What do these three things have in common:

High speed internet access
Instant text messaging
Instant paging

The answer is that all three of these mediums deliver large amounts of information in small amounts of time in concise messages. This points to one of the new principals of our society today: We want all the information we need, without a lot of filler, and we want it now. There is no better example of this principal in action than in today’s workplace. It is for this reason that I’ve found the following article by Rix Quinn to be very relevant to today’s business professional. Below is the article, my thoughts follow immediately after:

10 Ways to Make a Point in Two Minutes

By Rix Quinn

Have you noticed that time is passing faster? Me too, and I’m not all that old.

But maybe time seems to fly by because we’re exposed to shorter messages…and that’s a good thing. Many experts calculate an adult’s attention span from eight seconds to about six minutes, so it’s important to cram lots of information into a short time.

Maybe you’ve already noticed that e-mail seems to get better response if it’s brief and succinct.
But what about press releases? Well, many companies now choose to release a single page story instead of a multi-page one.

If you believe – as I do – that a two minute (or shorter) message is the wave of the future, how can you send an effective one? Here are ten brief thoughts:

1. SINGLE THEME – Stick to one main point, and reveal it at the first of the message. If you’ve got two or three points to make, stress the most important first…and use the others as supporting points.

2. AGE – There’s some research that claims the younger the audience, the shorter message it wants. Reason? Folks under 35 are used to receiving information in brief form.

3. MINI-PARAGRAPHS – Because people on-the-go want briefer messages, they likely want short sentences and short paragraphs too. Consider paragraphs of three sentences or less.

4. NEED IDEAS? – I think the best messages are radio commercials. Listen to how well they create images — and motivate listeners — in one minute or less.

5. EXPERT ADVICE – Most folks want – and pay attention to –advice from experts.

6. CURRENT EVENTS – Can you link your feature with a current event or popular trend?

7. PROGNOSTICATOR – Does your story predict the future of an event or industry?

8. FAMOUS QUOTE – Does a famous quote – or quote by a famous person — add emphasis to your story?

9. HEADLINE HINT – Don’t write your headline until you’ve finished writing your story. It’s easier to make the headline summarize the story than it is to write a headline, then write the story to fit it.

10. POPULAR HEADLINES – In our experience, the two most popular headlines are those that (a) ask a question or (b) present a list…like the story you’re reading now.

My Thoughts

Rix makes a lot of good points here, probably the two that I think are the most important are the ones concerning keeping to a single theme and using mini-paragraphs. While people do want a lot of information at once, if you give it to them on 50 different topics they aren’t going to get anything out of it. Concentrate on a single train of thought and your audience will get much more out of it. Also, nobody likes a run-on sentence, let alone a run-on paragraph. Organize your points into concise pieces of information, and you’ll get much more mileage out of your presentation.

Author Resource Box

RIX QUINN’S writing discusses many ways to present messages quickly. His book “Words That Stick” is available from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS8/qid/

For details on his corporate workshops about brief writing, call 817-920-7999.

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