DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! Check Out Past Newsletters I have a recurring appointment at an office downtown, and I pass the same businesses every week. There is one business I’m always excited to walk past – they put out a chalkboard sign with a riddle on it. It’s an escape room business, so their daily riddle is on brand. This was last week’s sign: I take pictures of these signs to share with my son; they always grab my attention! (Answer to the riddle is at...
17 days ago • 4 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE Last weekend, I went back to my hometown for my 30th high school reunion. I was actually excited about it – we had an amazing turnout for the previous reunion. As I walked into the reunion, I was shocked. Only a handful of people showed up. And, most of them were good friends with one another. As we were discussing the lack of attendance, someone said, “I don’t know why people aren’t here. I put it on Facebook.”...
30 days ago • 3 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE How do people feel after having a conversation with you? Ignored? Interrogated? Inspired? After meeting with my friend Anita, I always leave the conversation believing I’m smarter and a better conversationalist than I actually am. She intently listens and asks questions in the most brilliant way. “When I left the dining room after sitting next to Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But when I...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE During WWII, the U.S. wanted to make its bomber planes more resilient. They mapped out all of the spots where their planes had been shot but were still able to make it back. The thought was to reinforce those areas and make them stronger. However, statistician Abraham Wald had a different recommendation. While those planes did receive heavy firepower at those locations, they could still make it back. But, what...
3 months ago • 4 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE Listening to my grandpa tell a funny story was a treat. He would often start giggling, turn red from laughter, and have tears streaming down his face. I LOVED listening to him. But… how often do we find ourselves listening to others? REALLY listening? When writing her book, You’re Not Listening, Kate Murphy interviewed dozens of people. She asked every single person, “Who listens to YOU?” She recounted that in...
3 months ago • 3 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE A year ago, there was an “airport T-shirt” exchange challenge on TikTok. Travel companions gifted each other outrageous, hilarious, or borderline crass T-shirts that they had to wear all day while flying. Interestingly, if you’ve studied the “spotlight effect,” you know that this is how one of the studies for this concept was conducted. The spotlight effect occurs when individuals overestimate how much others pay...
4 months ago • 2 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE Do you occasionally use abbreviations like “pls,” “sry,” and “idk" in your texts, or are your texts filled with them? Turns out…it might benefit us to spell out words in our messages. A recent survey found that recipients of messages filled with abbreviations feel less connected and more disengaged from the sender. Overusing abbreviations signals to the recipient that they are not worth the effort and time to type...
4 months ago • 3 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE Love the drip today. (Translation: love your outfit) The jalapeno dip smacks – no cap. (Translation: This is really good – no lie.) Lowkey, this assignment is skibidi. (Skibidi might be paired with “toilet” and can act as an adjective describing something very good or very bad.) If you have a teenager or spend time on social media, you may have heard some of these words. We communicate with ALL age groups, and...
5 months ago • 2 min read
DRAMA dots . . . Creating engaging, effective communications! CHECK OUT MY SITE To hyphenate or not? Do you ever get stuck staring at a word, wondering if you should hyphenate it? My most common Google search is inquiring about if a word is hyphenated or not. Coworker or co-worker? Answer: both versions are acceptable! However, if you have to adhere to a style guide, you will want to reference that. The AP Stylebook requires a hyphen, but the Chicago Manual of Style does not. Reopening or...
6 months ago • 2 min read