There are many different types of communication skills that we use every single day.  Some of these forms include:

• verbal communication formal—speaking to your teachers
• verbal communication informal—speaking with your friends
• non-verbal or body language
• telephone conversation
• text messaging and instant messaging
• social media comments
• e-mail
• snail mail
• post its

Most of the time, we focus on the words we want to say or write, and we do not think enough about the other clues such as body language, tone, and proofreading.  Only part of the message is the content that is being sent, while the other half of communication is the way that the message is decoded.

Body language such as our facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and posture also send important messages.  The way you listen, look, move, and react tells the other person whether or not you care and if you’re being honest.  It can also show how well you are engaged and listening.  When your nonverbal signals are aligned with the words you’re saying, they increase trust, clarity, and rapport. When they don’t, they generate tension, mistrust, and confusion.

Tone, simply put, is how other people “hear” the message.  Sometimes your message is not received by the sender as you intended the message to be shared. When creating a message to send to others, it is important to consider all of the different clues that you are sending besides the words, since only part of the message is the content that is being sent.  The other half of communication is the way that the message is decoded.

Proofreading adds credibility to any message.  If you do not take the time to look over your message and to edit any spelling or grammatical errors, even if your message is spot on, you will be planting a seed of doubt in your receiver.  The underlying message is that you do not care enough about the details to your efforts to run a basic spell check.  Grammatical errors are sometimes more difficult to spot.  One way to improve your end outcomes is to read the message out loud to yourself.

Let’s try a little experiment with the class and see how effective our written communication skills are.

Please add to the discussion of this section by preparing a response post that gives an example of how you would would communicate to others in two out of the three examples listed below:

1.)  It is your best friend’s birthday and you want to wish them a great day.  Identify how you would communicate with them, and the message you would send.

2.)  You are graduating from high school and you would like to invite Bill Sehnert, the Executive Director of Peer Power, to attend the event.  How would you communicate with him, and what would you say?

3.)  You want to contact President Obama and share your opinion about his performance as our president.  How would you address the President, and what would you say to him?

In addition, your job is to respond to the discussion responses using one word that in your opinion conveys the tone.

Your assignment for this section is to create a PowerPoint, using five pictures as backgrounds that convey either the tone of someone speaking or the body language of a speaker.

You will be evaluated as follows:

To insert pictures as backgrounds in PowerPoint please follow these directions:

Use a picture as a slide background

1. Click the slide that you want to add a background picture to.

To select multiple slides, click a slide, and then press and hold CTRL while you click the other slides.

2. On the Design tab, in the Background group, click Background Styles, and then click Format Background.

3. Click Fill, and then click Picture or texture fill.
4. Do one of the following:
   • To insert a picture from a file, click File, and then locate and double-click the picture that you want to insert.
   • To paste a picture that you copied, click Clipboard.
   • To use clip art as a background picture, click Clip Art, and then in the Search text box, type a word or phrase that describes the clip that you want, or type all or part of the file name of the clip.

To include clip art that is available on Microsoft Office Online in your search, select the Include content from Office Online check box, click Go, and then click the clip to insert it.

 TIP   To adjust a picture’s relative lightness (brightness) or the difference between its darkest and lightest areas (contrast), in the Format Background dialog box, click the Picture pane, and then choose the options that you want.

5. Do one of the following:
   • To use the picture as a background for the slides that you selected, click Close.
   • To use the picture as a background for all of the slides in your presentation, click Apply to All.