Making relevant information stand out and noticeable is important for various types of documentation (including presentations) within any type of industry from pharmaceutical to manufacturing to training and marketing material. Designing skills are just as important as writing in creating documents. We want to interest the reader and not have them fall asleep. Common types of highlighting involve font styles and sizes, shades of coloring, underscoring, shadowing, etc. but there are also other ways such as the ones mentioned below.
Boxes
Separate out information, fact, figures, references or any important data within a box for better comprehension.
Apply a shade of color within the box.
Italicize or bold pertinent information.
Charts
When there is too much information, break it down into charts, figures, diagrams for easier understanding, analysis, and to assist in explanations. For example, for a business process, create the business diagram and then break it down to a more logical detailed explanation or functionality.
Add in grid lines to separate columnar or grid information.
Apply a shade of color to highlight, e.g., headings horizontally or vertically.
Color in some boxes, circles, various shapes when using flow charts to follow certain business process flows.
Use hierarchies, matrices, pyramids, or cycle diagrams to highlight relationships.
Use arrows, lines, callouts, unique charts that highlight specific data.
Formatting
Highlight your creative succinct titles or headings to indicate what the information is about.
Use short sentences to describe or detail data.
Apply spaces between paragraphs and bulleted points.
Apply more white space.
Other Ideas
Also helpful is the use of the following: caricatures, pictures shapes, icons to aid in descriptions (especially comical ones), and where applicable, include music or make them interactive. In addition, embed videos, links, screenshots, etc.
Grammar
Use your best writing skills.
Design for the audience; use the active voice in your grammar and not the passive voice to get the information across to others.
Build sentences that are short, succinct, and precise for easier readability.
Most importantly, make sure the audience understands your terminology.
So when creating documents involving anything from requirements to functional to test cases, to installation instructions, technical instructions, release notes, online help text, etc., remain organized and remember to ensure the look and feel of the document is appealing and useable. This is especially true when documentation projects are extremely complex such as in communicating process flows or complex applications.
Another important reminder, is to make sure that the document is reusable especially for fast moving organizations where there are constant revisions or if a certain modular coding is applied repeatedly within various applications or products. As an example, review several test plan documents to view examples of certain scenarios being reused under various situations.
Hopefully a style guide exists within the company to aid in the application or styles for various documents. If one does not exist, create one. This will ease the burden of future documents. This is especially true if the organization is global.
Please leave a comment if you have other suggestions for highlighting text.
It happens. You are asked to fill in for your boss’s big presentation. You are new to a project and have been asked for an update. You are in a meeting when you are called on to speak or share your opinion. These are all situations where you might experience a sudden drop in your confidence. Yet, they are critical opportunities for you to shine. What to do? How to keep cool and stay grounded? How to look and sound confident even when you aren’t?
Here are some ideas you might try in these cases:
Keep breathing. Instead of taking a quick breath and holding it, exhale and release tension from your body. Take in another quiet breath. Repeat. Two or three cleansing breaths, or as many as you need, should keep the discomfort from overwhelming you. You could even say to yourself, “this is fine. I have a plan. I know what I am talking about.”
Stay focused. Stay in the moment. Don’t think about yourself or looking stupid. Think about what is being asked, and why. Think about what you know or what you can contribute.
Speak with a full voice and firm inflections. Even if you are a little unsure of your answer, speak it with assurance. If you answer with a timid, weak voice, you are going to undermine any answer you provide. Make sure your statements don’t sound like questions. Even if you are forced to say you are not sure, say that with assurance!
Mind your body language. Watch that you keep your arms and hands relaxed and open. The natural tendency is to close your arms, hunch your shoulders, or cover your chest with your arms. Just stay open and you will look more confident.
Concentrate your efforts on what you do know or think. Don’t start to worry about what you don’t know or say what you don’t know. Say what you do think. Even if you must state it as an opinion, you do have something to contribute.
Turn the presentation into a discussion. Everyone in the audience may have a piece of information, an idea or a question about the topic. Instead of droning on (or reading your boss’s slides) start a discussion. You might begin by asking everyone what questions they have, and then answering them as you go through the presentation. Or turn the whole thing into a Q&A session and focus on getting the answers to the audience.
Ask a question to move the conversation forward. If someone is asking for your thoughts, you might answer briefly, and then ask what they think. They probably have some ideas of their own, and that might unleash a great conversation.
Provide a qualified or partial answer. If the situation calls for an opinion and you aren’t quite ready to commit, you might say this is a “first reaction” or “preliminary opinion,” and then state your thoughts. You could also say you are still “fact finding” and would appreciate any facts the listeners could share.
Clearly these strategies won’t work in every situation, but on those occasions where you need to speak without having all the facts, one of these could buy you time or save the day. Whenever you can, take the proper amount of time to prepare yourself thoroughly with study and rehearsal.
I would love to hear from you. How do you speak with confidence in challenging situations?
Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts, and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net.
User manuals provide a road map for the user. Many technical writers embed screen shots or images into documents to aid the user in seeing what a product or application is composed of, how a task is achieved, and most importantly, what not to do. But there are always questions as to where and how many images should be embedded, should the image take up a full or half a page, plus where should the placement of text be set for the image; adjacent, above, below, etc. Is there another solution?
Technical writers or communicators should always try to find a simpler way to display how one can navigate from one area to another or how to define or describe systems, applications, and products. Many new solutions or products have evolved now where we can just develop slide shows to display, describe, and to project what has to be done, can be done, and what cannot be done visually. They use it for marketing, education, enhancing their product, sharing of knowledge, etc. Many of these new platforms are now cloud-based and provide good security and file sharing.
Once slides are created, individuals just need to select the desired file, and at their own pace, just click the appropriate option to move from one screen shot to the next for viewing. Slide shows are easy, convenient and entertaining. Many organizations now create various tutorials with cleverly designed characters to help describe what the object of the presentations are about.
Creators can now animate the characters depicting faces with different emotions (depending on the situation of the event). We are part of a generation where we can use the right side of the brain for displaying our artistic skills and enjoy the outcomes of creative designs for wire framing, mapping, storyboarding, etc.
These slide shows or presentations make it easy for us to socially communicate, share knowledge, and collaborate on the web or through any popular medium. Even children at the age of 2 know how to touch an icon on a tablet or screen and know that by doing so, their favorite video will appear. I know this for a fact because my little nephew can do it.
Slide shows cannot completely take the place of user manuals, but they are a great option that is now available for us to use. Presentations cannot be created any easier than they are today. We can apply animation, audio, and visual to convey our documentation, tutorials, and anything else that has to be communicated. We also get to have fun while creating it for our audience.
Fun is mentioned because it is holiday time and close to the end of the year and I’m smiling because I’m happy that we have such wonderful readers of our website. It’s time to say Thank You all for being our readers this past year and for sharing your thoughts with us. Have a Wonderful Holiday and a Happy New Year. Happy reading in 2014.
Quick—who is the most effective communicator you know? Why did you think of that person? I am guessing that this person provides a consistently positive experience when they communicate with you. Let’s think about the experience you provide when someone comes into contact with you. It doesn’t matter if they work in the next cubicle, if they know you socially, or if you are meeting someone for the first time. With a few simple guidelines, you can make each contact a positive experience.
Pick the right time. When do you initiate the communication? If you are waiting on people, sooner is better. Acknowledge or greet people who show up in your place of business, even if you can’t help them immediately. Otherwise, find times that are amenable to others; be it your boss, a potential client, a family member. Ask if this is a good time before launching into a discussion they might not be ready for.
Pick the right venue. Recently I traded four or five text messages with someone before deciding we could get more done on the phone. Today I received a much-appreciated phone call rather than an email with a request. Other times e-mail is actually the best way to convey information. Instead of automatically choosing the format that you prefer or feel most comfortable with, start thinking about which one is most appropriate or most appreciated by the receiver.
Be courteous. Please and thank you never go out of style. Say “you’re welcome” rather than “no problem.” Look people in the eye. Take time to greet everyone you come in contact with. Be kind to your server (and leave a generous tip if you can afford it.) Don’t slam down the phone after leaving a message or having a conversation.
Give your full attention. Whether you are discussing world events, a major initiative for your team, or plans for the weekend, respect people enough to be attentive to them. This means no checking your email while talking on the phone, no folding laundry or making dinner while the kids tell you about their day, or no talking while driving. I know, I know, we all do it. Let’s do better.
Be positive. It is easy to gripe about the weather, the boss, or what is on the news. Can you spin it around and look for the positive? Plenty of studies are now suggesting that gratitude is linked with higher levels of happiness, and we know we like to be around happier people. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t. Find something nice to say. Be the bright spot in a gloomy day. You can’t control the weather or what’s on the news, but you have a choice in how you show up.
It is not rocket science. It just takes awareness and making better choices. Follow these five guidelines and you may well be one of the best communicators your friends and colleagues know.
I would love to hear from you. How do you show up as a positive communicator?
Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts, and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net.
Communicating the definition of architecting or ‘to architecture’ can be defined in software and technically as what is to be set up. It is the building of a configuration or an arrangement of objects; a structure.
In the software/ technical world, designing and documenting the architecture of a system is composed of planning, describing, and displaying the different relationships of various items making up the system. In other words, the architecture of any system is broken down into its components and shows how all the pieces are associated, connected, or joined (as in data modeling). In documenting the system, it is not only detailing the make-up of the system, but also includes procedures, methodology, events, actions, etc.
Many skills are required to produce an effective and valuable functional architecture. When we build an architecture, we need:
to collaborate among our coworkers,
have great communication skills, and
most importantly, be organized.
Without these skills, informative technical and requirement specifications, business assessments, review processes, etc. cannot be completed for the architecture.
Also, guidelines need to be set before an architecture can be built. Building an architecture (even of a document) is not easy. We can think of a pyramid or a hierarchy. In so doing, do we work from the top down or the bottom up? Do we start at the top and know what you want to end up with or do you start from the bottom up and know what you have and try to build what you want from what currently exists? It is a difficult choice and each organization has to make up its own mind and decide on what fits them best.
To help the decision process along the way, and to, e.g., help the technical writer build on the architecture of a document, here are some questions in random order:
What is to be the end result
What ideas, resources, etc. do you have to get to the end
Whom can you rely on for support
Do you have the knowledge and skills to perform the task
Do you have the tools to create the document
Whom can you get details from
Whom are you writing for
How is the document to be organized
Where is your information located
Is cost a major factor
What are the future plans
Think about how you will begin the document. To help, try to number the items above by priority and see what works best for the organization. Only then will you know if you will be working from the top down or bottom up. As noted, the above example can also be applied when designing an architecture of a system. There are many more questions that need to be answered. The above is just a beginning.
How would you define architecting and what experiences and solutions have you had in architecting a, e.g., document?
A few years ago I worked with an individual who came to me because she seemed to have trouble listening to her boss. As we spoke, it turned out she was anxious about remembering everything he said, and so she would furiously write copious notes as he spoke. But the anxiety and the distraction of writing did the opposite of what she intended; she actually heard and remembered less, not more. And the more that happened, the more stressed-out she felt and the less she heard. It was a vicious cycle.
We all know how important listening is. Right? But in today’s crazy-busy world of work—and home—we sometimes let stress and bad habits trip us up. Think about your own work relationships. If you are experiencing increased misunderstandings or interpersonal issues, it may be due to poor listening habits.
How will you know? One good start would be to use this checklist to see if you might have allowed a few of these poor listening habits to take root.
When listening, have you ever found yourself:
Easily distracted?
Daydreaming or multitasking?
Thinking ahead of your response instead of paying attention?
Assuming you understand when you may not?
Mentally criticizing the speaker?
Allowing emotions to interfere?
Interrupting or talking over?
Hearing only what you want to hear?
Waiting for your turn to speak?
Which of these habits do you have and how can you change them? Take time today—right now—to commit to better listening skills.
How to build better listening habits:
Avoid distractions. Turn away from the computer and look at the person you are speaking to. On the phone, turn away from your work and focus on the person you are speaking to.
Monitor your own behavior. Make calm, steady eye contact with the speaker. Make sure you avoid checking your watch, tapping your pen, or anything else that might signal impatience.
Listen to the tone and nonverbals as well as the words. What is being said? Why is it important? Think about the entire message and the feelings that surround it.
If you find your attention drifting, gently pull it back to the speaker. You may have to do this multiple times. If you find you cannot concentrate, consider postponing the conversation until you are able to do it justice.
As leaders, it is easy to get distracted and busy. But in order to be effective in our work and our work relationships, we must remember to listen fully and effectively to what is being said. In the long run, it will save us time and trouble.
I would love to hear from you. How do you remember to listen effectively even when under pressure?
Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts, and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net.
It’s not just cell phones and texting that has made for more strangers…
Do we educate the consumer or train those who do, or should that even be the case? Now, the rest of this article is commentary and reaction to that question, hopefully to give us all something to think about.
Anything you buy today you need to research on the internet and still you could buy an inferior product, but once it’s in your home, you still have to install it (obviously something technical), you have an army of “blogs, forums, FAQs, and expert communities” all ready and willing to help with sage advice.
Not only is the public in need of this army, but so are the companies, making these products and taking advantage to cut back on their support resources. Who wins? Surely not the public except out of necessity. I think this is an accurate picture of the way customer service is today. My question is: does it have to be?
Face to face customer service may be coming a thing of the past, but should it? When it does, we stop communicating and we stop caring about each other. More and more people become strangers.
The “educated” consumer? We are so “educated” that we have to research the quality of products by looking at consumer reviews before we buy them. Call me a old fashioned, but I’d like to think a product will last a reasonable amount of time and I shouldn’t have to buy an extended warranty to get enough life out of a product. Those blogs and forums, FAQs and expert communities that were mentioned, I believe, were the public’s answer to poor customer service, especially in this computer age of complex electronic products.
Customers were tired of calling the companies involved and not getting a satisfactory response. And, now companies are taking advantage. I get my answers there as well. I have always found it interesting that an employee of the company finds his or her way on the blog or forum and provides a solution or says the solution is coming out next month.
The problem is bigger than just customer service. The manner in how we deal with others has been affected as well. It’s not just cell phones and texting that has made us more strangers. The workers on the receiving end, even the retail end, are developing an attitude of “if you don’t like it or it doesn’t work, bring it back.”
The workers on the receiving end, even the retail end, are developing an attitude of “if you don’t like it or it doesn’t work, bring it back.”
Most of us don’t remember when companies that made the products and the retailers who sold their products used to stand behind their products. That meant we trusted one another and we communicated so well we knew one another. Strange that a society that’s becoming overpopulated is becoming a society of strangers.
I was watching my fifteen-year-old son, Aidan, today as he helped me out on the computer. Nothing major I thought. I wanted to compress some audio files. I’ll play the part of a bragging parent today. For him it was child’s play, literally. He whipped out his laptop, pecked away, found a few free sites, and over-solved my problem (if that’s possible), and provided me with two linked podcast sites. I was amazed and commented that he really had found his calling, and he looked at me and frowned, “Dad, that’s way too easy. Kidstuff. You’ve got to be kidding.”
I wasn’t kidding. Here’s the part that matters to us. Do you know what’s hard for him? Talking to a stranger, or even someone he knows socially unless video games are involved. We hosted a German exchange student, Max, at the house. We expected Aidan and Max would be talking up a storm. Nope. Not in German anyway, which they both spoke. However, they both spoke the language of video games better.
Aidan is super bright–like genius bright, and at 15 he’s already into college-level physics, philosophy and the humanities. So, caring about society and people should be pretty high on his list. Is he shy? Is he a nerd.? You could say that.He prides himself on it. In fact, he’s a lot retro. He’s also sensitive for a boy his age. But all this has to do with isolation from a real lack of face-to-face communication, not shyness. We love it when he has an opportunity to be involved face-to-face.
It’s the same as the counter person or retail person who conducts business without caring what the customer thinks because that person doesn’t really exist in their world. Aidan doesn’t want any part of the world unless he creates it and I don’t think he’s alone. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a great kid, but he’s like so many others who are accepting the way things are. It’s not a phase we are going through. The devices will only get smaller, more complex and devious.
When I lived in Tokyo for a while, as crowded as it was (and still is), people lived in their own little space rarely recognizing their neighbors. People walk with their heads down in a perpetual bow. We are learning that here, too, while we keep our noses buried in our devices. Friends walk by and we text them. My daughter has two friends with her in the back seat. Silence except for clicking. How rude she is I’m thinking. I don’t know which is worse. The noise of three excited teenagers or the lack of social skills. Turns out they were talking to each other the whole time. Via text!
Our new toys and technology may have made the world more efficient in some ways, but some interactions in society still need a personal touch.
A good cook still checks on his or her food occasionally, never leaving anything to chance, or kitchen timers and unequal oven temperatures.
Hopefully, the holidays bring everyone together happily to socialize. Aidan was not so happy being dragged off for dessert at a friends house and stayed buried in a handheld video game for a time, but for the last hour, I think I saw it sitting on the sofa alone and he was sitting another room with people.
All is not lost. We have to keep reminding people to keep holding their heads up. For the most part, we are not a bowing culture. Not that there is anything wrong with that in itself–unless it is caused by oblivion–like that of an ostrich with its head buried in the sand or us with our heads buried in our devices.
As the Host of the Blog site, I ask that you take a look at my new blog that focuses on other topics than training. My training/speech blog is still out there, but I’m letting it die in cyberspace. My best selling e-book, The Cave Man Guide to Training and Development is out. I need to tell you that I know Cave Man is not spelled that way and that is on purpose. The Cave is where we work, play and live. Read the book and you’ll get it. I hope to have two more following it soon.
My futuristic e-novel, Harry’s Reality, is a look at what happens when society gives up control of the mismanaged dying planet to an evolving artificial intelligence. It is also available at any bookstore that sells e-books for direct downloads to your ereader, and directly through Smashwords. By the way on my blog site you’ll find clips from the novel as well as discussions.
Use cases and workflow diagrams are two essential practices or methodologies that will effectively demonstrate a functionality of a product. To understand their value, they have to be defined.
Use cases are a way to show how a user, consumer, or customer can utilize, or operate a product or application.
It systematically details the reason for the application; how it works to achieve the end result.
It is not a step-by-step or itemized listing of how to accomplish a task. Use cases have to be able to answer questions such as what are the tasks that have to be done and how deep into a program does the user have to go to accomplish the task.
Use cases are great for helping users work through an application.
Workflow diagrams on the other hand will display, model, or diagram a whole picture of a product or application process.
It can show you step-by-step how to accomplish a task. It is an image of what the product or application does as it works toward an end result.
It is like a road map showing you where you will end up if you take a particular route. These workflow diagrams can visually show the functionality of an application in an appealing manner. They are easier to see and understand, and are more entertaining visually than reading.
On an even higher scale, you can use or prototype a particular workflow diagram as a business model. The workflow diagram answers questions such as what is the scope, range, or possibilities of the application or product and what are the ‘what if’ scenarios.
Workflow diagrams are great for training and capturing the essential functions of an application or product.
Conclusion
Use cases are critical for completing tasks or having users work with an application or learning a process. But when detailing an application or process, workflows are better for showing their behavior.
Technical writers need to be able to distinguish the two methodologies and to know when to apply them. They need to be able to channel and harness their knowledge to create all of the above. There will be situations when both methodologies have to be applied to accomplish a task. For example, if the steps to complete a task are lengthy, then sometimes it is much better to give a good overview by first creating a use case for an example, then a workflow diagram and then maybe also include a flow chart as well listing very detailed steps that are involved. These types of situations show why it is important and valuable to know how to use the two forms of communication and to see the benefits of both methodologies.
If you have had to design use cases or workflow diagrams, what has been your experience? Is one better than another?
Once you have a group talking, and conversations become lively, conflict and lack of control can eat up valuable group time. Here are five guidelines you can use to maintain control without becoming heavy-handed.
1. Set group rules early on. Let the group know everyone should have a turn to speak, and that no one will be allowed to dominate the conversation.
2. Manage side conversations. Make steady eye contact with those who tend to chat, stand closer to them, or use silence until the room becomes quiet. These “silent” techniques are often all you need.
3. Break a large group down into smaller ones for discussion. Give complete directions first, and then disperse into breakout groups. To signal small groups to return to the large group, dim the lights or sound a timer.
4. Manage conflict. Keep your own cool and allow conflict as long as it is leading to thoughtful discussions. Remind people of ground rules that state no personal attacks.
5. Use courteous language. Words such as “please” and “thank you” foster a climate of respect and cooperation.
Whether you are a trainer, presenter or leader, knowing how to lead and control a discussion is an important skill you can learn and practice, so that your listeners can learn effectively from one another.
I would love to hear from you. How do you maintain control over discussions?
Author Gail Zack Anderson, founder of Applause, Inc. is a Twin Cities-based consultant who provides coaching and workshops for effective presentations, facilitation skills for trainers and subject matter experts, and positive communication skills for everyone. She can be reached at gza@applauseinc.net.
Curating content is defined as selecting, organizing, and presenting content, mostly for online use, either for searching or marketing, or actually any form of business or profession. How do you curate and communicate your content? How do you provide information smoothly and quickly?
First you have to select it, then organize it and make it presentable. It has to be valuable, accurate, and searchable. As with writing the content, you need to:
Know the target audience.
Ensure that the content is reusable and relevant.
And depending on the system being developed, note if the content is to be classified or confidential and design accordingly.
To get started:
Locate templates and models to give you some ideas as to how the architecture of the content should be established; getting started to build a system is not an easy task.
Group and categorize the content (e.g., by project or types of documents or by videos, diagrams, etc.) for easy access. Organizing them is not the only key to having a good searchable structure or system. Know what you want your system to present, to be able to do or to provide.
The content also has to be formatted in such a way as to be visually presentable and easy to use. Getting the right look and feel of the system will not only make it more appealing, but more useable as well.
Find where existing content is being stored and then decide on not only the (possibly) new location (cloud, database, etc.) of the system, but how content will now be stored and also who will be in charge of the content and the processes involved in creating and maintaining the system.
Again as always, if this is a global company, translation processes need to also be considered.
To ensure that the content is valuable, visualize a user needing access to the content. Develop some scenarios and make sure the framework is suitable for the user. You can also mail out a survey or questionnaire and gather needed information. You might want to say you are setting up a test case. Find out what users want in the searchable system. Once you have a prototype, have users try it out and see where adjustments need to be made.
Also, note the costs that need to be considered in maintaining the content. The above are only a few of the many things that have to be considered. There are resources and packages available that can be of assistance, but you need to know what you want and need for curating content.
Don’t forget that once a system is established, plan ahead and create contingent plans for any unexpected delays and bottlenecks, and ensure that all problems can and will be resolved. To ensure the system is working well, set up a tracking system and always get some feedback to its functionality.
If you have are involved with curating content, please leave a comment as to what has to be considered before developing a curated system and your experiences.
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