November 2021 – More people and more guests 

At our hybrid breakfast meeting for November, we welcomed 18 people at the Mix and three via Zoom.

KISS – or Keep it Simple, Stupid

In her 10-minute talk proof-reader and editor, Catherine Kendal (aka Pernickety Kate) showed us how to write concisely for business communications.

Websites, she said, need to put across a business’ personality and ethics, but above all it to provide the information visitors are seeking as succinctly and quickly as possible as there are only a couple of seconds to persuade a new visitor to stay.

Solid blocks of text are off-putting and should be broken down into shorter paragraphs.

Catherine uses the formula 4:2:4 to help with this:

If a paragraph has 4 sentences or more … if a sentence has 2 lines or more … if a word has 4 syllables or more consider how to make it shorter.

She distributed a sheet of examples of lengthy phrases that could be simplified and made shorter.

They included “is comprised of” which can be changed to “has”, “in the event that” which, put simply is “if”, “at the present time” is “now” and “at the earliest opportunity” which is better expressed as “as soon as possible”.

“If you do go through this process, it doesn’t mean your writing will be the same as everyone else’s”, she said. “You can still put across your style and personality.”

Catherine ended her talk with a quote usually attributed to Mark Twain:

“I’m sorry I’ve written you such a long letter, I didn’t have time to write you a shorter one”.

For the future

The coffee morning will be back on Zoom for November. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone face to face again for the breakfast meeting which we’re also offering as a hybrid version. This means that members will be able to join via Zoom for those who are either unable to attend in person or are still wary of face-to-face meetings.

There will be more about this on the website and in our newsletters.

Chairman Colin Tapscott is always happy to receive any suggestions for what members want to see the Chamber doing in the future. Please send your ideas (and your wish lists) to [email protected].

 

Dates for your diary:

Don’t forget our Christmas lunch is on 10 December.

January Coffee	January Breakfast
Online via Zoom	The Mix, Stowmarket and Online via Zoom
Friday, January 7	Friday, January 21
10.00am	7.00am

For more information contact Keely Taylor

phone: 01449 770965 e-mail: [email protected].

Anyone who has a story to publicise should contact publicity officer Alison Withers: [email protected]