Communicating Concisely, Creatively and Clearly

I woke up this morning, my computer was dead, The dog pee'd on the carpet, I got a cold in my head.

By Steve Rennick

No, thats not blues legend Muddy Waters. Its Glenn Morgan, former creative director at MGM Communications. Now his own boss, Morgan put his 18 years of experience at the disposal of IABC members and guests who attended the second Creativity in Business luncheon, November 21st at TCU Place. With people exposed to, on average, 26-hundred messages a day, you have to create the reason to read it, Morgan told the packed room. Studies have also been done that show the number of words one can effectively use in, for example, outdoor advertising is seven - seven words, so theres no room for detailed explanations That is where Morgans Five Steps to Making Sure You Are Writing Easily Accessible Communications come into play. 1. Walk Away From It For A While We all know when were too close to things we dont see them clearly. You know what you mean to write, but your eyes just fill in the blanks. You overlook typos; thats why you need to get a little distance. So after you write a first draft, go get a cup of coffee or take a walk. Clear your head. 2. Imagine Youre Not You Instead, imagine youre the intended audience. Imagine youre reading your document for the first time. Its one of the most important parts of the communications process, and overlooking it is unforgivable. The big questions you want to answer here are: does it make sense? Would the reader understand what youre trying to say? Does it hold your interest from start to finish? Does it include all the information you need? Does it include too much information? 3. Trim The Fat If its not lean and mean, youve got some work to do. Here are three ways to lose the fat: trim the long sentences. If theyre longer than 25 words or so, consider turning them into two sentences. Remove any unnecessary words. Replace long words and phrases with short ones. Why say ascertain the location of when you can simply say find? Nothing is more daunting to a reader than a dense block of text. Add some breathing room with white space between paragraphs, bold sub-heads, bullet points that sort of thing. 4. Clean Up Check the grammar and correct it. Or dont. But if you dont, dont with purpose. For example, you can start a sentence with and or but, but only if it adds clarity or impact. Good writing, even if its taking liberties with grammar, is always error-free in terms of spelling and typos. Check, for instance, where you may have used the passive voice as well. The passive voice is energy-draining. Write Bob threw the ball, not the ball was thrown by Bob. Check your margins, your use of spacing, consistency and style of headings, fonts, bold or not bold, capitalization, all of those kinds of things, as part of cleaning up your work. 5. Read It Again But read it aloud. After youve made your revisions, find a quiet spot, and read it aloud. If youre in a crowded office, just whisper it. But dont skip this step. Its amazing how much you catch when you actually read through something. After the formal part of his presentation, Morgan took some questions from the floor. The first one was about overcoming writers block. His answer was refreshingly blunt. Keep writing, just keep going. Before I got into the business and I had aspirations to write poetry or short stories, I would get writers block, and I would wander around for weeks saying I cant do this. But then when I started writing business communications and they wouldnt let me go home for a week, I found out that you can work through it. So just keep typing.

One of the more difficult things to write is a speech for someone else. Morgan has done his fair share, and had some tips on how to make them less generic-sounding. Two ways I got around that: I told them to go write their own damn speaking notes and then I had them come and present to me and then I helped them improve on those. The second way is to provide them with speaking notes in point form. That actually works quite well because if they dont want to sound like perfect fools, theyve got to add some more words. After answering a few more questions, Morgan concluded with: Be relevant to your audience: know them, be them, talk to them, talk with them. Be true to your medium: know its limitations and work within those. Always be brief, even if your medium has no limitations. Be kind to your audience. Just tell them what they need to know, and dont overwhelm them with information. Be error-free or take intentional liberties, but dont let things slip through. Be creative. If your target only looks at one message today, let it be yours.

IABC International News

Be Heard

Membership is at an all-time high! Membership has grown by more than 170 members in the last month, ending the month of October at 15,150the highest in the associations recorded history. IABC Success Stories How has IABC improved your career? Your life? Has an IABC benefit brought valuable information, resources or contacts to you? What do you find meaningful about your IABC membership? We're looking for essays (200-500 words) for possible publication in Communication World magazine that highlight how IABC has helped our members. E-mail your story to service_centre@iabc.com with subject line "IABC Success Story". Home Page Makeover Work is currently underway to develop a new look for the IABC home page. The goal is to more effectively showcase the IABC brand, highlight the value proposition and engage visitors. Because the home page needs to be consistent with the rest of the web site, the redesigned home page will be an upgrade, but not a total overhaul. The redesign is on schedule to launch in January. Fee Increase The IABC Executive Board, as required by a motion passed in June 2003, has reviewed cost-of-living statistics and implemented a small dues increase effective 1 January 2008. The US to Canadian exchange rate has also been revised to US$1 = CAD$1.10. Renewing Member: US$227.91 or CAD$250.70 New Member: US$267.91 (includes US$40 application fee) or CAD$294.70 (includes CAD$44 application fee) Re-joining Lapsed Member: US$267.91 (includes $40 application fee) or CAD$294.70 (includes CAD$44 application fee) These amounts include international, regional, and chapter dues. Canadian members are free to pay in either currency.

Communicating with Employees - CW Bulletin

Did you see this months edition of CW Bulletin, the online supplement to Communication World? It tackles a challenging question many communicators face - how best to teach front-line managers to communicate with employees. Articles in this months edition include: The challenge of line manager communication Teaching line managers to be good communicators during times of change Frontline managers and HR: Partnering for effective communication Each CW Bulletin also links to regular monthly columns, relevant Gold Quill case studies, recent news articles about communication around the world, and other helpful resources. Make sure youre taking advantage of all your IABC membership has to offer. Watch your email for CW Bulletin every month.