January's Mailbag Monday

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!

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        Your Friday Giggle Break

        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!

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        The New Art of Eloquence.com!

        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!

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        An Inglish Stori

        English is a crazy language that wound up with wounds of wisdom.  Does it sound right to you that our houses don’t have mouses?  Why can we oversee what we cannot overlook?  It seems something is not “in wack”, but fat chance trying to work it out-or would that be a slim one?

        If we slow down for just a minute, we will clearly see that we cannot slow up-or keep up with the strange rules which cause a wise man not to be a wise guy.  It also doesn’t follow that we talk about gooses which are really geese, but never about mooses which are definitely not meese.

        If I had my way, everything would be spelled “foneticly” and punctuating a crazy man would just be Crazy, Man! I also think we have far “tu” many “leters” in the “alfabet!”  Additionally I teach my kids that, if you were to “member” correctly in the first place, you’d never have to remember in the second place.

        To make a long story “much more” longer, I think I’d like to redo the entire “Inglish” language so it made a great deal more “cents.”  Don’t “yu” “agre?”

        A little language levity from the folks at Art of Eloquence.com!

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        Congratulations Contest Winners & What I Learned

        What a contest!  For the past two months, Art of Eloquence had a contest going that got really interesting, especially toward the end.   The idea was to help us get the word out about Art of Eloquence by posting links to our website.  The winner of the $350 prize package was the one who posted the most links, but we were also giving away other prizes by picking 10 other entries at random.

        When we first started, I thought we would have hundreds of people entering once with several entering a few times.  I expected our winner to have posted about 5-7 links in the two months allotted and I figured the motivation to post the most links would come from the fact that folks really wanted to win the very generous prize package ($350 value) donated by several wonderful companies!  Boy was I wrong!

        The winner posted 82 links during the two month period of time and our second place winner was not too far behind with 43 posts!!  Wow!  Wanna know something else?  As I corresponded with these two winners and with several of the other entrants, I found something quite interesting.

        Almost all of them said they were happy to post because they really loved Art of Eloquence products and felt that effective communication was an important topic!  In fact, I can’t even count the number of times I found an Art of Eloquence link posted where the person didn’t even email me to enter the contest!  And when I contacted them to inform them that they could email me to enter to win a prize package, many of them said they just wanted to share the information.  WOW!  I am truly humbled!

        Education and enlightenment can come from the most unexpected places.  We may often wonder if our life’s work is making an impact or if folks even take the time to read what we post.  2009 was such an awful year for so many that it seemed to leave people with little time or energy to post comments.  I knew folks were reading my newsletter and blog and were using my studies but, as negative communication travels so much farther and faster, I would receive the occasional note that someone was unhappy with the focus of an article, wanted more for free or didn’t like the Christian focus of my studies.  I was completely unprepared for the magnitude of the appreciation I would receive for this contest and the willingness of my customers, readers and subscribers to forward our website link.  I am truly honored and humbled that God would use me in this way and allow me to see such support back from so many!

        Well, in case you are wondering who won our little internet contest, we have posted the winner and second place winner up on the contest page of the Art of Eloquence website.  There you will still find the massive list of precious prizes donated by some of the most amazing and generous companies out there.  I would like to formally thank each and every one of them for their participation and generosity!

        I would also like to thank our winners, all 11 of them, and every person who posted our links for taking the time to post about Art of Eloquence and for the lovely comments made both in their posts online and to me in private.  God’s blessings upon you!

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        HoNNy NeB YE]p!

        As is our custom, Communication FUNdamentals blog takes each Friday to deliver some Friday Funnies in order to bring to the forefront the need for effective communication skills.  And this Friday is no different.

        Sometimes when folks communicate, we have no idea what they are trying to get across.  Other times we have an idea but it may not be the correct one.  Even though we may know what someone is trying to say, there are times when miscommunication can have a negative effect on someone’s credibility or just cause enough confusion to warrant some unnecessary fine tuning at which point there is a possibility that it could cause some ill effects or hard feelings.

        As we head into 2010, let us give pause to the cause of effective communication and the time and difficulties it will save us.  Art of Eloquence wishes God’s blessings on your life and your relationships.  May you grow closer and build stronger relationships with your family, friends and co workers and may you reach out in 2010 to those who do not yet know the Lord.

        We would love to help you reach those goals with Art of Eloquence effective communication studies.  If you know someone whose relationship is suffering or who longs to know how to share his or her thoughts and needs effectively, please direct them to our website that we might help!



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        Incredible Sale Ends at Midnight!

        Take Advantage of our Insanely LOW Co-op Class Fees!

        Now that Christmas is over, many of my homeschooling customers are readying themselves for next semester’s activities and one of those activities might be a co op class.  If so this first offer is something you won’t want to miss.

        Well this year was a terrible year for so many that Art of Eloquence decided to do some drastic things in order to help our customers in this most difficult financial year.

        We had always offered our co op classes some wonderful volume discounts, but this year we went completely NUTZ and offered our core communication studies for the ridiculously low license fee of only $10 per 10 students (with a cap for 31 or more students)!  That means that instead of ordering a $24.95 Say What You Mean: A Creative Speech Course and paying $500  for 20 students, you could pay ONLY $44.95!

        However, as with all special offers, even this one has to end and it will do so at the stroke of midnight EST on December 31st.  As we ring in the new year in 2010, Art of Eloquence will usher in a new co op volume discount which will be of great benefit to co op classes, however, now is the time to buy if you want to take advantage of these insanely low rates we currently have in 2009!

        To take advantage of these incredible co op rates, all you have to do is order as usual and click the drop down menu where it says “Number of Students” to reflect the size of your co op class.  (Leave the quantity field at 1).

        Not sure which study to teach this semester?  Check out our online catalog!

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        Join me tomorrow morning for a preview!

        You all just HAVE to listen in to this!  Tomorrow morning 8am PST/11am EST is a very special preview of the 5th Annual Say What You Mean Convention coming on February 3rd, 2010!  If you are not familiar with the convention, you can check out last year’s here!


        The convention is an annual online event celebrating and teaching the fine Art of Eloquence in the style of the Great Communicator, Ronald Reagan!  Art of Eloquence finds, as Reagan did, that communicating in a godly way using humor goes a long way!  We celebrate communication around The Great Communicator’s birthday each year with an all day series of live and recorded events, contests, prizes, prayer chat, workshops and seminars.

        This year our Keynote Speakers are Christian Comedian, Michael Jr and Cindy Rushton of Talk A Latte!

        The preview show will introduce you to the convention, share with you what you can expect to find at the convention this year and give you a brief education about the Three Flavors of Communication: Writing, Speech and Conversation, this year’s convention theme!   You will also meet myself and my two moderators: Kim Kautzer of WriteShop and Joan Rudder Ward of Girl Nurture who will be sharing their expertise along with me at the convention in February.

        As a very special part of the preview show, we will be joined by Cindy Rushton and perhaps even Michael Jr too, if time permits him to call in!

        Here’s how you can tune in to the show:

        You can either call in:

        Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
        Call ID: 19736

        Or you can log on using your computer:

        http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19736

        You can also sign up for your own TalkShoe account (It’s free and takes only a few minutes) so that you can not only listen in, but join the chatroom as well!

        Don’t miss out on this live show!  It’s my FINAL PODCAST and you will want to be there to join the fun and even ask questions of my guests either about the Say What You Mean Convention or their expertise in their fields.  Join us and be blessed!!!

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        What’s the most important New Year’s Resolution?

        It’s that time of year again when people make New Year’s Resolutions and don’t keep them.

        “Lose 20 pounds by July.”

        …..“Start a new business and become independently wealthy.”

        ………………………………..“Organize my closet alphabetically and color code.”

        ……………………………………………………………………………………………“Quit smoking, again.”

        I’m poking a little fun here, but these are all admirable goals.  The problem isn’t that they cannot be accomplished, but that we aren’t always serious when we make them.  And sometimes we aren’t always making New Year’s Resolutions about the things which are the most important to our lives.

        First, most of us want things, but we are not always that willing to do what it takes in order to accomplish them.  We want to lose weight as long as it doesn’t require any exercise!   That would be why they sell so many diet pills.  We want to make more money, but we aren’t willing to invest in the things that will teach us how to get there.  That’s why there are so many “Get Rich Quick” programs on the internet and Marketing Gurus on Twitter.  Life’s not quite as challenging in many ways as it used to be and we prefer everything delivered in a nano second.

        Additionally, sometimes we are so overwhelmed with the things the world feels are important that they obscure the the things that are really important.  Here are the most popular New Year’s Resolutions:

        1. Lose Weight

        2. Manage Debt

        3. Save Money

        4. Better Job

        5. Get Fit

        6.Better Education

        7. Drink Less

        8. Quit Smoking

        9.Reduce Stress

        10. Take a Trip

        Was your New Year’s Resolution in there and was it the same the year before?  It’s interesting to me that among the top ten isn’t something like: get closer to God, read my Bible daily, do something for others, help others come to the saving knowledge of Christ, heal my marriage, build closer relationships with family, spend time with my children, help my neighbors…

        When asked what is most important in life, most people will say God, children, marriage, friendships, etc.  So why the disconnect in what most folks want to accomplish in the next 12 months?  When we die, we won’t be content to look back having left behind a legacy of thinness, smokeless-ness and wealth.  We want to look back on our lives and see the lives we’ve touched.  We want to see what we have done for the Kingdom of God.  We want to know that our children have fond memories and ideals we have taught them.  We want to leave behind a legacy of memories that can only be created by strong relationships.

        What most people don’t realize is that a strong relationship cannot be built or enjoyed without good communication skills.  You cannot have a relationship with someone without communicating with them.  So this year, as you think about your New Year’s Resolutions, please consider not just what you need or want, but what you can build.  Consider the legacy you want to leave behind.  Consider how you can build that legacy through strong, close relationships with your spouse, children, friends, neighbors, co workers and family members.  Consider spending a little time, effort and perhaps even a wee bit of money to accomplish these most important things in your life.

        We believe that one of the best ways to do that is to invest in yourself (in your education) that will allow you to strengthen these important relationships.  Check out Art of Eloquence before you make those New Year’s Resolutions and see how we can help you achieve the MOST important resolutions of all: Stronger Relationships!

        Happy New Year from the Art of Eloquence family to yours!

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        December’s Mailbag Monday

        It’s Mailbag Monday!  The last Monday of the month here at Communication FUNdamentals is always devoted to your comments and questions.  So it’s time again for the mail.  Actually, I answer all emails as they come in, but each month I like to take a few and post them here because the answers to some of the issues and questions are beneficial to so many more.

        First I want to thank all of you who took the time to write in or to post here on my blog.  I get so much SPAM through here that it’s nice to read comments from real people!  Keeps me going to know you appreciate what I write and that it is helping you or made you smile!

        I received MANY comments and thank yous from our newsletter subscribers and Art of Eloquence Facebook Fans about this year’s Christmas gift, God Is Everywhere.  I even had a subscriber who said she was in charge of the projection system at her church service and asked permission to post it up as a slide show before service started one week!   I was humbled and honored to grant permission and I pray it blessed many in the congregation that week!

        If you didn’t know about our Christmas gift, it’s probably because you are not one of our newsletter subscribers or a Facebook fan.  You can subscribe to our newsletter, What’s New at Art of Eloquence or become a member of the Art of Eloquence Fan Club if you are on Facebook.  Art of Eloquence gives free gifts away and makes special offers available throughout the year!

        We also received some emails from some The Old Schoolhouse Magazine subscribers who saw my articles this year.  I’m happy to work with The Old Schoolhouse any time I can. They are a great company and so wonderful to work with!  I’m so happy the articles blessed you!   Someone called and asked if I had any others coming out in TOS and the answer is yes.  I have an article coming out in their January issue that will talk about the Three Flavors of Communication which is the theme of this year’s Say What You Mean Convention coming up February 3rd!

        Someone else wrote in asking why the convention details for 5th Annual SWMC is not yet up on the site.  We usually don’t change the information until January so stay tuned to the website and this blog for more information.  I promise even more fun, free gifts, contests with prizes and great teaching this year!

        Lastly this month I received a great deal of email from folks asking why I chose to stop podcasting in 2010.  Many said the Communication Comedy Network was fun and informative and they asked that I keep it going.  I wanted to take a little more time to explain.

        It’s been a wonderfully creative outlet for me actually, but very, VERY time consuming.  Several folks didn’t understand why.  I’m a very creative soul and I tend to go over the top.  The show wasn’t just me reporting on issues and giving communication advice.  I did a great deal of research for each show, but that wasn’t even half of the work that went into the show.

        The show was run like an actual TV or radio network with various “shows” having different hosts (each with a different personality, speech pattern and accent).  Further each show had its own theme and weekly topics and all done each week by me…voices, accents and all!   Each show had to be planned, researched, scripted and rehearsed each and every week.  It was a blast and, if I were getting paid even one salary for it, I would continue.  However, as with many of the other things I took on in 2009, it was far too time consuming and didn’t allow me to work on the things that would have brought in an income and finish many of the projects our customers were asking for.

        However, as is my nature, I couldn’t leave busy enough alone.  I just had to finish off the podcast this month in the creative and fun JoJo way.  And so I recorded an audio and posted a blog entry with what I thought would be a fun way to end the entire experience both for me and for my listeners.  You can see the blog post here.  It has a picture of all of the hosts of the CCN (me myself and I) with a link to the audio where Announcer Guy (also me) explains what each one of us will be doing in 2010.  It’s only a few minutes long, but I thought it was pretty funny.  Apparently many of you agreed as I received a ton of comments both on the blog and off!

        Thanks so much for all the great feedback this month!  I pray you had  a blessed Christmas and that God continue to bless you in 2010.  If you have a question or a comment, please feel free to either post it here or email me jojo @ artofeloquence.com

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