Infernal Communication

In this final episode of season one of Infernal Communication, join host Kyla Sims as she speaks with Genevieve Von Petzinger, paleo anthropologist and author of The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols, as well as  Dan Everett, linguistic anthropologist, author, and one of only four second-language speakers of the Amazon Basin's Pirahã people. They'll talk about what we know about our earliest communications and how communication has shaped what it means to be human. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our host Kyla Sims chats with neuroscientist Dr. Carl Marci about what happens to our brain when we spend too much time online and what we can do to protect ourselves. Then, “Master of Decibels” Paul Mellor shares his tactics for making brands famous and cutting through all the noise. Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our host, Kyla Sims, sits down with writer and Yale English professor, Verlyn Klinkenborg, about how he teaches writing. Most of his students know how to write well, but do they understand how to think about writing? According to Verlyn, there is an important distinction. From sentence structure to personal motivation, this episode takes a deep look into what it means to be a “good writer.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our host Kyla Sims chats with researcher and psychologist Dr. Sophie Wohltjen about the intricacies of human connection and what goes on in our brains when we look someone in the eye. Jennifer Britton joins in to discuss what it was like to work remotely before digital workspaces were even possible. From the neuroscience of eye contact to effective online leadership, this episode looks at whether we can really connect through remote work the same way we do face-to-face.  Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Getting lost in translation is bound to happen when languages, accents, and cultures collide. In this episode, our host Kyla Sims speaks to linguist and polyglot, Dr. Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia, about how language works and what happens when languages and their variations don't quite line up. Global Communications Specialist, Heather Hansen, then weighs in on what we lose when we dub people “bad” English speakers. Hansen encourages us to stop being language snobs and shares her tips on understanding and being understood.  Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WARNING: This episode deals with sensitive subject matter, including school shootings, sexual harassment, and racism.We all have to deliver bad news at some point, but is there a better way to do it?  First, we will speak with Tangia Renee Estrada, Co-founder of BIPOC Podcast Creators and Amplify BIPOC, about her experiences as a crisis comms professional, her learnings, and her regrets. Next, we'll speak with Robin Stickley, a former Global News Canada journalist, who has delivered the news (good and bad) to broadcast television audiences for years — including the devastating events in the Sandy Hook. Finally, we'll sit down with Janet Stovall, author of “The Conscious Communicator: The Fine Art of Saying Stupid Sh*t”, about her experiences delivering hard truths and her methodology for helping organizations determine if they should weigh-in on the difficult issues of our times.  Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How are you? Most of us answer without really thinking about it. The truth is that many of us are not doing well — including those of us in the comms industry. In this episode, two brave communicators (Haleigh Brouillette, Sr. Comms Manager at Hudl & Tangia Renee Estrada, co-founder of BIPOC Podcast Creators and veteran communications pro) share their stories of burnout, loss, and mental health, to help break the stigma and start a conversation about how we're really feeling. Resources:Talk Suicide Canada & 1-833-456-4566 by phoneWellness Together Canadahttps://www.mentalhealth.govNational Suicide Helpline US & 988 by phoneFind a Helpline (Global)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WARNING: This episode contains swearing, suggestive language, and references that some listeners may prefer to avoid.How does a simple font elicit such strong emotions? Is Comic Sans the villain we've made it out to be, or is it just misunderstood and misused? Listen in as Comic Sans stands trial for crimes against typeface, obstruction of font protocol and indecent exposure on documents both printed and digital.While the kangaroo court is in session, join host Kyla Sims and graphic designer Craig Rozynski, the creator of comics sans' cool uncle, Comic Neue. He shares his insights as to why he felt the goofiest of fonts needed a redesign. We also hear from Dr. Dawn Shaikh, a human factors psychologist who wrote her doctoral thesis on the Personality of Cleartype Fonts. She digs deep into her research to provide a glimpse into where Comic Sans came from, what it was meant for (trust us, it isn't your résumé) and what all the negative connotations say about the biases that shape our communication norms. Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WARNING: This episode contains swearing, suggestive language, and references that some listeners may prefer to avoid.In this episode, Kyla sits down with Professor Timothy Jay, psycholinguist and the foremost expert on swearing and curse words. Together they unpack the origins of benign office jargon, how certain naughty words develop from childhood, and the story of one comedian's infamous bit that ended up in front of the Supreme Court. We also hear from Jennifer Saul, Chair in Social and Political Philosophy of Language at the University of Waterloo. She shares how one presidential campaign upended decades of political linguistic thought and inspired her own research into deceptive speech and linguistic devices. Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our host Kyla Sims sits down with Tech and Culture reporter Christianna Silva from Mashable. Together, they unpack why our world is obsessed with constantly trying to pursue internet virality. Patrick Yurick, Head Comic at MakingComics.com also joins the show to tell the tale of his own internet virality and what he learned. From unpacking the neuroscience to recounting stories of going viral for the wrong reasons, this episode will make you question whether going viral is really what it's cracked up to be. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Infernal Communication, host Kyla Sims sits down with microbiologist and science communicator Dr. Siouxsie Wiles to talk about arguably the most successful communication campaign of our generation. Together Kyla and Dr. Wiles walk us through the journey of collaborating with award-winning illustrator Toby Morris to make "flatten the curve" go viral and potentially saving millions of lives, to the aftermath and fallout. Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Infernal Communication, Kyla sits down with Director of Design Strategy at Mural and author Stephen P. Anderson, to get to the heart of the intangible request that infuriates communicators and designers alike: "Make it pretty." They dive into Stephen's article “In Defence of Eye Candy” and discuss the value of “Beauty” as a design concept and what pitfalls professionals make in trying to capture it. Then we go even deeper with Forbes contributor, and disability and beauty advocate Xian Horn. She challenges us to interrogate our monoculture of beauty standards and visual communication, and helps us find more meaning in the request to “Make it pretty”. Do you work in communications? Join us at Staffbase's VOICES Conference in NYC April 26-27th, 2023. Get your ticket at voices.staffbase.com/us and use promocode VOICES-PODCAST-25 for 25% off your ticket.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Communication is hard. Being a communications professional is even harder. In each episode of Infernal Communication, we take a deeper look at the wild little fires communicators have to put out every day. We stop, drop and uncover the surprising reach of these oh-so-common problems in internal comms and beyond. Join Kyla from Staffbase as she recruits authors, scientists, and experts to help get some fresh perspectives that will soothe the burn of your latest communication snafu, and help you think differently about your work and life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.