Strategic Communications

A vital function of any professional is to be able to communicate accurately and effectively. This course will focus on interdisciplinary activities including strategic communications planning, crisis avoidance and crisis communications planning, and an overview of Integrated Communications. Students will learn how to approach one of the most difficult tasks facing corporate communicators today: how to pull together all the internal and external communications initiatives, from press releases to advertising, that impact various constituencies in terms of their awareness, attitudes and behavior. Governance and disclosure principles are overviewed. This is a highly practical course that begins with an evaluation of student-submitted writing samples and a benchmark oral presentation. Students will learn and practice proven techniques for writing e-mails, memoranda and policy documents. In addition, they will learn, practice and integrate the key components of making powerful and persuasive oral presentations. Key topics for oral presentations include body energy (stance, posture, eye contact and gestures), vocal energy (voice volume, pace and voice inflection) and content (message text and use of visual aides such as graphs, charts and slides). Key topics for written communications include developing your personal tone and style, planning and organizing your written message, identifying and clarifying the strategic message, creating sentences that are clear and readable, and reviewing and editing your writing. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to focus on the key strategic message; manage work and business relationships using the written word; write in clear language; and make the writing process faster and more comfortable. In addition, students will be able to design, create and deliver oral presentations to a small group and manage the ensuing question and answer session.