We Should Have Mandatory Media/Communications Training For All Communicators
(This post is a first in a series of constructive criticism; reflections on improving the EA/LW ecosystem. High confidence for the general sentiment, uncertainty remains regarding the optimal mechanism for implementation. Post written by me, minor editing from Gemini.)Summary Everyone who engages in oral communication about high-impact ideas should have training to improve their ability to do so (unless they are already proficient). Communications should be effective: clear, concise, linear, rational, and truthful (but also adapted to the audience). Sub-optimal oral communication reduces impact and can be improved. We want more signal, less noise. RationaleFar too many people are communicating sub-optimally when speaking about their ideas or projects. Verbal tics like ums, ahs, likes, mumbles, and stumbles act as noise that reduces clarity of the signal. There are also issues with linearity, the flow of information, and the overall coherence of speech.There is insufficient attention paid to how audiences will perceive a communicator and thus a communicator's message. Vibes matter a lot more to people outside our ecosystem. This reduces impact (awareness, outreach, credibility, etc). Training would act like a force multiplier for any work that is being communicated. Secondarily, the process of optimizing for oral clarity often helps improve the underlying logic, surfacing hidden assumptions or structural flaws in the work itself.How you speak matters. It really does. It’s a painful moment to realize that how one speaks about their work may carry as much weight in a public-facing context as allllll the effort that went into the work. I don’t want it to be true either, but ignoring the reality of human psychology is not a winning strategy. The stakes are high. We’re playing for keeps here.ProposalWe should have mandatory media/communications training so that all oral communicators can improve their abilities, and thus improve the impact of EA/LW work and the EA/LW ecosy