Navigating through Communication Barriers: 2021 Business Briefings

Why does communication seem to vary from person to person? Are there actually barriers to overcome when communicating with a person of a different age, gender, or racial background? How does this affect your company's marketing, customer service, public perception, and your internal employee relationships?
Join us in this classroom setting to understand the theory and research behind this topic, and leave with real-world ideas you can implement in your own organization.
During this Business Briefing, you will learn:
 - why the power of perception affects your interpretation of verbal and nonverbal communication
- tips to establish trust amongst large groups
- ways to identify your own biases to effectively listen and communicate with others
- how to engage and outreach with various groups in the public

Can't make the live session? Register anyway to receive the recording after the event.

Your Speakers

Jamie Fabos, Chief Communications Officer - City of Colorado Springs
Jamie Fabos has served as the Chief Communications Officer for the City of Colorado Springs since 2015, serving two terms under Mayor John Suthers. In her role, Fabos directed the branding of the nation’s 39th largest city as Olympic City USA, handled public communications through several emergency activations and served as the primary spokesperson for Mayor John Suthers and 21 executive branch departments.
Prior to joining the City, Fabos spent eight years as the Communications Director for USA Swimming, the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport. There, she managed athlete and organizational media requests and communications through two Olympic Games, including Michael Phelps’ historic gold medal run in 2008. Fabos also spent seven years working in professional and Olympic ice hockey, serving with the NHL’s New York Islanders before relocating to Colorado Springs to work for USA Hockey.
Fabos has lived in Colorado Springs for 15 years and is a proud resident of the city’s west side where she lives with her twin 9-year-olds, dogs and husband, Major Kelly Leaverton, U.S. Army, retired.

Matt Lyle, Assistant Professor of Management - UCCS College of Business
Matt Lyle is an assistant professor of management at the UCCS College of Business. He has a doctorate degree in Organization Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a master's degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Salem State University. He researches topics such as organizational history and organizational identity and has taught classes in organizational behavior, human resource management and business communication. Prior to entering academia Matt worked as a research assistant at Brigham and Womens Hospital and a mental health counselor on two locked psychiatric units. His hobbies include spending time with his wife and one (soon to be two) children, running the trails of Colorado Springs, and saving cats stuck in trees from imminent peril. One of those things is a lie but he'll never say which.



Business Briefings are a partnership between the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS), College of Business' Office of Professional & Executive Development (OPED).