I've always prided myself in being a content-rich speaker so imagine my surprise when I had the following conversation after a speech. A couple ladies cornered me and said, "You had a lot of content in your speech." I said, "Thank you." Then they said, "We mean you had too much content." At first I thought, "Too much content? I've spent all this time striving to be a content-rich speaker and now they're telling me I have too much content?" Guess what? They were right.
The problem with having too much content is just what one of the ladies told me. She said, "As soon as I'd begin writing something down, you'd say something else worth remembering and I wouldn't catch it. Because you shared so many points, I'm afraid I won't recall any of them."
Here's the problem many speakers will face if they are not careful
When we start to know more and more about our topic, inevitably that "more" ends up finding its way into our speech. What's important to realize about speaking is that oftentimes less is more. Just because you know more doesn't mean you have to show more within that speech.
Being content-rich should not include filling your audience up with content until they overflow. Instead, it should be about giving them a few solid, memorable, and actionable ideas that they can use to improve their situation. Indeed less is more. I'll leave it at that. Here are two great solutions to keep your audience from feeling lost or overwhelmed
So What Can We Learn from This?