With a calendar often fully booked a year in advance,
we seldom stand still. Here is recent news about us
at Principiæ, as well as some older announcements.
Oct 2009
A most successful event for AILouvain
Our lecture on effective oral presentations for
Alumni
Ingénieurs Louvain gathered more than 550 attendees.
From the fifth-grade student to the emeritus professor,
all listened avidly to Jean-luc's advice for over an hour.
Sep 2009
Principiæ welcomes NIST as new client
After a first talk at the
National Institute of Standards
and Technology in March, we ran a full-day workshop
on effective oral presentations for a selected number
of participants who are soon to speak at a NIST event.
Aug 2009
Trees, maps, and theorems goes into second printing
With our US inventory plundered by university bookstores
stocking up on textbooks for the back-to-school rush,
we decided it was already time for a second printing run
of our successful new book,
Trees, maps, and theorems.
Jul 2009
Highly popular seminar cycle in Santiago de Chile
Next to running our 10th program on scientific writing
for the school of engineering at the
U Católica de Chile,
Jean-luc was asked to give a cycle of three talks, in front
of an auditorium packed with faculty and grad students.
Jun 2009
Trees, maps, and theorems reaches a wide audience
Judging by the sales of the first six months, our book
Trees, maps, and theorems appeals to a broad range
of readers: researchers, engineers, technical writers,
and others, from students to seasoned professionals.
It is regularly purchased as a gift by faculty members
for their grad students and has already been adopted
as textbook for a management communication class.
May 2009
Principiæ welcomes IN3 as new client
Responding to more demand from Barcelona, we trained
faculty members and PhD students in scientific writing
at the
Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) — a part
of the recently created
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.
Apr 2009
A first four months rich in projects abroad
Jean-luc's now traditional speaking tour of universities
in California concludes four months of heavy traveling,
with four tours in the US, one in Canada, a workshop
in Germany, and longer programs in Chile and in Spain.
Mar 2009
Principiæ helps Fortis with financial communication
As a synergy between Geneviève's financial knowledge
and Jean-luc's graphing expertise, we started projects
to help
Fortis Insurance Belgium communicate better
on its financial results, both internally and externally.
Feb 2009
Principiæ reinforces presence in universities
Quite a few universities call upon us each year to train
undergrad or grad students, postdocs, and even faculty,
mostly in engineering and in the life sciences. This year,
we will run sessions for grad students in statistics, too.
Jan 2009
Principiæ publishes Trees, maps, and theorems
After being in the making for many years, Jean-luc's
book on “effective communication for rational minds“
is now out, launching Principiæ's publishing activities.
More information at
www.treesmapsandtheorems.com.
Dec 2008
Principiæ welcomes Universidad de Chile as new client
After running it ten times for the
Universidad Católica,
we now started teaching our course on scientific writing
at a second university in Santiago, this time for faculty
and students in the
School of Economy and Business.
Nov 2008
Principiæ helps restyle Brussel Deze Week
As a confirmation of the broad applicability of the ideas
we teach and apply, we were asked for an expert review
of the renewed graphical identity of
Brussel Deze Week,
the Flemish-speaking weekly newspaper for Brussels.
Oct 2008
Principiæ helps FCI with broker event
In the midst of the financial storm around Fortis Bank,
we helped the management team of
Fortis Corporate
Insurance address their network of brokers in Belgium
during an evening of presentations and entertainment.
Aug 2008
Principiæ runs workshops at SPIE conferences
Given his background in optics, Jean-luc is of course
delighted to run invited workshops at
SPIE conferences.
He was in San Diego in August for Optics + Photonics
and will be in San Jose in January for Photonics West.
Jun 2008
Another project for the King Baudouin Foundation
After creating a newsletter and drawing financial graphs
for the
King Baudouin Foundation, we were asked to help
the
Prince Albert Fund rethink its mission and strategies,
this at the occasion of its upcoming 25th anniversary.
May 2008
Principiæ welcomes Laborelec as new client
As a technical competence center in energy processes
and energy use,
Laborelec depends on effective reports
and oral presentations to their customers and partners,
so they asked us for training sessions on both topics.
Apr 2008
A highly popular “West Coast tour”
With exceptionally well-attended lectures at
Stanford,
UC Berkeley,
Caltech,
UCLA,
Scripps Research Institute,
and
Salk Institute, Jean-luc ran out of paper handouts.
In the future, we will make them available electronically.
Mar 2008
Principiæ trains researchers at ICFO
In the frame of the new PhD program at the
Institut
de Ciències Fotòniques, we have trained PhD students,
postdocs, and research fellows in oral presentations.
Next year, we will similarly address scientific writing.
Feb 2008
Principiæ welcomes McMaster-Carr as new client
Our expertise in effective page layout was called upon
by
McMaster-Carr, a major distributor of maintenance,
repair, and operations materials and supplies, famous
for its yearly yellow catalog, listing over 465 000 items.
Jan 2008
Principiæ welcomes Marsh as new client
Underwriters are not the only insurance professionals
who benefit from (and enjoy) our training program in
statistical thinking titled
Dice, cards, and insurances.
We now also trained brokers at
Marsh in Rotterdam.
Dec 2007
Podcast for IEEE on effective slides
At the request of the
IEEE Professional Communication
Society, Jean-luc recorded a podcast on effective slides,
which you can
listen to or download from the PCS site
(simply look for “Creating effective presentation slides”).
Nov 2007
Principiæ helps Fortis with broker event
As what is probably our most original project to date,
we helped
Fortis Insurance Belgium put together a live
TV-like show, with real Belgian TV hosts and reporters.
Among others, we structured messages and wrote texts
for all involved, all the way to Fortis top man M. Lippens.
Oct 2007
Principiæ down under
A long-standing invitation to deliver a keynote address
and to run a few additional sessions will have Jean-luc
travel halfway around the world (literally) to Wellington,
New Zealand, where
TCANZ holds its 2007 conference.
Jul 2007
Principiæ offers half-day workshop on scientific writing
Our interventions on scientific writing were usually
either lectures or multiple-day training programs.
For
UCL's Crypto group, we successfully developed
a half-day workshop—compact yet rich in learning.
Jun 2007
Principiæ welcomes Fortis Audit Services as new client
After successful projects for the insurance entities
within
Fortis (an international provider of banking
and insurance services), we have recently trained
the management of its audit services worldwide.
May 2007
Principiæ welcomes PwC as new client
In direct line with our recent expansion in the banking
and insurance world, we have started various projects
over the last couple of months for one of the so-called
“big four” audit firms, namely
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Apr 2007
Principiæ welcomes NIOSH as new client
In May, Jean-luc will run two sessions for researchers
at the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) in Pittsburgh, PA. The NIOSH is part
of the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Feb 2007
Principiæ welcomes ULg as new client
We have been invited by the School of Engineering
at the
University of Liège (ULg) in Belgium to run
our classic program on effective oral presentations
for a pilot group of 25 doctoral students in March.
Dec 2006
Principiæ welcomes FMTC as new client
With a particularly high “value added” for researchers,
we have started training PhD students and postdocs
in creating and delivering effective oral presentations
at
Flanders' Mechatronics Technology Centre (FMTC).
Oct 2006
Principiæ welcomes Axa as new client
Pursuing our expansion in the banking and insurance
world, we have now started training managers at
Axa
in effective oral or written communication with another
of our flagship workshops:
Getting the message across.
Aug 2006
Geneviève Casterman to join Principiæ
Geneviève Casterman, currently an executive director
at Fortis Bank,
will join Principiæ as a full-time partner
as of November 2006. With her MBA and her 18 years
of work experience, Geneviève will bring to Principiæ
a keen sense of business—and business communication,
nicely complementing Jean-luc's scientific background.
Jun 2006
Principiæ welcomes Nassau Verzekeringen as new client
After the success of it for Fortis Corporate Insurance,
we now train the underwriters at Nassau Verzekeringen
in statistical thinking with our program on Dice, cards,
and insurances: measuring and calculating chances.
Dec 2005
Principiæ welcomes VIB as new client
After the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC),
we are now engaged in training and consulting work
for another major Flemish research center, namely the
Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB).