Marguerite's meanderings: Sound bites - for a crisp and crunchy message

A sound bite is verbal dynamite. It's a quick and effective way to get your message across in 30 seconds or less. And in the hands of a non-native speaker, it has even greater potential, because no one is expecting it.

What's a sound bite? Call it a template for words. An effective communication structure/format/tool for the hyper-informed times we live in. A kindly, spare-me-the-details, cut-to-the-chase, short-cut to the message.

But, what is a sound bite?

• A sound bite is a short, concentrated, disciplined, strategically written paragraph. 

• The strategy is that you write it for a desired effect, for a specific purpose. 

• It's short - doesn't take more than 30 seconds to read or speak out.

• The paragraph is written according to a particular format, to acquire and retain the attention of the reader or the audience ... AND, ... It gets your message across efficiently and effectively.

Paint you a picture?

A stylized sound-bite format looks more-or-less like this:

All of the elements have a job to do, and that job is to convey a message. 

• The hook attracts the listener's/reader's attention and introduces your message. A short, Simple sentence - or sentence Fragment - can do a great job here.

• The varied sentence mix - a variety of sentence lengths and structures - adds details, interest and irresistible arguments. Makes it impossible for the reader/listener to say or think, "No".

• A snappy punchline captures - and perhaps even convinces - the listener/reader because it makes a clear, punchy, wrap-up point. Usually in a short, Simple sentence, or sentence Fragment. If it's attractive, dramatic, clever or entertaining, that won't hurt either.

HERE'S WHAT THEY CAN LOOK LIKE
- LOW-KEY OR HIGH-KEY
A sound bite is extremely goal-oriented and you should be too. You have to be brief: to ruthlessly edit out everything that doesn't directly contribute to your message.

Here are four examples.  In addition, a few paragraphs in this article exemplify some form of sound bite. Sound bites are versatile: format yes; sameness no.

1) How can we redesign a successful on-demand printer that exceeds customer expectations today, while anticipating future demands? It's by having a design office, testing facilities and state-of-the-art market information in one location. These offices should be located in Mölndal, where the original B-629 was created. After my presentation today, you will understand why.

2) It's not that individuals in the designated groups are inherently unable to achieve equality on their own. It's that the obstacles in their way are so formidable and self-perpetuating that they cannot be overcome without intervention. It is both intolerable and insensitive if we simply wait and hope that the barriers will disappear with time. Equality in employment will not happen unless we make it happen.
- Judge Rosalie Silberman Abella
Royal Commission on Equality in Employment

3) Variety is the spice of life. Yes, it's true. And we believe that cultural diversity among Volvo Group employees is the spice that gives life to this great global company. The Volvo Way guides us to "take maximum advantage of the strength arising from our diversity". Sounds good ... but where do we begin?
- Melanie Schlosser, Mack Trucks Inc. 
AB Volvo Program: Next Step 1, project Intro

4) This should be good news to investors and corporate management. CEOs and CFOs are now living in a world where they have new responsibilities for financial reporting. One CEO recently framed this in purely human terms: "This is the legislation that will help me sleep better at night."

... smooth transition to the hook in the follow-up sound bite:
But maybe a good night's sleep should cost less.
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers
(re Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404)

The really GOOD news is where, and in how many places, a sound bite will work for you. When speaking, even if you don't remember every word as conceived and written, you have prepared excellently, and your ideas are in top-notch delivery condition. People will thank you for being brief. People will love and respect you for being brief - this is always an audience favourite. Your message will be taken more seriously.

Of course the above also applies to your written documents. There's a greater chance that they'll be read at all. And if they're brief, packed with worthwhile information and a clear message, they might even be read to the very end!

... and a little bad news:

"He's always talking in sound bites."

You say that like it's a bad thing. And sound bites have developed a negative reputation in some circles, because they work well, and people use them for the wrong reasons. Sound bites communicate specifically and clearly, and unscrupulous people have abused their communication power.

These might be politicians or journalists who want to over-simplify issues and perhaps manipulate their listeners or readers to think / act / vote in a certain manner. 

It's not about you. This has rarely been said about an executive assistant, an IT employee, a human resources professional or most levels of management. Use a sound bite for positive goals, and they are as good as your own principles.

Presentations

Introduction  Use a sound bite as a controlled and crisp introduction that will grab audience attention and focus it on your topic. Display your message at its best.

Emphasis  Highlight main points along the way; you especially want them to listen, now.

Conclusion  Wrap up your presentation with a nice, neat sound-bite package.  This is the way to gather the strings all back together, perhaps after a series of questions has spread them around a bit. You resume control: my presentation, while you take the opportunity to remind everyone of your message one last time: my message.

Utilize PowerPoint notes  ... for all of the above. Use the PP notes page to carry the sound bite(s) that present and explain each slide. To keep your ideas on track, and help you remember exactly what you wanted to say, you can carry a handy script with you:

Print out the notes page with your graphic on top, and the relevant sound bite(s) underneath.  From VIEW, just drag-and-drop to Notes Pages.  When the print-quality page pops up, choose Print Notes, under the Print window. Then print.

Meetings

Utilize this great communication vehicle for that one thing (or three things) you don╒t want to leave the room without saying. It's your concern, your suggestion, your comment. And you'd like them to really hear it. Your listeners will also appreciate that you said more, with less.

Written summaries

Never brief enough? Sound bites raise the bar on executive summaries; they have to be shorter than ever. And which of us has more reading-time than executives anyway? A well-informed 30 seconds is worth its weight in gold. Extra essential details? Add another 30 seconds.

Emails

The title line in the email template has been absolutely created to contain a hook. And sometimes the hook can be the whole sound bite. Sound bites are made for these days when almost no one reads-to-the-bottom any more, or even opens emails at all (!).

Anticipating conflict situations

Write up a script based on anticipated responses, and have an irresistible argument ready to go: 

"When she says this ..., I'll say ...".
The last word is yours.

Advertising copy

This is benchmark sound-bite writing for people who want to inform about and sell their products. Fine illustrative examples of the format at work. You don't need to write like an advertising copywriter (unless you want to), but this is the sound-bite structure in action, in the most bare-bones form. And it's easy to analyze ...

The best news is that once you have mastered the sound-bite format, it will become a natural communication discipline. This doesn't mean that you'll always be "speaking in sound bites", it means that you're getting to the point. There will be a new sense of order in your spoken and written professional communications. This is one of the tools other people have in action when it looks as if they always seem to have an answer ready, at conferences and courses. You've got great ideas and an important message. This is how to get them out for public consumption, and do them justice.

Sound-bites-by-number

Do you have a burning message you have to deliver soon?  Here are the basics: step-by-step directions for how to construct your own sound-bite.

1  Think about something you want; something you want to say; a serious message you'd like people to get - and respond to. Write it down.

Take a good long think about this. Knowing what you want to say is half the struggle, because if you don't clearly know what your message is, how will you ever manage to get it across to other people?

2  An easy way to begin: Write out your idea in long form. Include all details, just to make sure you cover all the relevant elements. Then you can arrange and concentrate the info into a shorter sound-bite format. Edit. Edit. Edit. Get to the essence of your message.

3  Start the sound-bite with a hook. A hook is a statement, a question, or a graphic (photograph, drawing, etc.) that will draw attention to your message.  Get the audience to listen or read on.  You can create a hook by answering the question, "What is the most clever, most interesting, most dramatic or most humorous element of my message?" Then concentrate this idea into one short sentence.

4  Add details and establish your argument as efficiently as possible. Use a varied and interesting mix of longer and shorter sentences. Shorter sentences add punch or emphasis, but have maximum effect when they alternate with longer, more complex sentences. Longer sentences are ideal for adding important details or establishing the background picture. Remember: edit out any information which doesn't directly contribute to your message.

5  Wrap up with a short and snappy sentence, ideally containing a bit of humour, and/or a logical argument that will be difficult to challenge. In a joke, we call this a punchline.

6  Now you've got your sound bite! If you have another, related, point to make, you can add another sound bite. In fact, your entire presentation can be a series of sound bites, in various lengths and adjusted for various moods and tones.

Marguerite Emily Beaulieu
automotive.english@swipnet.se

Läs också Marguerites artiklar i vår papperstidskrift Populär Kommunikation.
http://www.popkom.se/page/7

Marguerite Emily Beaulieu har examen i engelska från University of Toronto. Hon är författare till boken Looking good in English (Studentlitteratur). Marguerite talar svenska men använder sitt modersmål när hon medarbetar i Björns Blandning.

Artikeln ovan ingår i det elektroniska kunskapsbrevet Björns Blandning nr 3/2011 från Populär Kommunikation.
http://www.popkom.se/page/18 Den är en något förkortad version av en artikel publicerad i papperstidningen Populär Kommunikation nr 6/06.

meander  1. to follow a winding or intricate course, 2. to wander casually without urgent destination

Copyright © 2011 Marguerite Emily Beaulieu och Populär Kommunikation