Executives Expectations For Speakers©

Over the past thirty years, I have interviewed more than 800 executives on many topics including Effective Communication. The result:

The 12 “C’s” of Effective Communication©

1. Context. Be aware of their environment, their values and style. The number one criterion for success is correct audience analysis.
2. Create. Use mind-mapping techniques to come up with your unique approach.
3. Construct. Have a persuasion plan/model to strategically organize the content and plan your delivery to relate the information to their needs.
4. Credible.  The two keys of credibility are trust and authority.  With confidence, know what you want to say and say it.  Use power words, facts, and relevant but limited examples.
5. Capture and Compel. Capture their attention immediately by first acknowledging and focusing on their interests with image phrases. Then compel by delivering your well-thought out statement of purpose.
6. Connect. Determine common ground, use eye contact, speak with a coaching tone to your voice, state their needs and show respect to advance the relationship.
7. Charm and Color.  Project a professional and personable image, with poise, posture, dress and appearance. Use figures of speech, stories, and bullets versus run on sentences.
8. Congruent Delivery.  Align your content, verbals and non-verbals so that your intention matches your behaviors.
9. Convey with Passion.  With commitment and conviction, being your natural self, converse, not preach, with appropriate enthusiasm and energy.
10. Concise and Clear. Be concise and specific. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was 226 words long.  Do not use jargon, generalities.  Use relevant examples and word pictures.
11. Control.  Demonstrate your ability to anticipate and field difficult questions.
12. Close and Confirm.  Deliver a firm close focused on your theme and their required follow-up.  Check with the listener to make sure the message you delivered is the message they received.

Maximize your impact and ability to influence others by practicing the 12 "C's" = Competencies of Master Communicators.