Communication Fundamentals

The Audience Memory Curve summarizes research on what your audience is most likely to remember from your message. 

What does the Audience Memory Curve imply?  First,  you should never bury important ideas in the middle of your message.  Second,  you need to keep your audience’s attention throughout by using the audience motivational appeals: 

  1. Audience Benefits – WIIFM

  2.  Credibility – Build common ground

  3.  Utilize Message Structure – Opening, Body, Ending

Third,  your opening or introduction is extremely important.  Finally,  you should state your important ideas prominently  --  either at the beginning or at the end (or both).

Source:  Munter, Mary. 2002. Guide to Managerial Communication, 6th Edition. Upper  Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall., pp. 15 -19

The most precious commodity today is time.  How does that impact communication? 

Our communication must command attention within 60 seconds (or less!) if we want our ideas to be considered.

In traditional writing courses, we are taught to write so that we build up to the conclusion.  To command attention, we need to reverse that in business.

Do you read the newspaper?  Do you read everything in the newspaper?  How often do you read entire articles?  How do you choose which parts of the newspaper or which articles to read?

Newspaper writing uses headlines and an inverted triangle approach to convey  95 per cent of the information in the first paragraph.  The challenge is to answer the five W ’s:  Who?, What?, Where?, When? Why? and How? in 30 words.

When we do this with our business communication, we honor the reader’s/listener’s time - the most precious commodity!  An audience can always ask for more information. 

Implement Fundamentals