TL;DR – How to Get Your Point Across

Added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary recently was the term “TL;DR”. More digital shorthand than an actual word, it means Too Long; Didn’t Read. Who can’t relate to that in this day and age when you are constantly bombarded with so much content?

As writers, we need to pay close attention to this. If we don’t have time to read every interesting article or blog post to the end, how can we expect our potential readers to do so?

Inverted Pyramid

We would do well to remember the classic inverted pyramid style taught to reporters in journalism schools. Present your information in descending order of importance. That way you get your main message across right away and the time-challenged reader can move on.

Where is this especially important?

Emails
Power Point Presentations
News reports – obviously
Meetings
Instructions
Conference Calls
Reports
Conversations with your spouse
And yes, even blogs!

See what I did there? Bullet points. They help people absorb the information.

Headings

Early on in my writing career I wrote technical manuals. Readers were looking for answers and they needed them quickly. Headings helped them zero in on what they needed. Levels of headings made the most important points stand out – another sort of inverted pyramid.

Links

If your communication is digital, you can make things even easier by including not only external hyperlinks to more information, but internal hyperlinks so that the reader can jump around directly to the next thing needed. When I write a lengthy instruction, I like to put a bunch of hyperlinks up front for ready reference.

Bring Your Message Home

A few of these tips and tricks will help ensure that you don’t get readers telling you TL;DR!

About the Author

- The Association for Women in Communications — Peggy Fleming

Peggy Fleming is Director of Communication and Engagement at West Bank in West Des Moines, Iowa. A member of the Association for Women in Communications, she currently serves on the National Board of Directors and as co-president of her local chapter. She’s a graduate of Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.