[00:00:00] Mel: Hi, and welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter, a podcast about all things communication without the waffle. I'm your host, Mel Loy, and in this show, I will give you short, punchy, practical communication tips and insights. You can start using in your communication practices right away. I'm a former corporate communication executive who happily took a redundancy, started my own business and never looked back.

[00:00:27] Mel: These days I use my 20 plus years of experience to help guide organisations of all shapes and sizes in how to communicate more effectively. I'm wife to Michael, cat mum to Cookie, aunty to 12 nieces and nephews, a yoga teacher, and a group fitness fanatic. I promise these episodes will always be short, sharp, and helpful, so let's get amongst it.

[00:00:52] Mel: Hi everyone. And welcome to a fresh new episode of the show as always. It is superb to have you tuning in, or [00:01:00] if this is your first time here, a big welcome to you. It has been another busy few weeks. I've been traveling and delivering in person and virtual workshops, as well as getting stuck into some really interesting work for our clients.

[00:01:13] Mel: So, That's super exciting. And I'm also preparing for a talk I'm giving at the upcoming Rethink Change Conference in Sydney. So again, lots of exciting stuff happening, even though it's busy. In all of the work that I do and all the work I have done over the years, one of the biggest challenges people have is how to get their communication to cut through the noise and actually stick with your audience.

[00:01:40] Mel: And that's not necessarily cutting through to external audiences or big groups of employees either. Often the challenge is your internal audiences when you're trying to get a decision made or get a business idea up and running, for example. It can be a really frustrating experience when you put all this work into preparing an idea for a conversation or [00:02:00] a pitch and it goes nowhere.

[00:02:01] Mel: I know, been there, done that. It is hard enough to get their time and attention, but then to keep your audience's attention, get them to see the opportunity that you see, and then get them to agree to a course of action. That's a whole journey. Here's the thing with your audiences, whether internal or external, they are busy.

[00:02:22] Mel: Just like you are. We live in a world of information overload in what's sometimes been termed the infodemic. One study estimated we consume an average of 74 gigabytes of information per person per day. That's the equivalent of 16 movies a day. So getting cut through, let alone resonance is harder than ever before, which is why today I'm going to share five top tips for how you can communicate in ways that not only grab attention, but keep it and get your point across.

[00:02:55] Mel: So let's get stuck into it. The first tip is, and it should be a [00:03:00] given, know your audience. Even though I say it should be a given, it is remarkable how often communication is not tailored for your audience or not written from the audience's perspective. Knowing your audience and reflecting that in your comms means a few things.

[00:03:15] Mel: We already know they're busy, for example, but what else do you know about your audience? So firstly, what's their preferred communication style? Do they like to have a chat or do they prefer to have some written content that they can mull over in their own time and come back to you with some questions?

[00:03:31] Mel: Do they like a visual to help explain an idea or do they really like a lot of detail? And this is what I call your communication personality type and you can take my quiz if you haven't already to find out what your type is and I'll pop that link in the show notes. Secondly, keep in mind that there are other unique traits like language, culture, accessibility, inclusivity, accessibility, For example, there are certain nuances to words and phrases that your audience might miss or they could mistake for a different meaning simply because [00:04:00] of that background.

[00:04:01] Mel: And then thirdly, what is important to them? So what are the key issues or topics they're passionate about or that they're responsible for in their role? So what's keeping them up at night? What's a problem they have that you can help solve or an opportunity they could take but they haven't realised it yet?

[00:04:18] Mel: So your content has to be tailored to get your audience's interest, meaning you have to make it relevant. And then you need to communicate it in a way that grabs their attention and meets their preference. The other thing to note about audiences is something to remember about all humans. And that is we are social creatures.

[00:04:37] Mel: It means we really care about belonging, about building our social capital, and about relationships. So when it comes to knowing your audience, you really should take the time to build a relationship with them first. And that automatically gives you a leg up when it comes to pitch an idea. But also, they're likely to go with an idea that is supported by a broader group or gives them that sense of belonging.

[00:04:59] Mel: So, [00:05:00] maybe you could think about how you could tailor the communication in a way that demonstrates how that person could build their social capital by giving your idea the green light. It's just food for thought. Okay, the second tip builds on the first around knowing our audiences, and that is grab attention fast and then keep your message short.

[00:05:18] Mel: We know people are busy and are overwhelmed with communication and information. So a long, boring email or presentation is not going to get attention. Think about it. Let's imagine two emails land in your inbox. You open both and skim to see which you should read first. One is about two paragraphs long. One is about 10 paragraphs long.

[00:05:40] Mel: Which one are you more likely to read first and which one are you more likely to put off until you have time or you just never read. I would wager the longer one is likely to be ignored. I mean consider how many emails you get a day. The latest stats from around the world say that more than [00:06:00] 149, 500 emails are sent per minute. Worldwide. So that means about 216 million emails are sent every day. The average person has more than one email account and the average office worker sends about 40 emails per day. So we're sending about 40, but even more shocking, the average person is receiving more. Receiving about 121 business related emails per day.

[00:06:27] Mel: That's just insane. And that means the average office worker is receiving anywhere from 9, 000 to 15, 000 emails a year. And it's not just the receiving, it's the managing of those emails that takes up a lot of time. And again, estimates have that at about 15. 5 hours a week, we spend just managing emails.

[00:06:48] Mel: It's ridiculous. But what that does tell us is that firstly, we need to get people's attention and then we need to keep it. We get people's attention pretty quickly in emails because it starts with the subject [00:07:00] line. The subject line has to give an enticing reason as to why people should open your email, but it also has to be interesting.

[00:07:09] Mel: So stats also show that personalising your subject line leads to a greater chance of the email being opened. So let's say the user does decide to open the email. The next thing that will get their attention is the very first line. This is what we call the hook. It should answer the question, why should I read the rest of this message?

[00:07:28] Mel: Now, this could be something as simple as: I'm writing to ask you if you would speak at this panel event in June, for example. Or it might be something more attention grabbing, like what if you could increase our company's talent retention by 25 percent per year? It's like when you post to LinkedIn or Instagram, for example, that first line is the most important thing you'll write because it's what gets people to read more and interact with your content.

[00:07:54] Mel: Otherwise they will just scroll past. So you've got their attention and then the content [00:08:00] itself needs to be short. Like we said, people are busy, so cut out the fluff, get to the point. One thing that people often struggle with is what to leave out. So whether that's an email, a one page report, a presentation, even a podcast episode.

[00:08:18] Mel: What do I leave out? What can I cut out? And I get it. You've got a lot of cool stuff you want to say. So when it comes to actually cutting out the information, here's a few tips. Remember your audience. Think about what information would be most relevant or compelling to them. Not to you. What's your core idea or your key message?

[00:08:39] Mel: What's the one thing you want people to take out of this? Make sure that is loud and clear, cut out the rest. And start with the end in mind. So come back to those objectives we have for every piece of communication. What do you want people to know, feel, or do? As a result of your communication, write that first, then work your way [00:09:00] backwards and pick the three key points that will best help you achieve those three outcomes.

[00:09:06] Mel: Okay. So that's the first two tips. Number three, we've got it short. We've got their attention. Number three is make it easy to consume. So here's the thing about people. Everybody skim reads. There's been dozens of eye tracking studies done and we all skim, whether that's a book or an email or an online article, a social post or anything else in between.

[00:09:30] Mel: And there's a good reason for it too. So Daniel Kahneman's research with Amos Tversky found that humans have two modes of thinking, system one and system two, otherwise known as fast and slow thinking. You may have heard of their book.

[00:09:45] Mel: Now, most of the time we use our fast thinking part of the brain, and there's very good reasons for this. Firstly, it's relatively easy and it's low on effort to think fast. We use fast thinking for things like remembering how to walk up a flight of stairs, but [00:10:00] we also use it for making snap judgments about whether or not to open an email.

[00:10:05] Mel: And we make those fast judgments based on things like what our current focus is at the moment when we get that piece of communication. And we build on our past experiences to help make those judgments. We build on what we know to help us make decisions quickly, not just in life and death situations.

[00:10:22] Mel: And here's the thing, a person has already decided whether or not they will read your comms before they even open it. Fast thinking is absolutely necessary in this information overload world that we live in, because slow thinking, while it's more deliberate and thoughtful, safe in a way, it does take a lot of effort and it exhausts our brains.

[00:10:43] Mel: It's why we don't use it all that often. We use it when we're making decisions about things that we don't have any previous experience with or that are high stakes. So like choosing a mortgage, for example. But that lovely long email or 10 page report you wrote [00:11:00] and spent hours agonising over? Unless it is life or death, your reader is not wasting their slow thinking energy on it.

[00:11:07] Mel: I'm really sorry, but they're just not. So how do we make it easy to consume, but in a way that our fast thinking readers will still get the core message? One way is to make it short, like we've already said. Another is to think about your structure and formatting. So having a great structure from the start is helpful to you as the communicator, because it's easier to get started and it's easier to get your ideas into a logical order.

[00:11:33] Mel: But it's also excellent for the fast thinking reader because there's a flow of information that they can follow and they can skim read. A structure doesn't have to be and shouldn't be complex. Here's a few of my favourites. What, so what, now what? I love this, you can use it for key messages, emails, reports, whatever you like.

[00:11:52] Mel: So what's happened? So what does that mean? And now what? What's the next steps? Problem, solution, reward. I [00:12:00] love this one as well. Really good for pitching an idea. And then, tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them. Also a great structure. Another structure I like is for the short pitch or an elevator pitch.

[00:12:14] Mel: It's called 27 9 3, so 27 words, which is one to two sentences, nine seconds, keeping their attention, three points. And if you can get your core message into that format, 27 9 3, you've got a great chance of getting and keeping attention. Now, bonus tip for you. What you say first and last matters. It's called the primacy and recency effects.

[00:12:40] Mel: We pay more attention to what we hear first, and we're more likely to remember what we hear last. That's why writing a compelling opening and a compelling conclusion or recommendation is so important. So structure is one thing. The other thing is formatting. Now it might not seem like much, but formatting makes a [00:13:00] huge difference to the skimmability and readability of your document.

[00:13:05] Mel: Firstly, great formatting obviously grabs attention because it's visually appealing and it looks professional, but you can also use formatting to highlight key messages. So for example, your subheadings not only allow for that reader to easily skim the content, but if your subheadings are short versions of your key messages, then there's a good chance they'll actually get read.

[00:13:27] Mel: So think about how you can use not just headings, but line spacing, bullet points, visuals, images, and tables, dividing lines, even shaded boxes to help your key information stand out. Now the fourth tip. It's a simple one because it is, keep it simple. Now, remember, keeping it simple is not dumbing it down.

[00:13:49] Mel: Keeping it simple is being smart. Again, we have fast thinking brains, and if something is complex or confusing, we are going to lose our audience. [00:14:00] This is also about combating what we call the curse of knowledge, which is when we forget or find it hard to remember what it's like not to know everything we know.

[00:14:09] Mel: The curse of knowledge shows up when we assume our audience knows as much about the subject matter as we do, or knows all the terminology that we know, for example. So how do we keep it simple? Well firstly, think about the language that you use. Now the Australian Government Style Manual recommends reading to a level of 12 to 14 years.

[00:14:29] Mel: And by writing to that level, it allows 83 percent of the population to understand the content. That's 8 in 10 of your audience members who will better understand what you have to say. So it makes sense to write to that level. And remember, you're writing for your audience, not for yourself. So using all the big fancy words isn't making you appear smarter.

[00:14:50] Mel: You're probably just being really annoying. So avoid jargon and buzzwords. Use really clear language that everyone can understand. And look, let's be honest, those [00:15:00] jargon and buzzwords sound like corporate gibberish anyway. Nobody's buying it. Secondly, make sure you're explaining any complex ideas or data in ways that are relevant to your audience.

[00:15:12] Mel: And we're going to touch on some of this in more detail in a few weeks with one of our guest speakers. But some tips on making the complex simple and easy to understand. Number one, try using a visual or a graph and explain it when you use it. So don't just put it in there and expect people to be able to understand that visual or graph, explain what they should be seeing and looking for in it.

[00:15:35] Mel: And number two, if you're going to use numbers or data, make it relatable. So for example, rather than saying in the 12 months to March, 2022, the consumer price index increased by 5. 1%, what does that mean to the average person? So instead, you could say something like, so if something cost 100 last year, it might cost you about 105 dollars and 10 cents this year. Now top tip [00:16:00] here, use ChatGPT or Google BARD to help you with this. Honestly, I use it all the time. It's great. So find the numbers or stats, obviously, as long as they're not commercially protected, put them into ChatGPT or Google and ask it to give you a simple explanation of those statistics.

[00:16:16] Mel: It's a great way to at least get you started. Now, explaining the complex simply is something that Steve Jobs did really well. And I think I mentioned this in one episode a few weeks back, but as a reminder, when he launched the first iPod, he could have said five gigabytes of storage, 1. 8 inch hard drive; which would have meant nothing to anyone, but the nerds in the audience. And the problem is the nerds aren't his biggest customer base. The biggest customer base is the general public who don't have that level of technology and who certainly don't carry around a tape measure to see how big this thing is.

[00:16:52] Mel: So instead, all he said was: a thousand songs in your pocket. Again, it's all about making it relatable to your audience. I can understand a [00:17:00] thousand songs, especially in relation to, you know, prior to that I had a CD and the maximum songs it could hold was maybe 30 tracks. In my pocket gives me an idea of the size.

[00:17:09] Mel: So again, make it relatable to your audience. Okay, the final tip for today is reframe your message. Especially when you've got a big ask of somebody, reframing can be your most powerful tool to get them to agree. So that example I just gave from Steve Jobs launch of the iPad is an example of reframing.

[00:17:29] Mel: And reframing is essentially understanding that people's opinions and choices are influenced by how we present a message. So a classic example is comparing tubs of yoghurt. They're exactly the same yoghurt, but one is labeled as contains only 20 percent fat while the other is labeled as 80 percent fat free.

[00:17:50] Mel: Which one would you choose? Well, the research tells us that we're more likely to pick the one that says 80 percent fat free. And the reason for this is the way it's framed. It [00:18:00] highlights the positive aspects, not the negative. Another great piece of research around reframing was done by Katie Milkman and Raja Nish and a group of researchers.

[00:18:10] Mel: And they went out and asked a bunch of people if they would commit to volunteering. Now, some people were asked if they would volunteer for 200 hours a year. The second group were asked if they would volunteer for 4 hours a week or 8 hours a fortnight. And what they found is that by reframing the message or the goals into more granular amounts, not only increased the amount of hours volunteered by 8 percent over a 12 week period, but it also led to more durable or sustainable effects in that more people stuck around for the volunteering as well.

[00:18:42] Mel: So if you're thinking about your own communication and getting cut through, think about how you could potentially reframe your message to make it more appealing. So for example, instead of saying insurance premiums will only increase by 5. 8 percent over the next two years, you could say , insurance premiums will increase by [00:19:00] less than 6%.

[00:19:01] Mel: Or we need to sell 1040 of these notebooks a year. You could say we only need to sell 20 per week. That sounds a lot more achievable. Now there is one final important tip, but it is way too involved to get into in today's episode. So we'll go into more detail in another episode soon, but it is you storytelling.

[00:19:23] Mel: Storytelling is so much more compelling because people don't remember dot points. They remember stories. But again, I'll save that for another day when we have more time. So we are at the end of the episode, and you may have noticed that with these podcasts, I follow the structure of tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them. Then tell them what you told them. I always start with an overview of what we're going to talk about and why it's important. Then I tell you all the things and then I wrap it up at the end. Not only does this structure help you to follow, but it helps me with putting these podcast episodes together, but also remember the recency effect.

[00:19:59] Mel: The thing that [00:20:00] we're most recently heard, we're more likely to remember? By doing a wrap up at the end, you're more likely to remember the key points of this podcast. So everybody wins. Okay, so let's do the wrap up today. We talked about how to get your message to cut through when you have a noisy world and busy audiences.

[00:20:17] Mel: And I shared five ways to do that. Number one, know your audience, tailor the content to their communication preferences, but also tailor it to what is important to them. Number two, grab attention fast and keep it short. So hook your audience in from the first line or the subject line, because they will quickly make a decision about whether or not to keep reading and then keep it short to keep their attention.

[00:20:41] Mel: Number three, make it easy to consume. So use structure and formatting to help make it easy for our fast thinkers to navigate and remember everybody's skim reads. Number four, keep it simple. Keep the language free of jargon and buzzwords right to the level of a 12 to 14 year old [00:21:00] and make sure you explain complex data and ideas in ways that your audience can understand or relate to.

[00:21:06] Mel: And number five, use reframing. Look at how your message is presented and think, could it be potentially reframed to be something more compelling? Now, I run a whole four hour workshop on this topic that also includes strategic storytelling. So if that's something you or your team could benefit from, hit me up.

[00:21:25] Mel: Especially as we're coming to the end of the financial year, and I know you all have got to use up that L& D budget. Don't forget you can also subscribe to my fortnightly email update, which also includes a load of tips every fortnight, as well as resources from around the world. And I've recently added a section with upcoming learning opportunities and events from different organizations, and you'll find the link to the sign up in the show notes.

[00:21:49] Mel: Now, speaking of events and learning, the next Change Communications Bootcamp is coming up. It'll be a 75 minute webinar held every day for four days, [00:22:00] kicking off on the 20th of May. I'll also include a link to that in the notes. And if you want to be an even better change communicator, then trust me, you want to take this course, you'll get access to all my templates, plus all the knowledge and skills you need to start communicating change more effectively in your business and show your value even more.

[00:22:19] Mel: Okay, folks, that is all we have time for today. Thanks again for listening in for another week. I'll be back next Thursday with a fresh new episode. And in the meantime, keep doing amazing things and bye for now.