 National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C. Vol. 31, No. 15 * August 9, 1999 Previous story | Table of Contents | Next story Effective communicators use 'gee whiz-ards' By Victoria Vickers
So, "Tell them what they want to hear, as long as it’s the truth," says Tripp Frohlichstein, president of Media Masters. "Deliver what has been promised. When you give a presentation, think about what’s important to the audience." Frohlichstein had county officials hanging on his every word during the National Association of County Information Officer’s (NACIO) sponsored workshop "Speaking So Others Will Listen." At the workshop, held last month during NACo’s Annual Conference in St. Louis, Mo., an energetic and highly animated Frohlichstein offered attendees communication techniques via humorous and descriptive anecdotes. He practiced what he preached, as he used gestures, varied the pitch in his voice and created a motion picture in our minds, all in an effort to get his message across. "If you want to be effective and be heard, you have to be more yourself, be interesting. You can’t accomplish anything without keeping your audience entertained and remembering what’s in it for them," affirmed Frohlichstein.
Establish a communication home base. It is the core point of the message in any form of communication, and it is safe place to start and refer to throughout the discussion. Identifying home base is step one in a technique Frohlichstein calls message mapping. Step two is to list each component of home base ultimately creating a map of direct responses that reaffirms the intended message. Message mapping allows the communicator to get to the meat of their message in a very direct way. It outlines a structured path on which the communicator can move in any direction and still get safely back to home base. The map breaks down the message incrementally so that the audience knows exactly what’s in it for them. It is a concise way to maintain the county’s credibility and avoid ambiguity. "Taxes is a very good example of where communication is lacking, get specific when talking about wise use of tax dollars," Frohlichstein advised. Also, when speaking to the public it is especially important to address each member of the audience " ‘You’ is the most important word to use in a speech," insisted Frohlichstein. Frohlichstein offered this advice to speech writers "don’t write for the speaker, write for the audience."
Frohlichstein says that the most effective way to educate, win supporters, inform or lead, is to entertain the audience. "The idea is that your content is of interest to your audience and the way you present is [entertaining] and the way you use your voice [gets their attention]," he said. Use gestures – good gestures help expression. But, don’t use fists, don’t point or use the proverbial middle finger to push up sliding glasses, says Frohlichstein. "When I talk I’m using gestures … when you gesture it effects your voice." Give ’em gee whiz-ards – so often terms such as square feet and billion go right over the heads of the audience. Gee whiz-ards are mental-picture-evoking analogies often used to describe a place or structure. For example, instead saying 200,000 square feet, simply say "it’s the size of a Super Walmart," which is also 200,000 square feet assured one county official. "Everyone of you in your county has a geewiz-ard," Frohlichstein suggests. Hold eye contact – Shifty eyes can imply shifty thoughts so hold your eye contact, don’t make it too quick. Don’t forget the corners. Far left and far right are often missed, so look to the corners and hold eye contact.
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