Art of Eloquence Blog — communication RSS

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...

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...

Last week a very popular political figure had to be rushed to the hospital.  No, he isn't a senator or congressman.  He isn't even a politician.  He is a conservative talk radio host. Though I prayed for his recovery, it isn't his illness that brings me to write about him today; it was the reaction of some of those who disagree with his political persuasion. It was the message they sent and the way in which they chose to communicate it.  But more than anything else, it was their rush to hatred and the language of hatred that I wish to discuss. Several blogs and internet news media reported last week that Rush Limbaugh was taken to the hospital with...

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,...

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...