Keep It Simple Sweety
One of my pet peeves is the long-winded speaker. It drives me crazy to sit and listen to someone who is giving a speech or presentation that drones on and on. Too few orators have been trained in the art of being concise. Arguably the two most famous speeches in American history are Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. Lincoln’s offering was less than five minutes, King’s under eight minutes. Keep this in mind the next time you have to give a speech or presentation. What do I have to say that is more important, or more moving than these two speeches? Their brevity is actually what packs the power in both speeches—there isn’t a wasted word. Granted, there are times when we must spend a longer time on a presentation with significant detail. In such cases, remember that studies have shown that human beings have an attention span of twenty minutes. After twenty minutes the audience tends to fade out, in which case you need to shift gears to provide a new fulcrum of attention.
It’s also important to keep conciseness in mind in casual conversation and the written word. I’ve received emails that are so long I don’t even read them! How many times has someone started a conversation with you and gone on and on till you couldn’t wait to free yourself from this person? Don’t bore your audience with repetition or useless information—you’ll lose their interest and they may end up resenting you. The shorter, the better in all communication—you’ll be amazed at how effective you can be.
(Note: The KISS method is an acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid. I don’t like the use of Stupid here, so I replaced it with Sweety. I’m sure you’ll agree that’s much nicer.)
Key Words;
Pet peeve-idiom-a favorite thing to complain about; something that really bothers you.
Drones-v-to make a continuous, low, dull or monotonous tone or sound.
Concise-adj-expressing much in few words, clear, succinct.
Brevity-adj-briefness of duration, concise expression, short.
Fulcrum-n-the point or support on which a lever pivots, supports a change in direction.
Resent-v-to feel angry or bitter about something or someone.
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1 comment:
Hi, Bill. I've been listening to the Advanced since I was in high school. It is really a good magazine which teaches me lots of current events around the world.
And as for this article, I agree with this KISS method. Indeed, whenever I have to give a speech to the classmates in the seminar, I always think of what my teachers have said "Use the simplest words as possible and remember to give the [TAKE HOME MESSAGE]." It works. Many classmates said that they only remember the [TAKE HOME MESSAGE] after attending the seminar. But I think it's worth enough because they've already got the main points of the speech!
Best wishes, Roger Zhang
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