EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION
CONTENTS • Modes and dimensions of communication • Oral communication • Written communication • Prescription for developing communication skills
COMMUNICATION …… • Styles: formal, informal and casual • Modes: vertical and horizontal • Dimensions: understanding and agreement; effectiveness and efficiency
Ineffective Communication
“Sir, my employer wants a letter about the completion of my thesis written by you !�
Effective Communication !! "I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I making big report in papers." --- Okhil Chandra Sen to Sahibganj Divisional Railway Office (1909)
Inefficient → Efficient a considerable amount of → much the given data → data in the event that → if deposited precipitate → precipitate the nature of Hoyle’s work is Hoyle’s work is always of a provocative kind → always provocative
Efficient Communication I am writing a long letter since I do not have the time to write a shorter one. - Pascal
Communication is for others.
Improvement in communication improves • quality of learning process • interpersonal relations
ORAL COMMUNICATION Verbal: spoken words, pauses, stress and intonation vocal
words
38 % 7%
55 %
Non-verbal: gesture and facial expression
Attention span Attention span of the audience: initial 20 min of concentration, lapse for 10-20 min, slight recovery and then renewed relapse till the end.
It can be increased by adding variety to the talk interaction, diagrams, audiovisuals, pace of speech, pitch of the voice, length of sentences, pauses, repetition; gesturing with hands, humor.
VOCAL FEATURES • Pause – Gives prominence to a word by isolation Raises suspense May be caused by nervousness and memory lapse • Stress – Within sentences each word is not of equal earth shattering importance; nouns and verbs receive more stress than adjectives and adverbs. Accent is the stress given to syllables within a word. • Intonation – Variation of pitch conveying subtleties of meaning should be connected with the thoughts and attitudes of a speaker
NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR If verbal message and non-verbal behavior are contradictory, audience gives more weight to non-verbal message. • Proximity public zone (> 4 m), social zone (1.5-4 m), personal zone (0.5 – 1.5 m), and intimate zone (0-0.5 m). • Orientation relative position of speakers and body alignment x x x x xx
NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR • Posture, touch and body movement (nods and gestures) • Facial expression – conveys emotional states • Gaze / eye contact – can attract or deflect attention • Appearance • Paralanguage – um, eh, ok, orright, er etc • Visual aids
Necessary aspects of a talk • A talk should be audible, visible, lucid, interesting • Lucidity depends on structure, organization • Interest depends on Contents – facts, concepts, principles, procedures; Eye-contact (minimize reading, do not turn your back) Variety - interaction, activity, diagrams, audiovisuals, pace of speech, pitch of the voice, length of sentences, pauses, repetition; gesturing with hands, humor.
Conference presentations • Must: planning, rehearsal, title slide with author details, short and catchy title, introduction, summary / conclusion • Audience - background and size. • Duration - shorter talks are more difficult. • Your location - close to the audience, not behind a desk, to one side of the screen. • Speech – slow and varied.
Conference presentations • Slides: lettering - at least 24 pt, arial font Colour – use only few text - short sentences, no running text number ~ 1 / min (excluding back up) • References – on the slide under discussion rather than at the end • A logical transition while changing from one issue to the next - can be done by posing a question
Conference presentations • Anticipate questions the audience may have and address them in the talk, before the audience thinks of these things themselves • When a question is asked during a talk, answer immediately, if it will clarify ambiguity, else postpone it till the end. • If you cannot answer a question, say so. • Avoid long answers • Use pointers sparingly. • Do not wear dark / dull clothing.
Art of listening • Good listeners make good communicators. • Don’t assume that you know what someone is going to say to you. • Ask questions if you do not understand. • Restate and rephrase what has been said to you before responding. • listen to the tone, volume and emphasis before interpreting the message
Prescriptions • Read aloud a newspaper for 10 min (just as singers practice daily) • Record and listen to your own talk • Practice in front of a mirror • Look at websites, e.g. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~djkaiser/150 http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/ • Read books on public speaking • Listen to orators and good teachers
Assignment Make a 10 minute oral presentation using power point, on a topic of your choice.
WRITING AND THOUGHT • Writing is the means of discovering new knowledge. • Writing makes people think about their work in a different way. • The only time when we think is when we write ! • A lot is written when little has been achieved.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION • Writing can be the most difficult part of research, both for you and your supervisor. • Students tend to postpone writing towards the very end, and also, procrastinate. • It takes much longer than you anticipate to write. Its inadequacy is the most common single reason for requiring students to resubmit their thesis or papers. • Find quiet conditions in which to write, and, if possible, always write in the same place.
THESIS WRITING
• Stages a thesis goes through • Structure of a thesis. • Sequence in which the various sections should be written. Some sections are easier to write than others.
Length, Layout and Typography • A4 size paper. Justified text. • Typefaces – serif and sans serif. • 12 pt double line spacing. • Avoid too much of *** EMPHASIS *** • Headings • Camera ready copies
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
• Titles of the thesis, chapters and subsections should be short, and should whet the appetite and arouse the curiosity of the reader. Thinking of such titles is a pleasant diversion from the boring job of writing routine portions of the thesis. Do not use abbreviations in the title.
WRITING METHODOLOGY • “Plan and write” versus “think as you write” • Try writing into a computer directly. • Generate the points, putting them down as and when they come to your mind. Organize them into an acceptable structure. Convert them to grammatically correct and well balanced sentences.
Sentences • Active voice makes the sentences short and more immediate. The man was bitten by the dog → The dog bit the man • Every sentence must have a verb.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION • References: [1] S. Karmalkar and Girish Ramesh, “A Simple Yet Comprehensive Unified Physical Model of the 2-D Electron Gas in Delta doped and Uniformly Doped HEMTs”, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 41, pp. 1123, Jan 2000. Karmalkar S. and Girish Ramesh (2000) A Simple Yet Comprehensive Unified Physical Model of the 2-D Electron Gas in Delta doped and Uniformly Doped HEMTs, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 41 (1), 11-23.
Illustrations • With text alone, most people remember just ~ 10 % of what they read. • When the meaning of the text is enhanced by carefully chosen illustrations, people can remember almost 50 % of what they read
Illustrations • Line graphs • Bar graphs • Area graphs • Pictorial graphs • Sector graphs • Pictorial drawings • Line and block diagrams • Cartoons
Illustrations • Use thick lines and big lettering for labels. Test your illustration by reducing it to the size it will be in ultimate publication • Use black and white colours, for journal publication, and, as far as possible, for thesis also.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION • Write, review and rewrite ! • Review objectively by creating a psychological distance between you and your work. • To achieve psychological distance – set the work aside for a few days, or do something else, make phone calls, meet friends etc., or read aloud what you have written, as hearing reveals the difference between what you intended to say and what you actually said.
Prescriptions
• Read the editorial of newspapers daily. • Do writing for two hours / week . This could be notes for the lectures that you gave, or description of an important idea. It can also be precis writing.
Assignment 1. Write a summary of the discussion material, “You and your research� in about 600 words. 2. List the references of your oral presentation in proper format, assuming they are being put in a thesis. 3. Prepare any one figure of your oral presentation, with a figure caption.