Do You Know Your Audience - Are You Sure?
Yesterday, I presented on crisis communications & social media at the 2010 Plain Talk in Complex Times conference in Arlington, VA. It was a very solid meeting and I benefited tremendously from listening to the other presenters. The principal thrust of the meeting being that, as communicators, we CANNOT take for granted that we know our audience, their true needs or their capacity to comprehend the messages we put forth. We must consistently reevaluate our efforts and make sure that we are not operating on erroneous, even though possibly well intentioned, assumptions. Moreover, for those of us who are fairly well adept at keeping pace with the fast pace of technological innovation and continuously testing and evaluating the newest tools, we cannot forget the basics. Communicating in plain language needs to an absolute priority if we want to have any hope at all of reaching those populations who are most needy, most vulnerable and who most need our help. I didn't take notes at the meeting but thought I would pull a few tweets from the #plaintalkconf tweet stream to emphasize this point. They are worth paying attention to.
55 million people in the US speak a language other than English at home
... and focus groups with Latinos revealed a block of English text on Spanish-language materials...worried parents
Many years ago, one of my bosses told me that when there is a misunderstanding between two individuals and information is not communicated correctly, it is ALWAYS the person trying to convey the information who is at fault. Not only is the communicator responsible for transmitting the message in a succinct and clear manner but he is also responsible for ensuring (and knowing for certain) that the message has been received and understood. I think this is something that everyone should take to heart and that we should all strive to improve upon everyday. And it all starts with knowing, really knowing your audience.
