I've been reading this book called Brief (which, by the way, I regret spending time reading). The writer presents a thesis which resonates with me. Everyone in the working world today is already overstretched, yet when it comes to communications, few people have learnt to be BRIEF. (Which means Concise to me.) As a result, we waste a lot of time reading reports which are longwinded. We waste a lot time attending meetings which are loosely planned and run. We waste a lot of time attending webinars which are not concise enough. (OK, I made up this last point myself.)
In the book, the writer presents several challenges to people in the working world. If you're writing a three-thousand-word report, can you say the same things in half the length. If you're planning a two-hour meeting, can you shorten it to one hour?
Now, I'm about to run a webinar which I have planned to run for one hour. But last night I decided to take up the challenge, and I asked myself: "Can I present my most important points in less than 50 words?" I tried it, and I succeeded by coming up with:
That's 39 words.
Then I decided to challenge myself even further. "Can I say these 5 sentences in less than 5 words?" I tried, and realised I could:
'Just get started."
BTW, I regret reading the book because it has taken the write 260 pages to tell us how to be brief.
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