“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”
Coco Chanel was talking about accessories, but the same idea can be applied to your presentation. Some of us have a tendency to want to cover everything we know about a topic when we’re asked to present. We feel like we’re doing it in an attempt to be thorough, to cover all the bases.
Unfortunately, this impulse achieves the opposite of what we hope. Too much information distracts from the one or two key ideas we want to get across. Pare down your message and support it in several different ways. If your outfit is festooned with a lapel pin, necklace, a fascinator, and evening gloves, it’s very hard to see the simple, perfectly tailored suit underneath.
Clear away what isn’t important. Cut everything that doesn’t serve your core message. Leave the evening gloves at home.
