Partner Article

Talk to my mother!

With Simon Raybould of Curved Vision

I came across a great suggestion the other day, which I wish I’d thought of. It’s so simple - it’s brilliant.

When you’re making a presentation, designing and writing it, you should do it as though you are explaining it to my mum. If you can’t explain it to my mum, you are doing one of two things. Either

• You’re trying to do too much in your presentation; or
• You don’t understand your material well enough.

The latter point is based on the idea that if you can’t explain it in 50 words you can’t explain it in 500 - but the first point is what we should be looking at right now. Pitch it for my mum. If a white haired 74-year-old who’s not really all that well briefed can understand you and remember it six weeks later, you’ve got it sussed.

Okay - I’m over simplifying to make a point, but I’m sure you can see what I mean. Give your presentations the “my mum” test. Essentially that means looking at what knowledge and information the audience need to understand what you’re saying (and so on) but it’s so much easier to think of “my mum” than to go through a long and boring checklist of things to get right!

As always, I’m always keen to hear from people with questions, comments and suggestions on sme@curved-vision.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .