A Few Words About Brevity

Evan Spence | 2001-11-27

In my course work, I have the sometimes mixed pleasure of sitting though presentations made by my peers. These are usually case studies of famous or important architectural work. We can't all look at every building, so we split them up into group projects, the culmination of which is invariably class presentations.

“If I’d had more time, I'd have written a shorter letter.”

—Mark Twain

These are awful.

It’s not the subject matter: beautiful works by Zumthor, Ando and Kahn spring readily to mind. It's the delivery that's insulting and rude. How so? The majority of my peers insist on demonstrating they've done volumes of research, so I get to hear it all. Unabridged.

The styles of presentation vary from Ben-Stein-reading-from-notebook to motivational speaker, but the presentations remain tedious and exhausting. They run way over duration, sometimes double or triple their budgeted time. This rushes the rest of the material, and sets us all behind schedule.

“If your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.”

—Henry J. Kaiser

Since this is a rant about brevity, I'll cut to the point by shouting out my peers and anyone else who thinks I really care to hear how much they've read.

Have a point, make it, then shut the hell up.

I don't care how much you know. If you talk incessantly, I have to shut you out after a fixed amount of time, and I stop learning.

Brevity is preparation. Brevity is knowledge. Brevity is respect.

Out.

Evan Spence

Tuesday, November 27, 2001
PD DXXIII

(Dorothy Parker also indicated that brevity is the soul of lingerie, but now would be a bad time to digress.)

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