Presentation lessons from Axios and GPT-3
Published by Forbes October 19, 2022
Given the glut, clutter, and excessive clickbait of most online news sites, I have gravitated to Axios as my go-to for news. What attracted me (and I hope you) is Axios’ unique format that consists of four key steps for each story:
- Headline
- Sub-headline
- “Why it matters”
- “Go deeper”
Why it matters: This allows me, the reader, to decide what I want to read and how much I want to read. Granted that news organizations—all the way back to the earliest newspapers—have used heads and subheads, but not many organizations use the vital third and fourth steps.
In a moment, you’ll see the two reasons why those steps are so important but first let me add that Axios’ format is so effective that the company has developed a companion service called Axios HQ they offer to organizations—including universities, government, and commercial businesses—to help them communicate more effectively.
Axios does this with a software product and companion communications formula called Smart Brevity® that, as the name clearly states, enables organizations to shorten their messaging. As their website states, they do it with AI-powered editing that will:
- Rephrase sentences to be shorter and clearer.
- Reformat paragraphs with an AI paraphraser so what’s key stands out.
- Removes filler words so readers stay focused.
- Style your text to be quick and easy to scan.