Book Says Know Yourself And When To Shut Up
by Jim Pawlak,
HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL
“Shut Up and Say Something — Business Communications Strategies … ” by Karen Friedman
Whether your audience consists of rocket scientists or just plain folks, they are inquisitive people. They want to know what your message is, why they should listen to it and what they should do with it. Ignoring it is an option that’s often exercised when you make the presentation about you, not them.
“Just because you know the people you are speaking to, doesn’t mean that you know what they’re thinking.” Before crafting your presentation, you need to do some homework. Talk to some of the people; ask questions about their perspectives (e.g. expected takeaways, their challenges and frustrations, doing things differently, etc.) on the message. In addition to providing clues on how to present the message, you’ll be able to identify potential obstacles.
Now it’s time to develop your presentation. Watch your language. Avoid business speak (e.g. scalable, transparency, drill down, deep dive, transitional, logistical, etc.), jargon and acronyms. Take some advice from Shakespeare: “Speak comfortable words.” Keep it simple, not dumb.
“Your job is to help people make sense of the information.” Show, not tell. By showing why they need the information, opens their thinking to how they can use the information. As you look at your key points, think “So What?” If the audience can ask that question, you haven’t made your “why” clear.
Friedman’s best advice: Less is more.
