Quick question to start
How busy are you?
Everyone is already too busy, most of the time
That includes your tutors and professors.
Fellow students.
Anyone you want to sell your ideas to.
That has consequences
Hi, I’m Giles, Use the human voice
I wrote a book about what’s in my head
I used to work for the UK government
1,882 websites
The making things open team
I have good news and bad news
The bad news
Writing in here is not like writing out there
People out there have other things to think about
People don’t read
When they do read, they usually skim
So write things that are easy to skim
The good news
Communicating with busy people isn’t hard
I have 3 tips for you
Tip 1
You should aim to make the smallest possible demand on other people’s time
Tip 2
Create layers of easy context, on top of the detail that already exists
Mary Beard, classicist
Skylar Grayson, astrophysicist
“One of the great failings of modern science is that most results are shared like this, and most people can’t understand this.”
👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
Tip 3
Show how you make your humbugs
Surprise bonus tip
Write presentations for presenting
If you want people to read text, write a document instead. Or better: a web page.
Formats for clarity
Blogging, even if you call it something else
Newsletter / journal / notebook
Weeknotes
Video is good for making people feel things
Presenting! Show things! Tell stories!
Useful tactics
Write less, more often
Iterate communication like you iterate work
Write about good things and bad things
Add a tiny bit of creativity
Know your purpose
Show the actual work
Thanks!
Feedback welcome:
giles@usethehumanvoice.com