Helping public sector managers get value for money from their budgets
A blog about public financial management: the fine art of managing public money to deliver vital services to the public. It involves budgeting, accounting, controlling, auditing, reporting, policy-making and decision-taking.
You don’t design a presentation, you write it.
Here is a tip to help you write one.
Every time you speak, you need to have something to say. I understand that when you are asked to talk about your specialist subject it is not difficult to find things to say so you might feel able to improvise on the day.
Read MorePerfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
You’ve read many times the advice to keep your writing clear and concise. You get concise sentences when you take out the words you don’t need. But how do you do that?
First it means being a brutal editor of your work. Re-read your work before you “publish” it. For each sentence ask yourself if you could say the same thing in fewer words.
Are there jargon words you could replace?
Are there adverbs to remove? Often the best way to do this is to replace the verb and adverb combination with a more accurate verb. For example, instead of walk slowly you could have dawdle or amble or creep.
Have you said the same thing with different words (tautology is the technical term from the Greek for same words)? Here are some examples:
After taking out jargon, adverbs and tautologies you will have a much more concise document or email or whatever.
Try it the next time you write something
PS. The quotation at the top is by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (the guy who wrote The Little Prince).
Good typography helps a reader to understand the writer’s message and one of the principles of typography relates to line length. A line length of about 65 characters is optimal for reading.
Read MoreAs far as financial writing is concerned I suppose what I mean is that first you need to understand what outcome the document should produce. Is it a decision? For information? To persuade someone? To sell something? To be accountable?
If you want a decision from the reader — your boss, perhaps, then make it clear that is the purpose of the document. You might put the recommended way forward right at the top of the document, with the remainder of the document being your reasons and advice for the recommendation.
Read MoreGetting the start and finish of your documents right. They are more likely to be remembered than the long bit in the middle.
The introduction and summary contain the key messages of the entire document and the reader’s expectations are set by them.
Let’s face it, this might be the only bit someone reads and you want them to be impressed, don’t you?
Read MoreMark Twain said “Writing is easy. You just cross out the wrong words.”
Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is shit.”
Whilst we may not be the equal of these great storytellers we can learn from them and every other author.
Once you have written your first draft you should not click Save and send it off to the audience. Revise and edit your work. Make it as good as you reasonably can before you declare it finished.
I know sometimes we can be up against a deadline. The report is due at 5pm and you finish it at 4.55. Well, yes that does happen, but if something is important you need to manage your time to get it right. That means leaving enough time to edit your first draft.
And let me be clear — I mean you should edit the draft of the content BEFORE it is formatted for despatch.
I have several tips for you about revising and editing.
If you can, leave the draft for a day or two so you come back to it with a fresh mind.
Fewer words is usually better than more words so try to reduce the document by at least 10 per cent. Sometimes a lot more than 10 per cent can be cut.
Reading your words aloud can really help you with making sure it flows properly.
Grammar checking software, like Grammarly and even an app called Hemingway, can help.
Work hard on getting the opening right. Often I find the first draft includes lots of unnecessary information in the introduction, words written as a sort of warm up, to get the thing going. These can be quickly deleted and the document will be the better for it
Don’t be afraid to “kill your darlings”. Do not keep something in the document just because you spent a long time writing it. If it does not add value to the reader it needs to be cut out.
© Gary Bandy 2024
