Importance of summarising

I remember as a student in secondary school, we spent quite a bit of classroom time practising writing summaries. Summaries were also tested in examinations. I could not understand the rationale of summaries then.

I do now, after seeing how Prof Tommy did a magnificent job of summing up two days of high-level discussions. There are three main reasons why summarising is difficult.

First, you have understand the material at hand. Sometimes, the sheer amount of information to digest makes the task seem impossible.

Second, to distill or synthesize the material, i.e. to extract the essence of the discussions.

Third, offer insight which is of value and a perspective that is fresh.