Decluttering Your Message

The New Year is a great place to start putting some new habits into practice, so let us have a little clear out - or in some cases a really big clear out....

Let us start by decluttering your message.
Many of you will have heard of the 80/20 or Pareto rule...

Well the same applies in presentations and workshops: 80% of your impact will come from just 20% of your message,

So now is the time to declutter your message so that you get clear about the 80% that really makes a difference. Using the Pareto rule, mandatory training could be cut to 20% of the time it usually takes by cutting to the chase.

Using Post-It notes, write down all the key things you normally say in your presentation (that last a few minutes at least). Count the notes and work on getting down to one-fifth or 20% of that number.

There are two rules now for dealing with each note: Ditch It or Do It.

If you feel it falls into the 80%, ditch it.
If you feel it falls into the 20%, keep it and keep doing it.

This is a great method for getting clear about what you should be saying and what you pretty much can leave out with very little detriment to your listeners....

Now you have something sleek and elegant - and can design some interactive exercises that reiterate your core message, rather than adding in non-core fluff.

Keep an eye out for part 2, where I will talk about decluttering your materials.

Go the 2nd December 2008 to find out more about the NEED TO KNOW basis for content design.