Memorandum
Date: February 13, 2009
To: Business Communications Student
From: Student 2
Subject: Between Me and You…Audience-Centered Is the Key
The purpose of this memorandum is to prepare you for Management 309 and the topic of audience-centeredness to prevent the initial shock I experienced.
From the Beginning
While 6 weeks already passed in Professor Dianne Garrett’s Management 309 class, I remember on day 1 she made a promise that audience-centeredness is mentioned in every class. So far, she’s kept her promise. When she first mentioned how important it was, I thought she was just being a typical teacher, but I am beginning to understand its importance. Here are 7 important topics about audience-centeredness that I have learned so far.
1. Analyze the Audience – Right message to the right audience spells success.
2. Get to the Point – People pay attention to interesting subjects.
3. Be Picasso with Words – Audiences crave pictures.
4. Shorter is Better – Quality beats quantity.
5. Eliminate Jargon – People listen to what they understand.
6. Do the Work – Audiences respond when everything is done for them.
7. Control is yours – How will you walk the little girl across the street?
Analyze the Audience – Right message to the right audience spells success.
“Zeroing in on the right audience with the right message is frequently a formula for success…take the time to analyze your audience formally and to revise your message with your analysis in mind.” (Locker & Kienzler, 51) Understand what matters most to the audience and focus on that. Establishing common ground with your audience can be the difference between “Megan your hired” and looking for a different job.
Get to the Point – People pay attention to interesting subjects.
One important lesson Professor Garrett explained is the audience responds better when they know what you are talking about. “Your audience craves the meaning behind your ideas before learning about the details. According to Medina, ‘This comes directly from our evolutionary history. We didn’t care about the number of vertical lines in the teeth of the saber-toothed tiger. We cared about whether it was going to clamp down on our thigh. We were more interested in the meaning of the mouth than the details’.” (Gallo, 2008) Immediately state what your purpose is and then expound on the details.
Be Picasso with Words – Audiences crave pictures.
Readers love to see a page that appears beautiful. Vary sentence lengths to give different feels to the reader. Use vibrant words to dazzle the reader with the English language. Just remember, people pay attention to things that appear attractive.
Shorter is Better – Quality beats quantity.
Audience’s want rich context when they read. “Unnecessary words increase writing time, bore you reader, and make your meaning more difficult to follow.” (Locker & Kienzler, 119) Strive to say 4 words when 4 are all you need.
Eliminate Jargon – People listen to what they understand.
Use common language with you and your audience so they easily understand you. “Most employees, customers, and investors hate confusing messages. They’ve been burned by dot-com marketing hype, and they’re skeptical of anything they can’t understand quickly and easily.” (Gallo, 2005) Jargon can seem like a foreign language when it isn’t familiar to the audience.
Do the Work – Audiences respond when everything is done for them.
Your requests will be approved more often when the audience is required to do nothing. Give them all the information they need to make an educated decision, as well as contact information to reach you.
Control is yours – How will you walk the little girl across the street?
In class, your given the example of writing is like walking a little girl across the street. You are in control to lead that little girl wherever you want to take her to get her from here to there. It is the same in writing. You have the choice of how to present to the audience the topics you choose to discuss. You can either directly approach each topic and run across the street, or indirectly push towards each topic as you and the little girl walk across.
As Professor Garrett would say, you are in control as you walk the little girl across the street. It’s your decision to walk, run, skip, or hop. Which will you choose?
Successful Business Communication 