Original Post by Jarrett Vigil:

Throughout this course two moments that stand out to me are when I learned the quality of conciseness and when I learned how to more efficiently structure my writing and presenting. Concise and clear writing and presenting is more engaging for the reader or viewer because it is easier to comprehend. If the audience can better understand a topic then the presenter will have a better opportunity to persuade the audience with their argument. Structuring the framework of the presentation or report to explain concepts, provide evidence to support concepts, and build on concepts improves understanding. Redesigning the information in a way that builds on itself with dynamic and growing support allows the ideas to be reinforced. By continually focusing on improving reader or viewer comprehension I can increase the effectiveness of my communication. Both of these new realizations when combined carry over by helping me to learn how to create more effective and persuasive arguments. Improving this trait in my communication technique will help me to increase audience understanding and save on time. The more effectively something is communicated the faster it is understood by the receiving party. Improving communication efficiency improves time efficiency and this is very valuable to me because I can be impatient. Learning to effectively communicate has helped me with my impatience because the receiving party understands my message quicker and clearer. This reduces the frustration of trying to explain something in a way that someone else does not understand. It is a win win.

My Comment:

Hi Jarrett,

I can see that there’s a clear understanding in the importance of prioritizing purpose over everything else. Having a structured, focused argument in both the paper and presentation supports delivering the purpose of the paper. So much of revision is finding ways to eliminate unnecessary components of the creation. By focusing on concision, writers consider the value in each word. Clarity is definitely a critical success factor in communication. In a way, clarity is engaging even if it is simple because it is so rare. I agree that a major barrier to convincing is lack of understanding. Also, great point that taking up less time in a paper and presentation is useful. How did you make your paper and presentation more clear? What elements did you remove from it to help deliver the purpose?

Comment by Jarrett Vigil:

Hey Mary,

One way I worked on making my presentation more clear was by removing more detailed information that was not relevant for the presentation. Due to the duration restrictions of the presentation and the depth of the paper, the presentation is pretty much a vocal and visual summary of the paper. This was hard for me during my presentation drafting process because I would always include too much information. Working on boiling this down to relevant brief information made my presentation more clear and concise. I think the clarity and conciseness help to improve the delivery of the purpose.