EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT COMMUNICATION

CONTENTS
Modes and dimensions of communication

Oral communication
Written communication

Prescription for developing communication skills

COMMUNICATION
Styles: formal, informal and casual Modes: vertical and horizontal Dimensions: understanding and agreement; effectiveness and efficiency

Ineffective Communication

Sir, my employer wants a letter about the

completion of my thesis written by you !

Effective Communication !!
"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I making big report in papers."
--- Okhil Chandra Sen to Sahibganj Divisional Railway Office (1909)

Inefficient Efficient
a considerable amount of much the given data data in the event that if deposited precipitate precipitate the nature of Hoyles work is Hoyles work is always of a provocative kind always provocative

Efficient Communication
I am writing a long letter since I do not have the time to write a shorter one. - Pascal

Communication is for others.

Improvement in communication improves quality of learning process interpersonal relations

ORAL COMMUNICATION
Verbal: spoken words, pauses, stress and intonation
vocal
38 % 7%

words

55 %

Non-verbal: gesture and facial expression

Attention span
Attention span of the audience: initial 20 min of concentration, lapse for 10-20 min, slight recovery and then renewed relapse till the end.

It can be increased by adding variety to the talk interaction, diagrams, audiovisuals, pace of speech,

pitch of the voice, length of sentences, pauses,

repetition; gesturing with hands, humor.

VOCAL FEATURES
Pause Gives prominence to a word by isolation Raises suspense May be caused by nervousness and memory lapse

Stress Within sentences each word is not of equal earth shattering importance; nouns and verbs receive more stress than adjectives and adverbs.
Accent is the stress given to syllables within a word. Intonation Variation of pitch conveying subtleties of meaning should be connected with the thoughts and attitudes of a speaker

NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR
If verbal message and non-verbal behavior are contradictory, audience gives more weight to non-verbal message. Proximity public zone (> 4 m), social zone (1.5-4 m), personal zone

(0.5 1.5 m), and intimate zone (0-0.5 m).

Orientation

relative position of speakers and body alignment

x x x x xx

NON-VERBAL BEHAVIOR
Posture, touch and body movement (nods and gestures) Facial expression conveys emotional states Gaze / eye contact can attract or deflect attention Appearance Paralanguage um, eh, ok, orright, er etc Visual aids

Necessary aspects of a talk

A talk should be audible, visible, lucid, interesting Lucidity depends on structure, organization Interest depends on Contents facts, concepts, principles, procedures;

Eye-contact (minimize reading, do not turn your back)

Variety - interaction, activity, diagrams, audiovisuals, pace of speech, pitch of the voice, length of sentences, pauses, repetition; gesturing with hands, humor.

Conference presentations
Must: planning, rehearsal, title slide with author details, short and catchy title, introduction, summary / conclusion Audience - background and size. Duration - shorter talks are more difficult. Your location - close to the audience, not behind a desk, to one side of the screen.

Speech slow and varied.

Conference presentations
Slides: lettering - at least 24 pt, arial font Colour use only few text - short sentences, no running text number ~ 1 / min (excluding back up)

References on the slide under discussion rather than at the end

A logical transition while changing from one issue to the next - can be done by posing a question

Conference presentations
Anticipate questions the audience may have and address them in the talk, before the audience thinks of these things themselves When a question is asked during a talk, answer immediately, if it will clarify ambiguity, else postpone it till the end. If you cannot answer a question, say so. Avoid long answers Use pointers sparingly. Do not wear dark / dull clothing.

Prescriptions
Read aloud a newspaper for 10 min

(just as singers practice daily)

Record and listen to your own talk Practice in front of a mirror Look at websites, e.g. http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~djkaiser/150 http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/ Read books on public speaking Listen to orators and good teachers

Assignment
Make a 10 minute oral presentation using power point, on a topic of your choice.

WRITING AND THOUGHT

Writing is the means of discovering new knowledge. Writing makes people think about their work in a different way.

The only time when we think is when we write !

A lot is written when little has been achieved.

Length, Layout and Typography

A4 size paper. Justified text. Typefaces serif and sans serif. 12 pt double line spacing. Avoid too much of *** EMPHASIS *** Headings Camera ready copies

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

Titles of the thesis, chapters and subsections

should be short, and should whet the appetite and arouse the curiosity of the reader. Thinking of such titles is a pleasant diversion from the boring job of writing routine portions of the thesis. Do not use abbreviations in the title.

WRITING METHODOLOGY
Plan and write versus think as you write
Try writing into a computer directly. Generate the points, putting them down as and when they come to your mind.

Organize them into an acceptable structure.

Convert them to grammatically correct and well balanced sentences.

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
References: [1] S. Karmalkar and Girish Ramesh, A Simple Yet Comprehensive Unified Physical Model of the 2-D Electron Gas in Delta doped and Uniformly Doped HEMTs, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol. 41, pp. 1123, Jan 2000. Karmalkar S. and Girish Ramesh (2000) A Simple Yet Comprehensive Unified Physical Model of the 2-D Electron Gas in Delta doped and Uniformly Doped HEMTs, IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 41 (1), 11-23.

Illustrations
Line graphs Bar graphs Area graphs

Pictorial graphs
Sector graphs Pictorial drawings

Line and block diagrams

Cartoons

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Write, review and rewrite ! Review objectively by creating a psychological distance between you and your work.

To achieve psychological distance set the work aside for a few days, or do something else, make phone calls, meet friends etc., or read aloud what you have written, as hearing reveals the difference between what you intended to say and what you actually said.

Prescriptions

Read the editorial of newspapers daily. Do writing for two hours / week . This could be notes for the lectures that you gave, or description of an important

idea. It can also be precis writing.

Assignment
1. Write a summary of the discussion material,
You and your research in about 600 words. 2. List the references of your oral presentation in proper format, assuming they are being put in a thesis. 3. Prepare any one figure of your oral presentation, with a figure caption.