How to Be an Expert Communicator

Be Be Be Be Be ethical brief punctuation-al typographical articulate engaging smooth positive respectful presentable Use wording and phrasing that encourages and inspires. Negativity kills productivity and damages relationships. Be optimistic and open-minded when challenges arise. Dress with care in all situations. It's always better to be overdressed than underdressed. You will be judged by your appearance, so do your best to be judged how you'd like. Tell the truth and state the facts as you best understand them. Do your research, cite your sources, and give credit where credit is due. Remove excessive language and cut words when possible. Remember: in an information-saturat- ed society, shorter is almost always better. Learn the fifteen punctuation marks an all their rules. Punctuation gives rhythm and clarity, precursors to engaging and useful writing Use typefaces with care, for within every font lives a personality. Avoid overused and cliché Be loud, speak clear, and don't rush. There's no betterway to lose a crowd than by mumbling or talking too quite. Speak to people as if in a conversation. Make eye contact, change yourvocal intonations, smile, and show enthusiasm. Know your topic and practice sharing it. Don't stutter or stammer, stop or retract. Move from idea to idea with smoothness and grace. Consider the needs and concerns of those around you. Respect opinions, even if differing. Take time to respond. fonts. HOW TO Be Be Be appropriate simple organized technological transitional polite empathetic proximal Be Be systematic about your approach. Build on ideas, transition between topics, and guide your reader. Sustain thoughts to the end. Remember: all good writing has a beginning, middle, and an end. Learn the technologies that enhance communication. Knowledge of desktopP publishing, graphic design, and photo-editing tools are indispensable in today's media-rich society. Guide your listeners through every point. Give road-maps and signposts through transitions and key phrases. Know where you're at and let your audience know where you are at. Give space when needed and proximity when appropriate. Don't enter someone's bubble unin- vited. Recognize social cues and realize that other cultures have different personal space boundaries. Be considerate of how others feel. Never re- Know who's around you and know what offends them. Avoid language, gestures, and mannerisms in places where others will find them offensive or obnoxious. Don't over-complicate ideas. For most intents and purposes, remove complexity, fancy phras- ing technical jargon, and gobbledygook. Be courteous and collegial and engage with others' ideas. Avoid the dog-eat-dog mentality and build success by working together. spond by saying, "well, at least you." Make their concerns above all others and don't share or compare your experiences to theirs. Be Be Be humanistic metaphorical colorful extemporaneous formulaic pensive gestural aware AN EXPERT COMMUNICATOR in Write with people in mind. Be conversational, show that you care, and avoid referencing people as numbers or things. The Golden Rule: write unto others what you would like to read. Learn and use the figures of speech. Develop depth and intrigue, humor and curiosity through metaphors, similes, anastrophes, synecdoches, puns, and so many more. Be natural and free yet prepared and polished. Strict memorization will make you sound like a robot. Unrehearsed free-wheeling will make you sound unprepared and scatterbrained. Fall somewhere in between. Know the conventions and follow them closely. Know what your field expects and use the appropriate methods forwriting reports, logging data, sharing ideas, and publishing information. Use hands and expressions to show energy and engagement. Know how your gestures are understood in varying cultures and situations. Understand the situation. Be conscious of the cultural climate, the history and context, and the timing of your communication. Use color but use with restraint. Color brings communication to life yet colors that clash or consume can feel overbearing Think first before you respond. Be thoughtful and considerate, especially when you are upset or annoyed. Never respond in a flurry of anger. Be patient accurate creative precise ready professional || acknowledgeable postural Use writing as a channel for expression. Evoke emotion and intrigue through creative use of language and concept. Don't get stuck to the formulas and reach outside the box. Know when to be formal and when to not. Dress Take the time to respond appropriately. Act, but don't react. Think through yourwords and have no regrets. Do due diligence. Read the facts, sort the infor- mation, collect the data. Inaccurate information is dishonest information. Pay attention to detail. Watch the lines and shapes and subtle alignments. If it's off a hair, it shouldn't be there. life Have a plan B and possibly C. Don't rely too heavily on technology and be prepared for strange glitches. They are bound to happen. to the level of your boss and ahead of your clients. Avoid excessive frivolity, and show pride in efficiency and quality. Show that you care through words and expressions. Nod and look them in the eye. Show good posture to emphasize confidence and mood. Your posture will show ifyou are relaxed, uptight, nervous, or confident. writing design speaking Be specific logical a designer consistent in motion strategic inquisitive haptical Avoid too many assumptions, but state things how you see them. When possible and appropriate, give as many details as necessary. Make reasonable arguments. Learn the logical fallacies and avoid them. Sounding intelligent is a byproduct of making logical correlations. Take the time to design. Pay attention, in all communications, to the shapes, the colors, the visual look and feel of a document. Pay atten- tion to detail, for "God is in the details" (Ludvig Mies Van der Rohe). Move back and forth and have purpose in mo- tion. Too still and too static can feel too robotic. But a caution: move too much orwith nervous bad habits, and you'll distract and annoy. Make choices with all angles covered. Be sawy and thoughtful, aware of your organization's strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Ask questions to acknowledge, to engage, and to learn. Asking good questions shows the utmost respect. Use human touch when appropriate. Shake hands and give high fives when the culture and situation ask for it. Reserve hugs for more intimate situations with people you know well. If ever in doubt, avoid too much or any touch. Make a choice and stick to it. Repeat colors and typefaces, alignments, and shapes. A consistent document is a wonderful document. work Be relationships human- conscious mechanical graphical cognizant happy Succinct open-ended attentive Simplify and make user-friendly by turning numbers and complex ideas into graphics. Most people learn and remember better through visuals, so help them out. Know what happens in the negative space. For when you design a shape, you automatically de- sign its inverse. Pay attention to how the entire visual field looks, from all angles and distances. аррearance Be inclusive and respectful. Avoid alienating or marginalizing through gendered language, stereotypes, or discriminatory slurs. Follow the conventions. Spell correctly, capitalize appropriately, italicize effectively, abbreviate cautiously, and use numbers successfully. Show your smile and laugh with the crowd. People like happy people. Be quick and clear, to the point and direct. No lengthy emails or beat-around-the-bush news. At work, people want to know the facts and tasks. When asking questions, ask them open-ended. Too many questions that have "yes" or "no" answers shows little depth and care on your part. Be alert and engaged. Looking sleepy or tired in some situations can make you appear less adept or ready and especially disinterested. Be Be Be clear grammatical photographical spatial a storyteller confident visual usable a listener emotive Make your information useful to a broad range of users. Consider the extremes and include as Compile sentences correctly. Knowyour grammatical terms and uses. Make sentence parts agree and vary sentence structure for variety. Only break the rules when doing so for rhetorical effect. Place things in relation to their relationship to something else. Spread things out that aren't related. As in life, closeness-or lack thereof- shows the strength of the relationship. Express yourself through facial expressions and physical movements. Be conscious of how your expressions will be perceived to another who may be in a different mood than you. Leave little room for misinterpretation. Cover the angles, be careful of ambiguity, and use terms your audience understands. Pictures, truly, say a thousand words. Good, relevant photographs almost always enhance Share anecdotes and stories, both the sad and the glad. Your audience will want to know how it ends, so keep them engaged around every bend. Don't show nervousness with shy characteristics. Look'em in the eye and tell them with conviction, Supplement your speech with strong and relevant visuals. Design slides with care and use pictures, handouts, charts, and so forth. many as you can. Think "useful," "accessible," "understandable," and "worthwhile." Listen closely and try to remember. Pay atten- tion to names and personal details. Don't just fake listening, Practice. communications. TheVisualCommunicationGuy.com | © 2015