Make It Clear, Speak and Write to Persuade and Inform by Winston, Patrick Henry -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Table of Contents Foreword by Gill Pratt Acknowledgments Prologue: You Will Be Empowered

If you persuade or instruct, speak or write, this book is for you You will learn about academic, business, and government communication You will learn communication essentials You will find your own voice You will be smarter Promise

Part I: Essentials

1. Essentials of Persuasion

Show your hand immediately Use the VSN-C framework

2. Essentials for Being Remembered

Include a slogan Include a symbol Include a salient idea Include a surprise Include a story Ensure that you are remembered with Winston’s star

3. Essentials of Instruction

Start with an empowerment promise Tell stories Deliver on your promise

4. Essentials of Outlining

You could make a formal outline You should make a broken-glass outline

5. Essentials of Critiquing

Select and sequence your reviewers carefully Do not ask for brutal honesty Ask for maximum return on energy expended Offer actionable, principled, positive advice Offer criticism at the right time Never show incomplete written work to reviewers Expect harsh words from anonymous reviewers

6. Essentials of Ethical Behavior

Practice practical ethics Consider ethical implications of your choices Defend yourself against trickery

Part II: Presentation

7. How to Choose Time and Place

Present in the late morning or midafternoon Focus on stories when you speak after dinner Shape matters Lighting matters Shape can make a good talk bad Speak in a right-sized place

8. How to Prepare the Ground

Prepare the place Prepare yourself Prepare your audience

9. How to Start

Be glad to be there Express your Vision Explain your Steps Thrill with News

10. How to Stop

Conclude with Contributions Do not squander opportunity

11. How to Compose Slides

Slides are a blessing, slides are a curse Use simple slides with a minimal number of words We have only one language processor Solve the look-ahead problem Use bullet lists sparingly Show how the elements fit together Use blackout slides Eliminate animated transitions Consider a progress bar Use large fonts Include pictures of involved people Use the right number of slides Include rabbit holes Honor community expectations

12. How to Use Props

Great communicators use props The Great Communicator used human props

13. Adopt Good Habits

Choreograph your opening and closing lines Divide your talk into enumerated parts Avoid the lectern Use a remote control Decline the laser pointer Get a display between you and the audience Do not play with your hair Keep your hands out of your pockets Point with care Wear the right clothes Maintain eye contact Eliminate fillers and grunts Avoid up talking Mind the time Stick to one or two central themes Be positive Be ready for a flat audience Think about how to answer questions Imitate great speakers Compose stirring phrases

Part III: Instruction

14. How to Prepare to Instruct

Instruction and communication intersect Attend to broadly applicable essentials Be ready for awkward moments Lecture preparation involves extra steps

15. How to Deliver a Lecture

Live lectures remain popular Start with your empowerment promise Use boards to teach Force engagement by asking questions Encourage engagement via note-taking Ban mobile phones, open laptops, and other distracting devices Deliver on your promise

16. How to Inspire

There are many kinds of inspiration Inspiration flows from observed passion Exhibit your passion explicitly

Part IV: Writing

17. How to Write to Be Understood

Good readers deploy reading heuristics Authors hallucinate that their writing is clear Seasoned readers extract the essence from surface clues Provide the surface clues readers need

18. How to Organize Your Writing

Write the Contributions section first Optionally, prepare the illustrations Add sections expected by your community Write the Vision, Steps, and News sections next Finally, write an abstract Optionally, write about the past Optionally, write about the future Include acknowledgments according to convention

19. What to Put at the Beginning

Start with your Vision Indicate Steps Add News

20. What to Put at the End

Conclude with a Contributions section Do not conclude with a Conclusions section

21. How to Write an Abstract

Use a VSN-C checklist Details sell Write it, then rewrite it Exploit your broken-glass outline

22. How to Learn by Imitation

Learn from great writers Reading great writers makes you a better writer Assemble your own examples of great writing

23. How to Avoid Style Blunders

Read classic works Honor essential elements of grammar and style Get the help you need

24. How to Defeat Writer’s Block

You are not alone You have many options Ease into what you want to say Condition yourself to write Overcome fear

Part V: Design

25. How to Make Design Choices

Design matters Someone may make your choices for you Many design choices remain Stay in charge

26. How to Arrange Graphics

Use the grid layout scheme Grids also work with text elements

27. How to Select Type Families

Understand type families, typefaces, and fonts Know the characteristics of the standard type families Choose from a few standard type families Ignore Latin text samples when selecting type families

28. How to Work with Graphs

Get rid of chart junk; keep it simple Tell the truth; do not squander clarity to save space Misleading graphics are easy to find Use labels, not keys

29. How to Work with Images

Crop images using the rule of thirds Use big images Emphasize size with even bigger images Aspect-ratio preferences evoke controversy

Part VI: Special Cases

30. How to Prepare a Poster

Posters need an element that pops Posters need an element that expresses Contributions Posters invite artistic design Electronic posters offer advantages and disadvantages A quad chart is a poster on a slide

31. How to Give an Elevator Pitch

Elevator pitches are not only for elevators VSN-C works

32. How to Be Interviewed

Anticipate questions Know what can happen in a media interview

33. How to Write a Press Release

Journalists are busy, so give them all they need Write the story for them Expect your story to be trimmed Focus on the headline Include who, what, when, where, and why Identify the VSN-C elements Include meaningful quotes Details sell Exhibit excitement and passion Purge acronyms and jargon from your story Include a picture Make your offering relevant Know the rules of engagement

34. How to Write a Review

Evaluate the VSN-C elements Describe who should read what you have reviewed Supply details

35. How to Write a Recommendation Letter

Follow broadly applicable principles Augment as needed in special cases For prizes, focus on impact and inspiration Ask for and provide talking points

36. How to Run a Briefing Conference

Be relevant Identify the big ideas for the trip report

37. How to Run a Panel Discussion

Seat the panelists at three tables Introduce the panel members briefly Forbid opening statements Prepare the questions Skip the lectern, get rid of the soft seating Ask embarrassing questions, start arguments Have the audience submit questions on cards Limit the discussion to an hour Offer a summary when it is over

38. How to Write a Blog

Decide what kind of blog you are writing Tell a story with local color Tell a story about what happened Write a review, especially if positive

Epilogue: You Are Empowered Bibliography Index Colophon

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