Essential Secrets of Internet Communication

by Larry Winebrenner Writer

You have often experienced the "Me Syndrome" in communications of all sorts.

Let me tell all about my wonderful . . .

Our company has just . . .

And perhaps the most blatant--

Larry Winebrenner here. I'm writing . . .

Even when you do not consciously react to this kind of self-centered style, your warning radar pops into action. You know instinctively that the communicator is not interesred in you.

Pooh to them!

But what do you learn? That they are not sincere? That you're not going to buy what inevitably they're going to try to hawk to you?

Or do you learn to avoid what turns you off?

You see, many folks copy the style they see in letters, ads, presentations,m and a whole host of business communications.

When you proofread--you do proofread everything you send out, don't you?--when you proofread, look for I, me, my, we, us, our, and all those first person pronouns that refer to "myself." Write so they are last, not first.

That's the first secret.

The second is to beware of your language--that is, be aware of any special terms or jargon generally restricted to your field.

When I was teaching at Miami-Dade College, I was given the responsibility to introduce the faculty on my campus to the benefits of computer use.

That usuaslly began with, "Here's how you turn it on." :)

On our faculty was a brilliant chemistry professor who was a computer dunce. I couldn't seem to teach him anything.

We had a faculty lounge where we would drink coffee, tell dirty jokes, and discuss campus politics. Except for this brilliant chemistry professor. He always complained about his students. He would explain concepts over and overv again. They would fail to grasp them over and over again.

"Just like you," I'd think. But I never said it. He was bigger than me.

One day he came into the lounge and said, 'I've finally figured it out."

"Lordy! Lordy! Hallelujah!" I cried. "You finally understood everything I've been telling you?

"No," he replied. "But I figureed out why my students can't understand me. When you talk computers, you use a geek-languasge that makes no sense to me. When I realized that, then I knew I was doing the same thing to my students. I was using a chem-language they never learned."

So I taught him the language--cursor, inbox, RAM, and all the rest. He had no problems learning the use of a computer, After all, he was a brilliant chemistry professor--and a pretty smart colleague to boot.

The moral of this story is obvious. If you have a speciality, whether weeding a garden or mixing a proper solution of concrete, watch out for a special vocabulary when communicating.

The third secrets to be natural. Write the way you talk. Just be careful with properly presenting your material. If you say "Ain't," then spell it right. Search for typos when proofreading, and misspelled words. And do proofread everything you write. Poor writing calls for poor acceptance.

So there you have it. Essential secrets of communication are emphasize the one you communicate with instead of self, speak the proper langage, and be natural.