Habits of highly effective e-mailers

For several years, e-mail has been considered the "killer app" of computing, the application that is so essential that it brings people to computers who might not ordinarily be interested. In other words, e-mail is the reason you "gotta have" a computer and Internet access.

You type a message, address it and send it. You receive a message and read it. You might reply to a message or forward it. Pretty simple.

Both internal office e-mail and external e-mails can fill your inbox. In short order, you might find that the volume of e-mail you receive has become overwhelming.

Gradually, you will come to realize that you will want to develop some e-mail strategies so you can take greater advantage of benefits e-mail offers to you. You want to become a power e-mail user.

Here are some ways that can help you become more effective e-mail users and use e-mail more effectively.

1. Cut Your Costs. Do not underestimate for one minute the cost-cutting benefits e-mail can bring to your firm. In certain settings, the cost savings brought by e-mail can be enormous.

Using e-mail instead of long-distance calls can save money. Attaching draft documents to e-mails rather than sending them by Federal Express can save money. Sending an e-mail rather than sending a standard transmittal letter can save money, paper and postage.

Look around your office for ways that e-mail can result in cost savings. Do you print, copy and distribute a daily announcement sheet? Send it by e-mail instead. E-mail can definitely make a contribution on the cost-cutting side. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to use e-mail in this fashion.

2. Respond Responsively. Many users have a full-time Internet e-mail connection and expect an instant response. You need to keep that in mind. Let me emphasize: anyone who sends an e-mail expects a response.

Often, a one or two sentence response or a simple direction to a web address is all that is required to respond to an e-mail. The important thing is to be sure to respond to e-mails that you get. Ignored e-mail sends a very poor message about you, your firm and, most commonly, your web site.

3. Mind Your Netiquette. There are a surprising number of "rules of the road" that have grown up around e-mail. They are directed at imposing a set of good manners or etiquette on e-mail usage. These rules are commonly known as "netiquette", their core elements can be found at http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html.

It is surprisingly easy to make mistakes of form and manners when entering e-mail discussions. E-mail lies somewhere between the informal communication of a phone call and the more formal communication of a business letter. It’s easy to misunderstand and be misunderstood. Some netiquette rules are simple like not typing in capital letters (because it is the e-mail equivalent of shouting).

Netiquette will make your e-mail experience far more pleasant.

4. Select Subject Matters Sagaciously. A friend of mine tends to send e-mails that have the subject matter line say "Message from Jackie." It’s short and to the point, but it makes it hard to find the message you want in a folder full of "message from Jackies."

Make good use of the subject matter (or "re") line of your e-mail messages. Give a good concise summary of what’s in the message that can help people assess the priority of your message and to locate your message when they need it later. That’s not to say that writing wry and humorous subject matter lines can’t be fun. It is and it can be a bit of an art form for some. There is, however, an appropriate time and place for it.

5. Signature Blocks. A wisely chosen signature block can help you market your firm. You’ve probably noticed signature blocks. Often you’ll see a block of text immediately below the sender’s name at the bottom of his or her message that includes title, company, address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail address, web site address and even quotes, slogans, graphics or other matter. These are signature blocks.

A signature block can be created within most e-mail programs that can be automatically inserted at the end of each message you send. You definitely want to create a signature block that contains the appropriate information about you and your firm.

6. Enlist in Discussion Lists. Perhaps the most useful aspect of e-mail is participation on discussion lists or "listservs" (from the name of the software used to run them). The concept of a discussion list is pretty simple. You "subscribe" to a listserv. The listserv has a central distribution point. Copies of all e-mails sent to the central distribution point are in turn sent to every subscriber of the list (in some cases, thousands of subscribers). Every other subscriber receives each e-mail you send to the list. You (and every other subscriber) receive each e-mail sent by any other subscriber. The result is a mechanism that facilitates discussions.

There are thousands of discussion lists (see, for example, http://www.tile.net/). On some you might receive a message or two a day. Others can generate hundreds of messages a day. Each discussion list focuses on a topic. For example, there might be a discussion list of legal administrators. The list might include subscribers from hundreds of law firms. A discussion list creates a forum where subscribers can share ideas, ask questions and learn from others in the same field with common interests. As a result, you often learn from the best sources, become aware of trends and developments, hear the latest news and rumors and gain a variety of other benefits.

Discussion lists can be a great way to continue conversations, make friends and stay in touch. It is impossible to overestimate the value of a great discussion list.

7. Reach for High-end Software. You can use a variety of e-mail programs. Some are free. Some are simple. All will get the basic job done. But the highly effective e-mailer wants more than that.

I recommend moving to the high-end e-mail packages and the newest versions. These include Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, Novell’s Groupwise, Eudora Pro and, in certain special cases, Lotus Notes.

Why? Control, management, flexibility, power. You want the tools that can take your use of e-mail to the highest level. The big-time packages allow you to create rules and filters that will sort and move your mail to folders on arrival, automatically delete "spam" messages, view mail in ways that work for you, create mailing groups and do countless other things for you. E-mail is a completely different experience with the high-end tools. As your volume of e-mail increases, you’ll appreciate having the extra power.

8. Make it Easy to E-mail You. As you become a highly effective e-mailer, you’ll want to make it easy for people to e-mail you.

Get your e-mail address into the hands of those you want to e-mail you. Include e-mail addresses on business cards, stationery, brochures and other marketing materials. Every page of your web site should make it easy to contact you, your firm or any attorney in your firm by e-mail.

9. Sharpen Your Saw. The notion here is to keep learning and to hone the tools that you have so that they are ready to use when you need them. Many users are simply unaware of helpful features readily available in their programs. Becoming a highly effective e-mail user requires that you update your skills regularly, experiment with software features and devote yourself to continuous learning and improvement.

Conclusion. Great e-mailers are made not born. It will take some time and effort, but the rewards are immeasurable. Adopt these habits and you will become a highly effective e-mailer.

TEXT 8 ?

HOW DID WE EVER SURVIVE?

(By James Scott Special to the Moscow News)

According to today's bureaucrats and policy makers, those of us who were kids in the 60's and 70's probably shouldn't have survived. Why? Because we had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cupboards; because we never had smoke alarms in our houses. Or was it because our baby cots were coated with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked?

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, only a pair of flip-flops and shorts. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags, and riding in the front passenger seat was a coveted treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted just the same. We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it (not Aspartame), but we were never overweight because we were always playing outside in the fresh air. In the park we shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this.

We would leave home in the morning and could play happily all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to find us, let alone phone us, and no one minded. We did not have Play Stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 57 channels on Cable TV, no videotaped films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms. Because....We had friends!

Yes, real friends not virtual ones - we went outside and found them! We played rounders, football and enjoyed getting muddy! We fell from trees, got grazed and cut, and even broke bones, but there were no lawsuits. We had fistfights, but no prosecution followed from the parents.

We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, walked to school; we didn't rely on Mum or Dad to drive us (in air conditioned cars) to school, which was just round the corner - or maybe three miles away. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. We rode bikes (Choppers!) in packs of seven and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of a parent bailing us out, if we broke a law was unheard of...they actually sided with the law.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learnt how to deal with it all.

But for kids nowadays, such as Alex, my own daughter, she's never known of a life without CDs and mobile phones. She thinks that Mission Impossible and The Pink Panther are new films. She thinks Michael Jackson has always been white and can't understand how we could possibly have left home without a mobile phone. Even today, her sometimes eccentric father likes to 'accidentally' leave his mobile at home.

TEXT 9 ?

WHY DO OLD COUPLES LOOK ALIKE?

You've probably seen it before - two elderly people walking hand in hand down the street or sitting at a café, resembling each other so strongly that they could be siblings. Do these couples actually look alike, and if so, what's caused them to develop this way?

A study published in the March 2006 issue of "Personality and Individual Differences" may have the answer. Twenty-two people, divided equally between male and female, participated in the study. They were asked to judge the looks, personalities and ages of 160 married couples. The participants viewed photographs of men and women separately and were not told who was married to whom. The subjects consistently judged people who were married as being similar in appearance and personality. The researchers also found that couples who had been together longer appeared more similar.

This in itself may not seem surprising, but the study also offered some answers on why couples may look alike. To start, consider that life experiences can end up being reflected physically. Someone who is happy and smiles more will develop the facial muscles and wrinkles related to smiling. The years of experience of an old couple's marriage, happy or otherwise, would then be reflected in their faces.

Genetic influences are also a factor. A past study showed that genetically similar people have better marriages [Source: Live Science]. Such families appear to be more selfless when involved with genetically similar partners.

In another study, a researcher at the University of Western Ontario determined that when considering friends or romantic partners, a similar genetic profile made up about a third of the selection criteria. We may think subconsciously that people who are genetically similar work better together. Consequently, we look for physical or emotional cues that tell us that this potential friend, husband or wife is genetically similar to us. Of course, couples shouldn't be too genetically similar - in most cultures, relationships between close relatives are taboo, and geneticists agree that diversity is important to a healthy gene pool.

Besides feeling that they work better together, why and how do people choose partners who are genetically similar? Asking for a DNA sample on the first date would be impolite. The answer may be equal parts personality - derived in part from genetics and consistently ranked by people as important in a partner - and the marriage models we have around us. A study involving researchers from several universities showed that women prefer men who look like their fathers. Women use their fathers as models by which they judge their prospective mates.

The genetic basis of attraction may be equally important while also representing a bigger mystery.

Dog Look-alikes

It's not just elderly couples - some people look disturbingly similar to their canine friends. A 2004 study showed that people shopping for purebred dogs often pick one that in some way looks like them. People often choose dogs that they believe reflect aspects of their own personalities. But unlike old married (human) couples, researchers found that shared experiences don't cause dogs and their human masters to develop similar features - rather, they look alike from the start.

TEXT 10 ?

THE STRESS INTERVIEW

The stress interview is not a very nice way to be introduced to the company that may end up being your future employer. It is, however, a technique employers sometimes use to weed out candidates who cannot handle adversity. The interviewer may try to artificially introduce stress into the interview by asking questions so quickly that the candidate doesn't have time to answer each one. Another interviewer trying to introduce stress may respond to a candidate's answers with silence. The interviewer may also ask weird questions, not to determine what the job candidate answers, but how he or she answers.

Stress interviews are still in common use. One type of stress interview is where the employer uses a succession of interviewers (one at a time or en masse) whose mission is to intimidate the candidate and keep him/her off-balance. The ostensible purpose of this interview: to find out how the candidate handles stress. Stress interviews might involve testing an applicant's behavior in a busy environment. Questions about handling work overload, dealing with multiple projects, and handling conflict are typical.

Another type of stress interview may involve only a single interviewer who behaves in an uninterested or hostile manner. For example, the interviewer may not make eye contact, may roll his eyes or sigh at the candidate's answers, interrupt, turn his back, take phone calls during the interview, or ask questions in a demeaning or challenging style. The goal is to assess how the interviewee handles pressure or to purposely evoke emotional responses. The key to success for the candidate is to de-personalize the process. The interviewer is acting a role, deliberately and calculatedly trying to "rattle the cage." Once the candidate realizes that there is nothing personal behind the interviewer's approach, it is easier to handle the questions with aplomb.

According to Interviewing by The National Business Employment Weekly (John Wiley and Sons, 1994), the job candidate should first "recognize that you're in the situation. Once you realize what's happening, it's much easier to stay calm because you can mentally re-frame the situation. Then you have two choices: Play along or refuse to be treated so poorly." If you do play along, the book recommends later finding out if the reason for conducting a stress interview is legitimate. That will determine if this is a company for whom you want to work.

Example stress interview questions:

Sticky situation: "If you caught a colleague cheating on his expenses, what would you do?"

Putting you on the spot: "How do you feel this interview is going?"

Candidates may also be asked to deliver a presentation as part of the selection process. The "Platform Test" method involves having the candidate make a presentation to both the selection panel and other candidates for the same job. This is obviously highly stressful and is therefore useful as a predictor of how the candidate will perform under similar circumstances on the job. Selection processes in academic, training, airline, legal and teaching circles frequently involve presentations of this sort.

; APPENDIX 1

READING RULES

	A [ei]	O [ou]	E [i:]	I [ai]	Y [wai]	U [ju:]
I	[ei] name	[ɔu] note	[i:] be	[ai] fine	[ai] my	[ju:] fume
II	[æ] flat	[ɔ] dog	[e] pen	[i] sit	[i] myth	[ʌ] bus
III	[a:] car	[ɔ:] fork	[ə:] term	[ə:] firm	[ə:] byrd	[ə:] fur
IV	[eə] Mary	[ɔ:] more	[iə] here	[aiə] fire	[aiə] tyre	[juə] during

; APPENDIX 2

GRAMMAR TABLE

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ANNOTATION

PHRASES USED IN DISCUSSING THE TEXT / ARTICLE
The story (article, extract) I have just read is about...	The title of the article is... I should like to start by saying that...
Firstly… Secondly… Thirdly… Speaking of... As far as I know... In my opinion… To my mind… On the one hand…on the other hand…	It should be noted... In fact... As a result… Thus… However… For example… According to…
Finaly… In conclusion… In conclusion I'd like to say that I found the article interesting (informative).

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COMMON DIALOGUE PHRASES

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TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

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FORMAL LETTER

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INFORMAL LETTER

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