12 Great Communication Secrets You've Never Heard

13. Know your audience. Don't treat them like idiots or talk to them like children. Learn what they know or think they know, and either build on that knowledge or correct it using other knowledge they possess that is correct. If you start by pissing them off, you'll never keep them to the finish. Hell, they won't even bother listening past the opening.

14. Self-awareness... “He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.” - Lao Tzu

Thanks for sharing COL Mikel J. Burroughs My comments in [brackets].
1. Connect with yourself. To be a great communicator you must first know who you are and have confidence in yourself and your ability to connect with others.
2. Speak with sincerity. [truth always is much better than fabrication.]
3. Be consistent. [Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds rings true in many areas that are interesting without universal application or solution.]
4. Meet people halfway. [May or may not be good advice. On black and white topics this doesn't make sense. However in the vast majority of gray are subjects negotiating makes sense to a point.
5. Truly listen. [Excellent advice which lines up with good Biblical teaching.]
6. Look beyond the words.
7. Show respect. [Excellent advice. respect superiors, peers and subordinates with sincerity.]
8. Connect to identify. [actors and sycophants need not apply.]
9. Know how to ask. [ask in ways that do not demean the audience and spur discussions instead of yes or no answers.]
10. Be genuine in your interest [this goes without saying.]
11. Mind your unspoken language. [you need to know your audience in order to apply this properly as body language is not a universal cultural norm.]
12. Two-way traffic only. [[don't let one audience member dominate the conversation.]