Communication 501: Fundamentals of Business Communication
The most successful people in business can clearly and concisely share complex technical concepts with anyone. They run large firms. They are venture capitalists. they make a ton of money in investment banking and private equity. They are “thought leaders.” They have no fear of public speaking. They know how to communicate effectively and they are usually quite wealthy. You can be that person.
Here is where it all starts.
Before you can “wow” them, before you can present the fancy graphics, before you become a dazzling speaker, you must learn the fundamentals. You need effective communication skills. For those of you who are American football fans, it would be like trying to execute a complex defense before you know how to block and tackle.
In this short seminar we present a simple, robust STRUCTURE that we use all the time for our presentations, seminars and especially emails to senior leaders. For those of you who are technical people (like the staff at Communication for Geeks) and not authors, this structure provides a very robust “crutch” that will help you be clear, organized and extremely effective.
Like you we come from technical backgrounds, so we decided to use an example from our past. Throughout this seminar, we’ll use a real example of how to communicate highly technical information to non-technical people. We will show you how to “put it in terms that are important to the listener.”
Curriculum
- 8 Sections
- 17 Lessons
- 52 Weeks
- 1. Structuring Your Work- OverviewREAD THIS SECTION FIRST Effective communication requires a structure. The are many effective structures, but we like this one. This guideline will help you clarify your thoughts and clearly communicate technical information. In this overview, we will walk you through a simple, robust structure that we use for emails, reports, client meetings, presentations and even creating classwork. We will use an example from the instructor's career. In the case, we show an example of how to present technical information in terms that are important to the listener. Please download the two pdf files before watching the video. 1. Structure Template. This file shows the outline that the C4G team uses for all our courses, seminars, blogs and even many emails. Many of our students print it and keep it handy as a reference. 2. Structure Outline Example. This file is the outline for the example we use throughout this course.2
- 2. Introduction- Know Your Audience and Build Credibility2
- 3. Residual Message- What is the ONE thing you want people to remember?2
- 4. Killer Wake Up Call- A Provocative Call to Action3
- 5. Whats In It For Me- How will the listener's life be improved from your advice?2
- 6. Evidence- Present the evidence to support your Residual Message2
- 7. Wrap Up2
- Whats In It For Me - Bonus2
Do you want to build a great career? You MUST be able to communicate!
When senior executives are asked what technical people can do to advance their careers, the answer is quite consistent: Improve communication skills. Effective communication skills in the workplace are essential for every engineer, programmer, developer, statistician or biochemst, microbiologist....
I come from a technical background, and in my 15 years of management consulting, I've had the privilege of managing large groups of technically brilliant people. I've seen the career challenges you're seeing both as a young "techie," and also as a consultant and project manager. Learn some "Tools for Techies," and you'll be on your way to success.
Please feel free to contact me if you'd like:
- to share an idea for a new communication course.
- a new course about consulting.
- information about Lean Six Sigma (I'm a Black Belt.)
- information about Project Management (I'm a PMP®.)
Course at Edugate:
1. Fundamentals of Business Communication
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