Think of one your better talks.
Can you say, in max 2 sentences, what the point was? Not the topic, the point.
Most people can’t. Believe me, I’ve tried it more often than I can count.
Almost everyone can tell me what their talk was about. But then? What was the point? What shall I do with it? My goodness. Sooner or later I have to stop them. It’s too vague, too confusing, or simply too long.
I mean, I wasn’t interested in a playback of the whole talk. I wanted to know the point.
Now, here’s the thing: If you can’t tell me, how is your audience supposed to? How do you expect them to pass your point along to someone who wasn’t there?
That’s the reality for 99% of all talks. Sure, they structure it well. The slides are clean. The data is solid. But, they can’t distill the essence. It’s all or nothing. The argument only works as a whole.
The problem is that your audience won’t bother. They won’t pass along a 10min long argument, spanning 12 slides including 5 charts. They’ll say: ”Well, it was kind of about several things.”
That’s what happens if you leave the point for them to figure out. You might not like their choice.
So, what do you do?
Write the pass along phrase first. The thing you want them to pass along. And then build your talk towards it. For everything you say and everything you put on a slide, ask: Will this help them get closer to the pass along phrase?
I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is completely contrary to how almost everyone else prepares their talks. Most people ask: Ok, here’s everything I know about this … how do I fit as much of it as possible into the talk? (No wonder it’s overloaded.)
You do the opposite: You fit only in what they need, in the order they need it, using words they understand. And because every piece serves this goal, they can see the point more clearly, remember it, and easily pass it along.
Actually, you’ve solved two problems at once: give them something to pass along and avoid the overload.
Is your talk built for that?
Keep lighting the path,
Michael
PS: If you’re done wrestling with this alone and want my help in building a talk that your audience can’t stop talking about, I opened up some more slots for 1:1 Clarity Labs after the summer break. I expect them to fill fast.
