When we were talking about writing, we discussed the permanence of the written word and the particular challenges that durability can pose.
If it’s written (and don’t forget to count email as a “written document”) then it can be archived and referred to later. This raises the bar on being correct.
But spoken communication is different
Spoken communication, […]

All this adapting may have you running short, or long. Running short is usually not a problem provided you cover all your material: it doesn’t impinge on your audience’s schedule of activities following your talk, and it gives you more time for interactions during and after the talk.
But never…
Never run long, and never start late. […]

If you’re going to be a successful public speaker the first thing you need to accomplish is to have your audience pay attention and remember what you say during your talk, speed, presentation, or seminar. To do this you’re going to have to be quick on your toes, and adapt. Here are a couple of […]

For most of us, learning to communicate effectively with the spoken word is a much longer process than learning to write effectively.
Part of the reason for this is that the most effective communicators learn to adapt to, and finally resonate with, the particular audience they are speaking to at the particular time they are […]

When planning any oral interaction—private or public—you must keep in mind that your goal is to communicate with your audience. We talked about this with writing, and the same thing applies to spoken communications.
Say it clearly the first time
In fact, the focus on audiences’ understanding is even more critical with the spoken word than […]

We have stressed the importance to a technology career—a career on a technical or management track—of being able to communicate effectively in writing.
In fact I said, “If you can’t write well, you might as well stay home.”
Oral communication, which has public and one-on-one speaking components, is a little different. Let’s focus on public speaking in […]

How do you know whether you are writing well? There’s only one test that really matters: when your audience understands your information and is moved to act in accordance with your goals.
But how will you know when this happens? The odds are pretty good that, early in your career anyway, you won’t have any […]

Short post, important message: be clear.
We’ve talked about this idea already, but it needs stressed because it is so often completely ignored. People will say “oh, of course I should write clearly,” but then when it gets down to a choice between “transmit” and “send”, they’ll pick “transmit” because it makes them sound smarter.
You probably […]

So much of your success as a technical writer hinges on understanding your audience. If you understand their needs and goals you can make sure that your document provides them the information they need, in a form that they can absorb.
A big part of understanding your audience is knowing what they expect from your document, […]

You know what you’re going to write about and you know what you’d like to accomplish. You are all set to disseminate, persuade, or inform with your writing.
Before you start, remember that you are writing to communicate with your readers.
First things first
In order to communicate effectively, you need to understand to whom you are talking, […]