ESSENCE OVER DETAILS

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.

Anything else in your talk should serve that core message. If it doesn’t, cut it.

The goal isn’t to say more. It’s to make what you say matter more.