Closely tied to the decisions you make based on your audience, are decisions based on the context or situation from which your communication emerges. I'll use an example to explain what I mean.

Let's say you need to deliver a presentation that gives an update about the project you're working on. Obviously, the audience you are writing to will make a difference with regards to what you say. If you are delivering the presentation to your team members, there is a lot of information you can disregard. They will probably already know the ins and outs of the project.

They might understand why the project is on-time, or late, or ahead of schedule. They'll surely understand the terms and language you use to describe the project. However, if the presentation is to an executive, much of this changes. You may have to explain more, give more background, and define the terms you use.

As important as who you are delivering information to is why you are delivering the information. This is the context (some call this the rhetorical situation). Is the project on time or is it behind schedule? You can imagine this will make a difference when it comes to the information you deliver.

If it's behind schedule, for example, the information you'll want to focus on is why it is behind, what you have to do to complete it, and how long it will take. Combine this with the information needed for a specific audience, and the combination gives you an enormous amount of insight into what you need to say and how you need to say it. Hence, think about the context of the situation: why you are creating the communication before you begin creating it.

While we're on the subject, let me say a few words about context and the tips and "guidelines" on this web site. What I write here are not steadfast rules, but is instead meant to give you some advice. The context will rule the guidelines here. For example, I urge you in the Font Size lesson to only use 12 point font for the body of your text. But this is situational: if you have a limited amount of space this could change. Likewise, the audience for which you design the communication might EXPECT something different from the rules here. In either case, do what the context demands.

Last update: 24-08-2008 20:35