Communicating in Civil Engineering

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Neil Grigg, Civil Engineering Professor

A comfortable situation is when you present information to a project team or other people, like city council, who understand engineering terminology. In a more formal situation, you might present your proposed plan to politicians and citizens. Or you might pitch a sales presentation to a panel selecting an engineering company for a contract. This is a formal situation, however, you should act informal, so they’ll like you. A hostile situation is at a large public meeting where citizens are usually against the proposed plan. An ultimate hostile situation is where you are threatened and need to take control. As a professional, you need to come across as neutral, unbiased. All of these situations are out there.