Category: Advertising & PR

Numerous types of processes (i.e., business processes) exist in many organizations. Processes specifically involve defining and outlining a sequence of events or systematic movements that are to be followed. These processes need to be documented and identified by the Technical Writer.

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Benefits
Documenting processes
• ensures that everyone understands the overall picture of what the processes entail,
• notes who are involved to accomplish an important task or to reach a goal,
• helps by providing a summary and a guideline describing the flow of a process from the beginning stage to the end.

Examples
There are many examples of processes, such as how to select a vendor, how to handle an insurance claim, how to get a product tested, or simply how to move a department into another area of a building.
• For a new product creation process, the criterion involved might include approval, development, financial, or testing processes, etc.
• For an insurance claim process the main instance might be broken down into, e.g., review, administrative, or adjustment processes, etc.

Content
A process (business) document can include:
• Purpose, description, and scope.
• Those that are involved as well as those that are affected by the process, especially if the business process is replacing another one.
• Who will be using it.
• Where it will be used.
• How it will be used.
• Why it will be used.
Documenting business processes help to maintain communication, order, and lessen confusion and questions.

Format
For illustrating a process, the Technical Writer has a variety of methods to use. The following techniques can be applied:
• Mapping – mapping helps by seeing how things are connected and organized.
• Wire frames – wire frames help by allowing the whole picture to b displayed.
• Flowchart – flowcharts help by seeing how one step will flow into another.
• Workflow – work flow diagrams help by allowing the audiences see a model or prototype of the process.
• Colors, graphics, pointers, etc.
There are a variety of methods that can be used to depict a, e.g., business process.

Success
For the documentation to be successful, the Technical Writer has to seek out the knowledge management people, the SMEs – Subject Matter Experts and gather necessary information to answer the questions of ‘Who What Where When How’. Also, as always, know the audience and create what is needed to ensure understanding and the transfer of knowledge.
Note: Once a process is defined then sub-procedural steps can be gathered. Hence, the overall business process would be the top echelon and the core detailed steps would be the procedures that underly the process.

If you have previously documented various processes, I.e., business processes and can add more information please leave a comment.

It is always good to do a review as some of us might have forgotten the essentials of how to create a document full of technical information for your audience. Another acronym for technical writing could be informational writing or knowledge writing or even instructional writing. Let us start at the beginning.

Basics
• Build relationships and communicate well between all parties.
• Know your subject matter but also know what information you want to transfer. You can have a very good knowledge of a subject, but you do not have to transfer all that information, e.g., management likes point-by-point information, so do not write a lengthy report for them if it is not required – only write what is needed.
• Know your target audience and keep them in mind as you write.
• Just provide what is either requested, or what the audience needs to know. Remember to be concise and get to the point; make it simple.

Essentials
• Communicate well, know your audience, and keep them in mind as you write.
• Be organized. If steps are required, be sure to include a sequenced number of tasks to follow – directions have to be in order.
• Be aware of the cause and effect of what is written. For example, ‘Press the Help key.’ Will have the effect of, e.g., a list of helpful explanations. In other words, make sure that results from what is written is clearly understood or expected.
• Be careful of your spelling of words as a misspelling can cause a huge misunderstanding. You do not want to instruct someone to ‘burn the handle’ when you meant ‘turn the handle’.
• As always, be concise and clear. Using the right words ensure that the instructions are understood, especially when being a global technical writer.
• Be diligent; perform your due diligence and validate your information – and make sure you read and reread what you have written to ensure knowledge is transferred correctly. If that is not done, a host of miscommunications can occur.

Being Successful
• Listen to understand what has been requested from you.
• Listen to understand and question what knowledge is being transferred to you.
• Learn from others to be knowledgeable – take down notes
• Collaborate with others in order to ensure that all parties are in agreement. This also ensures that you will be successful in what you produce.
• Translate information in a clear and easy to understand language to your target audience.
• Use different methodologies in order to maintain the interest of your readers.
• Be consistent – too many styles and fonts can be confusing for the reader and be visually tiring to the eyes. You want them to see and absorb the information; not ignore it because it is visually unappealing. Be consistent in writing and in presenting.

Finally, remember to communicate as a trainer through written material and work as an editor, illustrator, and designer to transfer your information. In addition, as always, know your timelines in order to meet your goals.
More information on being a Technical Writer can be gathered from previous posts. If you have any questions, please leave a comment. Thank you.

We don’t always realize it, but sometimes we are being told what to do visually. Take these as examples:
• A zebra crosswalk on the road – we know to walk within the zebra crossing.
• A sign of a bicycle – we know the lane is a bicycle path.
• A light switch- we know that touching it will either turn the lights on or off.
• A bump in the road- we know we have to slow down.
• A gate – we know that we cannot trespass.
And so on…

Marketing

Visual designs are used quite often in marketing.Take these as examples:
• Showing pictures of items on sale entices buyers to make purchases or entices them to at least go into the store and to see what else is there.
• Showing a coin through a mail envelope or even a picture of a free item entices recipients to open the mail envelope and to see what else is inside.
• Showing lock holders on a door indicates that we need a lock to close the door.
• Showing parts of a movie can entice people to take notice and to go see or not see the movie.

Images

We don’t always have to use words to make a point. We can use images to communicate.
• We can use graphics and charts to show the ups or downs of a trend.
• We can use images to show approvals or disapprovals.
• We can use icons to indicate what applications exist on a laptop.
• We can use signs to show inclines and curves that will be coming up while driving.

Imagination

Being able to come up with an appropriate design for communicating takes a great deal of imagination. Where or how do we begin? You can:
• Just think of what you want or want to change.
• Just think of what would happen if you did something different or didn’t do anything.
• Just draw what is there or what you want or just doodle to create any image and make use of lines and arrows if you are creating some sort of process or procedure.
• Just begin slowly or simply. For example, start with a simple drawing of a dog and then have him growling to show danger or show drawings of children with an arrow pointing to a schoolhouse to indicate children crossing to school and to slow down.

You don’t have to be an artist. Drawing stick figures representing people or animals is fine. Drawing as if you’re in kindergarten is ok. Perfection doesn’t count at this point as long as you get your idea built. You can have professionals do what you need later.
Communicating through visual designs exists all around us. Simply look around the next time you take a walk.
If you have had experience developing visual designs for communicating please leave a comment. Thank you

If you are presenting, odds are you are using your laptop either to walk the listeners through content in a small group, or projected on a screen to a larger group, or online when speaking with a virtual group. It’s just how we present these days. But so many people stumble over the technology, which at best makes them look unprepared and flustered. With a little common sense you can make sure technology stays in the background, where it belongs.

Follow these suggestions to make the most of your visual presentations:

• Place your presentation (or a shortcut) on your computer desktop so you can find it quickly.
• Replace personal desktop graphics with a businesslike background. No one needs to see your work space, projects, or pets.
• Turn off screen savers, instant messaging notices, automatic updates and sleep functions.
• Double-check hyperlinks to be sure they are all working, especially if you are moving your presentation from a desktop to a laptop.
• Check for compatibility with the projector ahead of time if possible.
• Set up your presentation on a break or before your session begins whenever possible.
• If your slides look dull, you probably have an old bulb in the projector. It might help to turn off lights in front of the screen. Don’t darken the room completely.
• Check your internet connectivity if needed.
• Plug in the laptop; don’t rely on the battery.
• Use a wireless slide advancer whenever possible, instead of having someone else advance your slides.
• Keep water or coffee away from your laptop.
• Always have a backup plan; your presentation on Flash Drive, intranet, or send a copy to a colleague who will be present. A hard copy will save you if all else fails.
• Compress pictures and limit the file size when on the road so that it can fit on a flash drive.
• After your presentation, be sure to pack all your cords and cables, and flash drive if you are using it.

Story telling is useful, effective, and important when it comes to communication. You do not have to listen to complicated boring lectures nor read tons of manuals to understand the content. For example, how do you show the growth of a company? How do you show what happened during its history? Visual storytelling can help. It’s as if you are watching a movie or even seeing a series of eye-catching cartoon frames.

To start, relate the story to the business. Write out your script.
• Make the viewers see the movement of a company from the past to the beginning by letting them see the growth of the company and all of its innovations, transformations, and makeovers.
• Show what was updated easily by narrating what was and what occurred through a series of stories.
• Make a telling infographic using any variety of charts. For example, within the charts, you can apply smaller letters to depict the beginning of a company and then apply larger letters as the company grows. Or, use your imagination to show how things were before and how they are now by using striking colors for data comparisons.
• Use mappings with movements and real images to create a feeling for the company and all its relationships.
• Show movement by linking relevant items. Try to present or display some form of motion from the data. To get more attention and responses from your audience while displaying this, take photos of relevant items designed to not only impress but to make them feel confident about what you are displaying.
• Show details when needed, use mappings and lines to point to other relevant information.
• Make it creative impressive and memorable. Use your highlight and design the story for the audience you were trying to capture.
• Make it organized and fun to view as you lead them and move from one focal point to the next.

Benefits
Storytelling has been used through the ages to communicate what has happened in the past. Use the same technique to get your point across or to describe some new technology. Story telling:
• Allows people to visualize the importance of the content at hand. For example, animation is always more easily viewed than straight lectures without any interaction.
• Compliments technical writing content. For technical writing, stories can be applied, especially when they present different scenarios. Use story time and your videos charts to describe features
• Supports your technology or business plan or ideas or methodologies.
• Adds to collaboration in describing a brand.
• Allows you to actually allows the target audience to focus and understand more clearly what is being explained

Storytelling is useful for training sessions, information retrieval, education, and global teaching. Use it whenever you can to make lectures more appealing.

If you have had any experience with applying story telling in business, please leave a comment or add to this content. Thank you.

You may be presenting as a team to win new business, update a major project, or as part of a conference or special event. Any time you are presenting as a team, you need to take specific steps to be sure the whole team works well together to make the presentation a success.

1. Select a strong team leader who has the leadership ability and authority to make on-the-spot decisions. Whether it’s content, structure, presenters, etc, this person needs to take full responsibility for the overall success of the presentation.
2. Make sure everyone understands the overall presentation objectives as well as their roles in the development of the final presentation.
3. Write your overall objective in one sentence or less. What do you want your audience to know, do, or feel as a result of the presentation? This helps you maintain focus during the preparation process.
4. Ace transitions, openings and closings. When done well, these create a smooth, cohesive presentation. When done badly, they send a poor message about the team and the organization.
5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Everyone must be completely familiar with presentation content, visual aids, and transitions between presenters. It is critical that the team practice together in order to reach a high level of comfort with the presentation and each other. A full dress rehearsal with visual aids is a must!

Team presentations provide special challenges, but if you are out to win that new account or ace that project report, the extra effort you put in up front will pay for itself in results.

Good communication does not just involve the transfer of information from one entity to another. Prior to the exchange of information, a basic and important element of good communication is the confirmation and validation of facts that will be conveyed.

• To validate data, appropriate tests need to be run, such as running the data through business cases, usability testing, and case models.
• To validate fluctuating data, appropriate meetings can also be set up to establish and authenticate the information, such as when you need up-to-date information for a status report.
• To validate any data received from others, make sure beforehand that you were clear as to what information you were asking for. It is a good idea to give an explanation, and then follow through with an example for further clarification of what material you were seeking.

To check the correctness of any data gathered or received, apply the following tips before communicating the information to others.

One – Use your interpersonal skills to partner with subject matter experts to ensure validation and accuracy of information. Also, engage and increase collaboration with other internal communicators to learn about their procedures for authentication.

Two – Partner with stakeholders to make sure all requirements for the information were met. Also make sure that management approves of all the information that is to be distributed. But mostly, make sure that the information is relevant.

Three – Apply your time management skills to make sure all requests were met and that all gathered information is organized and ready to be disseminated. This skill set will allow you to work effectively to deliver the objective.

Four – Develop procedures and processes to make sure all information will be validated and finally distributed either verbally, or through manuals handbooks, and/or presentations (written and verbal).

Five – Apply your knowledge management skills and experience to ensure that all information is appropriately authorized and correct. Manage and maintain good records by double checking that the authentication and distribution procedures have been completed.

Six – Track outcomes of validated information. Conduct assessments, analyses, evaluations, and surveys to ensure that all vital information is precise, accurate, and distributed.

Seven – Remain on top of all developments, changes, updates, etc. by monitoring and evaluating all tasks involving the specific information. Assist those that need help in either finding more specific data or in organizing and presenting the information. This way, facilitating improvements in the future for gathering or confirming the information can be accomplished.

To ensure the information and work has been authorized and confirmed (prior to distributing information), ownership of the task has to be taken. Be involved and validate the data yourself especially if you have to disseminate the information globally.

This is not to say that the above guidelines fit every scenario, but at least it provides a beginning as to how to ensure validation of data before disseminating it.

If you have performed a similar task, please leave a comment. Thank you.

A recent workshop discussion led to this question: what kind of communicator are you, really? What are the best practices to adopt in order to be a great communicator? The class participants thought about what kind of attitudes we sometimes bring to communication, and came up with this list of best practices.

As you read the list below, be aware that we tend to judge ourselves not by our actual behavior but by our intentions: “I meant to listen; it’s just that I was so busy when you called…” While it is true that your heart is probably in the right place, the pressures of time, stress and multi-tasking can undermine those best intentions and leave you with less-than-desirable behavior.

Starting today, take a look at what you actually do, since this is what the people around you actually experience. Or, if you are feeling especially brave, ask someone you know and trust to give you some feedback on how well you approach communication. Specifically, how are you doing in your communication approach?

Here are some hallmarks of the approach great communicators consistently take:

• Be polite, respectful in communication. Do you say “please” and “thank you?” Do you check with the person to see if this is a good time for them? Or do you bark out orders on your way past them?
• Be sincere. Do you really notice the others around you? Do you see them as whole people with lives and feelings? Or just as someone who can do something for you–or get in your way? When you travel, do you take time to notice all the people who serve you, from the taxi driver to the flight attendant? Do you take a moment to reaffirm the people around you, and to show them sincere appreciation?
• Be professional. Do you watch your language or let it fly? Do you have good grammar? Do you speak clearly? Do you have an obnoxious laugh? Do you tell dirty jokes? Do you gossip? Or do you try to speak professionally everywhere you go, knowing that “you never know” who might be listening.
• Be patient. Yes, you are under stress. Probably so are those around you. When you travel, do you shout at drivers ahead of you? Or are you like the passive-aggressive traveller behind me in the “professional traveller” security line who kept grumbling criticism of those ahead of him? Those stressful times are exactly when you should remind yourself to breathe.
• Be empathetic. Sometimes it feels good to vent, but not so good for the person on the receiving side. Take time to ask yourself how that person facing you feels. A smile and thank you could really help someone, and cost you very little. A brief apology if you have been unkind may make both sides feel better.
• Think, plan and prepare before talking, typing or sending. Of course you are in a hurry. Of course you are thinking of three (or ten!) things at once. But before you shoot off that hurried e-mail, think it though. Before you call someone onto the carpet, be sure you are speaking with the right person, at the right time. Before you send that newsletter, e-mail, invitation, or any other document, clear your mind and re-read it. Watch out for incomplete sentences, typos, and fuzzy thinking.

Communication is a complex, important human skill that requires your full attention. Be a great communicator. Check your communication approach.

You have been given the task of setting up a plan to make sudden changes to, e.g., processes. How do you let people know and how do you communicate planning objectives that you have developed. What do you do first? What if there is resistance?

First Steps

• Communicate with and set up meetings in order to interact with those instigating the changes, e.g., directors, partners, consultants, users, etc.
• Ask questions to obtain knowledge about the subject matter and to obtain requirements about the task before the undertaking.
• Gather all the basic information you need through meetings and encounters.
• Once the necessary knowledge is gathered, meet again to reassess the objective.

After gathering all the necessary information, it’s now time to interact with the people affected by the changes.

Second Steps

• Define the goal and scope of the project; state the case.
• When communicating with users or anyone affected by the changes, be clear about what is needed, the why and specify what modifications, transformations, or adjustments will be forthcoming.
• Create and maintain ongoing status meetings. Inform attendees that there will be further meetings to share information, to hear any concerns, and to see if everything is on track.
• Remain organized by creating a short but concise document, like an Action Plan to share.

Communicating Planning Objectives

• Within an Action Plan, include its purpose with a summary and explain and clarify the details; be accurate and precise.
• Ensure you involve all developers and stakeholders.
• State the proposal, strategy, and design of the plan.
• Describe what exists, what is needed, and the goals.
• In particular, ensure you have noted the necessary personnel as well as the budget.

Handling Resistance

• Identify with those affected by the changes and acknowledge their fears and questions and make sure they understand why a new process is necessary. Justify the action required by explaining how this task came about. Explain what analysis was done and the negative effects if the task is not completed.
• Get management to support you and your task.
• Be aware of how those that are unsure perceive you. Be complimentary, cooperative, and transparent in your communication. This will generate and/or improve collaboration. Show them you respect them for their knowledge and questions, and that you will take their concerns into consideration and will get back to them at either the next meeting or as soon as possible.

Next Steps

• Set up a project plan with critical paths and milestones. Benefits of this allows for keeping the project on track, as well as anticipating and preparing for any possible incidents.
• Create a short-term plan as well as contingency plans for any unforeseen events.
• Set up blocks of time for work and availability to maintain communication with others.
• Maintain status meetings as work progresses to avoid any problems.

If you have had experience in leading a group to complete a task, please leave a comment as to how you handled the responsibility. Thank you.

How you speak, and the words and phrases you use, make a huge impact in the way you are perceived on the job, as well as in everyday life. For example, every time I hear someone say, “no problem,” I cringe. Why are you even bringing up the word problem? Instead, focus on the positive side of the phrase, by saying “you’re welcome,” “glad to help,” or “my pleasure.”

Here are some more positive phrases you might want to adopt, so that you are seen as a positive, can-do person.

• How can I help?
• What do you need?
• I’ll get it done.
• Of course.
• I will take care of that for you.
• I understand.
• When would you like this?
• I appreciate that.
• I’ve got your back.
• Well done.
• Thank you.
• My pleasure.
• Yes.
• You’re welcome.
• Here is what I can do…

In general, focus on what you can do, or can say yes to, instead of saying what you can’t or won’t do. It will make a world of difference in your communication.