Related to the idea of white space that we covered in the prior post is its enemy, noise. The level of communication noise has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few decades. The Internet has made it easy for nearly everyone to contribute to any discussion, but that is not what I want to focus on at this time. The Internet has also made it easier than ever to fill space in any message with true, researched facts. The question you should ask is whether those facts contribute to your point.
Communication Noise Can Be Too Much Information
Product reviews are full of these sort of noise. In particular, the ones that are just a thinly disguised advertisement. Even building in some white space is not enough to balance the cacophony in some of these instances. When your messages are hard to distinguish from these hard selling advertisements you have failed. Any point you want to make will most likely be ignored or even seen in a negative light due to the noise around it.
An example of noise as opposed to content may help. Let’s say you are trying to convince management to pay for training on a new application. The goal is to get them to see the value in that training. That means a fact or two that shows a return on investment or past performance of those that went through the training is content. These facts point to your goal. On the other hand, adding ten bullet points that all point to return on investment based on past attendees of the training is overkill. Therefore, every one of those bullet points is effectively noise.
Press “1” For Help
I think we can all relate to long phone messages and voice response menus as an example of noise. We have all run into a situation where we make a phone call to get a task done and are greeted by an automated system. In some cases, the system starts out by telling you how to reach the physical offices, office hours, and the latest company news before getting to the menu options. That is all noise. You want to hear the menu options. Every second spent from when you dial the phone until you hear the option you want is wasted. Thus, any information provided until you get what you want is just noise.
Getting To The Point
That leads to a key factor in effective communication, get to the point. Any form of communication can be confusing when it meanders its way to the point. A master comedian may be able to drag out a punchline for a while, but almost any other communication situation will be best when it is direct. This fact may be why so many people find politicians distasteful. We can make it more personal and ask yourself how often you have said in your head (or out loud) “get to the point” in a conversation.
Since we have all heard the axiom that time is money, a long path to a point has an actual cost. I have listened to people in meetings add up the value of wasted time based on hourly rates or salaries. That is an action you never want your audience to take. Of course, it is also a symptom of taking too long to get to your point. Or worse, never actually reaching your point.
This mistake is common when you are speaking. Not excusable, just understandable. We can all get off track when in a conversation. Of course, a presentation should not suffer from that all-too-human mistake. One way to avoid this sort of problem is to follow an outline. If that does not make sense then at least stay focused on the point. When speaking this can be a mental list of your position (or points). Walk down the list point-by-point and then allow for feedback. Writing is a different matter.
