Dianna Booher

If you're telling a joke, directing a screenplay, or writing a TV sitcom, your audience will give you a few minutes to interest them before they walk away, walk out, or flip the channel. Business colleagues aren't always that patient. <br /><br />Audiences for your email, your briefing, or your proposal want your bottom-line up front for several reasons:<br />"       It's difficult to understand the details if you don't have a summary of the message first. <br />"       Attention wanes quickly. You'll need to grab listeners fast before they exit, fall asleep, or check messages on their iPhone, Treo, or Blackberry . <br />"       People expect applicable messages. With more than 500 TV channels, 1800 newspapers, millions of ezines, and blogs popping online faster than popcorn, people make quick decisions.<br /><br />Whether good news or bad, competent communicators understand the value of getting to the point. <br /><br />The first words from the moon: "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."<br /><br />The first words of Winston Churchill after the fall of France during World War II: "The news from France is very bad."<br /><br />The first words from President Bush's address after 9/11/2001: "This is a difficult moment for America&.Today we've had a national tragedy. Two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country."<br /><br />Summarize succinctly. Then follow up with the details.<br />