Usually, we use Organization Tuesday to talk about organizing tangible items, like the stuff in our offices, or temporal items, like the tasks and obligations that take up our schedules. Periodically, however, we'll focus on organizing our thoughts.
Today, I'd like to talk about organizing our thoughts to communicate with "The Lost". No, not the characters on Lost on ABC…though that illustrates a prime example of communicating just enough of the intriguing "stuff" about characters' backgrounds, the island's mysteries, and what the heck may (or may not) be going on to keep people interested.
Lost's writers tell enough, but not too much. Given the nature of their eerie genre, the writers have to be oblique to not to give away the secrets too early. It's OK that audience members are confused now because they trust that all will be unveiled, eventually
What about you and your audience?
When you sit down to organize your thoughts to communicate with your clients in newsletters, articles, blogs or e-books, your goal is to captivate attention so that you can inform. Since you're not creating a narrative with a cult audience, clarity and completeness, rather than obliqueness, needs to be your style, because if the delivery is too much like the foggy smoke monster on Lost, your readers will not stick with you (and certainly won't buy the next and more expensive item in your marketing funnel).
There are quite a few exercises we can use to organize our thoughts to help us communicate more clearly with our audiences. Today, our theme is that which is "lost", including lost readers because they've lost the train of thought, the thread of your argument, or the specific paths they need to follow.
When your office is cluttered, you can lose the most important file because it's not where you need it to be, when you need it there; depending on the relative importance of the project, you may just give up if the path is not clear. The same happens when your audience loses you, or feels you've lost them.
Are there times when your wealth of knowledge is so vast that you might be assuming too much knowledge on the part of your readers, obscuring that which they need to continue on the path? Could those assumptions keep you from providing the trail markers they need?
Continuing our theme of "lost", have you ever seen the amazing documentary Lost Boys of Sudan? The young orphans in this film, and their fellow brave young survivors of the Sudanese civil war, were brought to the United States in hopes they might lead safer, more hopeful lives. Charitable aid societies provided them with as much advance guidance and information as possible, but how could one be prepared to go from the horrors of war-torn Sudan to typical life in the U.S.?
On one prime time magazine show, the camera followed the lost boys walking through a grocery store, describing the awe, wonder and fear they experienced upon their first visits, seeing more food in one location than they'd previously seen in a lifetime. Can you imagine what went into preparing them for events for which one might never be truly prepared?
Imagine you were charged with that task. What would you tell the "lost boys" to make sure you prepared them for something you take for granted like shopping for groceries?
Could you put yourself in their place, in a situation where you'd never seen plentiful packaged and fresh foods? Imagine what you'd hope someone would tell you so you wouldn't be overwhelmed. Would you remember to prepare them not to be shocked by the electric eye doors opening as one approached? Could you clarify how cold the refrigerated section is and how the temperature changes so quickly when you are merely one aisle away?
Would you remember to caution your reader not to eat or drink any food until it's paid for? And yet, if you did so, could you explain the seemingly contrary existence of tasting stations with friendly "grocery ladies" offering samples of toaster waffles or chips and salsa and how sampling those foods is acceptable?
Would you clarify how to maneuver through the store so frozen items would be the last purchases so they would not melt or remember to explain how grocery carts work, altogether, and the need to keep watch over your cart and not accidentally take someone else's?
Then, there would be explanations of how to read price tags and shelf tags, use coupons, calculate tax (with different taxes for food, faux-food and non-food items), and descriptions of how to place your groceries on the conveyor belt, the different ways you might be asked how you want items bagged and how payment works. Would you explain how to keep your receipt handy in case you were asked to produce it at the exit or how to return an item if flawed?
Indeed, have you thought of dozens of things I've not even mentioned that you'd hope you'd remember to share, or are you slightly shocked to realize how you take all of this for granted? Or are you wondering what this has to do with Organizing Tuesday?
When you write for your audiences, sometimes you are writing to the uninitiated, the uncertain, the awkward and the fearful—the lost! Your breadth of knowledge on a technical subject, such as registering a domain name or installing blogging software, might lead you to gloss over some of the finer points, and that could keep your readers from applying your excellent advice.
If you are a coach or a counselor, you might recognize the symptoms of clinical depression, but to those without real world or academic experience in the field, your readers may not understand that "depression" does not necessarily mean "sadness" or however else they perceive the abstract, rather than medical, definition.
Without using language clear and simple enough for your readers to be certain that you comprehend their levels of experience (or lack thereof), how can you make that essential connection with them? Perhaps you think you've acknowledged that they are seeking you out specifically because you have information they need, but are you careful not to assume they know what, exactly, you mean?
I don't merely mean that you should not use unexplained buzzwords or technical jargon; that's an important communications issue and one our own communications expert, Felicia Slattery, may write about. But when you are organizing your thoughts, break things down into minute details…start with laying out all the information to make sure you haven't forgotten the tiniest, most essential details. Think about:
1) What happens first? Are you sure that's really first? In essence, did you explain your profession's equivalent of the electric doors at the grocery store? What happens next?
2) What if "next" isn't as applicable as "meanwhile"? Perhaps you're describing a technical pathway that is linear at first, but then might branch (i.e., first you buy domain name, then you get a hosting service and build your site…and then you can create a blog and/or a newsletter and/or a podcast). Or could your field involve a variety of non-linear experiences (e.g., Might you need to describe how divorce will impact your readers financially, legally, socially, emotionally, geographically, etc.)?
3) What will things look like? Feel like? Sound like? For example, if you're selling a download from your web site, does the copy on your sales page explain how the "thank you" page will include a link to the download or how one must immediately check email to locate the download link? Recall your very first experiencing buying a digital document in order to have empathy with your audience.
Of course, you know how advanced your audience is; some of you deal with novices, other with intermediate users and veterans. However, different people learn in different ways. Whether one is a novice or veteran does not determine whether one learns best by visual, auditory or kinesthetic examples. Even if you are writing, describing how the memory chip will sound when installed can be useful. Will it click like a seatbelt or cosmetic compact, or sound more like a drawer sliding into place?
Not everyone needs the same level of detail and hand-holding, but in organizing your thoughts, envision how you can describe the issue or experience in a way that can be comprehended by different types of learners.
4) What might go wrong? Imagine shopping in a Big Box store for the first time, following all the rules and still setting off the alarms because the cashier had not removed the security device!
If you are a coach, your readers may fear that the emotions they're experiencing are unusual or weird – they need you to explain what is normal/healthy and what requires professional guidance. If your field is marketing, you need to convey how your message and medium might be right, but issues beyond their control (like the recent occurrence of an anchor cutting communications cables, limiting internet access in the Middle East) might not be foreseen.
Something that's entirely obvious to you and barely needs mentioning, let alone description, can be challenging or fear-inducing to someone with no experience. Think of your readers as potentially the equivalent of the Lost Boys. Perhaps they don't need specifics, even in an introductory article, and they will merely skim to make sure they've caught all of the salient points. But if this material is all new to your readers, however, your step-by-step checklists and emphasis on details and clarity may be worth its weight in gold.
Recall what it was like to be lost, and the inspiration for organizing your thoughts may be found.
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Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
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