Male-female speaking "styles" hinder communication

Women tend to face each other and make eye contact.

Men tend to sit side-by-side and talk to an imaginary audience.

Even when women sit side-by-side, they will turn to each other to watch for visual cues confirming that they are interested in the conversation or not.   

Because men turn away, look down or do something else when the woman speaks, he misses out when she stops nodding her head, looks away or becomes busy to show she’s ready to speak.  

Worse, it feels belittling to her that he can’t be bothered to show her the attention—or respect—she showed him.  

He may be paying attention to her, but he sees face-to-face as a form of confrontation—unless he has the floor. 

Women sometimes don't feel as comfortable interrupting because they've probably been taught that "butting in" is rude. 

Differing “styles” make it harder for men to sell to women and harder for women to do well in the workplace.  

Unless they know how to read and use both styles, the differences not only will hurt their ability to communicate, but to understand what's really going on.    

For more information, visit Dell Richards Publicity, www.dellrichards.com. 

Business means being there 24/7

During spring break, I had hoped to take time off—no such luck!

A magazine called to ask if the client would accept an award, which meant  narratives for the application, coordination with the ME and….

Another magazine lost our photos and needed them urgently.  

A client couldn’t get us info, as hoped, but the releases still had to go out. 

So, I told myself I’d take off tomorrow—as I kept working.

When I joked about trying to have a vacation, friends said I should "...just go" or we "...shouldn’t spoil our clients”.

It was obvious they’d never run a business.

In reality, it’s rare for anyone to work 9-5 today; everyone is working 24/7—even on vacation. 

For more information on public relations and media, contact Dell Richards Publicity at www.dellrichards.com. 

It's not just AP Style, it's AP logic

Recently, a client suggested they write an article that we send out.

We gently said “no”, citing "AP Style" as the bottom line for credibility from journalists and for getting releases published.

While knowing how to use words accurately is important, “AP Style” also is shorthand for a specific type of logic: One thought per sentence with each sentence adding to the sequence.

We often see phrases in sentences that don’t move the action forward or worse, open up a raft of “wormy” questions that never get answered.  

When on the final draft of a very short PSA, someone wanted to add that the spokesperson had been helped by the organization.  

While this was a good idea, it was completely different PSA.   

For that, you had to say what the spokesperson was doing before as well as what they are doing now to show a change.   

You also needed to show how or why that help made a difference.  

To “write” clearly and succinctly, you need to think like a journalist: follow each thought to its logical conclusion, including all the implications.    

For more information, please visit Dell Richards Publicity at www.dellrichards.com.