Introduction: Welcome to Connections Cafe'

[Music] Welcome to the Connections Cafe, where we focus on brewing communication insights and strategies while exploring the art of communication. I'm your host, Rip Kowalker, and I would like to first thank you for choosing to click on this podcast to learn a little bit more about all of your communication needs. But before we get started, I would like to introduce myself to you and explain myself just a little bit. You know, things like, "Why did I start a podcast? Why do I think this is needed? Why, you know, just all the things?" Let's get started. As I mentioned before, my name is Rip Kowalker. I've been studying the art of communication for literally my entire life, and honestly, you have to. But I've also been given the opportunity to be a professor of communication for about seven years now, and the bulk of my job entails helping students to realize their full potential as public speakers, and how to navigate through interpersonal relationships, how to communicate through interviewing, and the list goes on and on. So I've learned some invaluable lessons over this time, and so I decided to go ahead and start a podcast. Now, you might be asking, "If I teach full-time, then why start a podcast, and where are you going to find the time?" Well, because I've teach full-time, I have the opportunity of teaching in both traditional settings, so in in-person classroom setting, as well as online asynchronously and synchronously. But it doesn't matter which form I give a lecture or that I teach in, the issue is still the same. Now, many teachers say that this is the effects of COVID-19, but to be quite honest with you, the reality is, students have struggled to listen to long-form lectures for a long time. You know, as the time goes on, and electronics and your art just online presents grow, our attention span just gets shorter and shorter. And so most people find themselves looking at Facebook Reels, YouTube videos, or listening to podcasts. And so to help my students learn a little bit more information that, you know, but they can get in little bite-sized bits of information, I decided to start a podcast, mainly to help my students with a supplemental tool to help them while they're driving to and from campus or at school, but also to help other people master the art of communication. Because honestly, communication is a skill. It's a skill that you constantly learn and improve in. So though we all speak, we may not all be effective communicators. And so I hope that you enjoy an embark upon this journey with me as I learn how to do podcasts, but also as I continuously learn from my students each and every day, and give little tips and tricks to them as well as you. So why did I choose the connections cafe? Well, here's a little personal tip bit about me. I absolutely love coffee shops. It doesn't matter if I'm visiting a new state, or I'm moving to a new city or state, I always have to find a nice cozy coffee shop to get work done. I don't know. There's always this like hustle and bustle and the brewing of conversations that just does a thing for a professor of communication. So for me, this is just a polite head nod to the place that I get a lot of my work done, or I like to observe how conversations and interpersonal relationship works, because it's not just about the small talk, but it's also about the big talk that helps us to nurture and maintain interpersonal relationships. And so normally when I do this podcast, I most likely will have a hot cup of Joe or a hot tea. And my hope is that you will do. So when can you expect to receive a new episode for the connections cafe? Well, my hope is that I will be able to release a new episode at the start of every week during the fall and the spring semester. Now, the reason this is so is because as I mentioned just moments ago, this podcast is supposed to act as a supplementary tool for my students. And so during the winter, we'll have a break and then during the summer, we'll to have a break. And so hopefully you will be able to use the tools, the tips, the tricks and the things that we discuss in this podcast and apply it to your life before the start of the next semester. So communication is more than just words. So whether you're driving to and from campus or to work or if you're home, sipping a nice cup of Joe or some hot tea. I hope that you can sit back, relax and listen to the connections cafe as we brew communication insights and strategies while exploring the art of communication. [Music]