Category: Advertising & PR

There are many answers to the question on how and where to place text for images, figures, snapshots, etc. Should text be embedded or placed below, beside, above, or to the left or right of the image. It depends. For simplicity, let’s use the word ‘diagram’ to represent images, figures, snapshots, pictures, charts, etc., in our examples below.

Embedded text box

If the diagram is used to show where the keys (buttons, knobs, switches, controls pins, screws, levers, etc.) are located, use text boxes with arrows pointing to their location.

Large diagram

If the diagram is large, crop it just enough to focus on a particular element. If the diagram is too large, and the text that follows falls on the next page, either shrink the diagram or decrease the font size of the text. Try to keep the diagram and the text together.

Small diagram

If the diagram is small, placing a text box with explanations to the left of the diagram allows for ease of readability. This also leaves room for the reader to scribble in extra notes to the right of the diagram (if they wish).

Using a table

For explanations of crucial mechanisms, create a table below the diagram, and list the names of the instruments or devices in one column and the explanation or usage of it in the adjacent column. If additional diagrams are needed, crop and embed them to fit into the table cells.

Instructional text

When giving steps to perform a function, use the table format and place it below the diagram. Number the steps in the table, followed by a heading, such as ‘To initiate…..’ followed by sub steps (if needed). This is an easy format for readers to follow and they can also easily see what tasks need to be accomplished. As above, if one of the steps require another diagram, shrink or crop it and embed it into the table with the explanation to the left of the image (again for ease of readability).

Text Placement

I tend to always put the text below a diagram. We read from left to right and downward, so it is natural and easier for the eye to move down to read text after a diagram rather than up. Also, the image of the diagram is still fresh in your mind as you read down. The only time I have used text above a figure is when explaining, e.g., a graphic or chart or anything that involves numbers. For example, if the preceding text of a diagram is similar to any of the following statements: ’In the following xxx. .’, ‘For example…’, ‘Note the following…’, then I would place the diagram after the statement.

Years ago when I was in the recruiting or “headhunting” business I had a colleague who used to swear his candidate was “perfect” for the client’s position. When the client raised an objection or two, my colleague would then swear he had another candidate, who was “even more perfect.” Call it sick humor, but the rest of us thought it was pretty funny stuff.

These days everything is “awesome.” A beautiful sunset, a new haircut, a great cup of latte. Doesn’t matter; it is all awesome. That got me thinking. Aren’t there other words we could use to describe the good things around us? If we could take a closer look at superlatives, maybe we could be more specific in our praise, and freshen up our language at the same time.

What other words come to mind? Here are some that might fit, depending on what you are talking about, and who you are talking to.

• Astonishing
• Amazing
• Awesome
• Breathtaking
• Brilliant
• Delightful
• Excellent
• Extraordinary
• Fabulous
• Fantastic
• Fine
• Glorious
• Good
• Grand
• Great
• Incredible
• Magnificent
• Marvelous
• Outstanding
• Perfect
• Phenomenal
• Remarkable
• Stunning
• Spectacular
• Splendid
• Stellar
• Super
• Terrific
• Tremendous
• Unbelievable
• Wonderful

Next time you want to provide a compliment or remark on the goodness of something, see if you can replace your ordinary superlative with one that is more interesting, suitable, and special to the listener.

And please, let me know if you have others you would like to add to this list.

Are Technical Communicators/Writers more right-brain or left-brain thinkers? In a previous post about a technical writers soft skills (https://staging.management.org/blogs/communications/2013/03/05/soft-skills-of-a-technical-writer/) , I defined the soft skills of technical writers as being made up of communication, emotion, concentration, and common sense. …...’ It is being able to see and interpret the whole picture and to translate it into useable and understandable terms for others ....Technical Writers use their soft skills to…communicate,…listen,…understand,….lead….’

While writing the above, this question came about: ‘Are Technical Writers more right-brain than left-brain oriented? If we define the difference between right- and left-brain thinkers as…..the right side of the brain controlling the art, music, humanities side of your thinking, and the left side featuring the logical, analytical side., you can associate the right side of the brain to artists, musicians, teachers, designers, or philosophers, etc. while the left-side dominant thinkers tend to be analysts, statisticians, scientists, or problem solvers, etc.

The right side of the brain helps us with:

• Understanding the audience
• Understanding what is needed by clients
• Communicating and collaborating
• Listening to others
• Designing good content
• Being able to work well with others
• Developing creative ideas
• Training abilities
• Writing well
• Handling stress
• Leading

The left side of the brain helps us with:

• Being technologically oriented
• Seeing and understanding the technical and scientific aspects of a product and functionality
• Building a logical workflow of a system
• Analyzing data
• Supporting quality and accuracy via trouble shooting problems
• Usability and regression testing
• Understanding System enhancements
• Strategizing the detailed organization of a document
• Making decisions
• Recognizing and sticking to timelines
• Setting priorities

I think Technical Communicators/Writers are both right- and left-brain oriented and combined they bring out their best attributes.

Other questions arose, i.e., where does user experience of an application fall for the Technical Communicator/Writer when they function as a user interface designer? Is this a more right- or left-brain oriented skill? Is the ease of use of an application or what is presented related to one side of the brain? Maybe it’s the right side as it involves the user interface design. But then, argumentatively, the functionality and logistics is left-brain oriented. I think the same goes for proof reading or copy editing. Both sides are needed for checking content.

When you look at the whole picture, that is, the definition of a Technical Communicator/Writer, it doesn’t seem like one side is more dominant. We see that having both sides of the brain are needed to relate information. If you go too far to the left, the writing can be too intense, boring, or mind-numbing and if you go too far to the right, the content might not be serious or be too varied or diverse and be confusing because it doesn’t hit the nail on the head.

To be a good Technical Communicator /Writer, we need the right and left side of the brain to accompaniment each other; to balance each other out.

If you think otherwise, please leave a comment.

It can happen to anyone. You’re running late because you took one more call before you left for your meeting. Now traffic is heavy. The parking lot is full. The elevator stops on each floor. All these little things add up to one fact: you are going to be late. Here are three true stories of lateness, including my own confession, some thoughts on how it can sabotage you, and how to deal with lateness more gracefully.

Scenario One: the late instructor

It is a class I take every week at the same time. When my classmates and I arrive the room is usually dark, the chairs are all stacked in the back of the room, and there is no one there to meet us. We know the instructor is working with other clients, but she is not there with us. Five minutes after starting time, she rushes in with a “sorry, folks” and proceeds to log into the computer and find the files she wants to use.

Result: Wasted time and a sense that she doesn’t really care about our experience.

The Solution: As a meeting leader, facilitator or trainer, it always pays to get there early, turn on the lights, set up the chairs and log in. If you can’t be there early to set up, ask someone to do it for you, and you can return the favor before their classes. Leave a welcome message on the whiteboard, perhaps with a discussion question or assignment you want early birds to work on. Then go to your meeting or meet with your other clients if needed.

Result: Arrivals feel welcomed, and you can arrive with less stress.

Scenario Two: the phone conference

Here we were—one boss, two consultants, and one employee, noticeably absent, who was to have led a conference call with his boss to discuss an issue he was working on. When he came onto the call a few minutes later, it was with a very flustered apology and a weak beginning to his leadership of the call. He clearly didn’t have the agenda in front of him, and had trouble leading the meeting with ease and grace.

The result: A negative first impression and the flustered feeling he experience flavored the entire phone conversation. He felt frustrated instead of empowered.

The solution: According to one of my most trusted colleagues, there is a more positive approach. “No apologies, no excuses” is her mantra, and she says do whatever it takes to avoid apologies or excuses. In this case a simple “Thank you for your patience” would have sufficed to acknowledge the situation without dwelling on the reasons (AKA excuses) for it. If more information was needed, such as when presenting to a boss or a client, the addition of “I was helping a client” or “resolving an issue that just came up” would probably be an acceptable explanation for the lateness.

Scenario Two: your author

There I was, in the car on my way to a half-day workshop. I had started out on time, but traffic was crawling for ten of the twenty miles I needed to cover in order to get to my site on time. I soon realized I was cutting it really close, so I grabbed my phone to let the client know I was on the way. Bad news! Her phone number wasn’t on my phone; it was safely tucked away in my bag, in the trunk.

The result: I flew in the door only minutes before my session was to have started. Lucky for me, my clients are so gracious and professional, they swooped in to help me set up, and we started the class on time. But I know I caused them concern about where I was, and that didn’t feel good. With a trusted client you might get by with that, once. With a new client, you might not get a second chance.

The solution: I could have avoided anxiety on my part, and on the client’s, by being able to make that call. Always carry the contact information, directions, etc. on your person, and on your phone. Being in my carry bag in the trunk didn’t help in this situation. I could also have called another person to check in with the client for me, or pulled over and sent a text message (if I had the phone number) or a quick email. Better yet, you can avoid many of these near-misses by starting out even earlier. Depending on where you live and where you need to be, I would add at least 30 minutes leeway. Better early and calm than late and frazzled.

Next time you have an important meeting, on the phone or in person, don’t be late! And if you are, take a cleansing breath, stay calm and remain focused.

Do you have any additional tips to share that may help others remain calm and composed when running late?

 

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.

Web site: www.applauseinc.net

Blog: www.managementhelp.org/blogs

twitter: @ApplauseInc

If you are a beginning Technical Writer or an experienced Technical Writer, how do you, respectively, display your skills and find your first job or find more jobs in technical writing? Here are some tips:

For beginners, write about your job – begin writing in your current job about all that you know, and make sure that it is on your resume. Write about your daily activities, or any instructions you’ve been given to perform a task. Record or document your knowledge. When review time comes up, make sure that your supervisor or manager knows what you’ve documented. You never know, maybe a new technical writing position will occur and you may be approached for it. Note: this also displays your detail documentation skills.

As another example, you may have been assigned some detailed task that involves, e.g., ensuring that a document or product is tracked. For this task, or some similar task, you may determine you need to create a flowchart or a tracking module or check off list with adjacent initial boxes to certify nothing is lost in transit. List names, places, an event time table, accessories needed (how much and from whom), location, etc. Use your imagination and create some icons to indicate readers, edits, final edits, products, etc. Create a folder and document all this data so that you will have it ready for the next time you need it. Also note all unexpected incidents, such as delays, interruptions, and postponements. This way you will be prepared and know how to handle these problems the next time around. Note: this displays your organizational, research, interviewing, interpersonal, and analytical skills.

For beginners and experienced writers, create a blog to showcase your work, ideas, workshops, training, etc. There are many free packages on the web to use; just Google ’open source blog software’ to get a listing.

If you extensively use a particular manual, application, or package, write about your favorite features of, e.g., a word processing or spreadsheet package and explain how to use it step-by-step to perform a particular function like generating a report. Just remember to be clear, concise, and error free when explaining which steps to take to perform the specific task(s). Create a flow chart to depict the steps or create a diagram using another package and save it into your blog. Detail how and what package you used and include benefits, ease of use, etc. Or, you can just hand draw a picture to show what you mean. When others read how you explain steps, procedures or processes in your blog, they will see how professional you are.

As an added note, see if you can guest blog, create a training manual or e book, teach at a local school or organization, join and participate within organizations, contract freelance work, tweet about your work, perform volunteer work, interview people, market and brand yourself, and definitely network.

Following through with any of the above suggestions can show off your technical writing skills.

Good Luck and please leave a comment about all your strategies to get into being a technical writer (technical communicator, technical editor, technical illustrator, technical trainer, technical translator, etc.). For more information, go to Steps To Become a Technical Writer (https://staging.management.org/blogs/communications/2012/04/01/steps-to-become-a-technical-writer/) or see my e book on Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/213398).

What are soft skills? They are made up of, for example, communication, emotion, concentration, and common sense. Technical Writers need these skills to get the job done. A Technical Writer today has to possess some technical knowledge, which is equivalent to having hard skills. But the hard skills can’t be accomplished without having some organic soft skills. These right-brain traits are important for Technical Writers. It is being able to see and interpret the whole picture and to translate it into useable and understandable terms for others and that is where soft skills come into the picture.

Why Soft Skills

Technical Writers use their soft skills to gather the information they need to write a clear, detailed, and understandable document. Soft skills are needed to, for example:

• communicate with all levels of an organization,
• ask questions and more importantly, listen,
• understand people as well as the mechanics or processes of a task,
• lead a group of Technical Writers to produce written information,
• verify and confirm facts.

Emotion

Technical Writers have a passion and an appetite for sharing knowledge and communicating. They have a sense of curiosity and are also respectful of the individuals they are interviewing; the stakeholders, the owners of a written document, as well as their audience. Respecting the culture of an organization allows them to understand the attitude and behavior of their audience and consequently gather relevant knowledge. Technical Writers are very people-oriented and use this soft skill to see what moves and inspires individuals to accomplish goals and to see and understand what is needed by them. Technical Writers are good listeners and empathize with the users, team players, stakeholders, etc.

Concentration

Technical Writers focus, consolidate, and organize their train of thoughts. They use their sense of concentration to categorize and arrange all their gathered material to execute a good presentation. They also use this ability to see what is required and appreciated by their audience as well as to be able to prioritize their work. In addition, they use this ability to focus on the scope, tone, and quality of a document, as well as its goals, deadlines, and weaknesses.

Common Sense

Technical Writers bring forth their experiences and use their common sense to work with others; to be supportive, honest, open, and to be aware of simply what is good and what is not. They use their common sense to know, for example, what is critical and confidential information. In addition, they use their good judgment and practicality to detect or sense possible conflicts and be able to deliberate them.

From the above, we see then that Technical Writers make use of a lot of different soft skills in order to communicate verbally and via text. They need to be able to speak clearly and to write concisely and to be error free in both categories. Technical Writers can be very technically versed, learned, and be familiar with the most up-to-date technology, but without soft skills, they will have a difficult job.

Guest Author: Jean Ryan

How to Avoid a PR Disaster

Of course, you do not have to be a big corporate honcho or Hollywood star to care about your online reputation. The majority of businesses, both big and small, maintain websites as well as various social media accounts. Today, a bad review or report on your products, services, or employees can easily snowball into an online PR disaster. According to statistics published by FirePath Communications, 73% of consumers believe information published online is accurate. A staggering 83% say that this information influences their purchase decisions. Even if you do not run a business, online reputation matters a lot. According to a study carried out by digital marketing firm KBSD, 78% of recruiters consider online reputation during the hiring process. These statistics show the importance of reputation protection. Keep reading to find out more about this delicate subject.

Assessing your Online Reputation

Before taking any steps to manage your online reputation, you need to make a careful assessment of the situation. To start with, use the major search engines to see what information is on the Internet under your business or personal name. While at it, check all major social media platforms as well and note the top 20 or 30 search results for all the relevant keywords. Analyze the number of positive, negative, and indifferent results. This will give you a good idea of your online reputation.

Build your Reputation

Upon making a careful assessment of the search results, you need to take proactive steps to build your online reputation. Start by purchasing and registering domains and Top Level Domains (TLDs) related to your business or name. Secondly, register your name with the major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you do not act fast, cyber squatters may register your name leading to confusion among your loyal consumers. In addition, you will not be able to reach a wider audience.

Set Privacy Settings

While purchasing and registering your names is a good first step, it is hardly enough. Therefore, you must act to protect your personal information by managing privacy settings on your blogs, websites, and social media accounts properly. Obviously, you would not want cyber criminals or other people to stumble upon private photographs of your partying antics.

Monitoring your Online Reputation

After the hard work of assessing and building your online reputation, you cannot afford to rest on your laurels. As such, you must monitor every mention of your business name, brand, and employees for as long as you maintain a web presence. The good news is there are hundreds of tools that you can use to monitor online conversations about your company. These include Google Alerts, Yahoo Alerts, Twitter Search, Twitter Fall, Feed Reader, and Technorati. If you have capable programmers in-house, you can set up a customized tool for monitoring your online reputation.

What people say about you or your business is likely to affect your chances of getting a job or if you are a businessperson, your chances of selling products or services. Either way, you need online reputation protection. Start by assessing the way people view your brand, employees, or services. Build your reputation by purchasing all relevant TLDs and domains and register your name with all the major social media platforms. Use privacy settings to protect critical business and personal information.

For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Marketing and Social Media.

About the Author

Jean Ryan is an online entrepreneur and writer who helps online merchants improve their online reputation through savvy social networking and daily web monitoring.

There he stood, looking steadily at his slides projected on the screen. He stood like that for more than ten minutes, talking to the slides, totally disconnected from his audience. His slides were fine, but his delivery was not working.

When you present with slides (and that probably means frequently) try following these guidelines to be sure you are maximizing your delivery.

1. Get a clicker and use it to start, end and click through your slides. No more asking someone else to turn each slide, or bending over to reach the keyboard. Make it easy on yourself and keep the focus on your message.
2. Keep your feet and shoulders turned toward the audience. Once you turn your body toward the screen, it’s all over. As long as your feet and shoulders stay forward facing you will be more likely to stay connected with the audience.
3. Don’t read your slides. You know this, but if you get nervous you may succumb. Rehearse out loud, making sure you have something special to say about each slide. You won’t know this if your rehearsals are in your head. Practice out loud, preferably with a test audience.
4. Don’t comment on every point that is on the slides. Sometimes a high-level discussion is fine. Pick out the pertinent items to elaborate on. Interpret the content for the audience. Describe it in your own words. Provide an anecdote that ties the content together.
5. Break away from the slides. Start a discussion, get into an impromptu Q&A session, or blacken the screen and talk directly to the audience. This is fresh and unexpected. (Maybe you don’t even need all those slides.)

See? It is not that difficult to deliver effectively with slides. Too bad so many speakers do it poorly, when adopting just one or two of these will definitely make a positive impact.

I would love to hear from you. How do you speak when using slides? How do you keep the focus on your connection with your audience? How do you keep from reading your slides?

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 or 651-340-3008.

Web site: www.applauseinc.net

Blog: www.managementhelp.org/blogs

twitter: @ApplauseInc

How do you measure whether or not a document is communicating what it should? How do you define good documentation? – I define it as being applicable, usable, and error free. Documentation has to be written for the target audience as everyone has different roles and responsibilities. The following questions can be asked via feedback or during review time to ensure that all written material accomplishes its goal.

Feedback

Feedback can be gotten through comments, check points, or star ratings. Preprinted questions can sent out electronically or be attached to the back of each document. Some questions to ask are:

• Did you read it in detail
  • If no, what did you skip
• Were the Table of Contents, Appendix, and examples helpful?
• Was it easy to read and comprehend?
• Was the flow of the document consistent?
• Was the layout of the document suitable for reading?
• Were the activities suitable and helpful?
• How long did you spend on each portion of the document?
• Was it complete and understandable?
• Was the time spent worth it?
• Were you able to use the documents and did not make any mistakes while applying the knowledge?
• Would you refer this document to others – recommendations?
• Would you like to add something to the document?
• How often should this document be reviewed?
• Who is using this and where?
• What was missing-what else should be captured?
• Were you able to learn from this?
• Should there be more breaks or white space?
• Was the format of the document suitable?

Depending on the type of document written, focus the questions on the audience reading it. For example:

For trainers, coaches, mentors, instructors ask:

• Were there enough exercises, separations, directories, and appendixes?
• Did it contain accurate and precise content?
• Did it help to prepare the staff and/or learners?
• Did it reinforce learned knowledge

For a global organization, ask:

• Did the document capture and relay the objective of the organization?
• Was the correct knowledge transferred?
• Was the language used suitable, appropriate and understandable?
• Was the usage of the document easier than meeting face-to-face?
• Was the translation software able to phrase local terminology suitably?

For an IT department or technical personnel, examine the following:

• For Project managers, developers, and stakeholders,ask:
  • Were the requirements, and specifications complete enough?
  • Were there enough designs, illustrations, samples or were there too many?
  • Did it provide the appropriate critical security information?
  • Were the designs, cases, and purpose of the document accurate and reliable?
  • Was it organized well?
  • Were there enough business cases?
  • Was there enough data and information for marketing for sales engagement?
• For the QA department ask:
  • Were there enough scenarios to aid the testers?
  • Were documented requirements and specifications met?
  • Was there enough data for testing?
  • Was enough information given to access data and equipment for testing?

After collecting all the feedback, keep a running chart of the responses- keeping track over time will show you the worthiness of a document.

If you have had experience with measuring the quality of a document please leave a comment.

I know, I know, everyone else in your organization creates bullet pointed slides, complete with facts and numbers, or long lists of actions, reasons or steps. So why shouldn’t you? Well, one reason is that most of us will end up reading each bullet. Good, bad or indifferent, if it is on the slide we tend to read it. Another reason is that these lists of words and numbers are not visually appealing or memorable. They are easily snoozed through or forgotten.

We know better, yet we so often fall into the same-old bullet-point trap. Even if your organization does not encourage creative approaches, here are some strategies that might just encourage you to do better without getting too radical.

1. Declutter. Take out sentences, unnecessary words, headlines that repeat the title of your project over and over and details you probably won’t need. Group things. Use more slides, allow more white space. Ahhh, feels better already.
2. Increase color and graphics. Use SmartArt to create content that looks more like a graphic than just words. On the left is a simple example that would take you less than five minutes to create, and adds relationship information that bullet points would not.
3. Get rid of clip art. That smiley face? That silly stick figure? Out they go. The exception: your hand-drawn diagram, if it really tells the story. Create a screen capture or a scan and include that. Unlike clip art, we haven’t seen that a million times.
4. Add photos. Pictures you take yourself are best, like pictures of your team or your shop floor. Pictures your organization has the rights to (like your product) are terrific. Be sure whatever you use is royalty-free and that you have the rights to use it. Even Creative Commons pictures need to be studied carefully and attributed correctly to be sure you are using them legally. And do be sure the picture is there for a good reason, not just as decoration.
5. Get rid of templates and dark backgrounds. Unless your organization insists you use their corporate template (in which case, go for it,) consider using a simple white background without fancy fonts or treatments. Use a simple color palette of black, white, navy, or gray. This is a perfect canvas for easily-read content and for colorful graphics or photos. Use one or two at the most common fonts, preferably sans serif ones like Arial or Tahoma. (I really like Arial Black for headlines.)

Today, take a look at the slides for your next presentation. What can you take out? What could you add in that would add color, life and emotion? Be the maverick in your organization who dares to do better in creating and delivering visuals that actually add value to your presentations.

Please let me know what you think, what you have tried, and how better slides are perceived in your organization.