Strategic communications is important for building awareness, engagement, and commitment for serving children and youth. When this communication is bidirectional, it also creates avenues for state education agency (SEA) leaders to receive timely, honest feedback from stakeholders about the effectiveness of whole-person initiatives. This guide is…

The steps which should be followed in planning, preparing, and giving a presentation are: (1) start planning immediately; (2) establish realistic objectives emphasizing desired results; (3) analyze the audience and the context of the presentation; (4) prepare a preliminary plan to help in selecting and organizing material including topic,…

Outlines how technical communicators can use the five "W" questions approach--a core element of journalism--in the audience analysis phase of designing information to help ensure that the information meets the audience's needs. (SR)

Examines factors affecting publishing outcomes. Suggests prescriptions for overcoming factors inhibiting the successful completion of the publishing process within the discipline of communication. Devotes specific attention to motivational, analytic, and content variables likely to affect publishing outcomes positively. (RS)

Writers of correspondence course study guides should be aware of boundaries between oral and written language; differences between textbook and study guide prose; the need for direct address, informality, personalization, clarity, and simplicity; and the diverse tastes, learning styles, and levels of their audience. (SK)

Discusses how looking at child readers as audience means looking at how books for children are defined, how child readers are described, and how childhood itself is regarded. Considers several other points such as understanding the evolving concept of childhood, acknowledging the publisher's perspective, identifying underlying ideologies, and…

A study analyzed argumentative essays written to both friendly and hostile audiences by 40 randomly selected college undergraduate students and 12 randomly selected college-bound high school seniors. After holistic rating, papers were analyzed for degree and kind of audience activity and were also independently evaluated for writers' levels of…

Discusses presentations as a format teachers can use for dissemination of research findings. The sixth in a series on the teacher as researcher, the article covers identifying the target audience; organizing and practicing a presentation; and choosing appropriate audio-video technologies. A sidebar provides a generalized presentation outline. (KRN)

Provides an overview of Web-site design and discusses three steps in building a site: audience analysis, design, and evaluation. Includes an analysis of loading speeds with and without graphics; examples of no-style, low-bandwidth, and high-bandwidth Web sites; and addresses for related Web sites. (PEN)

Describes steps involved in preparing hierarchical charts for use in performance and instructional technologies. Thirteen examples are shown that deal with systematic instructional development, and guidelines for choosing the appropriate format are discussed, including content, audience, and resources. Evaluation procedures involving paired…

Suggestions on how to write a handbook for alumni volunteers are presented. Before putting together a handbook for volunteers, two points need to be defined: the purpose of the handbook and who will read it. The contents should cover the volunteer program, activities and how to run them, etc. (MLW)

Drawn from the experience of various ministries and departments in governments across Canada, this guide is meant to be a practical guide in implementing plain language for managers in the Ontario (Canada) government. The guide describes how to use plain language in planning, writing, designing, and editing forms and documents, and how to set up…

Discusses the importance of identifying the audience and determining specific objectives when designing printed instructional materials that will communicate effectively and provides detailed guidelines for dealing with such design factors as content, writing style, typography, illustrations, and page organization. (MBR)

College alumni association mailings can be made more successful by targeting the audiences, delivering a strong proposition to readers, choosing a forceful format, and creating impressive copy. Efforts of the University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, and Southern Methodist University illustrate these principles. (MSE)

Teaches researchers how to improve the quality of both the content and the delivery of research paper presentations. Covers the following topics: (1) understanding the medium; (2) using visual aids; (3) presentation design; (4) delivery; and (5) managing question-and-answer time. (FMW)