Flexible Communication Styles are Essential

I gave a social media talk to a room that was primarily unfamiliar with the tools of Twitter and Facebook, but well keyed into LinkedIn. It's the stereotypical format of a networking group for the unemployed. Over 50 people were plugged in to what I was saying and had phenomenal questions. As for giving a talk in public, I'm feeling really confident that it went over well.

Always looking for an insight and personal learning, I had a frustrating conversation AFTER I gave my talk with a man who had a burning question about LinkedIn. He had a security concern and he kept asking me the question and I kept answering it. This happened at least 3 times and each time he asked AGAIN I tried to communicate with him in different phrases.

Two things were going wrong in the conversation - I was not giving him the answer he wanted and he was not stopping to digest what I was saying. Eventually I figured out the best way to get through to him was to answer the broader question about security first, and secondarily the specific area he was asking me to define. My original answers to him were addressing BOTH tiers of his questioning with the single answer.

While my initial attempt at answering his question would have been sufficient for some people, it was not working in our conversation at this point in time. We were clearly getting frustrated with each other, but once I gave him the answers in a format that he could digest, the frustration over the struggling conversation evaporated. I know what I told him gave him the correct information about his concerns, but I could also tell it was not the answer he preferred. It gives me a little more to think about and grow with in my social media quest and in my public speaking - I need to be able to accurately express myself in a number of ways and listening to the questions and really listening to the undertones of those questions coming to me are essential. Luckily my marketing career has given me the tools to communicate, but as with anything, there is always room for improvement!