Revisiting Brevity
We’ve heard it a million times: don’t bury the lede.
But what does this mean for effective communication in 2024?
3 years ago, I wrote Brevity: the Key to a Great Virtual Meeting. This was essential information for knowledge economy workers new to navigating - and leading - remote workspaces. The “unprecedented times” — a phrase that was repeated over and over again in Spring of 2020, are in the past. We have now settled. Virtual meetings are here to stay - and brevity is more important than ever.
Let’s revisit and refresh: what does it mean to be concise? How can we use brevity as a tool for a more constructive meeting, and why does it matter to the people you work with?
You’ve called a meeting. What are you going to say? When figuring that out, use this simple (and straightforward) structure for making a point and engaging your meeting attendees:
Point
Reason
Example
Point summarized
+
Question
Below is an example from an internal brainstorming meeting I recently hosted. I used PREP+Q to kick it off:
P - I think a priority for 2024 is revamping our virtual communication workshops.
R - I think refreshing our content will help us engage our current clients and bring in new ones.
E - Yes, some of the clients we meet are still facing the same challenges did in 2020. We can keep on using our current workshops to help them. We have tools that we know work. But, our workshop evals also tell us that people are ready for more advanced skills. Like, how to facilitate more robust and productive discussions after a pre-read?
P - So, let’s keep teaching our true and tried tools but also create and craft advanced tools to challenge our current clients to take their communication skills to the next level.
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Q - My question to kick off this brainstorming meeting is: What are the biggest challenges people are currently facing when communicating virtually? Especially remote first companies?
It worked like a charm and the discussion started. Our teachers had lots of ideas and we have plans for 2024 workshops.
For your next meeting, remember the importance of modeling concision. Use PREP+Q . Get your message out there and spark a discussion.
Brevity opens space for others. Figure out how to convey your thoughts in as few words as possible, so your team members can share their ideas. Decenter yourself, take note of what’s shared, and envision what’s to come.
