Communicating in Civil Engineering

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A Public Meeting's audience can range anywhere from city council members to citizens. When presenting to any of these, engineers always consider what their audience already knows about a topic and what they expect to find out about a topic. They are also informed about how an audience feels towards a topic.

For example, homeowners living near a busy intersection are complaining about noise and traffic congestion. The city has plans to widen the streets at this intersection, thus welcoming even more traffic according to the homeowners. Civil engineers would discuss the city's plans to both city officials and homeowners. Obviously, they can expect support from city officials since they initiated the plan. The homeowners, on the other hand, are likely to be angry and have much to say against the proposal. The engineers' job, as presenters, is to cater to both audiences. They can justify why the streets need to be widened and how the noise and heavy traffic problems might be solved. They must present objective information to aid in decision making.