The Latest News, Tips, and Trends of the HRD Communities Published by HRD Gateway  for the e-ASEAN Endorsed ATN Project www.hrdgateway.org/hub5 news@hrdgateway.org

CONTENTS

Editorial
Feature Article One: "Strategy For Building Communication Skills in Students"
Feature Article Two: "Be An Effective HR General -- Learning From Ancient Chinese Generals -- Part IV of IV"
Feature Article Three: "Using Listening In Coaching"
Humor Resource
Book Review: "101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic, 3rd Edition" - US, India, and Russia
Attitude Vitamins
Links of Interest
Organization News

Editorial

It's great to be back!

We have put together an issue with you in mind -- to help you perform better in the HRD/HRM profession.

Hyderabad-based Soma Pal, in his article "Strategy For Building Communication Skills in Students," discusses what should go into a communication skills program for college students.  The ideas can apply to corporate world as well.

Penang-based Dr. Sunny T.H. Goh concludes his series on how to use Sun Tzu's principles in HR.  He ends by commenting that these Sun Tzu principles and examples are simple and basic.  It's in this simplicity that there's power.  You might want to re-read previous "Be An Effective HR General -- Learning From Ancient Chinese Generals" articles in the series in past issues.

Dr Michael Heah returns with another article on coaching, this time concentrating on one of the coaching competencies, listening.  Of course, questioning links closely to listening, and when you question and listen, you motivate.  Useful info for people in all disciplines, not just coaching or mentoring.

Our book review discusses a Web marketing book that has helped many indidviduals and businesses increase their market shares and ROI.

G. K Lim
Editor

Feature Article One: "Strategy For Building Communication Skills in Students"

by Soma Pal

A few months back when we were trying to select people who could give seminars to students, I had an eye-opening experience. One person came into the conference room (where the interviews were being held) with a laptop and looked very enthusiastic and confident. He was very well groomed and his language was polished. He made a presentation on the topic that was assigned to him quite a few days before the day of the interview. It was a high-tech presentation by any standard, with sprinklings of quotes and statistics.

At the end of the hour-long presentation, I had only one question to ask, “Mr. Singh, may I know why you made this presentation?”

How he responded to my query, is a long tale. However, I can let you know that he was rejected at the first level of the selection process.

This experience made me wonder about people’s conception of ‘communication skills’.

Communication skill is generally thought of as something that can be ‘imparted’ in a couple of training sessions. Based on my experience, I would say that it needs a detail working with the trainee and a thorough understanding of the trainee’s background and of the communication process.

I see communication as including different aspects:

Language related issues
Am I comfortable with the language?
Am I comfortable with verbal or non-verbal medium?
Do I have the adequate vocabulary?

Listening skills
Empathy
Did I pre-judge the other person?
Skills like paraphrasing, acknowledging,

Speaking skills
Did I understand my audience?
Did I pace myself according to the level of my audience?
Am I clear, audible, organized, and fluent?
Is my ideas / examples alien to the audience? If yes, what can I do to put my audience onto the same paradigm as I am in?

Comprehension skills
What is the level of my familiarity with the topic? Am I just ‘aware’ of the topic? Or, have I touched ‘the core / soul’ of the topic?

Critical thinking skills
Asking questions to the listener and to myself.

Organizing skills
Are my thoughts organized?
Is my information organized?
Is my information organized for the benefit of the listeners?
Is my communication explicitly structured according to the needs and frame of reference of my audience?

Now, when we have communication training workshops we often try to do either of these:
- Club all of the above
- Focus on only a few factors

The question is: Is such a piece-meal approach (the latter case) or such a ‘full-volume’ (the former case) approach apt for the trainees?

Based on my experience with students from rural and urban background, I think that a ‘linking map’ approach would work better if it were specially based on Kolb’s experiential cycle of learning. Of course, such a workshop needs to be of at least 12 hours, distributed over a period of time and tight in itself.

By the term ‘linking map’ I mean a three-dimensional spread of activities, each activity addressing different issues of communication, but overlapping in some common area. This whole spread can be graded according to the current competence of the student. Horizontal movement across the spread can be mandatory so that the student gets a feel of the wide field of communication. Vertical movement up the spread can be permitted on the basis of situational, paper-based and skills-based aimed at tracing the student’s cognitive, affective and behavioral comfort level and competence with communication. The third dimension would be represented by the student’s development of critical and creative ways of looking at the issues dealt within the spread; having the student create a 3-d spread on his / her own can capture this development.

The above was a mental map of what we can do to enhance a student’s communication skills. Such an approach can be a holistic, concrete, and comprehensive one, and the outputs can be measured.

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Soma Pal, Globarena, Plot 304-O, Road 78, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India; tel.: 040-23554437; Currently with Globarena (www.globarena.com); we are into distance education, corporate e-learning, and web security.

Feature Article Two: "Be An Effective HR General -- Learning From Ancient Chinese Generals -- Part IV of IV"

by Dr. Sunny T.H. Goh

DON'T BE TOO DELICATE IN HONOR

In AD 234, Zhuge Liang led his sixth and last expedition against the kingdom of Wei. After the Wei troops were defeated on several occasions, its Commander-in-Chief Sima Yi dug in and refused to fight. It was a bid to exhaust the spirit and provisions of Zhuge Liang's army. Hard-pressed for a quick victory, Zhuge Liang tried to provoke Sima Yi by sending him a woman's robe as a gift, implying that Sima Yi was as timid as a woman. Although Sima Yi's generals seethed with anger over the gross insult and wanted to rush out to fight, he calmly put on the robe and ordered them to stay put. He did not put the messenger to death, instead entertained the fellow with a lavish banquet. There, Sima Yi subtly probed him for information about Zhuge Liang's lifestyle and work habits and discovered that Zhuge Liang, despite being ill, was working long hours and going with little food and rest. As Sima Yi had accurately predicted, Zhuge Liang died a few months later.

Have some pride. It's good. But don't be too proud. It's dangerous if we can't tolerate any slight. Sima Yi said it best: "If you can't tolerate the slight, how can you hope to achieve the great scheme?"

So, don't think too highly of yourself. Tolerate adversity. Be humble. Then, chances are that, like Sima Yi, we'd be able to spring back to greater heights or scale greater heights. Otherwise, we may meet our Waterloo. Exactly what had happened to one expatriate manager when he was in Malaysia a few years ago.

Unlike many of his fellow expatriates, this particular expatriate thought very highly of himself.  He'd arrogantly correct the English of every mail or memo before it left the department, dictated how a letter should be written (including its reference number), and even instructed that every correspondence leaving the department must be countersigned by him or, in his absence, the next most senior person in the department. But when he was made to report to an Asian boss, his ego was badly bruised. Then, he started to come late for work, and even said his Asian boss couldn't do anything to him as he was an expatriate.

Words eventually got back to the senior management, and the axe fell on him. During a face-to-face to meeting with his Asian boss who showed him the door, tears welled up in his eyes. But it was a case of too little, too late. As written in my book Marketing*Wise, ego has no place in marketing. It's the same in HR.

DON'T BE QUICK-TEMPERED

In AD 221, Liu Bei mounted an expedition against the kingdom of Wu to avenge General Guan Yu's death. Anxious to march out without delay, General Zhang Fei ordered two of his subordinates to fit his entire army with white banners and white uniforms within three days.  When the duo protested against the unrealistic dateline, Zhang Fei had them severely flogged. Angered, he shortened the dateline to one day, failing which the duo would be executed. Faced with this humanly impossible task, the duo crept into Zhang Fei's tent that night and stabbed him while he was sleeping off his intoxication from an earlier drinking party. Thus, instead of dying a hero's death on the battlefield, Zhang Fei died a futile death as a result of his quick temper.

No, we won't be stabbed or killed if we're quick-tempered or temperamental. Or are unlikely that we'll be. Maybe we'd just shorten our life by a few years! But as managers, it's unlikely we'll be able to get our people to do their best, if we're bad-tempered or easily provoked to anger.

Which was exactly the case with one senior manager at a multinational. This manager easily lost his temper and would yell at his staffs when things went wrong. Is it any surprise that his staffs withheld information from him, preferred to have no contact with him, and "played safe" as much as possible? He was later fired. Abusive temper was one of the reasons.

So, check our temper. "Great" emotions are best left at the karaoke sessions. They have no place in business. Especially in functions that deal heavily with people such as HR.

Many of us may wonder, "All of the above are so basic, so simple."  My answer? Yes! Question is, do we do them well? The effective and successful generals are those who embrace simplicity. For example, they do complicated stuffs in simple ways. The reason is simple: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Insecure and incompetent managers do things complicatedly to mask their own insecurities and incompetencies.

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© 2004 Dr. Sunny T.H. Goh. As a simplicity marketing specialist, Dr. Goh has co-authored two books, "MARKETING*WISE: An Unconventional Approach To Strategic Marketing For Asia" (Prentice Hall, 2003), and "HITCH-A-RIDE ON THE THREE KINGDOMS: Learning From Ancient Chinese Strategists" (Prentice Hall, 2003)

Feature Article Three: "Using Listening In Coaching"

by Dr Michael Heah

I am a Lighthouse ......I bring light to life's dark spots. I light the way to new territories and guide you through unchartered waters

WHY COACH-MENTORS ARE NEEDED MORE THESE DAYS?

If only dealing with people were so straightforward like getting an idea across from A to B, there would not be an ever-continuous need to know more about human interaction.  If it were so simple, the many researches and discoveries over the many decades on the human communication phenomenon would have yielded all the results we needed to master the art to be a perfect person or communicator.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, for the full grasp of the subject on human handling seems to have eluded us even more and more with the passage of time.

A close look at the world around us will tell us so. This fast moving, modern and a knowledge-based world of today is fraught with even more complexities and challenges for people to face and overcome than in the past.

Between nations, the stark realities of wars, rivalries and conflicts are putting innocent lives in danger, only if they knew how to ‘give and take’ with one another.  Between many organizations, business rivalry and cut throat competition are weakening their market position, only if they knew that striking a win-win relationship would do everybody good.  Between people, intense ill feelings of hatred and misunderstandings are separating each other, only if they knew how to love and care for one another more.  Finally, within the private lives of individuals, social and psychological ills are destroying them slowly, only if they knew how to manage themselves more effectively to face up to the challenges of life.

The inability of handling oneself and other people is often ranked as the No. 1 obstacle that is preventing human beings from reaching a true state of happiness and progress. 

Many people need personal help these days, for they find it difficult to do it alone. This explains why professional services in coaching and mentoring have become more and more necessary to help realign them to have the right frame of mind and a balanced mental perspective to face and overcome the challenges of life more effectively.

Coaches use mentoring for this purpose.  It is through this that they help open up a totally new horizon for people to live a fuller life.

WHAT DOES MENTORING CONSIST OF?

Coach-mentors must be skillful and strategic when they are assigned to help someone get back on their feet again. Like his protégé, his ability to handle people effectively is his No. 1 challenge.  In coaching, the coach must be able to build and forge such a close and trusting relationship that will motivate his protégé to take the course of action for the desired transformation to happen.

How does a coach achieve this? The answer lies in mentoring.  As have been explained before, mentoring is not only a core skill needed, but also a truly fundamental prerequisite that a coach must have, without which he cannot call himself a coach.  The role of mentoring in coaching is both a wide and deep subject. It requires great efforts and time to refine this skill before they can be powerful coaches.

In essence, mentoring is made up of 3 main interrelated activities (or sometimes called strategies): active listening, questioning and motivating.  As each of these activities (or strategies) is of equal importance and involve the use of certain specific skills, we will look and analyze them separately for a better understanding of the subject.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ACTIVE LISTENING IN MENTORING?

The first important activity (or strategy) of mentoring is listening.

Listening is very important in mentoring (as well as in human communication) basically because many people never really learn when to shut up and start listening while others are talking. Throughout childhood and adulthood, we have learnt a lot about speaking and expressing ourselves well, but little or none in learning how to listen.  Many people seem to have the misconception that communicating is only about talking well. This is certainly not true.

Coach-mentors require active listening skills, perhaps more than others because they are responsible to help others get to the bottom of what is in the minds, hearts and soul of their protégés, empowering them to decide for themselves on what is true or not true, or what is best for them; and creating a level playing field in their relationship for solid rapport to be built.

When a coach-mentor actively listens, he is not only keeping quiet while his protégé is talking. He enters his world by listening from the protégé’s point of view, analyzing and synthesizing what has been said before forming an objective and logical conclusion of what is really in the mind of his protégé.

A coach-mentor is sensitive and highly observant because when he listens he has all the time to also observe his protégé on non-verbal clues as well as his verbal clues.  He connects and relates them together to confirm what he already knows in the mind, heart and soul of his protégé to help him out of his predicament.

IS THE ROLE OF QUESTIONING IN MENTORING?

Throughout the coaching dialogue, the coach-mentor not only listens, but also makes use of another activity or strategy called Questioning.  He asks questions not only to involve himself in the dialogue but more importantly, to trigger the protégé to really think hard.

A coach-mentor asks two types of questions; Feeling questions and Visionary questions.

Feeling questions are those which make the protégé expresses himself and usually begin with ‘What’ and ‘How’.  Examples of feeling questions: 'What makes you feel this way?’ and ‘How will you do it?'  Feeling questions have the effect of encouraging the person to open up, and invites him to often say even more than he plans to.

Coach-mentors also use visionary questions as both goal-setters and problem-solvers.  In other words, they are positive.  They encourage enthusiasm and promote positive thinking in his protégé. Visionary questions are highly important for they are ‘paint-a-word picture’ to help people visualize their future goals. They therefore help get people psychologically off their current predicament and move them up to a positive mental horizon. A visionary question will be, ‘What will it look like when you are no longer having the drinking problem?’ Such a question helps create the desired future end result for the protégé to seek and to strive for.

On the other hand, critical questions, which start with ‘Why’, are often avoided for they can connote displeasure or disagreement. For instance, ‘Why do you have such ideas?’ can put the protégé in a defensive position as he has to justify his thoughts or actions to another person.  If this is what the protégé feels about his coach, this may throw the coaching relationship out of the window, for as a coach, he is expected to be encouraging rather than discouraging, and open rather than judgmental.

Finally, although it is not wrong to use closed questions, which often require only a one or two words answer, like ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, a coach-mentor limits its usage only for the purpose of saving time, to confirm what he already knows or suspects, or to get a conversation back on its track again. Beyond that, an overuse of this could discourage communication flow with no help in building a trusting relationship. 

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MOTIVATING IN MENTORING?

The master key to successful mentoring lies in the ability to motivate.  Coach-mentors know fully well that people can do just about anything if they are highly motivated.  They are also convinced that even where there is a lack of ability or means, people can eventually overcome obstacles if motivation is strong.

In helping his protégé, a coach-mentor is fully aware that his mission is to achieve two objectives: help him understand how he comes to feel as he does (through active listening and questioning), and then help him realize that he can change his feelings and circumstances (through raising his motivation level).

A coach-mentor motivates by concentrating on helping his protégé to improve his self image, which is the fountain where motivation comes from. The theory of the self image is simple; the higher it is, the higher will be a person’s drive to achieve, and the lower it is, the lower will be his drive to achieve.  In other words, people’s level of efforts is proportionate to their perception of their own capabilities. 

Given this awareness, a coach-mentor deliberately and consciously raises the level of his protégé’s self image by applying four motivational strategies throughout the coaching relationship.

Firstly, he gives him the power of autonomy and self-determination where he personally and directly makes his own choices and decisions.  He can help move him out of his comfort zone by guiding his protégé along, for instance by  ‘massaging’ his self image in a number of ways -- by making inferences and reminders to his past accomplishments, highlighting his strengths, praising his feat in finding successful solutions to knotty problems and so forth.

Secondly, a coach-mentor can directly benefit his protégé by lending his own experiences in areas where he does not have, which can range from his childhood, career, education and most of all, from his school of hard knocks! Such experiences bring along untold benefits and will certainly fast track the achievement of goals without having to stumble on mistakes to gain them.

Thirdly, a coach-mentor leverages on his clout and credibility to positively persuade, by saying, ‘I know you can do it’.  Or ‘You’ve got what it takes to succeed in this business’. A coach-mentor who has healthy relationships with his protégés will be able to move them into action through such persuasion.

Finally, in times of difficulties, a coach-mentor uses positive words and interpretations to give psychological strengths to his  protégés to help them overcome their physical and or emotional inadequacies. There are a number of ways in doing this. Giving them reassurances and encouragement by connecting them to past accomplishments is one way of helping them. The other way is through understanding and supporting them through show of empathy.  Advising (or warning) them about self-fulfilling prophecies of self-talks, beliefs and expectations is another.  All these are done to help them gain control on what goes inside their minds to ensure that their self-image is not bruised.

Never should a coach-mentor say or do things that can discourage or demotivate his protégés. He must avoid anything that can cause defensive behavior to develop. This will happen when he perceives or anticipates discomfort, disapproval, domination, ridicule, loss of status, loss of affection, thoughtlessness or inconsiderate, punishment and so forth.  When a wall of defense is built round the person, coaching results become difficult to achieve.  

WHEN DOES A COACH-MENTOR GET TOUGH?

Yes, there are times when a coach-mentor needs to show that he means business and be stern and directive in his dealing with his protégé. He will know when to demand action and when to ease up; when to explain, interpret, and predict and when to let the course of events take its course; when to put forward a particular strategy and when to allow a period of relative freedom for his protégé.

A good coach-mentor plays a good balance by being both fair and firm as well as know when to apply the ‘kiss and kick’ strategy, which is when to praise and when to demand action.

Unfortunately, the line on when to go tough and when to go soft is thin.  It is only through experience, intuition and his sixth sense will he know when to do what.

However, there are two broad guidelines to help us decide on timing.

1. You need to be certain that you have built sufficient trust and mutual respect before you can apply directive or pressure. You must know when you have earned the right to tell someone what to do once in a while. Doing it too early may see the coaching relationship going disastrous.

2.  On the other hand, you need to know when you are moving too slowly which can cause the protégé to be bored and restless with you thus losing credibility.

When things are not progressing as planned and when the timing is right, a coach-mentor can give a little directive by diplomatically challenging his protégé to get out of the comfort zones into unfamiliar territories, letting off old ways of doing and seeing things, taking calculated risks, pushing for faster rate of action including intervening by saying, ‘I really do not think you should give up trying,' or 'I do not think this job is right for you’.

As mentioned earlier, a coach-mentor must be able to trust his intuition and sixth sense when he decides this course of action to move the protégé to the next level of progress.

A good coach-mentor nurtures and helps them grow these best parts of their personal self which will remain with them forever.

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Dr Michael Heah, of Corporate Coach Sdn Bhd, is a professional coach and President of the International Coach Federation Malaysia Chapter.  He holds a Doctorate and Masters Degree as well as a Postgraduate University Diploma in Organizational Psychology and Labor Management from UK. He can be contacted at 6-03-77267316, 6-019-2317618.  Website: www.corporate-coach.com

Humor Resource

Managed by Jayadeva de Silva

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All eyes were on the radiant bride as her father escorted her down the aisle.

They reached the altar and the waiting groom; the bride kissed her father and placed something in his hand.

The guests in the front pews responded with ripples of laughter.  Even the priest smiled broadly.

Because, as her father gave her away in marriage, the bride gave him back his credit card.

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Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women.  And I hope I never get into that. -- Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton

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A creative writing class at Slippery Rock University was asked to write a concise essay containing the following elements: religion, royalty, sex, and mystery

The prize winner wrote: "My God," said the queen, " I am pregnant! I wonder who did it!"

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Two youngsters were closely examining bathroom scales on display at the department store.

"What is it for?" one asked.

"I don't know," the other replied. "I think you stand on it and it makes you mad. At least that's what it does for my mom and dad."

Book Review: "101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic, 3rd Edition" - US, India, and Russia

by Mark Aguiar

  
US Edition                 Indian Edition

As companies large and small rush to grab their online market shares, getting the desired Web traffic is becoming increasingly competitive. Fortunately, there are many effective Web marketing techniques for you to use. I found “101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic, 3rd Edition” to be a comprehesive guide for learning all the common and uncommon practices in Web marketing. Author Thomas Wong reveals 101 specific techniques to help you beat the competitors. It invites you to evaluate all aspects of your Web operations, from domain name branding to landing page development to online sales management. Using proven techniques that have worked well for successful sites, Wong shows that you can do the same for your site. The book lists hundreds of examples and vendor tools that can be purchased and customized for immediate use. Among those tools are search engine optimization guides, viral marketing approaches, email broadcasting software, blogging and publishing platforms, banner exchange programs, affiliate and partnership programs, and cross linking software.

What can this book do for you? In my opinion, you can use the Web marketing techniques to reach out to your target audience. Be it a personal cause you want to promote or a service/product you want to sell. There is a limit of how much personal networking you can do each day. But with the Web, you can reach out to tens of thousands of people 24x7. What I like about this book is the use of vendor tools, which are very inexpensive to buy and install on your own Web site. For less than USD$30, for example, I can install a newsletter subscription program on my Web site to capture the email addresses of visitors. From there on, I can send them promotional emails without the concern of spamming because the visitors have given me the permission to send them emails when they sign up with my newsletter. Also, as per the book's suggestion, I experimented with the use of Google Adwords, which has brought me quite a bit of traffic. It's very interesting to be able to test out the techniques and see results (good or bad) right away.

"101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic, 3rd Edition” is published by Intesync in California. It’s available for sales at Amazon.com and local bookstores in the US, India, and Russia. The book is co-published in India by Indus Publishing and in Russia by Dilya Publishing House. The author promises a free email consultation (a USD$50 value) for anyone who purchases a copy of this book.

Attitude Vitamins  

Compiled by G. K Lim

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. -- Thomas Jefferson

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. -- Abraham Lincoln

Don't celebrate closing a sale, celebrate opening a relationship. -- Patricia Fripp

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it. -- Voltaire

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats. -- B. C. Forbes

If you're still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday, laying flowers on its grave by the hour, you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today. -- Joyce Chapman

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. -- Albert Einstein

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. -- Descartes

My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. -- Oprah Winfrey

To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right. -- Confucius

Every man dies. Not every man really lives. -- Braveheart

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. -- William Shedd

Links of Interest

An online thinking styles exercise: Are you as musical as Mozart? Or are you a wordsmith like Wordsworth? Try this quiz to find out what your thinking style is.  This quiz has 36 questions, and will take about 10 minutes to complete
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/thinker_quiz/

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A ten-chapter ebook on "How people learn"
http://books.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/index.html

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Sites on brainstorming and thinking outside the box:
http://www.mindmapping.com.sg
http://home.snafu.de/h.nauheimer/cp_03.htm

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The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork Online Assessment test
http://www.injoy.com/17LOT/

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Blanchard's Leadership Model

The Blanchard Leadership Model takes a situational perspective of leadership. This model posits that the developmental levels of a leader's subordinates play the greatest role in determining which leadership styles are most appropriate (leader behaviors). According to this conceptualization, leader behaviors fall along two continua, (1) directive behavior, and (2) supportive behavior. This categorization is not dissimilar to those of the Ohio State Leadership studies and the University of Michigan studies.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1650/qblanchard.html

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The Vroom-Yetton Leadership Model

The Vroom- Yetton Leadership Model provides a guideline to help managers choose appropriate leadership styles. Essentially, appropriate leadership is equated choosing with appropriate decision-making methods.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1650/qvroom.html

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Many new business owners expect to devote reasonable time and effort to getting their business established. Then, they plan to relax as the business runs itself and continues to grow.
http://www.mytradefairs.com/index.php?option=Articles&task=viewarticle&artid=13

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The Role of PR In Business Recovery

Who wants to face the challenges of a business recovery without a ton of firepower? Especially when getting your piece of the action almost certainly depends upon how well you modify the behaviors of your target audiences.
http://www.mytradefairs.com/index.php?option=Articles&task=viewarticle&artid=4

Organization News

1. SVASE Events in Silicon Valley of California

An international affilaite of HRD Gateway, SVASE (Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreuers) is the largest and fastest growing nonprofit association in Northern California dedicated exclusively to helping early stage entrepreneurs across all technology sectors build successful companies. SVASE was Founded by a group of software engineers in 1995 and it has grown steadily ever since. SVASE hosts 6-10 events each month attended by 400-600 technology executives and press. The photo shown above, for example, is a social networking event presented by the CEOs and VP of Zero Degree, Ryze, Spoke, and Linkedin. The person speaking into the mike is Adrian Scott, CEO and Founder of Ryze. When HRD Gateway VP Thomas Wong met up with SVASE President Laura Roden at the event, he was pleasantly impressed by how well the event was organized. As entrepreneurs, the audience was very enthusiastic about learning what works and doesn't work from the speakers. All four speakers were open and willing to share their business models and experiences. SVASE has a reputation of helping startup entrepreneurs with resources, VC funding, and other services. For those interested in their activities, please consider signing up as their members.

2. HRD Gateway invites you to send in pictures and stories about your organization. It's a free promotion for your organization. Generally speaking, we prefer stories related to personal and professional accomplishment as well as community development efforts. Please avoid promotion events that are business oriented. For those events, HRD Gateway will be happy to sponsor them with a small fee to cover administrative expenses. Please write to G. K Lim for more information.

Editorial Team: GK Lim, Jayadeva De Silva, Raghav Rao, and Thomas Wong

Readers, please email comments, news items, and article contributions to the editor, G. K Lim. 
HRD Gateway reserves the right to use your contribution.

Copyright © 2004 HRD Gateway and Contributors. Email This Page.