Training day: Are we clear?

Here is a training-day invitation email, in case you have not received it.

Dear Colleagues,

Do you sometimes find Commission documents hard to understand? Have you ever felt you weren’t getting your message across clearly? Have you ever fallen asleep at a conference? If so, you are not alone!

Be sure to come to our ground-breaking one-day event on clear communication - 'Are we clear?' - covering clear writing, speaking and thinking.

 






Who should attend?  All staff of the Commission

Why?  We often struggle to explain what we want and what we do (both to external and internal stakeholders)

What is there for you?  You can attend conferences and workshops, watch videos of great speeches, and discover many learning tools (some online) that we can use daily to improve our communication – some examples:

• Writing - Colleagues from DGT  will give individual tuition on editing texts (you can bring your own!)
• Thinking - Workshops on mind-mapping    
• Speaking  - Tips on how to make a good presentation
  

Do I need to attend the entire day? No , you can come and go during the day for the part of the program that interests you (having registered in Syslog beforehand)

So look out for the posters and notices. Don’t forget to apply via Syslog Web Training <http://www.cc.cec/di/syslog_formation/catalogue/catalogue.cfm> for the talks or workshops that tickle your fancy!  Search for 'Are we clear' or go to 7.1 Conferences.  First come, first served! (Closing date 13 November)

If you want to know more about our day, go to the 'Are we clear?' <http://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/HR_ADMIN/EN/TRAINING/CLEAR-COMMUNICATION-DAY/Pages/index.aspx> webpage.

And if you are not able to come to GUIM, you will be able to follow the conferences taking place in room 0/1 via  webstreaming. The link will be published on the 'Are we clear?' webpage on 14 November.

The 'Are we clear?' team:
Diane de Blaye
Loredana Vullo
Ana Yturriaga

Phrasal verbs

Here you can find some exercises on phrasal verbs.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Here you can find an online source on phrasal verbs.

Section 2

Here you can find the second section of the book.

More tips on PowerPoint presentations

Here you can find list of do's and dont's for PowerPoint presentations.

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule for PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch. ('Bozo' means 'fool'.)

Lists of three and the rule of 3s: two speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.

Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3s.

Here is a stream where the rule of 3s is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.