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Technical Communication Skills

Improve your technical communication skills and meeting productivity with tips on book reviews and effective meeting strategies. Learn to ask the right questions, prepare for success, and lead successful meetings.

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Technical Communication Skills

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  1. Technical Communication Skills • Book Reviews • Meetings and How to Survive Them Blay Whitby 2005 blayw@sussex.ac.uk

  2. Book Reviews • A Basic Technical Communication Skill • Fairly Common in Academia • Quite Common in Industry Technical Communication Skills

  3. Book Reviews • Familiar Principles apply: • You are helping someone else • Know your Target Audience • Samples? Technical Communication Skills

  4. Book Reviews • Approach with questions already prepared: • Is it worth buying? • Do we need a copy in the library? • Is it better/as good/worse than other books in the area? Technical Communication Skills

  5. Book Reviews • Questions already prepared: • Who needs to buy this book? • Who needs to read this book? • Who will be able to understand this book? • If you are given guidelines – use them Technical Communication Skills

  6. Book Reviews • These, in turn, lead to more specific questions: • Does it cover enough subject matter? • Does it cover the subject matter in sufficient depth? • How deep?; how dense? • Is the style suitable for likely readers? • If so, who are they? Technical Communication Skills

  7. Book Reviews • specific questions: • Does the index work adequately? • How useful are contents, page layout etc? • What is the market? • Will the publisher make money? • Be honest. Technical Communication Skills

  8. Meetings • Meetings, ....! Meetings • Meetings can and do waste an awful lot of time • So why do we bother with them? Technical Communication Skills

  9. Meetings • Functions of Meetings. Meetings can: • Define the group • Revise or increase group knowledge • Let individuals know group aims • Create a commitment to group aims • Allow a leader to lead a team • Provide a status arena Technical Communication Skills

  10. Meetings • There are many types of meetings: • By Size: • Public lecture - 1:100 approx. • Council meeting - 1:40 approx. • Committee - 1:10 approx. • Review – 1:1 approx Technical Communication Skills

  11. Meetings • Types of meetings: • By frequency: • Daily • Weekly • Annual • Ad hoc Technical Communication Skills

  12. Meetings • By motivation: • Shared – e.g., football team • Confrontational – e.g., court • Mixed - management Technical Communication Skills

  13. Meetings • As with reading, writing, etc., the time spent in meetings may be much reduced by being clear in advance about objectives and processes. Technical Communication Skills

  14. Meetings • So: • What is the meeting intended to achieve? • What would happen if we did not hold it? • How will I judge whether this has been a success or a failure? Technical Communication Skills

  15. Meetings • Answers tend to fall under 1+ of 4 headings: • Informative/digestive – could it be done in some other way? • Constructive/originative – brainstorming • Executive – shall we do it? • Legislative – what are the rules? Technical Communication Skills

  16. Meetings • Preparation saves time: • People – many meetings are overloaded, 4 –7 ideal,10 tolerable. • Chairperson – essential • Agenda – vital – few can use one properly. Needs to be circulated in advance. Items: for information/for decision Technical Communication Skills

  17. Meetings • Timing • Early part of the meeting is lively • People waste time on trivia • People are tired after 2 hours • It is essential to have a fixed end time Technical Communication Skills

  18. Meetings • How to Chair Meetings • There are as many ways as chairpersons but only one rule: • You are there for the benefit of the meeting and not vica versa Technical Communication Skills

  19. Meetings • Bad chairpersons: • Use the meeting to fuel their egos • Impose their will at all times • Never impose their will • Steer the meeting even when it isn’t going anywhere Technical Communication Skills

  20. Meetings • Structure (yet again). If everyone knows the structure then responses are quick and efficient: • What seems to be the trouble? • How long has this been going on? • Would you please lie down on the couch • You seem to have slipped a disk • Take this prescription to the chemist…. Technical Communication Skills

  21. Meetings • Some of the important jobs • 1. The Subject: • Studies have shown that meetings usually have 2 leaders: a team leader and a task leader Technical Communication Skills

  22. Meetings • Present the subject – options and actions • Keep to the subject • Focus on practical decisions (ultra vires) • Close quickly after a decision • Ensure the decision is recorded – at the end of each item give a summary of the decisions. Technical Communication Skills

  23. Meetings • Some of the important jobs • 2. The People • Facilitation – getting maximum performance from the people present Technical Communication Skills

  24. Meetings • Control the garrulous • Draw out the silent • Protect the weak • Encourage a clash of ideas • Watch out for suggestion-squashing reflex • Come to the most senior people last • Close on a note of achievement Technical Communication Skills

  25. Technical Communication Skills

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