Smart Brevity

I just finished the book, Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz.

“Brevity is confidence. Length is fear.” -Axios

This book is all about:

• Putting your audience first and
• Communicating clearly and succinctly.

4 Components of Smart Brevity

1. A muscular “tease”: Short headline (usually 6 words or less)
2. One strong first sentence (“lede”): Your most snappy and memorable sentence
3. Context (“Why it matters”): Explain WHY it’s important
4. The choice to learn more (“Go deeper”): Offer additional info for those who want to stay on the ride

Why Value Being Brief:

• On average, we spend fewer than 15 seconds on most of the web pages we click. Here’s another crazy stat: One study found that our brain decides in 17 milliseconds if we like what we just clicked. If not, we zip on.
• We check our phones 344+ times each day — once every 4 minutes, at least.
• Roughly one-third of work emails that require attention go unread.
• Most chapters of most books go untouched.

Some Tips

• Learn to identify and trumpet ONE thing you want people to know.
• BLUF: Bottom line up front. (Put the most important info first.)
• Shrink paragraphs and add more section breaks and headers.
• Always use action verbs.
• Use more emojis. They capture attention. 🛎️ (I'm not sure how I feel about this one)
• Tell your story to a friend first. Then write what you said.
• No unnecessary words or context. “Just say it. Then stop.”

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