IMI's 10th Annual Conference

I am so happy to be a part of the IMI's 10th Annual Conference. The pre-conference session was an enlightening experience and I felt obliged to share it with all the talented and experienced individuals that participated at it. The pre-conference training did provide us with different techniques and resources for interactive training activities that we can use in any conference presentation we conduct or we can use to evaluate any session we attend.

We are different, and differences do mater. Therefore, it is so important to learn how to communicate effectively and appropriately. This is the number one lesson I learned from attending the first day of the conference. Since we are different we have to learn how to flip the iceberg chart so we can connect in our humanism. This way we will concentrate on, the likeness, our human needs. Also, we will then respect and will not be afraid of what differentiate us wither it’s a race, gender, language, or a belief.

The three sessions I did attend today complemented each other. The second lesson was that negotiation is not a contest; it is a search for a common interest.
Successful interest-based negotiation requires being aware of our own culture, and a more realistic cultural empathy.

Now, the call is not only for cross cultural communication, due to the increased diversity and globalization. The call is for intercultural communication. Therefore, the value and the need of such conference and training are increasing. Communication and negotiation skills are a key must to a good business and to a good living.