Barbara Nixon

* If you’re the only one at your location on the conference call, use a headset with a good microphone, rather than relying on a speakerphone or holding the phone to your ear. * If there are multiple people at your location on the conference call, reserve a conference room (if possible) and make sure everyone is seated where their voices can be picked up by the speakerphone’s microphone. * When it’s your turn to talk, introduce yourself briefly, even when you’re talking with people you know. * If you know that the attendees live across the country or even the world, make sure you are extra clear about what the time zone for the start of the call.

With a bento box, you’ll get a small amount of several types of food, each neatly separated from the other in their own little compartments. One mistake that a novice speaker often makes is thinking of their speech as five disparate parts, like a bento box: introduction, three main points, and conclusion. The way to fix this is by carefully planning your transitions in your speech, leading your listeners smoothly from your introduction through to your conclusion. Read Lisa B. Marshall’s tips on incorporating transitions into your speech at How to Create Stronger Transitions in a Speech.

If the exam is an open-book exam, this does not mean that you don’t have to study at all. For a paper-based exam, read through the entire final exam before you start answering any questions at all. If the final is an online exam, find out if you can revisit questions, or if after you click past a question you cannot go back to it again. If you’re using a Scantron and you skip a question to finish later, make sure you’re answering your questions next to the correct answers.

Dressing / Stuffing: Just like some folks prefer stuffing (cooked inside the turkey) and others prefer dressing (cooked outside), my students have preferred learning styles. And in class, when I have an Uncle Oscar — the student who feels compelled to answer EVERY question I ask — For example, I may say, “Let’s hear from two or three people who went to high school outside of the state of Wisconsin,” knowing full well that Uncle Oscar is a local boy. My favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is eating pie for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving.