B is for Brevity

As we said in A is for Audience, the predominant purpose of communication is to achieve a favourable response from your audience. Let’s look at brevity.

Brevity is “the concise and exact use of words in writing or speech” (Oxford English Dictionary). In writing, brevity means conveying your meaning in the least words. Sentence structure and use of vocabulary are critical.

What is the value of brevity in business communication, particularly in day-to-day emails? It’s threefold:

For clients. In a 24/7 world, clients need a concise and exact overview of the subject and understanding of the action required. Brevity leads to speedy comprehension and action. Respect clients’ time and mental energy and you’ll have the response you seek.

For the subject. Concise and exact use of words in writing indicates clear thinking about the subject at hand. The legendary William Zinsser says “Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author’s voice.”

For yourself. You need to be credible and understood. Brevity eliminates confusion and doubt raised by clutter – unintelligible meaning, ambiguity, confused logic – or outright DELETE.

Brevity in action

Here are three examples of brevity in action.

Example #1

We have been asked to remind visitors to the office that it is not convenient if they park in the car spaces that are not designated to our company. Our five car spaces are directly outside our office entrance and clearly marked with our company name. While other car spaces may be empty, there is no guarantee that the owners will not want to access their car space during the time you are visiting us. There is free parking for two hours available in the council carpark next door to us. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. [98 words]

Edited version:
When visiting our office, please park only in the five designated car spaces outside our office or in the council carpark beside our building. The council carpark provides two hours of free parking. [33 words]

Example #2

The object of this project is to facilitate the development of greater capacity in local, not-for-profit organisations to engage in heightened collaboration in regard to the provision of community services that would maximise the available resources from a number of community stakeholders and to engage and provide a greater level of communication about local prioritisation of services with the particular community. [61 words]

Edited version:
This project seeks to support our local non-profit community groups in working together to use their resources to achieve the greatest possible overall benefit for the community.

[27 words]

Example #3

We will be holding an information meeting for families next week, in relation to recent communication we have received from Northern Districts Council that directly relates to proposed building works at Community Scout Hall. Whilst we understand this is short notice, we would welcome the opportunity to meet with as many of you as possible to discuss this face to face, and I would encourage you to come along if you can. [72 words]

Edited version:
You’re invited to join us at an information session next week about the proposed building works for the Community Scout Hall. With apologies for the short notice, we look forward to meeting you and discussing the changes. [37 words]

What this means for your communication

Brevity is a classic case of “less is more”. Take the time to inspect and edit your writing. You’ll find you can tighten your sentences and smarten up your thinking and expression.

For further reading, we recommend the classic adviser William Zinsser On writing well: the classic guide to writing nonfiction, seventh edition, Harper Perennial, 2016. Here’s an example of his own work.