The highly respected expert stepped to the stage and announced that he was going to “turn on the fire hose” and let the audience have everything he knows about the presentation’s topic. In a perfect world, all the brilliant insights that would tumble from his lips in this presentation would be eagerly assimilated by everyone in his audience. But in this world, that doesn’t happen. As a matter of fact, as presenters we are lucky if two or three of our important points register with just a few of the people in our audience.
Public speaking is not an efficient medium for delivering large quantities of information. But it is a superb vehicle for driving home one profound, well thought out and well-spoken concept — especially if we can stir an emotional response in our listeners.
Beware of attempting to offer too much. This is the main reason to simplify: if you tell your audience a dozen ideas they may not retain any of them; if you tell them one or two you may just change their lives.
