Think about “We Will Rock You” by Queen.
Got it? Ok. You’re probably hearing the refrain in your mind by now.
But what about verse two? Can you sing it?
Most people can’t.
No wonder. A refrain consists of only a few words that allow everyone to join in. And it’s repeated over and over again. While verses are usually much longer and hardly ever repeated.
Let’s put it this way:
The verses give you something new.
The refrain gives you something to come back to.
Now think about the last strategy presentation you sat through (or gave yourself).
Chances are, there were plenty of verses. The market has changed. Here are the numbers. Here’s what we’ve done. Here’s what we’re going to do. And here’s how each department contributes.
All important things.
But what was the refrain? The line the team could have come back to after the announcement?
Quite often, there isn’t one. Just more verses.
Worse. Even when we’ve found a line that captures the idea, we seem strangely reluctant to repeat it. We’ve said that already. We don’t want to bore them. Surely they got it. We have higher standards for our talks.
Noble. But.
Imagine Queen deciding they’d sung the refrain once and that should probably be enough.
No one would sing their songs today.
Here’s what the noble take completely misses: In between the refrain come the verses. With new material. And so, each time you come back to your line, it can mean more. In We Will Rock You, the meaning changes with every verse. It becomes more nuanced.
So, while you use the same words repeatedly, they have more meaning attached every time you say them. Even though you use the same words twice, you don’t say the same thing twice.
After the numbers, they understand why it matters. After the story, they feel what’s at stake. When you get to the decision, they see what it asks them to do.
It becomes more nuanced, richer, and ultimately more meaningful.
So, if someone says they have a high standard and never want to say the same thing twice, I say the higher standard is that the audience gets more from it each time you say it.
That’s what a great talk does: it gives your audience a line they can come back to and pass along, filled with meaning.
What’s the line you want people to come back to?
Keep lighting the path,
Michael
PS: If you want my help crafting a talk that has a strong line people can come back to, consider a 1:1 Talk Lab.
