Posts tagged as:

communicate

Visual storytelling: know your medium

by Bill on July 9, 2010

There is a 30 second ad I’d like you watch — but with the sound off. You’ve probably seen the ad before; it has been on TV enough and all over the Internet. Whether you have seen it or not, I’d still ask you to look at it again without any sound. I’ll tell you [...]

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How to be a better writer – three tips

by Bill on June 29, 2010

Here’s how to become a better writer: 1) write 2) read 3) listen They seem obvious, at least to me. Especially the first one. How does anyone improve a skill except by practice? Whether they’re athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, doctors — whatever — people get good at something by doing it. A lot. It’s the same [...]

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‘Emotions are contagious’

by Bill on June 8, 2010

I wrote a review of a book I’m currently rereading, Exuberance: The Passion for Life by Kay Redfield Jamison. (You’ll find it over at Thoughtwrestling.) This morning, I was looking over a chapter titled “Throwing up rockets,” a phrase from P.T. Barnum and it started me thinking about a few other things, like school murals [...]

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Mark Twain explains stories and social media

by Bill on June 3, 2010

I decided to write a post titled, “How to write a story.” However, a quick Google search showed that Mark Twain had beaten me to it. How wonderful is that? He has a piece titled, “How to tell a story” (see note at bottom). In a nutshell: don’t over-tell. In terms of story and business, [...]

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Metaphors and similes like bling for words

by Bill on April 20, 2010

We use metaphors and similes every day. The web is built on them. The web itself is a metaphor. Well, it began as a metaphor. Given the meanings of web, I suppose it is an actual web. So I guess it isn’t a metaphor. As you can see, thinking about metaphors and similes can muddle [...]

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Have you thoughtwrestled yet?

by Bill on April 6, 2010

Oh, don’t look baffled by the word. The internet — the world, for that matter — is made up of new words and phrases that try to communicate their intent in their name. This one, Thoughtwrestling, is a pretty good one I think. It communicates what the blog it names is about: wrestling with ideas. [...]

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When words lose power don’t use them

by Bill on March 23, 2010

Overuse diminishes the effectiveness of words and phrases. It steals their power. When that happens, stop using them. If you continue to, your writing will be ineffective. You want to convey your meaning but when a word has lost its power the meaning doesn’t come across. It becomes white noise. When everyone has a “great” [...]

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