New Chicago Mayor’s first innovation is in the field of executive communication

Eureka!

We ran across an idea so simple we’re almost embarrassed to share it.

But the fact is, we’ve never seen it before.

Go to the website of the City of Chicago and find the section, “Mayor’s Speeches.” Instead of, long, dismal-looking full-texts, you get excerpts—and very brief ones. Well, one excerpt.

New Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 3,000-word inaugural address is reduced to six paragraphs and 263 words.

While we wish the excerpt included a link to the full text, the idea of excerpting heavily for online posting is an immediate best-practice.

Speech texts contain so much fat—from ceremonial remarks to repetition for an in-person audience—that excerpting, even heavy excerpting, is easy to do. And executive communicators ought to take that step before they post speeches onto their websites.

Go forth and make it so.