SharePointDIY.com

Discussion Boards unite all of your SharePoint users to share information and ideas.  All of your users can start discussions or reply to current ones.
To create a discussion board go to Site Actions >> Create. Under Communications, click Discussion Board.
 
Give your Discussion Board a title, description, and choose whether you would like to display it in the Quick Launch bar.
To create a new topic, click New on the Discussion toolbar.
Give a title to your discussion thread, attach a document if you like, and type a message to get the conversation going. Click OK.

 
If you want to reply to a message, click on the message of choice.
 
Then the discussion will open.  You will be able to read what is currently in the body of the discussion and previously posted replies if there are any.  Click the reply button located in the right corner to post a reply of your own.
 
Type your reply in the body of the message and Click OK.  Now you get to play the fun part of waiting for a response or seeing if your response was even helpful.

Yes…here is another blog about creating another list.  However, it is important to realize all the options out there with lists.  Contact Lists are a great way to have a central location for contacts that everyone needs access to for day-to-day business.  The best example of this is an employee phone list.
To create a Contact List, start by going to Site Actions >> Create.
Under Communications, select Contacts.
 
Enter the name, description, and whether you would like this contact list displayed in the Quick Launch bar.  Click Create.
SharePoint will then step into the Contact list you created.
Click the new button to add a new contact.
 
Now you will see all the fields that you can add information to regarding your contacts.  Notice that Last Name is the only required field.  You can even attach files to contacts.  One function often ignored is the Notes section.  This will help you to remember things that should or should not say in front of this person.

Announcements keep everyone in your company informed regarding updated information about various topics in SharePoint.  The announcement web part is usually included in every template starting out and is one of the easiest web parts to maintain.

Once you have set up an Announcement web part of your site, you can start adding new announcements.  To add a new announcement click Add New Announcement on the bottom of the Announcement web part.
 
Now you will be able to enter in specific information.  Give your announcement a title and describe what the announcement is about in the body.  The first feature to pay attention to is that you are able to attach files to your announcements.  For example, if you created an agenda in a Word document for the meeting you could attach it to the announcement for everyone to download ahead of time.  Secondly, you can set and expiration date.  This will help you maintain that the most current announcements are visible at all times.  No one cares about an announcement for a meeting last month.
 

If you are forgetful like me, you can also choose to be alerted about Announcements as well.  To set up an alert, click on the title of the announcement you want to be alerted about.  On the next screen, click Alert Me.
 
You will then be taken to the Alert criteria screen.  For more information regarding setting up alerts, check out a previous blog I have written on the topic.
Overall, Announcements are a fast, simple method to keep your employees informed every time they log into SharePoint.