Communication

Communication often failed to convey the message as intended not due to the quality of the material presented or the speaker but because people experienced problem in comprehending what they listened. It was not because the listeners were not smart enough to understand. Do we realize that we think a great deal faster than someone can speak? On average people talk at more or less 125 words per minute but people can think at the speed of between 3 to 5 times faster. What shall we do?

To ensure that the audiences understand the communication, many of us thought that we must speak at a little bit slower rate so people have more time to think what they are listening. But isn’t that extra time even gives people more time to think but not listening instead? Is adding graphs and illustrations help ensuring good understanding of the listeners?

Those two ways mentioned above will certainly help us in minimizing misunderstanding but the key to success in communication is to keep your messages as simple as possible with short but flowing sentences. Avoid using jargons that could make people think about those words. Use that slower tempo to speak with your eyes and do repeat important phrases a couple of times so that the audiences grab them in their minds.