Lessons From The Lego Bin

Last night, I was rummaging through the lego bin in search of a tiny yellow arm and I commented that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

My 7-year-old didn’t know what that meant.

As I explained, I thought of all the long meandering presentations I’ve sat through where it’s hard to find the point even when you’re paying attention.

There’s a lot of hay (words, charts, graphs) but it doesn't come together – it fails to thread the needle.

Good presentations don’t include all the details, they include carefully edited details. 

Good presentations don’t include every piece of data ever published, they include the most persuasive.

Good presentations don’t share every story, they curate the best stories.

I just finished coaching for Shine bootcamp where I helped 4 women transform their ideas into conference talks. 

The topics ranged from advocating for children with disabilities to diversifying engineering leadership.

4 different people, 4 different topics, 4 different talks, but for each the process was the same.

1. We got clear on what they wanted the audience to walk away with.

2. We defined their 3 most important points. 

3. We selected the most relevant details and data and crafted compelling storylines. 

The result? 

• Talks that had direction and laser focus. 

• Talks that deeply engaged their audience. 

• Talks that changed conversations.
  

Are you working on a talk? 

Are you ready to change conversations?

Get in touch.