In Presentations, Learn to Say Less

As a consultant, when I sometimes notice the slides of my clients, I freak out.
I notice that
- It has a lot of text
- Key messages are missing
- It is not made for the audience

Here is an interesting article. It has three solid points

1.When you prepare a presentation, work backwards. Start with the key message or takeaway that you want to convey. Then imagine that you had to send that message via Twitter instead of using slides, charts, documents, and discussions. Force yourself to summarize your key points in no more than 140 characters. Based on that focus, then think through what other information you'll need as backup and support.

My suggestion is that these 140 character should form the header of your slide so that the reader understands what is the content of the slide.

2.Practice making your presentation without any slides or other supporting materials — and limit the time to six minutes. Think of it as a TED talk that's going be watched by millions of people on YouTube. Doing this (and getting a friend to capture it on video) will force you to be very clear about what you want to say and how to say it with conviction and zest.

If you notice Partners, they carry a set of slides in their back pocket, but actually keep the audience engaged with their talk.

3. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience and imagine how they might react to your condensed message. What questions will they ask and what concerns might they have? How will you address these, and how open will you be to alternatives? Speculating about these scenarios ahead of time will give you confidence to state your position clearly and respond to audience feedback.

It's not easy to say less and convey more. But if you learn how to do it well, you'll have much more impact on your audience and on your organization.