“I have only made this letter longer because I didn’t have time to make it shorter.”
~Blaise Pascal
In his book “Brief:make a bigger impact by saying less” Joseph McCormack offers a contemporary version ” ” If you don’t practice brevity in social media, you might as well be talking to yourself.”
Brevity, clarity, repetition and humor are solid principles of a presentation of any kind; brevity clarity, repetition and humor.
Being brief takes effort, confidence and authenticity. Twitter has made me a better thinker if not a better presenter. The 140 character ‘limitation’ can make you sloppy or force you to be concise.
Quotes that are tweeted can be powerful and still be brief.
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. – Sigmund Freud
Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand. – Confucius
Ernest Hemingway said that “For sale, baby shoes, never used” was his best story.
Six Word Stories has hundreds of concise, compelling, complete stories in six words.
I have been attempting to combine brevity and clarity in my writing here and my other assignments. My presentations have a new spaciousness as I remove verbosity and leave room for pondering. I wonder if the 20/80 rule applies to communication. What if 20% of what you say/write has 80% of the impact? How do you know? With diligence and practice, I hope I am figuring that out.
MTR,
B
Make It Your Problem 