Five Principles of Verbal communication
You see it everywhere, people who have the knack of being remembered. Ever wondered why this is?
There are a few reasons for this but the one that stands out is they are remembered because of what they say and how they say it!
In business and a lot of social vocal communications you want to get results by moving someone else or why are you speaking to them?
Are you in the CABIN or lost in the Woods?
The cabin is a metaphor and gives you a little guidance along the way.
CABIN stands for
Context first and foremost
Always have Empathy with your audience
Be thorough
Include ALL Relevant information
Never dump on your audience, it’s just rude!
OK so what does that mean in practice?
Context: Draw a big picture which outlines what you are going to talk about. This way you can make references to it. The benefit to you is your audience have a point of reference so all your additional topics are in context and should therefore be well understood.
Always have empathy: Walk a mile in your client’s shoes if you want to understand them. Empathy is the ability to see things from the other person’s perspective. If 
you’re speaking at a networking event for small business owners don’t talk about the issues of big businesses, the audience will not understand. However if you can turn that round and talk about the issues smaller businesses have connecting with big business, well that’s a great start.
Being thorough always pays dividends. Always, and I mean always, ask your audience if there is anything else they would like to know. It never surprises me some of the questions I get, `but if they are looking for an answer and you can give it to them, you’ll be far more memorable than the people who didn’t bother to ask the question.
Once you know what they are looking for there may be more relevant stuff you can tell them about. A word of caution here make sure it’s relevant. If you remember the blog on the goals of a presentation you’ll be aware you direct your audience’s attention to what is important and only what is important.
So never dumping on them is a great move. I don’t know about you but when I’m listening to a presentation on, say, sources of finance, being told about opportunities for investment does nothing for me. I’m there to find out how and where I can get funding for a project and not an opportunity to spend money on something else.
It’s surprisingly easy to find your audience are lost at sea instead of in the cabin understanding everything you’re telling them
Here are a couple of examples. Imagine you are telling someone about a networking group they should visit and you want explain what to expect.
Context: Set out what they are going to experience
Here is a real life example: You are going Networking next week where there will be local business people all looking to make connections in order to expand business in the area. As this is something I believe you are looking to do it should be a great place to get started.
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- Is Jargon Killing your message?
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- How to bore your audience the easy way
Always have empathy:
There will be a couple of people who will be helpful to you. Mary Green should be there to great you so you can tell her what you do and ask her to introduce you to business people in a similar area to yours.
Be Thorough:
There is a Mr XX who works in a similar area to you and I think your client base is similar, it might be good if you can get a few minutes with him.
Include all Relevant Information:
Does this give you everything you need to know? Oh I almost forgot, Mr YY it may be best to avoid him as once he starts talking he never seems to know when to stop. If I get caught with him, after about 5 mins I just say “Like you I’m here to network and I’m sure we both need to chat to one or two more people before the event is over, may I take your card so I can send you a quick email with my details for future reference? What I have done is effectively asked for his business card so we can chat later.
Never Dump on your audience:
Giving my friend detailed information on all the people who go to this networking event would not be appropriate unless I was asked for it. Simply because it would probably be information overload and confuse my friend.
Using these techniques is also a good framework for when you have to deliver not so good news.
Please tell us what you will change in your verbal communications.
Question: We’re interested in your reaction to this article. What have you found that helps you to be memorable?
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You might also like: Seven ways to make your presentation amazing
To your Speaking Success
Paul M Johnstone is a Public Speaking Coach, who helps people overcome the fear of public speaking a Communications skills mentor, and Public Speaker. He is the founder of the On The Money© an easy to master presentation system allowing you to deliver Killer Presentations every time.
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