A few years ago, I was teaching a workshop for officers at the Israel National Defence College. We were talking about what a verbal message is, how to develop a message, refine it and connect words to make a meaningful, structured sentence that will convey information, an idea or a stand, when I had this idea. I said to them: You know what? Developing a message is like making chicken soup.
It must have been post-holidays time to make me think of chicken soup, although not necessarily, since at my house we eat soup even when it’s August and 40 degrees outside.
So, how do you make chicken soup? You put chicken, water, spices, vegetables and greens in a large pot, according to the recipe which you are following. You let it all slowly cook for an hour or two, wait for all the flavors to mix. But in the end, what you actually serve is a clear broth, created from many ingredients, patiently cooking in the pot. You use a strainer to make sure that your broth is really clear.
The same goes for our message. We put down a whole bunch of thoughts in writing. We throw everything that we have to say on the subject in, and eventually we pick up the strainer to leave one clear, focused sentence, that contains everything that we wanted to say, in only a few words.
And that is the power of a good message.
So, how do we begin?
Just like chicken soup.
Put everything you have to say on the subject down in writing. Then start reducing, in order to focus. Rephrase your sentences to make your thoughts more precise, until a magical phrase of 10 words emerges. It will contain everything that you wanted to say.
The next step will be planning how we are going to convey our message. How it should be visualized, reflected, which technique will serve it best and how.
Returning to that broth of ours, we can enrich it with dumplings or croutons to create a fuller experience. The same goes for enriching the message to make it strong and influential, make it mean something to those receiving it, enriched with a picture, a video, a demonstration or any other visual aid that can assist the audience to take it in, understand it and take action.
Good luck and bon appetit!
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