Communication is at our fingertips. With social media with limited characters and short, 80,000-word books, it’s imperative to make a point quickly, succinctly, and with maximum impact. Our “lizard” brains are impatient—if we don’t capture another’s attention within a short period of time, we’ve lost our ability to make the case. The pandemic has further compounded our short attention spans. Many are dealing with the stress of uncertainty, which results in further reducing attention spans.

During routine virtual meetings, which we are all dealing with now, many have encountered videos and presentations where communications drag on, miss the point, and lead to listeners disengaging. This can be frustrating in all situations. What’s more, it can lead to loss of productivity, motivation, and failure to deliver the desired impact. To have a greater impact, I suggest following the adage “less is more.”

How to Ensure Less Is More

Be strategic. Define the goal to be achieved (before you start communicating). Plan the communication by listing the bullet points to be made then paring them down to the minimum for results desired and high impact.

Practice and improve. Once the final bullet points are listed, practice saying them first and tweak them where needed. Practice the communication in your head, out loud, or in front of someone else. Ask yourself: Was it natural? Was it comfortable? Did you make the right points? Did it have the impact you desired? Time the communication to ensure it is brief. Remember the lizard brain.

Check for understanding. If you practiced the communication in front of someone else, ask for feedback. Have them answer “What was I trying to say?” If the point was missed, modify your message and try again.

Be brief. If the communication is a presentation, be brief, describe the main points, and leave time for Q&A. An audience learns and retains more if it is engaged and there is an emotional impact, a la “Wow, that happens to me too.” Some of the best dialogue and most powerful learning takes place with the interchange between the speaker and the audience during the Q&A.

Putting It Into Action

Consider this story: Having served on the founding board of a childcare center, the co-directors were set to retire. With countless lives touched, a thank-you video was made with the request that it be “no more than one minute.” Let’s see how they put the how-to advice listed above into action.

Be strategic. The overarching goal was to honor and thank the co-directors for their collective leadership in taking the small—four-room only—childcare center into a nationally recognized and honored state-of-the-art quality childcare center. Several people were asked to contribute to the video, and my role was to describe the early days. My first list of bullets numbered 16. When I reread them, there was too much “me” in them via points about my own involvement despite that the purpose of the video was to focus on the co-directors. I reread the bullets and pared them down to nine.

Practice and improve. Done—first in my head, then in front of the mirror. After the third round in front of the mirror, I timed it, and it came in well under a minute (28 seconds, to be exact).

Check for understanding. To ensure the points were made, I called my youngest and asked her to listen. Her feedback was two-fold: “Too fast, Mom,” and the transitions from point to point were abrupt. I added a few words between points so the transitions were smooth, and I slowed down. My final practice run was 50 seconds—still under a minute.

Be brief. Although the video presentation was not a presentation or talk in a traditional manner, thus no Q&A, I did time it and, hopefully, “kept them wanting more.”

Conclusion

When you adopt the less is more adage when communicating for maximum impact, remember to:

• Define the goal to be achieved (before you start communicating). List the points to be made to achieve the goal, and then pare them down to the essential.

• Practice in your head, out loud, or in front of another, and time it.

• Check for understanding. If you practiced in front of another, take the feedback and tweak it again if needed.

• When giving a talk, make the points and allow time for questions: time your speech and use less time than allotted to allow for Q&A.

Do you want more advice? If so, join me August 29 during the ATD 2021 International Conference & Exposition for the session 5 Communication Tips to Implement Now in These Turbulent Times.