So why strive for perfection when clarity, conciseness, and courtesy are useful, achievable goals? Instead, they will skim the agenda, flyer, email, proposal, report, or other communication in search of the information they need. Unless you write essays, poetry, or other literary works, your audience will not read and savor your every word. Recognize that perfection is unattainable-and a waste of time. The time you spend rewriting will shrink.ģ.
If you limit yourself to one idea per sentence (or bullet), you will write a clear version from the start.
Fill out the top and signature portion of the credit application. Provide a copy of your exempt sales tax document. To ensure that we have your correct contact information, please: Similarly, a sentence with several interwoven ideas will take time to untangle: Do I need to let anyone know that I plan to attend?Ĭombining the answers to several questions in one chunk of text will tangle the message. 
Why should I attend? How will it benefit my family?.Focusing on just one thing at a time will help you avoid sprawling paragraphs and sentences that you have to rework later.įor example, in a flyer to motivate parents to attend an open house, the answer to each of these questions would be a separate, short chunk of text:
When you write, limit yourself to one: just one topic per paragraph, one idea per sentence. Too often writers focus on background information, when readers rarely want or need it.Ģ.
What do we want to accomplish with each one: to agree? to decide? to assign?. How much time will we spend on each item?. Who is responsible for handling each agenda item?. If you do, you will write too much and will spend too much time cutting and revising.įor instance, an agenda that helps people prepare for a meeting might answer these questions: Do not include information that your readers would not ask for. Then write the piece by answering your readers’ questions. Once you know what you want to accomplish, list the questions your message must answer for your readers to achieve your goal. This email will help the customer complete the necessary paperwork. This flyer will motivate parents to attend the open house. This agenda will help team members prepare for a productive meeting. But eventually you will have to slog through the revision stage, forcing your words and ideas into a coherent package.ĭecide from the start what you want the message to accomplish. Diving in without a plan may give you a rush of accomplishment. They touch on planning, writing, and adjusting your standards.ġ. Here are three ways to spend less time revising. (And because we’re pretty sure that, regardless of your role, you don’t want to be the only one who nods with a confused smile when there’s a RFD because the CTR for your website decreased and a QA test is required by EOD.) We’ve rounded up abbreviations for the most commonly used terms that you’re likely to run into at work (or more likely, in an email).īetter yet, they’re categorized by department, so you can prep before a meeting with your finance, technical, or marketing teams. Well, to everyone in the latter group: Today’s your lucky day. While some of us have the guts to ask for clarification when we have no idea what’s being said, others of us cringe at the thought of asking potentially “stupid” questions. I’m talking about what often seems to be the language of the business world: acronyms. Tell the next steps – you will do what OR you expect the other site to do what.į (Follow-up): Try to predict the questions asked at the end of conversation or (as a reply to the message) and prepare answers in advance.Įver feel like your co-workers-or, worse, your boss-are speaking to you in a different language? No, I’m not talking about your team suddenly deciding to conduct a meeting entirely in French. What are the three main points or bullets of the topic?Į (End): Decide what do you want to be remembered. I (Information): Give two to three pieces of information. R (Reason): Explain why you’re contacting them now- why should they engage? “43% of people who received long-winded emails deleted or ignored them.” Be more effective in your communication by following the BRIEF rule.įast Company have created the following formula for better communicating your information and/or needs:ī (Background): Provide a quick context-what happened beforehand? More often than not one needs to read an e-mail thoroughly several times before understanding the actions needed or despite carefully listening the ramble of someone misses the point of the conversation. We send and receive dozens of e-mails and have tens of conversations daily.
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