Fall 2016 Workshops
The Global Communication Center offers a range of workshops throughout the semester. Click here for a complete list of all of our workshop topics.
All GCC workshops are free and open to all CMU students (graduate and undergraduate), faculty, and staff. These workshops are appropriate for students at all levels of study, in the sciences and humanities. All workshops are held in IDEATE Studio A in the Hunt Library.
September Workshops
Maximizing the Impact of your Cover Letter
MISSED IT? Don't worry - you can see a recording here
Improving the "Flow" of Your Writing
MISSED IT? Don't worry - you can see a recording here
Punctuation: Practical Grammar to Clarify your Writing
Thursday, September 29, 2016
5pm-6pm IDEATE Studio A
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Grammar handbooks offer dozens of complex punctuation rules. We distill these rules into a handful of simple principles that are easy to apply to your writing. This workshop will teach you how to correctly and effectively use three crucial punctuation tools: commas, semicolons, and colons. This practical grammar knowledge will help you write clearly so readers can easily understand your writing. No prior grammar knowledge necessary!
October workshops
Team Communication I: The Fundamentals of Managing Team Projects
Thursday, October 6, 2016
5pm-6pm IDEATE Studio A
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Teamwork is central to professional life, but most students don't know how to manage a team project so it flows smoothly. This workshop will teach you how to create a teamwork infrastructure that will help you avoid the most common team problems. You will learn strategies for structuring your collaboration, especially on group documents. This workshop will also cover effective strategies for talking with your teammates when problems do occur. The advice in this workshop is based on Dr. Wolfe's research interviewing hundreds of students and professionals about their team experiences and practices.
Team Communication II: Handling Difficult People and Situations
Thursday, October 13, 2016
5pm-6pm IDEATE Studio A
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Even if you do everything “right” on a team project, you can still encounter difficult people and difficult situations. This workshop teaches you to approach difficult team situations in a way that is most likely to give you positive results. You will learn strategies for confronting dismissive or aggressive teammates, how to respond to teammates who produce poor quality work, and how to advocate for a particular role on a project. We will cover both what to say - and what not to say - in tense situations.
Strategies for Concise Writing
Thursday, October 20, 2016
5pm-6pm IDEATE Studio A
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Have you ever been told that your writing is too wordy? Concision is a core principle of effective communication. Writing that clearly and directly emphasizes the bottom line helps readers easily and efficiently understand your main point. This workshop offers several simple and effective strategies to improve the concision and clarity of your writing. The strategies in this workshop are appropriate for all academic disciplines.
Writing a Graduate School Application Essay
Thursday, October 27, 2016
5pm-6pm IDEATE Studio A
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The graduate school application essay requires you to pitch your candidacy to a small number of faculty members who read through hundreds of other essays. This workshop will provide writing strategies on how to craft an effective application essay. You will gain insight into your audience and learn how to show these busy readers that you are a good fit for the program and can contribute meaningfully to the their department. The instruction from this workshop can be applied to other professional materials, such as research statements and cover letters.
November Workshops
Writing an Effective Cover Letter
Thursday, November 3, 2016
5pm-6pm IDEATE Studio A
Sign up available late October
The job application cover letter is your first impression on a potential employer. As a result, this high stakes document is often very difficult (and stressful!) to write. This workshop covers five tips to writing a cover letter that persuades employers you are the ideal candidate for the position. We will go over several examples that provide words and phrases to construct an effective cover letter.
Designing Research Posters/Effective PowerPoint Presentations
Thursday, November 10, 2016
5:00pm-6:30pm IDEATE Studio A
Sign up available late October
This two-part, back-to-back workshop teaches you strategies for presenting your work visually. You may attend one or both parts.
In part I of this workshop (5:00-5:45), we will discuss principles for creating effective scientific research posters. You will learn some basic – but effective – visual design principles to create a compelling and memorable research poster that tells a visual "story" about your research project and findings.
Part II of this workshop (5:45-6:30) introduces you to research on creating effect PowerPoint slides that help your audience understand and remember your presentation. You will learn techniques for designing individual slides and for structuring the entire presentation so it has a logical flow.
For more information on our workshops, please contact gcc-cmu@andrew.cmu.edu
Do you have an idea for a workshop? Email the GCC with your request: gcc-cmu@andrew.cmu.edu