Learn the tricks-of-the-trade of becoming a great technicalcommunicator Remember when you were an undergraduate and freshman compositionseemed so irrelevant to your life? After all, you were going toconquer the world with technological know-how. Your spellchecksoftware would handle the details. Now that you're a professional -pitching an idea, vying for a contract or grant, or presenting at ameeting - getting your point across effectively suddenly seemspretty essential for success, doesn't it? Fear not. This light-hearted text, brimming with proventechniques, good advice, and real-world examples that you caneasily apply to your own case, will turn you into an adeptcommunicator. Written expressly for technologists, this is asimple, concise, and practical guide to the communication dynamicsof writing, presentation delivery, and meeting interaction. Herbert Hirsch, in-demand consultant who developed thesetechniques for his own prolific engineering career, teaches you howto use "scripting" to plan for communication events. More than amere outline or storyboard, scripting is a powerful technique thatassists you in getting the right structure and content, in theproper order. Using scripting, you will master the fundamental principles ofcommunicating: How to grab the reader's or audience's attention from thestart How to maintain the connection while proceeding smoothly fromtopic to topic How to provide the substantiation for the points you made How to communicate with people from other groups, such asmarketers, investors, users, and others How to overcome such obstacles as fear, boredom, and aversionto your material Distilling the art of communication to its essence, EssentialCommunication Strategies empowers you to communicate withconfidence and authority in every situation, to every audience.

This book is a frank and hopeful meditation on the recurring tragedy of genocide that should be read by anybody who cares about its prevention. Hirsch argues if we are to successfully confront, prevent, or control the most egregious aspects of genocidal violence, we must create containing political institutions and social mechanisms. But ultimately human nature must change to temper the worst excesses of genocidal violence, given its long and intractable historical presence. Hirsch looks hard at complex realities and proposes how to build a politics of prevention. Focusing on the United States, a political movement must be built that supports the politics of prevention in the international realm. Long-term prevention depends on changing how humans view each other, though. Creating a new ethic of life-enhancing behavior based on the ideology of universal human rights that is passed on from generation to generation via the process of political socialization ultimately is our best hope of preventing future genocides. This book begins with the fact that there is apparently nothing historically unique about human beings killing one another in relatively large numbers. Genocide appears to be a phenomenon that has been a part of human history since we began to record our worst excesses. Certainly it has been in the forefront of human consciousness as the last century came to its bloody conclusion. It is not an intractable problem. A mass movement to prevent genocide can be built, and once created it should pressure the federal government to focus its foreign policy on the prevention of genocide.

More than sixty million people have been victims of genocide in the twentieth century alone, including recent casualties in Bosnia and Rwanda. Herbert Hirsch studies repetitions of large-scale human violence in order to ascertain why people in every historical epoch seem so willing to kill each other. He argues that the primal passions unleashed in the cause of genocide are tied to the manipulation of memory for political purposes. According to Hirsch, leaders often invoke or create memories of real or fictitious past injustices to motivate their followers to kill for political gain or other reasons. Generations pass on their particular versions of events, which then become history. If we understand how cultural memory is created, Hirsch says, we may then begin to understand how and why episodes of mass murder occur and will be able to act to prevent them. In order to revise the politics of memory, Hirsch proposes essential reforms in both the modern political state and in systems of education.

"Today's engineers are inundated with strict formalism, rigid procedures, and complex processes-none of which can be found in this book! Learn the art, tricks, and methods needed to become a great communicator with this light-hearted text, brimming with plenty of humor and real-world examples. This handy reference is written for technologists who require a simple, concise, and practical guide to the communication dynamics of writing, presentation delivery, and meeting interaction. The context of these elements are presented using a proven "scripting" mechanism to capture three fundamental principles: * Connection - getting attention to the subject matter * Flow - maintaining the connection while proceeding smoothly from topic to topic * Reinforcement - providing the substantiation for the points made in the flow The Essence of Technical Communication for Engineers describes how these principles may be applied to each element of communication. An important focus is given to attitude during the essential planning and execution steps of a project, which enables the successful completion of the event-whether written, oral, formal, or casual. This book may be used to accompany a technical communication course at the college or graduate level. It is a methodical, motivational companion that gives technologists the tools to enjoy writing. For a look at the Table of Contents and the Introduction go to www.ieee.org/organizations/pubs/press/Hirschintro.pdf. For a look at Chapter 1, ""The Written Document: Prose and Panic"" go to www.ieee.org/organizations/pubs/press/Hirschch01.pdf." Sponsored by: IEEE Professional Communications Society