Section outline
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Dear All, I wish you welcome to our practical course of 'soft skills to persuade' which could open many gates in your future life as a 'soft touch technology'
During our seminal lectures and associative discussions I would like to face some concerns about the practical relevance of soft skills where body language is to be considered as a highway to a good working ambiance and personal relationships.
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Communication as a Multichannel Interaction
Please read carefully about the multichannel model of communicating with each other disclosed by body language expert Fernando Poyatos! Reflect on it for a moment! Is it too academic (= too theoretical)? Is it matching our practical concerns of networking today? What parts of the model should we keep on and what should we develop further focusing on our interactive space?
Can the multilevel strategies of Alex Hitchins (using Hitch 2005 BRRip XviD AC3-SANTi as a Handbook: 0:00 - 06:35, 20:31 - 23:31, 23:32 - 25:50, 25:51 - 29:55, 43:53 - 45:33, 45:37 - 52:15) to connect
be explained in terms of Poyatos' framework? -
Body Language - an Instrument of Power
Please read the following sequence in our Video Handbook (0:00 - 16:04 min.). What is turning the secret code of body language into a powerful instrument to present yourself and your own ideas? How natural communication makes you feel powerful to express your innovative ideas in public space? Are you creating a personal ambiance or business atmosphere?
The purpose of our seminal discussions is to focus on both levels: the behavior of the target figures (mostly well known to everyone) and that of the analysts.
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Natural Norms and Coached Gestures
Please focus at the crucial process of personal norming expressed in some typical cases here (16:14 - 23:00 min.)! In which one could we speak of coached or spontanеous gestures?
Please find out where is the internalized boundary of coached vs. spontaneous style balancing together the code of body language with your speech behavior?
A question for those who want to go a step further: Could you give any typical situations of raising the low context into high (as defined by Edward Hall
on p.7-8)?
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Hierarchy of Gestures and Image in Public Space
Please look at the essential changes of image in the framework of body gestures in the following typical situations (25:52 - 41:05 min.) esp. focusing on two case profiles: Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton.
Please find out for yourself how your speech behavior and body language "match" or "strike against each other"! Is the development of intuitive sensibility or coaching gestures more important to internalize the boundaries of natural communication? Or does it depend on the context which activates different personal components from both types?
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The Emotional Alphabet of Body Language
Paul Ekman's elaboration of the emotional basics of human behavior - following Darwin's guiding principles - laid an emotional alphabet as a code of body language (look at the video clip below). Please consider the crucial importance of the universal code concerning facial expressions (macro- / microexpressions)!
Concentrate especially at the key role of hot spots here (00:57:20 - 01:08:00) to decipher how far someone gives away what he feels like and who he really is in a public space!
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The Language of the Voice (Paralanguage)
What is the social role of the voice and its components (pitch, rhythm, tonality, contrast) in public space? How should we read the social impact of various interplay possibilities between voice qualifiers and gestures in private and public space?
Please focus esp. on the voice changes of Hillary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher in the sequence here (01:08:00 - 01:29:00)!
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The Language of Distance (Proxemics)
What is the key role of distance between two people in a face-to-face interaction? How could we divide and/or connect personal and public space in a favorable shared space? Where should we start reading body language?
Please concentrate on the analysis of Tonya Reiman here! Can you see any relevant indicators?
For theoretical basics as well as going further in the application of reading cultural differences concerning space and time factors please look at The Hidden Dimension of a good expert of body language, Edward T. Hall ! To learn what is a code beaker of body language look especially at page 3-35 of his Hidden Differences!
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The Yes-Factor - Soft Skills to Persuade
Using soft skills to win a shared space is the key moment of creating a favorable synchronization of body language and verbal expressions, i.e. in the case of a corporate promotion, job interview or a first conversation on the working place, making a good presentation or impressing someone personally from the beginning. Otherwise said “you never have a second chance to make a first impression!”
Please look at Tonya Reiman commenting here some typical interaction scenarios where you build trust connecting with an authority!
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Elevator Pitch - a challenging spontaneous idea „in the elevator“
What kind of communication skills are here to be expected aiming to surprise spontaneously „in the elevator“ with a new idea in 20 seconds (= 1 Sound Bite)? Look at the selected video clips! Which elements of body language and verbal expression would you highly appreciate and what essentials are you missing in the short video sequences!
What kind of strategic failure makes even a brillant presentator as Steve Jobs?
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Social Networking in the Workplace - Communication Strategies
Please look at the movie sequence (07:00 - 21:38 min.) and focus on the social roles within corporate ethics of a global IT company!
How many communication levels are to be syncronized in the workplace and which are the networking strategies applied as interaction scenarios in typical situations (i.e. Tom and Phil, Tom and Garvin, Tom and Meredith, Tom and his team, Tom and Stephanie)?
How various speech levels interact with the silent code of body language?
How personal behavior in a global player like Arcamax is to be linked to a ‘shared space’ (architectural settings, synchronous and asynchronous communications)?
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The Handshake - Fine Tuning of Body and Speech Gestures in the Workplace
How fine tuning of speech and body gestures is here relevant to a shared space? What is the linking importance of a handshake in a public space of an IT company division? Please, focus on Mark Jeffries' keynotes and Janine Driver's analysis! Do you find any guidelines of linking behavior having being missed?
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Body Speech in a Public Space or How to Create your own Room
Please look at the analysis of Tonya Reiman
and focus on the microgestures as 'tells'! How your body speech is creating a personal room within a public space? Would you comment the analysis of Tonya Reiman and Bill O'Reilly?How Bill Parish and Joe Black (from the movie „Meet Joe Black“) create their own room in a shared space within a board meeting of Parish Communications? Analyze their behavior in detail!
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Harvard Communication Standards - Copyright and Intellectual Property
Please look at the video clip and concentrate on Harvard communication standards setting an elevator pitch in a conflict situation concerning intellectual property:
- Be short (remember the 20 seconds Bite)! No long quotations!
- Stand tall, not small! Tune your 'personal space' to the appropriate communication level of a typical conflict situation
- Be creative in a postive way! Creating your own room means not rejecting other ideas, jobs and projects!
Please comment the short presentation and the body language of both sides, especially their microgestures!
For those interested in a the liberal solution of Creative Commons concerning intellectual property on the internet, please look at the TED Talk of Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig
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Neurolinguistic Programming - a Master Technique of Free Choice Manipulation?
Please look at the video clip and think about the essentials of NLP! Is there any way to manipulate free choice with a legitimate master technique using body language (not brain washing)?
One more question for those who have chosen the way to go the interaction processes in depth: Is the associative click in the brain - called free choice - based on real inspiration or is it relying on linguistic constraints (= semantic primitives) as proposed by NLP? Looking for an answer watch the following sequence of the movie Inception (check out video sequences down below)!
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Presentation Skills at Work - How to Manage a Conflict Situation
Look at two presentation scenes (from Sweet November and Wall Street 2)! Reflect on them for a moment! What kind of soft skills would you apply in the given situations to keep the balance?