Notes from 53rd International STC Conference
Las Vegas, Nevada, May 7-10, 2006

The Three Laws of Communication

Jean-luc Doumont

The presenter is an independent contractor (JL Consulting) specializing in electronic publishing.

Session Description: The presenter introduced three "laws of communication" – fundamental principles that are applicable to all aspects of technical communication and from which all other guidelines can be derived.

• Began with reference to Strunk and White's Elements of Styles. Nobody could remember any of the 22 rules in the book... the presenter segued this to his topic.
• Why do we communicate?
   
• Sell.
• Explain.
• Solve problems.
• Steps:
   
• Get our audience to understand a message.
• This requires getting them to pay attention.
• Ultimately you generally want them to act upon (or be able to act upon) the message.
• The desired audience outcome should drive your writing approach.
• Sometimes advertisements focus so intensely on getting audience attention that they do not deliver the message. The audience gets distracted in the "how" and does not remember the "what."
• There's a big difference between information and a message.
   
• Message is goal-oriented.
• Information is neutral.
• Message may call for a response.
• Message is audience-oriented; information is not.
• The message is an interpretation of the information.
• Building upon this step, the next step is to maximize the number of messages, given constraints. But sometimes, less is more. If you try to get across too many messages, you may not get anything across at all (e.g., if an audience doesn't read a 50-page report, zero messages are communicated; if you compress the information into a 5-page report, they will at least get the messages that you can cover in 5 pages).
• Time is a major factor. How much time is the audience willing to give you? Certainly applies to oral communication, but can also apply to the length of written communiqués.
• Space is another key factor: space on a slide, space on a computer screen, space on a page.
• If you are writing in English that is to be translated, allow some margin for space in page layout. English is a relatively concise language, and translations from English into most other languages add space to the text
.
• Audience's literacy (including in what language), knowledgeability, culture, values, attitudes, etc., are all factors in communication... all of these can add constraints (on top of the inherent constraints of time and space).
• Effective communication is optimization under constraints. Avoid extremes. Do not strive for "perfect" communication; strive for optimum communication.
• Zeroth Law: Have messages.
• Basic communication model. Me on left, channel in middle, audience on right.
• Must identify where the constraints are and where the freedoms are.
   
• Location can be a constraint.
• Time can be a constraint (e.g., time zone).
• Audience itself is the most inflexible constraint; you really can't change them.
• Channel can be predefined, or it can be a choice. Different channels have different kinds of constraints.
• The speaker/writer has the most opportunity to change.
• First Law: Adapt to your audience.
   
• Examples: adjusting communication to children, adjusting to different languages, accommodating disabilities.
• Adaptation requires sensitivity (to cultural differences, individual differences, etc.)
• If one strategy does not work, try something else (don't repeat the unsuccessful strategy)
• Examples of lack of adaptation: scientists talking to a lay audience as if they were all SMEs
• Always take responsibility for the success of your communication, regardless of the constraints.
• Most classrooms are the least effective photo-copy machines in the world.
• Noise can interfere with the channel. Noise is anything that might prevent the audience from paying attention to your message.
   
• Examples on oral communication: air conditioning sound, side conversations, poor acoustics, bad lighting, etc.
• Consider, also, however, how you, as the speaker, can introduce noise (e.g., filler words, distracting gestures or movements).
• Examples on written communication: bad syntax, excessive technical jargon, acronyms, verbosity, distracting visual elements, poor layout, typos, poor organization, inconsistent format, even tone
• Examples on web-based communication: Gratuitous special FX, absence of navaids, long download times. Excessive "drill-down."
• Second Law: Maximize the signal/noise ratio.
   
• First, minimize the noise.
• If some noise remains, then increase the signal.
• Examples: increase volume to be heard over noise; increase type size if you know the user is likely to have to lay the manual down on a surface and read it from a few feet away.
• If it's not signal, it's noise.
• When there is loss due to S/N ratio, then compensate for the loss.
• Third Law: Use effective redundancy.
   
• Examples: Deliberate repetition (overview, body, summary), consistency in terminology, slides back up the speaker (visual vs aural processing of information) and vice versa. Strive for synergy between slides and speaker.
• Use multiple examples, but make them different
.
• Illustrations: use graphics to reinforce your messages, not distract from them. They are inherently attention-getting.
• Captions should deliver a message, not identify the obvious (e.g., Handmade drawing of LEGO prototype and Photograph of the LEGO prototype... both of which are obvious). Similar to use of action titles in proposals. Better: Just like the final robot, the LEGO prototype uses a "wheelchair" design for translation and rotation.
• Examples applying the Three Laws.
   
• Paris Hotel home page. Way too many distracting elements. Granted, they are creating an atmosphere for "Vegas," but it should not obscure the buttons that lead to reservations, etc.
• In graphical displays, show the data above all (eliminate grids on graphs, tick marks on axes, etc.) Avoid vertical labels on ordinate. Make the data jump out; suppress everything else.
• Even photos can have "noise"; crop to avoid it, perhaps use PhotoShop and retouch.
• Effective laws (these three or others) should be simple, clear, and limited in number.