The acronym KISS traditionally expands to "keep it simple, stupid." But I have a new definition for it and it's "keep it short, stupid." That's right, the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) principle should be applied to any communication. One thing that I have observed that is consistent among all bad presentations that I have delivered or seen while studying at MIT is that they are often too long. According to this BusinessWeek article, 15 minutes is the length of the average attention span for most people. That's right, less is more.

Yet, time and time again, I have neglected the mantra of keeping it short in my communication (writing and presentation) and ended up with some dismal performances. But I learn; after much reflection, I think I know where my weaknesses are. Sure, I can always improve on my showmanship during a presentation. But more importantly, I need to resist adding unnecessary content to presentation and recognize that it is perfectly okay to cross out extra content. So I need to strive for clarity and brevity in any communication.

6/21/2006 11:04:38 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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