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“Fertilizer is good for the grass on my lawn, how can it be bad for the grass in
the river?”
Water Words That Work
Make a Splash With Your Communications
Eric Eckl4/29/2007
It is hard for experts to successfully communicate
to non-experts
Today’s Presentation
• Americans care a lot about clean water• Confusion• Diffusion• The Water Words That Work Method• Exercises• Q&A
Water is a high priority for Americans
Gallup Poll, 2004
Water is a high priority for Kentuckians
Water is a high priority for Virginians
Water Still Tops Global Warming!
Confusion
“Biodiversity”
TMDLImpervious surface
HydrographNonpoint source pollution
And so forth…And so on…
“Watershed”
Photo: Flickr, Fernando Dall D’aqua
“Watershed” by Education
“Watershed” by Race
“Watershed” by Gender
Who They Trust
Where they get their information
Confusion
Diffusion
Goodbye: Mass MediaHello:“Nonpoint Source Information”
Media Choices are Exploding
Source: Advertising Age, February, 2008
Two Trendwatchers
Recent Trends in News Consumption
Pew Research Center: Trends 2005
“Watched TV news yesterday”
“Read newspaper yesterday”
“Listened to radio news yesterday”
“Read a news magazine yesterday”
At the same news consumption falls…
Roper Starch: Americans' Low "Energy IQ:" A Risk to Our Energy Future, 2002
“Water pollution laws do not go far enough”
“Environmental laws do not go far enough”
“Endangered species laws do not go far enough”
“Wetlands laws do not go far enough”
If you YouTube script says:
• “If VDOT doesn’t stop sprawl, all that new impervious surface will cause so much non-point source pollution that it will jeopardize our biodiversity.”
They’ll hear:
• “If VDOT doesn’t stop sprawl, all that new impervious surface will cause so much non-point source pollution that it will jeopardize our biodiversity.”
The Water Words
That Work
Method
The Water Words “Method”
1. Identify your shop talk2. Answer five questions before they ask
them3. Insert the words that work4. Avoid the five pitfalls
Step One: Identify Your Shop Talk
A: Polluted Runoff
B: Stormwater
A: Open Space
B: Natural Area
A: Recreation
B: Family activities
A: Watershed management
B: Land and water conservation
A: Family vacations
B: Tourism
A: Runaway Development
B: Sprawl
A: Riparian
B: Riverbank
A: Clean water
B: Water Quality
A: Endangered species
B: Wildlife
A: Environmentalist
B: Conservationist ?
Step Two: Answer Five Questions(Before they ask them)
The Five Questions
• Who is this message for?• What can I do?• When must I act?• Where is everybody else?• Why should I try to fix this instead of
something else?
Step Three: Insert the
Water Words that Work
When describing issues
• Nature protection• Pollution control• Enough clean water• Wildlife conservation
Benefits and Consequences• Future Generations• Healthy• Family & Children• Safe• Trends
Don’t Just Agree With Me, Do Something!
• You Can Make a Difference
• It affects you
• What you can do
• Working together
• Save Money
Take My Side, Not Theirs
Step Four:Avoid the Five Pitfalls
The Five Pitfalls
• Baffling them with shop talk• Rebutting opponents’ claims• Letting the facts speak for themselves• Trying to scare people into action• Using others’ arguments against them
Takeaways
• Public attitudes are supportive and changing very slowly
• But how we learn about the world around us is changing very quickly
• Broad social trends are putting enormous pressure on us to communicate in a clear and compelling manner.
Takeaways
The Water Words That Work method is a four step process for translating scientific
and legal documentation into action language for everyday citizens.
http://waterwordsthatwork.com
