CroftDuckett567

When it comes to business communication skills, ponderous length doesn't impress; it alienates. We're all busy, and we all have limited attention spans. FOCUS your message and not forget: Brevity is clarity.

In business communication, exactly the same rule applies whether you're looking to sharpen your presentation skills or ability as a copywriter. Maintain audience or readers uppermost in your head -- stifling the urge to pontificate -- and they'll be there with you. The very last thing you desire them to complete is examine the insides in their eyelids when you're halfway through your speech.

Needless to say, keeping it concise isn't just the way. Often times I recall going back to the newsroom as a reporter with a notebook brimming with facts and juicy quotes from the homicide scene or perhaps a contentious city council meeting, simply to hear my editor say: "We're putting it within the front page, but maintain it short. We've only got 10 inches because of it."

Ouch, I'd think. I would not have time to write short. Now I must decide stuff like that to utilize. Fresh fruits: It's worth every penny. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was 278 words, and yes it took him only six or seven minutes to produce the magnificent 701-word Second Inaugural Address. No, you aren't Lincoln. But you are capable of distilling your ideas and stifling your ego.

Second, I have some advice for any person frightened at the prospect of stand-up teaching business communication, meaning a presentation or maybe a speech: Think about it as being a conversation between two intelligent individuals who care about effective communication. This way, you are not an actor alone on the internet for using a stage. Instead, you are in a dialogue that assumes on energy and depth due to partners who listen and assist you.