How much detail should you include in a speech or presentation?
You want to be sure that your talk is meaningful and covers all the bases. However, you don’t want to be so laborious that you lose listeners along the way.
Just Enough
Here’s a good rule of thumb–include “just enough.” That’s not a cop out, because there are so many different circumstances, audiences, and types of presentation.
For instance, when trying to convince an FDA Advisory Board that your drug is unlikely to cause adverse events in a particular population (say, African-Americans, or Asian-Americans), even though the data seem to be suggesting just such an effect, you better be prepared to drill down into outcomes in those groups.
That requires a whole lot of detail.
However, if you are trying to convince your field force that the coming year will be particularly challenging, and then you list each challenge, both internal and external, and go into detail on the causes and consequences of each one, with a bullet point slide for each problem, you are bound to outstay your welcome on the porches of their ears.
Juicy Stories
Or how about this? You are tasked to produce a presentation that celebrates the wonders of your company and your industry.
Select a few juicy stories about the benefits you provide, extol your impressive ESG scores, hit them with surprising customer sat stats, and reveal the glorious glide path of the future.
On the other hand, if you make a prediction or a recommendation to senior decision makers, and you fail to expand upon the various options you considered and the reasons why you rejected all but one, you will be peppered with skeptical questions.
Decision makers like solid ground on which to make a stand, and your opinions, un-buttressed by facts, will cause them to pause and doubt the wisdom of your choice and judgment.
A presentation is generally useful to a business audience if it is simultaneously entertaining and informative, or if it helps a committee make a decision or a prediction.