Effective Communication — Uttering words that make sense

Were you ever asked to speak about something out of the blue? (Say on “How to be a good communicator?”) Must be intimidating if you are not an impromptu speaker. It would be even more intimidating if you have to speak to an unknown audience.

When asked to say something spontaneously, a lot of time people speak things which don’t make sense due to one of the following 3 reasons:
1. They don’t have “good” ideas to speak about
2. They have ideas but they can’t justify they are “good”
3. They have “good” ideas, but when they speak it doesn’t sound so promising

So what can be done about it?

Start with taking a pause to lay down whatever ideas came to your mind. If you have to speak in a few moments, you will typically start to think about 2–3 abstract ideas & some random details to justify your ideas.
(Example: An Abstract point would be: “Good communication is all about presenting a ‘few’ good ideas.” A specific detail would be: “Present fewer ideas as people can’t follow your ideas if you say too many of them.”)

It might happen that once you start speaking, the ‘details’ tends to overpower the core idea you wanted to deliver. Note, you want the listener to remember your idea (and not the details). Too many details will clutter your core idea. Hence, once you have thought about 2-3 abstract ideas, try to map just one specific detail which is most important to justify the idea.

Actual speech is the easy part. The objective of speaking is to land your idea, not to speak for the sake of speaking. Hence, speak as if you are teaching basic English to a first-grade student (i.e. speak very slowly & in short sentences).

Now, say you are actually asked the original question, “How to be an effective communicator?” You can say the following with ease -

For effective communication, just follow three steps:
1. Identify not more than 2–3 ideas. People typically can’t follow >4 ideas.
2. Speak in short sentences. It is easier to digest a small sentence.
3. Speak slowly. Short sentences + slow delivery = clarity to the listener.

Pro-Tip: End your speech before people anticipate you to end it. Ending quickly has an intoxicating effect on the audience!