Improve your personal relationships, work relationships and other societal interactions by developing good communication skills. Good communication involves clearly delivering your messages to others and being the type of listener who can interpret accurately the verbal and nonverbal signals that others send. If you want to express yourself more clearly, learn the basic techniques of communication and practice them often.
Improve Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication includes all the physical cues you send to a listener. To see what signals you send with your body language and facial expressions, videotape yourself pretending to have a conversation or giving a speech. When you watch the video later, analyze yourself. What type of facial expressions did you employ? Might people think you are angry or sad when you are not? Does your body language give off a feeling of confidence, or do you seem insecure? If possible, ask a friend or loved one to help you identify your weak points. Look out for such negative signals as eye aversion, fidgeting and facing away from your listeners, all of which give others the impression that you are distracted or bored.
Follow Proper Etiquette
Knowing how to speak in various social situations is an important element of communication. For example, a casual speaking style may be appropriate when you are with friends and family members, but it is inappropriate during a business meeting. The University of Louisville offers the following tips on workplace communication: Address well-known subordinates and acquaintances by their first names. Address superiors and strangers with the appropriate gender-specific title, such as Mr. or Mrs. If you do not know whether a woman is married, use Ms. when you address her. For telephone conversations, use a polite, clear tone. On voice messages and answering machines, identify yourself clearly and succinctly. If possible, avoid using speaker phones, which can muffle voices and make it hard for clients to communicate with you.
Use Visual Aids
Speeches or presentations that involve technical jargon and dense data may confuse or bore others. To avoid this, use vivid graphs, interesting pictures and other visual examples to support your talk. If people can see what you mean, it makes it easier for them to relate to your message. But don't overdo it by cramming a presentation with visual aids. Instead, choose meaningful and thought-provoking images that complement your spoken material. Reveal the examples at the right moment so the audience knows the portion of your speech to which the images relate.
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