Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Writing Blogs -> Building Rapport

Legal Writing

: Building Rapport

Making a Crisis Worse

From the International Association of Business Communicators,
http://www.iabc.com/cwb/archive/2004/0504/mistakes.htm

Making a Crisis Worse: The Biggest Mistakes in Crisis Communication
by Jonathan Bernstein

One of eleven mistakes discussed:

Use language your audience doesn't understand. Jargon and arcane acronyms are but two of the ways you can be sure to confuse your audiences and a surefire way to make most crises worse. Let's check out a few of these taken-from-real-situations gems:

* The rate went up 10 basis points.
* We're considering development of a SNFF or a CCRC.
* We ask that you submit exculpatory evidence to the grand jury.
* The material has less than 0.65 ppm benzene as measured by the TCLP.

To the average member of the public, and to most of the media who serve them, the general reaction to such statements is "Huh?"

Full post as published by Building Rapport on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).