We recently traded in the family wagon. After almost a decade of serving us as a baseball team bus, daily commuter, vacation host, carpool waiting room, mobile business office, and teen driving trainer, it was time to find a more reliable steed. In preparation for the deal, I went to clean out the old vehicle. I found:

It’s hard to imagine a situation we weren’t prepared for in our wagon (if only we knew the object was there – it’s easier to just pull into Dollar General and buy what you need!). We were unaware we were carrying enough logistics to supply a small regiment, and we felt stressed whenever we tried to find something of use (like the registration when we took it to get it inspected).

From what I’ve observed, most people make speeches like we keep our family car. They keep adding things and never stop to organize, filter, or clean up. They want to put everything in the speech. This causes three problems for the audience.

One of the key principles we teach in our Content workshops is the idea of One Thing. Find your One Thing BEFORE you create structure, add detail, or certainly create visuals. It’s a very difficult process – so difficult that I’ve only had one client who could tell me their One Thing the first time they were asked ( “Little things make a big difference” – Stan Phelps turned out to be a friend and colleague and it’s led to twelve books, the latest co-written with me: Silver Goldfish).

The next time you’re asked to lead a meeting, give a presentation , make a pitch, or train an audience, figure out your One Thing first. Contemplate the absolute minimum content your audience would need or want. Aim for that. If they ask for more, then back up the car and start unloading what you’ve collected within the structure you’ve created. There’s a reason you were asked to speak. We know you have more to share. But clean up and reduce your content to support your One Thing. You’ll have a better feel for what you want to say and your audience will be thrilled to settle into a clean vehicle to get what they want.

Don’t believe me? Then maybe Curly can convince you.

Communication matters. What are you saying?

Our live, virtual workshops are a perfect place to learn our method for content development. They are best fit into two two-hour sessions, or they are included in our ten-part online master communicator series. Call us to schedule your team.