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As the downturn continues through the penumbral landscapes of a perceived, slow-going economic recovery across weeks and month, and yes, even years, many Americans find themselves (as they did after 911), reevaluating their professional lifestyles. To be sure, many are simply concerned about keeping or finding a job to provide for themselves and their families, but there is a distinct contingency of the population that is hoping to seize upon the opportunity that the downturn affords to go back and get the education necessary to transition into new industries that suit professional lifestyle choices more fittingly.

Obviously if you have savings and are not earning a great deal in the downturn or are unemployed, a slow economic period such as the present period offers the perfect opportunity to wait out the storm by going back and getting that degree or certification. Educational financing is often available and can cover room and board for you (and sometimes family) for many years while you earn your degree. Additionally, available scholarships can help to minimize or eliminate the accrual of education-related debt. Small work-study jobs offer you the ability to provide for basic needs while you increase your earning power in a environment that can be far more stress-free and enjoyable than many current working situations. A return to academia can, on a long term basis, help lead to a better working environment in a dream position once the economic unrest has cleared up and, in the short term, provide you with the freedom to study topics that interest you and spend greater time with your family.

While a return to education for a degree or certification is not for everyone (particularly for individuals with job security and satisfaction or with large families and scant savings) for the right individual, the current downturn can offer a real opportunity in an economically secure environment. The choice is a highly personal one and is, like everything else, a matter of timing. If you find yourself sitting there at your desk or at home thinking about a change in your career path and living experience, you may want to ask yourself “Is the timing right for me?”

When you are presenting in person, you can constantly monitor your audience for engagement. Are they with me? Do they disagree with the plan I am presenting? Do they understand what I am talking about? If you see someone open their laptop and start checking email, you can call on them to participate or move closer to them to pull them back in, but what happens when your audience is on the phone? You don’t see them sleeping. You can’t see them working on another project and you definitely can’t see their eyes roll.

Another challenge in a virtual meeting is making sure everyone is participating. You typically have a few dominant people who take over while the quiet ones on the team sit back and endure another “waste-of-time-meeting.” There are a few things you can do to ensure your meetings and presentations are more effective when you can’t see the faces of your audience.

1. If your attendee list is less than 25, draw an imaginary conference table on a white board or piece of paper at your desk. Now write everyone’s name as if they were sitting around the table. (Yes, I know, you can just print out a list of everyone that is in attendance, but if you are a visual person the table works better.)

2. Now as you begin your meeting, you put a tick mark next to the name of the person speaking–even if it is your own name. Within a few moments, you will SEE who has checked out and who is talking too much.

3. Now simply say to the chatty-Cathy’s on the call, “That’s a great point, AND since we haven’t heard from Bob, I would really like to get his input. Bob, how do you feel we should proceed in this next step?”

4. During a virtual presentation you need lots of interaction. Lots of Q&A time. The challenge is when you ask a question and then call on someone, (i.e. So what happened on this last week…Bob?) you catch them off guard. You and I both know that Bob was reading the latest Dave Barry book so he did not hear your question. This is why Bob would quickly dive for his mute button and then ask you to repeat the question. WASTE OF TIME! Instead, call on Bob first and then ask the question. “Bob, what was it that happened on this last week?” BETTER!

5. On conference calls, use lots of colorful picture words to keep people engaged. “The five of us are in a run-down single-engine bucket of bolts at 28,000 feet and now we’ve got to work together to build a parachute or none of us will survive.” This is much more intriguing than “We’ve got a deadline and we’ve got to work together.” When you engage the brain, the rest of the body will stay with you. Try this, “I want you to imagine standing in front of our biggest customer, Katherine. You are starting to sweat…” This technique gets people to go where ever you tell them to and they are listening. “I want you to picture the top of a mountain…”

Remember that when you can’t see the faces of those in your audience, you will have to put a little more effort and creativity into your presentations to keep your audience engaged, but it is worth it. If they ARE rolling their eyes it will be because they are in awe of your SIZZLING presentation style!

There are a lot of people who were in debt because of the current economic situation. This is unfortunate but it is not the end of the world, you can help yourself out of debt with good sound economic advice, a bit of education, and of course learning how to negotiate your debts. Here are some frequently asked questions about debt negotiation.

1. What is the first thing I should do if I need debt negotiation?

The first thing that you should do is to start taking account of what you are spending. If you need debt negotiation then you are obviously spending too much money, more money going out than there is money coming in. So you need to sit down and write a list of all the money that you owe to your creditors. Then you need to make a list of the essential purchases that you need to make every month. Add to this list the essential bills that you need to pay every month. Take your expenses from your income and you have a fairly accurate figure for the monthly amount which you can use to pay off your debts.

2. Are there different methods of debt negotiation?

There are debt negotiation companies who will be able to help you negotiate with your creditors. This can sometimes involve setting up a trust fund, where enough money is saved until the company can begin reasonable negotiations on your behalf. You can also attempt the negotiation yourself. This will involve you calling up each of your creditors and letting them know that you are having financial problems. It is in their interests to help you.

3. Is there anything I should be doing after debt negotiation?

After your debts have been negotiated, you need to seriously start thinking about why you were in debt in the first place. This means that you should embark on a course of debt education. This will involve improving your budgeting skills, and help you to realize that you can lead a very happy and fulfilling life without spending lots of money.