How to Write Less but Say More | Jim VandeHei | TED

[@veryveryred]

1) "Stop being selfish" - Audience first It is not about you, but about your audience. Cut length, people won't pay attention for a long time 2) "Grab me!" - What is the one thing you want me to remember? No matter what you communicate, make sure you bring across your most important point. 3) "Keep it simple" One sentence/paragraph is better than two. Use simple sentence structure. Use simple words. 4) "Be human, write like a human" Don't try to be a Harvard professor; bring your point across like you are talking to someone at the bar. 5) "Just stop" - Use as few words and sentences as possible There you go, this would not have needed 15 minutes.

[@kygrcstarr]

Thank you for the highlight!

[@ItsZacharyT]

My thoughts exactly 😂

[@ZymaPro]

In writing it doesn't need 15 min. I am patient with it as the medium is in person [at the time] and video. Context matters and I'm sure he condensed as much as he could. I appreciated the length as I also feel he got to the point. For our generation tho we do see through the "I'm going to tell you at the end." Just start should be point 6. lol Get to it as soon as you can. But it does also go back to the balance of being human point 4. There's a balance between who is being selfish. Let the audience be selfish but also don't dehumanize the delivery.

[@ThePandaWarrior]

Thank you

[@veryveryred]

@@ZymaPro While I agree to a certain point I really don't have 15 min every time someone proposes a new lifehack. I need the core information as fast as possible so I can decide whether I think it is useful or not and either spend more time with it or get on with my life.

[@stevenporter863]

0:30 True. In college I wrote a 25 page term paper and in error turned in the draft with a bunch of typos, grammer errors, run on sentences, spelling errors, etc. The first couple paragraphs were fine so when it got retuned it was graded 'A+' with a 'Good work' handwritten by the professor. Obviously ( and luckily for me ) he didn't bother reading past the first sentence.

[@lifestyle-uncensored]

Haha😀

[@philliprader6298]

Omg. I'm experiencing the same in my masters class!!!

[@tonylombardi4661]

My 5th grade teacher explained when writing "KISS", keep it simple stupid. 40 years later I still remember her and her instructions.

[@engzain1461]

P

[@ChesterMbangchia]

Introduction: 11 minutes Body (tips): 3 minutes Conclusion: 1 minute. Thank you for teaching us how to be brief through your long introduction. For minutes 11 to 15, kudos 👌.

[@hdmat101]

I was going to say the same lol

[@Mediaright]

Gotta shake that money-maker I guess.

[@danh4119]

Yea, this dude tells us how to be brief and that most readers spend only 26 seconds per page, yet goes on with antidotal experience on how to be brief while wasting 11 mins. Perfect example of the idiom "Do as I say, not as I do". Video should have been 5 mins at max.

[@michaelaskarbova223]

I cannot agree more, he could have conveyed the same message in 5-6 mins, instead of his 16mins. We all know we are bombarded with information all the time and we do not read in detail everything, no need to expand on that for 10 long minutes 😂

[@lukedavies3732]

Thank you. I'm 5 mins in and started scrolling comments wondering if this was going to be a full 15 mins of intro. I'll skip to 11.

[@matthewrank109]

This was a fantastic talk. Its a topic we are all somewhat aware of but we need to dive deeper like this individual. Thank you sir.

[@rameshsilva6110]

I always tell my wife, It's not about how you feel, it's about how the other person understands what you gonna say. And for God sake, keep it short but clear.

[@stevenporter863]

Brevity

[@rameshsilva6110]

@@stevenporter863 exactly !

[@derandreas]

interesting how someone talking about efficiency can waste 10 minutes on introduction.

[@VitoC.]

Well said

[@VitoC.]

11 minutes lol

[@ridwan.ncu98]

Lmao

[@salalbaloch93]

Thanks for saving my 11 minutes

[@garudastan]

I cried for him to make a point at minute 6.37

[@Prasad_Pai]

Very well put. I love how ted talks are short but convey meaningful messages

[@wlrohr1]

Nicholas Carr described this "scanning vs deep reading" phenomenon in great detail in his 2010 book "The Shallows, What the internet is doing to our brains" and is worth a read for anyone with further interest (and he provides provocative evidence it changes the mechanism our brain uses to process and store information)

[@skylark1250]

Thanks for mentioning “The Shallows” an excellent book which describes the effects of our modern technologies on how we communicate, or don’t. Cellular phones and computers and social media have changed our brains. It’s changed our language, and what we consider important. That’s why conspiracy theories and fake science and manipulation of facts has so impacted politics. It’s a dangerous world. Pay attention to how you use it. Take breaks from technology. Nature and friends are good for your mind in ways you don’t realize until you are restored by a walk in the woods without your phone.

[@michaelraphael5324]

LOVE this. I need this so badly. The professor asks for a 100 word discussion post, and I give him 500+ masterfully written words. The professors don't have time for that crap! I'm secretly trying to impress myself and others. On the other hand, when I wan to be precise with the idea I'm trying to express, that seems to either require bigger words or more words.

[@travelszene-bike2093]

Jim, wonderfully explained. I still remember the times when you read a book from cover to cover, and as you did so you enjoyed the moment, but those were different times. In today's time, everything goes very, very fast. I wish many things were like they used to be, but we have to adapt to today's world, to make the most of technology.

[@Boomer1156]

That hit home! I'm so guilty of spending hours writing/answering emails etc with what I would think makes me sound strong intelligent and a force to be respected and would read them back to myself countless times to see how good l looked....l loved this talk and will TOTALLY change now ..K.i.s.s. keep it simple stupid

[@barry3518]

Ya did it here, too ;)

[@googlegoogle-qm1ob]

This is what we need nowadays. The internet, the tv, the social media are full of trash today and we missed short but meaningful topics and news.

[@malamalsatish1384]

11:00 where he drops real nuggets, rest is just promoting his company

[@SteveJubs]

Appreciated

[@ElectricIguana]

I tuned this guy out before the 10 minute mark. Maybe this talk should be called "How to SPEAK less but say more."

[@MQuest77]

I always say get to the point but there’s something hidden in the details. If it’s important enough, you can get to the details quickly enough. The concept of Plain English rebranded. Groovy.

[@ag.cousins]

Well im a Reddit user. For those that don’t know it’s a giant forum for people to share news articles and then discuss in the comments about how they read the headline.

[@Dead_pixelz_]

Even then if they wrote a novel as a post I’m not reading it. Most I will read on a post for Reddit is 2 paragraphs, If it’s longer I skip.

[@RN-gx7wt]

@@Dead_pixelz_ It' will say something about intelligence. In all seriousness how others will be able to connect with people as well.

[@keenzeen]

Give them there time back that they deserve, rightfully 😊.❤

[@PongoXBongo]

I wish more people in academia thought like this. A client of mine who is working toward his master's has two tutors: a subject matter expert and me. His expert tutor helps with first drafts, I help with proofing and editing (and submitting, among other techy tasks). The drafts are often walls of text with run-on sentences galore and Shakespearean verbiage that practically requires a thesaurus alongside the textbook.* I'm then tasked with translating that into one-breath sentences, bite-sized (i.e. focused) paragraphs, and plain English. At least he doesn't right entirely in citations.** . *This is not exclusive to him, _many_ published papers are written like this. **I really wish the APA would switch to from in-line citations to footnotes to help with flow.

[@danlowe8022]

Great talk.(two words)

[@AzEagletarian]

Twitter is teaching me to say more with fewer words.

[@Ksvjnr]

My God this is so right. I have a blog about positivity thru adversity in life... and it's just short to the point articles that I hope will help others.

[@mylliej3695]

Can we have the link? I’d like to read it :)

[@mdaly4010]

Yes. A link, plz. Ty in advance.

[@kavinkacreates]

This was great! I am a freelance content writer and I've been implementing these strategies from the beginning because it's very true. Great talk!

[@williamp2359]

Oddly, for a talk telling me to use less words, he talked for 15 minutes - much longer than most of the Ted Talks that I watch.

[@bobrossisgod2664]

I feel like this could be satire. I was sitting there waiting for something more than the most cliche ted talks lines and that never came.

[@ralphsanders1783]

I just discovered this new thing and I want to tell you all about it. It's called good writing.

[@RN-gx7wt]

I discovered breathing, every day people stop breathing. It's called dying.

[@sirdoc1288]

LOL Point 1, "focus on what they want." Yes, what I want is to hear you go on and on and on about your jobs, accomplishments, and the big names that you work with. Oh please make another video about you.

[@GOODSKINGDOM1307]

Be human, not bots So clearly, thanks for this amazing talk sir

[@shubhamgupta-bo3jf]

I don't understand why people are throwing shoes on him. We pay more attention on video bcoz we just need to hear it(Less work). He is talking about writing, and that true we skim so fewer words make it easy and convince readers to read(Simple).

[@semihcorbaci]

Most beneficial TED speech ever. Hats off!

[@joshfraser3856]

Always good to hear your thoughtful and logical analysis. I don't care about bullish or bearish market. Trade a small percentage of your portfolio rather than going in and out every couple weeks trying to time the market trading went smooth for me as I was able to raise over 8.4 BTC when I started at 3 BTC in just few weeks implementing Richard and tips..

[@joshfraser3856]

[@joshfraser3856]

fx1Richard

[@craigmertz1994]

Hey - I've been hearing about Richard for a long time now. Started during the pandemic and I've heard of how accurate his signals is.. I really do appreciate hearing your advice and feel that it is genuine

[@bawahassan5961]

I started from the bottom... now I'm here!

[@bawahassan5961]

smashing it all 💥 €2000 to €21k 🤟🤘

[@harrydaplatypus361]

How to communicate effectively in a distracted digitalized world: 1. Don't be selfish - You talk/write to provide important values for the audience, not you. So don't ramble on to feel good. 2. Grab the audience - Focus on what's truly important to communicate in under 26 seconds. Provide a reason for the audience to keep listening/reading. -> Critic: In some cases, it's not the fault of the communicator that the audience has a short attention span. What if there is a hard-to-communicate subject that needs great expertise and/or emotional readiness in the audience? Since these subjects require more time to elaborate, what are the solutions to keep it short like under 26 secs? 3. Keep it simple (be human) - Communicate so that others can understand, not to flex. Simple structures and vocabulary can still work effectively 4. Just stop - Save time and improve communication efficiency -> Critic: To-the-point and short sentences can be socially insensitive and, worse, disrespectful. How to communicate simultaneously in socially sound and sharp ways?

[@smokeyboudin3365]

I wish I had those 15 minutes back.

[@jamiemiller9268]

The ABCs of miltary communication, at least what I was taught back in my time, mid-1980s. Accuracy, Brevity, and Clarity. Pretty simple.

[@guvenguneren6579]

It goes the same for the speech and/or video. The nutshell of the entire 15 mins of speech could have been delivered in a 3 mins-video!

[@RN-gx7wt]

Less is more.

[@guvenguneren6579]

@@RN-gx7wt even better! 👍

[@RN-gx7wt]

@@guvenguneren6579 Cheers

[@Todd_Writersroom]

Interesting : I like to write but I hear ya - also depends on what area or field your in - he is speaking to journalist - so this makes sence - however - as a writer, very interesting - I hear ya - I will keep this in mind - thank you

[@wolfrain8898]

all of what he is saying is true some people only go for a sentence or two before becoming bored with it. if not trying to get a point across just right how you want to.

[@sophiagray4376]

It’s like when you ask someone the time and they tell you how to build a clock. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@madararam2853]

If you are on KZbin, you do comment, or any social media in this case, and therefore you have to read to be able to respond to some credible and acknowledgeable sense of things described by other users. The only or most common case scenario .. is that they write perceptually subjectively instead of objectively..possibly lack of focus, experience, or because of emotional information bias causing stress and/or due devaluing their personal interests. Like trying to taunt of preferred hobby or pastimes useless or unpopular!! but then, who cares when they all blind and not what needs to be seen. Ooh! and about the video ...it relates more to Hemingway journalistic theory which conflicts nowadays with the media being grammatically lethargic. Thanks for sharing.

[@tvathome562]

Skip to 11.00, ( same rules for vidz) ;-)

[@EducandoSeuBolso]

What a thing of beauty! 👏

[@philliprader6298]

I've used axios for my research. It's really helpful

[@Dutchenter]

Very helpful

[@Johnnyohhh1952]

Excellent talk

[@MandoPrime1138]

Tell that to college professors. They give us a word count on our papers/essays which only encourages fluff and filler material to reach that criteria

[@stevenporter863]

In college I wrote a 25 page term paper and in error turned in the draft with a bunch of typos, grammer errors, run on sentences, spelling errors, etc. The first couple paragraphs were fine so when it got retuned it was graded 'A+' with a 'Good work' handwritten by the professor. Obviously ( and luckily for me ) he didn't bother reading past the first sentence.

[@grenadagreengroupg3776]

Mercifully, not always true. One of my university lecturers said "Verbal diarrhoea is a sign of mental constipation". And he graded our essays by insight, not weight!

[@RN-gx7wt]

@@grenadagreengroupg3776 That’s subjective, if he’s a lemon, you could be blasted out of the water for nothing else than incompetence from his side.

[@martinzarzarmusic5338]

I watched the first minute of this. Great video…

[@rubberdog8763]

Plz list 5 points, with brief description, comment. I got lost in the in between words.

[@EldhoseJoseph]

Hey do you know about this? "After doing a thorough due diligence and retrospection, with all things considered, and a perfect memory recall with shortest latency and high degree of accuracy, as well as a wide repository of extensive knowledge about the domain with accredited testing and reliability, it is safe to come to the conclusion, without any shred of doubt or possibility of any error, past or future, it can be well established that I am mentally unable to respond to an important query, that is deemed important to you ". OR. " NO".

[@TennesseeJed]

Too long to read 😜

[@LabelsAreMeaningless]

Being succinct is great. Now how long will it take for you to learn that people don't appreciate being mislead or flat out lied to. Do another Ted talk when you figure that part out. Side note: You've known this information for a long time. This is why the most important information is buried at the bottom. The media uses it to their advantage, which is why in most cases the first half tends to be pointless and boring, or aimed at narrative. People stop paying attention so never get to the actual information.

[@TabulaRasaa]

He basically described structure of KZbin Shorts

Thank you for the video!

[@ZymaPro]

Warf - "Some speak much but say very little. Some speak very little but say much." (Star Trek TNG)

[@sinkler123]

I have never shared anything without reading it first, and I actively block people who practice this behavior (except my mom for obvious reasons) ... ;)

[@S_Soccertime]

hello

[@deanryanmartin]

True. Every little thing about this talk is true.

[@ronaldlogan3525]

He didn't give the main message of his talk until about 12 minutes into the talk. Everything up until that was him bragging about how important he is.

[@olgaycelik2631]

They key messages are in the end of the video. He speaks a lot without giving any tip first 10 minutes.

[@viktor5672]

sakto HUMSS student ako & bukas na pasukan :)

[@varunahlawat9013]

Stop wanting to share everything. Share the most important thing. Okay.

[@themanwnoname3454]

2022(G) “Respect and dignity.” Furthermore:

[@rvrmay]

I think this guy needs to make a presentation on "How to Speak Less but Say More" instead 🤣🤣🤣

[@RN-gx7wt]

His ambition less is more, his findings less is more, his conclusion less is more.

[@ArtArtisian]

I put relatively high odds on a fair share of this 'data' on people not reading coming from bots? Web skimmers and the like. I mean, people do skim headlines. But I feel like a nontrivial % of the time I actually open a story, I read more than the first page. Does the data contradict me?

[@atenas80525]

Is it possible that the quality of what we read has gone down so it is not worth spending the time in deep focus on it?

[@ericli9670]

I don't get the latest sentence, what does he mean by saying it's ultimately good for you because you will be hurt again? Can someone explain it to me?

[@RN-gx7wt]

He means people who won't read your long lines, are stating, "it's not important, you don't make sense, or getting the feeling of not being in touch with the audience you wrote something for. It may make you end up getting hurt. (While you put all the effort into something, nobody seems interested in.)

[@ericli9670]

@@RN-gx7wt thanks for the explanation!

[@RN-gx7wt]

@@ericli9670 No problem.

[@ericli9670]

@@RN-gx7wt

[@A.shk9]

Awsome

[@tassamuakhsannugroho8264]

nice tips

[@nofacee94]

I don't agree fully, sometimes you need to use the right word to convey what you truly mean, and sometimes you are writing for that audience that can be bothered to read it - not just producing bite-sized simplified text.

[@RN-gx7wt]

The word is apply sometimes. It sure is not a holy grail. Simplified text could be disturbing as well, especially when people are not short sighted. In the end this isn’t a commercial.

[@RandyJames22]

Laconic

[@biologicalutopian]

When information are simplified to such small volume, fragmented truth will be pieced into a horrible disinformation.

[@k.t.robinson6339]

.. is simplified …. a small volume …. Really? I think you missed the meaning and point of this TED

[@RN-gx7wt]

@@k.t.robinson6339 He speaks about attention, not connecting by sharing the right information. It doesn't happen in 5minutes.

[@k.t.robinson6339]

@@RN-gx7wt ✅

[@lawrenceebersole9765]

Fantastic

[@MrMartinBigger]

Im not sure how i can keep it short and get an interesting point out early while using common vocabulary if i want to say anything of substance.

[@anuragkhetan]

10:50

[@ligiasommers]

Excellent 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙏🏻🌹✨

[@LordMondegrene]

So the old journalism saying, "Tell 'em what yer gona tell 'em, then tell 'em, then tell 'em what you told 'em," still applies? Or is that wasting time?

[@teruphoto]

13:47 The irony of him constantly giving too many examples in this presentation...😅

[@skullandbones1832]

I once lived a life with very limited technology if any existed a time when the world was a different place than now. Technology has changed how we live our everyday lives now. Limiting how much time you spend on your smart devices social media is something we all need to be more aware of. Going to whole weekend with your smartphone spending a week hiking the Andes just you and nature.

[@DailySource]

I’ve been going to Catholic masses since I was a child 45 years ago and about 80% of the sermons have been less than 10 minutes at about 20 churches I’ve been to. About another 19% of sermons have been less than 15 minutes . The final one percent have been less than 20 minutes. I have never heard one longer than that. On weekends, most masses at most churches last for 55 minutes or an hour. The non-sermon parts of the mass take about 45 or 50 minutes between the entrance and exit, the prayers, the readings, several songs and communion and announcements. That doesn’t leave much time for the sermon. On weekdays, masses usually skip all of the songs and announcements, and communion is very quick because the number of people at a weekday mass is small. Sermons are usually two or three minutes long and the whole mass usually takes only about a half hour. So I think this speaker might be twisting the words of Pope Francis in order to make a point, but at the expense of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis on three different occasions has told priests to keep sermons to 10 minutes or less. I seriously don’t think he’s ever said that he thinks a significant percentage of priests regularly give sermons that are 30 to 40 minutes long, which is the negative impression that this TEDTalk leaves with viewers. It paints a negative picture that is inaccurate about a religion that 1.5 billion people are part of. And doing that was not needed in order to make his points. It was fine to talk about the pope recommending that sermons be a maximum of 10 minutes and to allude to that sometimes some priests go well above 10 minutes. But it is wrong to convey that Catholic services are regularly plagued by priests droning on for 30 or 40 minutes.

[@DailySource]

Also, about a third of priests give sermons that are too short, and when they’re done, I would have liked for them to say more.

[@JUANKERR2000]

In addition to using fewer words less arm-waving and bouncing about like Tigger would aid communication.

[@CoolGirl007]

Yeah

[@StegerDavid]

The guy lost me when he said "or I could do what Jeff Bezos would do".

[@SteveJubs]

+

[@mohammedkararty9993]

It's so difficult to do that.

[@JustMWest]

I get that distracted people need fewer words to get the message, but the argument that he doesn't understand why we don't talk like we're in a bar when we're trying to explain complex ideas is a bit ridiculous.

[@bobrossisgod2664]

guys I think he looked at the data

[@edwinthulsi5724]

TLDR few word do trick

[@RN-gx7wt]

Less is more.(Sometimes!)

[@VsevoTV-ik9bw]

Sometimes people talk just to talk.

[@hansolowe19]

The hand gestures are not really working for me. They seem.. _off_ somehow.

[@AnthonyKrznarich]

What were his four tips?

[@beataplaya]

Why don't you "keep it short stupid" as my professor often say. I want the gist, not the list.

[@noddy4650]

Anxiety ,, deppersion ,, medicine five years ,,i am right now today turned 18 ,, don't feel good from medicine ,,i get addict to Medicine ,,i cannot live without medicine ,,no improvement ,,all things are erritating me a lot ,,i also had Dyslexia in childhood ,,all scold me unnecessary for studying and keep scoring ,,

[@andrewthurman8836]

Journalism with fewer words....this translates : we tell you the news without context so you don't have to think what it means...we will just tell you what it means in a summary at the end of the news.

[@Dead_pixelz_]

But people don’t even read past the headline, why should the writer put in work nobody looks at?

[@mia31100unknown]

Watched this video on 2X

[@neildmedia]

Good points. However succumbing complex issues to basic principles is dumbing down. Endure and debate or else what is left?

[@RN-gx7wt]

Facts.

[@justyourlocalrat_]

we're getting far too close to Fahrenheit 451 territory here 😬

[@wotsitalabowt]

I found this overlong so stopped listening at 7.48 even though I was interested and engaged up to almost that point. Ironic but true.

[@Tom-nw7px]

How embarrasing... a topic on keeping it brief spends 11 minutes getting to "tip number 1". And then the tips are painfully generic (and themselves not followed by the speaker) 1. Stop being self indulgent 2. Be interesting 3. Keep it simple 4. Write like a human 5. Just stop

[@andreazingoni5149]

the discovery of hot water

[@stevenporter863]

3:07 Sounds like Congress not reading bills before voting.

[@AdityaMehendale]

TL;DR: "TL;DR"

[@jedics1]

I don't need to "look at the data" to know that most people think the more words they use to say something the more important they think it makes them, Americans are especially guilty of this. If the first paragraph doesn't give me a clear and easy to absorb expression of the story then I know the rest of it isn't going to improve and they aren't very good at their craft. Poetry has something to teach here, saying or implying much with very few words.

[@brianmason9803]

Unfortunately if journalists get told; "Give me 400 words on..." they will do that even if they have only 50 words to say. We vote in politicians who have learnt to say nothing in a one hour speech. We watch tv that has nothing to say. I've said enough.