Written and Verbal Communication Skills (Hints and Tips)
3 Steps For Making Writing Easier
Planning - professional writers often spend twice the amount of time planning comparted to non-professional writers. It is key - it helps the writer gather all their ideas and information and it helps stimulate creative thinking. Mind Map your ideas - allows you to put all your various associated thoughts about one subject down on one page.
The quick draft
- Do not revise as you go along
- Once you have started writing don’t stop
- If you make an error leave it
- If you can’t think of a word or phrase then leave a space for it later
Remember - nothing comes out perfectly the first time so instead of perfecting everything aim for a draft that includes everything that can then be edited.
Editing - key rules
- Are you managing your readers attention?
- Shorter sentences help you to be clear and concise and make it easier for readers to follow
- Vary the length of your paragraphs and and vary the words you start with
- Create movement by using active language
- Create more energy by finding the action
- Replacing long nouns with verbs will enliven your writing further
Learn more on our Writing Dynamics™ Course.
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The Fog Index
A good way to assess your writing is to read aloud. If it flows and has a logical structure then you are probably safe. Alternatively, you can use the Fog Index. This is often used by writers and journalists to check clarity and flow of writing.
Take a passage of 100 words and divide it by the number of sentences. This will give you and average sentence length - A. Now total the number of words that have 3 or more syllables in this passage of writing (avoiding proper names, nouns or words with prefixes or suffixes). Call this total B. Add the totals A + B and multiply by a factor of 0.4 and this will be your fog index.
The figure you have for your fog index roughly indicates the amount of years in education needed to quickly understand the passage. Today’s writiers aim for a good reading range of 7 -12. To give you a feel for the fog index of the British press The Sun work to a fog index of 5-7, yet the broad sheets aim for a fog index of about 10-12.
Learn more on our Writing Dynamics™ Course.
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NLP Tips
The following tips have been taken from a new NLP Pocket book written by Gillian Burns, one of our very experienced trainers.
- Rapport is essential for effective communication. It calls for mutual respect between people and is often achieved intuitively
- Listen carefully to what is being said and how it is said
- Consider your agenda and the other person’s
- Ascertain what is important to them before rushing in with all your questions
- Adopt positive language
If you would like to order a copy of Gillian Burn’s NLP Pocket Book please Click Here
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Learn to Think on Your Feet with these communication tips:
Making Facts and Figures Memorable
The skilled communicator knows how to present facts and figures in a dynamic and memorable way.
Tip: Link facts and figures to something familiar to your listener.
e.g Mowing your lawn burns 450 calories, about the same as playing tennis for an hour.
Tip: Helping people relate to numbers can create a dramatic effect.
e.g Four thousand North Americans suffer heart attacks each day, one every twenty seconds.
Bridging from Questions to Answers
Tip: Researchers say that when answering a question the first five seconds are the most important.
The way you start answering a question shows the following:
- You’re listening
- You want to answer
- You know what you’re talking about
- You’re sincere and honest
This is the most obvious bridging technique, and a good one if you sound sincere when you use it.
“Thanks for asking that question. I know I didn’t address it earlier, but I’d like to do so now.”
Create Headlines for Your Core Themes
A good headline greatly increases your chances of seizing and holding your listeners’ attention.
Tip: Try to compress your message into a short, arresting headline-three to seven words are best.
This headline becomes the first and last words of your explanation or answer.
- Short, punchy headlines focus your energy on a riveting central message
- A headline gives your listeners a simple, memorable idea that unifies your message
- A headline sums up your ideas for your listeners.
Learn more on our Think On Yor Feet® Course.
Tags: Effective Communication With NLP (Training), NLP tips, Think On Your Feet® (Training), Verbal Communication, Writing Dynamics™ (Training), Written Communication