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

This participatory workshop gives you practical, hands-on methods to create your job search communication strategy as well as ways to implement that strategy through effective conversations. Learn to be relaxed, authentic, and articulate—when the story is YOU.

Download Presentation:
Job Search FAQ (PDF)

Join us for a book launch and reception for “Sustainability Management: Lessons from and for New York City, America and the Planet” a new book by Dr. Steven Cohen, director of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management, executive director of the Columbia University’s Earth Institute, professor in the practice of public affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs.

In addition to hearing about Cohen’s new book, this event will provide the opportunity to learn about the growing field of sustainability management as well as meet members of the program’s faculty and current students.

The book practically addresses sustainability management issues and provides a means to address them in any organization. Directed at policymakers, students, scholars and managers from both the private and public sectors, Cohen makes the case that environmental protection and economic development are mutually interdependent. Utilizing examples from New York City, and all over the world, Cohen illustrates how sustainable practices can be successfully incorporated into all aspects of organizational management, moving sustainability from the realm of theory into practice. He examines how a host of sustainability efforts, ranging from energy to waste management, can positively impact businesses, the global economy and the planet.

For more information or to R.S.V.P. for the event, please contact acm2179@columbia.edu or register here.

Every great presenter is also a master storyteller. And contrary to what many people believe, storytelling isn’t a gift – but a skill that can be learned. This seminar will give you a deeper understanding of the elements of a story, insights into why it’s such a powerful strategic tool, and techniques for harnessing the power of story to meet your own personal and professional objectives.

Jane Praeger is a former documentary filmmaker and faculty member in Columbia University's M.S. program in Strategic Communications where she teaches presentation design and delivery, communications strategy, strategic storytelling and writing. Praeger is also the founder and president of Ovid, Inc., a communications firm that provides speech, presentation, and media training,, and customized workshops, for corporations such as Nickelodeon, Coach, MTV, Estee Lauder, McKinsey & Company, Euro RSCG Worldwide, as well as other technology, entertainment, and consulting firms.

Heather Thomas is a former business development and corporate marketing executive with over 15 years of experience at agencies including Agency.com, Modem Media, and Critical Mass. Thomas founded the business development practice at Critical Mass and subsequently spent the better part of a decade crafting hundreds of persuasive team presentations and pitches for a wide variety of companies including Procter & Gamble, NASA, Dell, Rolex and Hyatt Hotels, developing a strong understanding of how to construct effective presentations. Thomas is now an independent business development and presentation consultant, as well as a course assistant for the Strategic Storyteller course in Columbia's Communications Practice program. She is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University.

The Program in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution presents
Spring 2011 Capstone Thesis Presentations

Saturday, April 30th & Sunday, May 1st
9:00am - 5:00pm
103 Jerome Greene Hall, Columbia University, Morningside campus

You are invited to the Spring 2011 Capstone Thesis Presentations, a graduate student showcase brought to you by the Master of Science program in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University. Come join our Spring 2011 class as they present their research on conflict and intervention strategies in a wide range of contexts.

Contact Connie Sun at cjs2144@columbia.edu for more information.