The subtle obligation of careful preparation

One of the seven deadly sins of public speaking is trying to share everything you know. Even as a (self-declared) expert in public speaking, it's the mistake I still commit most often myself.

The psychology of it isn't complex. When you've done the work to prepare a bunch of great content, you feel a degree of obligation to share that content. You feel an obligation to the audience, because you want to make sure they get as much value as possible. Oddly, though, you also feel a sense of obligation to the IP itself - as though, by creating it, you somehow owe it to the universe to share it.

What does this look like in practice?

It looks like jamming more and more content into the last five minutes of a speech because you just can't seem to stop yourself from trying to share all the great things you've thought of. (If you've been to a session with me, you've almost certainly seen this happen! 😂😭)

It's looks like the speaker who simply must unpack every single one of their "three mistakes" or "five C's" or "seven sins" or whatever.

I was listening to a very intelligent psychologist doing incredibly important work with addiction treatment, who had created an idea to go with each of the letters of the word DOPAMINE.

Eight letters!?

By the time she'd unpacked the third one I realised that she was a runaway freight train that was determined to deliver each and every ounce of information on board, whether the recipients wanted to hear it or not.

Honouring this mistaken obligation to your content should be avoided, because it's bad for the audience, and bad for your commercial outcomes.

For their benefit, share what's most timely and relevant to them.

For your benefit, let those who are curious and excited by what you left unsaid to seek you out... and now you've got a new fan.