Practice notes

This is just a short blog, but you’ll see why.

We have maintained enquiry over many years:

• What “makes” good communication?

• What maintains audience engagement?

Yes, competitive tendering needs to be detailed and compliant. 

However, that’s no need to drain audience concentration with large blocks of text.

We have trialled and evaluated many forms of communicating when text is mandatory.

Here’s what we know through observation and talking with assessors:

Reader concentration and recall progressively weakens with reading sustained large blocks of text. This risks content being misunderstood and marked down.

Reader concentration improves leading out of large blocks of texts when there are:

• Dot points

• Tables

• Graphics

• Photos (as real practice examples)

• Text boxes

• Short feature case studies, with visuals

We have also observed:

• Short sentences and small paragraphs greatly assist.

• Short “primers” to focus readers at the start of new sections are also effective.

• A short case at the end of a section is great reinforcement.

This could have been a long text heavy blog. 

You would have likely recalled little after reading, and less so a week later. 

What will you likely recall and apply tomorrow? 

And next week to improve reader engagement and positive recall?