First paragraph...
Most people read the first paragraph of a given communique intently and the rest with varying degrees of enthusiasm. I think the first paragraph is what sets the tone for the rest of the email/report/story etc. and it must get the message communicated clearly and to the point
I agree,wandering statements before the subject is reached is the quickest way to loose interest.
The opening of an article will make or break the interest imediatel. A strong intro is critical for preparing the information path to the brain and gaining interest in the subject.
I agree, if you do not make a reasonable point right away the rest of the document may be breifly reviewed or ignored completey. A good
first paragraph which makes the point may give the reader a reason to pay attention to the rest of the document.
I agree The first parg. should be the main point of the sunject matter after that the letter means nothing
The first paragraph holds or loses the reader's attention. If people are bored or confused at the beginning of a written piece, they stop reading. (I know I do!)
I would say that this is culturally relative, but that here in the US that it is nearly always true.
If you don't have a good hook, then people are less likely to stick around and be convinced or impressed by anything else that you share unless they have to.
Other cultures that focus on consensus building early though can avoid polarizing a topic since they can get their audience agreeing with them before the controversial stuff comes up. This can be seen as manipulative here though.
Our culture of communication is also electronically driven. We read so many emails per hour per day that we must state the purpose first in order to give our readers' the respect of their time.
We do so much more now than we did 20 and even 30 years ago, that we have to save time somewhere. If that means only looking at the first paragraph of an email, then it means each word counts more than they did before.
It's all about word-economy now!
I agree, I recieve over 30 emails a day. If I do not check them on, or skim through them on a daily bases at the end of the week I have over 200 emails. If they do not state their need/ subject matter of importance I delete them.
I agree that the first paragraph should capture the readers attention. It should be a clear statemnt, easy to understand, without a bunch of big words and straight to the point. This is how you will know the reader will not discard the message beacause they are interested in what you are saying about a certain topic and you will get a quicker response.
I agree with this, to a point. I am not sure that everyone reads emails every hour of every day, and I am sure that the most efficient people I work with do not. I do agree that we should be respectful of our reader's time, but what is "respectful" is again a relative thing that is not the same for all people in all places.
On the other-hand, I don't write an email with the goal of winning attention to a topic. I typically only send emails on topics that are clearly established as worthy of my time, as well as my reader's.
That said, I believe that this honest/accurate use of a subject line can do for us. It should let the reader know what the topic is, and allow them to decide if it is one they need to read now or not. This work doesn't need to be done in the first paragraph.
With that established, then the content of the topic can dictate how the rest of the message is written. This needs to take into account the culture(s) of the participants, the message itself, and what we expect the reader to do once they've read the message.
I agree that the first paragraph is the most important. It needs to catch the readers attention so they want to read on to the rest of the email, memo, etc...
