Class Takeaways — Essentials of Strategic Communication

Audience-Centric Approach: Start communication by understanding the audience's knowledge, attitudes, resistance points, expectations, and motivation. This ensures messages resonate, are remembered, and lead to action. Goal-Driven Communication: Strategic communication should have clear goals encompassing information, emotion, and action. Knowing what you want your audience to know, feel, and do enables focused and successful communication. Structured Information: Organize information using a framework, such as the "What? So what? Now what?" model. This structure helps the audience process information more fluently and allows for concise and clear messaging. Engagement Techniques: Capture and sustain attention through physical, cognitive, and linguistic engagement. Encourage audience participation, pose questions, use relatable language, and employ techniques to visualize the message. Authentic Presence: Strong communication requires an authentic, confident presence. Whether speaking or writing, proofread, seek feedback, and ensure your presence aligns with your message for effective communication success.