finding the core

The Heath brothers in their seminal book “Made to Stick” defined simple in this way:

“What we mean by ‘simple’ is finding the core of the idea. ‘Finding the core’ means stripping an idea down to its most critical essence.”

The core of your idea is the core of your presentation. Express that core in one simple and specific sentence – I call this the key message of your presentation...

Now let’s look at dumbed down, complex and simple expressions of an idea:

• Dumbed down: “People are our greatest asset.”
• Complex: “Human resource assets are being deployed in the operational environments under maximum pressure in order to impact our customer service benchmarks.”
• Simple: “We’re moving staff to the busiest call centres to make ordering easier for our customers.”

Notice that the last example is both simple and specific.

However, don’t get hung up on ensuring that every nuance and subtlety are expressed in the key message... You cannot include every legal caveat or scientific qualification in your key message – or even in your spoken presentation. Put these into a handout. In some topic areas, there’s a choice between being 100% accurate or being understood.

Olivia Mitchell 

"How to simplify your presentation without dumbing it down," speakingaboutpresenting.com. Accessed on April 30, 2021