Software designers turned entrepreneurs often insist that they don’t need to work on messaging. After all, they insist, the value and uniqueness of their new app or device is obvious. Once their startup is properly funded, they say, their “solution” will just fly off the e-shelf.
Recently, an email exchange I had with a climate scientist gave me new insight into why experts often resist preparing for interviews, having speaking points or going through media training. No doubt part of it is arrogance or fear of training. But fundamentally, they don’t understand the nuances of language – word selection, sentence structure, paragraph structure – all change the meaning of what is heard. They think that they can just wing it. Talk about the facts and everyone will understand.
The Right Word: Prune or Dried Plum
On the plus side, my climate scientist does understand the value of naming. He says “climate change” instead of “global warming”. The climate is changing in different ways around the world. In some places, it is literally warming, in others, it is not, but it is still changing. As a result, scientists and science writers have stopped using “global warming” to describe what is being observed.
Sentence Structure: Yes, We Have No Bananas.
During a roundtable radio talk show with a friendly audience, his answers to almost every question began with “no” and could easily fuel climate science deniers. For example, when asked about hurricane Sandy, he said: No, Sandy is not evidence of climate change. No, we will not see more hurricanes. When asked about water level rise, his answers were statistical and in centimeters. And, at one point, he didn’t remember an exact number.
My take away could have been: There is no evidence of global warming (whatever he called it). It doesn’t sound like the water will rise very much (How many inches is that?). He doesn’t really know his numbers, so why should I believe him (or any other climate scientist)? Obviously, this isn’t what the scientist intended to say. He didn’t understand how he was misunderstood and didn’t think he could have answered the questions in any other way.
First, if you want to explain something, never start your answer with ‘no’. Your audience won’t hear anything else you have to say. This is especially important when you are talking about a complicated topic and you need your audience to stay with you while you tease out the nuances.
Second, based on what I understand about climate change, he could have said: “Yes, Sandy was a very powerful hurricane. In the future, storms will be stronger than they have been in the past, more like Sandy. There may be fewer storms but the storms we do get will be much stronger. Although Sandy alone is not proof of climate change, it is part of larger patterns that we are seeing around the world.”
Lastly, many questions about climate change beg for narrative answers about how people are and will be effected even by small changes.
Experts say their ideas or products are nuanced or complicated and hard to explain. They need to take the time and work with professionals to craft clear messages and make sure what they are saying is also what their audiences are hearing. The language used to talk about nuanced topics needs to be nuanced too.