It’s super counterintuitive but when updating folks on a project, they actually don’t need all the details. Having all of the details leads to confusion.

When I work with folks who are in the weeds, especially technical folks with super specific knowledge, it can seem like their audience would need all of those details to reach the same conclusion. But the opposite is true.

Here are some tips for thinking and speaking on your feet with more clarity and less confusion:

1. Zoom out to find the most high-level (and simple) entry point for this audience. What is the biggest idea that you want them to walk away with and remember? That’s their entry point. Instead of starting with the details, start there. See it as a headline of sorts. This will help them have context before getting more into the details.

2. Instead of feeling like you need to structure your response in a certain way, centralize your thoughts around this one big idea. Many people I support feel like off-the-cuff responses have to have multiple components, like a list of three items. This can sound formulaic and inauthentic. It can also dilute the power of your message. Instead, centralize you’re thinking around that big umbrella and pull threads from it. I call mine my golden nugget.

3. Finally, pause consciously when speaking. Instead of beginning to speak right away, look away and take a breath to find your golden nugget. At each end of a thought (or even in the middle of a thought) you can give yourself permission to pause so that you can go forward with more intention. Well timed pausing improves your audiences’ retention and comprehension 30-40%. This will avoid the common behavior of thinking and speaking at the same time which can lead to more circuitous communication. By ending each thought and taking a micro-pause, you give your audience the opportunity to catch up with you (and you the chance to catch up with yourself). 

What tricks help you think on your feet on speaker off-the-cuff? I’d love to know!