordstrom cashier and my dd told the woman she wanted to return the blouse because it didn’t fit.  The woman asked if my dd had the receipt and she gave her the gift receipt.  The woman behind the counter changed a bit.  She looked at us and, with a distinct condescending tone, told us that this blouse was from Nordstrom’s Rack and not Nordstrom.  She said she couldn’t return it and immediately began to turn her back on us.

I thought since the two stores are somehow related, it might be possible for her to do an exchange rather than a return so I asked.  The saleswoman looked us up and down and proceeded to inform us, obviously lower class individuals, that Nordstrom and Nordstrom’s Rack are two very different establishments and that she couldn’t possibly do such a thing.  She was obviously irritated when we asked her where we might find a Nordstrom’s Rack and quite ungraciously told us that we’d have to head back down the street from this neighborhood to the other side of town.

It was a rather long drive to the Nordstrom’s Rack and on the way each of us quietly began to question our treatment feeling more and more offended as the miles went by.  I guess our designer labels weren’t showing, or more to the point, our pedigrees.

At Nordstrom’s Rack most of the items were very nice and we noticed several items that were marked down considerably from their original Nordstrom price.  However we had some fun looking at a few of the items like the rather plain and not very figure flattering navy blue dress for several hundred dollars marked down from $3000!

As with many of the stores these days, Nordstrom had its share of ugly items as well.   We found a thin, see through dingy white t-shirt that looked as if the sleeves and bottom were cut with scissors by a 2 y/o!  The price?  $29.95 marked down from $54.95!  I wouldn’t have given them $5 for it.

The lady who rang up our exchange at Nordstrom’s Rack was quite nice and asked about our day.  My dd and I said that it was a bit longer than we had anticipated because we had driven all the way to the mall to find that Nordstrom wouldn’t return this for us.  To our surprise, the sales woman told us that she should have! Apparently there is an agreement that if a customer comes in to Nordstrom and doesn’t realize the item actually had come from Nordstrom’s Rack (the labels all still say Nordstrom), they are authorized to do the exchange or return.

On the way home, my dd and I were discussing the matter and feeling quite the second class citizens.  After we got home and told my dh about it, I got on the phone to talk to the manager of Nordstrom.  I actually wasn’t surprised to find that they didn’t condone this behavior from their sales reps and that they were very happy I called so they could address the situation.  At their prices, customer service is a huge issue!

In fact, she informed me that they were having a meeting the following day and she would bring this to the attention of the management staff.  She said she was aware that some of the sales people were not allowing customers to make these kinds of returns.  This was a training issue they were in the process of addressing.  However, she was not aware (or happy) to hear about the way we had been treated and said she would be addressing that issue directly with that sales woman AND the management staff.

I was happy to find a department store of their reputation handling the situation well.  I commend the management staff. Customer service is important even for a large and well respected company.  Customer service is second contact.  If a customer is not treated well at the sale, customers have a way of sharing their experience with others-like on a blog.  lol  I am happy to report that Nordstrom did that right!

It’s time for your Friday Giggle!  Communication FUNdamentals is proud to present this week’s Friday Funny:

So many of you send me Friday Funny material from “real life” and I thank you.  I’ve had newsletter subscribers send in some funny things their kidlings have said, blog readers send in pictures of street signs that should have been better thought out and this week’s Friday Funny comes from my dad!  Thanks Dad!

This was in a story on the AP Wire:

“The young Nigerian man was due in federal court Friday afternoon for his arraignment on charges that he failed to detonate a chemical-laden explosive on the Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight.“

Let me get this straight.  He is charged with failing to detonate the explosive?  So…if he were successful, he would have been released without charges?

This has been your Friday Giggle Break.  If this had been a real communication emergency, you would have been instructed to visit Art of Eloquence.com.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled day!

Does your hair talk to you?  Mine does and it all started….

One score and three years ago, my hairdresser brought forth upon my mane a new hairdo conceived in brevity and dedicated to the proposition that not all haircuts are created equal.  You see I had long hair when I got married.  It was down to the middle of my back and my new husband just loved it long.  So about a month and a half after our wedding, I went to a salon for a trim and I told the hairdresser to take the back up to just below my shoulders.

As was my custom, I took off my glasses and let her do her thing.  Big mistake!  When she was finished, my hair was cut into a shag with the layers cut very close to my head.  The lowest point of the back was just ABOVE my shoulders.  I looked a little like Carol Brady but with much thinner layers, no poof on the top and no visible length in the back unless you looked at it through a magnifying glass. Needless to say, my new husband was a bit shocked and upset as was I.  My hair talked.  It told everyone I was a 13 year old boy!

Several years later I decided to get my hair cut by a new outfit.  We had moved up to a new area and it was too far to travel to my old place.  Again, I told her to cut it in my usual style with layers and the back length just below my shoulders.  I took off my glasses so she could cut away and she began to work her magic.  I’ve learned since my first bad hair cut so I usually peak and could see the fuzzy outline of enough hair to satisfy myself that I wasn’t going to be bald.  However, when she was done styling my hair, I looked in the mirror and saw my GRANDMOTHER staring back at me!  It was all in pin curls around my face and my hair talked.  It screamed “OLD!!”  I didn’t mean to yell, but it just came out, “I look like my GRANDMOTHER!”

After another wash and a blow dry (no pin curls please) it was a fairly decent cut I could live with.  But right then and there I decided that I wasn’t going to pay for a haircut if I wasn’t 100% positive I’d see someone of my generation looking back at me from across the mirror!  So I began to get my hair cut once every six months.  Ok once every year.  So now I haven’t had it cut for about three years.  lol

So yesterday I’m wearing a jacket that I’ve worn for years.  A few times I noticed something was yanking on my hair.  It always came loose so I didn’t think anything of it UNTIL… I got to my car and found it had been sitting in the sun so long, it was a bit stuffy.  So I took my coat off and found it dangling from my HAIR!  Something on the back of the jacket had tangled up in my hair and wouldn’t let go!

I couldn’t imagine what on earth it was that had gotten caught up in my hair forrest (as my son calls it).   I must have looked like a cartoon of Wile E Coyote jumping up and down trying to loose myself from it’s grip, whatever it was.  I mean, it HURT!  I was able to get most of this big chunk of hair free from it’s grip, but it was still holding on by a goodly amount and try as I might, I just couldn’t get free.

All the while my son was asking what I was doing out there!  You see he was already in the car and waiting to leave the park.  Finally, in desperation, I decided to rip the rest of the hair off my head.  The jacket fell into my hand-a wad of hair still stuck to the BUTTON I never knew was there!

When I got home I took a pair of scissors and cut that nasty button right off there!   I love my hair long, but do you think it’s trying to tell me something?

Art of Eloquence Has Had a Facelift!

I know what you’re thinking!  I promised to do this two years ago, but try as I might, I was unable to find the time to redesign the site with all the other events and projects I had going.  December 31st was my final podcast and I immediately got to work and it’s like Art of Eloquence bought a new hat!  See?

We’re still our old purple selves but we’ve got a totally new feel and I am happy to say it is MUCH easier to navigate and find what you are looking for!

First, the home page is completely redesigned to reflect the fact that Art of Eloquence no longer has just homeschool curricula and that we now have communication studies for various situations!  Now you can easily find whatever you might be looking for whether homeschool curricula, speech and debate, leadership training, defending the faith or business just by clicking on one of the top buttons.

Second, we have arranged it so that it is very easy to find and use all our free resources like my articles, blog, Foot in Mouth Man and all our free events!  You’ll find each of these buttons up at the top of the home page for easy reference!

A new feature is our Studies, Surveys and Statistics Page where you can read all about the research done on the importance of various communication skills and just who is looking for people who possess them!  We’ll be adding more soon but I got bleary eyed and had to move on to another task! lol

We now have a link right on the home page to our classic “Communication Effectiveness Quiz” where you can answer the questions to determine what areas of communication are your strengths and what areas are your weaknesses.  This is especially helpful for your children so you can understand where they need to be better prepared if they are going to be going to college in a few years!

In addition, we now have a few communication quotes listed right on the home page that you can click through in order to read even more Bible and other quotes of communication wisdom!  I have TONS more of those to add but that will have to wait a bit too.

Lastly, each of our subheadings has a new page that shares more about communication in that area of life and includes all the links to the various Art of Eloquence studies, audio classes and other resources that pertain to that communication topic.  The sub headings are: Homeschool Curricula, Speech and Debate, Leadership Training, Defending the Faith and Business Training.

I spent all day yesterday writing, rewriting and updating many of the pages of the website.  I still have to re work the product pages, but I’m done with the other pages.  We even redesigned FIMM”s page last week!

Since my eyes are now bulging out of my sockets and my brain is fried from looking at my monitor all day, I am wondering if you can help me see if I missed anything.  It’s possible that there might be a link that doesn’t go where it is supposed to or a word that has been misspelled.  We would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to go in and see for us.

Please leave a comment with your thoughts.  Aside from the product pages, which all need to be redone yet, how do you like our new look?  Do all the links work?  Did we misspell a word?  Have a broken link?  Something that isn’t clear?  Help us work the bugs out.

Thank you much from the tired eyes, numb fingers and NEW DO that is now Art of Eloquence.com!