This Spanish trip has been a joy, a tease, and ultimately a real eye-opener. Not for the bright lights, the city sights. But for the time it has given me to take out of the office to recharge those creative cells and get psyched for the rest of this wonderful year.

To concisely define the story of 2009 is extraordinarily tough. But it´s been packed with life-changing, and life-enriching, epiphanies.

And for all of us there are probably many more to come in the final weeks of this glorious year.

We must all make sure we start 2010 ahead of the pack. That our communications are as strong, as meaningful, and as compact as they can possibly be. People will have less time next year, that is for sure. And the time they have at their disposal – in cars, on planes, trains, and in the toilet – will be more valuable than ever. So make sure you´re front-of-mind as often as possible by expanding your communicatons strategy to include podcasts, business blogging and social media.

Two of the emerging technologies in effective communications, straddling both social media and an intention to usurp eMail, have paradoxically also been among the most difficult concepts to grasp:

• Twitter, while having obvious advantages to many, is still seen as a massive waste of time by others.
• And the latest darling to tech enthusiasts, Google Wave, also left me perplexed when it was unveiled a few weeks ago.

I´ll tell you this: Google Wave had me flummoxed. Totally. I checked out loads of different sites talking about mashups (combining multiple technologies like maps and rich video into one window or application, in the same way smartphones bring chat and cameras and email together on a single device) and I still couldn´t see the point.

I do now. As in, within the past hour, I get it!

And there´s one thing responsible for switching the light on for me. It´s called Gina Trapani´s brain.

Gina just published The Complete Guide to Google Wave. Don´t be afraid, click the link - this is a COMPLETELY FREE guide!

Now I understand that Google Wave is basically a collaborative, live email environment. Gina argues email has been around for decades. It´s ancient, and causes more distractions than benefits. It´s a business hindrance for the 21st century.

Ergo, Google Waves. I think this might start being a real big thing for us small businesses, so grasp it now and get ahead of the curve.

TWITTER, next. That old chestnut. The blue bird with a big question mark for wings.

I just befriended some Japanese girl. Yoko. She´s very nice, a marine biologist. She wants to me a freelancer, like me. A writer if she can.

But what separates her from me (apart from the fact she´s vastly more intelligent and can speak Japanese) is she has made absolutely no headway whatsoever in promoting herself and her talents.

No Facebook; no Linkedin; no Twitter; no Tumblr; no Friendfeed; no Ning. And very little confidence to build her personal brand and reputation.

Yoko tells me in Japan you don´t generally shout about your skillset. I find this tragic and desperately bad for the future.

But after a short coaching course she´s begun to appreciate what these networking tools can do. Starting with Twitter.

I explained how, using twitter, you can

• create a searchable bio
• announce findings and news
• follow people in your sphere of influence
• group and, lately List, people depending on what they mean to you so you can catch up quickly with developments that matter
• promote yourself – freely and effectively

That´s only a brief introduction to what Twitter can provide.

For the real lowdown on Twitter, head straight for the Mashable eBook. This ingenius guide covers the basics, moves on to building your community, and then looks at ways famous businesses have used the application to get connected to their customers.

Twitter is at the heart of the Word And Mouth philosophy. To engage with your customers. To build relationships. To keep them happy. To listen, respond and react.

If you read absolutely none of this post, here´s a recap (but not to you!) of those two quick reads:

• The Complete Guide to Google Wave
• The Twitter guide book by Mashable