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When less is more
By: CARL
ROTENBERG , Times Herald Staff
10/11/2003
WHITPAIN - In speechmaking and
business presentations, less information is more valuable to
the listener.
Technical terms and business speak should be avoided.
A conversational approach conveys more information than a
Powerpoint presentation bristling with facts and
figures. Those are a few of the lessons that Karen Friedman
teaches her corporate clients.
The founder and owner of
Karen Friedman Enterprises Inc. of Whitpain runs a
media and communications training company that specializes
in making upper- and middle-management employees more effective
communicators. "
Less is more," said Friedman. "People want
to tell you everything they know but listeners can't absorb
all of it." Friedman always advises her clients to
concentrate on making two to three core points in a
speech. "If you give too much information you end up being
too unfocused," she said. "You have to explain things in
conversational terms." Friedman and her communications
training company were featured in a seven-minute segment
produced by World Business Review this summer. The
newsmagazine show hosted by retired Army Gen. Alexander Haig
will be shown on United Airlines in-flight programming in
October. It will also appear on PBS and Tech TV and become
available for three months on Yahoo Broadcast on Demand
starting in November. The segment features corporate
communications training sessions at Rohm and Haas, the
Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation. Friedman's company is working with 20
corporate clients this year. Candy manufacturer Just Born,
which makes Marshmallow Peeps, Mike and Ike, Zours and Peanut
Chews, has used the company for media counseling, development
of company messages and executive coaching sessions. Last
week, the company used a crisis training session to teach 17
mid-level and top managers at the candy manufacturer how to
respond professionally to a future business
crisis. Friedman has also trained spokespersons at a
Pennsylvania pharmaceutical company to make more effective
presentations. The spokespersons are visiting college campuses
to educate students about coping with and treating
depression. Friedman started her company in November 1996
after working for 12 years at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia as a
television reporter and news anchor. Her four-person staff of
co-trainers includes Chris Wagner, a former Channel 6 news
reporter, and Daryl Browning, the former editor of Small
Business News. Friedman ran unsuccessfully for the state
House against Rep. Kate Harper, R-61st Dist., in 2000. She
lost that election as a Democratic candidate by a 3 percent
vote margin. However, Friedman gained experience from the
electoral defeat and uses that experience in her
business. She is constantly teaching her corporate clients
to "listen to their customers and meet their
needs." "Always put the client's needs first." Carl
Rotenberg can be reached at crotenberg@timesherald.com or
610-272-2500, ext. 350.
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