I have delivered many in-person corporate communications trainings. And I have led workshops virtually like on webinars.

But at USAA, which provides banking and insurance services to the military community, worlds collided as I led both at the same time.

That’s because on March 22 I spoke to employees inside the company’s Chesapeake, Virginia location. At the same time, more than 100 employees who work remotely or at other company offices in the US and Europe watched via WebEx. How cool!

During the fast-paced hour, we learned:

• Words to cut from our writing and the importance of brevity
• How to structure emails so your main point comes at the top
  • And how to make every message personal and authentic to improve open/response rates
• How to network like a pro

For the networking session, I put everyone into pairs. For five minutes, Person A asked questions and Person B answered. After five minutes, they switched roles. The purpose is to force us to keep asking questions rather than talk about ourselves.

I encouraged the “interviewer” to use what I call my six most powerful words in networking: who, what, when, where, why and how. Use those six words as you network, lead with great questions and you’ll never go wrong.

Two women learn to “interview” each other at USAA through my exercise called the “six most powerful words in networking.” Each person spends five minutes interviewing the other person to learn how to ask smart, insightful questions rather than talk about themselves.

Thank you, USAA, for bringing me in!

Learn more about my corporate speaking and workshops.