How to Build Meaningful Relationships Through Conversation

By: Carol Ann Lloyd, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Carol Ann Lloyd

We have conversations every day, but how many of those can be considered effective? The right conversation can help establish strong relationships, solve problems, create new opportunities, and build communities. The right conversation can change everything.

But how does one prepare to have a conversation in an effective way?

In 10 lectures for self-development, professional communications coach and speaker Carol Ann Lloyd teaches the best ways to communicate and listen, including how to focus on understanding, how to overcome barriers and distractions, and how to clarify intentions. When listeners step back to hear what makes conversations successful, they will learn that each component of a conversation is a piece of a larger puzzle, which only fits together when thoughtfully considered and executed.

Conversations that matter take effort, and every conversation can be R.E.A.L. (Relevant, Effective, Affirming, Legitimate.) Carol Ann Lloyd also shares the three pitfalls in tough conversations...and how to avoid them. By the end of this course, listeners will have a new way of understanding the way people communicate, and will develop the confidence to live the life they want to live - one conversation at a time.

©2020 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC.

Good Topic but Annoying Voice

"How to Build Meaningful Relationships through Conversations" is a series of 10 self help lectures produced by The Great Courses, published by Audible, and performed by professional communications coach Carol Ann Lloyd. A truncated version of this could be given as a TED Talk, and that is kind of how it sounded.

This gets its value from its applicability to our daily lives, regardless of our age or employment status. I learned some helpful things to keep in mind during my own professional and personal communications. Certain pertinent topics include: understanding different styles of speech, managing technology in modern conversations, and having clear goals that you want accomplished as a result of a conversation before beginning.

One of the great things about The Great Courses is that listeners get to hear from the experts themselves. However, one of the very downsides to The Great Sources can be the fact that the experts give their own talks. This might not be so apparent if watching a video, but when a sore speaker delivers an audio-only performance, it can really sour the experience. I know it's not something that Lloyd can really change, but I HAD to dock 1 star from my review because her voice was just so annoying. For a speaking coach, she has such a whiny way of speaking! I almost couldn't stand it. This would be a lot better as a mini-book than an audio production.

One of my favorite parts of this was the references to Shakespeare. He is a master storyteller and an excellent author to use for examples of conversation, because as a playwright, most of his renowned work involves characters speaking to one another. Lloyd's "real life" examples are all conglomerate cases with white-washed white suburbia names, which is boring and on-the-fence offensive, so those were unpleasant for me.

Either way, this is OK to listen to for some advice on how to have better conversations with others, especially for workplace professional settings. Wish I could get that annoying voice out of my head, so definitely only listen to once.

Great insight and knowledge.

This is such a wonderful audio to listen to. I have learnt so much from it. It's now time to take Action and apply the knowledge I have got in whatever I do, be it dealing with any category of people. Thank you so much. This is gonna change my life!

insightful

Chapter summaries at the end of each chapter are very nice and help to reemphasize the most important points to learn.

Useful reminders, irritating narrator

Worth it for free as an Audible selection, but wont get a second listen. while much of the material had some value in keeping in mind, I felt it was over written. The narrator spoke as if she were reading a storybook to a class of kindergratners... that turned me off. :)

A Family continuing education must

My teen daughter and I listened to this audiobook on our way to and from practices. Being both introverted, it was a good refresher for me, eye-opening for her and an opportunity to develop a father-teen daughter bond while learning together.

March 2021

Useful but dry.

Now that I've finished, I feel as though I need a pdf handout to remember

Perfect for my life right now.

So many things to take in will listen again another time. WAIT - sure liked that concept!

Excellent Audio Book

This is one of the best audio book I ever listened to that is actually is helpful and well explained. They need to use this Audio and her well written talents as a platform for Audio Books. I have listened to over 100 Audio and I can honestly say it was great. You will not be disappointed. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with the world. I really appreciate it .

Good information

Lot of good information in here. It’s probably worth it to listen to this book a few times as it has great advice about what to say and mostly what not to say (how to listen to deeply connect) in conversations.

Great presentation of much needed advice

I learned a lot about what I need to work on when having conversations. I TALK TOO MUCH. Lol Will work on being a listener more often 😊