If you’ve ever been given a big document to read - pages and pages of closely packed text - you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you look at the top of a page and there are only 2 paragraphs - one with 20 lines and one with about 30 lines, you’d be forgiven if your first thought was ‘I’ll go and get a coffee and read this later.’ Of course, the chances of you actually reading it later are slim - unless it’s really critical.
Having been working on business plans recently I know that they have to have lots of information included so it’s inevitable that they run to many pages, not to mention the appendices - but there is not reason why they should be presented in a way that makes reading difficult.
I was taught the KISS technique - Keep It Short and Simple! It works like a charm - short sentences, short paragraphs and simple easy to understand language. One thought per sentence and one idea per paragraph is a good rule of thumb to work by.
If you do actually know the definition of every word in the Oxford English Dictionary don’t show off in a document that you want other people to understand. Stick to straightforward terms, don’t use jargon or abbreviations without an explanation the first time of use and get someone else to read it and give you some honest feedback.
Go back and cut out extra words; we all use them.
Finally, use subheadings and lots of white space to keep people reading. Generous margins, headers and footers and a consistent and clean layout all help people to read - and what’s the point of writing something if people don’t read it?
