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

Andrea Bartoli is the director of the Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Drucie French Cumbie Chair at George Mason University. He works primarily on peacemaking and genocide prevention. He is the founding director of Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR), a senior research scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and a teaching fellow at Georgetown University and the University of Siena. Dr. Bartoli has taught in the U.S. since 1994.

An Unrecognized Loss: Message from Hiroshima, a film that showcases computer images of life in Hiroshima before it was bombed. The film is a 30-minute documentary in English about the day-to-day life and culture of Hiroshima, presenting a side of the tragedy that has never been addressed in such detail. The film will premiere on May 3 at the United Nations, on the opening day of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. This will be the only screening of the film open to the public. Space for this event is limited. Please RSVP by sending an email to Connie Sun cjs2144@columbia.edu.

In the world of brands there are few words more loaded or used than “insight.” This workshop will challenge the one-dimensional definition and application of an “insight,” and inspire ways to discover new horizons for businesses and brands. Using real world examples and a few different approaches we’ll put ourselves to the test and see what is really an insight or an imposter. One is a true discovery that will incite action and engagement, while the other is a mere category observation that will do little to change the world. At the very least it will be an interesting discussion and debate. And if along the way we uncover a new idea you can take it with you.

Jason De Turris is a planning director at JWT and oversees strategic planning for diverse brands including Rolex, Schick and Nokia. De Turris' strategic efforts for JWT clients have been awarded by both the Jay Chiat Planning Awards and the Effie Awards. As the media landscape continues to evolve De Turris works closing with his media partners and leads his clients integrated agency teams - developing platforms for brand integration. Before joining JWT, De Turris led strategy for brands like Motorola, Monster.com, Tylenol and Castrol at agencies like Ogilvy, Deutsch and KPBwest. He has a master's degree from the VCU Brandcenter, where he continues to mentor and speak about consumer and brand strategy. Understanding his clients' growth potential and evolving consumer dynamics has given him a primary role in driving successful new product launches for both Motorola, BP, Dominos Pizza and Schick Razors.

StrawberryFrog is an independent Cultural Movement agency that helps our clients lead in the new world. We create cultural movement strategies for our clients. This is our DNA, our competitive edge. In a fragmented media world, a cultural movement gives our clients incredible momentum, since 1999.

Open to Strategic Communications students only.