An in-depth examination of how to communicate clearly and practical steps to improve your written and presentation skills. 

 

BBC journalist Ros Atkins shares his process to refining information to present compelling explanations that cut to the chase and get over the key information. 

 

I’ve delivered a ‘writing for humans’ and report-writing skills learning session at work for years. Reading this I’ve refined some of the steps in that training, but also realised there’s a gap in our training programme for the stage after the report and when presenting it to committee. This comes from the second part of the book which deals with preparing for handling questions about a topic. 

 

 It seems daft to say now that it was an aspect I’d never paid much attention to. But, my focus has always been on improving written communication and the delivery of presentations. It felt like answering questions  on those was just a natural follow-on that, if the work had been done on the first part, the rest would take care of itself. But, Ros’s breakdown of preparing for questions and guiding the unexpected or irrelevant ones back to the key points that you’re looking to communicate, is invaluable.