Great performers understand that communication is an art and takes practice to refine. When Jay Leno was hosting The Tonight Show, he would leave the taping on Friday and head to Las Vegas or another city for a series of standup shows. Leno would do 100 to 150 acts a year even when he had a full-time job because he had to stay sharp. When is the last time you practiced any presentation 150 times, or even 20 times? Speaking of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon rehearses his monologue in front of a live audience earlier in the day. He has a pen and paper in hand and makes notes of what gets a laugh and what doesn’t. These comedians do not rely on a scientific algorithm to develop their jokes.

“It is absolutely critical to be as direct, to the point and concise as possible,” she says, in a lively, forceful voice with a Philadelphia tinge. Vagueness is all too common in the workplace, she observes. Friedman’s fix: follow the newscaster’s drill of spelling out who, what, where, when and why.

Your attitude while talking is also important. “It’s not just your words that convey a message,” Friedman says. “It’s all of you.” If you slouch, jam your hands into your pockets, shuffle your feet and avoid eye contact, people will get the impression you don’t want to communicate with them. Pry your eyes and thumbs away from your electronic device, she admonishes. “Pretend that your colleague is your adorable five-year-old who you would drop everything for if she walked into the office,”

If you have bad news to deliver, lay it out plainly. It’s difficult to talk about layoffs and belt tightening, but if you’re in a situation where you have to convey that sort of information, your employees and colleagues likely already know something is up. It is far better to be straight with them than not to communicate at all, even if you can’t give them the answers they’d like. Always deliver bad news in person. It may seem easier to convey negative information via e-mail, but imagine how you’d feel if you learned electronically that your best work friend had been sacked, vs. hearing it from another human being.

''Most important, I tell people to try to not be so intent on scoring their own points that they miss the gist of what someone else is saying to them,'' Ms. Conrad said. ''Too much conversation is really confrontation. In business, you've got to keep your emotions out of the discussion if you want to hear things right.''

'Speaking, you have the opportunity to bring the force of your personality into play.'' she said. ''Some of the things I teach people is how to use eye contact and body language effectively to emphasize a point and how to modulate their voices to keep out patronizing, petulant or aggressive tones that turn off an audience.''

I teach managers how to use humor to their advantage in dealing with employees.''

we must all learn how to better communicate with individuals and groups whose first language, or language of choice, does not match our own

This requires the ability to see that a person's own behaviors and reactions are oftentimes culturally driven and that while they may not match our own, they are culturally appropriate.

Consider any special needs the individuals on your team may have. For instance, they may observe different holidays, or even have different hours of operation. Be mindful of time zone differences and work to keep everyone involved aware and respectful of such differences

Mentally prioritizing your current or daily work tasks is a strategy you can use to improve the way you orient your thoughts and complete goals

Creating a mental list of tasks beginning with the easiest and leaving the most complicated for last allows you to accomplish lots of tasks early in the day -- this will give you a sense of accomplishment