“By getting to know your readers, you will find it easier to talk to them as they would expect you to."
----- From the website http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/effective-communication/
Everyone has their particular role in the society and communication happens all around us. It is very common to communicate with your friends or colleague face to face or by written materials. However, there is only a minority group of people who are able to convey their information in the most effective way. Therefore, to communicate effectively is essential for us to be professional or hospitality and it also help you to show your love to your girlfriend or boyfriend clearly and emotional.
I have been introduced a model of effective communication, called PAC-SSS. From the name, it shows us that there are 6 parts involved, which are purpose (P), audience (A), channel (C), substance (S), strategy (S), and style (S). In my opinion, the most important part in this model is the audience. If without the audience, the conversation is disappeared immediately and the communication is meaningless.
I would like to make friends. However there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, different background will reflect on my information in the very different way. Therefore, before or at the very beginning of a conversation, what I need to do is to understand what the audience already knows and what he/she wants to know from me. If I could be clear with these two criteria, I will tell myself that I have found the key to open the door of the effective communication.
At the end of my first blog, I want to say that there is a long way to go to be a professional communicator and the first step is to accumulate as many effective communication skills as you can. So, let’s do it together.
Cheers!
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ReplyDeleteHi Ella,
ReplyDeleteThe audience indeed is the key to communicating effectively. Without the audience, any speech would be meaningless because there is no one listening and responding. Not everyone can be made to be an audience in every communication process though.
Take this for example, a shop assistant trying to sell cosmetic products. The assistant would probably have an easier time convincing a lady to buy instead of the gentlemen standing beside her.
The idea here is "target audience" which is widely used by film producers, advertising companies, sales personnels etc.(I'm sure we are also the target of this module =D ) It allows efficient use of resources because it is not feasible to target everyone. Like what you have mentioned "before or at the very beginning of a conversation, what I need to do is to understand what the audience already knows and what he/she wants to know from me". That's the secret to effective communication right?!
Hi Ella,
ReplyDeleteI agree that audience is an important component of communication. However, I feel that the purpose is equally important as well!
Purpose of the communication is what dictates the audience. Like what Terence has mentioned in the scenario of selling cosmetics, the purpose of selling cosmetics make the audience for that particular communication to be that of the lady instead of the guy(unless he wants to buy that for his girlfriend or mother?). What do you think?
Hey yo! Liu Chang!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the audience is a key component durig conversation since it determins what you want to say and how you say it. However, actually every element is equally important. If effective communication is a wall, then those factors are the bricks. The wall cannt be built nicely unless every brick is nicely arranged. But what we can do is to indentify our strengths and weaknesses. Then enhance our strengths and improve our weaknesses accordingly.
Cheers! Let's work hard together. Oneday, the whole world will listen to us! haha...
Ella, this is one informative and concise post. I like the PAC-SSS model you shared - very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the audience is an important component in communication and that we should never 'lose sight' of them; that being said, I am not sure if they are the 'Key' to effective communication, as what your title suggests? What do you think?
In your blog post, you emphasized the importance of the audience in any communication situation, and shared that if you could understand what the audience already knows and what he/she wants to know, you would become an effective communicator. While you have stated the areas you need to work on in order to become an effective communicator, I feel that you have not really answered the fundamental question required of this blog post - why effective communication skills are important for you. If you could bring the discussion down to a more personal level - you would have responded more appropriately to the blog assignment.
Nevertheless, thanks for your good effort, Ella. I look forward to reading your second blog post!
Hi, Liu Chang
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by your understanding concerning communication and also your introduction about the PAC-SSS model is interesting. But what I learned most from your blog post is your idea -"to understand what the audience already knows and what he/she wants to know from me"
For the long time past, I always tried to express myself before my friends with all the efforts. However, you remind me that I seldom think of what my friends expect from me when I'm talking. In the other words, the reflection on the feedback provided is lack of in my communication process.
The reflection part is important because through which you could understand the receiver's mood dynamically and adjust the proper topic to carry on the conversation.
Thanks for your sharing and I really benefit a lot.
Hi, Ms Lim and fellow classmates,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I also realize that I need to some complementation for my first post.
Here is an example from my own experience. I am the president of NTU Traditional Taekwondo Club. As a team leader, I have two roles to play. One is "boss" to allocate the tasks for the fellow committee members. The other one is "employee" to report the work plan and objectives of each event to our club training coordinator. Now, there are two different kinds of audience. For the committee members, what they want to know is the workload and deadline to submit their results. However, the requirements of our coordinator is the main objectives of each event and the benefits for our club.
In fact, I didn't do well in communication with my boss, the coordinator. I tend to do more in practise and show him the final results instead of drawing the "blueprint" before it happens. However, the communication between us is really not effective and it is hard for me to get the encourage from my boss.
Therefore, I need to work hard in this module and learn more about effective communication, because it is really important for me to get what I want from our club in the future.
HELLO ELLA!:)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insightful post and sharing with us the PAC-SS model! The acroymns would serve as a baseline for us to check if we are on the right track! :D I do agree with you that our audience is one important component of effective communication as they are the target that we are trying to deliver our point across to and only when our audience get the message the sender is trying to relate. However, I find that the channel(C) and style(S) of conveying the message across are equally important too. For instance, delivering the message through a sms can sometimes be misleading as the recipient could not read the tone of the message and usually tend to interpret the sms at the emotional state that they are feeling at that instant. So especially if one is trying to clear any misunderstandings, I believe that the channel would be a very important component here for effective communication in this case :) What do you think?
I believe that the style of writing plays an important too as the way we phrase of words can affect the mood of the reader, just as what Ms Lim has shared in class with us today, the positive phrasing of the words can change the perception of the reader on the message greatly! And on a side note, I like to make friends too! Haha, hope to interact and know more about you through our future ES activities!! :D
huiting(:
Hi, Hui Ting,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I agree with you that the style of writing is also important in our daily life. However, what my main point of this blog post is that in my opinion, the channel and 3 "S" serve the audience (+ purpose). If the audience has changed, others criteria will be selected in an alternative way. For example, if you are a singer, you want to invite someone to attend your personal concert. If the audience is your best friends, sending a short message or give them a phone call is the effective way to show you passion. However, if the audience is the public, the short messages will not be appropriate when it compared to the official advertisement.
Anyway, thank you for coming to my blog and I warmly welcome you.
Liu Chang
Thanks for the elaboration, Ella!
ReplyDelete