9 Timeless Tips for Presenting Ideas Clearly
These main points are taken from “How to develop Self-Confidence & Influence People by Public Speaking Written by Dale Carnegie.” After each main point I’ll be writing a commentary on what I learned from each point.
1. “To be clear is highly important and often very difficult."
People often under estimate the importance of simplicity in their message. Aim to distill the idea you’re trying to communicate into a single sentence. Be clear. I like to ask myself, “How do I store this point in my own memory?” Usually we store our knowledge in simple compressed terms. It can be very powerful to explain something in the way you think of it.
2. “Make the unknown clear by talking of it in terms of the known.”
Think of learning or explaining like guiding someone in the amazon jungle to a remote village. Before you can lead them to the village, you need to meet them at a place THEY know they can get to, like the airport of the nearest city. Once you meet them at their known place, you can guide them the rest of the way to their final destination.
3. “Avoid technical terms when addressing a lay audience. Follow Lincoln’s plan of putting your ideas into language plain enough for any boy or girl to comprehend.”
Don’t speak in your language, speak in theirs. This is more of an extension of the previous point. Meet people where they are, language included. If you use big fancy terms that only you know, who are you really helping? Your audience? No. You’re more likely stroke your own ego by getting to use all these words other people don’t know. It makes you feel superior, but it actually doesn’t serve a value creating purpose.
4. “Be sure that the thing you wish to speak about is first as clear as noonday sunshine in your own mind.”
You can’t explain something unless you know what you’re talking about inside and out. If you don’t have mastery of the topic you’re trying to explain, then you will be painting an incomplete picture with holes in it. You must dig deeply before you explain. Once you’ve simplified the idea in your head, then you’re ready to present.
5. “Appeal to the sense of sight. Use exhibits, pictures, illustrations when possible. Be definite. Don’t say “dog” if you mean “a fox terrier with a black splotch over his right eye.”
Say what you mean. Don’t use general words when you know exactly what you mean. Your audience will not read your mind, and you’ll leave an open track for your audience to get confused and go off the rails. When the audience can follow your own mind, then you’ve presented well.
6. “Restate your big ideas; but don’t repeat, don’t use the same phrases twice. Vary the sentences, but reiterate the idea without letting your hearers detect it.”
People say the brain needs to hear something multiple times before it captures that information. Things only said once, aren’t easily remembered by the brain. When designing your presentation, think clearly about what your main points are, and then come up with at least 5 different ways you can phrase the same point. This way, people won’t get bored of hearing you repeat the same thing, AND then will also remember some of your main points.
7. “Make your abstract statement clear by following it with general illustration—and what is often better still by specific instances and concrete cases.”
Sometimes words can be confusing, I’ve found using physical props or an image can go a LONG way in making your idea more real, or clear. However, if you can create a real life example, or use case, then you’ve really upped the level of understanding. I like to think of the hierarchy like this: Words<Media<Examples/Stories/Use Cases.
8. “Do not strive to cover too many points. In a short speech, one cannot hope to treat adequately more than one or two phases of a big topic.”
Your brain can only handle so much at once. Think of your brain like your stomach. New information is like food. You can only eat so much food before you’re full and need time to digest. Always keep in mind that your audience can only process so much information at a time. Prioritize what’s important and keep on point.
9. “Close with a brief summary of your point.”
A recap is both a great way to repeat your points one extra time and a way for your audience to confirm they got what you were saying. I’ve noticed that adding a simple recap after a presentation can dramatically improve how much people actually remember of the presentation.
Let’s add our recap of what we’ve covered.
- Communicate Clearly
- Lead people starting from where they know, and guide them to where they don’t know.
- Don’t use terms your audience doesn’t know, unless that’s part of the learning.
- Know your topic inside and out, until you can explain it simply.
- Don’t be vague.
- Rephrase your main points multiple times.
- Words<Media<Examples
- Brains can only digest so much information at a time.
- End with a recap.
That's all for now everyone! I hope this was helpful for you :)
Lovely