ENGR 111/FALL 2015

Communications

Learning Objectives
1. Be able to explain why good communication
skills are important in engineering.
2. Be able to prepare materials suitable for
use in an engineering presentation reporting
the status or results of a project or study.
3. Be able to prepare and give an elevator
pitch about an idea, topic, or yourself .
4. Be able to prepare an executive summary
for a project
5. Be able to prepare a technical report for a
project
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Importance of Communication
Top Ten Qualities/Skills Employers Want
1. Communication skills
2. Honesty/Integrity
3. Interpersonal skills (relate well to others)
4. Strong work ethic
5. Teamwork skills (work well with others)
6. Analytical skills
7. Motivation/Initiative
8. Flexibility/Adaptability
9. Computer skills
10. Detail orientated
source:Job Outlook 2005(Bethlehem, PA: National Association
of Colleges and Employers
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Importance of Communication

Subscribers to the Harvard Business Review rated"the

ability to communicate" the most important factor in
making an executive "promotable," more important
than ambition, education, and capacity for hard work.

Effective communication is essential to the transfer of

information and knowledge

If you are the greatest engineer, nobody will

recognize you if you cannot explain to others your
thoughts and ideas

Having strong written, and oral communication skills

will make you more competitive, more promotable,
and more productive on the job.

You should develop these skills now, as a student,

before you enter the job market. As author Jim Richman
4 I give any advice, it is that you can
writes inThe Scientist, "If

Breakdown of activities in
communicating
One study suggests engineers spend 20% of their time in actual
engineering, with 80% of their time communicating with
coworkers, clients, vendors, designers, and managers
Of the 80% of engineers work effort spent in
communicating:
25% is in writing

(emails, memos, technical reports)

35% is in speaking (sharing ideas thoughts with

coworkers, reviews with managements, formal
customer /management/colleague presentations)
40% is listening .

(to everyone, formal or informal)

Do not underestimate the

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importance of good
listening skills!

Listening Skills
Maintain eye contact with the instructor.
Focus on content, not delivery.
Avoid emotional involvement.
Avoid distractions.
Treat listening as a challenging mental task.
Stay active by asking mental questions.
Use the gap between the rate of speech and
your rate of thought.

Developing good listening

skills
Those who have mastered the art of listening:
Get to the root cause faster
The listener understands that listening is the
way to truly identify a problem.

Understand that its a compliment to whomever

you are meeting or listening
A good listener appreciates what a person has
to
say, even if they disagree with the speaker

Dont anticipate what they will hear nor allow

preconceived notions to interfere with their
listening.
Forming opinions before your start, creates
problems, confuses the listeners and consequently
takes longer to understand the problems.

Most people do not listen with the intent to

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understand; they listen with the intent to reply

Effects of bad Listening skills :

workplace
Customers feel alienated and go elsewhere
People do not feel that their opinion is valued
Employees aim for a win-destroy
Emotions come to the table, rather than beneficial
discussions
Employees can become apathetic
Research shows that generally people only listen
and mentally process 25% of what is being said
To maximize listening skills, take notes, minimize
distractions, be respectful, build relationships, do
not allow your focus to wander, ask questions, and
repeat back some summary information, keep
contradictions out of your
mind. Turn off cell
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phones, close laptops.

Paying attention Exercise

https://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo

Invisible Gorilla
50% of audience did not see the
gorilla

You dont notice things that are

not expected. But 80% of people
think they do

We think that we
see, notice, and
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Presentations
For many students, the act of giving an oral
presentation is a more daunting task than submitting
written documents.
Preparing for the presentation
Who is the audience?
What is the purpose?
Why are you giving the talk?
How long should the talk be?

4-S Formula for presentations

Shortness: use short sentences, avoid too many
details
Simplicity: Avoid wordy or lengthy phrases. Adjust
to level or background of the audience
Strength: Use Active Voice and Active verbs, not
Passive Voice.
We have developed a model for acceleration
versus intake manifold diameter. versus A model
for acceleration versus intake manifold diameter
has been developed.
Sincerity: Convey empathy, understanding, and
respect for the audience. When finished, thank them
for their attention.

Three Structural Parts of a Speech

Introduction
Purpose is to capture the interest of the audience.
What is it about your subject that they will find
most interesting and relevant?
Body
Purpose is to keep the audience interested. Keep
it interesting and relevant.
Divide the presentation into 2-3 main points
Conclusions
Pull it all together.
Summarize major points
Thank your audience for their attention

Visual Aids
Keep each slide simple, one concept per slide
No more than 6 lines per slide. (In spite of this slide)
No more than one slide per minute
Present data in simple graphs rather than lists or
tables
Use pictures, diagrams, videos
Use bullet points with important phrases to convey
ideas
Large Text size (at least 18 points, preferably >24
points)
Use high contrasting colors. Avoid light colors such
as yellow
Keep background styles simple to minimize
distractions

Fonts Choices Can Make a

difference
Calibri is the standard font for PowerPoint. Ok to
use, but it is very common
Arial or Arial bold both look great. But like Calibri,
it is overused
Century Gothic is a light and elegant font
Franklin Gothic is a good, narrow font
Verdana is very clear for screens but is wide and
less efficient (less words per line)
Lucida and Lucida Console are very readable
Others: Keep to Sans-Serif style of fonts. Test these
out.
Use the same font throughout the presentation,
avoid no more than 2 complimentary fonts (like Arial

Improving Slide Quality

Improving Slide Quality

Improving Slide Quality

How to Improve?

Activity
In your text, pages 102-103. Critique the two ICA 4-1
and 4-2 student presentations.
How would you improve these PowerPoint
presentations?

During the Presentation

Relax
Speak slowly and clearly
Rehearse your presentation Out Loud multiple times.
Watch your body language. Relax. Be confident.
Do Not:
Turn your back to the audience
Read your presentation (from text or slides)
Tell inappropriate jokes
Overuse the pronoun I or um or uh
Chew gum
Play with your notes

Non-verbal Communications
Unfortunately the saying Dont judge a book by its
cover is not always followed
Clothes, cleanliness, posture, facial expressions, can
cause some members of the audience to form
opinions about your talk before you get started.
60% of all human communication is non-verbal
body language; 30% of communication is your tone,
so that means 90% of what your are saying, aint
coming out of your mouth- Alex Hitch Hitchens

Non-Verbal CommunicationsRecommendations
Dress appropriately for the event
Maintain eye contact
Use a variety of facial expressions- SMILE at the
audience
Show good posture, shoulders back, stand up straight
Use hand gestures (but dont over do or become too
animated)
Speaker proximity- standing at a podium seems
formal, while moving to audience seems more informal
Be animated. Avoid speaking in a monotone.

Written Communications
20% of Engineering activity is

communicating via writing

Daily writing activities include emails,

memos, letters, technical reports,

proposals, instructions, meeting minutes,
design notebooks, engineering
specifications, operating procedures
The abilitytoeffectively communicate

inwriting isessential forprofessional

success.
No act of thinking is complete till its products
have been set forth 24
in words John Dewey

Planning your written and oral

communication
There are 4 Elements to keep in mind
Audience. Who will be reading, what do
they already know, what do they need to
know, what questions will be on their mind
Purpose: What do you want your audience
to do or know after reading the document.
What does your audience expect the document
to help them understand?
Content: What do you need to say to
accomplish that purpose? What is the best
way to organize?
Tone: Formal? Informal? Assertive?
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Questioning?

Writing the Technical Report

Before Starting to write, consider the following

questions:
What is the message that you are trying to give?
What are the results that you need to discuss?
What do you want to convince people of?

The basic structure of the Engineering technical

report will consist of :
Executive Summary
Introduction
Methods (experimental, theory)
Results/Discussions
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Summary/Conclusions

Getting started with the Technical

Report

Gather the data collected and organize into Tables and Figures

Prepare the Results Section first! Then write the

discussion of the results.

List your conclusions. List your recommendations.

Now start writing the Introduction, then the Method/Theory

sections, the Experimental section (if required), then rewrite
the Results/Discussion and the Summary/Conclusion and
reference section.

Lastly prepare the Executive summary

Recheck Figures and Tables. Do all have descriptive titles? Do

they have a reference label such as Figure 3? Is Figure 3
referenced in the Results or Discussion sections?

Reread, proof, edit the entire report. Check for grammatical

errors and spelling. Are all the conclusions supported with
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data?

Report Guideline
Use lists:Whenever you can, help your reader by

using lists. Give your lists visual emphasis by

bullets.
Use headings and subheadings:Use headings

and subheadings to guide your reader through the

organization of the report and list them in the
table of contents.
Use clear typefaces, such as Times New

Roman or Arial:Avoid using more than one

typeface in a document. Bold section headings for
emphasis.
Use white space to enhance your

information:Dense blocks of text are difficult to

Technical Report: The Introduction

The Introduction section is the most important section of

the report.
Nearly every reader will at least skim through the intro.
First opinions of the work are important. A poorly written
introduction usually means poor acceptance.

Paragraph 1: Start with a broad problem statement

then become more detailed until you finally identify the specific
problem that the report addresses.
In this paragraph, you quickly bring the reader to the edge of
knowledge of the field/area the report addresses

Middle paragraph: If needed, these are supporting

paragraphs, listing what else is known and unknown.

Final paragraph: This is the road-map paragraph giving a

general outline of what is to follow in the report.
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Results and Discussion

Results section should contain the raw data
Do not draw conclusions at this point
Results should be clear, convincing, and general.
Results should be free of interpretation or opinions
Results can be organized in Tables and Figures. Each
table/figure must be described or referenced in the
text.
Discussion section
This section is where you make and describe
interpretations of the results and suggests implications
of these results
If discussions and results are combined into one
section (Result/discussion section), maintain a clear
distinction between what is a result and what are
discussion items.
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Summary /Conclusions
No new data or insights should be introduced in

this section (that is reserved for the

results/discussion)
The format is usually 2 paragraphs
The first paragraph summarizes the various

sections of the report

There is no need to repeat info presented in the
introduction.
Focus on summarizing the important results and
discussions

The second paragraphs draws the important

conclusions

Conclusions can be organized in a logical flow, from one

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conclusion to the next conclusion that follows

Executive Summary - prepared

last

An Executive summary is a brief overview of the

technical reports purpose, results, and conclusions
condensed for the quick reading by a manager,
supervisor, or client.

Think about what a manager would need to know to make a decision.

An Executive summary is about 1-2 double spaced pages or a length

representing about 5% of the length of the full report. The executive
summary stresses results and conclusions, with lesser time allocated to
problem definition and methods.

Omit an elaborate introduction,

however you may choose to open with an introductory sentence

designed to capture the readers attention.

Once you have introduced the problem, detail it and explain the
importance of your solution. Include as many specifics as possible.

End the Executive summary with explicit

recommendations based on the documents results.

This section will probably

make up the bulk of the summary for
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http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/Students/Handoutsultimately
what concerns the executive reader is results and effects on
Guides/Guides-(What-Are-You-Writing-)/Business-

Guidelines for writing

Maintain consistent structure:This will make it

easier for your readers to understand your report.

Choose carefully the voice, mood, and

tense:These depend on the rhetorical situation.

Past tense is used for explaining procedures, and
present tense is used for generalizations and for
stating what the results show. Future tense for whats
next.
For memos and letters, most companies prefer the first
person active: "I have reviewed the program" NOT
"The program has been reviewed
For formal reports, most companies prefer third person
passive: A test was run NOT I ran the test
For group reports, use of we is sometimes ok.
33 person you for instructions
Reserve use of second

Second Person to Third Person

Example of how to change second person to
third person pronoun (when you are not
talking directly to the reader):
When you write college papers, you should
not use the second-person pronouns you or
your.
Correct to:
When students write college papers, they
should not use the second-person pronouns
you or your.

First Person to Third Person

Example of how to change first person to third
person pronoun:
I think the use of this model is best
reserved for non-linear equations.
Correct to:
This model is best reserved for non-linear
equations.

Proofing

Proof your report before being

issued

Ask friends to read and edit

Check for errors that might not get

caught with spellcheck

Consistent use of same writing

style, same format, same person,
consistent voice (active/passive)?

Email Etiquette as a
Professional

Never Assume that your email/web history

is not being monitored

DO NOT WRITE IN ALL CAPITALS.

Do not use emails to discuss confidential or

private information. Assume that the email

could become a public record and seen by
millions
Limit use of Abbreviations (LOL) and

emoticons
Dont request read and delivery receipts.

Some people find these offensive.

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Email Etiquette as a
Professional

The subject field can determine if your email is

read or not. Typos or all caps = discarded

emails
Do not equate email and informality. Write as

if you are preparing a letter on company

letterhead.
Use the REPLY TO ALL button with caution.
Does everyone need to see/read your reply?
Some people can get hundreds of emails per day
and dont want to see everything
For a new topic, create a new email. Dont

reuse old emails, finding a 2 yr old message

and hitting reply. 38

You can be the best engineer in

the world, but if you fail in the
communication process of sharing
your results, no one will know or
recognize your work.

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Presentation Activity
Prepare a 48 x 36 poster using PowerPoint
Topics: One of the Engineering Majors at
Texas A&M given in the video presentations
Create individually, but critique as a team,
then submit individually
Submit the posters to the discussion forum in
eCampus by 8:00 am Monday the 19th
Comment on at least 3 posters before class on
Thursday the 22nd. These should be from at
least 3 different departments.