Writing, talking, and chewing gum at the same time....

[kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]

Among the surprise flurry of serious responses to my silly post about
phone interview attire, John Posada asked how many of us were trained to
SPEAK.

Excellent question.

The business/professional writing course I took at a local community
college (it was the closest thing I could find to a tech writing course)
had us do several spoken presentations. At first I thought it very odd;
after all, this was supposed to be a *writing* class. But our instructor
(who was brilliant, by the way, far beyond my community-college
expectations) insisted that what today's companies wanted was workers who
knew how to COMMUNICATE, and that writing was just a part of that.

I dutifully went along with the curriculum, and did notice that many
seemingly bright students were woefully inept at speaking in a
professional manner. (WAY too many "likes" and "you knows"...)

By being forced to organize and present my thoughts verbally, I found that
(gasp) I might actually have some room for improvement.

That class was SO helpful to me, in all aspects. And I do use my speaking
skills frequently, whether it's a job interview, a Q&A session with an
SME, or really ANY interaction with a coworker.

The better you handle yourself and the more professionally you present
yourself and your ideas, the better impression you make on your colleagues
and supervisors. This may present a challenge: many writers are drawn to
writing as a safer, less pressured medium by which to communicate, some
actually preferring it to speech and human interaction. But to completely
neglect your speaking skills is to do yourself a disservice. I'm a
believer in this, having seen the results.




 - Keith (who is NEVER accused of being soft-spoken) Cronin

_____________________________________


Another example of tech writing at its best:

 You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out;
 You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.
 You do the Hokey-Pokey, and you turn yourself around.
 That's what it's all about!

 - Roland Lawrence LaPrise


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