The 7 Steps to Effective Communication Developed by Nathan L. Vanderford, PhD, MBA. University of Kentucky 2013

The 7 Steps to Effective Communication

Step 1: Define/Refine The Topic Resist making your topic too broad. – Focus your content on the minimum information required for your audience to understand the topic. Constantly work to refine your information down to the minimum needed. Repeat this step over and over.

Step 2: Prepare Become an “expert” in your topic area. Preparation will allow you to: – Better hone the content that you need to deliver to your audience. – Be more comfortable/relaxed during your presentation. As the “expert” in the room, you should not be intimidated by your audience.

Step 3: Develop Structure Think of your topic like it’s a story. – Good stories have a beginning (introduction), middle (primary “new” content), and end (conclusion). Good storytellers always capture the attention of their audience. – Your audience will retain more information if you convey a great, engaging story.

Step 4: Be Concise Use simple, standard language. Avoid: – Overusing topic-specific language – Jargon – Repeated content

Step 5: Use Visuals Information retention increases as much as 6-fold when visuals are combined with words. Focus your visuals on the key points related to your “take-home message.”

Step 6: Be Confident and Persuasive You must believe you are the expert and you must display such confidence. You must incorporate persuasive language to convince your audience of the importance of the topic and the take-home message. Your confidence and persuasiveness are directly proportional to the reaction of and information retained by your audience.

Step 7: End Strong You should clearly articulate the take-home message. – Do not make your audience guess as to the point of your presentation. Incorporate a strong, meaningful, and perhaps dramatic concept to illustrate the take-home message. – This will help your audience better retain the message.