4 Next-Level Email Moves to Upgrade Your Communications

4 Next-Level Email Moves to Upgrade Your Communications4 Next-Level Email Moves to Upgrade Your Communications Once youve got the basic structure of an email down pat, and you know what mistakes to avoid, its time to focus on making your drafts stand out from the myriad emails fruchtwein people get every day. Here are four strategies to take yours to the next levelSending an email that is remotely negative , or even neutral, can put you in a tricky place. And as with any written communication, there may be room for misinterpretation.In the absence of other information, our interpretation often defaults to the negative, explains Dan Post Senning, an etiquette expert at the Emily Post Institute. When youre talking about negative communication, youre missing the information that is tone of voice, the twinkle in your eye, the good humor that you intend something with or even the genuine care or concern with which youre offering critique. So be really careful. When some thing reads as negative to you, it probably comes across as even mora negative to someone else.You wouldnt want to get an email that reads, Dear client, or which references your work in public relations when youre actually in sales, because it would immediately show that the sender is either mass emailing you, or they didnt do the proper research and find the right contact. Similarly, youll want to make koranvers that every email you send is crafted specifically for the recipient, and that youre sending it to the right person.So even though it may be tempting to use templates , its important to personalize it and keep in mind the communication style of the recipient before hitting send. To accomplish this, a quick Google search or a peek at the recipients LinkedIn or Twitter feed can do wonders. Before sending, try putting yourself in the recipients shoes for a gut-check on tone and content.If youre sending an email, youre likely looking for a timely response. But with the large amounts of emails most people sort through each day, things can end up getting lost. As a general rule, a follow-up message should never come less than twenty-four hours after sending the initial email.In other words Dont be the person who sends a follow-up request two hours after sending. In extreme cases, that kind of behavior can even get you blocked. When youre taking more time and actually caring about the person on the other side of the email, youre immediately going to see a much higher response rate. I had to learn that the hard way, says Cole Schafer, founder and copy chief of Honey Copy.Most of the messages you send will likely be on the shorter side, which is great for rapid responses and getting things done. But for longer emails, scannability is the name of the game. Thats when things like bolded font, bullet points, underlined sentences and a TLDR (too long, didnt read) section come in handy.There are a lot of factors to keep in mind when composing an email , and ther es a wide margin of error. But after all is said and done, it isnt about perfection. Its about effective communication.I think people feel this pressure that you need to be this perfect communicator with this huge vocabulary and these perfectly structured sentences. And I dont know that thats always the case because youre just two people, communicating, says Kat Boogaard, a Wisconsin-based freelance writer.This article welches originally published on Grammarly . It is reprinted with permission.

Do Robots Deserve Legal Rights

Do Robots Deserve Legal Rights Do Robots Deserve Legal Rights Do Robots Deserve Legal Rights? Saudi Arabia made waves in late 2017 when it granted citizenship to a humanoid robot named Sophia, developed by the Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics. What those rights technically include, and what the move might mean for other robots worldwide, remains unclear. But the robot itself welchested no time in taking advantage of her new, high profile to campaign for womens rights in her adopted country.This would be the same Sophia that, in a CNBC interview with her creator, Dr. David Hanson, said that she would destroy all humans.So, granting legal rights to robots clearly remains a complicated subject, even if it is done primarily as a PR stunt to promote an IT conference, as was the case in Saudi Arabia.But that hasnt stopped a long list of voices in this country and abroad from arguing both for and against the creation of a set of rights for robots, based on a variety of concerns. Is robotics beginning to outpace our existing system of ethics and regulations that require a new system to deal with these issues before they surpass what we can control? Or does creating a set of machine-specific rights for these inventions distribution policy too much emphasis on robots as a sort of life form?So far the idea has generated a lot of discussion, but few researchers are throwing their support behind robots as a legally protected class on par with humans.Lets take autonomous cars, says Avani Desai, principal and executive vice president of independent security and privacy compliance assessor Schellman Company. We have allowed computers to drive and make decisions for us, such as if there is a semi coming to the right and a guard rail on the left the algorithm in the autonomous car makes the decision what to do. But if you look back, is it the car that is making the decision or a group of people in a room that discuss the ethics and cost, and then provided to developers and engin eers to make that technology work?Robots might use machine learning to refine their algorithms over time, he argues, but there is always an engineer who originally coded that information into their databanks. So, the morals, ideals, and thoughts of that engineer could be coded into a robot that is going to potentially make decisions that could affect the population at large.From a legal perspective, then, who would face trouble in the case of litigation related to a decision that a robot made? Would it be the engineer, the manufacturer, or the retailer who sold and serviced that robot? Or would it be the robot itself?We see this issue with autonomous cars and the legal cases we have seen and it has come back to the automobile manufacturer due to a flaw in the algorithm, Desai says. Until we as a society fully understand the implications of robots, the technology and the decision-making process, we should bedrngnis apply the same rights we apply to humans to robots.Sophia, a robot de veloped by Hanson Robotics, was granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia in 2017. Image ITU PicturesWhose Rights?The analogy of the car is a good one, says Chris Roberts, the head of industrial robotics at Cambridge Consultants, in part because both are expensive, complex and valuable machines. They both need to be insured and protected in roughly the same way.And neither deserve their own set of legal rights.I work with cutting-edge robotics and neural networks every day, and while the technology is really exciting and we can routinely do things that were science fiction only a few years ago, were a long, long way from creating sentience and having to worry about the moral rights of the machine, he says.Sophia may look like a person, and respond in ways that mimic human responses, but it is just a machine.Facial recognition, neural networks, speech synthesis and so on can look convincing, but theyre not intelligent, just good at doing a particular task, in this case responding to questi ons.Despite those arguments, there are still moral questions around robotics, including the ethics of using machines to make decisions about determining whether or not to program them to save only humans instead of other animals. With robots, a lot of the moral questions revolve around the work they are doing and the jobs they are replacing. If a robot comes in and replaces an entire class of workers overnight, what moral duty do we as a society have to help the people who are directly affected by this change? What sort of retraining and support should we offer them?Its the rights of the people that are much more important than the rights of the machine, Roberts says.Beyond the MachinesAt its core, the question of robot rights is less about what those potential rights should look like and more about why we would want to protect them as a group at all. Is it in their interest or ours?At lot of it comes down to fear, according to Dr. Glenn McGee, an expert in bioethics and a prof at t he University of New Haven. Fear that the robots wont need us anymore. Fear that they will get smarter than we are. Fear that these new creations will rise up and come get us.And weve seen this before.Its like when the Europeans first came to the Americas and the colonies began to rebel, he says. Weve historically always begun with the assertion that if you give rights to something, something that didnt have rights before, youre doing so because that will enable them to function without coming to get you. I think a lot of the discussionaround rights for robots or entitlements that robots have come less from our sense as a society than the idea that we better get this right or else.For example, if we encountered an alien race we wouldnt expect them to follow the set of laws and standards that we as humans do. Wed look at them through an anthropological lens first to see what it means for these other creatures to interact with our world and what we need to do to protect ourselves.Were not talking about whether or not creatures who otherwise would have a soul will have more of one if we give them rights, Dr. McGee says. Were really describing whether or not the planed creature, the robots that sort of become animal, whether or not the design will afford them the ability to interact with us in ways that make us feel better.Tim Sprinkle is an independent writer. For Further Discussion Were really describing whether the robots that sort of become animal, whether or not the design will afford them the ability to interact with us in ways that make us feel better.Dr. Glenn McGee, University of New Haven

Free Professional Dancer Resume Template

Free Professional Dancer Resume TemplateFree Professional Dancer Resume TemplateDo you have close to two decades of experience in the dance field? If youre looking for employment, youll need a resume that showcases your full professional merits and experience. The professional resume template is perfect for dancing professionals with extensive experience. The template focuses on highlighting your skills and merits as well as economizing the space. Read on to learn more about this resume style.Create ResumeCustomize ResumeWhat to Include in a Professional Dancer ResumeSince you have extensive experience in the dance world, you may find that you have to pick and choose what to fit into your resume. Make aya to highlight your skills and experience that are most relevant to your current application. The above sections will help you get started organizing your resume. However, you may need an Accomplishments section or another section to properly organize your resume. If you choose to add a section, make sure the information is relevant to the job posting.Common Resume Fails Mistakes to AvoidUntailored Information If you are applying to lots of jobs, youll need to tailor your resume to fit the position. Potential employers will sense a general template, so take a few extra minutes to personalize your resume for application.Length Your resume should not exceed two pages in length. Normally, resumes should stick to one page, but with your experience, two pages may be needed to accurately capture your skills.Burying Important Credentials What are your most compelling credentials for this application? Make sure you highlight these important experiences and skills. They should be the most memorable parts of your resume.Dishonesty Do not exaggerate or lie on your resume. State your experience as is to secure a position that lines up with your capabilities. Plus, you never know when your employer will ask for references.Lack of Bullets Whenever you can, use bullets. They e conomize your space and help you create an easy-to-scan document. Many employers quickly scan resumes, so make it easy to get information from yours quickly.Typos Small mistakes are easy to make, but they are also easy to catch. Always take an extra minute to read over your resume and ensure there are no missed periods and misspelled words.Resume ContentJill Jackson123 Sunny Dew Drive, Jackson, CO 11111555.555.5679jjacksonanymail.netSummaryExperienced Dance Instructor with 20 years of experience teaching students of all ages and 10 years in a university setting. Excellent ability to break down dances into learnable sections and lead in a senderaum environment. Strong choreographer with modern and classical influences. Seeking employment as a high-level dance instructor at an institution dedicated to developing strong contemporary dancers.HighlightsClassical and Modern BalletJazzTapExcellent ChoreographerContemporary TechniquesExperienceDance Instructor1/1/2014 1/1/2016Tabernacle Ar ts University Jackson, COCollaborated with fellow instructors and department chairs to devise curriculum for the dance department.Taught classical and modern ballet classes at the advanced level.Taught advanced choreography classes for the universitys MFA dance students.Dance Instructor1/1/2011 12/1/2013Pine Tree College of Fine Arts New York, NYChoreographed students expeditions and the departments biannual show.Coached Pine Trees collegiate dance team to two national championships.Created free youth summer dance camp for elementary school children in the Pine Tree area.Taught jazz, tap and ballet to students of all levels.Dance Instructor1/1/2008 12/1/2010Stars Hallow College of the Arts Stars Hallow, CTCollaborated with department heads and teachers to establish new university dance and choreography curriculum.Maintained accurate attendance records for all classes.Attended optional professional development workshops in the dance department.Taught modern dance choreography to upperclassmen.EducationBachelors in DanceChilton Academy of the Arts, Stars Hallow, CT