Lead with the point
Today's goal: Say the conclusion in your first sentence.
Almost everyone explains things in the order they happened. Listeners want them in order of importance. Today you practise one move: decide your conclusion before you speak, and say it first.
The question “How is it going?” nearly always means “Is it on track, and do I need to do anything?” Your first sentence should answer that.
“So we started with the user tables last week, and that went fine, then we moved to the orders, and there we found some old records with missing fields, so we had to write a script, and that took a couple of days…”
“It's on track for the 30th. The user tables are done. The orders took two extra days because of old records, but we have absorbed that. Nothing needed from you.”
How to find your first sentence
- Finish this sentence silently: “The one thing they need to know is…”
- Make it short enough to say in one breath.
- If the honest answer is “I don't know yet”, say that, and add when you will know.
Today's exercise (10 minutes)
- Step 1
Think of a piece of work you are doing this week.
- Step 2
Record a 45 to 60 second answer to “How is it going?”.
- Step 3
Listen to the first sentence only. Does it tell the listener where things stand? If not, write the sentence that would.
- Step 4
Record again, starting with that sentence.