BizTech Communications without Tears: Writing & Presenting Made Easy

David E. GoldbergIllinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUrbana, Illinois 61801 USAdeg@illinois.edu

Motivation

• Engineers often relish technical work.• Don’t necessarily like to communicate

it: Cool Hand Luke.• Need to understand

– Why we don’t like to write or present.

– Key differences between English/Rhetoric class &BizTechwriting/presenting.

• Mission nearly impossible: Writing & presenting complex, but can quickly survey success keys.

Paul Newman (1925-2008)

Roadmap

• Writing process:

– Prime directive of writing.

– Freewriting for loosening writer’s block.

– Quickplanning as opposed to full outlines.

• Key difference & structures of BizTech writing:

– B-P-R: Background, purpose, roadmap.

– Lists & amplification.

• Elements of a BizTech presentation.

Prime Directive of Writing

• Writing process:• How many like to write?

Why or why not?• Key problem: Endless circle

of write and criticize.• Prime directive is to just

write.• Separate writing into phase

I, generation, phase II, quickplanning, and phase III, revision.

• Must practice. How?

StarFleet Prime Directive (General

Order #1): Don’t interfere with pre-

warp cultures.

Modeling Phase I: Freewriting

• In Elbow’s Writing with Power freewriting

exercise a key.

• Freewriting = writing without crossing off

on anything that comes to mind for fixed

interval.

• Let’s do it for 3 minutes.

• Rules:

– No stopping. Repeat nonsense phrase if

stuck.

– No crossing out. Not one word.

• Direct style freewriting at particular task

Phase II: Quickplanning

• Full outlines can inhibit good writing.

• Use quickplanning.

• Like creating bullet points for a ppt presentation.

• Do it hierarchically as necessary:

– For the whole piece.

– Section by section.

• Subject to discovery of logic, content, and interrelationship.

Phase III: Cut-and-Paste Revision

• Just writing doesn’t create a written piece.

• Phase III: Cut-and-paste revision.

• Try it on physical paper first (no computers initially).

• Steps:– Write every other line.

– On one side of sheet.

– Use scissors and glue stick.

– Take directed “freewriting” as raw material.

– Cut, paste, and interpolate between the lines.

– Write new paragraphs as necessary.

Key Δ& Structures of BizTech Writing

• How is BizTech writing different from LAS writing?

• Business/technical writers are all busy:

– Need cues to where they are (roadmaps, titles, key words).

– May not read everything (elements self-contained).

– Different readers may read differently (techies vs. CEO).

• Two key structures to promote effective BizTechreading writing: B-P-R & lists and amplification.

B-P-R: Fundamental Structure of Writing

• Forget freshmen English: No clever essays here.

• What should I write about? How to start?

• Every piece, every section need:

– Background (history & motivation).

– Purpose (of the piece, section).

– Roadmap (of the remainder).

• Army saying: Tell ‘em what you’re going to say, say it, and tell ‘em what you said.

Background

• Sometimes called motivation.

• The fundamental discontinuity.

• What is the context of what’s coming?

• Project history & background, motivation, times, dates, players.

• But remember, the clock is ticking.

Rhetorical Purpose

• “The purpose of this report (memo, section, letter, e-mail, whatever) is X.”

• “In this report we present X.”

• Say it. Not a mystery novel or freshmen essay.

• Don’t confuse project purpose with rhetorical purpose.

• Rhetorical purpose is the purpose of the piece (report, memo, section, whatever).

Roadmap

• Build a mental model or map for your reader. Tell them what is next.

• “In the remainder, we examine X, Y, and Z.”

• “The remainder of the report examines X, Y, and Z.”

• If you don’t tell them where you are going, how will they know when they get there?

B-P-R Iterated Hierarchically

• Same structure used at the beginning of the report.

• At the beginning of the section.

• At the beginning of subsections.

• Less context needed when you are in the middle, but still needed.

• BizTech reader may not have read previous section.

BizTech Writer’s Friend: Lists & Amplification

• Lists and amplification.• Lists can be bulleted, numbered, either broken

out or in line.• Use lists a great deal.• “In this section we cover the following 3 items:

1. Item 12. Item 23. Item 3

The remainder examines each in more detail.”• List them, then amplify each item in sequence.

Elements of a BizTech Presentation

• Title, author & affiliation

• Foreword (Motivation)

• Overview

• Body

• Summary and conclusions

Titles as an Important Element

• Is title a separate element?• First element seen or heard.• Decision to attend may be based on title

alone.• Should be informative and interest-

provoking.– A Comparative Analysis of Selection

Methods in Genetic Algorithms– Genetic Algorithms, Noise, and the

Sizing of Populations– A Gentle Introduction to Genetic

Algorithms– Six Ways to GA Happiness– Don’t Worry, Be Messy

Foreword or Motivation

• Foreword, not forward: A word at the fore.

• Sometimes called motivation.

• Two parts:

– Background.

– Rhetorical purpose.

Roadmap or Overview

• Overview or Roadmap: laundry list of key topics.

• Necessary road map for you and audience.

• Intermediate overview slides helpful in long talks.

• Foreword + Roadmap = BPR of writing.

1921 IL Roadmap

Body

• Hard to generalize.

• Writing-like structure and flow.

• Miller rule for bullets: 7±2 chuck size.

• Eliminate unnecessary words: Transparency-speak.

Summaries and Conclusions

• Much confusion between summaries and conclusions.

• Summary: What talk said.

• Conclusion: How audience should change action or thought as a result of what talk said.

• Recommendation: Action conclusion.

Summary

• Perfection as enemy of good BizTechwriting/presenting.

• 3 phase approach:

– Freewriting as practice to loosen pens.

– Quickplanning to get the flow.

– Cut-and-paste revision

• Key difference: Busy people BPR and lists

• 5 Elements of a presentation.

Bottom Line

• BizTech seems daunting:

– Separate writing from revision: creative key.

– Quickplan, don’t overplan.

– Know that your reader/listener is busy: provide devices like BPR and lists as aids to navigation.

– Master the elements of a presentation.

• Can be a master engineering communicator, to benefit of your work and career.