The Recipe for Great Communication

If we look at our communication as if it were a meal that our audience will consume, we’ll of course want to prepare a communication “meal” they will enjoy. A meal that will satisfy their hunger for simple, valuable communication. And in order to do that, there are 5 ingredients that must be included in our recipe: Clarity, Brevity, Context, Impact, and Value. But how much of each ingredient do we need?

That depends on who we’ll be serving our meal to. Different audiences will have differing tastes, and will thus require the recipe to have different proportions of each ingredient. Some audiences will want a little more Clarity in their communication meal. Others may prefer a little more Value, or Impact. So when we’re doing our “kitchen prep” for our next sales proposal, meeting, or presentation, we have to be sure we know who’ll be consuming our message, and be sure to use the right amount of each ingredient to suit that audience’s palate.

Are there any other ingredients you think are crucial to creating a great communication “meal?”