HammockMyer905

In terms of teaching business communication skills, ponderous length doesn't impress; it alienates. We're all busy, and then we all have limited attention spans. FOCUS your message and do not forget: Brevity is clarity.

In business communication instruction, the identical rule applies whether you're seeking to sharpen your presentation skills or ability as a copywriter. Keep audience or readers uppermost in your head -- stifling the impulse to pontificate -- and they'll be there with you. The last thing you need them to do is examine the insides of their eyelids when you are halfway through your speech.

Of course, keeping it concise isn't necessarily the simplest way. Oftentimes I recall going back to the newsroom like a reporter using a notebook filled with facts and juicy quotes coming from a homicide scene or even a contentious city council meeting, simply to hear my editor say: "We're putting it on the most visited page, but keep it short. We've only got 10 inches for it."

Ouch, I'd think. I can't have enough time to write short. Now I have to decide what NOT to work with. Bear in mind: It's worth it. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was 278 words, and it took him only six or seven minutes to provide the magnificent 701-word Second Inaugural. No, you're not Lincoln. But they're efficient at distilling your notions and stifling your ego.

Second, I've got top tips for everyone frightened for the prospect of stand-up business communication instruction, meaning a presentation or perhaps a speech: Consider it as being a conversation between two intelligent individuals who love effective communication. Like that, you aren't an actress alone up there using a stage. Instead, you're in a dialogue that assumes on energy and depth on account of partners who listen and talk with you.