How To Become A Good Communicator

It is truth that there are many people who are born with the talent and the right charisma to communicate. For sure you know somebody who can "hypnotize others" or who really catches your attention when talking. Or you know somebody who expresses him/herself so well that you read all the articles, columns and even all the tweets (over and over again). Communication is a skill that can be developed with training and personal effort, therefore, if you have thought that you want to be that kind of person, a great communicator, this is possible.


Some tips to become a good communicator:

Know what you are talking about: prepare yourself to express well. If you don't know what you are talking about, you will feel uncomfortable, and this will make your communication more challenging. Prepare yourself and get to know the topic well. 


Be clear and precise with your words: Less is more. I mean, use simple vocabulary that most of the people can understand and clear sentences which you are able to read without losing your breath. Select the main ideas and express those separately. 

Communicate enough, but not too much: select the main topics and the main issues to communicate. Do not try to talk about too many things at once. (This works if you are communicating by writing, too). Talking about too many things at the time only makes you confusing, and your audience will lose the focus. Say enough to keep your audience interested, but not too much to make them sleep. 

Use your strengths and combine different channels: If speaking in public is not your thing, no worries, nowadays more a more you can use different channels and tools to communicate with different audiences. If you are "forced" to talk in public you can use good visual to help you to present your ideas. Please, do not read only the PowerPoint presentation. Instead, use those texts, pictures and ideas to complement what you want to say. In case you don't need to talk in public but you are willing to communicate with different audiences, you can use different social media channels to express yourself, for example, Twitter, SlideShare, Instagram, or a blog. 

Be consistent: let's assume that you are a leader and you are managing a team. The best way to build a good team and reinforce the trust is by being consistent always when you communicate with them. Keep the same (positive, inspirational...) tonality, good attitude and your own communication style when you communicate with your employees. The same applies if you are communicating with customers. Remember, it is important that you align what you are saying with how you are saying it. Always.


Be authentic: You can see other people's way of communicate and learn from them. However, do not try to imitate others' style. Create a style that fits you well and makes you feel comfortable. To get a good audience you don't need to fake who you are.

Practice: This is particular useful if you are speaking in public. Writing down your ideas and reading those loud will help you to feel more confident about your presentation. 

Pay attention to others: If you are talking in public maintain a good eye contact with all the audience, listen to them, see their reactions and take their actions into consideration e.g. answering questions, sharing a friendly tonality, smiling, etc. in case you communicate by writing "listening to them" is also important. This means read your audience well and try to satisfy their communications needs. For example, if you are receiving feedback or comments, answer and follow-up until you feel the message has been delivered satisfactorily.


Good communications skills are useful for everything in our life -from personal relationship to business development. Do not take communication for granted and make always an effort to develop your skills.