W3 How to get a message across

A DIY training aid

First published on this website in December 2022 as A54 and last updated in February 2025 as W3

Synopsis

This is the third in an occasional series of DIY training aids and is a write-up of my own training on principles of communication.

It is designed for a group training session with a leader/enabler but also works as an Article for personal reading and application. Here are its main sections.

1:  ‘Message’ and ‘News’
2:  What happens to a message
An explanation of messages that are ‘written’, ‘spoken’ or ‘demonstrated’. Then a model for the communications process which involves a ‘Sender’ and ‘Receiver’ who code and decode messages to each other through various ‘screens’.

3:  ‘Structure’ and ‘colour’
How to structure both a written and spoken message. But this can be dull unless you also ‘colour’ it – with ideas on how to do so.

4:  The News to the World
Special considerations for when we communicate to those outside our church membership.

There is a range of practical exercises and ten hand-out sheets for participants

There is a set of ten hand-out sheets to accompany this material which can be accessed here:

This DIY workshop was updated in February 2025 with minor amendments and a new reference code of W3.