Improve Your Communications Skills with LinkedIn Workshop

ASC – Communications for Engineers April 30, 2020
CCNY EngineeringSchool Alumni
Association Presents:
CommunicationsforEngineers
AnInteractiveWorkshop
Thursday, April 20, 2020
Sponsored By:

AboutThisEvent
Today you’ll be equipped with tools and resources
to improve communication skills and expand your
professional network.
• You’ll learn:
o Practical skills
o Techniques
o Strategies you can use in your digital
communications
o The importance of communicating about
engineering projects to various audiences

Housekeeping
• Be attentive
• Slides and resources will be shared
• Recording will be available within 24 hours
• Attendees will be muted
• Please enter questions in chatbox or raise hand
• Use #CCNYESA to follow discussions after the
workshop
• Tell us how we did in our survey

CCNYEngineeringSchoolAlumni
Association
With this mission in mind, The Alumni Association of CCNY
seeks to:
• ENGAGE: We generate and sustain meaningful connections
among alumni, students, faculty and staff through our many
networking events, award ceremonies, and activities.
• SUPPORT: We support current students through
scholarships, mentoring and networking opportunities.
• PROMOTE: In all our endeavors, we promote The City
College of New York and its interests.

CCNYEngineeringSchoolAlumni
Association
CCNY ESA is an Affiliate Group of the Alumni Association of
CCNY, representing ~10,000 Grove School of Engineering
graduates.
The Engineering School Alumni engages, supports, promotes,
and connects CCNY engineers before and after graduation
through:
• Mentorship
• Networking
• Social Events
• Student Scholarships
• Career Achievement Awards
• Technical Lectures & Workshops

Arch Street Communications (ASC) develops and delivers public awareness and outreach
programs to inform Americans about important issues related to transportation, energy, and
the environment.
ASC, a New York-based women-owned small business, has worked at the intersection of
energy, transportation, and economic development for 27 years, delivering shoulder-to-
shoulder support to the public and private sectors, including New York State authorities as
well as federal and other state agencies.
ASC's smart solution is not to think big but think right—no matter how complicated a problem
may appear. We search for the "simple truth" solution—and we find it. We seek out
meaningful work that changes, saves, and improves lives.

RachelAdler,
SeniorAccountManagerandDigital
Lead

WhyCommunication
isImportantforEngineers
• Understand more of what people say and
help them understand more about your
work, your projects and careers.
• Build bridges family, friends and co-
workers can count on.
• Grow your engineering career.
• Eliminate misunderstanding, frustration—
even head off significant project mistakes
8

KeystoGood
Communication
• Clear Message
• Plain Language
• Listening
• Consistent Communication
• Patience
• Follow Up

WhyUse
SocialMedia?
• Reach a wide audience
• Share information quickly
• Fast research
• Build relationships
• Manage reputations
• Promote corporate social responsibility
• Deliver customer service
• Entertainment—have fun
10

LinkedIn: Social media platform geared to professionals. Manage
your professional identity. Access knowledge, insights and
opportunities.
Twitter: Microblogging Platform. Online news and social
networking service on which users post and interact with messages
known as "tweets."
Facebook: Social networking site intended to connect friends,
family, business associates. Used by companies to connect with
customers.
Instagram: Instagram is a photo-sharing social networking app that
enables users to take pictures and edit them with a selection of
digital filters.
Not All Platforms Are Created Equal

ASC – Communications for Engineers April 30, 2020 12

Activity:
HowareYouPerceived?
Google yourself.
• What did you find?
• Were you able to find your LinkedIn
profile?
• What did you learn about how you
are perceived?
• Is your online presence
professional?

AdvanceYourEngineering
Career
Communications skills needed to advance:
• Learn about clients to prepare proposals
• Capture user and client insights for
specification documents
• Create clear written content
• Use the Best Method of Communication -- from
“Slack” to “Face to Face”
• Present to groups

DeepDiveInto
LinkedIn

Branding
Yourselfon
LinkedIn.
If the goal is professional branding, there
are certain practices that typically yield
the best results when followed.
Here are tips for those who want an
influential personal brand on LinkedIn.

DevelopingYour“Professional
Brand”ThroughSocialMedia
What are your goals?
• Gain awareness (be visible)
• Build trust (be consistent)
• Earn loyalty (be valuable)
Let’s work on these 3 steps…
1. Discover who you are
o Your USPs (Unique Selling Points)
o Your passions
o Your skills
2. Create your identity
o Consistency is key
3. Make it visible
17
“Personal Branding is all about your unique
promise of value and what you bring to the
table. It's (also) about getting your
potential clients to choose you as the only
solution to their problem.” Dr. Sarah David

WhyLinkedInisaPowerfulPersonalBrandingTool?
”Here's the profound, true secret that you may have not
known (no-brainer, actually), LinkedIn has become the
best tool for personal branding and it's guilty of being that
because since the beginning of Mesopotamian times,
customers have always preferred the ‘human touch’ over
a cold and pretentious ‘corporate caress’”
- Varun Choraria, Founder and CEO, WiseWords Interactive Studio
1818

LinkedIn2020
660M
Active LinkedIn Users LinkedIn users share
content on a weekly
basis.
310M HubSpot found that LinkedIn is
277% more effective at
generating leads than
Facebook and Twitter.
277%
Individuals making over
$75,000 per year use
LinkedIn.
45%
LinkedIn users are women.
44%
50%
Americans with a college
degree use LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is responsible
for more than 50% of all
traffic leads to B2B
websites.
50%
Mobile is huge for LinkedIn.
They get 63 million unique
mobile users monthly.
63M

Let’sStartBuilding:
WhatWordsDefineYour
Skills?

Hardworking
People- oriented
Entrepreneurial
EfficientIndependent
Innovative
Resourceful
Boss
Motivated
Authority
Organized
TransportationExpert
Conscientious
Alert
Collaborative
Dependable Practical
Persuasion
Creative
Adaptability
Time Management
Decision Making
Activity:ListYourSkills.

Activity:BuildYour“ElevatorPitch”
• Using the top 3 skills you listed, write 3 sentences about yourself
• Add one more sentence stating your professional goal. Here’s an example:
o Skills: Connector, Motivated and Innovative
o Sentences:
 Rachel inspires, motivates and educates businesses on how to leverage emerging
technologies and digital marketing.
 Rachel favorite activity in being a connector and connecting people to the right people.
 A fan of all things digital and social media, emerging technologies, & innovation.
• Now combine all of that into 1 sentence.
o Innovator who connects great people with great people who do great things!
• This is your creative header, your twitter bio or your personal statement.
o Remember you have 2.5 seconds to impress.
22

SkillstoAdd
toYourProfile

LinkedInChecklist
Headline: Your profile headline is the first thing someone sees
after your name. Make it memorable. It should help someone
understand the role you want to do next and/or contain key
words important to your profession. You have 120 characters
Photo & Background Image: Choose a professional, high
quality headshot for your photograph. Also use the blue space
at the top of your profile to further brand yourself by inserting an
image.
Email: List all your active email addresses so they are
associated with your LinkedIn profile. You can set the default
email which will be viewable by your connections and the
account that receives InMail and updates from LinkedIn.
Vanity URL: Your LinkedIn profile has a URL (an Internet
address). You can and should edit this by adding your name
(www.linkedin.com/in/yourname). This also looks more
professional when you include it on your resume, business card,
or email signature.
Other Web References: If you have a personal website,
professional Twitter account, or links elsewhere on the web, you
can add them to your profile within the “contact info” section at
the top. You should change the label from “other” to a short,
descriptive title.
Personal Details: Your birth date and marital status are the least
important details. You may choose not to include this
information on your profile.
Summary: Consider this section as the answer to “tell me about
yourself.” Highlight the best of your background, experience and
skills. You could also provide insight into your leadership style,
personality, values, longer term goals, or outside interests.
Keep the reader’s attention by using short paragraphs. And
make it more personal. Add a specialties section within your
summary to list important hard and technical skills. Make the
most of the 2,000 characters available.
Work Experience: Include all the significant work history and
include strong, keyword rich descriptions and accomplishments
under each position.
Embed Media: Add media (documents, video, images, audio) to
your profile to make it an online portfolio. You can embed these
links in your summary, work experience and education sections.
Skills and Expertise: List all the skills and areas of expertise
which are most important to your profession and you want to
highlight.
Education: Include all the institutions you’ve attended. List your
concentration, major, and/or minor.
Certifications: List the most relevant and important information.
Projects: You can reference class projects, special work
assignments and side gigs as a project. This is another way to
showcase skills and experience.
Recommendations: Ask & Give recommendations from
colleagues, managers or even clients who know your work.
Honors & Awards, Publications, Patents: Complete these
sections with as much detail as necessary to highlight why it is
important.
Organizations, Volunteering & Causes: Provide details about
your involvement in professional associations and the
organizations you belong to or committees you serve on. Join
college alumni groups, professional associations, and any
industry related groups.
Make it An All-Star Profile: Don’t leave information blank or
overlook the criteria LinkedIn uses to boost your profile to all-
star. Your industry and location, an up-to-date current position
(with description), two past positions, education, a minimum of 3
skills, profile photo and at least 50 connections.
Make It Public: By default, LinkedIn sets your profile to be
viewable to the public. For active job seekers this is the best
option.
24

CompleteYourProfile
Tip: If you don’t see people in
your industry in the section,
“People Also Viewed,” your
profile is not optimized.

CompleteYourProfile

LinkedInImageSpecsRecap
• Max file size 8MB and file type must be PNG, JPEG,
or GIF.
• LinkedIn profile cover photo: 1584 wide x 396 high.
This is exactly 4:1 proportion.
• LinkedIn profile picture: Per LI, upload any size
between 400 x 400 pixels and 20,000 x 20,000 px.
• LinkedIn blog post link shares: 1200 x 627 px.
• LinkedIn photo share: 1200 x 1200 square looks best
on desktop, 1200 x 627 on mobile.
• LinkedIn Page cover photo size: 1,128 x 191 px.
• LinkedIn logo size: 300 x 300 square. No more
horizontal.

NeedHelp
WithanImage?
• Utilize Canva
o Canva makes design simple for
everyone. Create designs for Web or
print, blog graphics, presentations,
Facebook covers, flyers, posters,
invitations, etc.

“Ifyou’renotonLinkedInyoumightaswellnot
existinthisworld.Everybodyneedstobeon
LinkedIn.”
Guy Kawasaki, Original Apple Evangelist
29

Keepit
Current
Tip: Regularly update your status so
your network can see what you are
up to. Good status updates: a link to
an article, information about a
presentation you are attending, or a
question inviting feedback.
30

• Is it valuable?
• Does it fit with my personal brand?
• Did I include source attribution?
• Did I add relevant hashtags?
31
BeforeYouPost,
AskYourself:

AnatomyofanEffectiveLinkedIn
Update
Strong Visuals: Attention grabbing images
such as recognized leaders, interesting
infographics
Concise: Introduction has 240 characters or
less
Content type: Snack-able content, Lists,
valuable industry insights
Addresses audience directly: Invites them
in with questions.
Keep the URLl

UpdatesbyType

Bestdaysandtimestopostyour
content
• The best day and time to post on LinkedIn is on
Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m.
• Engagement varies per day, but Tuesday
through Thursday rank best.
• Friday through Monday receive the least
amount of engagement.
• LinkedIn’s feed algorithm promotes those who
post frequently.
o Most advice suggests at least 1–2 times per
day.

AutomateEverything–ButBe
HUMAN
You have better things to do than execute the
same repetitive tasks repeatedly. When it comes
to social media marketing, automation is
everything. Here’s a short list of some of the tasks
you can automate now and no longer waste your
time on:
• Following people back when they follow you
• Retweeting interesting messages on Twitter
• Mentioning other users in your messages
• Responding to direct messages
• Automating posts from another expert’s website
• Posting to LinkedIn ,Twitter, or Facebook from
another network
35

Hashtag=ContentDistribution
• Use ones relevant to your destination (research in
www.iconosquare.com )
• Add popular hashtags to relevant images to grow audience &
engagement
o #Transportation #STEM
• Add a unique hashtag to source content and build a community
• Communicate your hashtag in your profile

Listening.Themost
importanttoolonSocial
Media.
Before you can know what to say
on any social media platform, you
need to learn what your
customers/prospects want to
hear.
37
So listen to hear what
people are saying about
your brand or product.

LinkedInPublishing
• Way for members to contribute professional
insight
• This is more than just regular posting; this is
the kind of publishing that can help you
establish yourself as a thought leader and an
expert in your industry.
• Long-form content becomes part of your
profile
o Publishing articles on LinkedIn
• Searchable on/off LinkedIn
o Read more: Writing tips

MakeConnections
Participate by answering questions,
sharing links to interesting articles
and engaging in conversation with
other like-minded professionals.
• LinkedIn makes it easy to stay
connected with colleagues,
associates and friends.
• It is just a click!

LinkedInGroups
• Join Groups Based on Your:
o Interests
o Industry
o Geographical Area
• Start and Join Discussions
• Network!
• Top Engineering Groups:
o Electrical Engineers World
o Engineers Looking for Stuff (ELFS)
o Engineering Collaboration for PLM

What’sNew
onLinkedIn
• LinkedIn Events
• QR Codes
• Video
• Visuals
• Services
• Skill assessments
• Show your work
• Reactions and conversations
• News

42

10LinkedInVideoBest
Practices
1. Optimize your setup
o Lighting
o Camera Position
o Camera
o Background
o Body Language
2. Aim to capture attention from the start
3. Put essential information upfront
4. Design for sound off
5. Include closed captions
6. Vary the shot
7. Choose the right video length
8. Close with a strong call to action
9. Don’t forget supporting copy
10. Use the word “video” for promotions

12IdeasforLinkedInNative
Video
1. Share company news and updates
2. Announce the launch of a new product
or service
3. Take customers behind-the-scenes
4. Offer an explainer
5. Preview an upcoming event
6. Provide insider coverage of an industry
event
7. Introduce C-suite members
8. Tell a story with a case study
9. Let your customers know what you
stand for
10. Spotlight inspiring employees
11. Highlight the good you’re doing
12. Share something fun

WhatNottoDo
OnLinkedIn
• Post inflammatory comments
• Connect and sell
• Tagging Unrelated People in Your Posts
for Exposure
• Talking Politics
• Flirting

Dedicate15MinutesPerWeektoYourLinkedIn
Network
Connect with 10 new people
each week. Send them a
personal message asking to
connect.
Send 5-7 new messages each
week to people you have
connections with.
Keep it about them! We all know
what it’s like to get a new
connection, only to be followed
by a lengthy sales pitch the
following day.
46
Your Homework:

CustomizeYourLinkedIn
FeedtoHelpYouReachYour
Goals
• Start with the basics – complete your
profile
• Follow companies and executives
• Use hashtags for the “Big Picture
Perspective”
• Your voice matters—use it!

AdditionalTools
ToTry

Twitter
• Because tweets are limited to 240 characters,
Twitter is an easy way to pick up the latest
engineering top news and headlines.
• By following the tweets of industry leaders, you
can get quick insight into what’s trending in the
product design and engineering Twittersphere.
Here are seven Twitter profiles that tweet
interesting engineering content every day:
o @DesignNews
o @DesignWorld
o @ArenaSolutions
o @ENGINEERINGcom
o @DangerousPrototypes
o @Eng_Exchange
o @cadcam3d

Design News owns one of the largest trusted
communities of design engineers. Their website is
always up to date with current news, blog posts and
videos.
They have an active community which posts on
their message board.
Check out their webinars to get an in-depth look into
some recent industry trends.

The Engineering Exchange is a social
network that connects over 11,000
engineers around the world. You can
use the Engineering Exchange to view
and share videos or blog posts and
participate in forum discussions about
the topics that matter to you. The
Engineering Exchange also lets you
connect with engineers in similar
positions, locations or industries and
browse a resource section full of 3D
CAD models, job listings and content
leaderboards.

Engineering.com offers a variety of free
tools, an extensive engineering library and
several subject-based directories—geared
toward engineers of all disciplines. And
recently, Engineering.com
launched Electronics Design, a microsite
that covers industry news and commentary
specifically for electrical engineering.

ToolstoImprove
Communication
Writing/Editing:
• Grammarly
• HemingWay
• Qordoba
• Otter
• Google Notes
Public Speaking/Conversations:
• Take Improv
• Toastmasters
• Mirror – when on the phone

EssentialBusinessCommunicationSkillsforSuccess
• Active Listening - Being a good listener is one of the best
ways to be a good communicator.
• Feedback - Giving feedback involves giving praise as well –
something as simple as saying "good job" or "thanks for
taking care of that" to an employee can greatly increase
motivation.
• Confidence - Confidence shows your co-workers that you
believe in what you’re saying and will follow through.
• Friendliness - It's important to be polite in all your workplace
communications.
• Open-Mindedness - A good communicator should enter any
conversation with a flexible, open mind.
54

EssentialBusinessCommunicationSkillsforSuccess
• Empathy - Using phrases as simple as "I understand where you are
coming from" demonstrate that you have been listening to the other
person and respect their opinions.
• Nonverbal Communication - Your body language, eye contact, hand
gestures, and tone of voice all color the message you are trying to
convey.
• Respect - People will be more open to communicating with you if you
convey respect for them and their ideas.
• Clarity and Concision - Try to convey your message in as few words
as possible. Say what you want clearly and directly, whether you're
speaking to someone in person, on the phone or via email.
• Picking the Right Medium - People will appreciate your thoughtful
means of communication and will be more likely to respond positively
to you.
55

Connect With Us
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White Plains, New York 10601
Tel: 914-821-5100 | Fax: 914-821-5111
www.asc-pr.com
A small business certified as a Women’s
Business Enterprise (WBE) and a
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE).
GSA Advertising & Integrated Marketing
Schedule.

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57

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