Adapt to your Audience and Compose your Presentation

ADAPTING TO YOUR AUDIENCE

You need to always adapt to your audience, everything used in your presentation will be essential to attract their attention. In order to achieve your purpose, you must satisfy the audience with something in which they are interested.
Before you speak, you should learn as much about them and their interests as possible. Knowing your audience, gives you more confidence about what to say or what to use. For instance, they will become more interested in what you have to say, because you would be able to use real life examples related to your topic. The following questions would help you to learn more about your audience:

• How big will the audience be?


• Are there cultural or language differences?


• How familiar are they with your topic? Is the meeting formal or informal?


• What are your objectives for the meeting; what do you want the audience to do as a result of your speaking?
  

“A well prepared speech given to the wrong audience can have the same effect as a poorly prepared speech given to the correct audience.” (Lenny Laskowsky)

COMPOSING YOUR PRESENTATION

A successful presentation consists of three parts: introduction, body and conclusion.

The introduction focuses the audience’s attention on you, states what your presentation is going to be, outlining the purpose and goals of what you want to achieve by the presentation.

The body is the whole content of your presentation. It presents your evidence to support your thesis as well as your credibility. In other words is what you have told them in the introduction but the longer version.
Avoid overloading them with information. Remember to use KISS principle (Keep It Simple and Sweet). The simpler your presentation, the better it is for your audience to capture your message.

The conclusion is the final part of your presentation. It ties all your arguments and allows the audience to pick up anything they might have missed. In summary is what you have just told to your audience so they would remember everything.

• Remind your audience of your main points.
• Restate your thesis.

Tip:
Rehearse what you're going to say during your presentation, so you can avoid long pauses, looking often at your notes, and composing your thoughts. You don’t want your audience to say that you are not prepared to give your presentation.

Rehearsing your presentation would give you confidence to state your thesis and credibility. It would also help you memorize the sequence of your presentation even if unforeseen problems arise.

Photo Credit:
Corporate Audio Visual Services
corporateav.co.nz/Successful-seminars.html
Innovative writing assistance agency
www.bookwormlab.com/blog/how-to-avoid-plagiarism/

Resources:
Audience Analysis is your key to success (Lenny Laskowsky)
http://www.ljlseminars.com/audience.htm
What Is the Purpose of an Oral Presentation? (Ginny Putscher)
http://www.ehow.com/about_6314059_purpose-oral-presentation_.html

FINAL TOUCHES … COMPLETING YOUR
SUCCESFUL PROPOSAL

According to Hacker, the writer of “A Writer’s Reference”, before distribute your proposal you may consider some final editions.

* Revise
In this part make sure that you have said what you wanted to say with a clear organization and correct style. Verify that you are using the correct style for your audience. For example, on your business proposal, you may want to write it in a formal style and impersonal high style.Check if your purpose is clearly explained, for that you should answer:

Make sure that your ideas are linking clearly. Readers expect to learn a paragraph’s main point in a topic sentence early in the paragraph. Then as they move into the paragraph they expect to encounter specific facts, details or examples that support the topic sentence. Also, adjust paragraphs length; most readers feel comfortable reading paragraphs that range between one hundred and two hundred words. Shorter paragraphs force too much starting and stooping, and longer ones stain the reader’s attention span.

* Produce
Writers often incorporate visual element to their proposals, such as charts, tables, graphs, and flowcharts to illustrate what is at stake in a proposal. Images also can help readers visualize solutions or proposals and make those ideas attractive.
Figure out what has to happen to meet your goal: where new resources will come from, how personnel can be recruited and hired, where manuals will be printed, and so on. Also you may want to provide a time table, so your audience will be able to see that you have perfect establish your goals and how long would them take.

Oshima and Houge, authors of “Writing Academic English”, say that these questions may help you to know if you are in the right way writing your proposal.

Be certain you treat your subject intelligently and thoroughly and have included all the parts required (these requirements obviously vary from proposal to proposal)

* Proofread
Errors might don’t bother you, but do not assume that other readers are just as easygoing.
Oshima and Houge (2006) explained that how you revise your work is a different matter. Some people edit line by line, perfecting every sentence before moving to the next. Others write whole drafts quickly and then revise, and others combine these methods. Do not forget to check your spelling, and punctuation it might be an important point to take seriously your proposal.
With major problems, as a proposal is, consider revising and editing sequentially, starting with the big issues like content and organization. Think of revising as making sweeping changes, and editing as finessing the details. Here are some tips to proofread your proposal:

After complete this revision, you are ready to distribute your proposal.

References:
Hacker (2009), A Writer’s Reference (with writing about Literature), New York
Oshima & Hogue, 2006, Writing Academic English, Fourth Edition, White Plains, NY
Photo Credit:
http://cs.byu.edu/image/302-success_clipart
http://www.salesforce.com/platform/process/
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Understanding your audience

when writing a proposal

One purpose of any proposal is to convince your readers of the existence of a problem and the need for a solution(s). Emphasize that your suggestion is (are) the best one(s) possible. To convince your audience to accept your solution, pay careful attention to your reader´s view and attitudes toward the problem.
Hacker, the writer of “A Writer’s Reference”, explained that while preparing a proposal, keep two audiences in mind. The first group includes people who could possibly do something about the problem; the second are general readers who could influence those in the first group by bringing the weight of the public opinion down on them, it might make the difference. You have to reach people with the power to change the situation. Therefore, first identify such individuals or groups, and then tailoring your proposal to your audience´s expectations. Make reasonable options, your proposal will not be taken seriously unless you have weighed all the workable possibilities.
When you are writing a proposal you may want to ask yourself, how could I adapt to my audience? The answer is, build a strong relationship between you and your audience. To achieve that relationship you have to be sensitive to your audience´s necessities and feelings. The readers should be interested in the solution that you are writing about. Always think about you audience’s needs, values, resources, and in the arguments that are most likely to convince them. When you write to solve problems, you will need to be persuasive. Then, make sure your tone engages your readers and does not in any way offend or threaten them.

Ruszkiewicz and Dolmage (2007), the authors of “How to write anything”, say that you need to keep in mind four aspects of audience sensitivity, which are:

Also, they point out that when writing a proposal you should focus on:
· What will your audience know about the problem?
· Why should they concern about it?
· How can you make your solutions seem reasonable to them?
· What kinds of responses would you expect them to have to your proposal?
· How will you convince your audience the problem needs attention?

Furthermore, decide on the most effective media and genre to use to present your proposal to the audience you want to reach. Visuals such as charts, graphs, and photographs may help you make your case.

Effective visual media

When writing an informal proposal you can use first person by referring to them as you, and refer to yourself as I. Yet, in a formal proposal you have to avoid those references. Therefore, be careful to avoid jocks, smiles, and metaphors.
If you are writing in representation of your company or organization, you might want to evaluate and plan how you will represent your organization properly. The language and style used on your message will help you to reach a strong reflection of the image of your organization. In the business world you may have to communicate with different cultures. Since the business environment in other counties tends to be more formal, communication between different cultures calls for more formality. An informal document tends to translate poorly or not at all from one culture to another.
You can certain study models of successful proposals, noting how the writers raise an issue with readers, provide them with information and options, and then argue with a particular solution. Writers adjust for audience all the time in offering proposals.

References:
Ruszkiewicz and Dolmage (2007), How to write anything, New York
Hacker (2009), A Writer’s Reference (with writing about Literature), New York
Photo credit:
http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~zhang/SHJU-photos.html
http://www.illustrationsof.com/16345-royalty-free-graphs-clipart
http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/identifying-your-websites-target-audience/
http://www.tploy.com/data2/Sync/200708/10/fynnypics/ShowYourFeelings.jpg

Three Step Process For Successful Blogging

THREE-STEP PROCESS TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS BLOG

In a short time Blogs have become a boom in the business world allowing interaction with worldwide audience. It has turned out to be one of the most effective marketing tools for generating sales leads. Like any other marketing tool, blogs are mainly successful when they are used properly.

To create a good business blog you should consider the following elements:

• Transmitting a personal style and authentic voice to the audience will build closer emotional bonds with the blogger organization.

• Continue delivering latest information to keep interests in the audience, blogs that are not continuous updating information is just ignored in a short time.

• Select topics of importance to the audience. Caring about the topics people want to read will create successful blogs.

• Invite audience to participate in conversations by leaving comments on your blog. Audience opinions could be very helpful with a valuable source of news and information.

Three step process for successful Blogging

1. define your target audience, make sure it is large enough and narrow enough that you can be able to provide a clear focus information to the blog.

2. The next step is to identify the purpose of the blog. Obviously it should be business related and the content must be relevant with important information to the reader, as a result it will create lengthy existence to the blog. Every blog post should be focus in a specific topic and sometimes may be addressed to more than one.

3. The last step is to identify the scope of your blog. Make sure to cover subjects that are between broad and narrow enough to provide discussions long as much as necessary covering the subject for months or years but without loosing the main focal point of the subject.

Do not forget to revise the content and readability of your blog post to provide high-quality writing. As well writing in comfortable personal style allows you to gain confidence with audience because you are communicating in a more personal knowledge and opinion than as a company.

An effective business blog can benefits the company giving a personal voice to communicate with customers to know what are their needs and interests to develop new products or services or to improve existing ones and encouraging them to be loyal.

REFERENCES:

Thill, J, & Curtland, B. (2011). Excellence in business communication. New Yersey: Prentice hall

http://www.entrepreneur.com/technology/techtrendscolumnistpeteralexander/article175236.htm

PHOTO CREDIT:

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Recognizing Effective Communication

Five characteristics of effective business communication:

In order to capitalize on any comment, problem, or setback, it is essential to express and or demand what is necessary in a handy manner. Getting your message through consist for it to be 1.practical, 2.factual, 3.concise, 4.clear, and 5.persuasive. These five characters should be considered when formatting any message and revising at the end to check that each one is in effect. Failure to communicate coherently leaves people unsure of what is expected of them.

Audacity, going with ones gut, is one of the most common factors in business writing because it intrigues misunderstandings; mistakes that could easily be obliterated by following these five easy characters in the process of structuring a message. 

Practicality essentially relates to your audiences needs and rights. It gives recipients useful information to understand or undergo any situation involving your policy. Factuality leaves out any type of euphemism using the appropriate language, according to your audience, with specific detail and information that is clear, convincing, accurate, and ethical in regards to the matter in discussion. If an opinion is required, you should support it with evidence and let the audience know you are expressing an opinion. A concise and clear message makes easy to understand the purpose of the message in an undemanding and convenient way for our audience. In today’s business communication, many people attempt to impress their readers with unnecessary add-ons or phrases that most of the times it actually makes the message less effective or ineffective at all. Persuasion involves the quality and effort given to the previous characters in order to captivate and motivate your audience into taking further action with your advocacy. JD Schramm, Director of the Mastery in Communication Initiative at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, conceives the following theory, “Consider who are you writing to and how you can make a first impression that gets out of your world and into his or hers.” The first four characters that structure an Effective Business Communication make possible for one to center and bond the situation to the intended audience in order to achieve full comprehension and persuasion. 

references:

"

Effective Communication Begins with a First Impression" ( JD Schramm blog)

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/effective_communciation_begins.html

Excellence in Business communication 9th edition, chapter 1 - (John Thill and Courtland Bovee) 

Photo credit:

"Google search engine"

http://kenreatraining.com/effective_writing_for_business.html

The AIDA Model and Persuasive Messages

Persuasive messages have a tendency to utilize the indirect approach. This is because you usually have to lead your reader into your proposition, and hopefully along the way get them to see things your way. As a result, various indirect models have been created to write persuasive messages. One of which is the AIDA Model. This model organizes messages into four stages:


First, you must catch the reader’s attention and get them to engage so they want to hear about your main idea. These first few seconds are when they will listen the most and decide if to continue to dedicate their attention to you. (ChangingMinds.org Article) Use a strong sentence that not only establishes common ground between you and the reader so you can build a case but also is compelling enough to reel them in. Images are also very effective in grabbing attention. (AIDA Article) In this portion is where you want to avoid a hard sell, this may make your audience think you are pushy and aggressive. Overall, it is best to open with something that will pull them rather than scares them. This will push them away. (ChangingMinds.org Article)




Continuing with the start from attention getting, explain in detail what problem your solution wants to solve. The problem you talk about serves to show why your proposition is needed. Be sure to clarify the relevance of your message to the reader; highlight practical benefits. (AIDA Article) Be wary of boring your audience, it is best to leave them wanting more; either of your company or information. (ChangingMinds.org Article)


Here is where the “you-attitude” comes out the most. In this stage is where you tell the reader how your idea benefits them through the changes. Organize the content of your message to make it easy on the reader. (AIDA Article) Foresee questions the reader may have and answer them appropriately this removes a level of uncertainty. Take the time to explain complex ideas step by step this may help your idea be received more fondly. Support your claims with evidence that can be verified, this will increase the audience’s willingness to take action. Additionally, you can create desire by showing how the solution or proposition will not be available for long, showing how other people enjoy it and have put it into operation, and again that your proposition with solve some of their problems. (ChangingMinds.org Article)





Without leaving the “you attitude” behind, lay out the action you want taken in terms that benefit the reader. Provide the audience with all that they will need to take action easily. For instance, include deadlines, contact information, and even provide assistance if applicable.




When an indirect message utilizing the AIDA approach is delivered through e-mail or memo, the subject line should be enticing and pertinent to catch their attention. But, do not reveal the main proposition.

The AIDA Model and the Direct Approach

The AIDA Model’s function is particularly for the indirect approach which helps you save your proposition or main idea for the very end. Yet, the direct approach can benefit from this model as well. For the direct approach:

A-Attention
The main idea serves as the attention grabber.
I-Interest
The writer could build interest with the reasoning and explanation. Showing the problem and revealing the solution.
D- Desire
The desire would be created through evidence. Back up your claims, and give examples of how the audience would benefit.
A-Action
Again restate the main idea, and detail the exact action you would like your reader to take.


Limitations of the AIDA Model

Regardless if used with the indirect or direct approach, the AIDA model has its limitations. The AIDA model does not create a conversational atmosphere, so it tends to talk at readers instead of with them. Also, the model focuses on a single event, such as a question, decision, and etc. As a result, this does not encourage long-term working relationships. The AIDA model is still a good tool to use, yet, as always it is up to the writer to assess the situation and evaluate the right approach to the particular scenario.


References:
Excellence in Business Communication - Thill and Bovee, 9th edition
Chapter 10, Strategies for Persuasive Business Messages p. 283-284

AIDA – ChangingMinds.org Article
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/sales/methods/aida.htm

Incorporating AIDA Model Marketing Stages In Effective Marketing Web Page Design – AIDA Article
http://aidamodel.org/


Photo Credits:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Attention_Sign.svgb
http://opentech.wikispaces.com/Games4Girls
Microsoft Office Clip Art

Three Simple Techniques For a Better Business Memorandum

S

Being sensitive to Your Audience’s Needs

Effective writing is the key for any asking, thanking, or suggesting need possible, either by paper and pencil or an electronic letter. It is very appealing to our thoughts and convenience to write a letter in our liking and not the audiences’. Those old habits definitely won’t take us far. The term BEING SENSATIVE TO YOUR AUDIENCE’S NEEDS focuses primarily in the importance of adapting to ones audience, and lists three techniques to do so, which are:

• Using the “YOU” attitude
• Maintain Standards of Etiquette
• Using Bias-Free Language

Professor Art Markman, a lecturer of psychology and marketing at the University of Texas at Austin, came up with what is called the role of 3. This principle reflects the fact that people remember roughly three distinct things from any event whether it is a presentation, book, or an article. Thus, the lists of three techniques that the term “BEING SENSATIVE TO YOUR AUSIENCE’S NEEDS” conceives are apt to this theory in such form that it facilitates writing for a successful and clear message.

Using the “YOU” attitude

Egocentricity is very common in business writing. Even though one might not detect it at first glance, it is such a norm in society to just write an appealing looking paper that the majority of business memorandums are affected by such form. On the simplest level, you can adopt the “YOU” attitude by replacing terms such as I, me, we, us, and ours with you and yours. 

Other ways to improve your writing and the “YOU” attitude would be by:

• Putting yourself at the other end of the transaction

If you are talking to a retailer, try to think like a retailer. If you are dealing with a manager, put yourself in that position.

• Speaking and writing in terms of your audiences wishes, interests, hopes, and preferences

If the letter is not captivating in the first two sentences to the reader, the majority of people tend to stop reading and discard the message. You should always get to the point immediately without sounding dictatorial or make the audience feel unnecessarily guilty.

Maintain Standards of Etiquette

To foster a more successful environment of communication it is vital, under whichever circumstance, to keep the calm and think twice before talking. Emphasizing the positive in any situation between customers, especially when there is bad news to entail, is as important as the first piece of advice to keep your audience’s goodwill.

Excellence in Business Communication contributes to this theory by introducing an example of a   conversation between an online customer service agent and an unsatisfied customer. When the agent is rude and immediately assumes that the customer is at fault, the conversation degenerates into an argument. On the other hand, when the agent acts courteous and expresses sympathy, the conversation keeps a positive mood, focusing on solving the customer’s problem.  It’s all about the attitude you feed into the situation… 

An excellent service is an experience that customers remember. You could have a customer for life just by maintaining standards of etiquette and showing your interest in their problem with your product or service. 

• make the facts more acceptable by rephrasing unpleasant associations 
• take charge in the situation to provide a solution 
• substitute euphemism which are unpleasant and offensive many of the time

Using Bias-Free Language

Occupational titles, age, and gender can become common mistakes in today’s business memorandums. It is essential to keep in mind our audience at all times and be conscious that a pronoun could provoke the loss of interest in your paper. Malinda McCain, editor and business communicator, gives a little insight in what bias free language is about, "Bias-free language means using terms that treat people with respect. Sometimes it means leaving out certain kinds of words altogether, such as not describing someone's physical characteristics when doing so serves no purpose" (Malinda McCain). 

References,

“How to welcome everyone to your web site through your language” (Melinda McCain) http://www.sharewords.com/biasfree.html

Excellence in Business Communication - Thill and Bovee, 9th edition

Chapter 5

“To run a good meeting respect your 3s” (Art Markman)

http://smartblogs.com/workforce/2010/10/21/to-run-a-good-meeting-you-have-to-respect-your-3s/

Photo credit,

Google search engine,

http://karawheeler.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/pen-and-paper.jpg