EVALUATING MESSAGES

Have you ever been misunderstood, or surprised by a reaction to your message? We are
often poor judges of our own communications. We may be certain of a message, its meaning and
intent, and may assume that the message will be clear to the receiver. Without guidelines in
place, evaluating our own messages may prove to be a subjective exercise. It is helpful,
therefore, to have some objective standards by which to measure them.

There are four main qualities for an effective message:

 Simplicity
 Specificity
 Structure
 Stickiness

Strategies for Evaluating a Message

In order to evaluate whether a message is effective, we can ask ourselves a series of
questions which reflect a message's simplicity, specificity, structure, and stickiness. Let's take a
look at some of these questions now.

Simplicity
In order to ensure that our messages have simplicity, we should ask ourselves two questions:
 Is my purpose evident?
 Is my core message clear?

The purpose of a message will be either to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Knowing the
purpose will guide us in the choice of information to include, and in its organization. Informative
speaking will rely heavily on data, while persuasion will employ emotional appeals, as well as
data, and require a different structure. A message with the intent to entertain will have a very
unique focus. Awareness of purpose is crucial, in order that our audience will know the purpose
of the message, and be able to respond appropriately.

Specificity
Specificity refers to our choices of language and its usage. In order to ensure language is
specific, we may ask ourselves:
 Is my language specific?
 Is my language concrete, rather than abstract?
 Are there connotative meanings to the words I have chosen? If so, do these emotional
associations serve or go against my purpose?
 Am I using words which have additional meanings, and could perhaps be misconstrued?

Structure
Effective communicators rely on structure.
 Having a clear structure for communicating helps you in two ways: it allows you to
organize and remember your ideas, and it makes it easier for your listener to follow and stay
focused.

Here are three structures to help you communicate more effectively:

1. The 3-I's: Issue, illustration, invitation.
2. The 3-Ws: What? So what? Now what?
3. PSB: Problem, solution, benefit.

Stickiness
Stickiness is how much an idea stays around in our culture and commands our attention.
It combines the idea of being memorable, and staying near the front of our mind. Sticky
messages win the war for our attention, by holding our focus despite the incursions of new
messages.

How to Make your Ideas Stick

The Heaths argue that there are a number of things you can do to make your messages and ideas
stick. And they use an acronym to help with the stickiness of their ideas.

 Simple
 Unexpected
 Concrete
 Credible
 Emotional
 Story

Simple
Present the core of your idea.
Unexpected
Grab the attention of your audience – and then hold onto it.

There are two things that you can use here:

1. First, grab attention with something surprising or even shocking
2. Then, hold onto it by stimulating curiosity
Is it any wonder mystery thrillers are so popular?

Concrete
Turn your abstract ideas into real examples.

Credible
Ideas will only stick if people believe them.

Emotional
People need to care about your idea.

Story
Stories embed the ideas into our consciousness.

And a story guides us through what we need to think or do, as we identify with its protagonists.
The Heaths offer us three basic plot lines:

1.The Challenge Plot

This is the story of an innocent or an underdog, who overcomes adversity. Rags to riches stories
like Cinderella, vie with hero’s journeys like Star Wars.

2.The Connection Plot

We love stories about relationships, but when they are forbidden or face challenges, we love
them. Romeo and Juliet come from warring families, and the characters of Shawshank
Redemption bond across lines of race, class, and iron bars.

3.The Creativity Plot

We also love mysteries and are in awe of those who solve problems that we cannot. Mental
breakthroughs and clever solutions make the life of Stephen Hawking and the story of The
Martian highly appealing.