7 Must-Dos for Creating Clear, Concise, Compelling Messages

Avoid blundering and blubbering by using these 7 techniques to make your message easy-to-understand and apply.

1. Consider your audience.


1. What do they think about your topic?
2. What do they expect from you?
3. What experiences have they had related to your topic?
4. What level of resistance do you anticipate?
5. How much attention are they currently paying to your topic?
2. What is your key objective?


1. Is it to inform? If so, focus on what you want them to retain. It is highly unlikely they will retain your entire presentation . . . unless the main message is clear, repeated, reinforced, supported, and summarized!
2. If you need someone to take action, identify what you want your audience to DO as a result of hearing your message. Provide an Action Plan if appropriate.
3. What primary idea are you selling?


1. What information do they need in order to meet the objective?
2. Boil down your message to its essence. Drill down to the root by asking “why” five times (as a follow-on question to the previous answer).
3. Here’s the litmus test: If they only hear and retain one idea, what should it be?
4. Create an outline that leads your audience logically from their current perspective on the topic to the desired perspective so they will do what you want them to do.
   
   1. Using your outline, write a summary sentence for each point, clearly articulating the message you will communicate. Each main point probably needs no more than 2 points of proof, examples, or additional pieces of information to explain the idea.
   2. The layout of the message should follow a logical order. For example, the actions should follow the recommendations.
   3. When making an appeal for action, be sure to (a) define the problem, (b) present the solution for the problem, and (c) sell the personal and business benefits of implementing the solution.
5. You have more information than is necessary to provide.
   
   1. Don’t give more information than the audience can absorb.
   2. If you give them all you have, they will never want to hear from you again.
   3. Leave them with the desire to seek you out.
6. Remember that you and your team are so close to the situation that you operate on some basic assumptions. Do not assume the reader / hearer knows the subject matter.
7. Any visual aids must look clean and their message must be easy to understand. If you use visuals, make sure each section flows into the next from top to bottom and from left to right.

Umberger Development Partners Inc., Copyright 2008-09.