INTRODUCTION

An Elephant Named Digital Communication

This book started out as a “how-to guide” on communicating complicated topics…but something happened along the way.

  My plan was to share with you my experiences as a communicator specializing in helping clients explain subjects that most would consider difficult or complex. My job is to make sure my clients' concepts are articulated in a way that brings meaning to their ideas and turns the complicated into something understandable. I work with engineers, scientists, economists, and others who deal with big numbers and big concepts, and I assist them in molding their hard-to-comprehend content into something that nonspecialists, the rest of us, can readily grasp. Too often, potentially great projects are dismissed by management, investors, and regulators simply because those decision makers can't understand their value. But the communication of complicated ideas isn't just a corporate problem. Many of us shut out new ideas in business and at home when there's even a hint that the concept at hand may be too hard to figure out. Opportunities can be missed and bad things can happen when content originators don't explain their subjects in easy-to-understand language.

There's more need for my services than you can probably imagine. My career has been anything but boring: I have helped engineers at NASA communicate the Agency's need for information technology; I developed campaigns to help officials improve their economies on behalf of George Washington University; and I enabled dozens of startups to simplify their message for investors and potential clients. It's always rewarding to help organizations with interesting but complicated ideas explain themselves to the rest of the world.

To broaden the book beyond my own experiences and advice, I interviewed other professional communicators to see what they considered their “best practices” in communicating the complicated. I met some fascinating people along the way, and all was going fine—but the more interviews I conducted, and the more research I did, the more I realized the scope of the book needed to change. There was an elephant in the room with me, staring at me all day as I worked. Despite his mammoth size, I carried on like he wasn't using up all the oxygen in the room. But I couldn't ignore him any longer. He got too big and made too much noise. I knew I had to acknowledge his presence even if that meant changing the focus of the book. That elephant is named digital communication.

At the most basic level, new digital tools make it easier for people to access complicated subjects. The recent rise in the use of video, audio, graphics, and interactive features gives content producers the ammunition to fight battles in the name of knowledge. In this book, I will use the term multimedia to describe a broad range of communication tools. Multimedia means any type of presentation that uses both words and graphics. It can be as simple as a poster board with text and a photograph. Or it can be something more compelling—like data visualization, which offers us new ways to turn boring data into effective content. Infographics, for example, help us see meaning in things we couldn't otherwise comprehend. And the Internet—which has made all of these tools more accessible—has altered not only how we get information but also how we express ourselves. Digital technology is rewiring our brains and reshaping how we communicate.

What I learned from my years of explaining complicated subjects is still extremely useful. All that I do to make technical topics easier for others—from audience awareness to simplicity in writing to employing attention-grabbing techniques—is still essential to my role as a communicator. But digital technology is changing the rules about how we apply our skills in a transforming world. Most of us need to do more thinking about digital technology and how to strategically incorporate it into our communication efforts. No matter what new features come our way, we still need to be mindful of the classic techniques that have been employed by writers and orators for centuries. Winners in the transition from print thinking to digital expression will be people who can transfer classic communication styles to a uniquely modern paradigm.

Professionals “should learn to communicate with ordinary people. Then the common people wouldn't be so common.”¹

—JOHN L. BECKLEY

It's important for businesses to articulate who they are and what they do with clarity and meaning in order to survive in a society where complicated material is abundant. Our world is on the cusp of radical change as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and other advancements come of age. The digital revolution breaks the centuries-old tradition of knowledge being a precious commodity held by an elite few. The democratization of information is happening. Our job as communicators is to make a larger percentage of our population aware of these game-changing advancements. The digital age is about inclusion, not exclusivity. The Internet gives us the power to unite disparate people, and communicators are needed to use the technology to bring meaning to those who seek information.

And so, this book is not just about successfully communicating the complicated, but doing so in this new and exciting digital age. It is increasingly the case that failing to investigate the options available in our new Internet-charged world and embrace them in our daily work can cripple careers. Individuals who can incorporate new features into their skill set are more likely to thrive. In that spirit, I aim to illustrate what the digital revolution means to those of us who communicate.

I came up with the term supercommunicator to describe forward-thinking professionals who can apply classic writing, speaking, and content development skills to a mindset befitting the quickly evolving millennium. Modeled after the Greek god Hermes, who translated and delivered messages from Mount Olympus to earthbound mortals, supercommunicators make sense of an increasingly complicated world. They turn technical Geek-Speak into everyday, layman's language, enabling real people to see big-picture scenarios they might otherwise miss. Their efforts make intimidating ideas less frightening in an era of overabundant input. Most importantly, they are knowledgeable about new digital tools that help make learning easier—and can effortlessly incorporate them into their work.

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If you need to communicate as part of your professional responsibilities, I hope you will join me in adopting a supercommunicator mindset.

BIG-PICTURE IDEAS, PRACTICAL ADVICE

This is both a how-to book and a big-idea book. You can improve your ability to communicate complicated ideas as you learn from the tips and techniques explained in the following pages. Whether your professional interests have to do with targeting audiences, using new digital tools, or making changes to your writing style, I'm confident you'll find solutions you can make your own. I've also included numerous case examples and interesting stories to help you see how these techniques can be applied to real-life challenges.

If you're a business or government leader, this book is for you. Every day great ideas fall by the wayside because they weren't properly explained. To be successful in an increasingly competitive marketplace, you need to articulate a clear and easy-to-understand message to all relevant parties. Financiers, management, stockholders, board members, regulators, clients, analysts, and employees all demand clarity from you—and these days, business people don't have the interest or patience to wade through ineffective communications. Supercommunicating executives know how to touch their public with lucidity and conviction, or at least how to manage other people who can do this for them. This book aims to arm you with their tools and clue you in to their best practices.

If you're a communicator—and that's a broad area—this book is also for you. Whether you work for a public relations agency, marketing department, or news organization, or you develop content elsewhere, it's in your interest to see how the field of communications is responding to dramatic changes in technology and society. What's happening at lightning speed in the world today affects the way you will do your job, more than you may realize and very soon. This book is intended to provide you with a big-picture view and awareness of communications today, along with a bounty of useful, insightful ideas.

USE YOUR JUDGMENT

To make the best use of Supercommunicator, please use your judgment. This book offers advice everyone should consider, but there are also tips that may not be applicable to all situations. “Clarity,” for example, is something everyone who writes or speaks in business, science, and technology should know about. However, “storytelling,” another topic we'll explore, can be an excellent tool to explain complicated ideas—for the right audience. The method you use to speak to a crowd of creatives might not be suited for a rigid, button-down audience, and vice versa.

Ideally, most of my suggestions would be embraced by a world ready to communicate complicated content more effectively. But in actuality, some organizations cling to the formality and stilted ways of yesteryears. Your judgment is necessary to determine the applicability of content in this book to your situation. It may be worthwhile for you to be a maverick and forge a new communication style for your company—yet, if you go too far it could mean professional trouble. When possible, I do my best to point out what approaches to use for which audiences, but do be mindful of these matters on your own.