Monthly Archives: March 2014

Writing = Public Speaking

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When someone writes for their own profession, the general idea is to convince the company or organization they’re applying for that they are the person meant for the job. That means the person must provide information relative to the job as well as any special skills which make the individual seem well rounded and adaptable to various situations. However the more I think about it, writing for your profession is really just an indirect approach to something that many people fear to do. That being public speaking.

Public speaking requires many of the qualities needed for writing in your profession. For one thing both require a professional outline and format. When someone speaks in front of a professional crowd, they have to look presentable and speak in a very adult and professional dialect. If you present yourself like you got dressed at the last minute or use vulgar and inappropriate language, then the crowd won’t take you seriously and feel they have no reason to listen to your advice. The same goes for writing since using a sloppy font and format, inappropriate wording, and/or bad grammar would cause the reader to think what your saying is not important, or even not worth their time.

Another thing to point out is that both speaking and writing require you to stay focused on your topic and make it sound appealing. For instance, when you speak to the public about how to run a company, you should talk about what the company does, what tools and skills are needed to build up the company, and so forth. When writing to a company about becoming an engineer, you need to state your previous work experiences related to engineering, your basic skills relative to what an engineer does, your degrees in engineering, and so forth. Although a person can put some general information like leadership skills and contact information, getting off topic with things like a random sports update or your random likes and dislikes will confuse and loose the attention of the reader or listener.

It is true that writing for your profession is easier for people than public speaking. After all, writing doesn’t require face to face contact at first and its easy to edit what you write before publishing. Public speaking requires contact in front of several people and you need to make a good first impression without making mistakes. I just wanted to point out that both require a professional image, a strong focus/outlook, and determination to get your point across.

Radio still surprisingly strong

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Many people say that broadcasting on the radio is a dying art. After all, whenever technology evolves, people usually toss aside older models. In the world of media, technology has generally evolved from written text, to radio, to television, to the internet, and many other things in between and beyond. However despite common sense, the radio industry is stronger than people believe.

I recently went to a conference in the city dedicated to college radio programs for a class I’m currently taking. There I met many students who work for their respective college radio programs and attended seminars featuring professional radio jockeys. Surprisingly, they are doing quite well and do in fact have many listeners. These professionals broadcast current events, weather and traffic reports, and various types of music that appeal to various people. Apparently studies show that there are indeed people who listen to an actual radio, especially in the morning and afternoon when people travel to and from work. Even if this is hard to believe, it’s perfectly understandable that people listen to these radio stations on the internet. In fact, these radio professionals have dedicated quite a lot of their time to online radio broadcasts. It’s an excellent example of how older media platforms adapt to modern society and thus are still gaining an audience.

The idea of radio programs having a larger audience than people expected is indeed a curious thought. It’s also possible for someone to join their own college radio station. Better yet, it’s possible for someone to actually make their own radio program. As long as someone has interesting topics to have discussions over and/or have a fun music playlist for people to listen to, there’s a radio station in the making. What would you do if you had your own radio broadcast?