Did I Really Just Send That?

Last week’s episode of Modern Family  taught us all the harsh lesson of once you click ‘Send’ you can’t take it back. In case you missed it, Gloria and Jay are about to go on vacation, but their plans are interrupted after Gloria accidentally sends an insulting (and very personal) email to Claire. Instead of heading to the airport, they take a detour by the Dunphy’s house to apologize and try to do some damage control.

We’ve all done it at one time or another. You know those times when you type up an email, enter the recipient name in the ‘to’ field and click ‘send’?  After the email has most likely already arrived in the inbox of our recipient, we realize that we shouldn’t have clicked send so soon. It can be an embarrassing and even disastrous mistake. This simple slip-up could cause major turmoil in our personal and professional relationships and maybe even harm our careers.

In a recent US News article, they outlined the 18 work email mistakes most commonly made and some tips to prevent them. Here are my top five email mistakes that I’ll blushingly fess up to.

1. Composing the note too quickly. Don't be careless—write every email as if it will be read at Saint Peter's Square during the blessing of a new Pope. Be respectful with your words and take pride in every communication.
2. Forgetting the attachment. If your email includes an attachment, upload the file to the email before composing it. This eliminates the embarrassing mistake of forgetting it before hitting ‘send’ and having to send another email saying you forgot to attach the document.
3. Hitting "reply all" unintentionally. This is a biggie. And it's not just embarrassing; depending on what you wrote in that email, it can ruin your relationship with a co-worker or even your boss. Take extra care whenever you respond so you don't hit this fatal button.
4. Emailing when you're angry. Don't do it. Ever. Recall buttons are far from a perfect science and sending a business email tainted by emotion is often a catastrophic mistake. It sounds cliche, but sleep on it. Save the message as a draft and see if you still want to send it the next morning.
5. Sending to the wrong recipient. This wasn’t on the original list, but I felt like it needed to be included because it’s one of my most infuriating mistakes. Always check and re-check what’s in the ‘to’ line and hopefully we can avoid mistakes such as the one Gloria made.

What are your email horror stories? How do you avoid committing the email mistakes we all fear could be disastrous?

Sara Steele is an associate marketing manager at InterCall responsible for various corporate communication initiatives; including social media and channel marketing efforts. Sara began working with InterCall after graduating from the University of Colorado in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.

Bluwhath, I Can’t Talk Today – Part 2

In my last blog post, I talked about some techniques to use when you are feeling tongue-tied and just can’t get your mouth moving the way you want it to.

In addition to warming up with tongue twisters, here are two other things you can do to make sure you sound clear and confident in your next meeting.

Proper Breathing Techniques: Breathing from the Diaphragm  (from Susan Berkley)

No matter if you are a public speaker, voice-over artist or anyone who wants to sound their best, proper breathing is key. To help you discover how to breathe for good speaking (and good health), Susan talked with respiratory therapist Peggy Nicholson, a leading expert on proper breathing technique. According to Peggy, to enhance our performance we should breathe deeply from the abdomen or diaphragm, whenever possible. But most people have no idea what this means.

Here's how to find your diaphragm:

1. Place one hand just above your stomach and the other on your upper chest.
2. Purse lips slightly as if to whistle.
3. Exhale slowly through pursed lips while slightly contracting the stomach muscles. It's not necessary to force all the air out.
4. Inhale slowly through the nose.
5. Pause slightly to allow for better oxygen exchange in the lungs.
6. Repeat. Exhalation should be slightly longer than inhalation.

The diaphragm should do at least 80% of the work of breathing. In order for you to get the most out of this muscle, you should practice breathing from the diaphragm several times a day to ensure that you are not breathing superficially from your upper chest.

Complete Word Production Exercises

Improve the clarity of your speech by completing the words below so the final consonant sound really pops at the end.  It might feel like you are exaggerating or speaking artificially at first and that is OK—any change feels odd in the beginning. Practicing a strong final consonant will allow you to use varying degrees of intensity to suit your needs. These exercises are from a wonderful book called The Voice Book by Kate Devore and Starr Cookman. 

stop	bob	ripe	ebb	right	ride
help	tube	keep	stub	concept	load
late	bold	felt	loved	awake	big

Next, practice using the sounds /t, d, l, n/.  When these sounds appear at the beginning of a word, most people form them strongly, so we are going to focus on the middles and ends of words, where people tend to let these sounds slip.

T	beauty	eight	later	bright
D	meadow	divide	tidy	invaded
N	Phoenix	been	sunny	fireman
L	alligator	wall	biologist	feel

Last, practice the following words with final consonant clusters:

act	under	looked	end	raked	kindly
inject	fender	balked	binding	liked	winding
stopped	build	kept	kneeled	slipped	fooled

Put it all together!  Practice the above pronunciation techniques in the following paragraph:

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow.  The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors.  These take the shape of a long, round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon.  There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end.  People look, but no one ever finds it.  When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Tip! You don’t want to sound like you are over-pronouncing your words when you are speaking naturally but these exercises will bring awareness to complete word production. 

So what do you think? Have you tested these techniques to see if they make a difference for you?  Do you have other suggestions about things you’ve used?

Kate Nelson is a Speech Analyst and works out of the West Point office and is a member of the WP Training team. She works with the North American and Indian call centers and provides speech, voice, and accent modification training for all employees. She is a graduate of Auburn University with a BS in Speech Pathology and Audiology and is a certified Compton P-ESL (Pronouncing English as a Second Language) trainer. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Auburn University. She is married and has a 5 ½ yr. old son. She is a self-described “word-nerd” and loves music, oenology, studying other languages, and being with her family.

What Could Be Hotter than Vegas?

I just checked the Las Vegas weather for this weekend because I’ll be there co-hosting an event to celebrate Cisco WebEx sales successes. To my dismay, the desert is cold. However, hotel activity will be hot. The Venetian, which is my choice accommodation, as well as all other Vegas area hotels will be jam-packed this weekend anticipating 140,000+ attendees to the 43rd annual Consumer Electronics Show. The show began on Thursday, January 6, and will conclude on Sunday, January 9.

All of the big names in consumer technology will be there, presenting and exhibiting the hot new products of 2011. This year at CES, the BIG announcement is rumored to be the unveiling of the long-awaited Microsoft Windows 8. And here’s the best news: If you were left off the guest list to this invitation-only event, don’t even sweat it! For the first time, CES will be presented to the public via live, non-stop streaming Internet coverage, providing a front row seat to keynote speakers and exposition highlights. Isn’t technology great?

InterCall Streaming Services sit on the launching pad of a technology that will be HOTTER than Vegas in 2011. Gadgets, the Strip and Streaming, oh my! I am glad to be on the sidelines of all the excitement. I only wish the Venetian pool deck could be a few degrees warmer to host this tidal wave of hot technology.

What happens in VEGAS–oh my–the world is watching! Are you going to be there?

Marty Dunne is executive vice president of sales for InterCall. His commitment to working and playing hard results in his ability to lead a fast-paced, energetic, goal-achieving environment with over 325 field sales members in 26 offices in North America. Because Marty has worked for InterCall since 1994, he has been involved in virtually every development of conferencing’s life cycle. People often attribute Marty as the guidepost of InterCall’s street reputation, inspiring the most passionate and high-energy sales team in the industry.

Enough with the Airline Fees Already

When I prep for a trip, I can’t sleep and my stomach is in knots the night before I leave. I’m worried that my flight will be delayed, that I’ll get stuck in an airport somewhere or I’ll have screwed up my reservation and the name on the ticket won’t exactly match the full name on my driver’s license. Then I get all stressed out about whether or not I can fit four days worth of clothes into a carry-on suitcase, if I’ve got the right size bottles of liquid and what category toothpaste falls into because I am going to do everything in my power not to have to pay the bag check fee.

You know that same thought is going through the heads of a lot of other people, too, especially when you watch anxious passengers corral around the gate. Everyone wants to get on the plane as soon as possible so they get a spot in the overhead bin and don’t hear the dreaded words from the flight attendant, “We’re going to have to check your bag.” I always breathe a huge sigh of relief once I’ve gotten my bag in the bin and finally clicked my seatbelt. Then I watch in amusement as everyone else tries to stuff their bags in every which way and the looks of dismay when the latch just won’t quite close.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics , airlines have raked in more than $2.5 billion so far this year on baggage fees alone, up 22.5% since this time last year. That’s right—billion with a ‘b’. I don’t get fired up about too many things, but for some reason, this one makes me crazy. I mean, it isn’t like they aren’t making enough money these days: Revenue from cancellation and change fees has nearly doubled since 2007, adding up to about $1.7 billion in three quarters this year (again, another 'b').

Maybe this is naive, but can’t they just add $10-15 on to the price of each ticket and save everyone the hassle? While they might not get the full $25 from those who pay to check their bags now, they’d get extra money from those like me who want to fight the system and do whatever it takes to carry a bag on, even if that means I have to leave my hairdryer behind. (Ok, women might find this a greater sacrifice than men, but you get my picture).

Better yet, just avoid airports as much as possible and use web conferencing or video conferencing instead. I still have to travel once or twice a year, but all my other meetings can be held using a web conference. This way, my biggest stressor is deciding if I look presentable enough to use my web cam.

How would you vote? Pay a bit more for your ticket or keep the checked bag fee?

Jill Huselton is a senior marketing manager at InterCall. She's been in the conferencing industry for nearly 15 years, working in operations, account management and marketing, mainly based in Colorado. Before leaving the Mile-High City, she hiked a 14er, one of her top accomplishments. Now she's traded the mountains for the beach and works from a home office in North Carolina.

The Over-Hyped and Non-Over-Hyped Words

If you sit in enough meetings, either around a conference room table or on an audio conference call or web conference, you start to pick up on a lot of buzzwords that quickly get very annoying. My ‘favorites’ lately have been absolutely, unequivocally, share of wallet, laser focus and reach out.

LinkedIn recently compiled a list of business buzzwords. The site sorted profiles for U.S. users to get this list of top 10 words:

• Extensive experience
• Innovative
• Motivated
• Results-oriented
• Dynamic
• Proven track record
• Team player
• Fast-paced
• Problem solver
• Entrepreneurial

Sound familiar? Are you nodding your head in agreement or thinking, “If I hear that word one more time, I’m gonna….”

On the flip side, there are words that are quickly going the way of 35mm cameras that use a roll of film. Just check out www.savethewords.org to see which ones will soon be extinct—kicked out of the dictionary.

Here are a few that you can adopt and impress your colleagues with something they’ve probably never heard:

Boreism: behavior of a boring person
Example: My cubemate is only capable of boreism so I always keep my headset on to make it look like I’m on the phone.

Retirant: retiree
Example: We’ve hired a retirant to come in and consult on that project since no one knows how to do it.”

Scaevity: unluckiness
Example: After spilling coffee on her keyboard, accidentally shredding her project list and forgetting to mute her phone line as she chomped her chips during the call, Suzy realized scaevity does come in threes.

You can prevent their extinction by adopting and using these words as often as possible. Even if you don’t want to use them, it’s still fun to pick a few random ones and study their meaning.

I hope your “lubency” to explore this site results in an increase in your vocabulary and interest in old/new words! Maybe next year we’ll see a list of 2011 buzzwords that includes gleimous, jobler and pamphagous.

What buzzwords are your favorites? Which should be added to the 2010 list?

Kate Nelson is a speech analyst is a member of the training team. She works with the North American and Indian call centers and provides speech, voice and accent modification training for all employees. She is a graduate of Auburn University with a BS in speech pathology and audiology and is a certified Compton P-ESL (Pronouncing English as a Second Language) trainer. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Auburn University. She is married and has a 5 ½ yr. old son. She is a self-described “word-nerd” and loves music, oenology, studying other languages and being with her family.

Bring out the Holly

This weekend, I trudged up and down our basement stairs over sixty times while I muscled all the holiday trimmings to our living room. It’s an exhausting exercise but has a very BIG payout at the end. This year, that was a BIG glass of red wine that went along with the first look at my wife’s extraordinary decorating accomplishments.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—or is it? It’s a time for overcrowded shopping malls and paper cuts from freshly sheered gift-wrap. It’s a time for commercialism at its best and TSA-enhanced pat downs at their worst. It’s the Christmas season with all the hectic trimmings. This year, I wonder if I will even make it to January 1 without spending ALL my children’s college savings and without completely forgetting my wife’s tireless requirement for a little holiday jewel.

What I wish to comment on is in response to an article on the Huffington Post. Author Inder Sidhu, senior vice president of strategy and planning for worldwide operations at Cisco, suggests technology can save us from all the Christmas chaos—technology is the answer to a better holiday season. Additionally, if you are smart and make technology part of your New Year’s resolution, you have a fighting chance to keep the holly-jolly spirit all year long.

For me, the answer is delivered in the form of Cyber Monday. To those unfamiliar, Cyber Monday is Black Friday’s evil twin, only it’s shopping online. I think online shopping is great and only evil for the unrealized affliction puts onto my credit card with each new site I surf and shop. Sitting on my sofa and clicking a few buttons to rid myself of the burden of busy malls is GREAT. I’m a big fan! Avoid the crowds and still get the deals? This is a no brainer.

Technology, this holiday, is also providing an alternative to travel. Baggage fees, TSA pat downs, delays, overcrowded airports, hours in the car on the jam-packed interstate be gone! This year, millions of Americans will fire up their web cams and meet with family and friends via Skype, Apple ichat and other video-related solutions. Cisco has even begun to market a consumer-geared video conferencing unit called the Umi. It is fun and the size of a 32 inch HD-quality TV.

This holiday season, the future is calling. Have you answered yet?

Marty Dunne is executive vice president of sales for InterCall. His commitment to working and playing hard results in his ability to lead a fast-paced, energetic, goal-achieving environment with over 325 field sales members in 26 offices in North America. Because Marty has worked for InterCall since 1994, he has been involved in virtually every development of conferencing’s life cycle. People often attribute Marty as the guidepost of InterCall’s street reputation, inspiring the most passionate and high-energy sales team in the industry.

The New Business Toolkit

On October 28, Verizon started selling the iPad, which got me thinking about the tablet becoming part of the new business toolkit. More and more we hear about companies that are replacing laptops with tablets for their mobile workforce. And while the workforce is on the go and able to be more mobile than ever, there will always be online meetings to attend.

Traditionally when we think of online meetings or web conferences, the term brings up thoughts about using solutions and applications created for the PC environment. But now that the tablet is on the rise, consider the new world of opportunities that has been introduced for meeting while “on the go.”

Online web meeting solutions more and more are providing features compatible with tablets which allow for online meetings to be conducted without the need for the traditional PC environment. Some solutions do not require buying or downloading an application, making it a simple click-to-meet solution.

With the tablet, meeting participants are no longer chained to their desks for an Internet connection or maneuvering for the lone electric socket in the café or airport lounge to power up their laptop in order to join online meetings.

So as your business toolkit changes, is your online meeting solution compatible with tablet technologies?

Sarah Murphy is an associate marketing manager at InterCall. With over ten years of experience in the conferencing industry, Sarah has worked with customers and products that cover all segments of conferencing, including traditional operator attended services, video and online meeting solutions.

The New Airline Seating: Sky Rider and Convertible Class

The airline industry introduced a fabulous new seating arrangement today...the ‘Sky Rider'. Instead of sitting in a seat on the plane, you sit/stand straight up, like a cowboy, in a ‘saddle'. Dominique Menoud, the spokesperson said, “Cowboys ride eight hours a day on their horses and still feel comfortable in the saddle.” Instead of seats being 32 inches away from the guy behind you, he’s now in his saddle breathing down your back 23 inches away.

Boy, that sounds like a fun plane ride.

I’ve got an idea for the industry to save even more space and cram more people on a flight. Let’s skip carry-on luggage altogether. God only knows how many people you could shove in those overhead racks. There's more than enough room in there for people.

Ok, you can probably sense the sarcasm, but there's no denying the airline industry, in the quest for higher margins and preferred revenue outcomes, has resorted to extra fees and increased inconveniences for the airline traveler. Today, I am flabbergasted with the business world’s willingness to accept these conditions when alternatives exist for communication tools and meeting with people.

When technology like telepresence, video conferencing or easy-to-use webcams exist today for business people, I am surprised that their adoption has not been more explosive. There are hours of time-wasting, brain-numbing airport meandering that most travelers experience at some point during every trip. Perhaps I am alone in thinking that the inconveniences of airline travel are enough to get business travelers to attempt using technology for their meetings more regularly. But, who knows? Perhaps the airline industry is thinking of another exciting opportunity for business travel, like ‘Convertible Class’ seating? There’s gotta be a way you could strap a bunch of people on the wings.

What's your worst airplane-crunching, seat-in-the-knees, no-overhead-space story?

Marty Dunne is executive vice president of sales for InterCall. His commitment to working and playing hard results in his ability to lead a fast-paced, energetic, goal-achieving environment with over 325 field sales members in 26 offices in North America. Because Marty has worked for InterCall since 1994, he has been involved in virtually every development of conferencing’s life cycle. People often attribute Marty as the guidepost of InterCall’s street reputation, inspiring the most passionate and high-energy sales team in the industry.

The Social Media Summit: A Virtual Success

I’ve been personally active on Facebook since before social marketing was all the hype. So, when tasked with assisting in our social media efforts and sending our messages out via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., my initial thought was, “How difficult can it really be, right?”  Wrong!  Yesterday, I attended the Social Media Virtual Summit hosted by the Online Marketing Summit (OMS). I continue to be amazed at how much is involved with social media and the strategies for B2B and B2C marketing.

The virtual tradeshow was great! You can attend various presentations in the auditorium, engage in Q&A with the presenters or take a stroll through the virtual exhibit hall. Here are a few things I learned which I will apply to my daily social media efforts going forward:

• Keep your messages personal and engaging. Response rate dramatically increases when a communication is personalized or endorsed by a friend. By supplying content and conversation pieces and targeting those readers who are most likely to talk, your message will take you a lot further.
• Seek to understand your readers and predict their behavior.  Chris Marriott, VP, Global Agency Services, spoke about how social media has given rise to the marketing democracy. It’s important to understand ‘voters’ and their lifecycle to deliver effective communications.  Rather than battle the marketing democracy, it’s better to embrace and join the movement. Here’s a great example he gave demonstrating how United learned this lesson the hard way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo.
• Go beyond selling. At the end of the day, it’s not about hammering individuals with selling products at a great price. It’s about keeping your messages consistent and newsworthy so that your readers want to read them and in turn will work on your behalf to spread your message.

The downside to this virtual experience? I wasn’t able to catch as much of the conference as I would have liked. While it’s great to not have to leave your desk,  it’s also very difficult to keep out distractions. Luckily, all the presentations were recorded using streaming services, so I can go back and watch on another day.

Sara Steele is a marketing coordinator at InterCall responsible for various corporate communication initiatives; including social media and channel marketing efforts. Sara began working with InterCall after graduating from the University of Colorado in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.

That's Your Excuse??

Oh boy, for once my procrastination has paid off! All week I’ve been trying to think of what to write for my blog post, and this afternoon, instead of staring at a blank Word document, I checked out some news sites and found my inspiration.

CareerBuilder recently conducted a survey to find out how many people are fudging on their sick days and what some of the best excuses were for missing work. The survey shows close to a third of workers have played hooky from the office at least once this year, calling in sick when they really weren’t. Twenty seven percent of employers say there’s an increase in bogus sick excuses from employees due to continued stress and burnout caused by the weak economy.

Here are the top 12, which should give you at least a little chuckle.

1. Employee said a chicken attacked his mom.
2. Employee’s finger was stuck in a bowling ball.
3. Employee had a hair transplant gone bad.
4. Employee fell asleep as his desk while working and hit his head, causing a neck injury.
5. Employee said a cow broke into her house and she had to wait for the insurance man.
6. Employee’s girlfriend threw a Sit n Spin through his living room window.
7. Employee’s foot was caught in the garbage disposal.
8. Employee called in sick from a bar at 5:00 p.m. the night before.
9. Employee said he wasn’t feeling too clever that day.
10. Employee had to mow the lawn to avoid a lawsuit from the home owner’s association.
11. Employee called in the day after Thanksgiving because she burned her mouth on a pumpkin pie.
12. Employee was in a boat on Lake Erie and ran out of gas and the coast guard towed him to the Canadian side.

Fibbers (or stretchers-of-the-truth) beware! Even though most employers said they trusted their workers were really sick, some had their doubts: 29 percent reported they have checked up on an employee who called in sick and 16 percent said they have fired a worker for missing work without a proven excuse. Of the employers who checked up on an employee, 70 percent said they required the employee to show them a doctor’s note, half called the employee at home, 18 percent had another worker call the employee and 15 percent drove by the employee’s house or apartment. I’m having visions of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off go through my head.

For those of you who would want to call in sick, but feel the tug of your conscience, you can always go halfway. Use audio conference calls or web conferencing to take the one meeting you feel you just can't miss. If you're going the web route, make sure to unplug your web cam.

What’s your favorite from the list? Got any better ones?

Jill Huselton is a Senior Marketing Manager at InterCall