No one can say just how long a message should be, but you rarely hear complaints about a speech being too short. The amateur worries about what he is going to put in his speech or article. The expert worries about what he should take out.
Interpretation
Effective communication focuses on clarity and brevity, prioritizing what is essential.
In this quote, Edgar Dale emphasizes the importance of conciseness in communication, suggesting that the length of a message is less important than its clarity and relevance. While amateurs may struggle with what to include, experts understand the value of trimming unnecessary content to enhance the impact of their message.
In practice
During a public speaking seminar, emphasizing that shorter speeches often leave a greater impression.
One of the curious things about censorship is that no one seems to believe in it for himself. We want censorship to protect someone else— the young, the unstable, the suggestible, the stupid. I have never heard of anyone who wanted a film or speaker banned because otherwise he himself might be harmed.
All my mind was centered on my studies, which, especially at the beginning, were difficult. In fact, I was insufficiently prepared to follow the physical science course at the Sorbonne, for, despite all my efforts, I had not succeeded in acquiring in Poland a preparation as complete as that of the French students following the same course.
Most people won't realise that writing is a craft. You have to take your apprenticeship in it like anything else.
Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject.
There should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with. If there’s a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall.
Many go through life afraid of numbers and upset by numbers. They would rather amble along through life miscounting, miscalculating and, in general, mismanaging their worldly affairs than make friends with numbers.
The best learning happens in real life with real problems and real people and not in classrooms.
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