4 little gifts communicators should give themselves

Normally the behind-the-scenes folks who help other people get engaging or eloquent or on time for interviews, communicators are the shoemaker's children when it comes to giving themselves things. But I've found four little gifts that you can give yourself, guilt-free--and they're all designed to make you smarter, faster or better at your work. Try these on for size:

1. Tweet smarts: The newly updated edition of The Twitter Book in paperback, or its Kindle version, which comes out November 28 but is available for pre-order now. It's fully revised and still the best guide on all the ways you can use Twitter, mainly because it includes real tweets as examples (and those are new, too). Great as a primer, and useful for the cognoscenti, it's full of real examples, smart tactics and no-nos. 
2. Presentation prescience: The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever is still the best guide to that mashup that's your presentation and the audience's real-time posting. If you haven't taken the time to think that through, this is your short course.
3. Newfangled business cards you'll actually like: I've got a variety of business cards and greeting cards from MOO.com, and the people I hand them too are always admiring the paper stock, colors, sizes and designs. They can work with your corporate designs or serve as your designer, add in QR codes or photos, and even give you a pack of cards each with its own image. Use my MOO referral code and give them a whirl.
4. For that next power-outage emergency: The Duracell Powerhouse Charger, which comes with a USB and mini-USB cable, can juice your phone, tablet or other device during one of those natural disasters we seem to keep having. After this year's hurricane, I stocked up (and at almost 70 percent off, you can hand these out like candy in the office). 

The best gift to yourself if you're a communicator? More training for you, whether it's in handling media interviews, revving up your presentation or speaking skills, or advancing your social media tactics. Email me at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz if those are on your wish list.

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