How To Keep Things Brief
Conciseness. Brevity. Hooking and retaining an audience with crisp descriptions in ad hoc or scheduled meetings. Countless communicators — from VPs to rising, emerging leaders — seek ways to keep their written and oral message tight. From a sheer writer’s standpoint (and from someone who’s taught writing for many years) the need for crisp and compelling messages becomes one small gift of these singular times. Why? Because our audience wants answers, solutions, less screen time, and action. They want us to get to the point.
And yet including all your ideas within a message, especially without feedback, can resemble closing a stuffed suitcase: A jumbled, confusing mess with little room for discovery.
In this week’s post, a follow-up to our earlier post on bottom lining key ideas, we share tips and techniques for removing the superfluous and staying on track. I’m thinking of a written message for this week’s post; but similar rules apply in oral presentations, too.
Remove Hedging Phrases
If you’ve read or heard a message full of fluff, the communicator might use multiple hedging phrases, i.e. indirect, vague, and cautious-sounding language before getting to their point. A few examples follow:
- I think that…
- If it were up to me…
- In my opinion…
- Sort of…
- Kind of…
- I wondered if we could…
For brevity, remove unnecessary hedging phrases. You’ll sound more strident and become crisper, too.
Go Light On Modal Verbs/Phrases
Modal verbs (words such as can, would, could, should, shall, ought to, or will, etc.) come with another verb and show the possibility or necessity of an idea. (Merriam-Webster provided the earlier description.) Modal verbs and expressions tie closely to hedging phrases; in fact, many hedging phrases include modal verbs within. Consider the following examples:
- It would be good if we could… vs. let’s…or, why not…
- I think we should… vs. We should
- I feel we should let this person go… vs. Let this person go… or, Fire them!
A few quick points on modal expressions:
- Modal phrases break no grammar rule but do make you wordy.
- Modal expressions can sound limp within Western cultures. You’ll sound more muscular starting with what comes after the modal phrase.
- Modal phrases provide wiggle room. For instance, an airline might cover any risk of flights not resuming if the message reads, “Flights will likely/hopefully resume when…”
- Modal expressions can sound more polite, more respectful and less direct in some cultures.
Remove Repetition and Redundancies
I endorse the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of redundancies: Meaningless, repetitive ideas devoid of essential information. Redundancies also clutter your writing (and speaking) and create a formal, inaccessible tone likely to tune your audience out. Examples include:
- I’d like to summarize briefly… vs. I’ll summarize…
- In the event that… vs. If…
- Each and every one of you will receive a bonus… vs. everyone receives a bonus…
- In spite of the fact that… vs. Although…
- Biography of his life vs. biography…
- A total of 99 employees vs. 99 employees…
If you feel attached to redundancies and repetition, get curious without any blame or judgment. How does it serve you to stay redundant or repeat key ideas? What’s your fear in not using redundancies? (When asking former students this question they often replied ‘to avoid having to add specifics and do the research to add substance.’)
If redundancies provide a smoke screen for not having specifics, the folly becomes this: Without specifics, without any meat and potatoes in your stew, you’ve a watery gravy. Also, readers stop reading (and listeners stop listening) when a message sounds vague, repetitive, and insubstantial. Feel unconvinced? Try these patterns out and see what changes, if anything.
Replace Weak Verbs With Active Ones
Replace weak verbs including as, are, is, be, been, was, etc. with more active ones. Why? Because you’ll save words and you’ll sound more strident, too. For the dubious, a few examples with edits follow:
The biggest problem I am finding with the proposal is the long, verbose passages (14 words.)
Long, verbose passages challenge this proposal. (6 words.)
I find this proposal lengthy and wordy. (7 words.)
One more example:
I am unable to find time on my calendar and have been busy like this for weeks. (17 words.)
I’ve no calendar openings — and haven’t for weeks. (8 words.)
And one more:
I was feeling frustrated and wondered what life might be like if we weren’t all so busy. (17 words.)
Frustrated, I wondered: What might life feel like if less busy? (11 words.)
Slash Words With Bulleted Lists
The innocent bulleted list slays wordy prose like no other tool. In applying lists to documents, slides, or emails, your grateful reader(s) can skim your message — especially from their phone. A few short tips might include:
- Maintain consistent grammar and punctuation
- Cap each item within 1–2 lines and each list with around five bullets
- Set up each list with an outline sentence
- Make each list item 100% relevant to the outline sentence. Create new paragraphs — and lists — for new ideas
In our next installment, might I tempt you with a few examples? (The reduced word count from applying bulleted lists feels extraordinary.)
Hopefully now you feel better armed with some tactics to condense your next message and with that find vital space for substance. Interested in discovering your own writing and speaking patterns? Write to me at hangingrockmedia@gmail.com to book me for a sample coaching session, or check my Calendly link.