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Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

Effective communication is quite humbling.

It's been my experience that I need to take full responsibility for the effectiveness of my communications.

A few years ago, I threw together a PowerPoint show, based on Randall Munroe's Communication comic[0]. I did it for an organization I participate in, that is full of some of the worst communicators I've ever encountered.

It astounds me, how people that get paid to communicate, don't understand the fundamentals.

[0] https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qQDAuhGvBvBlZVH2zn_V... (You need to view the slide notes, or it doesn't make any sense).

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That PowerPoint made my irony meter explode!

Even with the notes, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would you illustrate communication problems with people who literally don't speak the same language?

It’s almost impossible to understand, just from looking at the comic. Some of his comics are like that.

I stared at it for quite a while, before it “clicked.”

Once it did, the message was obvious.

The PowerPoint was designed to be presented. It’s not particularly useful, just being read. It really needs a narrator that can explain the concepts.

The idea is that it’s possible to communicate effectively, even when it seems impossible, as long as we are willing to take responsibility for the message, and figure out how to make it work. In order to do that, we need to understand the message, the recipient, the context, and the medium.

It also shows how we can lose the message, when we get sidetracked by the messenger or the medium.

If you read the notes on each slide that becomes pretty clear.

> people who literally don't speak the same language?

That's not my understanding of the XKCD comic, if that's what you mean.

Also, I don't find the comic to be hard to understand. It takes a little work but it's pretty clear.

It’s kinda funny, but this is also covered in the presentation. Something may seem clear to you, but it’s not clear to others.

Ha. Great point.

It's a great presentation and deserves to be more widely disseminated, you should probably submit it to HN as a submission.

Thanks, but it would probably not be received too well.

It has been my experience, that folks really don’t like its message.

I recently wrote this to someone who tends to give commands instead of advice, which is along the same lines:

"You can lead a horse to water, and it may not drink. If you drag a horse to water, it will refuse to drink, then kick you, and run away."

Stealing it...

Anyone know how to show the speaker notes on mobile?

It seems like the xkcd comic itself is pretty hard to follow. It would probably be better with dialog.

I'm not sure. It was originally a PP show, and I dumped it into Google Slides, for a friend.

Probably doesn't matter. My experience is that most folks have no intentions of doing what it prescribes, so it's kind of wasted effort.

Not what you asked for but should help https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1028:_Communicati...

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