“Why Even Successful Speakers Need To Practice” by Maryfran Johnson (CIO Mag, 15 June 2009) The funny thing is, this applies to everything. If you want to get better at something, you have to do it. Over and over and over. And if you want to stop getting better at something (i.e., a bad habit) you have to stop doing it. There are times the brain can be a pretty simple machine. Either way, winging it is not the way to go.

A semi-related article you should fine helpful is “5 Ways to Ruin Your Next Presentation” By Thomas Wailgum (CIO Mag,19 May 2009) Use these tips to make sure what you’re practicing is the right stuff.

“How to: Handle Negative Online Comments, Hold a Concise Meeting and Decline an After-work Invite” by By Kristin Burnham (CIO Mag, 10 June 2009). What’s great about CIO is that it’s targeted to executives so the articles get right to the meat of the matter. What’s even better is that the majority of their execu-think applies to everyone else as well.

Let’s just break these three down really quick:

“Negative Online Comment” – This approach applies offline as well. One of the key phrases to use is, “I understand”. The key personality trait to have is empathy.

“Concise Meeting” – A good set of rules to follow.

“Decline” – And if you can’t tell the truth then ask for rain cheque, or suggest you’d like to “postpone until next time”. Do your best to avoid saying, “No”.