Getting to the Point: You’ve Got 30 Seconds. Go.

Ron Ashkenas’ “In Presentations, Learn to Say Less” from his blog on the Harvard Blog Network. What would you do if you had to compress 30 minutes of message into 30 seconds? If every word that came out of your mouth – not every paragraph, not every sentence, but every single word – had to articulate your point? Transmit your material? Tell your story, make your argument, communicate, convince, and change your listener? Could you turn, as Ashkenas writes, “a ‘presentation’ into a ‘tweet’”?

Getting to the point isn’t innate. It’s nurture, not nature, a skill that can be learned and practiced and mastered. That’s where Ashkenas’ post comes in. His steps for refining your message and improving your delivery will start you off right. You’ll need to add time and discipline and hard work. But in the end, it will be worth it. You’ll see it in the faces of your audience.