Simple, Clear Communication

Relationships are a huge part of our lives, and good communication is critical to any relationship. Since people have often complimented me on on my ability to communicate clearly, I'd like to pass on my main strategies:

1. Make sure you've got your audience's attention, or else your communication is futile. If the audience seems to lose attention, regain the attention before continuing. There are many strategies for doing this, but I usually like to just wait silently until I have each person's attention, then if they start talking or getting distracted, I just stop and wait.
   
2. Whenever you're giving instructions, start by explaining the goal. If possible, show the audience a sample of the final product so that they know what they're working toward. Remember that picture is worth 1000 words, and showing someone something can clear up a lot of questions. Starting with an accurate analogy or reference to something the audience already knows can also speed up the process of understanding.
   
3. When communicating an explanation for something, give the audience a simple flow of the concepts, then go back and add details. It's helpful to explain things in a simple cause-and-effect way, where A causes B and B causes C. This gives people the general framework on which they can hang the other details. It helps them remember the details longer, as well as avoiding hang-ups on insignificant details.
4. When telling a story, go in chronological order. If you accidentally start in the middle of the story, interrupt yourself by saying, "Wait, let me back up."
   
5. When communicating content, go from general to specific. Start by setting up some mental categories for your audience. For example, "Today we're going to learn about the Civil War. The Civil War had basically two sides: the North and the South."
   
6. Words that technically mean the same thing may have different connotations, so choose your words and phrases carefully. This takes time, so give some advance thought to how you'll present something important. Keep in mind that you may have an awesome way of saying something, but if the audience doesn't understand it, you should find a different way.
   

There is an interesting side benefit to using simple, clear communication: People start to listen to you more carefully. However, be careful to not abuse this attention. If you take advantage of it by unnecessary rambling, they will lose interest.

I'd encourage you to consider how simply and clearly you are able to communicate, then try out a little test. Think back to the most recent book you read, then try to summarize it someone else in 20 seconds and see how clearly they understand it.