Welcome to Ubiquity’s Communication Corner

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

Many people believe for ultimate success an audio-visual presentation should fill the screen with a maximum of pictures and a minimum of text because: "Pictures are visual; text is not." Objectively, it can be demonstrated that this simply isn't true. On the contrary, when properly used, text can often be more visual than virtually any picture (image) you could imagine.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

We live in a visual age, which has led many public speakers to believe every formal speech they give requires visual aids. This is too simplistic. Visual aids are supposed to aid the speech, not distract from it, i.e., they are useful when they are useful and not useful when they aren't.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

The Gunning Fog Index is supposed to provide a means of determining how easy or difficult a text will be to read. But does it? Can any formula really provide valid insights into the readability of a text? And if so, does it really matter?

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

All good writers (and by extension public speakers) who stop to reflect on what makes them so good generally come to the same conclusions. However, the way they express these common conclusions can be quite different. One formulation of a key idea may strike a responsive chord with one reader but not with another. To improve one's writing and speaking skills, it is therefore useful, in fact imperative, to seek out and evaluate the advice of at least two or more professionals.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

So-called "creative writing" (fiction) and "expository writing" (non-fiction) are often thought of as distinct (and even antithetical) disciplines. True, there are significant differences, but there are also significant similarities. These should not be ignored.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

Expository (non-fiction) writing is the kind of writing most people do in their jobs and elsewhere. Yet the importance of good expository writing is generally underrated, often severely so. This Communication Corner essay explores why undervaluing expository writing is so costly and detrimental, and what might be done about it.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

Good advice is good advice no matter the source. However knowing something about its source can significantly reinforce one's desire to put that good advice into practice.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

Good expository (non-fiction) writers are good because they have interesting and important things to say. Wrong. Virtually everyone has interesting and important things to say; it's just that we aren't aware of them. Here is a technique to help you find your inner voice.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

One of the most dreaded hobgoblins of public speaking is the pervasive fear that you will say something you didn't really mean to say. This is indeed a problem, but perhaps much less so than you might imagine.

Each "Communication Corner" essay is self-contained; however, they build on each other. For best results, before reading this essay and doing the exercise, go to the first essay "How an Ugly Duckling Became a Swan," then read each succeeding essay.

Lewis Carroll is justifiably world-renowned for his whimsical and sometime apparently ridiculously incongruous works of fiction, e.g. Alice in Wonderland. However, underneath the charming facade, there is very good advice which, once uncovered, can help expository (non-fiction) writers significantly improve their work.