Warning: Steep learning curve ahead

Apart from the boisterous (woah, how often do you get to use that? +10points!) colleagues and overall environment that make work fun, ever so often, you realise that you are in a damn good place to learn how to be an effective consultant.

Remember how our (or at least my) GP tutors used to hand our essays back with more red ink than blue? That's how some of my work has returned, but the key is in reacting positively.

Of course, this is easier said than done, especially when there was genuine effort that went into drafting (you see, should've expected changes to begin with!) the original version.

On hindsight, so many of the comments and changes passed by the more experienced members of the team were so obvious I felt like kicking myself.

Simple things like "Refrain from using jargon" and "So what does this mean?" are basic rules that effective communicators need to constantly remind themselves of.

So here's a list of 7 things to keep in mind when you're drafting anything as a comms person:

1. Keep it simple: Don't use jargon and don't tolerate the use of jargon. Jargon is evil.

2. Why am I reading this?: Pictures are cool and uncomplicated. Words are boring and need a reason for reading.

3. Is this really, absolutely necessary?: Less is more. Berevity wins almost all the time - especially when you don't have a lot of it to begin with. Don't include the "usuals" just to make something look professional; if you choose to, make sure to go through it to see if it makes sense to the person reading it for the first time.

4. And......then?: Take things through to their logical conclusion (and if that's what you don't want to communicate, fantastic - reposition the potential issue); show the reader that you have thought it through.

5. Context, context, context: Add value to whatever you are communicating by providing the reader with a benchmark, comparison or at the very least, a sense of the severity/impact of the information you have just shared. Best used together with rule 1.

6. Don't waffle: Nobody likes wafflers; not journalists, not PRs, not the man in the street - well, unless the ice cream man didn't show ;). Just say what you came to say and do it quickly and clearly. See rule 3.

7. (Specifically for PRs) Spokesperson vs. Answerperson: Every interaction with the media is an opportunity to deliver your key messages. Every interview is so carefully prepared by people like us precisely because it is not a chit chat session; it is an opportunity to ensure that your organisation's message is heard clearly.

So there you have it... I must say though, that this list looks awfully familiar to me. Seems like something Duffy would've covered during one of his lectures.

It's that familiar feeling isn't it? You know, the one you get when someone tells you "I told you so".

Yeap. Should've listened harder during his classes.