The best wisdom captures something deep in just a few words.
“This too shall pass.”
“Know thyself.”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
None of these offers details. But they stay with us. That’s the power of essence.
We often forget this when presenting. We feel the need to explain everything and include every detail.
But clarity lives in simplicity.
Try this: before your next presentation, summarise your core message in ten words or fewer. If you can’t do that, you don’t know your message well enough. Once you’ve written it down, use it as your north star.
Recently, I attended The Speaker Awards ceremony – an event filled with professional speakers.
The winner of Best Speaker of the Year made a good point. In his acceptance speech, he said there’s a big difference between liking the idea of being a professional speaker and liking the reality of it.
Many people dream of being on stage and inspiring audiences. But they don’t always think about what the job actually involves: being alone at airports, preparing talks in hotel rooms, missing family time, dealing with delays and logistics. That’s not the part you see on LinkedIn.
Galileo built the world’s best telescope and pointed it at the night sky.
What he saw changed everything: evidence that the Earth was not the centre of the universe. The sun was.
He published his findings in a short book called The Starry Messenger.
That title mattered. The Starry Messenger positioned Galileo not as the hero of the story, but as its witness. He didn’t name the book after himself or claim centre stage – he pointed to what he had seen. He was the messenger, not the message. And that’s the point: he wanted people to focus on the stars, not on him.
Lighten up about yourself.
Yes, prepare well. Take your content seriously. Respect your audience.
But don’t get caught up in trying to be perfect.
If you lose your place or stumble, it’s okay. If you forget something along the way, it’s okay. Your audience is looking for someone real – someone worth listening to.
The more relaxed and grounded you are, the more impactful your message becomes.
In a lunchtime concert in Amsterdam, pianist Maria João Pires sat beside the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, ready to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20. She had rehearsed it. She knew every note.
But as the orchestra began, something was off. The conductor, Riccardo Chailly, had launched into a different piece – Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21.
You can see the moment it hits her. Panic flashes across her face. She hadn’t prepared this piece for the concert. Not that day.
Roger Federer was already the world’s top tennis player when he brought Tony Roche onto his team – a coach with no recent Grand Slam experience as a trainer.
Why?
Because even at the top, Federer knew he needed an outside perspective. He didn’t want someone to teach him tennis. He wanted someone to help him see his game differently.
Every sport – including individual ones – is a team sport.
The British cycling team became dominant by focusing on marginal gains – small, 1% improvements in every area. They looked at every detail: the weight of the bike, the fit of the clothes, the quality of sleep and the hygiene of the riders. Each change felt small, but together, they led to Olympic medals and Tour de France wins.
Small things can change everything.
Think about taking a shower. It’s a small habit. Easy to do, easy to skip. Skip it for a day? Probably fine. Skip it for a week? Not ideal. Skip it for five years? You get the idea.
That’s the harsh truth: no one cares about your idea as much as you do.
If you’re preparing a presentation, don’t assume your audience will be interested just because you are.
You’ve spent time thinking about your idea. You’ve seen its value. But your audience hasn’t. They might be hearing about it for the first time.
It’s your job to help them care.
To do that, your message must be simple, clear, relevant and engaging.