Most cover letters are boring, formulaic. Applicants are too afraid of offending to risk standing out. And in an era of robot screeners, one can wonder: Do cover letters even matter?

This workshop lays out the roles and goals of a good business letter, and explains why yes, indeed, cover letters do still matter. The session will outline core principles of persuasive writing that will help writers pitch themselves successfully to a range of readers. Through analysis of letters that worked, attendees will come to a new understanding of strategy, and learn to distinguish elegant flourishes from cheap gimmicks. The workshop will demonstrate how applicants can use audience insight to showcase themselves to greatest effect, and offer a framework for taking calculated risks in professional prose.

Presenter:
Edith Updike is managing editor of FundFire, a daily Financial Times publication covering institutional asset management. From 2008 to 2012, she was a full-time lecturer in the master’s degree programs in Strategic Communications and Communications Practice at Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education. She taught business writing, critical thinking, media studies and communications strategy. Updike earned an MS in Journalism at Columbia, and has covered business, politics and social issues for a range of publications from New York Newsday and Business Week to Slate and Travel Journal International. She has served as a consultant on media, communications and management strategy to internet start-ups as well as major companies such as PriceWaterhouse and Honda.

These intensive workshops, reserved for 40 to 48 participants, offer rigorous skill-building in narrative competence. Participants will learn effective techniques for attentive listening, adopting others’ perspectives, accurate representation, and reflective reasoning. Plenary sessions will focus on reconceptualizing empathy, narrative ethics, bearing witness, and illness narratives. Small group seminars will offer firsthand experience in close reading, reflective writing, and autobiographical exercises. Participants will receive a packet of readings prior to the conference that will include seminar articles in the field of narrative medicine by leading educators. You will be working closely and intimately with the founders and leaders in the field of Narrative Medicine and Inter-Professional Education.
For More Information visit:http://narrativemedicine.org

The workshop schedule is as follows:
Friday, February 22, 2012, 2 p.m.-7 p.m.
Saturday, February 23, 2012, 8:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m.
Sunday, February 24, 2012, 8:30 a.m.-4:45 p.m.

MY COMA DREAMS tells a true story of love at the dividing line between life and death.  An HIV-positive jazz musician is rushed by his partner to St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. A mild cough has become a massive infection, shutting down every organ in his body. The doctors put him into a medically-induced coma. Over the next two months, he enters a highly personal dream world, full of vivid experiences of confinement and release, of surreal comedy and ineffable beauty. He finds himself in hushed cathedrals; trapped in a cage beside jazz legend Thelonious Monk; careening through the night in a runaway van; dancing the tango in an impossibly luxurious airplane. Meanwhile, his partner fights through panic and despair to try to reach out to him across the gulf of consciousness, while negotiating the real-world complexities of his medical care. MY COMA DREAMS is jazz theater: theater propelled by music, words, song, and images in fluid and ever-changing combinations.

For More Information visit: http://www.mycomadreams.com

There will be two performances of MY COMA DREAMS: times will be announced as soon as they become available.

Narrative Medicine Rounds are lectures, readings, and performances presented by scholars, clinicians, academics, writers, and artists engaged in work at the interface between narrative and health care. Rounds are held on the first Wednesday of each month (September to May) from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Columbia University Medical Center Faculty Club, followed by a reception. Rounds are free and open to the public. Students, staff, faculty, patients, friends, and interested others are warmly welcome to join us.

For More Information visit: http://narrativemedicine.org

Join us for an evening discussion with SCE’s finance professors, featuring the following topics: investment banking, equities, and fixed income.

Narrative Medicine Rounds are lectures or readings presented by scholars, clinicians, academics, writers, and artists engaged in work at the interface between narrative and health care. Rounds are held on the first Wednesday of each month (September to May) from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Columbia University Medical Center Faculty Club, followed by a reception. Rounds are free and open to the public. Students, staff, faculty, patients, friends, and interested others are warmly welcome to join us.

For More Information visit:  http://narrativemedicine.org

Coming Next:
November 7, 2012 - Will Reiser, 50/50 Screenwriter

Every brand should have a brand book. But creating one is easier said than done. A great brand book requires insight, inspiration and imagination, and provides direction for the values, personality, behavior, language, and use of words and images that represent an organization.

A great brand book is nuanced, clear and compelling, and essentially helps direct and inform brand decisions at every level of the organization. In this seminar, learn how to create a compelling brand book that creates value at every level of the organization. Kent Rees and Tasha Space will show how to create a brand book that goes beyond logos and tag-lines to provide on-going inspiration for creating brand experiences that connect deeply with a core audience and help reinforce a brand's efforts to own a distinct position in the marketplace.

Kent Rees has 15 years of experience as a creative and marketing executive involved in strategic partnerships with Foursquare, SXSW, Urban Outfitters, Jones Soda, Delta Airlines and Zipcar. He was recently the executive vice president of marketing at Bedrocket Media Ventures. Prior to that he was executive vice president of marketing for Current TV where he spearheaded the strategy and creative approach behind the launch of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", which premiered in June 2011. In addition to oversight of Current's on-air promotion and brand personality, Rees oversaw the ad sales marketing team and helped manage Current's on- going transition. Rees joined IFC TV in 2004 holding positions as vice president creative director and senior vice president marketing. He was the chief architect behind IFC's rebranding as Always On. Slightly Off. Rees also drove successful show launch campaigns for IFC's original programming, including The Onion News Network, Portlandia, The Whitest Kids U'Know, The Henry Rollins Show and The Independent Spirit Awards. Before joining IFC, Rees was involved with creating and producing promotional launches for ABC Network's "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" as well as "VH1 Behind the Music," "Pop Up Video," VH1 Divas," and "VH1 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," among others.

Rees earned a bachelor's of fine arts degree with honors from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts' film and television production department.

Tasha Space is a brand strategy consultant working with companies such as Comedy Central, MTV Networks, AMC Networks, IFC and Food TV. Previous to becoming a partner at Audience Theory, a preeminent boutique strategy firm, Space was a vice-president and account planner for the advertising agency Deutsch, where she helped develop powerful integrated communication strategies for the Snapple Beverage Group and Novartis. Prior to Deutsch, Space was a vice-president in strategic services for the advertising agency BBDO. Working with clients such as HBO and Campbell's Soup, she developed new product concepts and helped reposition existing brands. Before making the switch to advertising, Space spent several years in the market analytics department at Pfizer. At Pfizer she used primary and secondary research to help develop consumer brand and marketing strategies for direct-to-consumer Rx communications. Space is classically trained in quantitative research, survey design, and statistical analysis. However, she prefers to use her passion for psychology and  interest in the human spirit to design and conduct research that helps reveal the deeper meaning in the relationship between consumer behavior, culture, and business.

Space holds a B.A. in marketing from Michigan State University and an M.S. in marketing research from the University of Georgia.

Communication has not changed. People are connecting through conversation - oral and written - as we have always done. What has changed, and is changing every day, is the speed with which we communicate and the channels we use. Today, marketers, communicators and business stakeholders have direct access to their audiences in multiple channels, 24/7/365. Now more than ever, the pressure to communicate, relate, promote, interact and engage is constant. Fortunately, we have tools and knowledge to help us focus our goals, our energy and our communication - - as well as monitor, analyze and improve upon them. In this seminar, we will explore how to transform your digital strategy into one that is founded in business objectives and in methods to quantify and measure your efforts, and analyze the data provided. You will understand how to take the digital strategy to the next level – to help you become digital rock stars who can prove success in the digital landscape.  

For over 10 years, Alex Lirtsman has led high-level digital marketing efforts for national brands. As Digital Strategist/Partner of Ready Set Rocket, Alex focuses on innovation, strategy and measurable results. Alex has significant experience in creating and executing digital strategies that result in conversions, growth and substance, having worked as the Director of E-Commerce at Freshpair prior to working as the CMO of digital agency Purple, Rock, Scissors. With a BBA from Pace University and an MBA from Baruch, Alex's education and experience drive conversions and revenue/donations for a range of clients, including ACLU, Meredith Corporation, Michael Kors, New York Life, Univision, and more.

Download Presentation:
The Art of Analytics, Measurement and Success (PDF)