This is the All Ears English podcast, episode 2410, how to be concise.
Part one, direct your message.
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Being concise is what moves you from a decent English speaker to a phenomenal communicator.
Listen in today for part one of our three -part series on how to be concise in English.
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That's Hey Aubrey, how are you today?
I'm great Lindsay. How are you?
Good, but I have a great question today.
Are you ready? Yes, let's hear it.
Alright, so Aubrey, do you know anyone in your life who is long winded?
Ooh, yes I do. I know someone that, and whenever she tells a story, she will give details about people that I don't know.
She'd be like, and this is a person who lived here and their cat's name was, I don't know, it's almost like the epitome of TMI.
They're giving all these details and just making the story so long, sharing things that don't add to the story that I don't care about.
It's hard. It's really hard. My mom would always do this.
She would just give a little bit too much information.
It's not TMI in an embarrassing way.
It's more TMI in, I don't really care, and you're telling me too much right?
And you haven't told me why I should care.
That's funny you notice there's like two separate meanings really for TMI.
One is like, oh, this is almost kind of inappropriate and awkward. That's like, okay, TMI.
And then there's others just like too much information, like too many details that aren't helping to move the story forward. Yeah.
So, I mean, honestly, as we've seen many native speakers struggle with this.
I feel like I sometimes struggle with this too, right?
And so, this is a skill, if our listeners can master this, they'll be ahead of, you know, 75 % of the native speaker population.
Absolutely, yes. Being concise is so key for determining who wants to listen to you, who wants to talk to you.
It will make a huge difference.
This is vital both in your everyday conversations and at work.
It is really going to make a huge difference for your connection in English.
Yeah, so we are introducing a three -part series, Aubrey, where we're gonna show everyone, our listeners how to be concise in English.
Aubrey, where is this three part series going to happen?
Yes, all three episodes will be right here on Allers English The first is about being concise with your message.
Why is that important and how can you do that?
The second is about the vocabulary.
Phrases that sometimes we need to shorten, we need to think about our vocabulary and how it should change to be more concise.
And part three is about the grammar Should we be using active or passive voice?
What about our grammar could change to help us be more concise.
I love it. So guys, go ahead and hit that follow button right here, right now to make sure you don't miss the next two parts of this series.
This might be the single most important series of podcast episodes you listen to all year because this impacts our career success, our social circle, right?
Absolutely. Yes. I can think of people that, if they were more concise when I talk to them, I would be more proactive about trying to spend time with them.
But sometimes, I'll avoid the interactions because I know that it's going to be painful with all the extra details.
You don't want that to be you.
We're excited for you to get all of these skills and the language to be more concise.
And also, you want people to wonder what you're going to say next.
It's like you want – There's an element of mystery that we need to invoke here in being concise.
Absolutely. And it's super high level but we can do this.
When you are concise, you're a little mysterious, which people love mysterious people, right?
They love that. Yes, yes, for sure, right?
You don't want to have all this extra time and space and things you're saying that gives them a chance to be bored or dreading what you're saying next.
We want the opposite.
We want that little bit of mystery building up intrigue and being concise so that they're excited for what comes next.
That's so true Aubrey.
I love it. Well, I think our listeners are ready and fully prepared.
So in this Part One today, going into the message.
And it looks like we have three strategies.
Let's get started with number one, Aubrey.
Yes, so the first is to plan ahead.
Especially when you are speaking in a second language, there is so much that you can do ahead of time.
It's always easier to be concise.
If you thought about your message or your story ahead of time, whether it's a presentation at work, you're running a meeting, or you're just telling someone a story, something interesting that happened to you.
If you've thought about it ahead of time, which details you would share, what you would maybe exaggerate, you'll be able to be a lot more concise.
Yeah, and just to be totally clear, this is not the same thing as rehearsing, right?
I know a lot of our listeners want to become more spontaneous and not have to rehearse.
This is not that. This is more like you're kind of outlining the broad strokes of what you want to cover, what you want to say, right Aubrey?
Exactly, right, because the more spontaneous a story comes up, for example, The more it might be difficult to know how I would start and what exactly I would share So I'm not talking about scripting something out and memorizing it not at all Thinking about if something interesting happens to you and you're thinking I'm gonna tell people this story.
This is a great story Absolutely plan ahead.
How should I start it?
What speech should I narrate?
What exactly should I share which details should I leave out you want to think about that in advance?
Yeah, what details would matter for the audience and that is the first piece right knowing the audience who are we speaking to right?
Exactly, you might tell the story to many different people and you might think about how would I tell it to my mom?
Versus a friend versus my boss.
It will change depending on your audience.
It's so true So some things we could do here Aubree.
Could we record ourselves speaking?
Do you mean ahead of time to practice or after we've told the story or I mean you have options, right?
But anytime you're thinking ahead of what you might say, you're not working from a script.
But why not practice telling a story in a fun way?
Record yourself and then listen to it.
Where could I be more concise?
What details maybe should I have left out?
Should I have started it differently?
Right? This wouldn't hurt to just think through like, this story could maybe hit differently.
And we have this trial and error when we're telling a story or even at work giving a presentation where the second time we're like I could have done this so much better the second time or next time I tell it, it will be better.
Why not have that first time be alone by yourself recording it?
See what you would change.
Yes, I love the idea.
It's okay to kind of come back to similar themes and stories.
Public speakers do this.
Most public speakers have a message.
They have a core story and they share it over and over and over and they get better and better and better at sharing It's not a brand -new thing every time, most of the time.
And so it's okay to think that way.
You're iterating on sharing your message.
We recently shared some really fun stories here on the Allers English podcast when we were teaching about narrating speech. Those stories I have told many times.
Yeah. One of the woman who had been in a car accident was all bloody in the fog on the mountain.
I have refined that story like, which details do I leave out?
It's better every time, still honest. But we're thinking about all of these ways to be more concise and make it hit even better.
Interesting. I love it.
So, that's why the idea of getting feedback too is part of this planning ahead, right?
Asking a colleague, someone to listen to you.
It's hard to give feedback to ourselves, right?
Because we don't know how our speech has land or what we've said.
This is not just a speech, right?
This is just speaking, how it's landed with other people.
And it doesn't have to be formal, right?
If you tell a story to someone that you know well, a friend or your mom, gauge their reaction.
Were they interested?
Did their eyes glaze over and they got a little boring at certain details?
That is going to help you know what maybe should be left out.
And then when you tell the story next time, you'll be able to adjust. So you're getting that feedback from social cues but if it's someone you know well, you could also say it, you could also ask them, right?
Do you feel like there were details that I could leave out because I'm going to tell so and so this story later.
Yes, I love it. And so the first tip in terms of our first part of the series, the message is kind of acting like an artist. I don't know, do artists when they paint, do they sketch out first what they're going to create?
I'm not sure. Usually, yes.
I know my brother and my husband, my father are both oil painters and they do, they sketch out the general outline whether that's trees or buildings and often my dad does something really interesting where he'll, there's like a tiny hole in his paintings with a pin and then as a string and he like uses the string to draw lines so that the perspective is correct for like a city street.
Okay. So a lot of that, yes, they're planning ahead the subject and where generally things should be just like we should for our message.
That's the front and I love that first tip and there is more we can do though, that's not the only thing.
Aubrey, what else can we do to make sure the message is on point?
Our second tip is to give import to your message.
you want to lead with a hook that tells the person you're going to talk to how what you are going to say will benefit them or why they're going to want to hear it we often do this right we'll start with something whether it's just a fun story or a presentation something at work where we're going to hook them and give them a reason to listen oh my gosh this is incredibly powerful because it means you're paying attention to who's listening and believe it or not we didn't doesn't happen as often as it should, right?
Right. That's true.
But when it does, it's, I notice, it's powerful.
My ears perk up. I'm like, okay, you have my attention.
Yeah. So what does this sound like, Aubrey, in terms of phrases?
What would we say? For example, you might say, this is something you won't want to miss.
And imagine how this could be useful for if you're selling something or just if you're telling a fun story, right?
All of these phrases, depending on, you're going to tweak them, you're going to adjust them a little, depending on your message.
But they're all pretty flexible Yup, I love it.
And eventually this is going to become a habit, and we're going to automatically think about the audience, right?
Here are some other things we might say.
You're going to be excited to hear this, right?
Yeah, or you're going to be interested in this, or I think you're really going to want to hear this.
And imagine how, if someone says that, you're going to start listening more closely.
You're going to be interested.
And you don't want a false promise.
You're not going to say something like this, and then say something very boring that's not exciting for them, right, it will be like something interesting that you follow.
It'll force you to make sure you're saying something interesting for them.
I really like to say I think you'll really resonate with this.
Yes. Let me tell you.
That's good. And this came up in our Open Conversation Club.
Really nice challenge for our students in Open Conversation Club is they have an opportunity to come back to the main room after breakout rooms and they can raise their hand and summarize what was said, but occasionally someone will summarize something outside of the core topics of the day, and what's needed there is to show us what this means to us.
We need that context.
And so what I recommend to students, we'll see who's listening, right?
If you're gonna share something from outside of the all the questions everyone was discussing, tell us why it matters to us.
I think everyone on this call will understand what I'm saying or they'll resonate with this or they'd like to hear this.
Absolutely. If you use a phrase like that and tie it into what was being said, then not only is that a way to be concise, it's a way to make sure that we're all still interested.
We're all still on the same page.
Yes. Or we can get creative here.
I wonder if this has ever happened to you.
Let me tell you what happened.
There's endless possibilities, but so important to pull people in.
They'll perk up their ears and you'll be more successful.
Okay? Absolutely. And there are a lot that we use if something is more amazing or crazy.
You're never gonna believe what happened, right?
When we're telling a story we might almost exaggerate a little bit to have more interest. So it really depends on the situation, but you wanna say something that gets them excited for what you're about to say.
Yes, what else do we need to know today, Aubrey, in terms of the message?
Yeah, so this number three is what we were talking about at the top of the episode, avoid TMI, right?
Give only the most important details or background information.
There will be a lot of things that you could say that you don't need to.
They don't help the story.
They might make your listener lose interest. So you just want to share what's most important and vital.
Yeah, Aubrey. I mean this is so human.
I was just moderating a panel on Wednesday about podcasting and I was the moderator, but I was also sharing ideas and chiming in and I noticed at one point it had gone too far and I just kept going and going and going and I knew it was happening.
It was like a train wreck happening.
Luckily, I could actually edit that out.
And you could feel it when it's happening.
So, when you feel that, cut your losses and wrap it up as we say.
And the next part about this that's so important is you want to be flexible whatever you're saying, whether it's a presentation or just a fun story to friends, you will adjust your message depending on reactions.
You're looking for those social cues.
right? If people you can see on their faces that they're getting bored, their eyes are glazing over and you will.
Cut your losses and move on or you know drop that part and get to something more exciting.
You want to look for those cues.
Yeah and we just have to kind of get started we already have this baked into ourselves as humans.
We look for social cues naturally but if we start to think about this in terms of speaking English maybe we do this more in our native language but we want our listeners to be doing this in English, right?
Absolutely. Good point.
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Okay Aubrey let's see what we can do for our roleplay here.
Alright, you run a boutique clothing here and you're sharing an idea with me your business partner.
Nice. Here we go Alright, I have an idea that I think you're really gonna want to hear.
Okay, you have my attention We're struggling to build our clientele and we need to add at least a thousand customers this quarter I think we could do that if we rebrand, okay, interesting With a catchy logo and a new name we might attract a whole new customer base.
Okay, I'm on board. Oh, wow Got your ears.
Right? Yeah, I love.
What did we do here?
That was smart. Yeah.
So we're using our strategies here, right?
You're starting with a hook, you're grabbing my attention.
I have an idea that I think you're really going to want to hear and I'm immediately like, okay, you have my attention.
Yeah. And I really like this as an opening.
I like this even better than you'll never believe because that feels more generic.
Anyone, you could say that to anyone, but this one, I think you're going to want to hear it.
Not that person or that person you right that's a good point it's specific to me something about me and our business relationship makes this especially important for me to hear a hundred percent anything else that we did yeah we're looking at you know what details you shared right if you're wanting to share with me okay we have a problem right you're sharing this pain point we're struggling to build our clientele naming the problem what we could you know what the goal is we need to add a thousand customers this quarter and then I think we could do that if we rebrand think about how much more detail
you could have shared here that I either already know or doesn't need to be shared, you're being very concise, and I think I immediately be like OK alright.
I'm on board. I love it this and so much more powerful and now maybe we can continue the rest of the conversation here or at another date.
We can set up a meeting and sit down and talk about it seriously.
Really. Right? Yes.
I love all of these tips for making your message more concise.
We also want to share – We had a recent podcast episode.
Lindsay interviewed Matt Abrahams. Three conversation mistakes and how to avoid them with Matt Abrahams from episode 2395.
Yes. You don't want to miss.
These were great tips on being concise in conversations to really build the connection.
Absolutely. Go check out that episode.
Aubrey, where should we leave our listeners today for this part one of the part three series of the three part series?
Being concise is an extremely important skill in both life and at work, we're all busy.
The message you say, right, the details you leave out can save so much time and can really build connection with friends, family, co -workers, everyone, you know.
Yeah. This is what's going to take your English from you know B2 to C1 and C2 into the highest levels of your career and just keep in mind we all do this.
I just told a story about how I did this as a moderator of a panel because I was nervous.
I don't moderate a lot of panels, right, so this is a very human thing to do.
Yes, we have all been there.
There's a lot you can do in advance and there's a lot about this that has to do with the vocabulary, the phrases you choose, the grammar you're using, so be sure to Just hit follow so you don't miss part two and part three so that you have all the skills and the language you need to be concise in English.
I am so excited to see if any of our students use these examples on Open Conversation Club, Aubrey.
Super excited. All right, very good stuff.
See you in the next episode, Aubrey.
Take care. Yes, see you next time.
All right. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
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