Effective, Consistent, and Ethical Communication

One of the major issues we had this past week was how to put everything together for the presentation. For a bit, I sat back and watched as people started to toss in pictures and styles that did not belong. I mention that they didn’t belong because some of the items had to do with the content we were discussing and others did not. When it came to styles, since there wasn’t a guide as to what was acceptable and what was unacceptable, each person created their own. It was very apparent that the majority of my group had the slightest idea how to do a presentation. However, we could not submit a presentation like the one that was started. Inconsistencies in formatting take away from the message. Therefore, we made everything consistent from beginning to end and removed any distracting elements. The most important part was the message we were trying to convey.

We eventually had to discuss our audience and how we would present to them. Small things such as mentioning to click on a link were oversights that needed to be addressed. In our discussions on the message, we had a discussion on why our topic was important and how we can convince people to standup for our message. What would be the thing that influences them? We figured that presenting the information as is, and then following it with a plea would be something that works. A dissonance is created when look at what the veterans do for our country and how they are treated when they return from duty. Many of them need medical help. But it’s hard to turn a blind eye to them. Dissonance makes people feel uncomfortable and they seek to get rid of that uncomfortable feeling. Our hope is that, after presenting the information, they will seek to get rid of that feeling by taking action.

We would have loved to do something a little bit more robust. This includes something that could have even involved social media. At one point in time, we were discussing creating a whole campaign that we would run even after the class was over with. That’s still a possibility. In order to reach a broader audience, a PowerPoint presentation probably will not do. It’s great for groups and conferences, but there are plenty of people who will not sit through something like that. When conveying a message such as this, it’s best to stick to legitimate ways of getting the information out. Otherwise people will reject the message. If there is something flawed about it, people will find out. One of the things I think about is the KONY 2012. It went viral but there issues with the campaign. It lost its credibility even though it was for a noble cause.