My Biggest Mistake and the Two Tools That Fixed It

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.

Here are two great solutions to keep your audience from feeling lost or overwhelmed

1. Tighten up your structure by calling back to each major point before you move onto the next point. For example, if my point is on Facing Reality, once I make the point I can transition by saying, "So you face reality with whatever measurement scale you use because, remember, you master what you measure. Once you face reality, the next step is to..." Then, every time I finish my other points, I make sure to call back to every single one of the points I already covered. For my four Rs, I'll call back to Facing reality, Relinquishing what's in the way, Relying on the people and processes, and Reforming to a better way. Regularly calling back like this makes your message very clear and keeps your audience members from getting lost.
2. Use my 10 to 1 Rule of Thumb. Part of my mistake was that I tried to fit too many points into too little time. Now I use my 10 to 1 Rule of Thumb. For every 10 minutes I speak, I feel I can make an average of one point that I can illustrate effectively and make palatable for my audience. Therefore, if I'm asked to speak for 45 minutes, I'll do my 4 Rs to Remarkable Results speech. If I'm asked to speak for 30 minutes, I'll do my 3 Rs to Remarkable Results. The key is to heed the old speaker proverb that, "When you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out." By using a similar formula to my 10 to 1, you'll move towards much greater clarity and your message will be easily digested.

So What Can We Learn  from This?

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.

Comments

[Annette]

Good article, and not too content rich that I can't recall what I've read...the smarter we get the less information we want and to the point...what's up with that?
Tks Craig
Annette
Speak With Ease Now

[Tom Mahoney]

This is an excellent point in keynotes, motivational talks and the like, but what if, like me, your presentations are informational as in teaching?

I teach credit card fraud prevention for e-commerce merchants and even in a four-hour session (with breaks of course) I need to give them a LOT. If I cut content, they haven't learned what they need to know but I do feel like I'm cramming them and some of them act like it too!

I do minimal PowerPoint with no more than a dozen or so slides in the presentation so I don't overload them with that.

Any thoughts?

[Elsa]

I love your article, sometimes we want to say so many things, and then we realize we did not say anything. Thank you so much Craig.

[Herbert Riemer]

Hi Graig:
Greetings from Toronto, Canada.
You had my attention about content overflow. Your experience and process sparks the right fire in your audiences hearts.
Focusing your content in priority order,is also time consuming.
It's the self-confidence to push for faster advancement. Great advice, which will increase my next steps for better speeches.
Have a smiling day. With kindly regards from Herbert.

[Craig Valentine]

You're very welcome Herbert! Thanks.

[Andrew Smith]

Great points! Have you read Brain Rules by John Medina? He makes a similar point about making one point every ten minutes, he suggests that that's how long an audience can pay attention to a topic before they need a change.

[Craig Valentine]

Thanks Andrew. I had not read that one yet but, thanks to you, I'll pick it up. All the best!