Do you communicate? Would you like to do it better?

If you communicate on a regular basis, you know how important it is to make sure your audience is with you. There are few things more disconcerting to a speaker than the dreaded sound of crickets, the glazed-over look from hollow eyes… or death: when you notice large numbers of your listeners are already pulling out their smartphones.

I communicate weekly (I’m a preacher)… but really it’s daily. Actually, we’re all in the information-conveying business. And while our media may differ, our calling is the same: to convey what we believe is essential to our listeners. Whether you’re sending out a school-district-wide email, delivering a sermon, making a presentation to your board or talking to your spouse or children, consider these three things:

  1. focus
  2. fluff
  3. flow. 

1. Find the Focus

First, find the focus. What is the absolutely essential one thing you need to communicate? Communicate this soon and communicate this often. Find a creative and memorable way to say it. But whatever you do, narrow your focus. Find the center. And then be able to articulate it. If you don’t know what your focus is, how can you expect your hearers to find it?

2. Cut the Fluff

This is the most difficult part for all communicators, if we’re honest with ourselves. We believe that everything we have to say is vital. And so we pack 15 “life giving truths” into a 20 minute talk. And no one remembers anything.

Once you have found the focus, cut the fluff. Be relentless. Go in with the skill of a master chef, cutting out all but the essentials.

3. Find the Flow

Finally, find the flow. Andy Stanley says that on the “turns” in a speech, we often take our audience through a transition like a driver taking a curve at full speed. If we manage to stay on the road, our passengers likely have their face plastered against the window and have to recover from the shock. Take the turns easy. Pay attention to the flow. Everyone who is listening is not inside your head.

This is not a call to over-simplify things, but instead to recognize that all forms of communication are journeys–and you are attempting to take your audience with you. Give great consideration to the transitions. Do they make sense? Does the overall structure and flow of your work make sense… not just to you but to your audience?

Rinse. Repeat.

Find the focus. Cut the fluff. Find the flow. And happy communicating!