A Pause… At this point in time we have finished posting the morning discussions from each table that participated in Miscommunication: the 8th annual symposium. We would like to take this moment before we continue with the afternoon discussions to introduce the support team for the Miscommunication Symposium Blog and invite the readers to pause and reflect on what has been written so far.
Mikhail Gershovich, Luke Waltzer, Tom Harbison and myself are the support and development team for the Miscommunication Symposium Blog. We are hoping to craft this blog in two different ways. The first is to extend the Symposium community, which is nearing its 9th year of existence, to an online space in which we can revisit and comment on our work after each Symposium and to represent what we have said and have thought about during the event. The second goal is for it to be a place that builds momentum and takes us onward and into the next phase of our extended community, where we can seek out threads that can be investigated further and areas of reflection that we would want to develop and bring forward in next year’s day long dialogue.
There have been some overlapping themes from the morning sessions that I thought we should emphasize at this intermission in posting. Several tables found that face-to-face communication is still an essential part of all functioning organizations. And listening is still rated high among the participants as a very important skill. Many tables found divergent forms and expressions of expectations as a major factor in whether communications are effective or not. And one last overlapping topic from several tables seems to be cultural context and how it is an ever-present characteristic in all communication.
Before releasing the pause button and moving on to the afternoon sessions, we at BLSCI would like to thank you for your time and attention. We would like to invite you to comment and post and help us shape this newly born Symposium blog and to join the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute as it investigates and brings forward the different topics in communication for each new Symposium.
You are doing a terrific job. One of the aspects I’d like to focus on are the questions and/or specific ideas that arose in the morning. What questions should we be addressing as a result of all the conversations (which I must admit I have not read thoroughly because of time constraints). Also, where specific suggestions were made, should we be discussing how they might be implemented and/or the pros and cons of each? Just some thoughts. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for providing a space to comment. I suggest a followup for implementation.