Guest Column: 'Trim the spinach' for effective communication

Editor's Note: This column was originally published in the July 20 edition of Ozark Waters, an e-newsletter of the Upper White River Basin Foundation.

In our culture today, we are overwhelmed with words. Call it information overload. From newspapers, which dwindling numbers still read, to books, magazines and more print material than most can keep up with, we are never short on words.

Electronic media, including television and the Internet, offer more entertainment and information than any genie in a bottle could ever deliver. We're truly inundated by words and data.

Although I work with words all the time, I'm conscious of the importance of boiling down issues and information into an efficient, digestible and hopefully palatable form.

In college, I had the opportunity to write lots of papers. I can still hear one of my professors admonishing us "to trim the spinach" out of our work. I remember the comment by one of my friends at the time that he "had to write a lengthy paper because he didn't have time to write a shorter one." Communicating with precision, efficiency and style is a special art and skill.

As a member of AARP, I receive the group's magazine and bulletins. The August edition of the magazine contains an article about stories written by authors challenged by a six-word limit. When Ernest Hemingway was so challenged, his response was prompt: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." His little story challenges our imagination to begin filling in the blanks on all the six words might imply.

Here are a few more examples of six-word stories:

• "Nearing 60, still on rough draft;"

• "Defined at 21, redefined at 57;" and

• "Age 70. Sexy dreams. What's next?"

These writers all seemed preoccupied by the aging process!

The Wall Street Journal has a weekly column by Peggy Noonan, a former aide and speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. Several weeks ago, she wrote that the legacy of the best American presidents could usually be captured in a single sentence. Some of her examples included Abraham Lincoln who "freed the slaves and preserved the union in the Civil War;" and Franklin D. Roosevelt who "led the country out of the Depression and to victory in the Second World War."

These articles prompted me to think anew about the importance of communicating succinctly and effectively when so much communication today is dreadfully prolix.

Our friends at Silver Dollar City, model communicators about their business, some years ago worked to focus their mission statement so every word worked hard. The result of their attention: "Creating memories worth repeating."

These reflections led me to think about the way we communicate the importance of keeping our water quality good. We obviously will use more than six words or even a single sentence most of the time but hope to be concise and effective with our message.

It's also interesting to consider what we might say in six words or a single sentence about the water story we tell. One six-word version might be: "Clean water supports healthy, prosperous people."

And like the best presidents, we might hope our legacy could be summarized in a sentence: "They helped make people in the Ozarks understand the importance of their water and how they can help keep it clean."

Effective communication is, of course, a two-way street. It only takes place when one side gives and the other side receives. It must be clear, concise and comprehensible. These are challenges we have embraced, and in our efforts to tell the important story about the remarkable rivers, lakes and streams in the Ozarks, we'll do our best to communicate effectively. Our hope is that those receiving the message will hear and respond.John E. Moore Jr. is executive director of the Upper White River Basin Foundation.