TJ Walker argues two-way communication beats one-way because it lets people ask questions and challenge ideas. But recorded talks still work when you can't do live Q&A. He warns that fake interactivity, like taking the same radio caller twice, doesn't count.
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What are the pros and cons of one way communication versus two way communication in general? The vast, vast majority of the time two way communication is going to be superior. A conversation could last for three days and both people find it interesting, fascinating and fun. Very few people want to listen to one speaker. Drone on for three full days. When one person can talk, another person can listen, assimilate that, process it, have an exchange. There's something bigger, you build something there, so that's good. You've got to look at every option you have and figure out the best way of communicating. There may be times, for example, when you have to deliver a keynote speech by video in advance because you can't get to the venue. And that's a fairly straightforward one way form of communication. You have to speak to the camera, present your ideas, make it interesting, make it as compelling as possible, but you're not going to see anybody in the audience, they're not going to be able to ask you any questions live, and you've got to just send the video off. Just because it's not two way communication doesn't mean it can't be powerful. I did a speech like that more than two years ago to a business group in Iran and I still get emails, people asking for subscriptions to my newsletter, books, other things every week because of one speech from two years ago. So you never really know. Other times you can be on, for example, a local talk radio show, there's lots and lots of calls, but it turns out it's the same three callers who call every day, every time there's a guest and they just want to talk about their pet issues of gun control and abortion and no one else is listening. So yeah, it's two way, it's interactive, but there's no audience there, it's not really very interesting. So you can't just, in a knee jerk way, always say that the more communication, the more two way, the better. But I do believe it's better for you, the speaker, the presenter, the communicator, if you can give people an opportunity to challenge you, question you, respond to you. That's why when you're giving a presentation and you don't have a strict, strict time limit, I believe you always want to encourage people to ask you questions in the moment, let them just blurt it out. Now, you can't do this if you're speaking to 5,000 people at a huge yearly convention and you only have a 20 minute slot. But if you're talking to a handful of your own employees, or it's a training session or something a little less structured and you don't have a strict time limit. Let people ask you questions right away. That makes it two way communication. And really listen to them. Too many speakers hear the first few words of someone asking a question. They're formulating their clever answer that they've given 10 times and they just blurt out something boilerplate. Don't be like that. Really listen to people asking you questions. If you're giving a webinar, if you're communicating in that forum, that's often challenging. You can't necessarily see your audience, but you can ask them. There's a chat box on the webinar to type in their questions and then you can respond. And that makes it more interactive. I'm old enough to remember of all things CB radio, citizen band radios, this is back in the 1970s. 10 4, good buddy. You may have heard some reference to that in the past. People loved it because it was interactive. You could talk without just listening to the announcer talk directly down to you the whole time. Great communicators have a way of making all their communication feel like it's two way. Sometimes it's by simply asking a rhetorical question and pausing and letting the audience think in their own mind what their response would be to you if they could actually talk to you and they can reflect on it themselves. Certainly if you are speaking and you don't have to dash off to an airplane the second you're finished, stay after and let people know you're happy to answer their questions. Now, what I will do quite often is if I have been slotted to speak keynote address for an hour, let's say it's 11 to 12, and at 12 is a lunch break. I will finish my prepared remarks at say 1140 or at latest 1145. We now take questions. I answer questions, but I'm keenly aware of the timing. So what I'll say is, okay, it's now 12. We are officially concluded. I know some of you have other meetings to go to, phone calls you have to make. We're officially concluded. You can get up. I'm going to pause for 60 seconds, but then anyone who has more questions, I will stay here, just come on down and I'll talk to you. So I continue to make it interactive so that it is a two way communication. And anyone who really has a question for me can. Now, I don't want to tie up a room. If there are other speakers who are supposed to start right at 12, I may take it out to the hallway. I don't want to be rude to the meeting planner or the other speaker. Even shows big time shows like HBO's Bill Maher Program, they have an after hours segment, an overtime segment where they do take questions from the viewers. And that makes it more of a two way of communication. So the bottom line is this. Don't be afraid to just speak one way whenever you can, even if it's recorded, even if you can't see the audience. But the more you can make all of your communication either be real two way communication, or at least feel like two way communication, the better off for you and your audience.
