[article] communication improbable

Title

Communication Improbable

Description

Given all the information we filter out and pass through our cognitive biases, its amazing we take notice of anyone.  
Covering why communication is such a monumental challenge, we give tangible practices & tips to increase the effectiveness of communication to your audience (whoever that may be)

Abstract

Communicating with anyone is a major challenge when even the simplest idea can be misunderstood.  By telling the stories across common situations we will help you develop your skills at effectively communicating.
In our DevRel roles we need to get our message across to audiences large and small on subjects narrow and wide.  Underpinning all this communications is a level of trust, so without developing a trusted relationship you are much less likely to be heard.

There is a delicate balance of enthusiasm and pragmatism when talking to the developer community (or any community that gets too much hype on a regular basis).  The way we talk is interpreted many different ways by our audiences internal cognitive biases, so a great deal of empathy and emotional quotient is required to get your message across.

Putting the challenges an practices together, you will be able to greatly improve the effectiveness of your communication across different audiences.

Notes
I was lucky enough to present the basics of this talk with Jessica Rose at Twilio Signal conference  and Salesforce Dreamforce.  We both received lots of great feedback and I have taken this talk further based on those ideas.  I've also make the content more specifically around the challenges faced by those in the DevRel community.