Whether you’re speaking on stage, giving a webinar, or sharing an article with your audience, chances are you’ve wondered how much of your content you need to give your audience. There are two mistakes I see a lot of people in our audience make:

First, they give too much content and overwhelm their audience. It’s information overload and while their audience is appreciative, it’s likely the audience is taking notes as fast as possible and missing the flow and end goal of the presentation.

The second mistake I see is that they try to inspire too much change too quickly. If I’m giving a keynote presentation, it’s tempting to try to take my audience from A to Z with A being they don’t have any momentum or clarity with their Message and Z is that they have rock-solid clarity, great messaging in place, a content strategy that fits their personality and their Market, and all of these benchmarks that are impossible to achieve in just one hour.

So, what do I do? I try to find out what’s a realistic expectation to have on my time with our audience when it comes to igniting transformation. I probably won’t be able to inspire someone to go from A to Z - and that’s okay - but I may be able to inspire someone to go from A to J or A to K, whatever that looks like on our client journey.

Another example: if you’re creating a lead magnet, I recommend focusing on taking your audience from A to B instead of trying to go from A to Z. That’s too far of a jump and too big of a change to present for someone in your audience who likely isn’t that familiar with you yet.

Today, I want you to focus on how your Message can inspire change in your audience to take them from A to whatever letter you think they can realistically be at after listening to you and your Message.

If you stuck not knowing how to set those expectations for yourself or your audience, send me a message at [email protected] or tag me on social media @keynotecontent to share your concerns. I’m happy to listen, ask great questions, and share my perspective. 

Have a great day today and remember, your Message matters!

The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”