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Plan your communication strategy

The image contains large, black blocked text that says "Plan your communication strategy" stacked into three rows so that the top row says "Plan your," the second row says "Communication," and the bottom row says "strategy." Each row has a black dashed line coming out of the final letter, all leading to a common point in the image. This point is marked by a large, teal marker as if indicating "x-marks the spot."

Use these questions to plan your communication strategy:

What is your dream ending? 

  • Ideal outcome from interacting with any public audience? 
  • Long-term vision for impact of undertaking community engagement?

What is your realistic goal in the time allotted? 

  • Achievable objectives in the time you have for this interaction? (Maybe it is simply to make a connection!) 
  • Specific actions, thoughts, behavior changes you hope for from the audience? 
  • How will you measure success?

What will your tactics be? 

  • What are specific strategies to engage this audience? 
  • Storytelling approaches that will resonate with them? 
  • Evidence or examples that will convince them?

What is the big picture? 

  • How does your work fit into larger trends or movements? 
  • What are the long-term implications and vision?

Setting the stage for your engagement: Change what doesn’t serve you in your environment.

  • Consider the environment for your interaction. What do you want it to be (relationship to your communication partner, non-verbal communication, proximity, lighting, sound, audio)?
  • Is there a simple prop or visual aspect that would help you tell your story? 
  • What will you wear to support the interaction you want to have?
This resource is available as a supplemental printable handout. The webpage contains the identical content in a fully accessible version. Click here to download.
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2412389. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.