Corporate and Business Storytelling Blog

Early on in my sales career, perhaps in my first year in real estate, I learned about the concept of KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid. At least that’s the way it was taught to me. The context of this lesson was for writing contracts. The more simple and concise the language in a contract, the better it is.

 

As a speaking coach, I am reminded of the need for the KISS concept time and again. We speakers are a wordy bunch. If we can use 40 words to say something that could be said in 10, we ramble on for 40. While we may like the sound of our own voices, the audience has to wade through our excessive verbiage to find the nuggets of wisdom hidden inside.

 

As a professional speaker, I have come to learn that it’s not what I say that’s important, it’s what my audience member remembers. And beyond that, it’s not just what they remember, but what they implement. It all comes down to memorability and action. If they remember what we say, the odds are they’ll think or act differently.

 

So let’s adapt the KISS concept for speakers – Keep It Simple Speaker!

 

In a recent leadership development training for high potential individuals, I had my students craft a story. The story had to make a point that would be relevant to their direct reports – something practical. I showed them how to use The Nine Steps of Story Structure to craft their story, and emphasized using steps 7, 8 and 9 to brand their message.

 

The first student who volunteered for coaching told a good story and when she made the point, it sounded very close to this: “What I learned was that there are going to be times in your life when things aren’t going to go the way you planned them, that you’ll be faced with making a difficult choice that you may not want to make, that will be scary for you, and at those times you’ve got to know that you can do it and trust yourself. You’ve got to make a choice, even if it’s not the right choice and take action. Because if you don’t, you’ll fail.”

 

Quick: without going back and reading that last paragraph, what was the point?

• Face your fear?
• Take Action?
• Go for it?
• Trust yourself?
• Make a choice?

If you answered “all of the above” you’d be right. And if you make your point that way in a presentation, you’ll be confusing. Remember, KISS – Keep It Simple Speaker! The best way to keep it simple is to use a story to make one point. While the story may indeed make more than one point, it’s best to focus the story on one point each time you tell it.  In a different context, with a different audience, you might tell that same story to make a different point.

 

During my coaching session, I showed her how she hadn’t made one clear and concise point, but had made lots of points and therefore had made it hard for her audience to know which one was the most important.

 

She acknowledged that she was confused about the point too, which caused her to wander all over the place making as many points as she could think of. When I asked her to go back and look at that moment in time and choose what the most powerful lesson was, she said, “Make a choice – commit to a choice.”  To which I said, “Pick one.” And she replied, “Make a choice.”

 

After coaching her on keeping it simple, here is the way she refined the point.

 

“What I learned was that there are going to be times in your life when you’ll be faced with making a difficult choice that you may not want to make, that will be scary for you, and at those times you’ve got to – make a choice.”

 

It seems that the one place where speakers get wordy, where it is very dangerous to do so, is when we make a point or teach a lesson. At those times, we need to be concise. The fewer words, the better.

 

        “What I learned was, eat dessert first.”

        “What I learned was, dance like there’s no one watching.”

        “What I learned was, make your first impression count.”

 

After you say the words, “What I learned was…” be concise.  Then be quiet. Let the point settle in the minds of your listeners.

 

I have been using this concept of KISS in my speaking for many years and it works. It works so well that I’ve seen verifiable results. With one story in particular, I state my point and then remain quiet for a few seconds. I just let the point hang there in the silence.

 

I’ve found that when I wait for five to ten seconds before saying anything else, 90% of my audience members write down the exact words of my point. They either write it down during my silent pause, or they do it within the next 60 seconds. Time and again, they write it down word for word.

 

Remember, it’s not just what you say, it’s what they remember. If what you say is confusing and overly wordy, they can’t find the nuggets. The wisdom is there, but in order to serve your audience, you’ve got to write and rewrite and whittle and edit until you get your most important points and lessons down to the fewest words possible.

 

Be concise. Be precise. Be memorable.