Technical Communication
Chapter 7
Effective Communication
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Transfers vital info
Provides a basis for judging your knowledge
Conveys your interest and competence
Increases the knowledge of others
Identifies to you the gaps in your information
Allows you to carry out desired changes
Communication and Engineering
• Must possess technical skills
• Strong communication and teaming skills
lacking in entry-level candidates
• Golden Rules of Communication for Engineers:
▫ Brevity is best
▫ Using a shorter, simpler word is typically
preferable to a longer, more difficult word.
Minimal Time Decsion-Makers for
Communication
• Language using suited to audience?
▫ Do you know how to communicate effectively
▫ Do you need to expand your communication skills
• What being said clear to readers?
▫ Readers draw same conclusions you did
▫ Words, phrases, ideas that lead to multiple interpretations
• Do you know your audience?
▫ Unique preferences, hidden expectations
▫ Feelings about things being communicated
• Know how your audience perceives things?
▫ Do all engineers see things the same way
▫ Audience of non-engineers interpretations
Oral Communication Skills
http://www.drdudd.co.uk/homelife/HomeMain.htm
Formal and Informal Presentations
• Formal
▫ Preset time and date
 Preparation needed
▫ May be made to:
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Colleagues
Expert panels
Design Competitions
Conclusion projects
Conferences
Workplace
▫ Presentation software
 Handouts of slides
▫ Business attire
• Informal
▫ Short
▫ Preparation time less
▫ Impromptu
 Business context
 Technical meeting
 Meeting involving a
design team
Best Presentation Qualities
• Give valuable info not have had otherwise
• Be in a form to be put into immediate use
• Motivate and inspire the audience to want to put
the info to immediate use
Techniques Dealing with
Nervousness
• Breathing to avoid adrenaline overdrive
▫ Practice Square Breathing
 7 seconds in, hold 7, 7 out, hold 7
• Visualize successful presentation
• Tailor the talk to your strengths
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Use humor
Use props
Use your nervous habit
Use trivia
• Have presentation ready at least 1 day before
Preparation for Presentation
• Identify purpose and audience
• Organize information
• Gather information needed to
present
• Create presentation material
with maximal audience impact
• Practice your presentation
after it is prepared
Identify Purpose and Audience
• Know your audience
▫ How many people?
▫ How well do you know audience members?
 Small audiences who are known, use names
▫ What is the background of listeners
▫ What are the expectations
 Information, tone, level of formality
▫ What does audience know about the topic
▫ How long is your allotted time to speak
Organization of Presentation
• Have a one-page summary
▫ Presentations longer than 5 minutes
▫ Beginning of speech, let’s audience preview what is coming
ahead
• Use the power of repetition
▫ “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then
tell them what you told them”
• Provide written supplement
▫ Helps audience focus on what you are saying
▫ Not bogged down with writing presentation down
Organization of the Information
• Introduction
▫ Who you are and why you did this
• Need
▫ Why your engineering design needed
• Solution
▫ You have the design that addresses the need, and here it is.
Include major design features
• Bottom Line
▫ Benefits and cost
• Conclusion
Gather Information Needed to
Present
• Information should pertain to 3 - 5 main points
• Use graphics, pictures and photos
▫ Communicate a lot of info concisely
• Do not include too much or too little info
▫ Approx 1 slide for every minute of speech
 Do not exceed 30 seconds on 1 slide
Maximal Audience Impact in
Presentation
• KIS
▫ Keep It Simple
• Audience will remain
with you
▫ Accessible language
▫ More than one way the
information is provided
http://www.rocktrip.net/imagenes/clasicos/Kiss/kiss-band.jpg
Maximizing Visual Impact
• One central idea per slide
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Font size important
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Speaker may add details when needed
Orally identify/locate colors to help listeners
Use high contrast colors
DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS
Graphs & Charts more effective than Tables
Maximize Visual Impact
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The more a
Pointer needs
To
Be
Used
The worse
the slide
• Keep it Simple
Maximize Visual Impact
• Try to be as brief as you possibly can in creation of these
PowerPoint slides because you do not want to overload
the audience with unuseful information
• Cluttered slides are hard to read and cause the audience
to focus their attention somewhere else (Kind of like
what most of you are doing right now)
• Two clear understandable slides are better than one
cluttered slide
Maximize Auditory Impact
• Be an enthusiastic speaker
▫ “There are no boring topics, only boring
presentations.”
• Master your subject
▫ Read the audience, not your note cards
• Use pauses to your advantage
Kinematic Methods
• Engages audience
• Make sure everyone can see a
demonstration
▫ Point out major concepts
and ideas
• With direct engagement, assist
audience through step-by-step
process
▫ “Has everyone finished this
step.”
How would you like this in front
of you at a ballgame?
http://www.cjbaseball.com/TSLower1.htm
Practice, Practice, Practice
• Practicing presentations out loud allows for
insight into technique
• Will know how long presentation goes
• More familiar you become with a topic
• Showing the audience you are familiar with the
topic will make them and you more confident in
the subject
Getting Started
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First 10 - 30 s critical
Introduce yourself and topic
Establish level of formality
Establish tone
Interaction with audience
establishes rapport
• Monitor audience during
Presentation Hardware
How does this work!?
• Know how the equipment
works beforehand
• Overheads
• Ensure video projection
system is compatible
▫ May bring your own just
in case
http://www.oregonl5.org/l5ohead1.html
Written Communication Skills
Grammatical Issues
• Each paragraph should address a single topic
• Avoid cliches
• Its and It’s
▫ Its = Denotes possession
▫ It’s = It is
• Affect and Effect
▫ Affect - Verb
 To Influence
▫ Effect - Noun
 Result
The Audience
• Ask yourself
▫ “Who is going to read this, anyway?”
• Consider needs and perspectives of audience
• Technical material needs to be clear and concise
Technical Writing
• Identifies the main
premise early on
• Is clear, objective, and
economical
• Follows a specific format
• Takes a problem-solving
approach
• Involves specialized
vocabulary
• Incorporates signs,
symbols, formulas,
graphs, and tables
• Documents completed
work
Unique Aspects of Technical
Writing
• Content
▫ Factual and objective
• Methodical Construction
▫ Present most essential info first, followed by supporting
statements
• Clarity
• Objectivity
▫ Unemotional and unbiased
• Importance in Workplace
Formats of Written Communication
• Brief notes to a superior
peer
• Hand-written reminders
• Informal reports
• Memos
• Formal reports
• Visual presentations
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~mstone/Kerr/overhead1.html
Formal Reports
• Title
▫ Brief, clear, and appropriate introduction
• Summary
▫ What was attempted, how accomplished, and what the
implications are
• Table of Contents
▫ Each heading listed found in report with page number
• Nomenclature
▫ List and define all symbols used in report
Formal Reports
• Introduction
▫ State the motivation of experiment and background
information
• Analysis
▫ Begin with basic, general relationships and proceed to
specific formulas used in interpretation of data
▫ All relevant mathematical steps presented
• Experimental Procedure
▫ Schematic representation of experiment equipment or
simulation program
Formal Reports
• Results
▫ Short, declarative statements of the results which
summarize specific data presented in graphs or tables
• Discussion
▫ Interpret results, what was expected, what was unexpected,
and what is of technical interest
• Conclusions
▫ Concise statements that clearly communicate what results
indicate
Formal Reports
• References
▫ Author’s last name, then first and middle initial
 List coauthors with initials first
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Title of source quoted
Edition of source
Volume of source (if applicable)
City of publication (from source’s title page)
Publisher
Date of Publication
Pages references
Formal Reports
• Example References
▫ Gomez, A.G., W.C. Oakes, and L.L. Leone. “Technical
Communication,” Engineering Your Future. Edition 1,
Okemos, MI. Great Lakes Press, Inc. pp. 151 - 180
▫ Serge, E., ed., Experimental Nuclear PhysicsI, 1st ed., Vol.
1, New York: Wiley, 1953,pp. 6-10
Formal Reports
• Appendices
▫ Lengthy calculations and side issues not related to
main theme placed here
▫ Is the piece required as part of the investigation
for the report?
 No = Appendix
Communication Checklists
• Checklists make sure you
have included everything
in the report that is
needed
• Customized Checklists
can be made for each
communication format
• Formal Report
▫ Title Page
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Title of Paper
Course/Project
Date Due
Section Meeting Time
Name
▫ References
 Initials for first name
 All necessary info included
 References numbered in text
lines like this: [1]
Other Types of Communication
Executive Summaries
• Assumes managerial perspective instead of technical one
• Presents simple facts and describes key elements in nontechnical language
• Contains enough info for clear decisions
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Background of situation/problem
Cost Factors
Conclusions
Recommendations
Proposals
• Address a specific need and describe the problem at
issue, define a solution, and request funding or other
resources to solve a problem
• Request For Proposal (RFP) guidelines
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What the proposal should cover
What sections it should have
When it should be submitted
To whom it should be sent
How evaluated with regard to other proposals
Proposal ABC Format
• A: Abstract
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Purpose
Reader’s main need
Main features you offer and related benefits
Overview of proposal sections to follow
Proposal ABC Format
• B: Body
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What do you want to solve and why?
What are the technical details of your approach?
Who will do the work, and with what?
When will it be done, and how long will it take?
How much will it cost?
Proposal ABC Format
• C: Conclusion
▫ Emphasize a main benefit or feature of your
proposal
▫ Restate your interest in doing the work
▫ Indicate what should happen next
Memos
• Convenient, relatively informal way to
communicate the existence of a problem,
propose some course of action, describe a
procedure, or report the result of a test
• Must be carefully prepared, thoughtfully written,
and thoroughly proofread for errors
Memos
• Introduction
▫ Summarizes memos purpose
• Conclusion
▫ Restates the main points and contains
recommendations
Title Format for Memo
• To:
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name, job title
department
organization
From:
name, job title
department
organization
Subject:
(or “Re:”) issue addressed in memo
Date:
date
Dist: (Distribution) list of others receiving memo (if applicable)
Encl: (Enclosure) list of other items included (if applicable)
Ref: (Reference) list of related documents (if applicable)
Email
• Use proper grammar
▫ Appropriate sentence structure, subject/verb
agreement, spelling, flow
• Carefully proofread, edit, and spellcheck
• Think about response before sending
▫ Wait as long as possible before sending a
response, even if you only have an hour
Email Cautions
• Never use when face-to-face dialog is needed
• Do not use when formal documentation is
required
▫ Does not carry status of formal report
• Not as private as you think
Progress Reports
• Attractive and easy to understand
• Introduction
▫ Scope of work being done, purpose of the work, and any
major changes that have been required
• Project Description
▫ Completed phases, time taken to complete, and phases to
be completed
• Summary
▫ Summarize main points of action and reiterate where you
are along the road to completion
Problem Statements
• Explicitly states problem to be investigated and
outlines course of action to be taken
• Correctly defining problem is vital
▫ Work with data you have already collected
▫ Consult contacts who have knowledge of the
problem
▫ Investigate the problem first-hand
Cover Letters
• Sent along with resumes and transcripts to
potential employers
• Introduces you to the company in a
conversational manner
• Opportunity to communicate what you have to
offer to them
• May open doors if written properly or slam them
shut if written poorly
Specifics in a Cover Letter
• Date, your address and phone number, and the name
and address of the person to whom you are writing
• 1st paragraph
▫ Introduction of yourself, reason you are writing the letter,
source of your information about the employer, and
position for which you would like to apply
• 2nd paragraph
▫ Brief resume description, hitting highlights
Specifics in a Cover Letter
• 3rd paragraph
▫ “Current” information which may not yet be
appropriately included in your resume
 Courses taking, research involved in, activities about
to engage in
• 4th paragraph
▫ Summary paragraph thanking reader “in advance”
for consideration
Resumes
• Sells you and your qualifications
• Two main types
▫ Skills Resume
 No significant work experience
 Highlights skills and talents to benefit the potential
employer
▫ Experience Resume
 Highlights prior work experience relevant to job
being applied for
Resumes
• Many formats for resume, must include essential information
▫ Name
▫ Address
▫ Phone Number
▫ Educational Background
▫ Previous Employment
▫ Extracurricular Activities
• Highlight key elements in BOLD
• Have many people critique your resume and evaluate all
comments, tailoring to fit you
Resume Checklist
• Information
▫ Objective clearly stated
▫ Objective supported by education, experience,
activities, and honors
▫ Experience, education, and/ or skills segment are
effective
▫ Al activities, honors, and other data are
appropriate for the employment and the reader
Resume Checklist
• Organization
▫ Name and key headings stand out
▫ Information within each heading is ordered from
most to least important
▫ Experience segment is arranged to highlight your
strengths and career objective
Resume Checklist
• Style
▫ Language is simple, direct, and precise
▫ Noun phrases are consistently used to describe
experience, skills, and activities
▫ Parallel structure is used effectively
▫ Have no errors in grammar, punctuation, or
spelling (no typos whatsoever)
Thank-You Letters
• Thank the individuals who interviewed you for the
position applied for
• Do not wait more than 48 hours to send
• Businesslike and concise
• May put you ahead of the competition
Thank-You Letter Contents
• 1st paragraph
▫ Thank the interviewers for their time and reiterate your
interest in working for their company
• 2nd paragraph
▫ Briefly restate your qualifications
▫ Address any positive qualities failed to mentioned during
interview
Thank-You Letter Contents
• 3rd paragraph
▫ Close with a final thank-you
▫ Express interest in hearing back from the interviewer
▫ May give specific timeframe to when you will follow up with
a phone call
▫ Provide interviewer with phone numbers where you can be
reached and e-mail address
• Additional Advice
▫ Personalize each Thank-You Letter
▫ May open other doors or future opportunities