When I came on the job two years ago (with a background in dance and non-profit management) I knew I'd need to learn more about technology to serve our members. "How hard could it be?" I asked myself. I assumed tech people all spoke the same language, and that there couldn't possibly be that much I didn't know about technology-- I was wrong. There is a whole new world I didn't know existed!

Our members have been wonderful to get to know, and most are pretty excited to tell me all about their technologies, services, applications, etc. etc. I can usually follow along for a while, but every so often someone will start speaking in pure acronyms and/or very specific engineering terminology I'm suddenly lost.  (These are the times you'll see me nodding, smiling, and saying something along the lines of "wow, that's really interesting.")

Some members I have gotten to know have told me that they, too, are guilty of the "nod-smile-polite comment" tactic. Phew. I'm not alone here.

So, if you're a techie please help us non-techies understand by speaking in layman's terms until you're sure we're following you. And for my fellow non-techies- don't be afraid to ask for some clarification! Speaking the same language helps everyone learn and grow.

Now for a quick (shameless) plug:

In August I'm hosting a 3-day communication skills program for engineers and IT professionals. Come.