How little your Recipients Actually Read and How to Increase it

When I write I want people to read it. It's particularly important at work since I'm an internal communication specialist. I publish a lot of content on the intranet which all employees are supposed to read. But of course that isn't the reality. People read less than you think.

To reach as many people in your target group as possible and be able to improve your internal communication, there are some things you should know about how much of your article people are likely to read. Or rather, how little they actually read.

Hard facts

• Most people will only read the headline and the first lines of an article. 
• People stop reading if the article contains words they do not understand. 
• Most employees spend less than a minute to read the company newsletter or an article on the intranet. It takes an average reader about a minute to read 200 words, so if the article is longer than that they will most likely not read to the end.

How to increase the employees' reading

Based on the knowledge of these facts, there are a few easy things you can do to improve your internal communication and increase the understanding and reading of your message. 

• Write clear and informative headlines which draw interest to the rest of the article. It's a key factor to increased reading. 
• Put the most important information first.
• Use a clear and simple language that anyone can understand. No acronyms or technical terms. 
• Keep it short.

Source: Alison Davis, Jane Shannon: Writing Clear and Simple HR Messages

Always Start with Why

All people can learn to inspire others. Simon Sinek is the ethnographer who explains WHY some people and organizations are more innovative, more profitable, have more loyal customers and loyal employees and, last but not least, have the ability to repeat their success again and again.

Learn the way to success

There is a common pattern for how this type of people and businesses think, act and communicate. And you can learn to do the same thing.

It's simple: when you want people with you, always start by answering the question "why?"

Watch Simon tell you how in the video below. The clip will completely change your way of thinking about communication and marketing.

Are you short on time? Watch at least the first five minutes. I promise you will come back for the rest later!

Protect your Child by not Making Him into a Circus Monkey

Parents want their children to show up at their best when facing people outside the family. Off course everyone want other people to appreciate their child as much as they do themself. But to teach the child to always do what other people expect or like them to do doesn't protect your child. On the contrary, it can be really dangerous.

If you force your child to hug grandma even the times he doesn't want to hug her himself, you teach him not being able to decide over his own body or intimate sphere. 

Don't force your child to let anyone into his intimate sphere if he doesn't want to. It can lead to really bad or dangerous situations.

The worst case: when he's alone at the playground he doesn't think he can decide over his body if a stranger approaches him and tries to do something inappropriate with him.

What you can do to protect your child

Teach your child to do only things that feel okay for him. Protect his intimate sphere by don't make him do things on command to please others or to make yourself shine as a parent.

Did you find the content of this blogpost important? 

Please protect our children by sharing it with your friends.

Write a Great Bio and Look Good on Paper

I suppose you want to look good. You want to look good when you see yourself in the mirror, when you go to work, when you attend an event or a friends party. And you probably want to look good in the social media sphere, for example on Facebook. It's naturally for today's people: we know we're being judged based on our appearances and we all want to look our best when we're being watched. But many people tend to forget one important place to look good: On paper.

You need a bio

Today I'm going to write about the importance of writing a bio. The difference between a bio and a resume is that a bio speaks much more about your reputation, attributes, tone and makeup than a resume does. Written in the third person and without the rigid structure of a resume, your bio is much more readable and conversational than a resume. A bio has become increasingly important as most of us suffer from information fatigue and cannot be bothered to read lengthy documents about anybody. A bio is useful for a host of reasons such as applying for a job, publishing an article or guest blog post, general networking and so on. It’s basically a great vehicle for quickly communicating who you are and what you do. 

Bio samples

When you're about to write your first bio, it's useful to look how others have written theirs. Google people in the same professional field or interest area as you are to get ideas. I have included four bios I've found on the web which I like. They are all in different lenghts and used for different purposes, but they are all very light hearted and easy to read. I do get intrested to know more about these people, and that is what qualifies a really good bio.

Mark Levy at Levy Innovations has bios of different lengths on his website. Below is the shorter version:

Mark Levy is the founder of Levy Innovation, a marketing strategy firm. David Meerman Scott has called him “a positioning guru extraordinaire,” and Debbie Weil referred to him as “a horse whisperer for writers and business thinkers.” He has written for The New York Times, and has written or co-created five books. His latest is a revised, expanded, and re-subtitled edition of his bestseller, Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content. Mark also creates magic tricks and shows. His work has been performed Off-Broadway, in Las Vegas, and on all the major television networks. Visit him and read his blog at levyinnovation.com.

Graphic designer Jacob Cass has this bio on his professional website: 

Strategic, multidisciplinary designer & art director with an eye for innovation and pixel perfection. I’ve worked the gamut of clients (Disney, Red Bull, Nike & Star Wars to name a few) and although my skill set is vast, my greatest expertise revolve in the worlds of interactive design, UX, social media, brand identity design, content creation and print collateral. My wish is to combine my knowledge and experience in these areas, to deliver the best creative to my employer’s clients and their audiences. I have a strong personal following of over 42,000 Twitter followers and 30,000 blog subscribers. I also love coffee.

@maxxhendriks share this bio on Twitter:

I was born. When I was 11 I got my first computer. Then I started writing funny tweets. That’s still what I am doing. The end.

Laura Zigman, a novelist and a blogger, loves writing about herself in third person and has published this funny and all true bio. Her absolute sincerity is the key to why it is so amusing to read.

Laura Zigman grew up in Newton, Massachusetts (where she felt she never quite fit in), and graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (where she didn't fit in either) and the Radcliffe Publishing Procedures Course (where she finally started to feel like she fit in).
She spent ten years working (slaving away) in New York in book publishing where she was a (much-abused under-appreciated) publicist for Times Books, Vintage Books, Turtle Bay Books, Atlantic Monthly Press, and Alfred A. Knopf.
After moving to Washington, D.C. (because she was burnt out and didn't know where else to go) and working briefly as a project manager for The Smithsonian Associates (she had a cubicle) and a consultant for Share Our Strength, an anti-poverty non-profit group (she didn't even have a cubicle), she (finally) finished her first novel (that she'd been writing in her "spare time" for the last five years).
(The thinly-disguised autobiographical novel) Animal Husbandry was published in 1998 by The Dial Press and became a national bestseller. It was published in fourteen countries (or more, she's not sure — see here) and in 2001 the film based on the book, Someone Like You, (they changed the title at the last minute because they were afraid people wouldn't "get" the meaning of the original title — not that she's complaining or anything) starring Ashley Judd and (excuse her while she drools) Hugh Jackman, was released by Fox 2000. Her second (thinly-disguised autobiographical) novel, Dating Big Bird, also published by The Dial Press, came out in 2000, and her third (thinly disguised autobiographical) novel, Her, published by Knopf (where she once worked — an exquisite irony), followed in 2002. Her latest (thinly-disguised autobiographical) novel, Piece of Work, to be published by Warner Books on September 25, 2006 (finally, after four long years in between books — maybe her parents will now leave her alone), is based on her (horrific but entertaining) experiences as a publicist and has been optioned by Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone Pictures, with My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Nia Vardalos (luff her) set to write the screenplay and star in the movie (please God let that happen).
She currently lives outside Boston (in the same town she grew up in — how weird is that? — and where she now feels like fits in) with her husband and young son.

Ingredients in your bio

You can write your bio for different purposes in various lenghts, but the most common used bio is short and normally between 50 to 200 words long. It lists your professional accomplishments but it can also show your personality. A good thing is to add a hook in the end where you include one or two bits of information that give your bio that extra little colour that will make readers remember your name next time you meet. Perhaps you can mention an unusual hobby, or something else that will distinguish yourself from others. Before adding something to your bio, ask yourself, “is this something that anyone can do, or is this something that sets me apart?”

3 great links to help you write a killer bio

8 Steps to Writing a bio like a pro
How to Write a Personal Bio
16 questions to help you write a douche-free bio

Beginners Guide to OneNote

At work I use OneNote a lot. It's very helpful for me to save all my projects, notes and drafts in the same place. OneNote is an Office program, but not many people seem to use it or even know about it. But when they're familiar with the benefits of the program, everyone I know of just love it. OneNote not only exist on your own computer. You can also add OneNote Web App and OneNote Mobile.

The 5 best features in OneNote

1. OneNote works as a digital notebook. You can create different notebooks for your projects and organize the content in each notebook in different folders and pages. You can add as many as you want of each and remove, move around, color code or merge them.
2. You don't need to press a button to save your work in OneNote. OneNote saves your work for you instantly. So if you forget to save or your computer closes down, you don't have to worry. Everything is still there the next time you open OneNote again. 
3. Use ctrl+S to make screen clips of everything. I usually clip pictures and quotes from articles and it goes directly into a new OneNote page. The only thing I have to do is to put the page in the right folder.
4. You can use OneNote for voice recording and record for example a lecture you want to listen to again.
5. You can share your notebooks with others when you co-operate on a project. When you open the shared folder you can see which content other team members have added. 

Always Know What to Wear

I'm hooked on the STYLIT-planner! This is a true fashion invention.

STYLIT is your daily fashion planner - a place for you to plan your day week and month all with personal style in mind. So, not only will you have a planner to jot down your daily plans and to dos - you now can plan out your outfits! See how it works here:

Mad Mimi is Here to Help You

I use a great tool when communicating my business which I like to share with you. It’s an online email service which allows you to create really well designed emails in no time. No html-coding, just use the very user friendly and extremely easy tools to write your message, make headlines and drag and drop your own pictures to build a professional looking email that you can send to customers or others with whom you need to look very neat and professional. And of course you can use it for private correspondence as well. I think it’s a great tool to use for example Christmas wishes or if you’d like to show photos in a nice way.


MadMimi is designed so that everyone could create a well-designed, elegant email. Even Grandma.

How I use it

I use the MadMimi service for emails, invoices and pitches. You can store mailing lists in the program and divide them into groups which receives different kind of emails. I have created lists for customers, potential customers, media and so on. Another great thing I appreciate is when I have sent an email, I can see which of the recipients actually opened the mail. I also get a message if any of the email addresses no longer are in use. In that way I easily keep my mailing lists up to date.

Great features

You can also change color, fonts and overall appearances of your emails, making them as individual as you like. The service is very well priced and I only pay a few dollars a month for a service that fits my business perfectly. 

Mean it

Everyone wants their children to be happy, responsible, and well adjusted, and Mary O’Donahue wrote a book addressing just that. Her book, When You Say “Thank You,” Mean It (And 11 Other Lessons for Instilling Lifelong Values in Your Children), is based on  a practical month-by-month guide that can be adapted and work for any family. This unique system gets kids actively involved in three specific fun and meaningful exercises each month.

As the month unfolds, children begin to understand why specific virtues are important and how to live them. 

And by focusing on just one value a month, children have an opportunity to really explore what the value means to them.

Make your Bed and be Happy

Did you know that making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity and stronger skills at sticking with a budget? It has also been suggested that making your bed boosts happiness. Read more about it here.