Brevity: The S.E.T. Technique

When pitching a movie, the first thing people in Hollywood ask for is the log line - a one sentence description of the story. It's a very broad stroke, but it packs enough information to get the point across. Here are three famous examples:

• “A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.” (Titanic 1996)
• “A Christmas Elf goes to New York City in search of his biological father, knowing nothing about life outside of the North Pole.” (Elf 2003)
• “A police chief, with a phobia for open water, battles a gigantic shark with an appetite for swimmers and boat captains, in spite of a greedy town council who demands that the beach stay open.” (Jaws 1975)

Writers spend time crafting just the right combination of words to sell their movie with only one line. It's important. No one in Hollywood will take you seriously if you don't have a logline for your script.

Loglines are so effective because they tell a lot of information in as few words as possible. They let the listener whether or not they wanna hear more. A great logline is a work of art.

When we talk with others we certainly can’t demand the same kind of brevity in our spoken words as we can with our written ones, but we can still speak less than most of us usually do. 

Some people don’t say enough. They’re quiet, soft spoken or simply don’t know what to say. In my experience, they are the minority. I seem to meet a lot of people who talk too much. Sometimes they repeat themselves, sometimes they think out loud, and sometimes they just fill the air with a number of ‘ums’ and other hesitation words.

Chances are, you’ve been guilty of this. I certainly know I have. And it’s okay. It’s human.

Now, if you want to level up your communication, lean into brevity. Say what needs to be said without overtalking. Again, you won’t be as concise as a logline most likely, but we can get closer to that.

One method I love is the S.E.T. technique. It stands for Statement, Explanation, Transition. Three lines to get your point across and hand the focus to whomever you’re talking to. Self serving Example…

Statement: I think our team could benefit from an improv workshop

Explanation: I’ve read that organized interactive play can bond a team, increase their creativity and help reduce stress.

Transition: What do you think?

In three lines, I get my point across, back it up, and clearly let my conversation partner know that I’m done. The ball's in their court.

I invite you to try this technique and see how your conversations unfold. 

If your team could benefit from brevity and other communication skills, I’d love to talk to you about my Play Like A Team Workshops. They help groups become teams. 

Through interactive play, workshop participants bond more as a unit while simultaneously leveling up their communication and creativity skills.

Want to talk more about it? Message me or schedule a discovery call (or Zoom) and let’s talk about how to use improv to improve your teams.

Thank you for reading!

#Leadership #communicate #creativity #improv #teambuilding