When you first start preparing your presentation or speech, the most important thing you must do is to figure out the core message of your speech. What is the one thing that you are trying to achieve with the speech? Which one concept/idea do you want your listeners to understand and remember? Or, alternatively, what one single action do you want your listeners to take after they’ve heard your speech?
· Finding your core message is about forced prioritization. What’s the most important thing that you want to convey to the audience?
· Write out your core message on a piece of paper in less than 20 words
· Your core message will help you decide what to include and what to discard. If a story/statistic emphasizes the core message, include it; otherwise, save it for another speech
· Ruthlessly cut out anything that is not directly related to the core message. You will have a highly focused speech which the audience will remember and thank you for.
Bottom Line:
If your audience was to forget everything else that you said, what is the one single thing that you would want them to remember?
