Holding audience attention during a presentation is always a challenge, and more so if you are giving it via Zoom. In a virtual setting, you cannot employ or read body language as much as you would in person, and your attendees might well be distracted by other things in their environment (kids, pets, beeping microwaves). 
 
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Carmine Gallo, instructor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and author of Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get From Good to Great, offers tips for sharpening your presentation skills: 
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• Reduce clutter; use fewer slides: Great presenters are great editors. Massive PowerPoint decks do not impress; they put viewers to sleep.
• Forget bullet points: Augment text with photos, videos, and graphics.
• Use your voice as a tool: Varying the pace, pitch, and volume of your voice increases your effectiveness.
• Give your audience something extra: Novelty recognition is a survival skill all of us share. It may be harder to incorporate “wow” moments when your presentation is virtual, but think about what you can do that’s unexpected.
• Rehearse: The world’s greatest speakers are great because they put in the time.
  

How have you adapted your presentation style so it can be as captivating virtually as it is in person? To join the conversation, click "comments" above.

At a time when clear written communication is more important than ever, many of us may have temporarily lost our in-house editors—those co-workers we drop in on when we want a quick assessment of our first drafts. Learning to edit our own writing is a skill that will serve us well now and in the future.
 
Writing in The New York Times prolific freelance journalist Harry Guinness offers practical advice for DIY editors:

• All first tries can be improved: “Writing offers us one of the rare chances in life at a do-over: to get it right and say what we meant...” The time you put in reworking and refining can turn a “good enough” piece into something genuinely strong.
  
• Stay vigilant for common errors: Overuse of jargon, clichés, and “business speak” obscure the points you want to make.
  
• Don't ramble: When you’re not sure what you want to say, it’s common to phrase it three or four ways. A single direct sentence is almost always better than four that circle around a point.
  
• Give your work some space: If possible, put a draft aside and return later with a fresh eye. Even 10 minutes is better than nothing, although more is better—especially if you can sleep on it.
• Read your work aloud: You’ll catch more errors and get a feel for flow.
  
• Cut and cut some more: It’s more likely you’ve written too much than too little.
  
• Spend the most time with the beginning: If you don't capture the reader’s attention, all is lost.
  
• Pay attention to structure: For emails and other short pieces, the classic topic sentence followed by supporting paragraphs and a conclusion is hard to beat.
  
• Use resources: Nothing beats a good thesaurus. And the “Grammarly” writing assistant can help spot common mistakes.
  
  

What mistakes were you glad you found and what improvements were you glad you made the last time you edited your own writing? To join the conversation, click "comments" above.

These days, anxiety is pretty widespread—and it’s tempting to want to soothe a co-worker or friend who is experiencing a high level of stress.  But, as you may have noticed, telling an anxiety-ridden person to “calm: down” can backfire. A new study suggests that the most effective way to calm someone down is simply to reflect and validate their feelings.

To figure this out, researchers tested out a variety of approaches to comforting 325 married participants who volunteered to think about a fight with their partners and report on how various attempts by a friend to cheer them up made them feel. 

Some of the approaches were "low person-centered,” meaning messages that minimized the person's distress or suggested they shouldn't feel so upset. Others were "high person-centered," i.e. they validated the person's stress, saying things like "you have every right to feel upset" or "it's understandable you are stressed out." The more empathic approaches were the clear winners. 

The bottom line: Minimizing people’s emotions can come off as controlling and condescending. As columnist Jessica Stillman writes in Inc., “If you're genuinely interested in making someone feel a little better when they're understandably stressed out, give up on cheering them up. You mean well but they'll probably just feel like you're trying to push them around. A far better bet, science shows, is simply listening with empathy.” 

When you’re feeling stressed and anxious, what kinds of interventions do you find helpful or less than helpful? To join the conversation, click "comments" above.