“We should not speak so that it is possible for the audience to understand us, but so that it is impossible for them to misunderstand us.”
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus

So how can we do this?

By simplifying our messages.

We can
• use simple words and expressions—words that are familiar to our audience.
• avoid long phrases and sentences.
• avoid jargon and technical terms, and
• avoid idiomatic language and abbreviations.

Communication is often difficult and challenging. So let’s do our very best to communicate clearly and effectively.

How would you like to be perceived by others?

Imagine you’re going for a photo shoot. What are you going to wear? How are you going to style your hair? What kind of emotion or feeling would you like to portray?

In German we have the saying, “Kleider machen Leute”. In English we might say, “Fine feathers make fine birds”. Or quite simply “You are what you wear”.

Look at this 4-minute video to see how a change of hairstyle, posture and clothing can make you look like a completely different person.

It’s quite amazing, isn’t it?

(Special thanks to Susan Graul for pointing this out to me in her weekly Newsletter, THE Schubs!).

I love playing card and board games (my favourites are Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Wizard). However, I’ve never really understood online games.

But CityGuesser is quite different. And a game that I enjoyed.

Perhaps you’ll like it, too?

In CityGuesser you need to try and guess cities or famous buildings. Just choose your topic (‘Worldwide’, ‘Europe’ ‘Monuments’ and so on)—and then click on ‘Guess’ to get started.

I chose to play ‘Europe’ and ‘Monuments’. And you?