A short document explaining to how explore our personalities, how our minds work, how to create and deliver a persuading speech, a lot of tips about capturing audience and techniques of effective communication in general.

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Communication skills
Firas Adbdelkabir

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Part I
Personalities

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Before diving in communication it is better to dive into our
personalities to understand ourselves and others.
There are many tests helping us doing this, I strongly
recommend two of them:
 DISC assessment
 Strength deployment inventory (SDI)
Let’s explain them.

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To learn more about DISC and take free test click picture below

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There are many other Personality Profile System, one of the most outstanding is
the strength deployment inventory (SDI) invented by Dr. Elias Porter.
The SDI is a self-scoring motivational assessment tool that provides an
understanding of what drives you and what drives others. It is used in corporate
settings for team building, conflict management, leadership development,
communication enhancement. This Tool has been used to help individuals and
organization for over 30 years and major companies like Apple, Boeing, Proctor &
Gamble and many more have used the SDI to remain competitive.
Click picture to learn more

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Part II
Mind in depth

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How brain interpret things?
Left brain
11 book
2 cats and 3 birds
1 bed, 1 table,
3 chairs…
Night time
The door is open
…
Right brain
Brown
Books
Animals
Furniture
Window
Door
…

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To deliver an effective speech, you must communicate with both right and left
part of the audience’s brains, you need also to establish a connection between
limbic and neocortex and maintain it.
To do this you can :
 Start with emotional fact and appropriate tone to capt attention and
establish empathy and interest of your audience (You are communicating
with the right part of audience minds).
 After showing them their need to your speech you must give some reasons
and arguments to show your expertise in the domain which you speak about
(You are communicating with the left part of audience minds)
 For each point of your speech you can use this technique so you alternate
between the right and the left part of mind and you gain your audience for a
long period.

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Part III
Audience analysis

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Audience demographics: You need to kwon information
about audience members to adapt your speech to their
culture;
Age (How old is the audience?),
Gender (Is the audience mostly male or female?)
Family ( Are they single, married, with children?),
Culture (What is their ethnic and cultural background?),
Profession (What are their professions?)
Audience knowledge: How much the audience knows about
the topic?
No knowledge give them Basic overview,
Some knowledge give them More details,
Experts give them New facts

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Listen to the audience (learn what they like
to talk about, identify their interests.)
Recognize the audiences expectations
(they will reveal their interests.)
Develop rational empathy (understand
what they think of their situation) and
emotional empathy (identify how they feel.)

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Part IV
Speech structure

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3. Conclusion:
“Tell them what you
told them.”
2. Body: “Tell them.”
1. Introduction:
“Tell them what you are
going to tell them.”

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The Introduction: Beginning
 Starts at the moment you are called on stage.
 Create curiosity in the first sentence.
 Attention grabber
 Statistic
 Facts not known by audience
 Exaggeration
 Worse case scenario

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The Body: Message
 Words: Short, familiar, conversational.
 Sentences: Simple but effective.
 Examples: Include examples, illustrations, visual aids.
 Tone of voice: Use variety and clarity. Modulate to enhance
and create impact

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 The first impression is the best impression.
 The last impression has a lasting impression.
 Conclusion:
 Summarize and clarify
 Create interest and establish mood
 Appeal for action or approval
The Conclusion: Closing

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Audience
Information
ResourcesPlace
Stimulus
Presenter
Key Presentation Features and Elements

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Part IV
Effective Communication

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Effective Communications Model
Sends message. Receives message.
Sender Receiver
Confirms.Clarifies.

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The Three C’s of Effective Communication
Clear: Say what you have to say to be
understood.
Concise: Say what you have to say in as few
words as possible.
Consistent: Build trust and provide the
information that is needed for action to be taken.

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Clear
 Inform the who, what, why, when and where.
 Divide in opening, body and summary.
 Speak to the entire audience even when you are in
a small group.

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 In writing you can impress but in talking you must express.
 Avoid the use of fillers and jargons.
 Replace over-explaining by encouraging feedback and
questions.
Concise
How long will it take for you to
understand this message?
“I know that you believe you understand
what you think I said, but I am not sure
you realize that what you heard is not
what I meant!”

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Consistency
 Build trust by keeping people informed.
 Not prepared to fully communicate? Address the fact that
there is a situation and more information will be given.
 Send notes after meetings with a summary of decisions.

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The Three Ways of Communicating
Nonverbal: The message sent through body language.
Paraverbal: Tone, pace and volume of our voice.
Verbal: The choice and arrangement of words.

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Being A Good Listener
Paraphrase the message
Repeat the message
Clarify any points or missing information
Remember important points of the message

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Emphasize What You Want to be Remembered!
We remember what we hear.
We remember best what we hear last.
We remember most what is presented dramatically.
We remember what we have a use for.

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Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion
Reciprocity
Social Proof
Commitment and Consistency
Liking
Authority
Scarcity
In his publications, Robert Cialdini describes the importance
of developing persuasion as part of the practice of
communicating. He proposes the following principles for
persuading and influencing others.

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 Reciprocity (Mutual Benefit)
This refers to the need in social relationships to restore balance. That is, when we receive
something, we feel the need to give something back in return. The principle of reciprocation is
based on treating others as they treat us. Social norms dictate that the “benefactor” is a person
who has helped you, given you something, or has done you some kind of favor. It is easier to
convince those people to whom you have previously given a gift, or for whom you have done a
favor. This sense of obligation toward us makes others more likely to comply with our requests.
Means through which this principle is applied in the presentation are: use of empathy,
demonstrating understanding of another’s needs, providing solutions and ideas to solve a
problem, etc.
 Social Proof (Coherence)
It is an unarguable principle in psychology that the group is smarter than the sum of its
members. We act the way society wants us to act in order to gain society’s approval. Often,
even when society is wrong. We all like to feel accepted by the “herd,” and we think that acting
like others reduces the risk of our making a mistake, just as explained by popular culture: [TN:
The closest English idiom is “Learn from the mistakes of others.” The literal translation of the
Spanish idiom is, “When you see your neighbor’s beard on fire, pour water on your own.”]
Citing examples of other people who have adopted or agreed with our proposal is one way to
persuade.

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 Commitment and Consistency (Social Approval)
Human beings need to be consistent in what they do, what they buy and, in general, in how
they act. In an almost obsessive way, we have the desire to seem consistent in the eyes of
others. The influence of the principle of coherence is based on the desire to be and to seem to
be a person of attitudes and behaviors that are consistent over time. Coherence is a socially
highly valued personality trait, that is associated with other traits like being logical , rational,
stable and honorable. In contrast, an inconsistent person is considered superficial, not very
intelligent, indecisive and weak. An example that illustrates this principle is asking for the
approval of the audience regarding some of the points of information (Is it true that we deserve
an optimal solution to the problem in question?).
 Liking (Relatability)
We rarely accept information or buy something from someone we do not like. Relatability is key
to selling, although if you overdo it, you may find yourself rejected. Few fields of endeavor
demonstrate this more clearly than politics. As a rule, politicians appear in public surrounded
by actors and other celebrities in order to appropriate for themselves the familiarity that these
people evoke. In the world of sales, clients are very often invited out for a meal in order to put
the principle of relatability and the principle of reciprocity into practice at the same time. A
good meal facilitates a social opportunity to relate be polite, friendly and smile to charm the
audience and create a business relationship.

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 Authority (Heirarchy and Power)
Authority is manifested in many different ways, not always related to direct power, but also to
credibility. A doctor is an irrefutable authority for any patient, a police officer imposes law and
order without discussion, a financial advisor will always know how to manage our savings
better than we ourselves.... or that is at least what we always believe. Two elements are in play
in the principle of authority, hierarchy and symbols: Hierarchy is based on the belief that
people who rise to superior positions in the hierarchy have more knowledge and experience
than others. A good resume or description of the experience you have will be an aid in
convincing your public.
 Scarcity (Supply and Demand)
People tend to desire something more when they know there is a limited amount or access to a
certain product or service. This is a fundamental of economics and is used for determining the
highest price a business can charge for the supply of consumer goods, products and services
before the demand for the product goes down. A good example of using the scarcity principle
is when commercials or ads emphasize the opportunity wasted by not purchasing their product
or service. Tag lines such as “While supplies last” or “This limited time offer” can be used to
convince consumers to purchase immediately or risk losing out on an opportunity, and
because no one likes missing out on opportunities, most jump at buying the product, even if it
is not something they originally needed or wanted the product.

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