Know your Audience!

Chapter 5: Analyzing your audience and purpose

As we move on to the second Part of the book, we know start visiting concepts that let us dial in on our reader base and concentrate on how to best target our intended audience. Chapter 5 covers the importance of understanding your audience, how to gather information on them, and ultimately how to better capture their attention and reach your intended goal. 

Before starting your writing, do you even know who you are writing for? What if your audience has no interest in your subject? What if they do have an interest but do not have technical knowledge in that field? 

Example of an Audience Profile sheet.

It is recommended that before you ever write a sentence, it would be beneficial to complete an Audience Profile Sheet. This will help you determine all the factors that you need to keep in mind while writing and perhaps make you think about aspects you had not previously.

Questions such as the reader's eduction, their professional experience, job responsibility, reading skill, cultural and personal characteristics, and personal preferences all should be examined. What level education they have will determine the vocabulary and the writing level at which you should write. If they aren't already an expert on this topic it may help to include things like more supporting material and graphics to help bring them up to speed.

Other things like knowing their job responsibility would help determine which parts to focus on. If I wanted to write a proposal for my IT department to get new computers for our company, writing to a CFO and writing to a group of managers would be very different. A CFO would be more interested in perhaps the power efficiency of these new computers which would allow us to see immediate monthly savings in electricity costs. Where managers might want to hear about how the new computers are much more user friendly and faster which would make their employees happy and more efficient at their jobs.

But what if you don't know your audience? You may know who they are, but know nothing about them. We are lucky enough to live in a time where information is just seconds away on the internet. Start off by researching online and on social media. Often you can find more about them or perhaps their company if they have a website or social media presence. What seems to be their goal? What drives them? What values do they stand for? Any information you can find on your audience can go a long way in helping you deliver a better document.

One of the often overlooked but extremely critical factor in your audience is culture. Understanding the differences between your culture and your audiences is vital in ensuring that you are giving accurate information that will not be misinterpreted due to cultural or linguistic differences.

Cultural variables can include things such as politics, economics, social, religious,  educational, technological, or linguistic. If you are trying to sell a phone to a different country or region; Do they have the same access to technology that you do? Would they be able to use the phone there? Can they afford the price that you are selling it at? These aspects could determine the marketing literature that would be distributed in that area.

Graphics can be used to ensure that cultural and linguistic barriers are more easily crossed, but even pictures can have different meaning across cultures. For instance the color red is often associated with a negative meaning in the US, but in China it is considered a positive colored.

The most important take away from this chapter should be that knowing your audience is the key factor that needs to be addressed before writing your document. You could write the most elegant thought provoking piece that your colleagues would praise you for but when addressed to the wrong audience would fall flat or perhaps even offend them. So before that pen ever hits the paper, be sure to do your research!

Taking the first steps

Chapter 3: Writing Technical Documents

There are 5 recognized steps that comprise the "Writer's Checklist". Planning, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. As a writer even if you are not purposefully completing these steps you are constantly doing so as you go.

A properly planned writing project will make or break your outcome. This is perhaps where one should spend the most amount of time. Ensuring that you have a good game plan going into writing the document will ensure a better product and save you time in the long run. As with any product, the most important aspect is to know your audience. Who will be reading this? What is their reading level? Will this subject matter gain their attention? What knowledge do I want them to walk away with? The answers will allow you to answer subsequent questions such as: What is the best format to deliver this in, physical or digital? What is my relationship with this audience? Should the document be constructed in a formal or informal matter? Answering these questions to yourself first will set the tone for the rest of the project

Once you have answered the important questions, it's time to get the pen to the paper and start drafting. I find that when I don't have a clear path for conveying my point, it is often helpful to just start by jotting down bullet points of the main takeaways I want to deliver to my audience. Once you realize your main objectives, it is much easier to elaborate upon them.

Be sure that your document is written in an easily legible format that is pleasing to the eyes. Remember if your reader is having a hard time reading it due to font size or absurd font, they will be less likely to read the document.

The next steps may seem similar as they both require looking over the document and making changes to it, but they serve 2 distinct purposes. Revising is the process where you review your draft to ensure that the article still serves its intended purpose.  Are you still speaking to your audience? Is your message clear? It is often easy to get side tracked while writing and muddy your message. Take this time to review and make necessary changes.

"If they can't spell properly, why would I trust 

their findings on more complex topics?"

Editing like revising requires you to review the piece you have written but this time instead of big picture things, you are looking for things like grammar, punctuation, style and word choices. Although your overall message may feel like it overshadows the importance of correct grammar and punctuation, these things can affect the readers view of you as the writer. "If they can't spell properly, why would I trust their findings on even more complex topics?"

The final step is to proofread your finished product. I always like to proofread at least twice and the more important the document, the more it should be proofread. When writing large formal documents or projects that I know will be read by many people, have others proofread for you as well. It's always helpful to have another set of eyes.

Thinking Ethically

Chapter 2: Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations

Ethics is a tricky subject in the professional world. Although often times there are rules or laws governing ethical behavior and practices, In my experience ethics is often brought up when pertaining to gray areas. 

The book defines Ethics as: The study of the principles of conduct that apply to an individual or a group. This definition is pretty broad but when discussing ethics in terms of the professional world it encompasses topics such as taking home a pen from work as well as more serious ones such as sexual harassment and basic human rights.

At first thought it may seem ok to take home office supplies from work. "It's just a pen, or it's just some sticky notes". These actions are often rationalized by statements like, "I give so much of myself to them, it's the least they could do." While on the surface these items are usually only costing the company a couple of dollars, in reality the actions speak louder than the value of the items. You are stealing from your employer!  Many employers are ok with employees utilizing their resources, so if it is not made clear, ask management. If the answer is no, then clearly it would be against company policy and considered theft. 

"CAN you do it (perhaps), but SHOULD you do it?"

Other times the answers are much more cut and dry. It is never ok to submit a coworker to sexual harassment regardless of whether it is stated in company policy. Just try to think about it the other way around. If you were the other party, would you enjoy unsolicited harassment? Making sure that you and your coworkers all have a place where they can come to work everyday free of distractions and drama is an important part of culture and efficiency in the work place.

Ethical decision making often is also the correct business decision. By answering "Is it the right thing to do?", you can make your employees happy thus more efficient. By ensuring the have a safe, enjoyable atmosphere to come to work they are likely to stay with you longer and provide better work which ultimately affects the company's bottom line.

So next time you are facing a decision that may have ethical implications ask yourself the question:  "CAN you do it (perhaps), but SHOULD you do it?"

First blog post!

This blogpost marks the start of my journey to successfully complete my English 2010 class: Technical Writing. Along the way I hope to inform any readers out there on interesting things that I am learning and by doing so, hopefully improve my technical writing skills in the process (along with a passing grade if I am lucky enough!). So without further adieu, I would like to introduce you to the concepts of Technical Writing.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Technical Communication

Being an introductory chapter, this largely focused on defining Technical Communication which emphasis the difference between technical communication and other types of writing being your purpose and audience. Technical writing is done so not for entertainment purposes like many styles are, but for delivering information and technical data to a very specific audience. This information must be accurate, clear and concise. You want to ensure that the reader is getting the information so try to cut back on unnecessary lines and information. The easier and quicker to read, the more likely your target audience will do so.

Having the ability to communicate effectively is not just a requirement for technical writings, but for the business world as a whole. In a 2012 study it was ranked as the #1 most important skill according to employers.

So if you wish to improve your technical communication skills (and perhaps your career path), please continue to follow my blog every week!

Until next time,
-Andy