Takeaways

The next thing to think about is takeaways.

From most talks, people will remember between one and three things you said. That’s it. Try it, wait a week after a conference you’ve attended and think back over all the talks you saw, and count how many things you can recall from each. My guess is it’ll be somewhere between one and three.

So as you develop your talk, keep asking: what are the top three things I want people to remember after this?. If you have twenty, I’m afraid people simply won’t remember them all. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true.

This matters even more when the talk isn’t recorded. Sometimes the only exposure people will ever have to your story is the time they’re in the room. So keep it in mind while you’re building the talk: pick your one to three things, and keep coming back to them as you go through.