Are you giving a speech? Leading a meeting? Teaching something to someone?
Communicating clear messages is the secret to success. If you can explain things better, you can get your point across.
“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”
Tony Robbins, an American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist
Your messages must be clear, concise, and memorable.
“Communication works for those who work at it.”
John Powell, an English composer
You don’t want to have trouble communicating your thoughts and ideas to others. You want to ensure your messages are clear so you can pass along your knowledge to others.
10 tips to ensure you communicate clear messages
Here are 10 tips to ensure your message is well-received, memorable, and acted upon.
1. Determine how much your audience understands
To know your audience, you must assess how much they already understand the topic you are discussing. You must be acutely aware of your audience and what they know and don’t know.
This will help you come across in the right way, so you know what level of experience they have with a topic.
Be careful not to assume how much your audience knows about a topic. When you explain something to your audience, you must seek to understand.
You don’t want to come across as condescending by covering basic knowledge, while you can’t go too advanced where people don’t know the basics of a topic.
It’s also crucial to avoid the curse of knowledge — a thinking bias when someone communicating with another person unknowingly assumes the other person has the same expertise to understand.
You could ask your audience, “on a scale of 1–10 (1 being you don’t know much about this topic, where 10 is where you know a lot), what would you rate your level of knowledge on this topic?”
2. Hook your audience with the “why”
Why should the people who listen to your message care what you say? It would help if you made your message meaningful to other people. It would be best to convince your audience why they should spend their precious time with you.
For your audience to listen to you, they must be genuinely interested in what you are saying.
It would help if you piqued the interest of your audience, so they keep listening and are excited about your ideas.
The “why” should start from the beginning of your message — the opening.
3. Break your messages up into smaller ones
Big concepts can be intimidating. However, when you break up a complex topic into smaller chunks, they are easier to understand. That’s why lists or step-by-step instructions are popular.
Your audience doesn’t want to consume your entire message at once. We are bombarded with tons of information every day. Too much information can lead to cognitive overload in the brain.
When presenting your ideas, give your audience bite-size nuggets. Use three-part lists because the power of three works.
Three is the smallest pattern, and the rule of three works because it is concise, unique, and sticky.
For example, who doesn’t know the real estate saying, “location, location, location.”
Another way to break things up is to use step-by-step instructions where you outline an explanation in order. Identify the process and outline each step. They are digestible and easy to remember.
4. Use repetition
Research has found that repetition increases memory and recollection. Repetition doesn’t mean you say the same thing repeatedly, but you should explain a concept several times differently.
If a concept is new or unfamiliar, it’s essential to explain it in many ways so people can understand it.
There is no exact number of repetitions that you can use for people to remember your messages.
However, a range of 3 to 10 times is a good rule of thumb.
For example, in Martin Luther King’s famous 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, he repeated “I have a dream” 11 times.
The timing of your repetition is also crucial, so ensure you evenly space your repetition because our memories are strengthened over time.
If you want to really repeat your main messages, include them in the beginning, middle, and end.
5. Keep it simple
The best messages are simple and straightforward. Avoid using complex sentences and big vocabulary words.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Albert Einstein, a theoretical physicist
Yes, you may feel intelligent and intellectual using unique words, but these words can distract from your message.
For example, your audience may have to Google a word or ask you what a word means.
This will distract your audience from remembering your messages because they are fixated on one word you said.
To keep it simple, avoid using corporate business jargon and buzzwords. Talk in simple language that your mother and father would understand.
Also, give concrete examples to support your points and speak in short sentences. Keeping it simple is about removing the noise around your message that distracts your audience from understanding your core points.
6. Be creative with your explanations
If you want people to listen and remember your ideas, you should get creative with your explanations. Some tactics are helpful to help people hear and retain information.
Use metaphors, smiles, and analogies to be creative with your messages. A metaphor is a mini story that explains a concept.
For example, here are some metaphors:
- Her eyes were diamonds
- He is a shining star
- The snow is a white blanket
- She is a night owl
- He is an early bird
- They are couch potatoes
- They experienced a roller coaster of emotions
Another way to be creative is to use similes — a figure of speech that compares one thing to another. They make things more vivid.
For example, here are some similes:
- As innocent as a lamb
- As tough as nails
- As hot as hell
- As white as a ghost
- As cool as a cucumber
- As cold as ice
The final way is to use analogies — a comparison of two topics to explain and clarify.
For example, here are some analogies:
- He’s as blind as a bat
- You have to be as busy as a bee to get good grades in school
- Finding that item will be like finding a needle in a haystack
- You are the wind beneath my wings
- He is a diamond in the rough
- America is the great melting pot
7. Use visuals
People think in images, not words. You must create a visual image of your message. People will remember what you have to say more when you use visuals.
The human mind processes an image 60,000 times faster than a word.
Visualizations are as vital as words.
For example, you could use a Venn diagram to explain differences and similarities.
Examples of visuals are symbols, maps, graphs, tables, charts, illustrations, and photos.
8. Notice body language
You must pay attention to their body language to ensure your message resonates with your audience. Nonverbal feedback shows if your audience is confused with your messages.
Body language will tell you if your audience is interested in you what you are saying or not.
Learning to decode body language is powerful to ensure you are making sense. Look for cues with your audience’s body language.
For example:
- If they wrinkle their eyebrows, slump down, or have wandering eyes, they are confused or disinterested.
- If they are leaning forward, making direct eye contact, and their mouth is relaxed, they comprehend what you are saying.
9. Make phrases mnemonic
Do you remember the rhymes “I before E, except after C” for the spelling rules or “righty tighty, lefty loosey” on how to turn screws?
These are mnemonic devices — a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that help you remember something.
If you want your audience to remember your messages, add some mnemonic phrases so your audience can remember your key points.
These phrases will help your audience store and retrieve the information later.
10. Save the most critical information for the beginning and end
People are more likely to remember the first and last things you say. You should emphasize your most crucial information at the start and end of your messages.
Please take advantage of our cognitive biases.
For example, anchoring bias is where people rely too heavily on the first piece of information they receive about a topic. This is why it’s tough to change the first impression.
Another example is recency bias — the tendency to favor recent information and experiences over historical events.
Recent bias places too much emphasis on fresh experiences, even if they are not the most relevant. The human brain uses its limited mental energy to remember recent data over things that happened long ago.
Bringing it all together
There are 10 powerful tips to help ensure you communicate clear messages and you are communicating well.
Determine how much your audience understands, hook your audience with the “why,” break your messages up into smaller ones, use repetition, and keep it simple.
Furthermore, be creative with your explanations, use visuals, notice body language, make phrases mnemonic, and save the most critical information for the beginning and end.
“Make sure to communicate your idea quickly and keep it straight to the point.”
Paul Bailey, a British author
Communicating clear messages is the secret sauce to your success. Explaining yourself in straightforward language can transform your personal and professional relationships. If you clearly communicate your messages, people will be more likely to listen, internalize, and act on your ideas.