2. Your Key to
Professional Success
Effective Communication

3. How Important is
Communication?
• Employers hire effective communicators
• Survey of Fortune 500 executives links
communication skills to business success

5. Planning
Your Purpose
• General Purpose
– Entertain
– Inform
– Persuade
• Specific Purpose
– To inform the committee about the . . .
– To persuade the board that . ..

6. Planning
Your Structure
• Preview
• Present
• Review

7. Planning Includes
Good Writing
• Thesis statement
• Logical outline structure
• Clear transitions between ideas
• Concise, concrete language

8. Planning
Includes Practice

9. Delivery
• Eyes
• Body
• Voice
• Clothes

10. Effective Delivery
Requires Eye Contact
• Direct eye-to-eye contact
• Sustained 5-10 seconds
• Asks for acknowledgment

11. Effective Delivery
Requires Good Posture
• Posture
–Stand tall
–Balance weight forward
–RELAX

12. Effective Delivery
Uses Movement
• Movement
–Voluntary, not
involuntary
–Purposeful
–2 steps--not the two-step

13. Effective Delivery
Uses the Hands
• Hands
–Natural gestures
–Waist or higher
–No hands in pockets
–No nervous manipulators

14. Effective Delivery
Uses the Body
• 92% of
communication is
non-verbal

15. Effective Delivery
Uses the Voice
• Clear enunciation
• Vocal energy
• Avoid non-words
• No gum!

16. Effective Delivery
Uses the Voice
• Vocal Variety
–Pitch
–Rate
–Volume
• Vocal Energy

17. Dress for Delivery
Success
• Clean and pressed
• Comfortable
• Well-fitting
• Professional
• No hats, jeans, or
sneakers

18. Effective Delivery
Requires Practice

19. Using PowerPoint
• Lighting
• Aesthetic Appeal
• The Two Most Important Rules

20. Lighting and
PowerPoint
• Speaker needs light
for non-verbal
communication
• Audience needs light
to read / write
• Effective projection
requires a darkened
room

21. PowerPoint and
Aesthetic Appeal
• K. I. S. S.
• Minimal Text
• Clear Images
• Strong contrast
between text and
background

23. The Two Most
Important Rules
• Visual aids--not speaking notes
• The fact that you can doesn’t mean
that you should

24. Effective
Communication
• Critical to your success
• Starts with good planning
• Requires practice
• Uses the eyes, the body, the hands, and the
voice purposefully
• Uses visual aids effectively