Parlour: Light at the end of the Tunnel event - Speaking Up

I hope you were able to join us for the Parlour Light at the end of the Tunnel event on Friday. Together with Saneia Norton, landscape architect and founder of SNDC - and Justine Clark and Naomi Stead of Parlour (both) and Monash ADA (Naomi) - we had an incredible conversation about architecture communications.

In case you missed it, I’m pulling out some highlights from the discussion and comments from the chat to explore further in this post. The session itself will be available as a recording on the Parlour website soon, so keep an eye out for that to watch it later (I’ll update this post with a link when it goes live).

“That was a great session. As someone who’s been criticised for being ‘too confrontational’ AND ‘too approachable’ it really resonated!”

What are the basics of good communication?

Justine started by asking us to name the three most important considerations in communications, and Saneia and I nominated the same three questions, although in a slightly different order.

Saneia said: what’s your message?; who is your audience; and how will you distribute your message?

And I put the audience first, then message, then distribution. Saneia made the point later in the discussion that it’s always useful to determine your intent – what do you want this piece of communication to achieve? – and for my part that involves getting clear on your Call to Action, for example:

• Do you want social media followers to visit your website and read view a particular project or read a blog post?

• or prospective clients at a webinar to call you to discuss a new project?

• or consultants and stakeholders to share images and details of a recently finished project on LinkedIn?

These are all very different outcomes, and because the media landscape is so busy and relentless – and attention spans are so short (8 seconds!) – you’ll generate more of your desired results if you spell out what you’d like people to do – and how you want people to take action – on every piece of outward-facing comms and marketing messaging you put out into the world.

Click on the image to view the recording on the Parlour website.

Language and Archispeak

We also talked about language – and the complexity of architecture – which makes it hard to distill and convey succinct messages about design and/or delivery. That’s compounded by the fact that architects often use industry jargon when speaking about their work.

Saneia explained that she teaches her clients to talk about their work without the props of images, which is an idea I’d never considered, and which I think is brilliant. Try it yourself! 

The problem with falling back on architectural language is that it can exclude large portions of your intended audience (people who don’t understand the words and phrases you are using will switch of, scroll by – 8 seconds remember!) – so it’s extremely important to frame as much as your outward-facing communications in language that is inclusive and accessible to a broad audience. 

We touched on a term that architects often apply to this process – “dumbing down” – and Saneia explained why she dislikes it, and rather sees attempts to use accessible language as a way of inviting others in, to improve awareness about the importance of good design in the community.

That’s definitely one of my key motivators for working with architects on communications: I hope that by helping architects enhance their communications – and their influence and reach – we can elevate demand for better built environments and spaces.

I may be naïve, but I think it’s an achievable aim, especially given the issues we face around #ClimateEmergency and the need to radically reduce our use of finite resources.

One of the attendees posted a similar sentiment in the chat:

“The more design literate our communities, the more demanding they will be of good design. Learning how we best communicate is fundamental to achieving better design outcomes.”

‘The work should speak for itself’

Justine asked us about our views on this old architecture communications maxim, and frankly, I hate it!

It assumes that the viewer has a working knowledge of everything that goes into an architecture project – constraints arising from site, climate, context, heritage, materials, regulations, planning regimes, brief, budget, energy efficiency and more – and can discern from the images (or lived experience!) why the architect made certain decisions; prioritised some concerns over others; juggled competing claims and handled the inherent complexity.

I also loved this insight from an attendee:

“I also feel that the danger of ‘work speaks for itself’ is making the practice of architecture very shallow… evidently it’s a team effort - but whoever said ‘the results speaks for itself’ it can quickly remove others who are involved in the project as well.”

The role of architecture critique

I suggested that the combative nature of studio critiques at university sets architects on a combative course for communications once they graduate and commence practice. Hard-hitting critiques early on can make architects feel wary about perceived criticisms, so that later – when questions arise because stakeholders and clients don’t understand how a design is developing – they may unwittingly respond in a defensive way.

One attendee wrote:

“Indeed! 25 years on I'm still traumatised from combative studio critiques.”

And another wrote:

“Design qualities are intangible and not easily summarised. This is so much about the culture as a whole. A repeated practice of inclusive  discourse will assist us all to develop these important skills, as Saneia and Rachel have explained so well.”

In a one hour session, there wasn’t enough time for us to cover all the topics we would have liked to explore – one attendee suggested Parlour could run an entire series on social media; and there were plenty of votes for a session on critique in future (and big nods from Naomi and Justine!).

Takeaway tips

Saneia shared some great suggestions around inflection and tone while presenting; getting ready to ask for a payrise; and the fact that nerves are a fact of life, and you can acknowledge them and then push on.

And I suggested you could do a 360-degree review by asking respected colleagues and friends about your own best qualities (we can be our own worst critics!); and that you gain confidence by obtaining clarity around your own values and aspirations; and – as time passes – with age. 

Susie Ashworth was tweeting on the Parlour account, if you’d like to access these tips before the recording is made available.

And there was so much more to the session than what I’ve been able to include here, so I recommend you watch the video once it’s uploaded to the Parlour website.

If you have an appetite for more…

For those attendees who called for more comms tips, you may like to enrol in my architecture marketing course for architects.

“This has been amazing. I am keen for any more resources to keep educating myself!”

You can enrol here in the online, self-guided program and get started right away. The course provides an overview of modern marketing for architects and plenty of tips and actions that you can implement straight away.

A few final comments from attendees:

“Thank you Justine and Naomi, Rachael and Saneia… this was so wonderfully valuable.”

“These sessions are excellent. Thank you so much for organising such interesting hard-hitting and useful topics.”

And thanks to Parlour for hosting this event – and for inviting me and Saneia to share our insights – and most of all, for providing THE place for architects to have these very important conversations.