"According to some opinions, humanity's greatest fear is public speaking. The next greatest is dying. Does that sound accurate? That means to the normal everyday person, if you show up at a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy." John Steinbeck, Novelist
When you are writing or speaking in public, effective communication starts and ends with the what -- the content. The how will come much easier. Once writing training and presentation skills training help you in gaining power (and you will have confidence because you'll be a trained pro) you'll have no worries writing or speaking in public.
To get there, aided by writing skills training, remember the three pillars of effective business communication, whether written or spoken:
Writing is thinking. Compared to an unplanned conversation, writing -- whether a presentation to a group or a report for the shareholders or a sales proposal -- gives you the time to show how smart you are.
Know your audience and your readers. Are they advanced or beginners? Are they experts? Do they want to be amused or informed or persuaded? What do you want them to take away from your report?
Edit and rewrite and, when public speaking, practice. If you do not check your work with care before hitting the "send" button, or rehearse the style and delivery of your presentation, you risk looking unprepared and unprofessional. It's called quality control, and without it excellent communication is nearly impossible.
Dave G., Presentation Skills Trainer
People still don't get it, do they? The media are the people and, guess what? The media, just like normal people, like it that if organisations get it wrong they admit that, apologise, set out what they are doing to make sure such a mistake doesn't happen again, and get on with life. Do you see many organisations working that way? Nope, I certainly don't yet, if adopted, this technique works extremely well.
In my country, Australia, we had a gigantic example of this in February 2008 when then new Rudd government formally apologised to our aborigines for the way whites had treated them in the past. The words were simple, yet powerful - "For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people, we say sorry."
While words alone will not be enough to fix the ongoing plight of our aborigines, this gesture had an enormously positive impact on the Australian psyche, both white and black while at the same time highlighting the meanness of the previous administration in not offering that apology. Why didn't they? For the same reason that most organisations still refuse to apologise when they get things wrong - the lawyers have moved in and convinced them that they'll suffer financial consequences if they say 'sorry'. What a load of piffle that often is. Even our John Howard government had received expert advice that apologising to our aborigines would not mean admitting financial liability for the current generation of whites - yet he still choose to refuse them that solace. Is it any wonder that he not only lost government but his seat in Parliament as well.
Another example came out of America in late 2007 when Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook, apologised for breaching the privacy of his users to chase profits. Basically, his Beacon system alerted users' friends to what they were buying on other sites like eBay. Following a heap of bad press, his initial silence on the topic and, not to forget Coca Cola cancelling its ads, Zuckerberg said: "We simply did a bad job with this release and I apologise for it."
Earlier that year Ribena had to apologise to Australian and New Zealand customers for selling childrens' drinks with less than the advertised level of Vitamin C. The Australian Managing Director John Sayers said: "We have to say sorry. We've messed up. We made mistakes." The company launched a special TV campaign in both countries and, again, said sorry for what had happened. Since then, I've seen no negative publicity about this incident or indeed about Ribena or parent company GlaxoSmithKline.
So, saying 'sorry' can indeed help in a media encounter.
Both Dave Griffiths & Graham Kelly are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Dave Griffiths has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing and Communications, Marketing and Communications and self improvement and motivation. To see more about my background and how I can help you achieve your goals for more effective business communication -- including writing skills training, writing seminars, business communication skills, and presentation skills training -- please visit my. Dave Griffiths's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.
Graham Kelly has sinced written about articles on various topics from self improvement and motivation, Interview Questions and Interview Questions. Graham Kelly media trains for a living and has done for 21 years. Details of his new ebook, Managing the Media (3rd Edition) are available .. Graham Kelly's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.