Why You Should Simplify Your Message

TLDR: A simple message is an effective one.

We live in an epidemic of TMI (too much information). With so much content so freely available, the temptation is to pack it all into your presentation. I mean...you’ve done all this work...it’s all relevant to your topic. Surely it can’t hurt to over deliver to your audience. Right?

WRONG

A presentation that is too complicated and has too many points is like a long email. We’ve all been there: you get a message from your boss with a title like “IMPORTANT: Please Read” and then you open it, and can see it will take you about 10 minutes to scroll to the bottom. It might be full of important material, but you’re just going to skim through. 

Complicated messages just aren’t engaging. 

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” (Albert Einstein)

Complicated messages also aren’t effective in helping people understand complicated topics. 

You need to explain in a way that is engaging and enlightening. 

This does not mean talking to your audience like their children. Being patronising is also not effective, and will build up the defences of your audience so they’re likely to switch off. 

I prefer Bill McGowan’s analogy of a pasta sauce. You need to keep boiling down the elements of your arguments, reduce them to the strong and delicious flavour. 

Some Simplified Messages

Bill Clinton’s 1992 Presidential Campaign: “It’s the economy, stupid”

James Carville, the campaign strategist for Bill Clinton in 1992 hung a sign up in the campaign headquarters with just three points:

1. Change vs. more of the same.
2. The economy, stupid.
3. Don't forget healthcare.

Becoming president means you need an opinion on more than three things, and they need to be a lot more specific than those statements. But campaigning and constructing a message that people can connect with is something totally different. Successful campaigns from all areas of the political spectrum will latch onto soundbites like this: “Take Back Control” (Vote Leave, 2016), “Yes we can” (Obama, 2008), “Labour isn’t working” (Margaret Thatcher, 1979).

Martin Luther King, “I Have A Dream”

Changing society for a fairer future is a complex task. Ending segregation, fighting discrimination in business and in private life would require legislation, awareness, and many years of campaigning (we are still not there of course!). 

Martin Luther King did not try and outline all of these steps though, he simplified his message to just “I have a dream.” This rooted his speech in the deliberate tradition, and gave us a vision for a future that is fair and just. Its lack of complexity has made it universal and it is still relevant today, five decades later. 

Steve Jobs Presentation, iPhone Launch 2007 “We’re going to reinvent the phone” 

The world’s most innovative smartphone had a wealth of features that separated it from the pack - it looked totally different, and worked differently too. Although Jobs took time to showcase all the wonderful features this device had, the whole presentation could be simplified to the statement: “we’re going to reinvent the phone.”

Indeed, Apple got where it did by releasing products that changed the world. The Macintosh, the iPod, and then in 2007, the iPhone. They have summed up their entire company’s philosophy pretty succinctly with the words: “think different.”

Why does simplifying your message work?

Firstly, It’s quicker, and quicker is more engaging. 

It’s hard to grab an audience’s attention. They are constantly assessing, subconsciously, whether what is in front of them is worth their time. The University of Basel demonstrated that website visitors assess the beauty of a website within 50 milliseconds. That is less time than it takes to snap your fingers!

You need to demonstrate the value you provide quickly to hold their attention. 

A simplified message also enables action.

This is partly because it’s catchy and therefore more memorable. “It’s the economy stupid,” or “I have a dream” stay with us and can influence our actions long after we heard the speech.

Furthermore, a simplified message conveys intent in a way that promotes initiative and therefore facilitates action. This is a principle used in many countries as a military principal. In the British Army’s Doctrine, they describe this as:

"A clear intent initiates a force’s purposeful activity. It represents what the commander wants to achieve and why; and binds the force together; it is the principal result of decision-making. It is normally expressed using effects, objectives and desired outcomes....The best intents are clear to subordinates with minimal amplifying detail."

The “minimal amplifying detail” allows for flexibility if plans change. Your message should be simple enough to allow the same.

And, of course….it’s the all in the brain...stupid!

As a principle, the brain wants to save energy wherever it can. Cognition is a relatively new concept in our evolution and it takes up a lot of energy. Therefore you want to make your message as easy to understand as possible. Remove as many steps to understanding as possible if you want your argument to be persuasive.

Additionally, boil down your argument to as few principle arguments as possible - certainly no more than three. This is because your working memory, the number of things your mind can process simultaneously is pitifully small. If your brain’s entire processing power were equal to the US economy (18 trillion dollars), then your working memory would only have 3$ assigned to it. 

Two principles to simplify your message

1. No more than three main points. If possible, it's also great make an acronym, or a rhyme out of them.
2. Use stories, analogies and metaphors. Anything to make data and statistics more tangible. 

Conclusion...simplified!

Simplification will mean cutting a lot of great material from your presentation. The process of “killing your darlings” (Faulkner), “cutting the fat” and delivering only the most important and relevant material will be difficult. It’s almost like you’re “missing things out.”

But the result will be a presentation that is coherent. One that your audience can engage with, understand and remember. This is the way you can move your audience, and make the change that you want to.

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